PNS n NEW DELHI

Four convicts in the sensation-al 2012 Nirbhaya Gang rapeand murder case will be hangedon January 22 at 7 am in Tiharjail, a Delhi court said onTuesday.

The order was pronouncedby Additional Sessions JudgeSatish Kumar Arora who issuedthe death warrants against thefour death row convicts --Mukesh (32), Pawan Gupta(25), Vinay Sharma (26) andAkshay Kumar Singh (31).

During the hearing, theprosecution said there was noapplication pending before anycourt or the President right

now by any of the convictsand the review petition of all

the convicts was dismissed bythe Supreme Court.

While urging the court toissue the death warrants, the

prosecution said, "In betweenthe issuance and the execu-tion of death warrants, ifthe convicts want to filecurative petitions, they can

do so."Counsel for two of the con-

victs - Mukesh and Vinay - saidthey were in the process of fil-ing curative petition in theSupreme Court.

When the hearing com-menced, advocate M L Sharmaappeared before the court andsaid that he was representingMukesh. However, amicuscuriae Vrinda Grover, who onthe last date was appointed bythe court to represent Mukesh,said Sharma had no authorityto represent him.

The court heard the argu-ments from both of them anddirected Sharma to produceVakalatnama (documentempowering lawyer) showingthat Mukesh authorised him.

After the court reserved the

order for 3.30 pm on issuanceof death warrants, Mukesh'smother entered the court roomcrying and urged the court toshow mercy.

The court refused to enter-tain her.

Talking to media personsoutside the courtroom, shesaid her son was framed

because he was poor.The court interacted with all

the convicts through videoconferencing from Tihar jail.

The media was not allowed

inside the video conferencingroom.

After the court passed theorder, the lawyers and familymembers of the convicts cameout and informed the mediaabout court's order.

Victim's parents said theywere satisfied with the order.

The trial court had earlierdirected Tihar jail authorities toseek within a week responsefrom the four death row con-victs as to whether they werefiling mercy pleas against theirexecutions with the Presidentof India. It was hearing theapplications moved byNirbhaya's parents and theprosecution (Delhi govern-ment) seeking issuance ofdeath warrant against the con-vict. The Supreme Court onDecember 18 had dismissedthe plea of Akshay seekingreview of its decision, sayingreview petition is not "re-hear-ing of appeal over and overagain" and it had already con-sidered the mitigating andaggravating circumstanceswhile upholding the deathpenalty.

Continued on Page 3

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RNI No. APENG/2018/764698

*Late City Vol. 2 Issue 68*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

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any important work)Rahukalam: 12:22 pm – 01:45 pmYamagandam: 08:14 am – 09:37 amVarjyam: 07:42 am – 09:19 am,09:24 pm – 10:59 pmGulika: 10:59 am - 12:22 pmGood Time: (to start any important work)

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Pakistan Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry hasadmitted that he had slapped a TV anchor at a

wedding for linking him with TikTok sensationHareem Shah. Defending his move, he said to mediathat he was a human first before anything else, TheExpress Tribune reported."Ministries come andgo. I will not tolerate personal attacks.... weare all human beings and will react whensomeone makes such false allegations,"Chaudhry said.

PAK MINISTER SLAPS TV ANCHORFOR LINKING WITH TIKTOK ARTISTE

GoM APPROVES EoI, SHAREPURCHASE FOR SALE OF AIR INDIA

EARTH-SIZED WORLD FOUND IN‘HABITABLE ZONE’ BY NASA’S TESS NASA said Monday that its planet hunter satellite TESS had

discovered an Earth-sized world within the habitable range of its star,which could allow the presence ofliquid water. The planet, named "TOI700 d", is relatively close to Earth-only 100 light years away, NASA'sJet Propulsion Laboratoryannounced during the annualAmerican Astronomical Societymeeting in Honolulu, Hawaii.

AGroup of Ministers (GoM) on Tuesday approved the Expression ofInterest (EoI) as well as the share purchase agreement for Air India's

privatisation, a senior government official said. The EoI and the sharepurchase agreement would be issued in January itself, he said. Lastyear, the Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism approved the re-initiation of the process for thegovernment's 100% stake sale inAir India along with Air IndiaExpress and the carrier's stake injoint venture AISATS.

DOZENS KILLED IN STAMPEDE ATFUNERAL OF IRANIAN COMMANDERDozens of people have been killed in a stampede in the Iranian city of

Kerman at the funeral procession for a top commander killed in an airstrike by the United States. "So far 40 people were killed and 213 otherswere wounded in the incident," the semi-official Fars news agencyreported on Tuesday, citing an emergencyservices official. Earlier, the head of thecountry's emergency services, PirhosseinKoolivand, said that "32 of our citizens losttheir lives in the procession ... and 190were injured" due to "overcrowding".

Nirbhaya case convicts to be hanged on Jan 22

Hanging will restore faith ofwomen in law: Nirbhaya's momNEW DELHI: The hanging ofNirbhaya convicts will restorethe faith of women in law, hermother Asha Devi said onTuesday. Four convicts in thesensational 2012 Nirbhayagangrape and murder case willbe hanged on January 22 at 7am in Tihar jail, the court said.Nirbhaya's mother said that

January 22 will be a big day forher when the convicts arehanged. The order waspronounced by AdditionalSessions Judge Satish KumarArora who issued death warrantsagainst them. The four deathrow convicts are Mukesh, VinaySharma, Akshay Singh andPawan Gupta.

n No applicationpending before anycourt or the Presidentby any of the convicts

n Review petition ofall the convicts wasdismissed by theSupreme Court

n Counsels for twoconvicts said theyplanned to file cur-

ative petitions

1. MMUKESH SSINGH

2. AAKSHAY TTHAKUR

3. VVINAY SSHARMA

4.PAWAN GGUPTA

NEW DELHI: After issuance ofdeath warrants against themby a court here on Tuesday,the only legal remedy left withthe four convicts in theappalling 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case is toapproach the Supreme Courtwith curative petitions to seekrelief from capital punishment.

The convicts can also availthe constitutional remedy offiling mercy pleas with thePresident.

Advocate A P Singh,representing Akshay, Pawanand Vinay, said he will soonapproach the apex court withtheir curative petition and willalso seek a stay on the deathwarrants issued by the trialcourt till the disposal of thecurative plea.

CBI registers cases on officialsof IOB, others in Rs 90 cr fraud PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Officials of the CBI,Visakhapatnam on Tuesdayregistered a case against someemployees of Indian OverseasBank (IOB) and some privateindividuals with regard to a Rs90 crore fraud case.

The CBI registered cases

against Green ValleyMinistries WelfareAssociation, Visakhapatnam,Bhakthinidhi, Vijayawada,Bellamkonda Murali KrishnaSharma, Suryarao Peta,Vijayawada, Heli Veepuri,Regional Resource Manager,Indian Overseas Bank

Continued on Page 3

Farmers stir turns violent, YSRCP MLA attackedPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The agitation of the farmers inprotest against the proposal toshift the state Capital fromAmaravati took a violent on its21st day on Tuesday, with theprotesters attacking the car inwhich Macherla MLA PennelliRamakrishna Reddy was trav-elling.

The MLA's gunmen wereinjured in the attack and thecar was damaged.

Stepping up their pressureon the government, about5,000 people took out a rally onthe National Highway 9 atChinna Kakani and squattedon the road.

Tension built up in the areawhen the protesters attackedthe car in which RamakrishnaReddy was travelling.

The protestors used stonesand sticks to carry out what

appeared to be a well-plannedattack. The protesters sur-rounded the MLA's car, stop-ping it from exiting the serviceroad that it was moving on.

The incident led to a hugetraffic jam on either side of thehighway. Later, addressing apress conference, RamakrishnaReddy alleged that TDP pres-

ident N Chandrababu Naiduengineered the attack and saidthat such tactics would notwork. "If the farmers have anygrouse, they should stagepeaceful protests in a democ-ratic manner and come fortalks with the Chief Minister,"he said.

Continued on Page 3

Traffic grinds to a halt on the National Highway 9 at Chinna Kakani near the spotwhere YSRCP MLA Pennelli Ramakrishna Reddy’s car was attacked on Tuesday.

PamarruMLA abused, TDP blamedPNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP workers abused PamarruMLA Kaile Anil Kumar whenhe stopped by after noticingthat some people were burn-ing tyres and an effigy ofChief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy atThotlavalluru in Krishna dis-trict on Tuesday.

According to reports, AnilKumar, who took part in foun-dation-laying ceremonies fora few developmental pro-grammes, was proceeding toVijayawada from Pamarru.

Continued on Page 3

L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

Telangana state Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao and hisaP counterpart YSJaganmohan Reddy will meeton January 13 at PragathiBhavan in Hyderabad.

This would the first meetingof the two Telugu CMs aftermore than three months. Thelast time they had met was onSeptember 24.

The meeting assumes signif-icance in the backdrop of heat-ed political atmosphere pre-vailing across the country overthe issue of BJP-led NDA gov-ernment's moves on the con-troversial CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA),National Register of Citizens(NRC) and NationalPopulation Register (NPR).

The CMs of non-BJP statesare joining hands to fightagainst the NDA government'smoves on CAA, NRC andNPR.

KCR and Jagan are expect-ed to discuss and take a deci-sion on the stand they shouldadopt on CAA, NRC and NRP.

The meeting also assumessignificance in the wake ofreports that Jagan is planningto shift the administrative cap-ital of AP from Amaravati to

Visakhapatnam.It is learnt that the Jagan

Cabinet would be meeting onJanuary 18 and on the sameday, a special session of the APLegislative Assembly wouldbe convened to discuss the cap-ital shift plan.

Speculations are rife thatJagan would seek the supportof KCR for the three capitalsproposal and also his advice inresolving the issues associatedwith the capital shift.

Both the CM are likely to

discuss the pending post-bifur-cation issues between the twostates.

