RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

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ANALYSIS 7SHOULD INDIA BE WARY OF A RADICAL B’DESH?

MONEY 8SENSEX, NIFTY SOAR TO 2-WEEK HIGHS

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SPORTS 12WADE & STOINIS BRING BACK

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HYDERABAD, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2021; PAGES 12 `3

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Rahukalam : 9:11 am - 10:36 am

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Gulika : 6:23 am - 7:47 am

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important work)

Amritakalam : 8:03 am - 9:41 am

Abhijit Muhurtham : 11:37 am - 12:22 pm

Greater role for police on the border: DovalPNS n HYDERABAD

Besides maintaining law and order,police forces have a greater role inborder management spanning over15,000 km covering Pakistan,China and Myanmar andBangladesh with which India hassecurity related issues, NationalSecurity Advisor Ajit Doval said onFriday.

Speaking at the passing outparade of the 73rd batch of IPS pro-bationers at the Sardar VallabhbhaiPatel National Police Academy(SVPNPA) here, Doval said India'ssovereignty goes as far as the lastpolice station's jurisdiction fromthe coastal areas to the border areas.

Along with 132 Indian IPS

trainees, 17 trainees from Bhutan,Maldives and Nepal too passedout from the academy after 46

weeks of training.Four of these IPS officials will

be allocated to Telangana and five

to Andhra Pradesh.

Individuals can nowdirectly buy T-bills,G-Secs from market

RBI RETAIL DIRECT SCHEME

PNS n NEW DELHI

Individuals can now directly pur-chase treasury bills, dated securi-ties, sovereign gold bonds (SGB)and state development loans(SDLs) from primary as well as sec-ondary markets, thanks to theRBI Retail Direct Scheme launchedby Prime Minister Narendra Modion Friday.

As per the scheme, retailinvestors (individuals) will havethe facility to open an onlineRetail Direct Gilt Account (RDGAccount) with the Reserve Bankof India (RBI).

These accounts can be linked totheir savings bank accounts.

The RDG Accounts of individ-uals can be used to participate inthe issuance of government secu-rities and secondary market oper-ations through the screen-basedNDS-OM.

TRS takes the wind out of BJPsails with protests over paddy ML MELLY MAITREYI n HYDERABAD

Hoping to take the wind out of thesails of the BJP and break the mo-mentum the saffron party has gai-ned from its Huzurabad by-electionvictory, leaders and activists of theruling TRS on Friday hit the streetsacross the State to stage dharnasagainst the Centre’s refusal to pur-chase boiled rice in Yasangi season.

During the course of theirprotests, TRS leaders made it apoint to remind the people that thedharna organised by the BJP a dayearlier on Thursday against thealleged slow pace of procurementof Kharif paddy did not get expect-ed response from the farmers.

“This was because the State gov-ernment opened over 3,500 paddyprocurement centres and procure-ment was on,” Minister GangulaKamalakar and others pointed out.

The TRS leaders said that theresponse of farmers to dharnascalled by the ruling party wasproof that farmers are more wor-ried about paddy to be cultivatedin the Yasangi season.

TRS working president KT Rama Rao claps along with farmer leaders during a protest againstthe Centre demanding an assurance on Yasangi paddy procurement, at Sircilla on Friday.

Protests to continuetill Centre procuresYasangi paddy: TRS

CUSS WORDS, INSULTS RULE THE DAY

Leading a massive dharnaagainst Centre’s refusal to

procure paddy to be cultivated inYasangi in Sircilla district onFriday, TRS working president KTRama Rao said the protests wereto protect interests of farmersand would continue till the Uniongovernment relents. Goingballistic against the Centralgovernment and BJP leaders,KTR reminded that TRS forcedthe UPA government to concedeTelangana and now it would takeon the BJP government for paddyprocurement and for farmers’welfare. He said it was Centre’sconstitutional responsibility toprocure food grains for foodsecurity while the Statesprocured paddy through itsnetwork on behalf of the FCI.“Centre should speak to Statesand direct what crops to becultivated in each State ratherthan leaving them high and dry,”KTR said.

o Ruling party looks to break BJP by-poll win momentum

IPS ALLOCATED TO TELANGANA:

o Patil Kantilal Subhash from Maharastra

o Sirisetty Sankeerth from Telanganao Pooja Guptha from Delhio Paritosh Pankaj from Bihar

IPS ALLOCATED TO ANDHRA PRADESH:

o Jagadish Adahalli from Karnataka

o Shafkat Amna from Biharo Sunil Sharon from Haryana

o Rahul Meena from Rajasthano Dheeraj Kunuballi from Andhra PradeshNational Security Advisor Ajit Doval presents the Martyr KS Vyas Trophy for Internal

Security and Public Order and Field Crafts &Tactics to Darpan Ahluwalia on Friday.

NIA says 7 Maoists plottedto wage war against govtPNS n HYDERABAD

The NIA on Friday filed a charges-heet against seven members of theoutlawed CPI(Maoist) for theiralleged involvement in a criminalconspiracy to wage war against thedemocratically-elected governmentby preparing to carry out terroristacts, an official said.

The chargesheet has been filedbefore a special court here undersections of the IPC, UAPA and theExplosive Substances Act against thefour arrested and three abscondingaccused, the NIA said.

Muthu Nagaraju, 37, Kommara-jula Kanukaiah, 31 and Sura Saraiah,

36, of Telangana have been namedin the chargesheet, he said.

Madvi Hidma of Chhattisgarh'sSukma district, the self-styled com-mander of the 1st Battalion People'sLiberation Guerrilla Army of the CPI(Maoist), has also been booked alongwith Koyyada Sambaiah, 49, aTelangana State Committee Memberand Secretary of the BadradriKothagudem-East GodavariDivisional Committee of the CPI(Maoist), Madakam Kosi, 26, ofTelangana and self-styled commanderof Cherla Area Committee (Dalam)and Vallepu Swamy, 43, of Telangana.

The case was registered in Feb-ruary in Telangana, the NIA said.

TRS keeps TS sentiment alive with protestsPNS n HYDERABAD

It’s becoming increasingly clearwith each passing day that the TRSdoes not want the memories of theTelangana agitation to fade.

To ensure that the embers of theTelangana agitation remain smoul-dering, its leaders utilise everyopportunity to remind the peoplethat it was the pink party in gen-

eral, and its supremo KChandrasekhar Rao in particular,who forced the then Union govern-ment to concede to a separate State.

With the Huzurabad by-poll lossjarring the party’s complacency, thereminders have gained in frequen-cy, and TRS leader after leader ismaking sure to mention the agita-tion at every given opportunity.

There is no doubt that the TRS

has reaped rewards for leading theTelangana movement with itsback-to-back Assembly electionvictories. Obviously, the partywants to remain in power for aslong as it can. To do so, it mustensure that people do not forgetthat KCR was the flag-bearer ofthe Telangana movement.

TS meets target, gets nod to mobilise Rs 5,392 crore moreNAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Telangana is among the seven Statesthat have achieved the target set bythe Ministry of Finance on capitalexpenditure up to the second quar-ter of 2021-22.

As an incentive, the State wasgranted permission by theDepartment of Expenditure onFriday to borrow an additionalamount of Rs 5,392crore.

The other States that too have metthe target are Chhattisgarh, Kerala,Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Punjaband Rajasthan.

As per the Ministry of Finance,these seven States have beengranted permission by theDepartment of Expenditure toborrow an additional amountof Rs 16,691 crore as anincentive. The additionalopen market borrowingpermission issued is equivalent

to 0.5% of Gross State DomesticProduct (GSDP).

“Additional financial resources thusmade available will help the States inpushing their capital expenditure

further," the release said.To become eligible for incremen-

tal borrowing, States were requiredto achieve at least 15 percent of the

target set for 2021-22 by the endof first quarter of 2021-22, 45percent by the end of secondquarter, 70 percent by the end

of third quarter and 100 percent byMarch 31, 2022.

Earlier, after the first round ofreview undertaken in September2021, additional borrowing per-mission of Rs 15,721 crore wereissued to 11 States for meeting thetarget for capital expenditure set forthe first quarter of 2021-22. Thus,after two rounds of review of capitalexpenditure, a total additional bor-rowing permission of Rs 32,412crore has been issued to States.

‘Arrest Kangana, withdrawPadma Shri’: OppositionPNS n NEW DELHI

Actor Kangana Ranaut's PadmaShri should be withdrawn and sheshould be charged with sedition,several political parties have saidin a snowballing controversy overher comment that India won trueindependence in 2014 - whenPrime Minister Narendra Modicame to power - and the 1947Independence was "bheekh" orcharity.

"The Padma Award given to Ms.Ranaut should be withdrawnimmediately. Before giving suchawards, mental psychological eval-uation should be done so that infuture such persons do not disre-spect the nation and its heroes,"Anand Sharma, Congress leader,said on Twitter, tagging PresidentRam Nath Kovind.

Calling Kangana Ranaut's com-ments shameful and shocking, MrSharma accused her of insultingMahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal

Nehru and Sardar ValabhbhaiPatel, besides belittling the sacri-fices of freedom fighters likeBhagat Singh and ChandrashekharAzad.

The Congress has called thecomments "treason".

Congress pokesits head in TRS-BJP fight

DRAMA NOT DHARNA

PNS n HYDERABAD

Accusing both the TRS and BJPof enacting dramas to divert theattention of the people, theTelangana Congress demanded toknow from the State and Uniongovernments whether the US orPakistan would procure paddyfrom the farmers if its two rivalswere busy staging dharnas.

“Their dharnas are nothingbut dramas to avoid responsibil-ity. If it was genuinely sincere ab-out farmer welfare, the TRS gov-ernment should lead an all-partydelegation to New Delhi to holdtalks with the Centre on Yasangipaddy procurement,” CLP leaderMallu Bhatti Vikramarka said.

G RAVI KIRANn HYDERABAD

Is the Telangana PoliceDepartment’s much-touted ‘friend-ly policing’ limited to mere speech-es and in some cases, white-collarcriminals who steal crores andcelebrities who commit crimes andnot for the poor, Dalits and tribals?

While the answer may be anemphatic ‘no’, considering the factthat by and large the police depart-ment plays fair, three recent inci-dents have triggered a heateddebate on policing in Telangana.

There was definitely no friend-ly policing for the victims, whoeither died or were injured serious-ly. Surprisingly, the CCTV camerasin police stations connected to allthese incidents were “not working”at the time of the atrocity.

Not surprisingly, the friendsand family of these victims say thatfriendly policing is limited only topress meets and in the speeches oftop police officials.

They say that white collar crim-inals involved in scams worthcrores, or celebrities caught com-mitting a crime, will first getnotices as per procedure and then

manage to get bail immediately asper the legal Sections registeredagainst them by the police.

Where is ‘friendly policing’ for thepoor, Dalits, tribals in Telangana?

CPI leader K Narayana consoles tribal farmer Veera Sekhar, who was allegedly tortured bypolice on Wednesday at the Atmakur Police Station in Suryapet district.

TRIBUNAL ROW

Harish says TS movedSC as Centre did not actPNS n HYDERABAD

Rejecting Union Jal Shakti MinisterGajendra Singh Shekhawat’scharge that the delay inconstitution of new tri-bunal was due to ChiefMinister K Chandras-ekhar Rao’s decisionto approach SupremeCourt, Minister T Ha-rish Rao said that the Stategovernment was forced to movethe apex court after waiting forover a year for the Centre to act.

Harish Rao recalled that the Statehad lodged a complaint with the then

Union Water Resources MinisterUma Bharathi under Section 3 ofInter-State River Water Disputes Actfor re-allocation of Krishna Waters on

July 14, 2014, 42 days after the for-mation of Telangana.

He said that as the Centredid not act on the complainteven after the TS govern-ment pursued it for one year

and as per Section 4 of Inter-State River Water Disputes Act,

if the complaint filed under Section3 was not resolved within oneyear, then a tribunal will have to beconstituted.

Tribal torture case: S-I transferred P:2

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Lashing out at State BJP President Bandi Sanjay whom he called ‘Thondi’(liar) Sanjay, Minister KT Rama Rao on Friday said while the BJP at the

national level did not want farmers to cultivate paddy in Yasangi, its Stateunit president asked them to cultivate paddy. “One wondered how peoplecould send such a ‘foolish and insane person’ to Parliament,” KTR said.KTR was not alone in going ballistic against the BJP and other politicalopponents of the BJP. Friday’s dharnas led by TRS top leaders weremarked by the intemperate language used, especially against BJP leaders.

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NOROVIRUS CONFIRMED IN KERALA,GOVERNMENT ISSUES GUIDELINES

With Norovirus, an animal-borne disease transmittedthrough contaminated water and food gettingconfirmed in Kerala's Wayanad district, Health

Minister Veena George on Friday asked people to be vigilantand issued guidelines for the same. The Health Ministerdirected to intensify preventive activities and to spreadawareness about the disease. She has also issued an orderin the district asking people to be vigilant. The Kerala healthdepartment, in a meeting headed by George, assessed thesituation in Wayanad today.

PREPARE FOR EMERGENCY SITUATION,SAYS PCB AS DELHI’S SMOG WORSENS

The centre's pollution control board on Friday orderedstates and local bodies to be in "complete readiness" foremergency measures to tackle New Delhi's worsening

smog conditions due to a drop in temperature and windspeeds. A thick haze of toxic smog hung over Delhi, exac-erbated by a spike in the burning of crop waste in surroundingfarmlands. It reduced visibility and the Air Quality Index (AQI)hit 470 on a scale of 500, according to the pollution controlboard. This level of pollution means the air will affect healthypeople and seriously impact those with existing diseases.

RAILWAYS TO DROP ‘SPECIAL TRAIN'TAG, REVERT TO PRE-COVID FARES

Under pressure from passengers over hike in fares, theRailways on Friday issued an order to discontinue the'special' tag for mail and express trains and revert to pre-

pandemic ticket prices with immediate effect. Since theCoronavirus-triggered lockdown was eased, the Railways hasbeen running only special trains. It started with long-distancetrains and now, even short-distance passenger services arebeing run as special trains with "slightly higher fares" to"discourage people from avoidable travels". Ticket prices ofspecial trains and holiday special trains are marginally higher.

SHASTRI: VIRAT KOHLI MIGHT GIVE UPCAPTAINCY TO FOCUS ON HIS BATTING

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri says Virat Kohli mightgive up captaincy in other formats after doing so in the T20version to deal with the intense pressure associated with

the job, especially in COVID times. Shastri's tenure with theIndian team ended with an early exit from T20 World Cup.Kohli, who has taken rest for the T20 series and one Testagainst New Zealand to recover bubble fatigue in COVID times,has relinquished captaincy in the shortest format after theshowpiece event. Shastri was asked about Kohli giving upcaptaincy in other formats to manage his workload better.

10 publications vouchfor Covaxin’s efficacy

P: 3

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hyderabad 02HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 13, 2021

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(IN HYDERABAD)

K VENKATESHWARLU

n HYDERABAD

The Congress high commandhas launched an exercise tofind an alternative candidatein Munugode in case of a by-poll due to Congress MLAKomatireddy RajagopalReddy quitting the party andresigning his MLA seat.

Sources said the Congresshas identified Palvai SravanthiReddy as its candidate. PalvaiSravanthi Reddy is the daugh-ter of former MLA, MLCand Rajya Sabha member,the late Palvai GoverdhanReddy.

It is learnt that theCongress started efforts topick a candidate keeping theHuzurabad by-poll experi-ence in view. It doesn't wantto face the embarrassment itfaced in Huzurabad as theCongress candidate BalmoorVenkat Narsing Rao got just3,014 votes.

The party's senior leadersalleged that the party had

received a severe blow inHuzurabad due to the delay inselecting a candidate as thecandidate was a non-local.

The Congress has startedefforts to identify a candidateand has picked PalvaiSravanthi Reddy to avoidsuch an embarrassment, it islearnt.

The party may announcethe candidate's name imme-diately if KomatireddyRajagopal Reddy quits.

It may be recalled thatPalvai Sravanthi Reddy con-tested as an Independent inthe 2014 Assembly electionsas the Congress had allocat-ed Munugode to the CPI.

The Congress suspendedSravanthi Reddy from theparty for contesting as anIndependent in 2014 alongwith 16 other Congress lead-ers who also contested asrebel candidates.

Later, the Congress with-drew her suspension. But shedidn't get the Congress tick-et even in 2018 as the party

gave it to senior leaderKomatireddy RajagopalReddy, who defeated TRScandidate KusukuntlaPrabhakar Reddy.

In fact, Rajagopal Reddystarted saying after the June2019 elections that the BJP isthe only alternative in theState.

After former MinisterEatala Rajender's victory,Komatireddy Venkat Reddystarted thinking seriously onresigning his MLA seat andCongress membership to jointhe BJP and contest as the BJPcandidate in Munugode.

Before Huzurabad elec-tions, Rajagopal Reddy threwa challenge at Chief MinisterK. Chandrasekhar Rao toimplement the Dalit Bandhuscheme in Munugode like inHuzurabad.

Rajagopal Reddy said thathe will resign his MLA seatand would not contest againif he could developMunugode with an invest-ment of Rs 2,000 crore.

TRS will win if elections are held now in TS, says surveyPNS n HYDERABAD

A survey by the organisation,Ground Report, has said thatthe TRS will win electionswith 65 to 70 (6 MIM seats) inTelangana if elections are heldnow.

The Congress will get 35-40seats and the BJP will win 12-14 seats. Others will get one ornone.

The report said that TheGround Report @janta pollsurvey stated in its tweet thatif elections are held now theTRS will win Telangana again,but TPCC chief and Malkajgiri

MP A. Revanth Reddy is themost popular CM face.

It also said the Congress willwin Punjab with a landslideand that the BJP will win inUttar Pradesh.

The Congress will face atough fight in Uttarakhand andGoa, and although the BJP hasan edge in Manipur there willbe a hung Assembly there.

In the CM survey, RevanthReddy came first with 44 percent of the votes, KCR came sec-ond with 42 per cent and BandiSanjay third with 6-7 per cent.Others had 5-6 per cent votes.

The tweet of The Ground

Report@janta_poll is"Telangana opinion poll TRS:65-70 (AIMIM 6), INC: 35-40,BJP: 12-14 Others: 0-1, popu-lar CM face Revanth Reddy:44%, KCR: 42% Bandi Sanjay:6-7%, and others: 5-6.

If elections are held now theTRS is all set to win Telangana,but Revanth Reddy is the mostpopular CM face.

Conclusion of our opinionpoll in election-bound states:Punjab: INC (landslide), UP:BJP, UK: Congress (toughfight), Goa: Congress (toughfight), Manipur: hung (BJP hasedge)."

Congress braces forMunugode by-poll?o Palvai Sravanthi Reddy be be given the ticket if Rajagopal quits

PNS n HYDERABAD

A labourer was arrested bythe Chatrinaka Police here onFriday for allegedly misbe-having with a 4-year-old girlat Kranthinagar in theKandikal Gate area.

The accused person identi-fied as Narsing, 32, tried tolure the girl with chocolatesand biscuits when she wasplaying with other childrennear her home, said the police.

The girl, who was scaredafter seeing Narsing's behav-iour ran towards her motherand complained about theordeal. The mother of the vic-tim nabbed the suspect withthe help of residents, whoroughed him up and handedhim over to the ChatrinakaPolice.

The police officials arrest-ed him and filed a POCSOcase against him, said SyedAbdul Khadar Jilani, inspec-tor of Chatrinaka PS.

Man held for misbehaving with 4-yr-old

Tribal torture case:S-I transferredPNS n HYDERABAD

A police officer in Telangana'sSuryapet district was trans-ferred on Friday after he alleged-ly tortured a tribal in custody.

Suryapet district SP S.Rajendra Pasad sent sub-ins-pector M Lingaiah of Atmakur(S) police station to VacancyReserve (VR).

The SP also directed Sur-yapet DSP Mohan Kumar toconduct an inquiry into the in-cident and submit a report atthe earliest. The action cameafter allegations that Lingaiahtortured a 23-year-old tribal far-mer who was arrested on sus-picion of theft.

G Veera Shekar's relativeshad on Thursday staged aprotest in front of the police sta-tion demanding justice. Theyalleged that Veera Shekar lostconsciousness after he wasmercilessly beaten up by the SI.

He was picked by police onWednesday from his field inconnection with a theft report-ed at Eluru village a few daysago. Veera Shekar's familymembers said three policementook him to the police station.

Though his elder brotherand another relative alsoreached the police station

demanding papers relating tothe case, the police asked themto leave, saying the same will beprovided later.

Late on Wednesday night,one of Veera Shekar's neigh-bours received a call from thepolice station asking them totake him home. When his fa-mily members went to the po-lice station, he was foundunconscious.

Police said he was sick butwhen he regained consciousnesshe told the family members thathe was beaten up. He allegedthat the policemen stretched hishands and legs after pinninghim against a wall and beat himwith belts and sticks.

The next day, the tribal far-mer's relatives and other resi-dents brought him to the policestation and staged 'dharna'demanding action againstpolicemen who tortured him.The police later shifted him tothe government hospital atSuryapet.

Police, however, denied theuse of third-degree methods.They said Veera Shekar waspicked up for questioning afteran accused in a theft casenamed him. Police said since hewas weak and not well, he wassent back home.

Cops seizebooks onMaoist leader, register casePNS n HYDERABAD

The police raided a printingpress in Amberpet on Friday,where a book about the life ofMaoist leader Rama Krishnawas being printed.

The police arrested oneRama Krishna Reddy, theowner of the press, NavyaPrinters, and a case was reg-istered against him.

Getting information thatbanned literature of Maoistswas being printed at NavyaPrinters in Amberpet, thepolice raided the press. Theyfound that a book on the lifeof Maoist leader RamaKrishna was being printedand its binding was going on.

The police seized around1,000 books and the printedmaterial which was awaitingbinding was also seized.

East Zone DCP RameshReddy led the raid andchecked all the material print-ed there. They recovered therecords kept at the press tocheck material printed earlier.

ACP Venkata Ramanasaid, "We received informa-tion about the printing ofbanned literature at NavyaPrinters. We raided the pressand found books about thelife of Maoist leader RamaKrishna. There is no properrecord about the printing ofbooks. The book had bannedMaoist literature. The ownerof the printing press is print-ing banned literature forsome organisations affiliatedto Maoists."

The wife of Rama KrishnaReddy, Sandhya, who is alsoan activist said, "RK’s wife Si-risha asked us to print thebook in the name of SayudhaKanti Swapnam. She gave usthe content in a pen drive. Wewere printing the book as perher request.”

Continued from page 1

On Friday, Minister KTRama Rao said that thefighting spirit witnessedduring Telangana movementwas visible in the dharnasand the Chief Minister’sspeeches. KTR in particularhas been repeating that alarge number of people wererestless and wanted to getonto the roads and refreshagitation days. He also saidthat the Chief Minister’swords reminded them ofthe Telangana movement.

Likewise, Minister VemulaPrashant Reddy on Fridaysaid “During the days ofTelangana movement,Andhra leaders used to com-ment that if the separateTelangana State is formed,people of Telangana wouldhave to beg on streets formoney.

Today, it is Jagan who isrunning from pillar to postand going to the Centre beg-ging for money to run hisgovernment.”

It may be mentioned herethat in 2001, when the TRSwas launched, there was just

a hazy memory of the 1969Telangana agitation, andthose who did remember thefirst agitation had alreadygiven up on the Telanganacause.

TRS seems to have realisedthat seven years down theline, a similar situation wouldcome up where the move-ment could be relegated tojust memories and nostalgia.

In the 2018 elections, theTelangana Congress made amajor tactical blunder byallying with the TDP, seen inTelangana as a “AndhraParty''. This gave the impres-sion that KCR was the onlygenuine Telanganaite.

Many believe that in 2018,KCR used the opportunity toinstil fear among the com-mon man that Naidu willimpact the administration inTelangana if the Congresswas voted to power.

Now that all TelanganaCongress and BJP leadersbeing locals, it is all the moreimportant for the ruling partyto remind the people that theseparate Telangana move-ment was spearheaded byKCR and the TRS.

TRS keeps TSsentiment alive...

TRS takes the wind out of BJP sails...Continued from page 1

“The Centre is not giving clar-ity that it would procureYasangi paddy while the Stategovernment advised the farm-ers to go for alternative crops,”they said.

The situation looked diceyfor the TRS government withfarmers unhappy over theadvice of State government togo for alternative crops inYasangi till the time TelanganaBJP president Bandi Sanjaymade a tactical error by exhort-ing the farmers to cultivatepaddy in Yasangi too and thathis party would compel theState to keep its word that itwould buy every grain fromthe farmers.

The provocative statementsof Bandi Sanjay gave a handleto Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao, whoutilised the opportunity to callfor State-wide dharnas in everyconstituency and district head-quarters on Friday to force theCentre to purchase paddy.KCR also demanded the StateBJP leaders to prevail upon itsCentral leaders to purchaseYasangi paddy from Telanganatoo as it promised to do inPunjab.

Union Minister KishanReddy who joined the issuefrom Delhi in the war of wordsbetween the Chief MinisterKCR and State BJP presidentBandi Sanjay too failed to giveclarity to the TRS government’sdemand whether Centre wouldprocure Yasangi paddy or not.

It was perhaps this reasonthat Friday’s dharnas called bythe Chief Minister evoked abetter response than what theTRS had hoped for.

TRS Working President KTRama Rao went ballistic inSircilla where he led the mahadharna with thousands offarmers while Minister HarishRao led the protest in Siddipet,Agriculture Minister NiranjanReddy in Wanaparthy, CivilSupplies Minister Gangula

Kamalakar in Karimnagar,Panchayat Raj and RuralDevelopment MinisterErrabelli Dayakar Rao in erst-while Warangal district,Woman and Child WelfareMinister Satyavathi Rathod inMulugu district headquarter,R&B Minister Vemula Prash-ant Reddy in Nizamabad, Exc-ise Minister Srinivas Goud inMahbubnagar among others.

In Hyderabad, at the famousDharna Chowk, protests were

led by Home Minister MdMahmood Ali and AnimalHusbandry Minister TalasaniSrinivas Yadav, MLA DanamNagender and others.

Thousands of farmers hold-ing placards turned out to par-ticipate in protest programmesin every mandal, constituencyand district headquartersdemanding Centre to purchasepaddy in Yasangi. Many farm-ers lamented that they could notgrow any other crop other than

paddy in their fields and it wasthe only crop which would bepurchased at the MSP.

In other areas TRS MPs,MLAs, MLCs and other localbodies’ representatives partic-ipated in the dharnas protest-ing the Centre’s reluctance tobuy boiled rice in Yasangi. Inthe Yasangi season, because ofrising temperatures, paddywould give better yield tomillers only if it was processedto produce boiled rice.

Cuss words, insults rule the dayContinued from page 1

“Did Prime Minister Modi and Union MinisterPiyush Goyal assure to purchase paddy and didthe Telangana government refuse to procureit?” KTR sought to know from Bandi Sanjay.Telangana government created many facilitiesfor farmers including Rythu Vedikas in whichBandi Sanjay took shelter during hispadayatras, he said. KTR said that while theBJP-led Union government was selling away‘everything’, it refused to buy paddy fromfarmers. He said under the BJP rule, the Global HungerIndex report brought out by an Europe-basedagency ranked India at 101 out of 116countries while Nepal and Bangladesh wereranked 76 and Pakistan 92. “What did Congressand BJP governments do in the last 75 yearswith all the resources at their disposal.Telangana Chief Minister KCR achieved miraclesin mere seven years?” KTR said.MINISTER VEMULA PRASHANTH REDDY CALLS

JAGAN A BEGGAR

The unparliamentary language used by TRS MLAs,Ministers and even ZPTC members went viral in thesocial media. Minister Prashanth Reddy madestrong remarks against AP government and its ChiefMinister evoking a strong counter from AP MinisterPerni Nani. Speaking at a dharna in Nizamabad,Prashanth Reddy said that Andhra leaders said thatTelangana people would be in dire straits ifTelangana State was formed. “However under theable leadership of Chief Minister KCR, we areenjoying our own income which used to be takenaway by Andhra people in the combined State. Nowour money is not going to Andhra and those peopleare now begging from others. Jagan is also inbegging mode and depending on Centre even fordaily administrative expenditure. Without loans, AP

cannot be administered. Under the pressure fromthe Centre, meters were being fixed to agriculturalpumpsets in AP,” he said. In an immediate counterto Prashanth Reddy’s remarks, Perni Nani said thatone would know how many loans Telangana hadtaken if one were to check with the banks. “Jaganhas an open and consistent policy and unlike KCR,he has no dual standards – say one thing openly andanother thing in private,” Perni Nani said. Naniwondered what Telangana rulers were doing forloans and KCR must be going frequently to Delhi tobargain for funds and join the Union government.“KCR is an expert in boasting outside andprostrating before BJP leaders in private. Jaganwould not stoop to such levels and he would alwaysmaintain his dignity,” the AP Minister said.RASAMAYI BALAKISHAN RESORTS TO ABUSE

OF BANDI SANJAY

In another instance, Manakonduru MLA RasamayiBalkishan made controversial remarks during adharna programme at Manakonduru on Friday. Hisremarks were recorded and posted on socialmedia. Abusing Bandi Sanjay, RasamayiBalakishan termed the BJP leader as ‘faithful pet’of Narendra Modi. The BJP leader did not havecommon sense that farmers could not be dictatedwhat to cultivate in their lands in Yasangi.Farmers would cultivate whatever they wouldwant, he asserted. People in the North and Modiwould not know about rice as they are wheateaters and the BJP rulers have no basicunderstanding about agriculture, he said.ZPTC MEMBER’S CONTROVERSIAL REMARK

The most controversial comment came from TRSKathalapur mandal ZPTC member Nagabhumaiah,who during the dharna on Friday, said if Centre didnot do justice to Telangana farmers by purchasingYasangi paddy, then Telangana should be made aseparate country. His remarks posted on twitterwere condemned and some netizens demandedstern action against him.

‘Arrest Kangana...Continued from page 1

Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malikcontroversially suggested the actorhad made the comments underthe influence of drugs. "Looks likeKangana Ranaut took a heavydose of Malana Cream (a varietyof hashish) before making such astatement," the minister remarked.

Protests to continue till Centre procures Yasangi paddy: TRSContinued from page 1

“If required, it should take measures to exportfood grains with coordination of States as Statescould not export rice to other countries on theirown,” KTR said. Acknowledging the spontaneous support offarmers to the TRS dharnas, he said that thefighting spirit witnessed during Telanganamovement was visible in the dharnas beingstaged today. KTR said Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar gavepriority to agriculture right from the moment theState came into being and revived agriculture in abig way by taking several farmer-friendlymeasures. “Quality 24x7 power, timely supply of qualityseeds and fertilisers, revival of tanks underMission Kakatiya, completion of mega Kalesw-aram lift irrigation project to bring Godavari watersto drought-prone areas of Telangana, RythuBandhu investment assistance scheme etc. havehelped increase the extent of land undercultivation in seven years,” the Minister said. Hereminded that the TS government’s Rythu Bandhu

was copied by Centre and 11 other States andRythu Bima assured ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh within aweek to the family of farmers in case of death.“Such schemes were implemented nowhere elsein the world. Under the administration of KCR,State recorded impressive yields of paddy and byprocuring three crore tonnes of paddy, Telanganaexceeded Punjab. Even educated youth were nowinclined towards agriculture,” KTR said. “The biggest multi-stage lift irrigation scheme ofKaleswaram was completed in a record time ofthree-and-a-half years and Godavari waters couldbe brought to the barren lands in the State toirrigate lakhs of acres. Farmers should recall theachievements of the last seven years,” theMinister said. Addressing the dharna in Siddipet, Harish Raocalled upon farmers to tweet Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for purchase of boiled rice. Hesaid the governments over the last 70 years hadbeen purchasing boiled rice and the BJPgovernment should explain why it would notpurchase it now.Harish Rao said Friday’s dharnas were only abeginning and more such protests would bestaged if paddy was not purchased in Yasangi.

Greater role for...Continued from page 1

In a nostalgic tone, Doval saidthat he remembered that 52years back, he was also trainedand passed out from the sameacademy.

“From 1948 onwards, 5,700officers have been trained inthis academy and have servedthe country," he added. Hesaid that “IPS is a tag, which willbe with you, even after retire-ment, even after the death”.

Doval said that maintaininglaw and order in every part ofthe 32 lakh sq km of India is theresponsibility of police forces.

“Not only the policing aboutwhich you (IPS officers) havebeen trained well. But it willextend. You will be responsiblefor border management of thiscountry. 15,000 km of the bor-der, most of it has got peculiarproblems of its own,” he added.

"There is a border in Pakistanwith China or Myanmar orBangladesh. We have got differ-ent types of security relatedissues which are manned by thepolice and the central policeorganisations which are man-

ning these borders," Doval said.According to him, the

strength of the police force inthe country is 21 lakh and so far35,480 personnel have sacri-ficed their lives.

"We would also like toremember those 40 IPS officerswho were martyred," Dovalsaid without specifying anyincident or occasion.

The security advisor saidIndia which will usher in a newera as it paces towards its 100thyear of Independence will beknown for its many achieve-ments and accomplishmentsand will be one of the leadingnations across the globe.

Quintessence of democracydoes not lie in the ballot box,but it lies in the laws which aremade by the people who areelected by or elected throughthe electoral process, Dovalsaid.

"Laws are not as good as theyare made. No nation can bebuilt where rule of law hasfailed. People cannot feel safeand secure where law enforcersare weak, corrupt, partisan," hemaintained.

Where is ‘friendly policing’ for the poor, Dalits...Continued from page 1

But, a Dalit woman or an inno-cent tribal farmer will be arrest-ed without any notice and theycan be interrogated at the stationwithout any FIR even if thecharge is a theft of a few thou-sands. This is the state of affairsin Telangana.

“Only suspensions, whatabout criminal proceduresagainst the police personnelwho killed Mariamma,” theHigh Court had asked theAdvocate General two daysback.

Mariamma, a 44-year-oldpoor Dalit woman, died due toalleged torture by theAddagudur police in Yadadridistrict.

The police had broughtMariamma, her son Uday Kiranand a friend to the police stationon June 15 in connection witha complaint by a pastor regard-

ing a theft at his home. On June18, she collapsed at the policestation and died.

The police said that she haddied due to a heart strokebecause of ill health. After a judi-cial probe, a second post-mortem was done and it wasfound that there were woundson the body of Mariamma, aclear attempt to hide the truth.

Last Wednesday night, a trib-al farmer named Veera Sekharwas brought to the AtmakurPolice Station in SuryapetDistrict. A complaint had beengiven that motors were stolenfrom the fields.

The Atmakur police handedhim over to the family onThursday midnight. Whilehanding over, he was uncon-scious, and there was froth in hismouth, his family said.

Veera Sekhar of RamojiThanda informed his family thathe was beaten up and forced to

drink urine by the police. Hewas later taken to hospital.

The police say that his namewas mentioned by anotheraccused Banothu Naveen dur-ing the inquiry. Many propertyoffences were registered, inwhich Veera Sekhar’s involve-ment was suspected, they stat-ed. His family members believethat the police are trying toname the victim in multipletheft cases to cover up theircrime. In another case, oneOdanti Bhimaboya, was broughtto the police station after arrest-ing him for playing cards by theKamareddy police onWednesday.

He was allegedly beatenseverely by the police. He wasshifted to the hospital and laterto Hyderabad where he diedwhile undergoing treatment.He is also a tribal of Bichkundvillage. His wife alleged that doc-tors reported that blood clots

had formed in his body due tosevere injuries. In contrast, theaccused were treated with kid’sgloves by the police for the samecrime at Begumpet.

In all the three incidents,there are allegations that thepolice violated rules and proce-dures while questioning thevictims. Nor was any procedurefollowed when they were arrest-ed or questioned.

Not surprisingly, whereverthe police are accused of deal-ing with the poor and violatingrules, CCTV footage is notavailable and the CCTV cam-eras never seem to function.

In the Mariamma case, theCCTV cameras were not func-tioning. In the case of Atmakuruof Suryapet, where a tribalfarmer was beaten brutally bythe police, only two CCTVcameras were in working con-dition, but the two were notfunctioning.

Cong pokes...Continued from page 1

He alleged that it was notproper for the TRS govern-ment to stage dharnas as thestate government is supposedto procure food grains.

Addressing the media atthe Assembly media point onFriday, Bhatti wondered:“Who will purchase paddy ifthe TRS and the BJP stagedharnas on the roads? Willthe US or Pakistan procurethe paddy if the parties rul-ing the State and at the Centrestage dharnas on the roads.Both the TRS and the BJP aremocking democracy.”

Bhatti said that both theTRS and the BJP had takenback the state and the nation20 years back. “Both hatcheda conspiracy to hand overagriculture to corporates andas part of it, both are enact-ing dramas,” he said.

Kisan Congress vice-pres-ident M Kodanda Reddy saidthe Centre has to procure thegrains produced by Statefarmers at any cost.

He said that the Centre hadset up the Food Corporationof India (FCI) 56 years ago.The Congress introduced theFood Security Act duringthe UPA government. FCIused to support people whenthe nation faced food scarci-ty, he said.

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 13, 2021 hyderabad 03

PNS n HYDERABAD

More than 10 publications in thename of Covaxin, all in reputed andinternational journals vouch for thesafety and efficacy of our indige-nous vaccine.

Covaxin has been found to be77.8 per cent effective, according tothe safety and efficacy analysis datafrom Phase III clinical trials peerreviewed and published in reput-ed medical journal The Lancet.

Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotechsaid the Lancet peer-review con-firms the efficacy analysis whichdemonstrates Covaxin to be effec-tive against Covid-19. The vaccinemaker Covaxin is the only Covid-19 vaccine to have demonstratedefficacy data from phase III clini-cal trials against the Delta variantat 65.2 per cent. "The efficacyanalysis demonstrates Covaxin tobe 77.8 per cent effective againstsymptomatic Covid-19, throughevaluation of 130 confirmed cases,with 24 observed in the vaccine

group versus 106 in the placebogroup," the company said.

The efficacy analysis alsodemonstrates Covaxin to be 93.4per cent effective against severesymptomatic Covid.

"Safety analysis demonstratesadverse events reported were sim-ilar to placebo, with 12 per cent ofsubjects experiencing commonlyknown side effects and less than 0.5per cent of subjects experiencing

serious adverse events," it saidThe efficacy data also shows 63.6

per cent protection against asymp-tomatic Covid-19, 65.2 per centprotection against the SARS-CoV-2, B.1.617.2 Delta and 70.8 per centprotection against all variants ofSARS-CoV-2 virus.

Covaxin was developed under apartnership with the IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR) and the National Institute

of Virology, with Bharat Biotechreceiving the SARS-COV-2 strainsthrough this collaboration.

Bharat Biotech had establishedan ongoing collaboration withViroVax since 2019, through theIndo-US Vaccine Action Program,to develop and evaluate IMDG, anovel TLR7/8 agonist molecule,which is formulated as part of theadjuvant in Covaxin. The AdjuvantProgram of the US NIAID has sup-ported ViroVax since 2009.

"The peer-review of Covaxinphase III clinical trial data in TheLancet, an authoritative voice inglobal medicine validates our com-mitment to data transparency andmeeting the stringent peer-reviewstandards of world leading medicaljournals," said Krishna Ella, CMDof Bharat Biotech. He said the datafrom their product developmentand clinical trials have been pub-lished in 10 peer-reviewed journals,making Covaxin one of the mosthighly published Covid vaccines inthe world.

10 publications vouch for Covaxin’s efficacy

PNS n HYDERABAD

During the past five years,work on 55 of the 89 roadstaken up for widening havebeen completed in the city forwhich 1,805 properties havebeen acquired.

Under Strategic Road Deve-lopment Programme (SRDP),as many as 1,100 properties,192 under missing / slip roadsprojects and another 511 prop-erties were acquired for gener-al road widening projects, saidthe GHMC on Friday.

In a media statement,GHMC Commissioner LokeshKumar said that property own-ers are preferring to part withtheir land by opting for TDRcertificates in lieu of cashcompensation, since thedemand for issue and utilisa-tion of TDR has increasedrapidly with the urbanisationgrowth.

GHMC has issued 864 TDRscovering a total area of 350acres. Of the TDRs issued, asmany as 553 were for roadwidening works, 128 for SRDPworks, 77 for beautification oftanks or FTL, 49 for missing or

link roads and 41 for nalawidening works. Lokesh Kumarsaid, "The process of acquisitionof properties for the roadwidening works in GHMC isapplauded as one of the bestpractices all over the nation.Acquisition of propertiesthrough the new LandAcquisition Act is one of thebiggest tasks in view of theincreased compensation values,but with the new initiatives ofthe Telangana Government likeintroduction of the new TDRpolicy in the State has given agreat strength in acquiring theproperties with minimum bur-

den on the exchequer." It maybe mentioned here thatGovernment of Telangana hasdesignated Commissioner,GHMC as Special Collector,Land Acquisition, for GHMCarea in 2020.

As per GHMC, acquisitionof properties for SRDP worksat Chanchalguda-Saidabad- ISSadan Road, ShastripuramRoad, Aramghar to Zoo Parkis under progress.