There have been reportsthat the relations between thetwo states had been understress after the last meetingbetween Jagan and KCR.

During the last meeting,KCR reportedly discussed theissue of putting up a joint fightagainst Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and BJP pres-ident Amit Shah.

Continued on Page 3

n Meeting at Pragathi Bhavanafter three months

n Controversial CAA, NRC, NPR to be discussed

n ‘Joint strategy’ to take on NDA Govt likely

n AP capital shifting, pendingbifurcation issues on agenda

Two cases on JNUSU president injured in attackPNS n NEW DELHI

Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU) students' union presi-dent Aishe Ghosh was namedin two police cases filed in aspan of four minutes onSunday evening, shortly aftershe was taken to hospital bleed-ing from a brutal attack by amasked mob.

That is when the universityfiled complaints against thestudent chief and others, thepolice said on Monday asdetails of three FIRs emerged.

There are no names in thethird FIR, filed on the mob thatbarged into the campus andattacked students and teacherswith sledgehammers and iron

rods.The two cases against Aishe

Ghosh and other JNU studentswere filed at 8.39 pm and at8.43 pm on Sunday, when themob was still on campus, beat-ing students and teachers and

vandalizing hostels.Aishe and 26 other students

have been charged with vandal-izing the server room of theuniversity twice, on January 1and 4, and attacking securityguards during the registration

of students for the wintersemester.

The JNU students' union hasbeen protesting against a hos-tel fee hike and had allegedlystormed into the server roomto block the registration

process on Sunday afternoon.There were clashes between theJNU students and the ABVP atthe time.

The FIR against AisheGhosh says: "...since the entireregistration process was halteddue to the lockdown on the CIS(communication and infor-mation) office, an effort wasmade by the CIS staff with thehelp of JNU security guards toopen the office at 6am in themorning of 4th Jan 2020. Atthis time (Aishe Ghosh, SaketMoon) indulged in physicalviolence, pushed the ladyguards, verbally abused themand threatened them with direconsequences if they wouldopen the lock of the CIS office."

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Srikakulam MLA DharmanaPrasada Rao on Tuesdaydemanded that Amaravati bedeclared unconstitutional asthe TDP government had notnotified it by any officialgazette or any governmentorder.

In a letter to President RamNath Kovind, Dharmana saidthat after bifurcation of theState in 2014, the thenGovernment of AndhraPradesh had declaredAmaravati as the new capitalwithout considering the rec-ommendations of the reportby an expert committee.

The said report was neitherdiscussed in the Cabinet meet-ing nor in the LegislativeAssembly or Council, he said."This action of declaringAmaravati as the capital isunconstitutional as it violatedthe fundamental constitution-al principle of justice andequality of opportunityenshrined in the Constitution.It is also illegal as it violated theprovisions of the APReorganisation Act 2014 and

did not follow the recom-mendations of the expert com-mittee. Moreover, the decisionon Amaravati was not notifiedby any official gazette or byany government order. It isunfortunate that constitution-al functions are not conduct-ed from Common CapitalHyderabad and are run froma place which does not havelegal sanctity," Dharmana'sletter to the President said.

Continued on Page 3

Amaravati is illegal,Dharmana tells Prez

Declaration of Amaravatias the capital is unconstit-

utional as it violated the funda-mental principle of justice andequality of opportunityenshrined in the Constitution.

— DHARMANA PRASADA RAOSrikakulam YSRCP MLA

1 2 3 4

The two cases againstAishe Ghosh and otherJNU students werefiled at 8.39 pm and at8.43 pm on Sunday,when the mob wasstill on campus,beating students andteachers andvandalizing hostels

CONVICTS CAN AVAILLEGAL REMEDY OFCURATIVE PETITION

CAA, NRC high on agenda,KCR, Jagan to meet on Jan 13

‘Regulatorsshould notdepend onlyon Govt grant’

‘Campusesmust notbecome havensfor politics ofhate’ 5

8

Patil, Fadnavisspar over ‘FreeKashmir'poster 5

Tech Mahindraopens deliverycentre inWarangal 8

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

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CAPSULE

Secretariat staff sore over three Capitals proposalVIJAYAWADA: Employees of theSecretariat convened a meetinghere on Tuesday to discuss theproblems they would face if theCapital is shifted toVisakhapatnam. They wish totake their issues to the notice ofthe government. VenkatramiReddy, the president of theSecretariat Employees' Union, isreportedly expressed hisdispleasure over Capitalsproposal. "It is we, who are moreaffected than farmers on shiftingof the Capital," employees said.They appealed to Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy torethink again on three Capitalsproposal as they constructedhouses in Amaravati assumingthat the Capital would bedeveloped.

Dwadasi ChakdraSnanam performedVIJAYAWADA: On the occasionof Swamy Pushkarini TheerthaMukkoti on Vaikuntha Dwadasiday, Chakrasnanam has beenperformed with religiousfervour on Tuesday. During theearly hours before sun rise,Sudarshana Chakrattalwar wastaken to the temple tank on acelestial procession andChakrasnanam was performedbetween 4. 30 am and 5:30am. TTD Executive OfficerAnil Kumar Singhal took partin the fete.

Chief Secy bereavedAMARAVATI: The mother ofChief Secretary NeelamSawhney passed away in NewDelhi on Monday. She was 85and had been suffering fromprolonged illness. Meanwhile,Neelam Sawhney waspresiding over the High-PowerCommittee meeting at theCRDA Office in Vijayawada on Tuesday.

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Nandyal-Yerraguntla section declared as first solar section in SCRPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The South Central Railwayhas been in the forefront ofimplementing several mea-sures aimed at harnessing therenewable energy and con-serving energy. One of the sig-nificant actions taken in thisdirection has been the installa-tion of solar panels at stations,service buildings and levellingcrossing gates across the zone.

Gajanan Mallya, GeneralManager, SCR, expressed hishappiness for the earnest effortsby Guntakal Division officialsand staff in installing solarplants at all the eight stationscovering the entire remote sec-tion to overcome the powerfluctuations and problems. Healso appreciated them for tap-ping natural energy resourceand giving a better solution to

the power needs of the entiresection. Taking this step to the

next level for the first time allthe stations in a particular sec-

tion have been provided withsolar panels at one stretch to

tap the natural energy. This willnot only help in meeting powerneeds of all stations in the sec-tion, but also save expenditurefor the railways.

Nandyal-Yerraguntla sectionin Guntakal Division of SCRhas been declared as the firstsolar section in the SouthCentral Railway. Nandyal-Yerraguntla section is a newrailway line laid

by railways and opened forpassenger traffic in 2016 tobring hinterland areas into rail

map by providing rail connec-tivity. It connects Yerraguntlaon Guntakal-Renigunta mainline with Nandyal on Dhone-Guntur mainline.

All the eight stations in thesection - Madduru,Banaganapalle, Koilakuntla,Sanjamala, Nossam, SUppalapadu, Jammalamaduguand Proddutur -have been pro-vided with solar panels capableof meeting all the power needsat these railway stations.

In order to make use of

solar power, 37 kWp off gridroof top solar plants, along with250/125 Wp solar panels, havebeen installed in each station.In addition, inverters and 12V150 AH battery banks are alsoinstalled at all these stations.The total connected load onsolar plants is on an average 30kWp. In total, 152 solar panelshave been installed at these sta-tions.

With an average exploring ofeight sunny hours per day, 148KWh energy units can be gen-erated throughout the yearresulting in energy generationof 54,020 units. Anticipatedsavings in terms of revenue isaround Rs 5 lakh per annum.Significantly, it also helps inreducing carbon footprints of49 metric tonnes per annumthus contributing towardsgreen environs.

n Gajanan Mallya, GeneralManager, SCR, lauded GuntakalDivision officials in installing solarplants at all the eight stationscovering the entire remotesection to overcome the powerfluctuations and problems

n He also appreciatedthem for tappingnatural energyresource and givinga better solution tothe power needs ofthe entire section

Bhogapuram internationalairport gets new lease of lifePNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The big projects planned forVizag seems to have received anew lease of life, thanks to theYSRCP government's plans tocrown the city as the ExecutiveCapital. The green-fieldBhogapuram international air-port, which was put on back-burner due to various reasons,has been put back on track.

Revenue department offi-cials have been directed tocomplete the land acquisitionprocess for the airport at theearliest. Joint collector G ChKishore Kumar held a reviewmeeting with senior officials onTuesday. Prior to that DRO GVenkata Rao and specialdeputy collectors briefed himabout the progress made so far.

"The airport requires 2,624acres and so far 90 per cent ofthe acquisition has been com-pleted and the remaining 260acres have to be acquiredimmediately," said the joint col-lector.

On shifting of some vil-lages and relocating the fami-lies, RDO G Hemalatha saidMaradapalem, Rellipeta,

B o l l e n k a l a p a l e m ,Mudasarlapeta and a few morehamlets have to be shifted and

for them 52 acres have beenacquired for the constructionof housing colonies.

The joint collector askedthe RDO to create infrastruc-ture so that villagers could leada peaceful life in new settle-ments. Bhogapuram airportspecial deputy collector KRamakrishna and tahsildarswere present at the meeting.

Challenge to make the air-port viable

Earlier, the Airport

Authority of India (AAI) haddecided not to shut down itsoperation at the existing Vizagairport even after theBhogapuram greenfield air-port gets operational.

The AAI had also showninterest in developingBhogapuram airport and par-ticipated in the biddingprocess. However, tenders werecancelled and AAI was notallowed to bid in the secondround on the ground that theairport developer should alsohave experience in developingcommercial real estate space.

Two airports within a range of100 km also pose a viabilitychallenge given the traffic ofthe flights to the city.

Ideally, aruler in ademocra-

cy should beunbiased, and his

a c t i o n sshould transcendcaste and creed.However, while

some rulers try to take every-body along, others believe intreading their own paths, withthe ultimate goal being contin-uation in power and continu-ation of their legacy.