The progress of acquisitionof properties is being reviewedby the Commissioner everyTuesday with all the wings ofGHMC.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Commissioner's TaskForce (South Zone) team,Hyderabad, and the GolcondaPolice busted a cricket bettingracket and nabbed a personwho had allegedly provided anonline web application forpunters to participate in crick-et betting by collecting money.

Police officials seized cashworth Rs 1,50,000 and Rs3,92,000 in their bank accountswas frozen.

The accused identified asMohammed Azghar, 36), aresident of Tolichowki is alsoengaged in steel business.Baazigar and Pratyush, who

were also part of the bettingracket are absconding, policesaid.

Azghar had purchased an

online application named"Fairbook.io" from Baazigar, anative of Dubai, on commis-sion basis.

He also operated a websitefor carrying on online cricketbetting with punters inHyderabad and other States.

Later, Fairbook.io was hand-ed over to another bookienamed Pratyush, who belongsto Gujarat, on commissionbasis. Pratyush continued theonline cricket betting, policesaid.

Azghar had been monitor-ing daily transactions in thecricket betting racket withPratyush. The money involvedin the transactions was beingmanaged through onlineaccounts via Google Pay,Phone Pay, bank accounts etc.,police said.

Cricket betting racket busted, 1 held

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Court onFriday reserved its orders ona writ petition seeking todeclare GO 87 and GO 98 per-taining to caste-based reserva-tions for allotment of liquorshop licences as illegal andarbitrary.

The two GOs mandatedthat reservations of 15 percent,10 percent and 5 percent beimplemented for Goud caste,Scheduled Castes andScheduled Tribes respectivelyin allotment of liquor shoplicences. On Wednesday,Justice K. Lakshman had asked

the government to file writteninstructions and he heard thearguments on Friday.

Vasireddy Ravikanth andNandyala Prabhakar had filedthe petitions seeking interimsuspension of the GOs.

The existing licences to runliquor shops would expire byNovember 18, 2021, the peti-tioners informed the court.

PNS n HYDERABAD

An Assistant DivisionalEngineer (ADE) of TelanganaState Southern PowerDistribution CompanyLimited (TSSPDCL) atIbrahimbagh, Charan Singh,was arrested by the ACBsleuths on Friday.

He was caught whileallegedly taking a bribe of Rs30,000 from an electricalcontractor L Ravi Kumar,when the latter hadapproached Charan Singhto get approval for two offi-cial works. One was fixing atransformer at SecretariatColony, Manikonda, and theother was shifting of a line inManikonda. The suspectdemanded Rs 30,000 toapprove the two estimations,ACB said.

Ravi Kumar approachedthe ACB and they directedhim to give currency onwhich a chemical had beensprayed. The complainantgave the money at the ADE'soffice. The ACB team raidedthe spot and checked the cur-rency taken by Charan Singh,the suspect.

Charan Singh was arrest-ed and produced before ACBcourt.

ADE of TSSPDCLlands in ACB net

TS HC reserves orders on liquor shop licence quota

PNS n HYDERABAD

A man was murdered by his friendat Musheerabad late on Thursdaynight. Preliminary investigationrevealed that the two had a brawlover a financial issue, said thepolice.

The victim was identified asSonu, 27. According to the police,Sonu, a native of Uttar Pradesh,moved to Hyderabad six years ago

in search of livelihood and waseking a living by working as a car-penter.

During the investigation, policelearnt that Sonu borrowed a handloan of Rs 2,000 from Altaf Khan,who works at a mutton shop inMusheerabad. Even after repeatedrequests to repay, Sonu kept post-poning the payback.

On Thursday night, while theduo were drinking, an argument

ensued over the issue. As the argu-ment grew heated, Khan took abutcher's knife from his shop andhacked Sonu on the neck. Due tothe deep cut sustained, Sonu bledto death.

The Musheerabad police regis-tered a murder case and are inves-tigating.

Police reportedly took Khan intocustody and sent the body for postmortem examination.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Panjagutta Police onFriday apprehended two per-sons in Karnataka for theiralleged involvement in themurder of a five-year-old girl.The body of the girl was foundat Panjagutta on November 4.

The step-mother of the vic-tim is one among the twoaccused persons arrested bythe police.

She has murdered the girlwith the help of her paramour,to hide the woman's illicitaffair.

The police officials areinvestigating to find outwhether the accused personshad murdered the girl inHyderabad or brought thebody from Bengaluru aftermurdering her there.

The CCTV camera footageindicated that the suspectstoured the city with the bodyof the girl to find a place todump it, said the police addingthat they had finally threw thebody at a shop in theDwarakapuri Colony ofPanjagutta on the night ofNovember 3.

Civic body completes 55 of 89road widening works in 5 years

Two held for murder of five-year-old child

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Cyber Crime unit of theRachakonda Police onThursday launched an inves-tigation after a woman washarassed over calls and textsfrom a man who claimed to bean official of the CID.

According to the police,the 30-year-old victim fromIbrahimpatnam area firstreceived a text over WhatsAppsaying that the man, claimingto be a senior official at theCID, saw her at a function,liked her and wanted to bewith her. Soon the man start-

ed harassing her with explic-it photos and even beganvideo calling her. During onesuch call, the man was wear-ing a police uniform. Seeingthe man in the uniform, thewoman then approached thepolice and lodged a com-plaint.

The Rachakonda Police sus-pect the man to be a stalkerliving in the vicinity of the vic-tim. The harasser could havegot the victim's number whileasking around and then beganharassing her, said S Harinath,ACP, adding that a detailedinvestigation has begun.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Railway Police seized 42kilos of marijuana from a manat the Secunderabad RailwayStation during surprise checksagainst drugs and apprehend-ed him on Thursday.

The arrested person hasbeen identified as KhagaBehera, 40, a fisherman by pro-fession from Ganjam in Odis-ha. Police officials said that hewas transporting dry ganjafrom Ichapuram in AndhraPradesh to Mumbai.

On Wednesday, he went toIchapuram and travelled byKonark Express train up toVisakhapatnam. After takingthe consignment, he reached

Secunderabad RailwayStation, but as he saw copschecking his train, he gotdown and escaped frompolice.

Late on Thursday night, hereturned to the station toboard a train to Mumbai, butas no trains were available, hedecided to travel the next day.While leaving the stationthrough the foot over bridge,police officials apprehendedhim and detained him forquestioning.

Three luggage bags with 42kg of marijuana were seizedfrom his possession.

The police booked a caseunder the NDPS Act and havelaunched an investigation.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The chairman of TSRTCBajireddy Goverdhan hastaken serious note of acci-dents and has asked the dri-vers of TSRTC's hired busesto undergo training at theTSRTC staff training col-leges in Hyderabad andWarangal to improve theirdriving skills.

In a statement on Friday,Goverdhan said that theTSRTC will not hesitate tolevy huge penalties and willnot hesitate to cancel theagreements with the ownersof hired private buses if theydo not mend their ways.

Man poses as CID official,harasses 30-yr-old woman

42 kg weed seized at Sec'bad station

Three peddlers arrestedPNS n HYDERABAD

The Cyberabad Police onThursday arrested three personsfound in possession of ganjaand seized contraband weigh-ing 5.5 kg from their posses-sion. Officials also booked 58E-petty cases against personsfound smoking in publicplaces and consuming gutka.

Meanwhile, the ExcisePolice of Medak jailed a habit-ual drug peddler for breach-ing his bond. "The drug ped-dler, Amarsingh, a resident of

Sangareddy, was bound overbefore the executive magis-trate for one year for goodbehavior. However, he wasagain caught for selling ganja.As per the terms, he wasdirected to pay an amount ofRs 2,00,000 for breach ofbond. On failure to pay thesaid amount the accusedAmarsingh has been sent tojail for a period of one year bythe Executive Magistrate,Sangareddy," said KAB Sastry,DCP of Prohibition andExcise, Medak division.

Man murders friend over Rs 2,000

RTC chairman warns drivers

n GHMC managed to acquire 1,805 properties

By next year, our lives willreturn to normal: AIG chiefNAVEENA GHANATE

n HYDERABAD

Though Covid will remain,it will become endemic likethe common cold and bynext year, our lives will comeback to normal, said AIGHospitals Chairman andfounder D NageshwarReddy.

Speaking at the PublicHealth Innovations Conclave(PHIC) Expo-2021—anexclusive expo on PublicHealth that started at Hitexon Friday, Dr Reddy saidthat he was optimistic aboutthe future.

“What we saw during thepeak of the pandemic wasdifferent. In some cases,entire families were wipedout. Doctors themselvesdidn’t know how to dealwith it. We were fright-ened. It was like a soldiergoing to war wit houtweapons. To add to it ,WHO predictions were likeour weather predictions,”he said. AIG Hospitals treat-ed 30,000 Covid patients inthe last two years, he added.

Covid is not a tragedy, butit is a teacher, it taught usmany lessons, he said.

The second edition of thethree-day PHIC will con-clude on November 14. It’s afirst of its kind in India, fea-turing innovation, technol-ogy and best practices inpublic health to deal with“Life after Pandemic”.

It has 75 stalls and isorganised by Hitex in asso-

ciation with the InfectionControl Academy of India.

Dr Anuj Sharma, WHOCountry Officer, said “Wewere making recommenda-tions on a ship under con-struction we were movingin.”

He added: “Initially, ourrecommendat ions wentwrong. But you see, WHOdoesn’t make any recom-mendations on its own. We

do so based on the recom-mendations of experts .When something is new andevolving, there are chancesof errors.”

Antimicrobial Resistancemay be the new pandemicwhich is building up, said DrSharma. He listed “3Ws and2Vs” for safer living – WearMask; Watch Distance andWash Hands andVaccination and Ventilation.

Dr K Shankar, Director ofPreventive Medicine,Government of Telanganasaid all government hospitalsin the State are equippedwith oxygen pipel ines .Vaccines will not protectfrom the virus but protectfrom death. By 2022 January,we will have a normal life, hesaid.

Krishna Yedula of SCSC-Society for CyberabadSecurity Council termedPHIC-2021 as a congregationof innovative minds. The con-clave makes sense for FacilitiesManagement Professionalsand HRs working IT offices togive them the confidence tocall back their staff to offices.

Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, Founder AIG Hospitals seen addressing the participantsat the inaugural session of PHIC-2021

21-yr-old girl jumps off Hyd Metro stationPNS n HYDERABAD

A 21-year-old studentallegedly jumped from thesecond floor of the AmeerpetMetro station on Fridayevening.

After sustaining graveinjuries, she was rushed to aprivate hospital by theemployees of HyderabadMetro Rail.

The woman was identifiedas Md Heena, a resident ofTolichowki, said the police,adding that the motivebehind her alleged jumpingwill be ascertained once sheregains consciousness at thehospital. A case was bookedand an investigation waslaunched by the SR Nagar,who confirmed that her con-dition is said to be critical.

The SR Nagar police areinvestigating the case.

04HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 13, 2021

PNS n WANAPARTHI

Organizing a huge dharna inWanaparthi, the ruling TRSleaders accused the Centralgovernment of discriminatingagainst Telangana and exposedits duplicity with regard topaddy purchases.

They alleged that the Centrewas favoring Punjab by buyingpaddy and denying the samefor Telangana, adding that itshould immediately announceits policy on the paddy pur-chase issue.

The Agriculture MinisterNiranjan Reddy and otherleaders of the party participat-ed in the dharna which saw anoutrage against the Union gov-ernment”s discriminationagainst the State.

The leaders said that underthe leadership of ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharaRao the farmers of the statewere a fruitful life after a longperiod but due to the decisionsof the Centre their situationhad worsened.

They said that the State gov-ernment was implementinginnovative schemes which wereseen nowhere in the countryand that the State was ahead ofall the other states in allrespects. “The Centre has theconstitutional obligation tocome to the rescue of thestates by buying paddy/ricethrough Food Corporation ofIndia.

It should also buy the corps

which do not get MSP and dis-tribute them through rationshops to the needy. They alsoalleged that instead of encour-aging fast-developing Telangana state Prime MinisterNarendra Modi was actingagainst it.

Saying that Telangana hassurpassed Punjab in the pro-duction of paddy by reachingto 3crore tonnes while Punjabstood at 2crore tonnes, theCentre should come forwardand help the state by buyingpaddy.

PNS, Nalgonda: The dhar-na was held under the auspicesof ruling party MLAs andleaders in 12 constituencies inthe combined Nalgonda dis-trict following a call by TRSchief KCR to hold dharnas inconstituency centers to protestthe central government's dis-crimination in grain procure-ment.

A dharna was held inSuryapeta under the supervi-sion of State Energy MinisterG. Jagadish Reddy on Friday.They demand the central gov-

ernment to purchase Yasangipaddy otherwise we will blockthe BJP leaders houses.

should purchase Paddy..In response to the call given

by the Ruling Party, TRS in theState staged Dharna today as apart of State-wide Dharna heldat Velpoor X Roads, protestedthe indifferent attitude of theCentral Govt in taking steps toProcure Paddy by opening the

Purchase Centers acrossTelangana.

Addressing the massiveturnout at the Velpoor XRoads, Vemula PrashanthReddy said the BJP Govt at thecenter proved itself as an antifarmers' regime, but on theother hand, TRS Govt is imple-menting pro- farmer Policiesby giving away 24 Hours FreeElectricity.

Why discrimination against TS?o State leaders lambast Centre o Demands its policy clarity on paddy issue

Will bend the CentrePNS n MEDAK

The TRS MLAs Parmadevendra Reddy and MadanSeshu said on Friday that theywould do justice to the farmersof the state by bending thenecks of the Centralgovernment. Speaking in aprotest dharna held hereagainst the Uniongovernment”s anti-farmer laws,the MLAs have demanded thatthe Centre had theresponsibility to purchasepaddy/rice being produced bythe farmers of the state. Anumber of TRS leaders andactivists have participated in thedharna held at Medak andNarsapur. “ The Uniongovernment has the obligationto buy paddy being produced inthe State. It should order theFCI to take steps to buy thesame from the state. They also

warned that If the Centralgovernment fails in this regardthey will obstruct the BJPleaders everywhere in the State.Strongly criticizing the Centralgovernment's attitude in thisrespect, the TRS MLAs saidthat they would bring pressureon the Union government andmake it to buy paddy from thestate. Stating that their agitationand protest dharnas wouldcontinue until justice wasmeted out to the sufferingfarmers, the leaders added thatthe Centre was trying to evadeaccountability in this regard andthat it would never be tolerated.They also alleged that theUnion government wasdiscriminating against the Stateand favoring some states. Theyadvised the Centre to shun anti-farmer policies and work fortheir benefit and come forwardto buy the paddy.

PNS n MULUG.

In order to conserve, protectand preserve the forests andalso to prevent grabbing ofthem, the Podu land titlesissue has been taken up, saidthe Collector Krishna Adityahere on Friday adding thatapplications for the Podu landswould be taken on a war foot-ing in the district.

He also announced that sofar 7844 applications havebeen taken from various areasin the district and appealed toall to cooperate with the gov-ernment in the resolution of thePodu lands issue and submit theapplications as per the normsissued by the government.

He also warned that if noone should take up Podu cul-tivation afresh, and if it comesto his notice action would betaken against them underForest Act.

In a review meeting onFriday, District Collectorordered the officials to take upthe Patta land applicationsimmediately and resolve themwithout any delay. Speaking inthe meeting of the officials ofvarious departments, theCollector said that out of 262applications for Patta landsand other issues, only 151were approved and 111 appli-cations were still pending fordecisions.

He ordered the officials tosubmit him a report specifyingwhere the applications werestill pending. He also askedthem to submit reports on a re-survey of 23 Patta land appli-cations.

Angered at the changesmade in the reports given bythe Irrigation department offi-cials, and personally observedall the reports submitted tohim so far.

The Collector ordered theofficials to come with completereports on sand issues andadvised that immediate reso-lution of them would providewater to thousands of acres ofland for cultivation. He alsoadvised officials to follow therules pertaining to miningpermissions and at the sametime warned the mining soci-eties that would be blocked ifthey form mining without per-missions.

Podu issue to be resolved on war footing, says Aditya

Accusing the Centre of discriminating against the State withregard to paddy purchase, the ruling TRS has organizedprotest dharnas in all districts and also warned it of

intensifying the protests if it fails to come forward to the rescue ofthe farmers. The dharnas were addressed by Ministers and MLAstargetting the Union government to change its stance.

PNS n JAYASHANKARBHUPALA PALLY

The District Collector BhaveshMisra has ordered the officialsto speed up the land acquisi-tion for Manchiryal-Hanumakonda green fieldsnational highway and askedthem to take steps to completethe process without any furtherdelay.

He said that with the con-struction of the highway thesurrounding villages would bedeveloped immensely. Addressing a meeting of officials, hesaid that the highway comple-tion would not only reduce thetravel time between Manchryal-Hanumakonda and also save alot of petrol and diesel. Linking both will also acceler-

ate the progress and develop-ment of the surrounding vil-lages and increase income forthe people.

He stated that land wouldhave to be acquired in thepurview of 14 villages andsteps should be taken to iden-tify the lands to be acquired.

Ordering the officials to com-plete the land survey forthwithand submit him a detailedreport, he said that a markshould be made for every100meters distance and a jointsurvey should also be conduct-ed in the areas by forest andrevenue officials.

Highway construction willaccelerate village developmentComplete land survey forthwith, Collector orders officials

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS)Chief Prof M Kodandaramhas demanded the police togive permission to all politi-cal parties to stage dharna atDharna Chowk at Indira Parkas everybody has the right tostage dharnas in a democra-cy.

He questioned the police asto how they gave permissionto TRS to stage a dharna atIndira Park as the police did-n’t give permission when TJSasked for permission showingsilly reasons. He also demand-ed the police, who are not giv-ing permission anywhere inthe state to stage dharna, to tellas to how they gave permis-sion to TRS at Indira Park.

Kodandaram said that he ishappy as the police gave per-mission to the TRS party tostage dharna at DharnaChowk at Indira Park anddemanded that the partiesshould be given permission tostage dharnas at the Chowkand asked permission to TJSto stage dharna at Indira Park.

He alleged that the state andcentral governments are play-ing games with the lives of thefarmers. He demanded thestate and central governmentsto give clarity as to why theyare not procuring paddy in thestate.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The BJP MP fromNizamabad, DharmapuriArvind, has alleged in a tweeton Friday that people didn’tmake TRS Chief K.Chandrasekhar Rao the ChiefMinister to stage dharnas.

He said the Chief Ministeris now stating that he will takeup dharnas, forgetting the factthat he removed the DharnaChowk at Indira Park.

Alleging that KCR and hisdaughter have a history ofattacking farmers he statedthat Telangana has been suf-fering a lot due to the lazinessof the Chief Minister anddemanded his resignation if hewas not able to rule the State.He stressed that the ChiefMinister should stage a dhar-na only after apologizing to thefarmers of Khammam,

Nizamabad, and Ma hbubna-gar.

“The Telangana Thalli stat-ue has the maize symbol, butthe Chief Minister is notencouraging maize cultiva-tion. He even went on to askthe farmers not to cultivatemaize in spite of the fact thatthe Centre has come forwardto procure maize” he said

Arvind said that KCR hasstated that he would stage adharna to make the Centreprocure non-superfine riceasking that whether KCR orhis son or his daughter ever atenon-superfine rice.” Who willeat non-superfine variety ricein the state” he questionedKCR.

He alleged that KCR hasbeen misleading the people byfalsifying the fact he himselfencouraged the farmers tocultivate paddy.

PNS n JAYASHANKARBHUPALA PALLY

Reacting to the politicsaround the paddy issue andprotests on it, the farmersasked the ruling TRS andUnion government to stopdeceiving them and immedi-ately start purchasing paddy.

They alleged that both theparties resorted to politicsover the issue by deceivingthem and conducting falsedharnas. They unitedlydemanded that the purchaseof paddy should be takenunconditionally and said thatjustice should be done tothem without any procrasti-nation. “What we want is jus-tice. Our paddy should bepurchased without any delay.

We don’t believe both par-ties conducting dharnas onthe issue. We have fed up withfalse promises and dharnas.”

The farmers said in a dharnaorganized here with the sup-port of the Congress party.

They accused TRS and BJPof cheating them withoutsolving the problem of pur-chasing the paddy they culti-vated by undergoing so manyhardships. “It is ridiculous tothat both the parties accusing

each other without coming tothe rescue of us. Their fightis over political benefit.

Out fight is for survival. Byblaming each other for thesituation, the ruling parties atthe Centre and in the Statehave been ignoring us” theagitat ing farmers saidexpressing their pain over

political turn to the issue.Even after weeks of taking thepaddy to the purchasing cen-ters, it is still laying with noone coming forward to lookinto the issue, they saidadding that at every stagethey have been facing hard-ships and outright deceptionand exploitation.

Stop dharnas, buy paddy!Farmers accuse the parties of politics, Want immediate purchase of paddy

PNS n SANGAREDDY

As the election code for MLCelections has been in force inthe State, those who have per-sonal weapons for self-protec-tion should surrender themimmediately to the nearestpolice stations, the SangareddySP Ramana issued orders onFriday. With the issuance ofelection notification, the codehas been in vogue he saidadding that the surrenderedwould be given back to themas and when the code was lift-ed and the normal situation

was restored. However, heclarified that the weaponsgiven to banks and other orga-nizations need not have to thesurrendered to the police.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Pullela Gopichand releasedhis autobiography Shuttler’sFlick: Making Every MatchCount published by Simon &Schuster India and co-authored with Priya Kumar.The event was curated Storiesby Meraqee and Rajat BookCorner.

KT Rama Rao, honorableMinister for MunicipalAdministration & UrbanDevelopment, Industries &Commerce, and InformationTechnology of Telanganaunveiled the book along withJayesh Ranjan, Principal

Secretary of the Industries &Commerce and ProfessorMadan Pillutla, Dean, ISB;Shobhita Narayan f romSimon & Schuster India,

Mohit Batra from Rajat BookCorner and Praveen Agarwal,Stories by Meraqee.

Through the kaleidoscopeof Pullela Gopichand’s life

story and the fateful kneeinjury on 25th January 1994,which was a career-threaten-ing setback, the discussionfocused on the comeback of

Pullela Gopichand and hisjourney into building thePul le la GopichandBadminton Academy.Professor Madan Pillutla fur-ther delved into how to builda legacy and an institution.

In Shuttler’s Flick, we get aglimpse of PullelaGopichand’s life before he became a world-famous cham-pion along with his insightsand philosophy as a coach atpresent. The book is inter-spersed with sections from hiswife, parents, and students.Written unlike an autobiogra-phy, the book is divided intochapters each focusing on an

aspect of his life. The end ofeach chapter carries a few keytakeaways from the book. 'Butthe return is not always easy,especially when the world hasmoved on without you whenthe people who were rootingfor you have now fou nd otherheroes to support.'WhenPullela Gopichand had toundergo a risky arthroscopicsurgery, chances of his fullrecovery were not great. Hisreturn to the badminton courtseemed a far-fetched dream.The odds were stacked againsthim. Then, in 1998, he won thebronze in the Commonwealthames.

All partiesshould bepermitted fordharnas

Code in force, surrenderpersonal weapons: SP

People didn't make KCR CMto stage dharnas, slams BJP

PNS n MULUG.

Concentrating on the need topropel a digital membershipprogramme, the Congressparty has taken up the mem-bership drive so as to increasethe supporters base.

The Mulugu MLA Sithakkaon Friday asked the districtand Mandal leaders of theparty to take forward themembership drive as decidedby the party leadership.Addressing an awarenessmeeting of the party atGovindaraopet here on Fridayshe said that the party leadersneed to have an understand-ing of the digital membershipconcept.

Advising the party activiststo take steps to increase theparty membership in everypolling center in the Muluguconstituency.

She stressed and asked theleaders to enroll more than ahundred members in everypolling center.

She also stated that if any-thing unexpected happens tothe members who haveenrolled themselves by payingRs 35, an insurance amount of2lakh will be given to theirfamily members.

Taking the meeting as achance, she ridiculed the dhar-na being undertaken by the

ruling TRS against the Uniongovernment”s anti-farmerpolicies and also its denial tobuy paddy from the State.She also commented that bothTRS and BJP enacting a polit-ical drama as both the partieshand in glove with each othersaying that the TRS fightsBJP in the State and supportsthe party at the Centre.

She assured that if theCentre and the state do notcome forward to buy paddyfrom the farmers, theCongress party would come totheir rescue by undertakingdharnas

Congress is readyto fight for farmers

‘Shuttler’s Flick’, a journey into Pullela’s life unveiled

PNS n VISAKHKAPATNAM

Train services were affecteddue to boulder fall on thetracks between Chimidipalli-Borraguhalu stations inKottavalasa-Kirandlul line andsubsequent damage of over-head equipment. Railwayauthorities rushed to the siteand restoration works werecarried out on a war-footing.The services were restoredlater. However, 08516Visakhapatnam-Kirandul spe-cial train was short-termi-nated at Araku due to late run-ning. Train 08516Visakhapatnam-Kirandul spe-cial train leavingVisakhapatnam was short-terminated at Araku and it willreturn from Araku toVisakhapatnam as train 08515special. Similarly, train 08515Kirandul-Visakhapatnam spe-cial leaving Kirandul will beshort-terminated at Koraputand will return as train 08516from Koraput to Kirandul.

Landslide hitstrain services

oo TRS and BJP hand in glove: Sitakka

Continued from page 1

“Our Chief Minister personal-ly gave the complaint then.That showed KCR’s concern andcommitment for the new State.But it’s November, 2021 today.Had the Centre taken a decisionin the last seven years,Telangana would not have hadany problem. KCR only said theproblem was pending for thelast seven years,” Harish Raotold reporters at Siddipet onFriday.

As the Centre did not take thedecision, the State had toapproach the Supreme Court toprotect the interest of the State,he recalled. Had only the Centreconstituted a tribunal even then,the case in SC would havebecome null and void.

“The Telangana governmenthas no personal dispute with theCentre or Shekhawat. However,the Centre should take imme-

diate decision on constituting anew Tribunal for re-allocationof Krishna water betweenTelangana and Andhra Pradeshor give new terms of referenceto the existing Brijesh KumarTribunal,” Harish Rao said.

He emphasised that therewas no hurdle in the way of theCentre taking a decision on anew Tribunal, considering thefact that the Telangana govern-ment had withdrawn its petitionfrom the Supreme Court.

“Telangana State is not get-ting its fair share in Krishnawaters and Andhra Pradeshwas diverting Krishna watersillegally to Penna basin,” HarishRao said. To enable Telanganato get its share in Krishnawaters, a new tribunal should beconstituted without furtherdelay, he said.

Harish Rao said thatTelangana was not making anyunreasonable demands and

only seeking its Constitutionalright for fair share in Krishnawaters.

Harish Rao said that they hadno doubt about Shekhawat’ssincerity though the UnionMinister apparently had takenKCR’s remarks about sevenyear delay personally. TheUnion Minister had given assur-ance for early approval toGodavari projects as there wereno disputes. “We hope to getapproval for Godavari projectssoon and Telangana’s dispute isonly related to Krishna waters.As AP was taking water illegal-ly to Penna basin, areas inKrishna basin of Telanganawere deprived of Krishna water,”he said. Harish Rao said as partof undivided AP, Telanganaregion had lost its rightful shareof water and now after forma-tion of Telangana State, KCRhad been trying for protectionof rights of Telangana State.

Harish says TS movedSC as Centre did not...

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R BJP govt in MP will get Khurshid'scontroversial book banned: Mishra

The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh is contemplating banning in the state, seniorCongress leader Salman Khurshid's book in which he has compared Hindutva toradical jihadist groups like ISIS and Boko Haram, after taking legal opinion on the

matter, said Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Friday. The minister also hit out atKhurshid over the book on the Ayodhya verdict, titled 'Sunrise Over Ayodhya: Nationhoodin Our Times', which was released onWednesday Talking to reporters inBhopal, Mishra said, "We will take theopinion of legal experts on the book andget it banned in Madhya Pradesh.Mishra criticised Khurshid over thecontroversial content of the book andaccused the former Union minister oftargeting Hindutva and attempting todivide the majority community "Thesepeople do not leave any opportunity totarget Hindutva and divide Hindus oncaste lines.

Money laundering: PMLA court extendsDeshmukh's ED custody till Nov 15

Aspecial PMLA court here on Friday extended the ED custody of formerMaharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh till November 15 in connection witha multi-crore money laundering case. He was arrested by the Enforcement

Directorate (ED) early last week. Aspecial holiday court on November6 had sent the 71-year-old NCPleader to judicial custody afterrejecting the ED's plea seekingextension of his remand. However,a day later, the Bombay HighCourt set aside the lower court'sorder and sent Deshmukh in EDremand till November 12. OnFriday, the former minister wasproduced before special PMLAcourt judge H S Sathbhai, whoextended his custody tillNovember 15.

Top Maoist leader carrying bounty ofRs 1 cr arrested by Jharkhand police

Top Maoist leader Prashant Bose alias Kishan Da, who was carrying a bounty ofRs 1 crore on his head, has been arrested in Jharkhand along with his wifeSheela Marandi, a senior police officer said on Friday. Marandi is also a

member of the CPI(Maoist). Bose, wanted in several criminal cases, is a seniorleader of the outfit's centralcommittee. He is also thesecretary of the CPI (Maoist)eastern regional bureau.According to the officer, thepolice, acting on intelligenceinputs, arrested the duo. Bose,who hails from West Bengal, wasin charge of Maoist activities inseveral states including Bihar,Jharkhand and West Bengal, andwas believed to have beenoperating from Saranda forests,the officer added.

Congress ideology vibrant butovershadowed by BJP: RahulPNS n WARDHA

Congress leader Rahul Gandhion Friday said his party's ide-ology is like a "beautiful jewel"with an unending power insideit, but it has been overshad-owed by the BJP, and main-tained Hindu and Hindutvaare different concepts.

If crystalized, the Congressideology which is alive andvibrant will envelope that ofthe BJP-RSS, he said andemphasised on strengtheninghis party's ideas within theorganisation and spreadingthem across the country.

Gandhi was addressingonline a four-day 'AICC orien-tation programme' organised atSevagram Ashram in Wardha.Congress representatives fromacross the states are participat-ing in the programme.

He said, "We have to acceptthat there are two ideologies inIndia - the Congress ideologyand the RSS ideology. We haveto accept the BJP-RSS hasspread hatred in today's India."

The former Congress pres-ident said there has been "com-plete capture" of the media bythe saffron outfit.

"The BJP has overshadowedthe loving, affectionate andnationalistic ideology of the

Congress party. Our ideologyis alive and vibrant, but it hasbeen overshadowed by theBJP," said the Lok Sabha MPfrom Wayanad in Kerala.

"It has been overshadowedpartly because of complete cap-ture of the media and completecapture of the Indian nation. Ithas also been overshadowed aswe have not propagated ourideology among our own peo-ple aggressively," said Gandhi.

Gandhi observed thatHindutva and Hinduism aretwo different concepts.

“These are the types of thingswe need to explore and under-stand and develop a group ofpeople...100, 200, 300, 500 peo-ple who deeply understandthese differences, who canapply these differences to issues,behaviour, to action.

Govt does not have strategyon China: Rahul GandhiNew delhi:Former Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi on Fridayalleged that the country'snational security is"unpardonably compromised" asthe government does not have astrategy on China.He cited a news report where theExternal Affairs Ministry and theChief of Defence Staff had adifferent take on the China borderissue.Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) BipinRawat on Thursday said thecontroversy about the Chinesecoming into the Indian territoryand building a new village is "nottrue", and that the villages werewell within the Chinese side of theLine of Actual Control (LAC).He also asserted that China hasnot transgressed the Indian"perception" of the LAC.In its recent report, the USDepartment of Defence said Chinabuilt a large village inside disputedterritory between its TibetAutonomous Region and India'sArunachal Pradesh in the easternsector of the LAC.Earlier in an official reaction to theUS report, the External Affairs

Ministry said India has neitheraccepted China's "illegaloccupation of its territory nor anyunjustified Chinese claims".While taking a swipe at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi for his"56-inch chest" remarks, Gandhisaid on Twitter, "Our nationalsecurity is unpardonablycompromised because GOI hasno strategy and Mr 56” is scared". "My thoughts are with the soldiersrisking their lives to guard ourborders while GOI churns outlies," he further alleged. In the run up to the 2014 LokSabha polls, Modi had said ittakes a 56-inch chest to convertUttar Pradesh into Gujarat interms of development.Attacking the government overthe issue, Congress leader PChidambaram said it is timeDefence Minister Rajnath Singhdrew a line in his ministry andasked the CDS to remain "wellwithin his side of the LAC"."MEA said that China is in'illegal occupation' of Indianterritory and India will notaccept 'unjustified Chineseclaims'.

Pilot meetsSonia Gandhiamid Cabinetreshuffle buzzPNS n NEW DELHI

Congress leader Sachin Pilot onFriday met party chief SoniaGandhi amid speculation overCabinet reshuffle and organisa-tion rejig in Rajasthan.

His meeting came a day afterRajasthan Chief Minister AshokGehlot met Gandhi here and thetwo leaders are learnt to havediscussed the political situationas well as the impending cabi-net reshuffle in the state.

Speaking with reporters aftermeeting Gandhi, Pilot said,"Whatever the Congress partywants me to do, I am more thanhappy to do. In the last 20 years,whatever job has been assigned,I have done it diligently andnow also whatever the partydecides, what role I have...I amhappy to do it." "I am happyMrs Gandhi took feedbackfrom all of us. I think at theright time, AICC general sec-retary Mr (Ajay) Maken willtake an appropriate decisionviz-a-viz Rajasthan," the formerdeputy chief minister said.

A major reshuffle is on thecards in Rajasthan in the nextfew days and various modali-ties are being worked out byadopting the "one man, onepost" formula while consider-ing appointments in the cabi-net, according to sources.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court Fridaygranted time till November 15to the Uttar Pradesh govern-ment for apprising its stand onthe suggestion that a formerjudge of a “different high court”should monitor the state SITprobe on day-to-day basis inthe Lakhimpur Kheri violencein which eight people includ-ing four farmers were killed onOctober 3.

“Would your Lordships giveme time till Monday? I havealmost got it done. We areworking something out,” senioradvocate Harish Salve, appear-ing for the UP government,told the bench headed by ChiefJustice N V Ramana.

“List on Monday,” said thebench which, also comprisedjustices Surya Kant and HimaKohli, acceding to the request.

The apex court, onNovember 8, had expresseddissatisfaction over the probeand suggested that to infuse"independence, impartialityand fairness” in the ongoinginvestigation, a former judge ofa “different high court” shouldmonitor it on day-to-day basis.

The bench had also said thatit has no confidence and doesnot want the one-member judi-cial commission appointed by

the state to continue probe intothe case.

Retired Allahabad HighCourt judge Justice PradeepKumar Srivastava was namedby the state government to en-quire into the eruption of viole-nce on Tikonia-Banbirpur ro-ad in Lakhimpur Kheri district.

The state government wasasked to inform about its standon the suggestion of monitor-ing of probe by a former judgeof a different high court.

“We, somehow or the other,are not confident and we dowant any judicial commissionappointed by your state govern-ment to continue,” the benchhad said.

Observing that the investi-gation was not going the wayit expected, the bench had redflagged some of the issues per-taining to the SIT probe con-ducted so far and said: “prima

facie it appears that one partic-ular accused (in the farmers'mowing down case) is soughtto be given benefit” by secur-ing or procuring evidence fromwitnesses in the subsequentcase related to the lynching ofpolitical activists by the farm-ers' mob.”

It was also very critical of theSpecial Investigation Team(SIT) of state police for seizingthe mobile of Ashish Mishra,one of the arrested 13 accused,and rest of the phones belongedto the witnesses to the allegedmowing down of the farmers.

“We have seen the statusreport. There is nothing in thestatus report except to say thatsome more witnesses havebeen examined. We granted 10days time. Laboratory reportshave not come. No, no, no...itis not going the way we expect-ed,” it had said.

PNS n UJJAIN

A 21-year-old woman fromneighbouring Maharashtra wasallegedly held captive, rapedand forced to bear a child by acouple in Madhya Pradesh'sUjjain city, police said on Friday.

The police on Thursdayarrested Rajpal Singh (38), a for-mer deputy sarpanch of KathBaroda village, for allegedlyholding the woman captive for16 months, raping her and forc-ing her to bear a child,Superintendent of Police (SP)Satyendra Shukla said.

The matter came to lightafter the woman, a resident ofNagpur, was found at DewasGate bus stand, where Singh haddumped her in an unconsciousstate on November 6, the officialsaid.

On regaining consciousness,the victim informed the policeabout her ordeal on Thursday,

he said.Singh had allegedly pur-

chased the victim with the helpof a woman and brought her toUjjain 16 months ago, the offi-cial said.

In cahoots with his wifeChandrakanta (26), Singhallegedly held the victim captiveand raped her for a child, as thecouple had lost their two chil-dren, the SP said.

After the victim gave birth toa baby on October 25, Singhdumped her at the bus stand onNovember 6, he said.

Apart from the couple, thepolice have also registered a caseagainst Singh's relative Virendra,Krishna Pal and one Arjun, whoacted as a tout, under sections370 (human trafficking) 376(rape), 376 A (persistent vegeta-tive state to victim), 377 (unnat-ural sex), 365 (kidnapping) and506 (criminal intimidation) ofthe IPC, Shukla said.

All set for annual pilgrimage to SabarimalaPNS n PATHANAMTHITTA

Doors of the Sabarimala LordAyyappa shrine will be openednext week for the two-monthlong annual pilgrimage seasonduring which 30,000 devoteesper day will be allowed tohave darshan through a virtu-al queue system, officials saidhere on Friday.

The pilgrimage will com-mence on November 16.

The sanctum sanctorum ofthe temple will be opened at 5PM on November 15 in thepresence of chief priest (Tantri)Kandararu MaheshMohanararu by outgoing priestV K Jayaraj Potti.

Appointment ceremony ofthe newly selected priests (mel-santis) of Lord Ayyappa andMalikappuram temples in thehills will be held later in theevening.

The pilgrimage will be heldstrictly adhering to COVID-19protocol with authoritiesinsisting that two doses covidvaccination certificate or RT-

PCR negative certificate takenwithin 72 hours is mandatoryfor visiting the hill shrine.

The devotees should alsoproduce original Aadhaarcards, a TDB official said here.

The base camp will be atNilackal. There will be a spotvirtual queue booking facilityat Nilackal.

No parking for vehicleswill be allowed in Pampa.However, Pampa snanam

(bathing in river pampa) willbe allowed. Pilgrims will notbe allowed to stay in Pampaand Sannidhanam.

Those who complete dar-shan should leave the premis-es.

Trekking to the temple willbe allowed only through theSwami Ayyappan Road.

The ghee being brought bythe pilgrims in coconuts forNeyyabhishekam will be col-

lected by the TDB staffthrough special counters andsanctified ghee will bereturned to the pilgrimsthrough special counters of theDevaswom.

Arrangements have beenmade for the pilgrims to pur-chase prasadam while return-ing to Pampa after havingdarshan.

The 41-day Mandala pujafestival will conclude on

December 26.The temple will be opened

again on December 30 for theMakaravilakku pilgrimage.The Makaravilakku is onJanuary 14, 2022, and the tem-ple will be closed on January20, 2022.

Police have strengthenedthe security for ensuring asmooth Sabarimala pilgrimageseason.

State police chief Anil Kantsaid plans have been made toprovide strict security in andaround Sabarimala in con-nection with this year'sMandala-Makaravilakku festi-val.

Crime Branch ADGP SSreejith will be the Chief PoliceCoordinator for securityarrangements. SouthernRegion IG Harshita Attallooriis the Joint Police Coordinator.

Armed Police Battalion DIGP Prakash andThiruvananthapuram RangeDIG Cory Sanjay KumarGurudin are the additionalpolice coordinators.

Woman kidnapped,forced to bear child

Data Protection Bill needsto be cleared soon: RawatPNS n THIRUVNANTHAPURAM

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 12(PTI) Chief of Defense Staff(CDS) General Bipin Rawat onFriday said the Data ProtectionBill, tabled in 2019 inParliament, needs to getcleared at the earliest as datatheft has become a commoncrime in the virtual world.

Rawat, while inauguratingthe 14th edition of 'c0c0n', anannual Hacking and CyberSecurity Briefing, organisedby Kerala Police, said there wasa need to synergise the effortsof cyber security experts ofvarious government depart-ments in order to "secure ourdigital assets".

The CDS said India doesn'thave a dedicated cyber securi-ty law and there was a need fora framework for managingvirtual space at national level.

"There is a need for a frame-work for managing virtual

space at national level. Multiplegovernment agencies deal withcyber security. Our defenceservices have cyber experts andstate police have cyber cells.There is a need to syner-gise the efforts ofthese expertsworking with dif-ferent govern-ment ministriesand other privatesector entitiestowards a com-mon goal of effec-tively securing our dig-ital assets," Rawat said.

In his virtual address, Rawatsaid the rise of digital pay-ments have significantlyincreased complex cybercrimes and the IT Act 2000,which was amended in 2008needs to be updated furtherputting in place cyber securi-ty standards in line with thenature of information andassets.