It appears that Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy fits inthe second category of rulerswhose eyes are set upon a dis-tant goal, if his present movesare any indication.

In the political scenario pre-vailing across the country, castehas been playing a major rolein determining the ruler. Assuch, rulers design strategies toensure that the caste their hailfrom continues to play a dom-inant role.

Generally, these strategiesare perfectly knitted with theinfluence of caste. However,political parties with ideologi-cal base don’t knit caste-basedstrategies to take on their oppo-nents. The Communist partiesare a perfect example of this.

However, regional politicalforces, with a strong mix ofcaste, language, region, religionetc., have emerges as major

players probably in every state,leading to the unavoidable dis-appearance of national parties.The political vacuum createdthus, especially in prominentstates like Tamil Nadu, WestBengal, Utter Pradesh, Biharand erstwhile Andhra Pradeshetc has been filled by regionalforces.

More or less defining the sec-ond category, Jagan has takena big leap to pave the way for apermanent base of his party, theYSRCP by directly taking onthe major caste that is believedto be the guiding force for itsmain political opponent, theTelugu Desam Party.

Central Coastal Andhrawhich has been considered thebastion of the TDP for years,presently housing Amaravati,the capital of Andhra Pradesh,as declared by the TDP. Exceptfor the positive wave in favourof the YSRCP that fetched it 86per cent of the seats (151 out of175) in last year's Assemblyelections, the YSRCP andCongress had struggled tomake a mark in this region,apparently due to the influenceof this major caste that plays therole of the guiding force for the

TDP. A similar scenario, of onecaste solidly favouring theYSRCP, is seen in anotherregion of the state.

In the backdrop of bifurca-tion of AP, the rank and file ofthe TDP had largely ‘benefited'by the way of acquiring vasttracts of fertile lands muchbefore the announcement ofnew capital city. Not surprising-ly, a major chunk of the landsacquired by the governmentunder the land pooling systembelonged to TDP cadre andsympathisers.

This was like a bitter pill forthe YSRCP, which is backed byanother dominant caste thatruled undivided AP for decadeswith nine of the 16 ChiefMinisters till 2014.

Till recently, only Naidu (theother two being NT Rama Raoand N Bhasker Rao) from thecaste that solidly backs theTDP, had ruled undivided AP.

The other four chief minis-ters — DamodaramSanjeevaiah, PV NarasimhaRao, Jalagam Vengal Rao andK Rosaiah – that did not belongto either of these two casteshappened to be from theCongress.

There was an often-heardstatement, prior to emergenceof TDP in 1982 that how canthe state be called AndhraPradesh when it was not underthe rule of a Reddy chief min-ister!

The situation slowly changedwith the entry of TDP and an

almost bipolar political systemwas established. A similar sit-uation is now seen even inresiduary AP, with the YSRCPreplacing the Congress. In sucha situation, both parties need topummel their rival, giving it nochance to recover and regroup.

For the YSRCP, relocation ofthe capital city by the way ofsetting up three capitals inVisakhapatnam, Kurnool andAmaravati serves this purpose.

Once done, this has thepotential to be the death blowfor the TDP as its financialstrength lies with Amaravatifollowing the acquisition of

agricultural lands.The YSRCP is believed to

have done the same thing – itscadre 'securing' enough lands inVisakhapatnam. This will moreor less ensure a dominant posi-tion for the YSRCP in the newcapital region ofVisakhapatnam.

This appears to be Jagan’sultimate goal, as he foresees apossible dent in the party'sstrength in Central Andhraparticularly in the rich districtsof Krishna and Guntur thathave a high level of politicalawareness.

As it is, people of these twodistricts are very upset overrelocating Amaravati. Jagan isaware of this, and he knows hehas to ensure that his partystrength is protected elsewhere.

Jagan all too well knowsthat in 1994, the TDP won 36of the 37 Assembly seats in thethree North Coastal Andhradistricts of Visakhapatnam,Vizianagaram and Srikakulam.This domination of theLegislature by the TDP was dueto the leadership of NTR, a fac-tor that has prompted Jagan todraw strategies and pluck thepolitical fruit from this region

permanently. By relocating thecapital to the North Coastalregion, Jagan will be settling theYSRCP in the hearts of peoplethere!

Like all political parties, theYSRCP will face reversals infuture elections but it can besafely said that ousting it fromthe North Coastal region willbe next to impossible.

Jagan, with his decision torelocate the capital toVisakhapatnam, will effective-ly kill two birds with one stone– permanently endear himselfto the region and also hurt theTDP financially by way of thelands belonging to TDP cadreat Amaravati losing value.

So far, Jagan has brushedaside the cry of opposition onrelocation of capital saying thatdevelopment is confined toonly two or three districts.

Another important factorthat may be mentioned here ishow the father-son duo ofYSR and Jagan handled mat-ters during their respectiverules.

When it comes to dealingwith the sensitive subject ofcaste, YSR and Jagan haveadopted different approaches.

A peculiar political situationprevailed when actorNandamuri Balakrishna, sonof NTR, was allegedly involvedin a case of attempt to murderof a film producer in 2004.Many people believed that thenewly-elected Congress gov-ernment would orderBalakrishna’s arrest due to theserious nature of the accusa-tion as the then politics of APwere deeply divided alongcaste lines!

But contrary to everybody'sexpectation, Balakrishna wasnever arrested, probably due tothe presence of his sister andbrother-in-law Purandheswariand Dr DaggubatiVenkateswara Rao in theCongress.

However, YSR many believethat YSR hesitated as he did notwant to get his government get-ting a stamp of caste bias,especially soon after coming topower.

YSR went out of his way toavoid any unwanted stigma inthe name of caste and also hadgiven government posts withCabinet rank to a few formerTDP men.

However, Jagan's style offunctioning is entirely differentfrom that of father's as he hasdecided to directly take on themajor caste that competes withthe YSRCP by relocating thecapital city.

M D RATNA KUMAR Senior Journalist

Except for the positive wave in favour ofthe YSRCP that fetched it 86 per cent ofthe seats (151 out of 175) in last year'sAssembly elections, the YSRCP andCongress had struggled to make a mark inthis region, apparently due to theinfluence of this major caste that playsthe role of the guiding force for the TDP

PINPOINT

Jagan eyes capital gains with shift

n Revenue departmentofficials have beendirected to complete theland acquisition processfor the airport at theearliest

n Joint collector G ChKishore Kumar held areview meeting withsenior officials. Prior tothat DRO G Venkata Raoand special deputycollectors briefed himabout the progress madeso far

n "The airport requires2,624 acres and so far 90per cent of theacquisition has beencompleted and theremaining 260 acreshave to be acquiredimmediately," said thejoint collector

Volunteers brave heavy downpour to serve devoteesPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Incessant downpour has not hampered theserving spirit of Srivari Sevaks and scouts, whobraved the rains and continued the services tothe multitude of pilgrims on VaikunthaEkadasi and Dwadasi at Tirumala.

The hill town witnessed heavy influx of pil-grims, who thronged for Vaikunthadwara dar-shanam on January 6 and 7.

In all, 3,500 Srivari Sevaks and 1,300 scoutsand guides rendered good services to pilgrims.Pilgrims complimented services of these vol-unteers, who distributed food and water at reg-ular intervals to the pilgrims waiting in com-partments, queues, sheds and mada streets.

Change of flyovername irks TDPPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Ever since YS JaganmohanReddy came to power, namesof the schemes in the State arebeing changed, the govern-ment has decided to changethe name of the flyover builtat Dharmavaram inAnantapur district. The fly-over, which was named as theNTR flyover is name afterformer MLA Katireddy Surya

Pratap Reddy. However, theTDP leaders are furious at thelatest development of chang-ing the name of the flyover.They said that it was NChandrababu Naidu, whotook initiative, to constructthe flyover and it is not agood idea to change the nameof the flyover. The TDPappealed to the governmentnot to change the name of theflyover.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Former minister and TDPnational general secretary NaraLokesh has created a sensationby saying that his party will nothave any objection if ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy declares Avanigadda asthe Capital. No one in theState will object to this propos-al, he said

Speaking to the media afterexpressing solidarity with TDPMLA Gadde Rammohan, whostaged a 24-hour hunger strikein Vijayawada on Tuesday, hesaid people of north Coastal didnot ask for a Capital inVisakhapatnam. But the ChiefMinister had decided to shiftthe Capital to the Port City.

Lokesh said people ofVisakhapatnam were terrifiedafter the city was declared aCapital as they fear that landsharks in the YSRCP wouldusurp their lands. JaganmohanReddy had come up with thethree-Capital concept only tofoment regional indifferencesamong the people of the State.

"There is no scope for thedevelopment of theRayalaseema region by just set-ting up of the High Court in thename of Judicial Capital inKurnool," he said and observed

that the people of Rayalaseemaknew more about it.

Indirectly supporting theattack on Government WhipPinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy,he said the farmers had beenstaging peaceful protests inAmaravati for the last 21 days.

He found fault with the DGPsaying that people had theright to expression when stoneswere pelted at the bus in whichTDP president N ChandrababuNaidu was travelling as a partof his Amaravati tour. "Was thecontention of the police justi-fied?" he asked.

He said administration hadgone haywire during theYSRCP government. "Pensionsare not being paid to beneficia-ries, power supply is erratic,sand is still scarce, inflation isskyrocketing," he said.

Avanigadda as CapitalOK for TDP: Lokesh

CompletePolavaram intime: CMPNS n AMARAVATI

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy here on Tuesday held areview meeting on divertingwater for irrigation to thedrought-affected areas in theState. Officials detailed aboutthe expansion of canals linkedto projects in Rayalseema andspoke about the proposals forthe diversion of the KrishnaRiver water to the projectsduring floods.

The Chief Minister alsoreviewed the proposals for thediversion the Godavari

River water to the drought-hit areas via Bollapalli toBanakacherla and also aboutSujala Sravanthi programmefor north Andhra districts.The Chief Minister directedofficials to take steps to laypipelines for providing uninter-rupted drinking water supply toVisakhapatnam.