"Data protection is yetanother crucial issue that weneed to look at. Most nationshave data protection laws. TheData Protection Bill tabled in

2019 is yet to reach finality.We need to work

together to get itcleared at the earliestas data theft hasbecome a commoncrime in the virtualworld," he said.

Rawat noted thataccording to estimates,

cyber crimes in India dur-ing the global pandemic havegone up by almost 500 percent.

"Cyber criminals takeadvantage of security vulner-abilities to steal data, generateprofits and cause disruption.Hence cyber security is nownot just the purview of few ITprofessionals but of each andevery individual of the team,"he said.

Plea in SC seeks stepsto curb hate speechPNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court Fridaysaid it would hear on Novemb-er 22 a plea which has soughta direction to the Centre toexamine various internation-al laws and take appropriate"effective and stringent" stepsto control hate speech and ru-mour-mongering in the coun-try.

A bench of Justices AM Kh-anwilkar and C T Ravikumarasked senior advocate VikasSingh, who was appearing forthe petitioner, to serve thecopy of the plea to the min-istries of home affairs, law andjustice and the Law Commis-sion -- which have been arra-yed as respondents in thepetition.

The apex court was hearingthe petition, filed by BJP leaderAshwini Upadhyay in his per-sonal capacity through advo-cate Ashwani Dubey, which

has also sought a direction tothe Centre to take legislativesteps to implement recom-mendations of the LawCommission to deal with themenace of hate speech andrumour-mongering.

The top court said the mat-ter would be heard onNovember 22, when a separateplea, which also came up forhearing during the day, relat-ed to the issue would also betaken up.

"The petitioner is filing thiswrit petition as a PIL... seek-ing writ/order/direction to theCentre to examine the interna-tional laws relating to 'hatespeech' and 'rumour monger-ing' and take apposite effectivestringent steps to control 'hatespeech' and 'rumour-monger-ing' in order to secure rule oflaw, freedom of speech and ex-pression and Right to Life, Li-berty and Dignity of citizens,"Upadhyay said in his plea.

Delhi BJPleader seeksaction againstKanganaPNS n NEW DELHI

Delhi BJP leader PraveenShankar Kapoor slammedactor Kangana Ranaut over herremarks on the country's inde-pendence, and demanded thejudiciary to take action againsther.

The Delhi BJP spokespersonsaid Ranaut's remarks are an“insult to the sacrifice of free-dom fighters”.

“Being the son of a freedomfighter and coming from afamily of freedom fighters, Ifind Kangana Ranaut's remarksthat India's freedom was alms(bheekh) as the biggest misuseof freedom and an insult to thesacrifice made by freedomfighters. I wish the judicial sys-tem of India takes cognizance,”Kapoor said in a tweet inHindi on Thursday.

Scribes, activists call for stricterlaws on environment protectionPNS n DEHRADUN

A two-day virtual trainingprogramme on environmentalmanagement for media per-sonnel concluded at theCentral Academy for StateForest Service here on Fridaywith veteran journalist RameshMenon calling for a greaterdegree of sensitivity on the partof policy makers to environ-mental issues such as climatechange. "India is talking muchabout climate change but doinglittle about it," Menon, whowas awarded the Ram NathGoenka Award for environ-mental journalism in 2006,said during the valedictorysession of the programme.

He said sustainable develop-ment was the only way out andthat development and environ-mental conservation must gohand-in-hand.

Earlier, the speakers under-

lined the need for stricter pro-visions in the ForestConservation Act to ensure ahigher degree of compliance.

Saving forest land from itsuse for non-forest activities isthe fundamental purpose ofthe Forest Conservation Act,and it needs to be made stricterthrough proposed amend-ments, environmental lawyerRitwik Dutta said.

Dutta, a former secretary ofthe National Green TribunalBar Association, said it isdeplorable that several states inIndia, including Bihar andJharkhand, still do not have apolicy defining forest land.

He also expressed concernover India's poor ranking inenvironmental management.India stands 186th among 189countries in the list.

LAKHIMPUR

Clear stand on monitoring ofSIT probe, SC tells UP govt

of opium was not. Poppyproduction continued toincrease. The total productionof opium, 200 tonnes in 1980,rose to 1,600 tonnes in 1990,and 3,400 tonnes in 1994, andthen, according to the SpecialInspector General for AfghanReconstruction’s report,“Counternarcotics: Lessonsfrom the US Experience inAfghanistan” (June, 2018),almost doubled from 2,248tonnes in 1996 to 4,565tonnes in 1999.

A dramatic volte face fol-lowed. On July 28, 2000,Taliban supremo MullahOmar, banned the cultivationand trafficking of opium andrepeated the announcementin October. Perhaps the inten-tion was to build bridgeswith the US and the Westafter the 1999 UN SecurityCouncil Resolution 1267 hadimposed severe sanctionsagainst them. They mightalso have wanted the move todrive up global prices steeplyand sell their inventory at ahigher profit. Whatever thereason, it led to the most suc-cessful poppy eradicationprogramme in Afghanistan’shistory. According to therecords of the US military,poppy farming declined by 99per cent in Taliban-controlledareas, eliminating almostthree-fourths of the world’s

heroin supply. This, however,alienated the farmers, whohad become attracted topoppy cultivation because ofits profitability and relativeease. According to many, theyconsequently supported theUS-led invasion launched onOctober 7, 2001, and oustedthe Taliban from power.

The Taliban learnt theirlesson. Instead of trying tocurb the cultivation of poppyand the production of drugs,they chose to profit fromboth during their post-defen-estration drive for power. Inher paper “How OpiumProfits the Taliban, GretchenPeters estimated that in 2008,the Taliban had collected $50million as Ushr and $125 mil-lion by taxing drug laborato-ries producing heroin andmorphine base. She adds,“The Taliban rakes in asmuch as $250 million moreevery year providing armedprotection for drug ship-ments moving through theircontrol zones. They alsoreceive tens of millions of dol-lars’ worth of material sup-plies, including vehicles, food,and satellite phones.”

Later, in a 2012 report,the UN Security Council’sTaliban Sanctions MonitoringCommittee cited the AfghanGovernment’s estimate thatthe Taliban earned approxi-

mately $100 million fromthe illicit narcotics trade thatyear. Subsequently, accordingto Jonathan Landay’s report“Profits and poppy,Afghanistan’s illegal drugtrade a boon for Taliban,’(Reuters, August 15, 2021),UN officials have said that theTaliban are likely to haveearned more than $400 mil-lion between 2018 and 2019from the drug trade. A May2021 US Special InspectorGeneral for Afghanistan(SIGAR) report quoted a USofficial estimating that theTaliban derive up to 60 percent of their annual revenuefrom illicit narcotics.

Drug money played animportant role in the Taliban’srise to power and some of itsleaders have been personallyon the take. Would they giveit up? Would they not try touse drug money to financefactional violence amongthemselves if these break out?Will they risk a revolt byfarmers at a time when theIslamic State of Khorasanhas launched a fierce offen-sive against them?. To allappearances their currentanti-drug posture is to gaininternational recognition aswell as aid they need badly.

(The author is ConsultingEditor, The Pioneer. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

KANGANA’S GOT A FOUL MOUTH Sir — Many eyebrows were raised whenthe name of the controversial actorKangana Ranaut was announced as arecipient of the prestigious Padma Shreeaward and murmurs were heard that shehas been selected for the award onlybecause of her proximity to the ruling dis-pensation at the Centre. Proving thehunch of the people, it is reported thatKangana has now come out with a state-ment denigrating the sacrifices made byour freedom fighters with her declara-tion that the nation attained freedomfrom the British by begging. She hasgone a step further to prove her syco-phancy by stating that our nationattained real freedom only in 2014after the BJP came into power.

This is an atrocious outburst whichtantamount to anti-national sloganeeringand sedition. This is what happens whensycophants like Kangana are decoratedwith such great national awards in recog-nition of their political leanings ratherthan on their real merit. The Presidentshould immediately take back the Padmaaward conferred on her. This could onlybring back the honour and lustre attachedto this prestigious award and give solaceto the other deserving recipients.

Tharcius S Fernando | Chennai

PETTY POLITICS DOES NO GOODSir — Anything that can go wrong willgo wrong at the worst possible time, thecaste and religion will not come to the res-cue. We must have basic education andfollow the rules of the law rather thanblaming the Government all the time.The best part of good governance underthe PM is that the country suffers neitherinertia, nor ignorance, nor incompetence,nor dishonesty. Consequently, good gov-ernance during the last seven years hasyielded a changed mindset of peoplewithin the country and globally abouthow governance is conducted amid pro-bity and transparency. It is time to carryon good governance rather than thinkabout divisive forces cropping up with acrying voice for nothing.

We enjoy all the benefits of the Indian

Government but play the blame gamefor nothing. All I want to say is that ifyou love oxygen so much then inhaleit all you want, but do not drag the PMinto it. India’s population today isnearly four times what it was in 1947.The root cause of this disappointmentis the same as always: unwarrantedexpectations. If you go to a cow, youwill get milk, urine, or dung. But if yougo to a cow and expect Dalgona coffee,whose fault is it — yours or the cow’s?

MR Jayanthy | Mumbai

SUICIDE OR MURDER? Sir — The custodial death of the 22-year-old Altaf in Uttar Pradesh high-lights police brutality and lawlessnessin the State; it is also symptomatic ofthe treatment (it verges on persecution)meted out to the country’s principalreligious minority, the Muslims intoday’s India. The police’s version thatAltaf committed suicide falls flat in theface of the fact that one cannot com-

mit suicide by hanging from a 2.5 foottap holder inside a toilet. The victim’sfather stated that he heard Altaf ’svoice ‘sounded like he was being tor-tured’ and was asking for help. The vic-tim’s mother stated that the policethreatened to slit her son’s throat if hedid not tell the truth when they pickedhim from the house.

It is true that members of one reli-gious community alone are not victimsof police brutality resulting in custo-dial deaths. But the religious anglesometimes emboldens the police to tor-ture Muslims in custody with impuni-ty. Tragic incidents like Altaf ’s custo-dial death which no civilised societycan countenance, call for humanisingthe police and rulers like YogiAdityanath. Humanity should prevailover everything else.

G David Milton | Maruthancode

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

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HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 13, 2021

06

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Afghanistan produces 90 per cent of the world’s illicit opium. In 2020, opium poppy wasgrown on some 224,000 hectares, one of the highest levels of cultivation in the country

DRUG MONEYPLAYED AN

IMPORTANT ROLEIN THE TALIBAN’S

RISE TO POWERAND SOME OF ITS

LEADERS HAVEBEEN PERSONALLY

ON THE TAKE

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

HIRANMAY KARLEKAR

The T20 World Cup final is going to bea Trans-Tasman affair! The showdownslated for this Sunday at Dubai

International Stadium comes as quite anantithesis to public deliberations and spec-ulations on the chances of the teams com-peting even before the championship hadcommenced. While Kane Williamson’s teamhardly earned a mention as favourites, theAustralian side made it to the semi-finals bythe skin of their teeth. Yet the clinical pre-

cision with which both of them pulverisedtheir opponents in the penultimate match-es to set up a date in the finals speaks a lotfor the tenacity of both the teams.

While we Indians would definitely be dis-appointed at not having our national squadfeaturing in the finals despite the presenceof so much of talent in the side, it must besaid that our complacency cost us dear.Moreover, the media hype over India’s per-fect record of having never suffered defeatin a World Cup encounter with Pakistan gaveour neighbouring nation an underdog sta-tus. Somehow over the past few years, India,as a team, has failed to click in matcheswhich matter the most. The wins against thelesser-known teams in the pool where Indiawas pursuing a rank outside chance ofsqueezing into the last four-stage throughbetter run quotients came as poor comfortsfor a side that was trying to justify its stand-ing as one of the best teams in the world.

Pachu Menon | Margao

Aussies make it to the finals

Can the Taliban weedout their drug trade?

According to a recentAssociated Pressreport, the Taliban,who now rule

Afghanistan uncontested, haveset their sights on stamping outnarcotics addiction, even if byforce. It describes the Talibanfighters scouring the streets ofKabul, locating drug addicts,and bringing them to de-addic-tion facilities. The report quotesQari Ghafoor, the lead patrolofficer in a raid the AP covered,as saying, “This is just thebeginning, later we will go afterthe farmers, and we will punishthem according to Sharia law.”This is in keeping with VandaFelbab-Brown’s statement in herarticle, Pipe dreams: The Talibanand drugs from the 1990s into itsnew regime, that after topplingthe Ashraf Ghani Governmentin August this year, the Talibanhad announced their intentionto rid Afghanistan of drugs. Shehad added that interlocutors hadmentioned the same objective inconversations with her in thewinter of 2019.

The matter is important.Afghanistan produces 90 percent of the world’s illicit opium.In 2020, opium poppy wasgrown on some 224,000hectares, one of the highest lev-els of cultivation in the country.Will the Taliban actually crackdown? For an answer, one has tolook at the history of their linkswith poppy cultivation and drugproduction and trafficking. AsFelbab-Brown points out, theiroriginal impulse was to ban it asthey considered drug produc-tion to be anti-Islamic. They didso as they moved out in late1994 and early 1995 fromKandahar in the West toHelmand Valley, Afghanistan’smain poppy growing region.This reduced the area underpoppy cultivation by halfbecause farmers feared reprisalfrom the Taliban and wheatprices were booming.

By 1996, the Taliban, in anew approach, began taxingfarmers and traffickers and pro-tecting the latter. Its positionnow was such that the cultiva-tion and trade of cannabis wasforbidden, as was the manufac-ture of heroin and consumptionof opiates. Production and trade

SOUNDBITEThe talk about therebeing different factions in theCongress is in themedia. Actually, allof us are working together.

Congress leader—Sachin Pilot

Afghanistan is onthe brink of cata-strophe...the inter-national communi-ty should provideassistance on an

emergency basis.

Pakistan Foreign Minister —Shah Mahmood Qureshi

The Chinese have

not transgressed

anywhere on our

perception of the

LAC and are well within their

side of the LAC.

Chief of Defence Staff

—General Bipin Rawat

What’s a story with-out a few twists?Govinda NaamMera, a package ofentertainment foryou, is coming to cinemas.

Filmmaker—Karan Johar

The inmates of Kerala’s three Central prisons at Thiruvananthapuram, Viyoor andKannur are passionately honing their musical skills these days. These skills arenot ordinary but the prowess to play timila, maddalam and iudakka which along

with ilathalam and kompu are the constituents of Panchavadyam, the age-old templeart form in the State. Church and temple festivals are not complete without Panchavadyam,besides caparisoned elephants who raise their trunks and sway their ears in synchro-nisation with the rhythm of the drums. Prakashan Pazhambalacode (53), a leadingPanchavadyam exponent who is the disciple of legendary Pallavoor Appu Marar, is mak-ing waves across the globe by imparting online training to hundreds of percussion stu-

dents. Prakashan, who was trained in the convention-al gurukula style of learning, is not sure of mouldinglegendary artists through online classes but he hasopened new vistas for Panchavadyam’s popularity.Prakashan taught the art of percussion playing to con-victs of crimes ranging from murder to burglary tocheating. These prisoners now don’t find time to broodover the past or plot to execute illegal activities. Theirschedule is hectic with percussion training and dailychores in prison, according to Prakashan, who hastransformed many hardcore criminals into percussionartists of repute. “He has done a great job and I fully

endorse it,” says Alexander Jacob, former director general of prisons, Kerala. Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan, former Home Minister during whose reign Prakashan

launched the percussion therapy, waxes eloquent about the maestro. Overjoyed bywhat Prakashan has achieved, Justice VR Krishna Iyer, a former Supreme Court judge,wrote: “Prakash goes to prisons and prisoners, mesmerised by his chenda (drum),become rhythmic artists. They no longer remain criminals but turn into excellent chen-da players. People become criminals when their mind is idle and their soul has noplace for art. But once life’s melody hits them, its rhythmic grandeur changes viciousminds into creative artists of exquisite talent.” This more than sums up the kind ofwork Prakashan has done for the convicts and for the society. He makes the idakkasing. As soon as the convicts finish their chores, they come together to spruce uptheir rhythmic skills and sounds like tha… dhi.. thom.. pierce the surroundings ratherthan the curses and abuses of yore!

One hopes the hurry to administer COVID-19 vaccination doses to the adult pop-ulation has not adversely impacted the routine infant immunisation programmesin the country, especially the measles vaccination campaign. The WHO says more

than 22 million infants globally, including India, may have missed the first dose of themeasles vaccine – Measles-Containing Vaccine 1 (MCV1). The WHO findings were pub-lished in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Controland Prevention. It says 24 measles vaccination campaigns in 23 countries were post-poned last year because of the COVID-19 lockdown. The “10 countries with the high-est numbers of infants not receiving MCV1 were Nigeria (3.3 million), India (2.6 mil-lion), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1.5 million), Ethiopia (1.4 million), Indonesia(1.1 million), Pakistan (1.0 million), Angola (0.7 million), the Philippines (0.6 million),

Brazil (0.6 million) and Afghanistan (0.4 million);accounting for nearly two thirds (59 per cent) of theglobal total”. There was a global resurgence in measlesincidence between 2017-2019 but that was followedby a decline in 2020 when the pandemic lockdownwas in place. With the entire medical infrastructuregeared towards tackling the COVID-19 infection, atten-tion was diverted from other essential medical cam-paigns, including the immunisation campaigns. TheWHO calculates apart from the 22-odd million infants,at least “93 million persons did not receive MCVbecause of COVID-19-related postponements”. With

the lockdown in place, most centres were closed down, there was a problem carryingout the campaign at the village level. Subsequently, the country was busy with the anti-virus vaccination and the measles programme perhaps got little attention.

It is time the Government and the NGOs running the measles and other infant immu-nisation campaigns ramp up their efforts to give MCV1 doses to children. Measles sur-veillance has to be taken up once again so that the measles surveillance sensitivity indi-cators are readily available. Considering the gap in measles immunisation, a nationalsurvey is called for to assess any immediate risk for measles transmission and out-breaks in the country. The survey needs to be followed up by case-based surveillanceto document immunity gaps. If there are any outbreaks, they should be the opportuni-ty to look for weaknesses in the renewed immunisation campaigns. Most of the infantswho missed the first measles dose may have turned two by now; whether they alsoneed to be vaccinated against COVID-19 is another issue. If there is a debate in the med-ical profession about whether all children need COVID-19 vaccination, it has not yet becomepart of public discourse. Any vaccination as such is mandatory and problems such ashesitancy, complacency or campaign delays should be resolved at the earliest.

Overshadowed

Strike a chordA Panchavadyam maestro in Kerala is teachingpercussion skills globally, even inside prisons

PICTALK

Visitors flock to the Indonesia International Auto Show, in Tangerang AP

As India remains busy with COVID vaccines,the measles programme receives little attention

Hasan Ali has wonmany matches forPakistan. Playersdrop catches but Aliis a fighter and I will

back him.

Pakistan skipper —Babar Azam

Should India be waryof a radical B’desh?

THE CONGRESS IS ATTACKING HINDUTVA. IT IS

RAHUL GANDHI WHO HAS TAUGHT OTHERS TO

MAKE STATEMENTS AGAINST HINDUISM.

—BJP SPOKESPERSON

SAMBIT PATRA

IF YOU ARE A HINDU THEN WHY DO YOU

NEED HINDUTVA? WHY DO YOU

NEED THIS NEW NAME?

—CONGRESS LEADER

RAHUL GANDHI

All secular forces of the region, primarily India, must rally behinda beleaguered Bangladesh and help it fight the alien agenda

It's not too early to assess the success or failure of COP26, the cli-mate summit that began in Glasgow on 31 October. The first week,while the heads of state are there, is when all the big promises are

announced; the second week is devoted to haggling over the details ofthe deals. So, we already know that it hasn't been an absolute failure.

Forty-six countries (not including China, Japan, India, Mexico orAustralia) have promised to phase out coal power by the 2030s "or assoon as possible thereafter".

The world's biggest and third biggest emitters of carbon dioxide, Chinaand India, pledged to achieve 'Net Zero' emissions by 2060 and 2070respectively, although the runaway train may have left the station by then.(Most countries' Net Zero commitments are for 2050.)

Only 12 years late, the rich countries said that in another coupleof years they will finally keep their promise to provide $100 billion ayear to poor countries so they too can play their part in cutting emis-sions. And more than one hundred leaders agreed to end deforesta-tion by 2030.

It isn't great, but it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick,and the International Energy Agency calculates that if all the promisesand pledges are kept in full and on time, there is a fifty-fifty chance thatthe warming will be limited to 1.8°C higher average global temperature.