Regarding Polavaram projectworks, the Chief Ministerordered officials to ensure thatfunds were kept ready fromtime to time so that there is nointerruption to works. He saidthe Polavaram project was onthe top priority of the govern-ment, hence, it should be com-pleted in the stipulated time.

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 8, 2020 vijayawada 03

CAPSULE

Two youthsdie in mishapVISAKHAPATNAM: Twoyoungsters working in apharmaceutical company diedwhen their motorcycle hit adivider near Anakapalle town onMonday night. The victims wereidentified as Palla Gopalakrishna(20) and Palla Lakshmana Rao(19), both belonging to Gollapetain Anakapalle and working inpharma company in Parawada.Police said both were returninghome around midnight aftercompleting their duty at thepharma company. Close to thetown, their bike hit divider of theNational Highway-16 andskidded off the road resulting inserious injuries to both theyouth. Palla Gopalakrishna diedon the spot, while PallaLakshmana Rao was shifted toNTR Hospital in Anakapalle andfrom there to King GeorgeHospital in Visakhapatnam. Buthe died on way.

Special trains toclear extra rushVIJAYAWADA: In order to clearextra rush of passengers, twoone-way special trains will runfrom Dhanbad to Chennai Centraland Dhanbad - KSR Bengaluru.Train No. 03307 Dhanbad -Chennai Central special train willdepart Dhanbad at 09.45 hrs onJanuary 10 and arrive in ChennaiCentral at 19.00 hrs the next day.En route, this special train willstop at Bokaro Steel City, Mari,Ranchi, Rourkela, Jharsuguda,Vizianagaram, Vijayawada andGudur stations. This special trainwill consist of AC III Tier, sleeperclass and general second classcoaches.

Naidu behind attack onMacherla MLA: AmbatiPNS n AMARAVATI

Alleging that the TDP presidentN Chandrababu Naidu wasbehind the attack on GovernmentWhip and Macherla MLAPinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy,YSRCP official spokespersonAmbati Rambabu has said thatthe Opposition leader is unable tocome to terms with loss of power.

Addressing a press conferencehere on Tuesday, he said even inthe past, Naidu had resorted tosimilar tactics and alleged hehad employed goons to hurlchappals at former Chief MinisterNT Rama Rao for the sake ofpower. Only those farmers, whowere expecting the land prices toappreciate to the extent of Rs 30crore per acre, were taking part inthe agitation.

"The people, who assume thatthe land prices will come down ifthe Capital is distributed overthree locations in the State, lead-ing to the crash of realty business,are leading the agitation," he saidand appealed to farmers not tobecome part of the TDP's conspir-acy.

The government would not tol-erate if the TDP, in the name offarmers' agitation, resorted toviolence, he warned and advisedfarmers to come to the negotiat-ing table. Rambabu said Naiduwas provoking farmers to resortto violence only to protect hislands in the name of his benamis.

Stating that Naidu had engi-neering an attack on a mediaper-son recently and close on the heelshe had hired hooligans to attacka people's representative. "Naiduis resorting to violence with awicked mind," he said.

Rambabu further alleged thatit was Naidu, who had plotted themurder of Kapu leader VangaveetiMohana Ranga Rao. The TDPchief was also behind the murderof an IAS Officer, he charged. Hewarned that if Naidu failed tomend his ways, he might have topay heavy price for his misdeeds.

"The people, whoassume that the landprices will come down ifthe Capital is distributedover three locations in theState, leading to thecrash of realty business,are leading the agitation,"he said and appealed tofarmers not to becomepart of the TDP'sconspiracy

A well-planned bid on MLA's life: RojaPNS n AMARAVATI

Andhra Pradesh IndustrialInfrastructure Corporation(APICC) Chairperson andYSRCP MLA R K Rojaalleged that the attempt tomurder Government WhipPinnelli Ramakrishna Reddyat Chinna Kakani onTuesday was a well-plannedattack.

Addressing a press confer-ence here on Tuesday, shesaid it was not farmers butTDP workers, who hadattacked the Macherla MLA.

The extent of damagecaused to the car wouldprove that the TDP workershad resorted to the attackwith a plan to assassinate theMLA. Ramakrishna Reddyhad not spoken a wordagainst the farmers' agitationtill date. "Then why did theyattack him?" she asked.

She sought to know whythe farmers were not target-ing TDP leaders GantaSrinivasa Rao and KEKrishnamurthy, who hadwelcomed the three-Capital

concept. Charging Naidu with

making the State devoid of aCapital city, she wonderedwhy he had not issued agazette notification duringhis five-year rule in the State."He has destroyed the lives ofthe Amaravati farmers and isnow playing dramas of lovefor them," she said.

The APIIC Chairpersonsaid Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy was tak-ing key decisions only for thesake of balanced develop-ment of all regions.

She demanded that actionbe taken against anti-socialelements, who were puttingthe lives of people's represen-tatives in risk by creatingunrest in the name of farm-ers' agitation.

n She sought to knowwhy the farmers werenot targeting TDPleaders Ganta SrinivasaRao and KEKrishnamurthy, whohad welcomed thethree-Capital concept.

n Charging Naidu withmaking the Statedevoid of a Capital city,she wondered why hehad not issued agazette notificationduring his five-year rulein the State. "He hasdestroyed the lives ofthe Amaravati farmersand is now playingdramas of love forthem," she said

High-powerpanel votes fordecentralisationPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The High-Power Committeeconstituted to study the GNRao Committee and BostonConsulting Group (BCG)reports and make recom-mendations to the govern-ment on the Capital of theState, is unanimous on theneed for balanced develop-ment of all regions throughdecentralisation of gover-nance.

Disclosing this to news-men after participating inthe committee's first meet-ing held in the city onTuesday, Agr icu ltureMinister Kurasala KannaBabu said the panel wouldsubmit its detailed reportafter completing the studyof both the reports compre-hensively.

The meeting was presidedover by Chief SecretaryNeelam Sawhney.

On Decemb er 29 ,Municipal AdministrationMinister, one of the mem-bers of the committee, saidthe main objective of thecommittee was to considergeographical conditions andexisting resources of the 13districts in the State anddevelop all the districts.

The recommendationswould be based on the kindof development works thatwould b e taken up in the State considering theeconomic condit ions ,resources and necessities ofthe State.

The drought-hitRayalaseema region, back-ward regions of CoastalAndhra, East and WestGodavari districts wouldalso be developed.

The government wouldgo ahead after a comprehen-sive analysis of 13 districtsconsidering the budget,

requirements and expendi-ture of the State.

Headed by the Ministerfor Finance and LegislativeAffairs, the committee com-pr ises Deputy ChiefMinis ter, Revenue &Registration, Minister forMunicipal Administrationand Urban Development,Minister for Industries,Minister for Education,Minister for Home, Ministerfor Agr icu lture andHorticulture, Minister forAnimal Husbandr y,Fisheries and Marketing,Minister for Civil Supplies,Minister for Transpor tInformation and PublicRelations, Principal Advisorto Chief Minister, DirectorGeneral of Police, ChiefC ommiss ion of L andAcquisition and SpecialChief Secretary, Secretary,MA & UD, Secretary, Lawand Chief S ecretar y,Member Convenor.

PNS n AMARAVATI

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy has called upon thebankers to cooperate with theState government in successful-ly implementing all the welfareschemes in the State.

Addressing the 209th State-Level Bankers Committee(SLBC) meeting here onTuesday, the Chief Ministersaid that the banks were help-ful to the government in theimplementation of welfare pro-grammes by transferring fundsto the unencumbered accountsof weaker sections.

The Chief Minister said thatover Rs 15,000 crore was trans-ferred to the accounts of farm-ers, auto and taxi drivers, fish-

ermen, weavers, AgriGold vic-tims and to the beneficiaries ofLaw Nestham Scheme so far.An amount of nearly Rs 6,500crore would be transferred tothe mothers of children toencourage them to send theirwards to school as part ofAmma Vodi programme thismonth.

The programmes beingimplemented by the govern-ment were giving oxygen to thebackward class and weakersections. The Chief Ministersaid 62% of the State's popula-tion was dependent on agricul-ture and the government wasworking for the uplift of thesesections with the implementa-tion of Rythu Bharosa pro-gramme and it would be made

possible only when the govern-ment and the banks cametogether.

SLBC records suggested thatnot much was being done forthe uplift of lessee farmers.Hence, the State governmenthas brought an Act for them,

which enable them to utiliseirrigation facilities for 11months. The bankers will haveto take a step forward in help-ing the lessee farmers, theChief Minister said.

Rythu Bharosa centres arebeing set up near the Village

Secretariats to create awarenessamong farmers. The govern-ment was giving guarantee tothe centres for providing qual-ity seed, pesticides and fertiliz-er to farmers. The centreswould also train farmers aboutmodern techniques of farming.Similarly, they would act aspurchase centres for farmersproduce. The Rythu Bharosacentres would be digitalisedwith Internet facility. Therefore,bankers and the governmenthave to coordinate in provid-ing loans to the lessee farmers,the Chief Minister said.

He said the banks shouldcome to the aid of small-scaleand medium industries andefforts should be made to revi-talise accounts under the YSR

Navodaya scheme. Efforts willhave to be made to utilisePradhanmantri Mudra Yojanaunder which the State stood inthe 12th position, the ChiefMinister said.

Addressing the meeting,Subratodas, RBI RegionalDirector, said, "For primarysector, loans sanction has beendone pretty well and the targetsin all fields have been achieved.In any village which has apopulation of 5,000, bankingservice has to be provided andas of now across the Statethere are only 11 villages with5,000 population and they donot have banking services.Banks have to come forward tooperate from those villages."

NABARD Chief General

Manager Sevlaraj said that theState government officials hadinformed that various bankswere giving loans with differ-ent interest rates for SHGs. Healso said that banks shouldshow focus on horticulture,fisheries and animal husbandrysectors where low amount ofloans were given.

Finance Minister BugganaRajendranath said to strength-en YSR Navodayam, there wasa need to strengthen the coor-dination between bankers andindustries. Deputy ChiefMinister Pilli Subhash ChandraBose asked the bankers tocooperate with tenant farmers,small and minimum enterpris-es as there were facing problemsfrom bankers.

n Agriculture MinisterKurasala Kanna Babusaid the panel wouldsubmit its detailedreport aftercompleting the studyof both the reportscomprehensively

n On December 29,MunicipalAdministrationMinister, one of themembers of thecommittee, said themain objective of thecommittee was toconsider geographicalconditions andexisting resources ofthe 13 districts in theState and develop allthe districts.

COOPERATE IN IMPLEMENTING WELFARE SCHEMES, BANKERS TOLD

56 personsfall prey toland sharksPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

While the plans to turn Vizagas Executive Capital get loud-er, land fraud cases come to thefore as well. More than 56 per-sons, who bought plots atNarava village in Pendurthimandal, were cheated by aproperty agent with manipulat-ed survey numbers. Revenuedepartment officials are alsoclueless about the manipulationmade on the survey numbers.They lodged a complaint withthe Collector in the Spandanaprogramme.

According to the com-plainant, Gubbala Gandhi Raju,who holds general power ofattorney (GPA) of 3.5-acreland in Narava village, sold tothem during 2008-10 throughan agent of Dynamic RealEstate at Sheelanagar. Afterselling the property, both theGPA holder and the agentwere absconding from the city.

However, the actual owner ofthe property was unaware ofthis deal. They learnt in2014that GantakoruJagadamba was actual owner ofthe property. As there was aminor scuffle between both theparties, a case was registeredagainst the owner in PendurthiPolice Station under variousSections.

However, the case was trans-ferred to SC and ST Cell inGajuwaka as they abused oneof the buyers K Nookarajufrom ST community. Whencontacted, the family membersof Jagadamba, they said thatGPA was given to GandhiRaju for the development of thesite. They had filed a civil caseagainst him for misusing theGPA.

Among the buyers duped bythe property agent, there aremiddle-class employees, ex-servicemen and small traders.One of them, K Srinivasa Rao,who is a vegetable vendor, saidthat the survey numbers of thepurchased plots were 494/3,495/4 and 496/1. The actualowner of the land claims thatthe survey number is 29.

Declare Amaravati illegal,Dharmana writes to Prez

Continued from Page1

He said the expert commit-tee, in its report, had clearlystated in Para 3.2.3 that "thecommittee does not considera single large capital city as afeasible option available toAndhra Pradesh as of now.The existing concentration inHyderabad of the legislature,the courts and the executivecomprising numerous min-istries, departments, commis-sionerates and directorateshas happened over severalyears. This concentration itselfhas been a major bone of con-tention in the process of bifur-cation," he quoted.

The Srikakulam MLA fur-ther quoted page 21 of theexpert committee's report,saying that it was very clearlystated that the AP governmenthad already suggested thatthe new state capital should bein Vijayawada-Guntur-Tenali-Mangalagiri region and saidthat the TDP government hadnot waited for the study by theexpert committee. Further, itis clearly stated at Para 3.2.5that the AP government didnot cooperate with the saidexpert committee, Dharmanawrote.

The expert committee seri-ously recommended againstthe location of capital inVGTM region and recom-mended that the governmentshould revisit its decision as it

would affect agricultural lands,create unemployment in agri-culture sector, was not suitablefor high-rise buildings andexpensive cost of constructionand it would affect the devel-opment of other regions of theState.

He said that the presentGovernment of AndhraPradesh was considering therecommendation of the expertcommittee and was seriouslythinking about revisiting thedecision and appointed theHigh-Level Committee tostudy reports of 'GN RaoCommittee' and 'BostonConsulting Group' and wasconsidering to implement rec-ommendations of the expertcommittee on distribution ofvarious capital functions" to allthree regions of the State.

"Majority districts in ourState are backward and are list-ed in the top 100 backwarddistricts in the country. Ourthree North Coastal districtsand Rayalaseema districts arevery backward with the low-est GDP far below the averageGDP of the State.

CBI registers casesin Rs 90 cr fraud

Continued from Page1

Regional Office, Vijayawada,Kandrathi Sireesha, AssistantManager, Indian OverseasBank, Mangalagiri, Guntur,Vuyyala Suresh, AssistantManager, Indian OverseasBank, Mangalagiri, Guntur andMothukuri Adinarayana, Clerk,Indian Overseas Bank,Mangalagiri, Guntur.

The CBI officials said thatHeli Veepuri, while working asRegional Resource Manager,Indian Overseas Bank, RegionalOffice, Vijayawada, got openeda current account in September2019, in the name of GreenValley Ministries WelfareAssociation with IOB,Mellampudi Branch, Guntur.

After opening the account, heobtained a cheque from GreenValley Ministries WelfareAssociation for Rs 90 crore,drawn on an account main-tained in Punjab National Bank,MVP Colony, Visakhapatnamand deposited the same onOctober 24, 2019 in IOB,Mangalagiri Branch, where heworked earlier as BranchManager.

Thereafter, without waitingfor clearance of the said cheque,he transferred Rs 89 crore to theaccount of Bhakthanidhi main-tained with HDFC, VuyyuruBranch and Rs 1 crore toSavings Bank account of SBellamkonda Murali KrishnaSharma maintained with IOB,

Ramavarappadu Branch, with-out any vouchers.

On the evening of October24, 2019, Sharma, proprietor ofBhakthinidi approached IOB,Ramavarappadu Branch forwithdrawal of amount.However, the amount was notdisbursed to him. He has alsoapproached HDFC Bank,Vuyyuru Branch for transfer ofRs 10 lakh to his SB account andthe same was transferred.

The CBI alleged that GreenValley Ministries WelfareAssociation, in conspiracy withthe bank official, issued theabove cheque without havingsufficient balance in its account.For processing the above trans-actions in IOB, MangalagiriBranch, Heli Veepuri used thelog in IDs/passwords ofKandrathi Sireesha (assistantmanager), Vuyyala Suresh(assistant manager) andMothukuri Adinarayana (clerk)of IOB, Mangalagiri Branch, inconspiracy with them.

Bank officials conspired withprivate persons to cause awrongful loss to the tune of Rs90 crore to Indian OverseasBank for their personal gain.

4 convicts inNirbhaya caseto be hangedon Jan 22,says court

Continued from Page1

The 23-year-old para-medic student, referred to asNirbhaya, was gang rapedand brutally assaulted on theinter vening night ofDecember 16-17, 2012inside a moving bus in southDelhi by six persons beforebeing thrown out on theroad.

She died on December 29,2012 at Mount ElizabethHospital in Singapore.

On July 9 last year, theapex court had dismissedthe review pleas filed by theother three convicts in thecase, saying no grounds havebeen made out by them forreview of the 2017 verdict.

One of the six accused inthe case, Ram Singh,allegedly committed suicidein the Tihar Jail here.

A juvenile, who wasamong the accused, wasconvicted by a juvenile jus-tice board and was releasedfrom a reformation homeafter serving a three-yearterm.

The top court in its 2017verdict had upheld the cap-ital punishment awarded tothem by the Delhi HighCourt and the trial court.

Continued from Page1

The MLA alleged thatNaidu was using "goons" tointimidate people only toprotect his lands inAmaravati. RamakrishnaReddy challenged the TDPchief to come for a directfight anywhere in the State."I am the son of Palnandu.You will never succeed inthreatening me," he chal-lenged Naidu.

Meanwhile, the police havebegun the exercise of identi-fy ing the people whoattacked the MLA. They aresaid to be using drones andCC TV footage to zero in onthe culprits.

Earlier in the day, thepolice placed TDP leadersunder house arrest in Gunturand Krishna districts. TDPMP Kesineni Nani and for-mer MLA B ondaUmamaheswa Rao were notallowed to come out of theirhouses.

In Guntur, TDP MP GallaJayadev was placed underhouse arrest.

Former ministers NaraLokesh and Kollu Ravindrawere detained in Vijayawada.Lokesh expressed solidaritywith Vijayawada-East MLAGadde Rammohan whose24-hour hunger-strike inprotest against the shifting ofthe Capital from Amaravati

ended at 11 am. Lokesh entered into an

argument with the policeasking them on whatgrounds they were detaininghim.

Meanwhile, Naidu con-demned the house arrest ofTDP leaders and termed it"undemocratic". He said itwas an example of the auto-cratic behaviour of the Stategovernment against theOpposition leaders who wereexpressing solidarity withthe protesting farmers.

Elsewhere, a large numberof people from all the 29 vil-lages in the Capital regioncame onto the roads defyingthe police orders againstprotests.

The farmers tried to pitchtents but the cops foiled theirattempt. With this, the pro-testers squatted on the roadsand raised anti-governmentslogans.

Mandadam, the nerve cen-tre of the protests, turnedinto fortress with a largenumber of police personnelbeing deployed there fromthe morning itself. A curfew-like situation prevailed atVelagapudi where theSecretariat is located. Thepolice forced all shops in theCapital villages to down theirshutters. Even medical storeswere forced to shut down toavoid any untoward incident

as the farmers have intensi-fied their agitation and inview of Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy holdingreview meetings in theSecretariat.

Farmers stir turns violent,YSRCP MLA attacked

PamarruMLAabused,blames TDP Continued from Page1

When he reachedThotlavarru, he noticedthat a large number ofTDP workers hadreached there as formerminister and TDPnational general secre-tary Nara Lokesh waslodged in the localpolice station afterbeing arrested inVijayawada.

Upon noticing theMLA, the TDP workersgave him a piece of theirmind. They also did notspare his gunman.

Later, Anil Kumaralleged that none ofthem was a farmer, butthey belonged to theTDP.