That's well north of the declared target of +1.5°C, and too closefor comfort to the 'never exceed under any circumstances' level of +2.0°C.However, the commitments in place before the conference were prac-tically guaranteed to result in an eventual rise of 2.7°C, so it's a betterresult than most people had expected.

That's the good news. Here's the bad news.'Nature', one of the world's most respected scientific journals, did

an anonymous survey of the 233 climate scientists who wrote the mas-sive 'Sixth Assessment Report', which provided the science to whichthis conference is responding. Sixty per cent of them said that they expectthe world to warm by at least 3°C by the end of the century.

Only 20 per cent of the scientists said they expect nations to limitglobal warming to +2°C. A mere 4 per cent said they thought the worldmight actually manage to stop the warming at +1.5 °C. And 82 per centof the scientists who replied said they expected to see catastrophic impactsof climate change in their lifetime.

I'm not in the least surprised by these responses, because for thepast year I've been interviewing climate scientists for a new book andtelevision mini-series I'm working on.

They try to stay positive, and they work very hard. There has beenan extraordinary expansion in our understanding of how climate hasworked in the deep past and how it works right now. There is a cas-cade of new technologies for making carbon-neutral energy sources,decarbonising the food system, even taking carbon dioxide and methaneback out of the air. But they also remember that on no previous occa-sion have all the promises and pledges made at these conferences beenkept in full and on time.

And they know that more than half the 'anthropogenic' carbondioxide that the human race has put into the air has been emittedSINCE we all learned that we were causing dangerous warming in1990. I wouldn't even buy a used car from this species, let alonetrust them with a planet.

So the scientists, and the rest of us too, walk a fine line betweenhope and despair, with occasional bursts of silent rage. But that is thehuman condition.

(Gwynne Dyer's new book is 'The Shortest History of War'. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

The Drugs ControllerGeneral of India(DCGI) has recom-

mended for Emergency UseAuthorization (EUA) forCovaxin among children aged2-18. In order to ensure safe-ty of children in schools, theDCGI is having high level dis-cussions so that the vaccinecould be introduced afterthorough introspection aspart of the NationalVaccination Programme. Thestatement of Dr NK Arora,Chairman of NationalImmunization TechnicalAdvisory Group (NTAGI),that children with comor-bidities will be prioritized toreceive the vaccine "immedi-ately and healthy childrencan be immunized subse-quently" generates confidenceamongst all the stakeholders.

Earlier, in August,2021, theDGCI had granted an emer-gency use approval for ZydusCadilas's DNA vaccine for usein adults and children aged 12years and above.

The impact of the pan-demic on the education ofchildren can be gauged fromthe fact that almost 24 millionchildren are at the risk of notreturning to school next yeardue to the economic fallout ofCovid-19, according to thepolicy brief released by theUnited Nations. More than 1.6billion learners across theworld have been affected bythe disruption of the educa-tion system, but the pandem-ic has also served to exacer-bate existing disparities, withvulnerable populations inlow-income countries includ-ing India taking a harder and

longer hit. For example, dur-ing the second quarter of2020,86 per cent of childrenat the primary level have beeneffectively out of school inpoor countries, compared tojust 20 per cent in highlydeveloped countries.

However, opinions ofexperts are divided on variousissues related to vaccination ofchildren,"Whether there is aneed of Covid-19 vaccinationfor children?". Speaking at aseminar, Dr Soumya

Swaminathan,Chief Scientist,WHO,said "Children havethe same percentage of anti-body exposure that adultshave. We had shut schoolssaying children should not beexposed to the virus, butthere has been communityexposure since they have beendoing other activities.Children have been going tomalls, playing outside, and arearound their families. Makinga case for reopening schoolsis vastly different from chil-dren getting a Covid-19 vac-cine, while one discusses thecontinuation of life as it islived, the other is a deeply eth-ical question".

Commenting on the valueof Covid-19 vaccines for chil-dren, Gavi, the VaccineAlliance, says that consideringthat children under the age of

18 form a large proportion ofthe population, i.e., 32 per centglobally, ensuring protectionfor them is a move towardspandemic control. Protectionis urgently needed when thedisease risk is high. However,for children, there is relative-ly low risk of disease, it added.

Another relevant ques-tion is, "Are vaccines neededfor healthy children and ado-lescent, especially sinceCovaxin supply is still limit-ed and millions of adults areyet to be vaccinated?"According to Dr ChandrakantLahariya, Physician-epidemi-ologist and vaccine expert, "Atpresent, the healthy childrenin India do not need vaccina-tion. India has reached a stagewhere there is more Covid-19vaccine supply then demand.However, just because a coun-

try has more availability, itshould not start vaccinatingchildren. At the sametime,that does not meanhealthy children would neverneed Covid-19 vaccines. Theymay,in future. For example, ifa new variant emerges thatcauses moderate to severedisease in children at a ratehigher than at present,then wemay have to vaccinate healthychildren. Considering theavailable evidence, I don'tthink India should considervaccinating any child youngerthan 12 years before early nextyear", he added.

Dr Satyajit Rath, former-ly with the National Instituteof Immunology,New Delhi,however, have a differentpoint of view: "Vaccines arecertainly needed for everyone.I do not think that guesses

about the proportions of peo-ple in various groups alreadyinfected/vaccinated, whichdepend on sero-surveys, arewell founded. Many if notmost of the sero-surveys havebeen modest in size,yet we areassuming that they correctlyreflect reality."

In India,the parents areanxious and worried aboutthe well-being of their chil-dren. They do not want totake any chances and most ofthem would welcome vacci-nation of their wards to be onthe safe side. However, theyneed to understand that nocountry in the world hadrolled out vaccines for anysubgroup of children withoutdata being thoroughly exam-ined and reviewed by theexperts. We should also go bythe advice of the experts.

If a new variant emerges that causes moderate to severe disease in children, we may have to vaccinate healthy children

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 13, 2021

07

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FIRSTCOLUMNCOP26: A MIXED BAG OFPROMISES AND PLEDGES

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Do all children need the COVID-19 vaccine?

BRIJENDER SINGH PANWAR

(The writer is a senior journalistand Chairman, Panwar Group of

Institutions, Solan, HimachalPradesh. The views expressed are

personal.)

GWYNNE DYER

RAMI NDESAI

JAIDEEPSAIKIA

There’s a fifty-fifty chance that the warmingwill be limited to 1.8°C if the promises are kept

The existence of a radicalBangladesh in India's easternflank-aided and abetted by theglobal Salafi movement-has always

been a matter of great concern for India.Indeed, the lower extremities of Assam andthe demographic jungles of the area havebeen a virtual "gateway" for Islamists fromthe erstwhile East Pakistan to travel to theeconomic hubs of the rest of India where-alongside the rabid fighters from Pakistanand thereabouts-they have been perpetrat-ing terror in India. Indeed, one of the rea-sons why the Islamists inside Assam havenot been engaging the security forces isbecause they do not want to attract theirattention.

Furthermore, the crucial midpointthat Bangladesh stations itself between theIslamist hotspots of South Asia and SouthEast Asia makes it both an ideal stagingground as well as a pullback area forIslamists of various hues. Therefore, itwould not be altogether implausible to fath-om that tanzeems, such as JemaahIslamiyah of Indonesia and Lashkar-e-Toiba from Pakistan, have sought andfound sanctuary In Bangladesh. However,while (as aforesaid) the primary reasoncould well be attributed to its strategic loca-tion and the existence of sufficient marsh-es and warrens in the country to houseIslamists of all hues, the primary reasoncontinues to be the fact that there is a hugeconstituency in the land of Bangabandhuthat owes allegiance to the practitioners ofpuritanical Islam. Bangladesh, therefore,showcases itself as a unique case wheregeography, religion and socio-politicaldilemma meet to bewilder.

Bangladesh — despite the fact that itwas formed on the basis of Bengali nation-alism (jettisoning the commonality ofreligion that had linked it to Pakistan in1947) — is not (in the opinion of theauthors) a homogenous entity. In reality,there are two Bangladeshs. One is devot-ed to Bengali culture, language and theethos that is the hallmark of Bengali-hood.Religion is not paramount for this groupand indeed it is this group that seeks to keepthe pennant of secularism alive. On thehand, the other formation identifies itselfwith the Islamic world and finds comfortin the "transformative moment" that Islamis passing through. The leadership of thisgroup-which is rabidly anti-Indian-isdivided, but is joining forces in order tokeep secular Bangladesh's influence to aminimum.

The barrack politics of 1975 gave riseto the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It is thisparty that heads the non-fundamentalistfaction, and uses religion only as a meansto achieve its political ends. The other fac-tions in the non-secular configuration arefundamentalist and believe in Nizam-e-Mustafa. Parties such as Jamaat-e-Islami,Islamic Oikya Jote that is made up the raza-kars and the pro-Pakistani groupings dur-ing the anti-Bengali pogroms of the pre-liberation days are the primary con-

THEPAKISTANISATIONOF THE POLITY OF

BANGLADESH ISTHE PRIMAL

THREAT TO INDIA. WHILE

PAKISTANISATIONDOES NOT

NECESSARILYMEAN

ISLAMISATION,THE BITTER

TRUTH IS THATFORCES OF

PURITAN ISLAM ASCERTAIN

THAT THE TWOARE BECOMING

INTERCHANGEABLE

stituents of this formation. Of late,other groups such as the Jama'atulMujahideen Bangladesh have joinedtheir ranks.

The Pakistanisation of the poli-ty of Bangladesh is the primalthreat to India, and stealthPakistanis abound in theBangladesh armed forces and intel-ligence services. WhilePakistanisation does not necessar-ily mean Islamisation, the bittertruth is that forces of puritan Islamare ascertaining that the two arebecoming interchangeable. Apartfrom the various aspects by whichBangladesh has subverted the secu-rity of the North East-aid to ULFA,NDFB, ATTF, NLFT, NSCN (IM)and the Islamists-the threat fromBangladesh in the future would bethe Talibanisation that its anti-India agenda in tandem with the ISIis constructing for the North East.

As aforesaid, the demographicjungles of the lower Assam districtsare already providing a concreteentry point for the Islamists ofAfghanistan, Pakistan and SouthEast Asia. As a matter of fact, withthe Taliban takeover of Afghanistan,

Islamists in the entire subcontinentreceived a shot in the arm and ifreports are to be believed, the com-ing together of the al-Qaeda, IslamicState of Khorasan Province in theirnew found safe haven in the Af-Pakregion has become a rallying pointfor the radicals from Kabul toKhulna.

In a recent news report para-phrasing the Chief Minister ofAssam, it was stated that "a substan-tial number of youths from one par-ticular religious community aremissing and it is apprehended thatat least some of them have joinedterrorist outfits". Efforts, therefore,seem to be on to radicalise the youthof the state. Dar-ul-Aman, by mostaccounts, is within arm's reach forthe proponents of Waliyah-e-Hind(Guardians of Hindustan).

But geostrategic bafflement ofthe sort that the return of theTaliban has achieved has not dis-suaded many in Bangladesh fromcontinuing to battle the forces ofradicalisation. Indeed, it remainscommitted to the lofty ideals ofBengali nationalism that liberated itfrom the clutches of an exploitative

western wing. As a matter of fact,despite the support it received fromthe anti-liberationist forces andpresently from the wave of radical-isation, the majority in Bangladeshcontinues to be determined todefend the standards that havesought to negate Islam in its extremeform.

However, the waxing and wan-ing character of an impetuous celes-tial body such as the moon is notonly naturally ordained, but wouldinvariably resurface at the slightestpretext. The fact that the present dis-pensation of Sheikh Hasina hassought to subdue radical Islammay not quite help it to complete-ly eclipse the puritanical strain inIslam.

All secular forces of the region,primarily India, must rally behinda beleaguered Bangladesh and aidit fight the alien agenda. A coursecorrection exercise, therefore, needsto be undertaken by India in orderto thwart the multi-front war thatis being readied by the adversaryagainst its ally. Posterity would, oth-erwise, have only India to blame forwhat it would term as insouciance.

(Rami N Desai is ananthropologist and conflictanalyst. Jaideep Saikia is a

bestselling author andconflict analyst. The views

expressed are personal.)

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 13, 2021 Money 08

oney atters

Vodafone Idea's loss narrowsto Rs 7,145 cr in Sept quarter

Debt-ridden telecom operator Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) onFriday reported narrowing of consolidated loss to Rs 7,144.6

crore for the second quarter endedSeptember 30.The company had posteda loss of Rs 7,218.2 crore in thecorresponding quarter of the previousfinancial year.Its consolidated revenueduring July-September 2021 fell about13 per cent to Rs 9,406.4 crore,compared with Rs 10,791.2 crore in theyear-ago period. VIL's total gross debt

(excluding lease liabilities and including interest accrued but notdue) as of September 30, 2021, stood at Rs 1,94,780 crore.

Bajaj Electricals Q2 profitup 17.8 pc to Rs 62.55 cr

PNS n MUMBAI

Stock market benchmarksSensex and Nifty rallied to atwo-week high on Friday onheavy buying in index majorsInfosys, HDFC Bank andReliance Industries after threedays of losses and a positivetrend in global markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensexspurted by 767 points or 1.28per cent to close at 60,686.69points with 25 of its stocks end-ing with gains.

The broader Nifty of theNational Stock Exchangejumped by 229.15 points or1.28 per cent to settle at18,102.75, the highest closinglevel since October 27. Gainsin IT, realty and energy stockshelped indices break three-day losing run.

Tech Mahindra was the topgainer in the Sensex pack, ris-ing around 4 per cent, followedby HDFC, Infosys, BajajFinserv, Asian Paints and BajajFinance. On the other hand,Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel and AxisBank were among the lag-

gards. "The momentum whichwas lost during the week wasregained as inflation worriesstarted fading with investorsshifting their focus to goodquarterly earnings, econom-ic recover y and strongdomestic macro data points,”said Vinod Nair, Head ofResearch at Geojit FinancialServices.

All sectoral indices endedwith gains. BSE teck, IT, tele-com, realty, power rose up to2.03 per cent. Broader midcap

and smallcap indices rose upto 0.57 per cent.

During the week, Sensexsurged 619.07 points or 1.03per cent, whi le Niftyadvanced 185.95 points or1.03 per cent.

Ajit Mishra, VP - Research,Religare Broking, said,"Markets recovered sharplyand posted gains of over a percent, taking a breather afterthe recent dip. Positive glob-al cues led to a gap up butprofit taking trimmed the

gains in the initial hours." In the next week, Mishra

said, markets will first react tomacro data in early trade onMonday. As the result seasonis almost behind us, the focuswill shift back to global mar-kets for cues. At the sametime, traction in primarymarkets will keep investorsbusy.

Elsewhere in Asia, boursesin Shanghai, Hong Kong,Tokyo and Seoul ended withgains. Major indices in Europewere trading on a positivenote in mid-session deals.

Asian share pricesadvanced on Friday after WallStreet benchmarks managedto close mostly higher on theprevious day. Europeanshares were largely muted onFriday continuing to searchfor direction as g lobalinvestors assess recent highinflation prints and corporateearnings, but were on courseto mark their sixth straightweekly gains, Deepak Jasani,Head of Retail Research,HDFC Securities, said.

Sensex, Nifty soar to 2-weekhighs on gains in Infosys, RIL PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman will onMonday meet chief ministersand state finance ministers todiscuss measures to attractprivate investments to helpboost the economy.

Speaking to reporters,Finance Secretary T VSomanathan said the meetingcomes in the backdrop ofstrong economic recoverypost the two COVID waves,and the central governmenthas made a big push inCapex. "India is becoming anattractive destination forinvestment… there is a posi-tive sentiment from the pri-vate sector," he said, addinggeopolitical developments arealso in favour of India.Economic Affairs SecretaryAjay Seth said the discussionduring the meeting will focuson easing norms on land andwater use for attracting privateinvestments.

The purpose of this meet-ing is to use this juncture notonly to push growth from theCentre but also at the stateslevel.

Nirmala to meetCMs, state FMs on Monday

PNS n NEW DELHI

Ministry of Power has affirmedthat insolvency proceedingscan be initiated against state-owned electricity distributionas well as generation firms incase of default of payment bythe creditors.

The ministry clarified itsstand in a letter written toSecretary, Department of LegalAffairs, earlier this month.

The clarification came inreference to a case filed byTamil Nadu Generation andDistribution Company(TANGEDCO) against ClRP(Corporate InsolvencyResolution Process) proceed-ings initiated by South lndiaCorporation Pvt Ltd in HighCourt of Madras.

"As far as state-owned(power) distribution and gen-eration company likeTANGEDCO is concerned, itis clear that it a governmentcompany as defined undersection 2 (45) of theCompanies Act and would fallunder Insolvency Code (IBC),"the ministry said in the letter.

The ministry also stated

that TANGEDCO cannot becategorised as a governmentbody formed by way of astatute for performing sover-eign government function.

In fact, it is a governmentcompany formed underCompanies Act 2013 and verymuch under the ambit of IBCas per Section 3(7) of the theInsolvency Code, it stated.

Therefore, a state-ownedpower distribution companycan be taken to the NationalCompany Law Tribunal(NCLT) under the IBC fordefault in payment.

A power sector expert saidCIRP can be initiated againstany state-owned discom but

they generally make paymentof the default amount beforeadmission of the case in NCLT.

The outstanding dues ofdiscoms have been a perenni-al issue plaguing the powersector for decades. Accordingto the PRAAPTI portal, theoutstanding dues of powerdistribution firms are to thetune of Rs 1,21,830 lakh crorein November 2021 whichincludes overdues of Rs 99,385crore.

The dues become overdueafter non-payment for 45 daysor more.

Generally power gencoscharge penal rate of interest onoverdues from discoms.

PNS n MUMBAI

The Integrated OmbudsmanScheme, 2021, will providecost-free redress of customercomplaints involving deficien-cy in services rendered byentities regulated by the RBI,if not resolved to the satisfac-tion of the customers within 30days by banks, NBFCs, andpayment system operators.

The Reserve Bank -Integrated OmbudsmanScheme, 2021 was launched onFriday in virtual mode byPrime Minister NarendraModi.

The Scheme integrates theexisting three Ombudsmanschemes of RBI -- the BankingOmbudsman Scheme, 2006;the Ombudsman Scheme forNon-Banking FinancialCompanies, 2018; and theOmbudsman Scheme forDigital Transactions, 2019.

In addition to integratingthe three existing schemes, italso includes non-scheduledprimary cooperative bankswith a deposit size of Rs 50crore and above.

A centralised receipt andprocessing centre has beenset up at RBI, Chandigarh forreceipt and initial processingof physical and email com-plaints in any language.

The Scheme adopts 'OneNation One Ombudsman'approach by making the RBIOmbudsman mechanismjurisdiction neutral, the RBIsaid in a statement.

"The Scheme, framed bythe RBI...will provide cost-free redress of customer com-plaints involving deficiencyin services rendered by enti-

ties regulated by RBI, if notresolved to the satisfaction ofthe customers or not repliedwithin a period of 30 days bythe regulated entity," it said.

A complaint could be filedelectronic or physical modeas well as online throughportal designed for the pur-pose.

The integration will helpcustomers as they now do notneed to identify under whichscheme to file complaint. Ithas also done away with thejurisdiction of each ombuds-man office.

RBI: Ombudsman schemeto provide cost-free redress

‘Insolvency proceedings canbe initiated against discoms’

PNS n ABU DHABI

Miral, Abu Dhabi's leadingcurator of magnetic experi-ences in collaboration withWarner Bros., home to one ofthe most well-known and suc-cessful collections of brandsand characters in the world,announced The WB™ AbuDhabi, located on Abu Dhabi'sYas Island, the first everWarner Bros. themed hotel,part of Curio Collection byHilton, has officially opened itsdoors to guests. The hotelallows guests to see theirfavorite stories and charactersbrought to life through uniquehospitality experiences thatonly the rich history and sto-ried legacy of Warner Bros.could offer.

HE Mohamed Khalifa AlMubarak, Chairman of Miral,said : "This is yet another greatmoment for us, with The WB™Abu Dhabi hotel opening onYas Island, further positioningit as a top global destination for

leisure, entertainment andbusiness. We are very proud ofour long-standing partnershipwith both Warner Bros.Themed Entertainment andHilton, bringing world firstsand global hospitality offeringsand experiences to Abu Dhabi."

Featuring over 400 curatedimages and film and TV props,guests at the world's firstWarner Bros. hotel will betreated to a journey of discov-ery through film and television,

enjoying Warner Bros.' richhistory and library of timelessproductions at every touch-point from arrival to check-out.While dining in one of fiverestaurants on the property,you can listen as the pianofrom "Westworld," the hit HBOscience fiction TV show, playsa familiar tune. Visitors canstroll through the lobby oradmire 360-degree city and seaviews alongside their favoriteprops and costumes from

Warner Bros. films and TVshows. Kids and families canring up one of their favoriteLooney Tunes characters for aroom service treat brought tothem by the Wascally Wabbit,Bugs Bunny himself.