KCR, Jagan tomeet on Jan 13

Continued from Page1

Though it was purely aninternal issue, there were leaksfrom Pragathi Bhavan aboutthis joint fight issue, causing alot of embarrassment for Jagan.

Within hours, there was astatement from Jagan's office,condemning the media reportsas false and fabricated. But KCRdid not deny the reports,putting Jagan in a fix. After thisepisode, Jagan kept himselfaway from KCR. Not onlythat, his government quietlydropped the proposal of KCRto construct a joint irrigationproject to link Godavari riverwith Krishna and announcedan independent Godavari-Krishna linkage project fromPolavaram to Banakacherla.What is more, his governmentalso filed a counter-affidavit inthe Supreme Court opposingKCR's Kaleshwaram projectand other such projects likePalamuru-Ranga Reddy, Dindi,Sitaramasagar etc in violationof the tribunal awards andalso AP Reorganisation Act.

Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy addressing State-Level Bankers Committeemeeting in Amaravati on Tuesday

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 8, 2020 nation 04SHORT READS

Rabindra Nath Mahatoelected as JharkhandAssembly SpeakerRANCHI: Jharkhand MuktiMorcha (JMM) MLA RabindraNath Mahato was on Tuesdayunanimously elected as theSpeaker of the JharkhandAssembly. CM Hemant Sorenproposed Mahato's name forthe post which was secondedby JMM MLA Champai Sorenon the second day of thethree-day session of theAssembly. Born on January12, 1960, Mahato was firstelected from Nala seat in 2005but lost the subsequentelection before winning itagain in 2014 and 2019 polls.All the newly-elected MLAs inthe 81-member House wereadministered oath by pro-termSpeaker Stephen Marandi onMonday. The JMM-Congress-RJD alliance won 47 seatswhile the BJP could bag only25 seats in the Assemblyelections which were held infive phases from Nov 30 toDec 20 last year.

Maha: Man held forvandalising vehicles

Celebrated painterAkbar Padamsee deadCOIMBATORE: One of India'smost influential artists, AkbarPadamsee, died at the IshaYoga Centre here. The 91-yearold Padamsee, a pioneer of theprogressive modernistmovement, died due to old ageon Monday night, a releasefrom Isha Yoga Centre. He wasa long-time resident of the IshaYoga Centre, founded by JaggiVasudev. The last rites wereperformed at the centre itself inthe presence of his family, therelease said on Tuesday.

Protests against CAAdriven by ‘piratedpropaganda': NaqviPNS n NEW DELHI

Senior BJP leader and Unionminister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvion Tuesday said the ongoingprotests against the CitizenshipAmendment Act weredriven by "piratedpropaganda" as thelegislation is forproviding citizen-ship and not takeit away. The con-spiracy by somepeople to disturbthe secular fabric andunity of the countrythrough the philosophy of"Jhuthmev Jayate (lie will pre-vail)" will be defeated, theMinority Affairs Minister toldreporters here.

Naqvi said the protests influ-enced by "pirated propaganda"

are going on over theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) and the truth is that theAct will provide citizenshipand not to take it away from anyperson. Appealing to students

and the youth, he saidthey should not get

influenced by "evilsof misinforma-tion" and mustbecome a part ofthe effort tostrengthen com-

munal harmonyand unity of the

country. The constitu-tional, religious and social

rights of every Indian areabsolutely safe, he said. Thereis no threat or question markover the citizenship of anyIndian due to the CAA or anyother legislation, he asserted.

MUMBAI: A 30-year-old manhas been arrested for allegedlyvandalising at least 10vehicles at Khindi Pada in theeastern suburb of Mulundhere, police said on Tuesday.In the incident that took placeon Monday night, threepersons vandalised 10vehicles, including privatevehicles, auto rickshaws andtempos at VIP Road, anofficial said. While Ankit Bidrawas nabbed in an inebriatedstate, his accomplices RohitVerma and Tahir Khan fled thescene, the official added. Theaccused also assaulted somelocals who tried to stop them,the official said, adding thatBidra was caught by the localsand handed over to the police.A case has been registeredagainst the accused underrelevant sections of the IndianPenal Code and a manhunthas been launched for theabsconding men, seniorinspector Ravi Sardesai ofMulund police station said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The National Green Tribunal onTuesday directed the CentralPollution Control Board(CPCB) to obtain informationfrom chief secretaries on solidwaste management, restorationof polluted river stretches and airquality management in statesand Union territories.

A bench headed by NGTChairperson Justice AdarshKumar Goel said the nature andextent of information submittedby the CPCB is not completeand available information withregard to sewage generationand treatment shows huge gap.

"Grading made by the CPCBinto 'good', 'average', 'poor' and'no information' is not based onany qualitative analysis butextent of information fur-nished," the bench said.

On the issue of solid wastemanagement, the tribunal saidthe information is required withregard to the quantity of munic-ipal solid waste generated, seg-regated and treated and quan-tity of legacy waste.

With regard to restoration of351 polluted river stretches, the

NGT said the states need to fur-nish information about thecompliance of directions,including in-situ and ex-situremediation by way of phytore-mediation/artificial wetlands,bio-diversity parks to reduceload on rivers.

"Chief secretaries need tomonitor and compile informa-tion on the subject of executionof action plans for contain-ment of air pollution in 122cities, where air quality is notwithin permissible limits, interms of orders of this tribunal

and furnish the quantifiableprogress/achievement to theCPCB," the bench said.

Municipal Solid Waste(MSW) management is one ofthe most serious challenges toenvironment protection andalthough Solid WasteManagement Rules have beenframed in 2016, their imple-mentation remains a problem,the tribunal had said.

The NGT had earlier notedthat as per CPCB data, there aremore than 4,000 legacy wastedump sites which needs imme-diate remediation under therules and orders of the NGThaving regard to harmfulimpacts on environment andpublic health. "Besides, this willunlock the land occupied bysuch waste sites which is urgent-ly required for setting up of inte-grated waste management andprocessing facilities or forafforestation/green belts/bio-diversity parks/buffer zones inaccordance with the environ-mental laws. If necessary, a partof the land could be monetisedif so decided by the state govern-ments concerned," the NGT hadsaid.

NGT seeks info on solid wastemanagement and pollution

The NGT had earlier noted that as perCPCB data, there are more than 4,000legacy waste dump sites which needsimmediate remediation under the rulesand orders of the NGT having regard to harmful impacts on environment and public health

PNS n PUNE

Union minister Nitin Gadkarihas said he would request air-lines to provide honey sachetsas sweetener while servingtea/coffee to passengers inflights.

He was speaking at aCentral Bee Research andTraining Institute (CBRTI)here on Monday.

"Normally, one spoon ofhoney is equal to three spoonsof sugar. Currently, refinedsugar sachets are provided onboard to passengers, so we aretrying if we can provide honeysachets or honey cubes inflights and hotels," said theminister for micro, small andmedium enterprises.

There will be a choice ofsugar or honey, he added. "Iam going to call Air India,IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAirand also chairperson of theKhadi GramodyogCommission, and requestthem to make both the choic-es available in flights," he said.

The government is planningto create honey clusters andwill focus on increase of honey

production, he said, addingthat the government is alsoplanning to make differentproducts of honey.

"Such clusters will give amajor boost to the rural andtribal economy in the countryand the income of farmers willbe increased," he said.

Gadkari said his ministrywould work to strengthen therural economy and increase itsturnover to Rs five lakh crorein the next five years.

"Be it milk, honey, bamboo,blue economy, ethanol or bio-fuels, the rural economy willbe strengthened through allthese sectors," he said.

Will ask airlines togive honey sachets assweetener: Gadkari

‘Anarchists'raisingslogans:JavadekarPNS n NEW DELHI

After a placard reading 'FreeKashmir' was spotted at theGateway of India during aprotest against JNU vio-lence, Union ministerPrakash Javadekar onTuesday said a few selective"anarchists" were raisingsuch kind of slogans whilethe entire country has sup-ported the revocation ofArticle 370 in Jammu andKashmir.

Speaking to reporters onthe sidelines of an event,Javadekar said Kashmir is aninseparable part of Indiaand claimed that peace hasbeen prevailing and theregion is making progresssince Article 370 of theConstitution was repealed."The entire country is sup-porting the move... fewselective anarchists are rais-ing such kind of slogans.

Nobody even insideKashmir raised such slo-gans. Now if someone out-side the region gives suchslogan, that makes no sense,"Union minister PrakashJavadekar said.

Govt to lower quota for local officers in IAS, IPS PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre has decided tolower the quota from existing50 per cent to 33 per cent forlocal officers from state ser-vices to IAS, IPS and IFoS inthe union territories ofJammu and Kashmir, andLadakh, officials said onTuesday. The PersonnelMinistry has finalised allmodalities in this regard andan official order is expectedsoon, they said.

The move followed the nul-lification of Article 370 in theerstwhile state of Jammu andKashmir in August last year,the officials said. Earliernorms allowed the formerstate to enjoy 50:50 formulafor the three all India services— the Indian Administrative

Service (IAS), Indian PoliceService (IPS) and IndianForest Service (IFoS). Thismeans, 50 per cent of the totalposts in these services were tobe manned by those selectedthrough direct recruitmentmode, on the basis of civil

services examination con-ducted by the Union PublicService Commission (UPSC),and the rest 50 per cent postswere to be filled through thepromotion of native officersbelonging to state services toIAS, IPS and the IFoS, the

officials said. After Jammuand Kashmir state was reor-ganised into two union terri-tories — Jammu andKashmir, and Ladakh — ithas lost its special quota pro-vision, they said. "Now, thepan-India rule of 67:33 (i.e. 67per cent posts to be mannedby directly recruited officersand the rest will be for thosefrom the state services) willapply to both the union ter-ritories," an official explained,adding that the Personnel

Ministry will soon come outwith an order in this regard.According to the Jammu andKashmir reorganisation Act,2019, the officers selectedthrough the civil servicesexamination will now get theAGMUT or ArunachalPr a d e s h - G o a - Mi z or am -Union Territory cadre insteadof Jammu and Kashmir.

Officers of the IAS, IPS andIFoS are allocated cadre thatcould either be a state/groupof states or union territories.

The Personnel Ministry has finalised all modalities in this regardand an official order is expected soon, they said

PNS n LUCKNOW/NEW DELHI

Congress worker Sadaf Jafarand former IPS officer S RDarapuri, arrested in connec-tion with violence during anti-CAA protests in the UttarPradesh capital, were releasedfrom jail on Tuesday.

Soon after their release,Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra attacked theBJP government in UttarPradesh and said "lies cannever win."

A Lucknow court onSaturday last granted bail toJafar, Darapuri and 13 othersarrested in connection withanti-CAA protests in Lucknow.However, the two could bereleased only three days later as

some formalities could not becompleted, sources said.

Congress Lucknow presi-

dent Mukesh Singh Chauhansaid that both walked out of jailat about 10 am.

"I was there along with otheroffice party office bearers toreceive them. Our party isagainst the CAA and againstpolice brutality meted out topeaceful protestors," he said.

Jafar was arrested onDecember 19, while 76-year-old Darapuri was arrested thenext day.

Soon after their release,

Priyanka Gandhisaid in a tweet inH i n d i ,"Ambedkarite thinkerand former IPS SR Darapuriand Congress leader SadafJafar released from jail today.When court had asked forproof, the state police appearedclueless. BJP showed its realideology by arresting inno-

cents and those taking forwardthe legacy of Baba SahebAmbedkar". In another tweet,she said, "..but lies can never

win." She also posted pic-tures of Darapuri and

Jafar on her twitteraccount.

On December 28,Priyanka Gandhihad alleged that shewas manhandled by

police personnelwhen she tried to resist

their attempts to stop herfrom visiting the Lucknow res-idence of Darapuri.

Later, the Congress leadermet the family of party work-er Jafar and alleged that she wasarrested on "baseless" chargesby the police.

Jafar, Darapuri walk out of jail; Priyanka says lies can never winA Lucknow court on Saturday last grantedbail to Jafar, Darapuri and 13 others arrestedin connection with anti-CAA protests inLucknow. However, the two could bereleased only three days later assome formalities could not becompleted, sources said

PNS n JAMMU

The revered Mata VaishnoDevi shrine in Jammu andKashmir experienced freshsnowfall, forcing suspension ofhelicopter service on Tuesday,officials said. However, the pil-grimage went on smoothlywith thousands of devoteestrekking the snow coveredroute to pay their obeisance atthe 5,200 feet-high shrine atopTrikuta hills in Reasi district,the officials said.

They said light snowfallwas going on in the shrine areasince Monday — the firstround of snow this year, andso far a few inches of snow hadaccumulated on the ground.

Helicopter service was sus-pended this morning due toinclement weather, the officialssaid adding that the choppermade only a few trips to andfro the shrine on Monday.

The service is likely toresume once weather condi-tion improves, they said.

Despite snowfall, the offi-cials said the pilgrimage isgoing on smoothly with occa-sional use of the ropeway andbattery cars.

Light to moderate snowfallwas experienced in most of thehigh altitude areas, while the

plains including Jammu citywere lashed by intermittentrains since Monday afternoon.

"As expected, light to mod-erate rains in the plains ofJammu and snowfall at most

places of Kashmir, in the highaltitude areas of Jammu and atsome places of Ladakhoccurred during the past 24hours," an official of the mete-orological department said.

The weatherman has pre-dicted significant improve-ment in weather fromTuesday evening but saidanother spell of similar inten-sity is likely to hit Jammu andKashmir and Ladakh duringJanuary 12-13.

The overcast conditions ledto an increase in the nighttemperature in most parts ofJammu region, where Batotealong Jammu-Srinagar nation-al highway was the coldestrecorded place at minus 2.3degrees Celsius.

Chopper service suspended asVaishno Devi shrine sees snowfall

Muthoot finance companyMD injured in attack PNS n KOCHI

The Managing Director ofMuthoot Finance companywas injured after miscreantsallegedly pelted his car withstones here on Tuesday morn-ing following which one per-son was reportedly taken intocustody. George AlexanderMuthoot, who suffered headinjury has been admitted to aprivate hospital, police said.

A section of employees havebeen agitating against theMuthoot management overdismissal of 160 staff from thecompany's 43 branches acrossthe state in December.

The protest is being heldunder the aegis of the Centreof Indian Trade Unions(CITU). While the Muthootmanagement alleged that

"CITU goons" were behind theattack that occurred at around9 am in front of IG office here,the union leaders have main-tained that they have no rolein the incident.

Reacting to the incident,Labour Minister T PRamakrishnan said he doesnot think any of the Muthootemployees were behind theattack. "The employees wereprotesting peacefully. Violenceis not part of their protest.Even now, in today's incident,I don't think any of theMuthoot employees attackedthe MD. However, it was themanagement of the companywhich had always provokedthem by not implementing thedecisions taken at conciliato-ry meetings," the Ministersaid.

However, thepilgrimage went onsmoothly withthousands ofdevotees trekking thesnow covered routeto pay theirobeisance at the5,200 feet-high shrineatop Trikuta hills inReasi district, theofficials said

JNU attack: Fringe Hindugroup claims responsibilityPNS n NEW DELHI

A fringe right-wing group,Hindu Raksha Dal, has pur-portedly taken responsibility forthe attack on JNU students ina video posted on social media.

The video, which was post-ed on social media on Mondayand has gone viral since, showsa man identifying himself asPinki Chaudhary saying thatthose who resort to "anti-national activities" will be treat-ed in the same way that JNUstudents and faculty were.

He later told news channelsthat others involved in "anti-national activities" will facesimilar attacks. There was noimmediate reaction from thepolice on Chaudhury's claims.

"For several years, JNU hasbeen a bastion of communistsand we will not tolerate it.Hindu Raksha Dal, BhupendraTomar, Pinki Chaudhury takethe responsibility of what hashappened in JNU...all of themwere our volunteers. Thosewho cannot do such work forMother India don't have theright to live in this country,"

Chaudhary was seen as sayingin the video.

"We are always ready to sac-rifice our lives for MotherIndia. We will not tolerate any-one who speaks against the reli-gion," he added.

Efforts to reach out toChaudhary were unsuccessfulwith his phone switched off.

More than 35 students wereinjured on Sunday when amasked mob went on the ram-page, attacking students andprofessors and vandalisingproperty.

The JNUSU has accused theRSS-affiliated ABVP volun-teers of attacking the students.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A three-membercommittee led byAAP spokespersonand Oxford-educatedAtishi has been formedby the Aam Aadmi Partyto prepare its manifesto for theupcoming assembly polls inDelhi.

Apart from Atishi, AAPspokesperson and former IPSofficer Ajoy Kumar, and vicechairperson on the Dialogueand Development Commissionof Delhi and an alumnus of

Columbia UniversityJasmine Shah will alsobe part of the commit-tee, senior AAP leaderGopal Rai said.

The manifesto is like-ly to be released between

January 15 and 20, he said,adding that the vision of theparty in the next five years willbe highlighted in it. "For ourmanifesto, suggestions fromtown halls, door-to-door cam-paign and 'mohalla sabhas'have been taken and they allwill be evaluated to include inthe manifesto," Rai said.

Atishi among 3 memberstasked with preparing AAPmanifesto for Delhi polls

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 8, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

2 day’s after attack,JNU Professor filespolice complaintNEW DELHI: JNU ProfessorSucharita Sen, who sufferedhead injuries during an attackon students and teachers in theuniversity campus on Sunday,has filed a police complaint.Sen said outsiders hadgathered at the universitycampus with sticks, rods, anddeadly weapons. She said shewas first hit with a large stoneon her shoulder and then witheven a larger one on her head,following which she fell on theground bleeding profusely.

Maha: Senior tax official booked for graft

NE students' bodyterms violence at JNUas ‘barbaric'NEW DELHI: North EastStudents' Organisation (NESO)on Tuesday termed the recentviolence at Jawaharlal NehruUniversity (JNU) as "barbaric"and alleged that the centralgovernment has failed toprotect the innocent students ofthe premier institute. Advisor,NESO Samujjal KumarBhattacharya also said PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andHome Minister Amit Shah musttake immediate steps to bookthose involved in the violenceat JNU on Sunday. "It was abarbaric attack on the innocentstudents at JNU and westrongly condemn it. Suchviolence at an academicinstitution is unacceptable," hesaid at a press conference here.Bhattacharya said studentscommunity of the Northeasternregion was solidly behind thestudents of the JNU. Toexpress solidarity with JNUstudents, the NESO will stageprotests on January 8 and 9 inall states of the region.

Leave past behind,return to campus: JNUVC to students

Will not let anyonesnatch people's rights: MamataPATHARPRATIMA (WB):Contending that she was thecustodian of people's rights,West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on Tuesdaysaid she would not let anyoneharm their interests. Assertingthat the agitation againstNational Register of Citizens(NRC) and National PopulationRegister (NPR) would go on aslong as necessary, Banerjeesaid that she would doeverything in her power toprotect the people of the state."We do not live at the mercy ofanyone... I will not allowanyone snatch our rights," theCM said at a public meetinghere, on the western fringes ofSunderban forests.

NEW DELHI: Under fire fromstudents and faculty membersfor not doing enough whenthey were brutally attacked by amasked mob on campus,Jawaharlal Nehru UniversityVice Chancellor M JagadeshKumar on Tuesday urgedstudents to put the past behindand return to the varsity'spremises. In a brief statement,Kumar said, "Our heart goesout to all injured students. Theincident (violence) isunfortunate. I would like to tellstudents that JNU campus is asecure place. "I urge allstudents to come back to thecampus. Let us put the pastbehind." More than 35students and faculty memberswere assaulted on Sundayevening after a mob went on arampage, attacking studentswith sticks and iron rods andvandalising property.