Pam Lifford, President ofWarnerMedia Global Brandsand Experiences said: "Ourdream has come true with thegrand opening to the first everWarner Bros. branded hotel.Our incredible partners atMiral and Hilton, have helpedus make this vision a reality forour fans around the world. Wealways strive to be fan focusedand have developed an excep-tional hospitality experiencefor them to further connectwith the iconic Warner Bros.brands, franchises, and charac-ters they know and love.Guests visiting Warner Bros.World right next door will havethe ultimate encore to theirpark experience by relaxingand treating themselves to astay at The WB Abu Dhabi.

Warner Bros. hotel opens in Abu Dhabi

PNS n LONDON,

Top U.K. and European Unionofficials are meeting Friday totry to resolve their intractableNorthern Ireland trade spat,with alarm growing in Europethat Britain plans to suspendparts of the legally bindingdivorce agreement betweenthe two sides.

That would trigger EU retal-iation and could spiral into atrade war between the 27-nation bloc and its increasing-ly estranged former member.The two sides' top Brexit offi-cials — David Frost for Britainand Maros Sefcovic for the EU— are meeting in Londonafter four weeks of negotiationsfailed to bridge gaps overNorthern Ireland trade.

The U.K. has threatened totrigger an emergency breakclause in the deal that letseither side suspend the agree-ment in extreme circum-stances. That would bringlegal action from the EU, andpotentially damaging econom-ic sanctions. Frost warnedWednesday that the emer-gency clause, Article 16, “will

be our only option” if there isno breakthrough in the talks.

“There is more to do and Iwill certainly not give up onthis process unless and until itis abundantly clear that noth-ing more can be done,” he toldmembers of Parliament'supper chamber, the House ofLords.

UK, EU meet as gloomgrows over trade feud

Hindalco seesmultifold jumpin profit after tax

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government has simpli-fied the claim settlementprocess under the IEPFA,including allowing self-attestation of documentsinstead of the currentrequirement of notarisa-tion.

IEPFA, which comesunder the administrativecontrol of the corporateaffairs ministry, has beenset up for administration ofinvestor funds under thecompanies law. The author-ity has the mandate to pro-mote investor educationand protection, refundunclaimed shares, divi-dends and other amountsthat have been transferredto it to the r ightfulclaimants.

The claim settlementprocess has been furthersimplif ied through therationalisation of variousrequirements under theIEPFA Rules, 2016. Forclaimants, the requirementof advance receipt has beenwaived off and the require-ment of succession certifi-cate/ probate of will/ willhas been relaxed up to Rs 5lakh, both for physical anddemat shares.

Govt eases claimsettlementprocess underIEPFA

PNS n GLASGOW

The world needs to join handsto honour the commitmentsmade under the 2015 ParisAgreement and take immedi-ate steps towards adaptation,making climate finance avail-able for the developing world,Union Environment MinisterBhupender Yadav said onFriday.

Yadav, who is representingIndia at the 26th UN climateconference COP 26 at Glasgow,wrote in his blog that, thewealthy nations that reaped thebenefits of early industrialisa-tion by burning fossil fuels andgrowing their economies forcenturies must accommodatethe concerns and needs of theeconomies that need to makethe switch to clean and greenenergy.

“As we move towards wrap-ping this very crucial climatesummit, the world needs tocome together to honour thecommitments made under the2015 Paris Agreement andtake immediate steps towardsadaptation and making cli-mate finance available for the

developing world to make thecrucial transitions – sociallyand economically to offset cli-mate change,” he wrote in hisblog ‘COP Diary'.

The minister said that India,under the leadership of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, hasmade it clear that it is ready towalk the extra mile in combat-ing climate change but has alsoreminded the developed worldthat they have historically pre-cipitated the current crisis andhave progressed at the cost ofthe global environment.

“No nation, no matter howbig or small, can save the plan-et alone. In a spirit of cooper-ation, India has asked theworld to do its bit, leading byexample in meeting all itsenvironmental obligations –globally and nationally,” hesaid.

The minister said that thereis growing public demand forclimate action and to align eco-nomic recovery with long-term sustainability and cli-mate goals.

“Given the renewed interestin collective action, COP26offers a unique opportunity toenhance ambitions and reiter-ate the global commitment tocombat climate change,” hesaid, adding that the worldmust start acting together onthe four issues- Temperature,Mitigation, Finance andResponsibility.

“It is time the world unitesto honour the commitmentsmade under the ParisAgreement, which set a goal tolimit global warming to wellbelow 2, preferably to 1.5degrees Celsius, compared topre-industrial levels.”

‘Come together to honour ’15 Paris Agreement’

PNS n NEW DELHI

Hindalco Industries Ltd, theAditya Birla Group's metalflagship firm, on Fridayreported a multifold jump inconsolidated profit after tax(PAT) to Rs 3,417 crore for thequarter ended September 30.

The results were driven byan exceptional performance byNovelis and India business,supported by favourablemacros, strategic product mix,higher volumes and stability inoperations. The company hadposted a consolidated PAT ofRs 387 crore in the year-agoperiod, Hindalco Industriessaid in a filing to the BSE.

Its revenue from operationsin July-September 2021increased to Rs 47,665 crore ascompared with Rs 31,237 crorein the year-ago period, the fil-ing said.

Motherson Sumiposts 76 pc fallin net profit PNS n NEW DELHI

Auto components majorMotherson Sumi SystemsLtd (MSSL) on Fridayreported a 76 per centdecline in consolidated netprofit from continuingoperations at Rs 93.04crore in the second quarterended September, hit byglobal automotive supplychain disruptions.

The company had post-ed a consolidated net prof-it from continuing opera-tions at Rs 387.93 crore inthe same quarter last fiscal,MSSL said in a regulatoryfiling.

Bajaj Electricals Ltd on Friday reported a growth of 17.77 per centin its consolidated net profit at Rs 62.55 crore for the secondquarter ended September 30, 2021. The company had posted a

net profit of Rs 53.11 crore during the July-September quarter of theprevious fiscal. Its total revenue from operations was up 6.92 percent to Rs 1,302.02 crore during the quarter under review, asagainst Rs 1,217.71 crore in the period of the previous fiscal.

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Saturday November 13, 2021

SHIKHA DUGGAL

n this week’s‘Hyderabond’ column,we have the curator ofthe city’s most happen-ing event — SundayFunday — being held

every Sunday at Tank Bund,Rakhi Kankaria. She, who is thefounder of Rachnoutsav Events,has been pioneering in the fieldof the event industry since 1996and is unbeatable to date.

In a freehearted conversationwith The Pioneer, Rakhi, aChennai-born, shares, “In 1996,nobody knew what event man-agement was. My first opportuni-ty came through ITC Kakatiya. Idid not have a marketing team,yet I have established my eventsacademy in the city that everyoneknows of.”

Wanting to be winners of localminds and hearts, RakhiKankaria specialises in setting upgovernment, social and corporateevents for Hyderabad city!Deeply inclined towards encour-aging the budding event man-agers from across the city, Rakhi

has worked across the world andnot just in India. “Hyderabad isthe best city to work in. It has afantastic combination of Northand Western India. If there’sflamboyance, so there is a com-mitment too. You got to find yourown spacehere, weaveyour ownniche,” sheadds. Shealso men-tions howChennaiwasn’t asflamboyant as Hyderabad. “Theyare centered only around band-baaja and pujaris, but who ismaking the style statementthere?” she questions and contin-ues, “The last time one readabout a splendid wedding inChennai is very long ago, howev-er, many Hyderabadi weddingshave gone viral for what they do.Chennai doesn’t have an appro-priate wedding market, butHyderabad does.”

Whenever someone strikes thename of this city, the only thingthat comes to her mind is thatthis city is the land of opportuni-

ties that one is looking for.Hyderabad displays the fantasticcombination of the government’sacceptance and the native’senthusiasm at the right place.Looking at where she’s today iswhat she consid-ers to be herfondest mem-ory here.

The only

thing that she disapproves of isthe lack of opportunities for localevent management companies inthe city, whereas Internationalevent companies get to host thebiggest events.

Seconding her statement,Rakhi further explains, “Nurtureyour own talent in the city and inthe country. If you can strike adeal of more than 20 crores withWizcraft for Ayodha celebrations,I would appreciate it if our stategovernment also helps us raisemore budget for the ‘Sunday-Funday’ event. It’s an experimentto boost the cultural heritage of

our city, however, I havemore ideas for it. We canstart this at two otherlocations too, touch alittle bit of theSecunderabad areafor more audiences.Hyderabad is not justCharminar and TankBund, it’s alsoKukatpally and

Secunderabad.”“Thirty

yearsin

Hyderabadand I amunstop-pable. Igot tobe thepresi-dentof

Telangana Chamber of theevent industry,

founder of anational body for

events — I am apart of a jury andthat’s my successstory,” concludes

Rakhi with herhead heldhigh withpride.

‘MORE TO HYD THAN THECHARMINAR, TANK BUND’‘MORE TO HYD THAN THECHARMINAR, TANK BUND’‘MORE TO HYD THAN THECHARMINAR, TANK BUND’‘MORE TO HYD THAN THECHARMINAR, TANK BUND’‘MORE TO HYD THAN THECHARMINAR, TANK BUND’‘MORE TO HYD THAN THECHARMINAR, TANK BUND’‘MORE TO HYD THAN THECHARMINAR, TANK BUND’‘MORE TO HYD THAN THECHARMINAR, TANK BUND’

i

People withcancer need

extranutrition.

DRVINEETTALWAR

tells youhow

nutritionhas a majorrole to playin recovery

from cancerand even

posttreatment

utrition has amajor role toplay in recoveryfrom cancer andeven post treat-ment. An esti-

mated 80 per cent ofadvanced cancer patientssuffer from malnutritioncausing adverse effects onbody functions and treat-ment outcomes.

Frequent malnutrition incancer patients could bebecause of any of the fourreasons includingdecreased dietary intake,increase in the body's dietrequirements but not con-suming enough, loss ofnutrients or impaireddigestion (due to radia-tion/ chemotherapyinduced enteritis etc.)

People with cancer needextra nutrition. Forinstance, calories requiredper day for a healthy indi-vidual is 1800 while apatient with cancer needsapprox. 2200 calories perday. However, nutrition incancer patients is so com-promised that an estimated20 percent of people withcancer may die from theeffects of malnutritionrather than cancer itself.

There is a need for prop-er planning and

counselling ofnutrition

since can-cer treat-mentscouldleadto

loss

of desire toeat, con-stipa-tion,

changesin smell,nausea, vomitingetc. He advised to takesmall frequent meals ofhome cooked food anddrink plenty of fluids tonegate side-effects ofchemotherapy and radio-therapy.

There are several mythsregarding nutrition forcancer patients and thosewho have conquered can-cer. Drinking red juiceslike pomegranate and beet-root alone doesn’t lead toan increase in haemoglo-bin count.

There is another myththat starvation woulddeprive a growing tumourof nutrition and thereforehelp in treatment of cancer.Research has shown thatstarvation does notincrease survival but couldbe detrimental due to highnutritional needsduring andafter thera-py.

Cancerpatients and conquerorsshould steer clear of all theclaims about super foods/dietary supplements andfood related advice popu-lated on the social media.Indian diet, besides beinghealthy, is also a wealthydiet with a wealth of allkinds of nutrition requiredincluding turmeric, salt,micro nutrients, garammasala, a mixture of differ-ent spices each withunique properties andantioxidants.

A general thumb rule isto eat food with 40 percent carbohydrates, 40 percent fats and 20 per centproteins.

Hi-fibre diet which canlead to lower incidence ofcolorectal, lung, oral,esophageal and stomachcancers. Few studies havealso pointed to the role offruits and vegetables inimprovement in cancersurvival. Five servings offruits and vegetables eachday is ideal, he said.

Besides good nutrition,there is a need for exercise.Moderate to intense physi-cal activity for half an hourfor five days in a week orvigorous activity for 20minutes for three days aweek can do a lot of

good.

(The writer isDirector, Medical

Oncology, RGCIRC,Delhi)

n very parent warchild to their her-itage and culture.Then why is itthat children,especially in

metro cities, seem to havesuch an affinity towards west-ern culture over their own?Well, the answer could lie inyour child’s toy box – it ispossibly filled withSpiderman, Doremon,Pokemon, Barbie, Avengers,Disney, etc.

How many Indian-themedcharacters or toys can youfind in your child’s collec-tion? When a child grows upon a diet of Western charac-ters, it is but natural theywould be influenced by them.

This is the trend thatMeghna, the founder of IndicBricks, spotted when shewould spend time with heryoung nephews or students.And she wondered howcould we make Indian her-itage more fun, cool andexciting for children, so theyare attracted to learn moreabout it? That is the questionMeghna’s companyMakersLoft is trying toanswer through Indic Bricks— you can call them the newbuilding blocks of Indian cul-ture and heritage.

According to Meghna,Indic Bricks actively engageschildren in Indian heritagethrough building blocks toys.For example, while assem-

bling a Ganeshamurthi a child is natu-rally inclined to beintrigued about his 4arms and would wantto learn more abouthis superpowersthrough our stories. Or achild could build a small-scale model of the Kailashatemple and learn about theincredible architecture foundin Indian monuments.

“What is special aboutIndic Bricks is that it not onlyhelps engage children withtheir roots, but it also devel-ops their creativity, spatialskills, focus, and persistence,”says Meghna. Their firstproduct Ganesha set has beenlaunched just in time forDiwali and can be bought

onlinefrom www.mak-ersloft.in/gane-sha.

They havemany more excit-ing sets planned –Bal Krishna,Hanuman, Ramayanastorytelling set, of Indianmonuments, and many more.

The toy market in India is

booming — currently esti-mated at $1 billion, and hasthe potential to double itselfby 2025, according to aFICCI-KPMG report. Indic

Bricks is posi-tioned at the

conver-gence of

do-it-your-selfand

know-your-

roots,both toy

market seg-ments with

huge potential inIndia.

Eat sensiblyDiversify your

child’s toy boxe

Dwayne Johnson reveals why heurinates in water bottle at the gym

ollywood starDwayne Johnsonaddressed his oldcomments abouturinating in waterbottles while

working out.In a new interview with

Esquire, the actor shared thereason behind his eyebrows-raising habit, reportsaceshowbiz.com.

“I do pee in my water bot-tles but let me give context tothat,” the Red Notice starsaid.

“It’s not a water bottle thatI’ve actually purchased solelyfor water that you wash and

clean when you’re doneusing it. These are just bot-

tles that I’m no longer using.Usually the gyms that Iworkout in don’t have a bath-room because they’re theiron paradise. They’re justhot, sweaty and dirty,” headded.

The Jumanji: Welcome tothe Jungle star also sharedthat he has to relieve himselfquite often because he likesto remain “pretty hydrated”throughout the day.

“I break out the bottle,” hesaid.

Johnson first talked abouthim relieving himself in bot-tles in a 2017 Instagramvideo.

At the time, the formerprofessional wrestler saidthat he did it because he“doesn’t have time” to stopfor a bathroom break.

In the interview, Johnsonalso touched the topic of hisallegedly over-the-top cheatmeals.

“I do really have cheatdays. They’re not just forInstagram,” he explained. “Ibring new meaning to theterm gluttony. I’m pretty dis-ciplined throughout the weekin terms of my working out,in terms of my diet andwhen Sunday rolls around,it’s time to go to town.”

h

10

Hyderabad Saturday November 13, 2021

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SPEED BUMP

FUN

what’s brewing?

Ph

oto

s b

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V C

ha

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HEALTH

CALLINGPublic Health Innovations Conclave’sexpo was inaugurated this week byKaruna Vakati, IAS. The three-day expois dedicated to lessons learnt from thepandemic and future readiness.Conclave will also showcase innovation,technology and best practices in publichealth to deal with “Life afterPandemic”.

CODER

CALLLINGThe awards ceremony of Q citycodethon was held in the city recently.Innovative coders bagged the prizesranging from 2 Lakhs. MalathiMarisetti, the GM of Q city was at theevent at QCity IT park in the Financialdistrict.

Tollywood actresses Rekha Nirosh, Shyfa, along with afew other fashion designers had a great time at thelaunch of Trendz lifestyle expo at Taj Krishna in Banjara

Hills. The expo, by Femmis Ek Umeed Foundation, goes onfor next three days, and offers designer wear, jewellery,bridal wear, home decor and much more.

TRENDZ GALORE

Umesh and Monica Madhyan do it again withthe luxury expo of Sutraa — the weddingedit, the curtain raiser of which was

attended by Ritika Chakraborty. Fashion bugsaround the city are in for a treat, for the exhibitfrom November 19 to 21 at Taj Krishna.

FASHION FORWARD

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n Friday, Amazon Prime video announcedthe global premier of Drushyam 2, alongwith a trailer that showed Venkatesh andMeena in the aftermath of the events in thefirst movie.

In the trailer, the police are seen dis-cussing how a murder case has been haunting them forsix years, with no proof whatsoever. As the trailer goeson, the makers have compiled some powerful scenes tobuild up the tension. Being a sequel to the commercialblockbuster Drushyam, the movie stars Venkatesh, whoplays the role that Mohan Lal essayed in theMalayalam original. Actress Meenaplays Venkatesh’s wife in themovie, while Kruthika, EstherAnil, Sampath Raj, andPoorna are to appear inimportant roles.

Directed by JeethuJoseph, Drushyam 2 isproduced by D. SureshBabu, RajkumarSethupathy, and AntonyPerumbavoor of SureshProductions, RajkumarTheatres, and MaxMovies. After a lot ofambiguity, the makersannounced the OTTrelease of this movie,which was supposed toget a theatricalrelease.

SHREYA SRIKONDA

ollywood youngstar heroDulquerSalmaan’s self-produced filmKurup hit big

screens yesterday in multi-ple languages. The filmdirected by SrinathRajendran, starring Vizag-native Shobhita Dhulipala,has opened to fairly positivereviews. Post the success ofthe film, an elated Shobithainteracted with the mediaabout the film, Tollywoodprojects, amongst others.

“Though I was born andraised in a traditionalTelugu family, my filmcareer started in Mumbai.So the starting point for myjourney is Bollywood. Idon't have any boundariesin mind. I have to like thestory of which language Iwant to make a film in. ButI don't care that this is notin my language. If my role

in the film

impresses me, I am ready todo it in any language,”shares Shobitha who doesnot believe that opportuni-ties in the Telugu filmindustry are exclusive toactors who come from otherstates.

“I do not believe that inthe Telugu industry, oppor-tunities are not given topeople and chances aregiven to those who comefrom outside. It is true thatheroines of other languagesare coming in Telugu. But Idon’t say there are noopportunities for Telugupeople. I’m getting moreopportunities here than out-side. And actresses in otherlanguages would say thesame,” explains the actress.

She reveals that she didn’tknow Dulquer Salman washer co-star! “DirectorSrinath came to Mumbaiand narrated the script ofKurup. Though I alreadyknew that the film wasbeing produced by DulquerSalmaan, I didn’t know thathe was acting in this. I likedthe story and said okay. I

then came to knowthat

Dulquer was acting on theset after the shooting start-ed.”

Likening her role in amovie with salt, she explainsthat for her, the length ofthe role doesn’t matter: “Iwill see if my role is of dueimportance or not. Thismeans that the role shouldbe like salt rather than curryleaves. No matter how muchcurry you make, there is notaste if there is no salt. So Iwill decide on the impor-tance of my role.”

The Made in Heaven starsays that in the beginning ofher film career, she was veryparticular about what rolesshe should do, but shelearnt a lot in the industry,and now picks roles thathave a good story andwhich can entertain viewers.“I wanted to act in anygenre of film if the storywas to appeal to the audi-ence. Now I am choosingsuch movies. I read thescript many times no matterwhat role I choose. I dohomework to understandmy role completely and getabsorbed in it. I have done alot of homework for thisfilm as well. If you look atmy role in the film, you willunderstand my hard work.

She talks about how themovie with a good scriptwill always be a hit.“Despite Srinath, the direc-tor, being in a series offlops, the script for Kurupwas compelling. That’s whyI agreed to the film. I amconfident that the Teluguaudience will love me morewith this film. It is greatluck to get praise from theaudience. The film wascompleted two years ago.We were afraid of releasingit on OTT, but now it is apleasure to release such alarge number of languages.”

About her upcoming pro-jects, after Kurup andMajor, she is doingPonniyan Selvan withManitharnam. It will also bereleased in Telugu. Made inHeaven season 2 is also inthe works, along with theHindi film Sitara. “I alsocompleted shooting for myfirst Hollywood film. Manyof the films I have acted inare now ready for release.I’m looking forward tothem,” she concludes.

11

Hyderabad Saturday November 13, 2021 tollywood

Natyam fameRohit Behal at hischarming bestSHIKHA DUGGAL

fter gainingresounding popu-larity from thelarge-scale dancemovie calledNatyam in

Tollywood, the lead actorRohit Behal hailing fromMumbai is now all set for hissecond Tolly line-up titledPrathyardhi opposite splitsvil-lian and Telugu actressAkshata Sonwane.

There is news recently thathis debut movie has also beenselected for an internationalfilm festival, not expectingthis sort of fame coming hisway although he is not thataffluent in the Telugu lan-guage, he still is so hopeful todo his next in the industry.

In order to know moreabout his deep journey in theTelugu cinema, The Pioneercalled up Rohit. In a tele-phonic conversation with us,the actor shares in detail,“The environment post thesuccess of Natyam has beengreat, despite the lockdownpushing the release, the sen-

sation that the movieturned out to be wasunexpected. And, thento hear that it has beenselected for a film festi-val was another momentof celebration for me asa debut actor. I got so

many messages and peo-ple were tagging me while

in the theatres though it wasan off-beat cinema, the com-mercial nick wasn’t touchedupon and yet it did well.”

The actor feels over-whelmed that the artistic film

did well for him!Looking to keep

his groundsfirm inthisindustry,he hasnogiganticexpec-tationsandinsteadisdevot-ingmoreof histime tolearn-ing

Telugulan-

guage. It’s important for me toknow more about the Teluguculture so that I can givethem the best, he feels.

Talking about his upcom-ing movie, which is a crimethriller, where Rohit seems toplay a character of a mechan-ic who is stuck between amurder mystery and no oneknows who the killer is —we’ll see this movie endingwith a high action courtroomdrama. He shares, “I signedthis movie much beforeNatyam went on floors. It wasunexpected. None of thesouthern audiences knew methen. Now, this is a massmovie. From a simple-lookingdancer in my previous film toportraying a raw character ofa mechanic in Prathyardhi, Itried turning the tables formyself.”

He also did a bike chasingsequence in the film, whichwas the best part for himalong with a fight sequenceinside an apartment. “Natyamdidn’t have those, so this wasa new experience. My charac-ter speaks very little and he ismourning the loss of his girl-friend,” he adds. The makerstried establishing the relation-ship between him and actressAkshata in the form of aflashback sequence. So hesays he had to be at hischarming best for the flash-back sequence and thenswitch to an unrefined char-acter for the rest of the film.The film doesn’t have manysongs, it just has one itemnumber where the lead actorwill be seen having his usualdrink. Taking his inspirationfrom Nani’s character in V,Rohit could adjust himself tothe basics of Prathyardhi. “Icould see Nani’s charactercoming off as very negativeon-screen however as the filmprogresses we get to know thereasons behind it. I couldrelate to it for my upcomingmovie. There was so muchsuspense and twists! I look upto Nani,” he says.

While shooting for themovie in Hyderabad, he got

to explore a lot. There wasno food-joint that he

wasn’t taken to in theOld City and now he

is so familiar with allthe nooks and cor-ners that he iswell-versed totake any guest ona city tour, hementions to usin a funny tone.A trainedbackgrounddancer himselfin various dis-ciplines, hehad all thereasons to gelwell withdancing pio-neer SandhyaRaju on thesets! “When Ifirst saw herwork, I was mes-

merised. I justshut my laptop

screen and compli-mented her then and

there. Her eyes are soexpressive! Though we

belonged to two differentareas, our connection with

dance made it seamless for usto converse on sets,” Rohitconcludes.

a

O

Extremely happy to see goodresponse to Kurup: Shobitha

k

Nithiin’s MacherlaNiyojakavargamlocks release date

fter a long break from action-packed movies, actor Nithiin isback with an exciting new rolefor his fans! The shooting forMacherla Niyojakavargam is fully

underway, and the makers have revealedApril 29, 2022 as the release date.Directed by MS Raja Shekhara Reddy,the movie is produced by SudhakarReddy and Nikitha Reddy on SreshthMovies in association with AdityaMovies & Entertainments and is cur-rently being shot in Hyderabad.

The poster for the movie showsNithiin with an intense look and a fierybackground. What promises to be aheavy action packed entertainer, the roleof the leading lady has been filled by theUppena fame actress Krithi Shetty.Summer is definitely a big season forfilm releases and MacherlaNiyojakavargam will capitalize on longholidays. Director MS Raja ShekharReddy has prepared a powerful script to

pre-sentNithiin ina never seenbefore action role in the film. The moviealso boasts of a stellar cast and will haveleading craftsmen working for it.

Mahati Swara Sagar collaborates withNithiin for the third time, afterBheeshma and Maestro. Prasad Murellacranks the camera, while MamidalaThirupathi provides dialogues and SahiSuresh is the art director. KotagiriVenkateswara Rao is the editor. The titleand motion poster, which were releaseda couple of months ago, piqued many’sinterest and have the actors ardent fanswaiting for more info.

A

Drushyam 2to premiere on Nov 25

NAVEEN CHANDRA AS AADIaveen Chandra joinsthe Ghani team in arole by the name of‘Aadi’! The actor waspreviously seen inMosagallu and

Ardha Satabdam. The makersare getting ready to release themovie in December in the-atres. A sports drama filmwritten and helmed by KiranKorrapati, Ghani is jointly pro-

duced by Sidhu Mudda andAllu Bobby under the bannersof Renaissance Pictures andAllu Bobby Company. Thefilm is presented by AlluAravind.

The movie has Varun Tejand Saiee Manjrekar in thelead roles. The supporting castincludes Upendra, SunielShetty, Jagapathi Babu, andNaveen Chand

N

O T H E R S P O R T S

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 13, 2021

PTI n DUBAI

Battling lung infection a daybefore the T20 World Cup

semifinal, Pakistan openerMohammad Rizwan came out ofhospital like a “warrior” to score histhird fifty of the tournament, albeitin a losing cause against Australiain the second semifinal here onThursday.

Ahead of the match there wereconcerns about Rizwan’s availabil-ity for the match as he was downwith flu, and Pakistan batting con-sultant Matthew Hayden later con-firmed that the wicketkeeper bat-ter, in fact, had to be hospitalisedfor a night due to a “lung condition”.

“Mohammad Rizwan was inhospital a night ago suffering withsome sort of lung condition. Thisis a warrior. He’s been brilliantthrough the campaign and he hasgreat courage,” Hayden said.

PTI n DUBAI

New Zealand wickeetkeeperbatter Devon Conway was

on Thursday ruled out of theT20 World Cup final and thesubsequent tour of India afterinjuring his right-hand in frus-tration following his dismissalin the semifinal against England.

Conway had made a valu-able 46 in New Zealand’s suc-cessful chase of 167 onWednesday.

“Conway sustained theinjury when he struck his batimmediately after being dis-missed in semifinal win over

England in Abu Dhabi - with anX-ray today confirming a breakto his right hand fifthMetacarpal,” said New ZealandCricket in a statement.

New Zealand face Australiain the final on Sunday.

Head coach Gary Steadsaid Conway was understand-ably devastated.

“He’s absolutely gutted to beruled out like this at this time.Devon is hugely passionateabout playing for the BLACK-CAPS and no one is more dis-appointed at the moment thanhe is - so we’re really trying torally around him.

“It looked a pretty innocu-ous reactionary incident on thefield, but the blow obviouslycaught the bat between theglove padding and while it’s notthe smartest thing he’s donethere’s certainly an element ofbad luck in the injury.

“Due to the timelines wewon’t be bringing in a replace-ment player for this World Cupor next week’s T20 series againstIndia, but are working throughour options for the Test serieslater this month,” said Stead.

The India tour begins withthe opening T20 in Jaipur onNovember

AP n SAO PAULO

Lewis Hamilton is runningout of time in his quest to

win a fifth straight FormulaOne title, and the BrazilianGrand Prix offers the Britishdriver little hope of catchingleader Max Verstappen.

The seven-time championfrom Mercedes trails his RedBull rival by 19 points headinginto Sunday’s race, the fourth-to-last event of the season.

“I would imagine it’s assteep as it can be,” Hamiltonsaid Thursday about the chal-lenge of catching theDutchman at Interlagos.

Verstappen won in Braziltwo years ago, while last year’srace was canceled because ofthe coronavirus pandemic. TheDutchman also won last week-end in Mexico and Red Bull isonly one point behindMercedes in the constructors’championship.

“Their pace was phenom-

enal in the last race. They havehad a strong car all year. Theyhave had the strongest caractually, you can tell,” Hamiltonsaid.

“Last time here (in Brazil)they were incredibly strong. Weare anticipating again that theywill be very hard to beat thisweekend.”

The traditionally unpre-dictable weather at the SaoPaulo track could have aneffect on the race, though local

weather forecasts say the rainis not expected to last into theweekend. Both Hamilton andVerstappen are good in wetconditions, but results can beunpredictable.

Hamilton also said he hashad difficulties with his carbecause of recent changes.

“This year we have had ourwings clipped. It has definite-ly been harder from an opera-tional sense to maximize thecar,” Hamilton said.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Former India opener GautamGambhir has slammed

Australian batter David Warnerfor hitting a double-bounceddelivery off MohammedHafeez for a six during theirT20 World Cup semifinal winover Pakistan, saying it was a“pathetic display of spirit of thegame”.

In the eighth over ofAustralia’s run chase, the firstball from Hafeez slipped out ofhis hand and bounced twice.Warner moved outside leg andswung it over deep mid-wick-et for a six.

From the subsequent noball, Warner got two moreruns. Thanks to that six,

Australia got 13 runs fromthat over. Australia chaseddown the 177-run target withfive wickets and one over tospare.

“What an absolutelypathetic display of spirit of thegame by a Warner! #ShamefulWhat say @ashwinravi99?”Gambhir tweeted trying to

imply that Warner should haveleft the delivery as its hadslipped out of Hafeez’s hand.

However, no cricketing lawcalls for such a delivery to beconsidered dead.

Senior India off-spinnerRavichandran Ashwin, whowas criticised in the past forrunning out Jos Buttler at thenon-striker’s end after hebacked up too early and issu-ing a warning to Aaron Finchin the IPL, commented onGambhir’s tweet after it wasdescribed as a “bad take” inreplies.

“His point is that if this isright , that was right. If that waswrong , this is wrong too. Fair assessment?” tweetedAshwin.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane will leadIndia in the first Test against New

Zealand before regular skipper Virat Kohlireturns for the second match even as someall-format bigwigs got complete rest fromthe assignment in line with the BCCI’sworkload management of players.

Newly appointed T20 captain and reg-ular opener Rohit Sharma, wicketkeeperRishabh Pant, and pacers Jasprit Bumrahand Mohammed Shami have all been rest-ed from the two matches in Kanpur(November 25 to 29), and Mumbai(December 3 to 7).

“Virat Kohli will join the squad for thesecond Test and will lead the team,” BCCIsecretary Jay Shah said in a statement.

Middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer madea comeback in the Test squad along with off-spinner Jayant Yadav. The Test series will bepreceded by a three-match T20 seriesbeginning November 17 in Jaipur. Kohli willnot be a part of the T20 series after optingto take a break.

One of the notable absentees from theTest side was Hanuma Vihari, who has beendropped from the 16-member squad (willbe 17 in next Test).

Vihari, it is learnt, is being added to theIndia A squad for the tour of South Africawhere he will get three matches to stake aclaim in the main squad which will start itsseries in the last week of December.

“We are sending Vihari to South Africafor the A series and his performance in thethree ‘A Test’ matches will be monitored,”

a senior BCCI functionary confirmed thedevelopment to PTI.

According to sources close to the selec-tion committee, Vihari’s current form, andnot past record, has been taken into accountwhile selecting the Test squad. Vihari, in hislast six first-class innings for county teamWarwickshire, produced scores of 32, 52, 8,0, 24, and 43 not out. In the recent SyedMushtaq Ali Trophy, his output across fourinnings read 26, 7, 57 and 4.

PTI n DUBAI

Pakistan captain Babar Azamsought to make amends for his

comment that Hasan Ali’s droppedcatch of Matthew Wade was the turn-ing point of their T20 World Cupsemifinals defeat to Australia, sayingplayers dropping catches was part ofgame and the costly mistake was notthe reason for his team’s ouster.

After Pakistan suffered a five-wicket defeat, courtesy Wade’s sensa-tional three consecutive sixes offShaheen Shah Afridi in the 19th over,Babar had said at the post-match pre-sentation that the scenario of thematch could have been different hadthe catch been taken.

At the post-match press confer-ence, he repeated some of what hesaid but insisted that dropping catch-es was part of the game and he andthe team would back Ali to the hilt.

“On the day, catches weredropped and because of that thematch changed. Had the catch notbeen dropped, the scenario wouldhave been different. But this is partof the game and the more we learnfrom our mistakes the better,” he said.

When a reporter asked if he now

realised that Ali’s form was not goodthroughout the tournament and hisdropped catch was the reason forPakistan’s ouster from the tourna-ment, he said, “I don’t feel like that.”

“He is our main bowler and haswon many matches for Pakistan.Players do drop catches sometimes.”

Babar, who was one of the stand-out performers among batters in thetournament, said Ali is “a bit down”but “fighting out” and the team willsupport him.

“He is fighting it out and I willkeep backing him. Every player can-not perform in every game. Someindividuals who are having a goodday try to make the most of it andcome up with good performances,” he said.

“Yes, he is a bit down. We willkeep backing him and giving himconfidence. People wil l say a lot of things, but we are behindhim,” he added.

Besides the costly dropped catch,Ali was also off colour with the ballas he leaked 44 runs from his fourovers without any wicket.

But Babar refused to entertain anysuggestion that Ali should not havebeen in the team.

PTI n BIRMINGHAM

India will face Australia inthe opening match when

women’s cricket makes itsdebut at the 2022Commonwealth Games onJuly 29 while the final will beplayed on August 7, the event organisers announcedon Friday.

Women’s cricket is mak-ing its debut at theCommonwealth Games withthe T20 format. The last timecricket was played in themulti-sporting showpiece wasin the 1998 edition in KualaLumpur.

“The women’s cricket T20competition will be held at theEdgbaston Stadium from the29 July, with the bronze andgold medal matches takingplace on 7 August,” said theECB in a statement.

The first match on theschedule will see Australiatake on India in the early ses-sion on July 29 followed byPakistan playing Barbados,who were recently confirmedas the team from the WestIndies that will take part inthe competition.

Other highlights on theschedule include India againstPakistan on July 31. Australiawill also take on Pakistan on

August 3.Hosts England will be in

action for the first time onJuly 30, when they will takeon the winner of a qualifyingtournament which is due totake place at the start of 2022.

They will then play SouthAfrica in the early session onAugust 2, followed by a thirdmatch against New Zealandin the evening session onAugust 4.

PTI n NEW DELHI

For the second day run-ning, a seeminglydoomed chase proved

anything but as Australiamatched New Zealand in get-ting home with an over tospare thanks to some spectac-ular late hitt ing againstPakistan.

While the parallels withthe Black Caps’ victory overEngland are obvious, this gamealso brought back memories ofthe only previous ICC Men’sT20 World Cup semi-finalsplayed by these two teams.

Rewind 11 years andPakistan looked to be on theirway to a third straight finalwhen they piled up 191 for sixbatting first and then reducedAustralia to 144 for seven inthe 18th over.

In 2010 in the West Indies,it was Michael Hussey whoalmost singlehandedly swungthe game, with six sixes in his24-ball 60.

A player at the peak of hispowers, he was able to dosomething that few thoughtpossible at the time, the sort ofdestructive knock that hasbecome more commonplace asthe format has developed.

Still, Hussey was regard-

ed as arguably the best white-ball finisher in the game at thetime.

If someone was going toturn a game like that, it wasprobably him. His three max-imums off Saeed Ajmal werematched by Matthew Wade in

Dubai, who went one better bygetting three in a row offShaheen Shah Afridi to seal astunning chase of 177.

Wade was a more unlikelyhero than Hussey.

Not that he is not a capa-ble batter, but he had only ever

topped 30 on one occasion ina chase in T20Is, and thatcame when opening.

He did not have anywherenear the pedigree of Husseywhen it came to finishing. Infact, it was his batting partnerMarcus Stoinis who seemed

the more likely match-winner,and for Wade, the all-rounderwas the man who turned thegame when he took 13 offHaris Rauf in the 17th overincluding a six and a four.

That brought the requiredrate down to just over 12 anover from the last three, thesort of numbers that havebecome easily attainable, par-ticularly with the rapportbetween the batters that Wadeand Stoinis possess.

They did just that, Stoinisfinishing unbeaten on 40 andWade a blistering 41 from just17 deliveries.

Asked about how the pairhave become such good finish-ers, Wade explained: “It’s con-fidence, confidence in yourability to finish the game. Tobe able to bat with Marcus hasbeen awesome, I’ve played a lotof cricket with him at Victoriaearly on in his career so I’veseen him grow into the crick-eter he is today.

“I know if I can hang withhim for four or five overs, he’sgoing to find the boundary,he’s too big and strong not to.The reason that he and Iworked well towards the backend is that we know eachother’s game so much.

Courtesy: ICC

AP n SAO PAULO

Brazil is celebrating as the firstSouth American team to

qualify for the World Cup inQatar — with several matchesin hand and more than a yearbefore the tournament begins inQatar.

South American soccerbody CONMEBOL says Brazilas the first team of the region toqualify, with 11 wins in 12matches. The latest cameThursday night in Sao Paulo,with Lucas Paquetá scoring theonly goal in the 72nd minute ina 1-0 win over Colombia.

The Seleção is 18 pointsahead of fourth-place Chile, which can add only 15points from its five remainingmatches.

The top four teams in SouthAmerica earn direct entry to theWorld Cup.

“This is the result of greatwork we started way back,”Paquetá said after the match inSao Paulo which provided fewopportunities for both teams.

“I cried of happiness (afterscoring) because of this momentI am living at the national teamand at my club Lyon. This camefrom a lot of joy, joy for thiswork well done,” Paquetá added.

PTI n GONDA

Atactically superior SaritaMor bagged the 59kg title

with a commanding victoryover comeback-girl GeetaPhogat on a day when estab-lished names such as DivyaKakran and Sakshi Malik bitthe dust at the NationalWrestling Championship hereon Friday.

The 59kg category was oneof the toughest in the women’scompetition with three WorldChampionships medallists inthe fray for the title.

Sarita entered the eventfresh from her World bronzemedal-winning performancewhile struggling but strongPooja Dhanda (2018 Worldbronze winner) needed to getback his old touch.

Making it a tougher brack-et was 2012 World bronze win-ner Geeta, who returned to

competitive wrestling afterthree years following materni-ty break.

Sarita dominated all hermatches en route the title clashas only Pooja Dhanda testedher. She won two matches byfall and one by technical supe-riority.

As it was anticipated, 26-year-old Sarita and 32-yearGeeta entered the final inwhich the Railways wrestleremerged champion with a 8-0scoreline.

Sarita was sharp, had morepower in her moves in the finalagainst Geeta, who concededthat she let her rival call theshots.

Sarita was aggressive fromthe beginning while Geetaremained defensive which hurther chances. Sarita kept tight-ening her grip in the match,building her lead with moveafter move.

PTI n GONDA (UTTAR PRADESH)

In a major policy change, theWrestling Federation of India

on Friday decided that if itdeems required, then it will askthe quota winning wrestlers toappear in trials before finalis-ing the Indian team for nextOlympics, a move which hasirked the top athletes.

The Wrestling Federationof India (WFI) held its AGM inGonda and in another majordecision, it passed the resolu-tion that no state will beallowed to field more than oneteam at the Nationals, some-thing that will hurt Haryana themost.

Till recently, WFI had letthe quota winners keep placefor the Olympics but it feels thismove will keep top wrestlers“on their toes”.

Wade & Stoinis bring back memories of Hussey Rahane to lead India in 1stTest; all-format stars rested

Conway out of WC final and India tour

Hayden: Rizwan washospitalised nightbefore WC semi

India vs Aus to open WCC at2022 Commonwealth Games

Gambhir slams Warner for double-bounced hit

Brazil beats Colombia 1-0,qualify for Qatar World Cup

Olympic quotawinners may haveto appear in trials

Sarita stamps authorityin tough 59kg event

Hamilton sees steep challenge against Verstappen in Brazil

BABAR SAYS PLAYERS CANDROP CATCHES

HASAN’S DROPPED CATCH WAS TURNING POINT