AURANGABAD: A case hasbeen registered against thedeputy commissioner of stategoods and service tax (SGST)at Nanded in Maharashtra forallegedly demanding andaccepting a bribe of Rs 10 lakh,police said on Tuesday.Balasaheb Tukaram Deshmukh(53) was caught red-handed bythe Anti-Corruption Bureau,while accepting a bribe of Rs10 lakh at a hotel in Nanded onMonday, deputy superintendentof police Vijay Dongre said. Theofficer allegedly demanded Rs10 lakh for sending thecomplainant's file to higherofficials for approval, he said,adding that the complainantwas supposed to get ValueAdded Tax (VAT) returns overthe purchase of machinery for asugar factory. A case has beenregistered against the accusedat Shivaji Nagar police station,and further probe is underway,Dongre added.

PNS n MUMBAI

A teenage girl fromMaharashtra's Raigad district,who had filed a case against asenior police officer last year formolesting her, has left herhome in Taloja area to "commitsuicide" due to "pressure" fromthe officer, her brother allegedon Tuesday.

Taloja police have registereda case under section 363(Punishment for kidnapping) ofthe Indian Penal Code (IPC),without naming the officerwho was a friend of her father.

"The teenage girl's brotherapproached the police onTuesday claiming that his sisterhad left behind a note onMonday night saying that sheis going to kill herself due topressure from the DIG," apolice official said quoting thecomplaint. The girl's brothertold PTI that his sister has writ-ten that she would kill herselfon a railway track.

"Don't try to find me. Loveyou all and miss you all," readsthe one-page English transliter-ated note, purportedly writtenby the girl.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Days after masked men wenton a rampage in JNU, UnionMinister Nityanand Rai onTuesday said no worker orleader of the BJP can inciteviolence and alleged that theCongress and the AAP wasbehind the attack.

More than 35 students wereinjured on Sunday when amasked mob attacked stu-dents and professors besidesvandalising property.

The JNUSU has accused theRSS-affiliated ABVP volun-teers of attacking the students.The Akhil Bharatiya VidyarthiParishad (ABVP) has allegedthat Left activists wereinvolved in the attack.

"Bharatiya Janata Partybelieves in law and order. Noworker or leader of BJP canthink of such a thing or inciteanyone. This is the work of theCommunists, the Congressand Arvind Kejriwal.

"The violence in JNU is onlypart of a conspiracy by oppo-sition parties. I would like totell them that the students arethe future of our country andtherefore I will urge Congressleaders and the likes of Arvind

Kejriwal (of AAP) to not mis-lead the students," Rai, who isthe Union Minister of State forHome Affairs, told reporters.

He along with senior BJPleader Vijay Goel took out apeace march in support ofCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA).

PNS n MUMBAI

Maharashtra minister JayantPatil and former chief ministerDevendra Fadnavis engagedin a Twitter spat over a 'FreeKashmir' poster during protestat the Gateway of India hereagainst the JNU violence.

A poster with the message"Free Kashmir" was carried byone of the protesters at theGateway of India on Monday.

Tagged a picture of theposter on his Twitter account,Fadnavis asked what exactlywas the protest for and if ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeraywill tolerate this "anti-Indiacampaign" right under hisnose.

"Protest is for what exactly?Why slogans of "FreeKashmir"? How can we toler-ate such separatist elements inMumbai? 'Free Kashmir' slo-

gans by Azadi gang at 2kmfrom CMO? Uddhavji are yougoing to tolerate this freeKashmir anti India campaignright under your nose???"Fadnavis asked.

The BJP leader also taggedthe Twitter handle of his suc-cessor Thackeray after thetweet.

Respond to Fadnavis, Patilaccused him of trying to con-fuse people by "decodingwords" in a hateful manner.

"Devendraji, it's 'free kash-mir' from all discriminations,bans on cellular networks andcentral control. I can't believethat responsible leader likeyou trying to confuse people by

decoding words in such ahatred way. Is it losing poweror losing self control?" heasked.

Fadnavis hit back saying forthem nation comes first andthat he did not expect "votebank politics" from Patil.

"What a pity! Now separatist

tendencies get a Governmentadvocate," he said.

"Jayantrao, this vote bankpolitics is not expected fromyou. Kashmir has already beenfreed from discrimination andcertain curbs have been theresince decades for security con-cerns. Be it in Govt or opposi-tion, for us, the only principleis NATION FIRST!" Fadnavistweeted.

Later, Shiv Sena leaderSanjay Raut told reporters herethat those holding the "FreeKashmir" poster wanted free-dom from restrictions on inter-net, mobile services and com-munication.

"I have read that those hold-ing the poster wanted Kashmirto be freed from restrictions. Ifslogans are about freeingKashmir from India, that willnot be tolerated," the RajyaSabha member said.

Patil, Fadnavis spar over ‘Free Kashmir' poster

PNS n BENGALURU

Days after the JawaharlalNehru University was rockedby violence, Vice President MVenkaiah Naidu on Tuesdaysaid educational campusesmust not become safe havensfor the politics of hate and vio-lence to thrive.

He also said academicendeavors and co-curricularinitiatives must attain primacyin universities and not faction-alism and divisive tendencies.

There is no doubt that thereis space for every shade ofopinion and every point ofview in our universities, Naidusaid in his address at the silverjubilee celebrations of theNational Assessment andAccreditation Council (NAAC)here.

The Vice-President's com-ments come in the backdrop ofthe violence at the JNU onSunday night when maskedmen armed with sticks androds attacked students andteachers and damaged proper-ty on the campus, leaving sev-eral injured.

"Our children, when theyleave the portals of the educa-tional institutions must beenlightened citizens who willtake an abiding interest inprotecting our democracy andpreserving the fundamentalvalues that are enshrined in our

constitution.But our campuses must not

become safe havens for the pol-itics of hate and violence tothrive. Academic endeavorsand co-curricular initiativesmust attain primacy in our uni-versities and not factionalismand divisive tendencies, Naidusaid.

Stressing the need for focuson research and development,the Vice President said that atpresent India was spendingless than 1 per cent of its GDPon R&D. This must change.

Research, especially Scienceand Technology research, isresource-intensive, time con-suming and risky. We as a soci-ety, must be prepared to bearwith this risk, he said in hisaddress, a copy of which wasreleased to media.

Further noting that it was amatter of grave concern thatIndian universities rank low inboth research and teaching,Naidu said, though the numberof Higher EducationInstitutions has surged in Indiasince the 2000s, the number of

students undertaking PhDshas not shown a correspondinghike.

There are over a one lakhIndia-born PhDs in universi-ties around the world. Wemust attract at least some ofthis talent back home throughbetter opportunities and incen-tives so that they may help fast-track the progress of our R &D sector, he said.

It was a matter of graveconcern that the latest IndiaSkills Report suggests that only47 per cent of Indian graduates

were employable, the VicePresident pointed out and said,therefore, along with educa-tion, necessary skills, includinglife skills, should be impartedto the students.

Complementing theaccreditation frameworkdeveloped by NAAC, Naidusaid he was certain in the timeto come, NAAC will act as afriend, philosopher and guideto our Institutions of HigherEducation, constantly rais-ing standards and bench-marks for quality and excel-lence.

Union Minister Nityanand Rai

No BJP worker can incite violence:Nityanand Rai ‘Cong, AAP behind JNU attack’

Nityanand Raialong with seniorBJP leader VijayGoel took out apeace march insupport ofCitizenshipAmendment Act(CAA)

It was a matter ofgrave concern thatthe latest IndiaSkills Reportsuggests that only47 per cent ofIndian graduateswere employable,the Vice Presidentpointed out andsaid, therefore,along witheducation,necessary skills,including life skills,should be impartedto the students

Protesters call off stir aftereviction from Gateway of IndiaPNS n MUMBAI

Protest against the JNU vio-lence was called off here onTuesday after the demonstra-tors were shifted from theGateway of India to AzadMaidan, police said.

In the morning, several pro-testers, including students andwomen, were taken in policevans from the iconic Gatewayof India in south Mumbai asroads were getting blockedand people, including tourists,were facing problems, a policeofficial said. Police hadappealed to protesters to shiftbut when they didn't listen,they were "relocated" to AzadMaidan near the ChhatrapatiShivaji Maharaj Terminus,Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (Zone 1) SangramsinghNishandar said.

"After the protesters wererelocated, they called off theirdemonstration," he said.

Since the demonstrationwas posing problems fortourists and in traffic move-ment, the protesters wererequested to move to the Azad

Maidan, he added. While mostof the students who were partof the protest left the AzadMaidan after the demonstra-tion was called off, some peo-ple, including women, werestill at the ground, anotherpolice official said.

PNS n AHMEDABAD

Members of the AkhilBharatiya Vidyarthi Parishadand its rival National Students'Union of India clashed here onTuesday during a protestagainst the JNU violence, leav-ing over 10 people injured.

The incident took place dur-ing the protest organised byNSUI, the students' wing of theCongress, outside the office ofthe RSS-affiliated ABVP inthe city's Paldi area.

The police later rushed tothe spot and brought the situ-ation under control, an officialsaid. Both the student bodiesalleged that sticks and stoneswere used to attack each other,and claimed more than fivemembers each from the two

sides were injured in the clash.Gujarat NSUI general secre-

tary Nikhil Savani sustainedserious head injuries and wasadmitted to V S GeneralHospital here, a member of theCongress students' body said.

In a video clip telecast by

some local news channels,Savani, a close associate ofCongress leader Hardik Patel,was seen being beaten by somepeople in the presence ofpolicemen.

"The situation has beenbrought under control. As of

now, no FIR has been lodged,"a police official said.

Violence broke out herewhen NSUI members reachedoutside the ABVP's office toprotest against the attack onstudents and teachers at JNUin Delhi on Sunday.

Javadekar awards 30 mediahouses for promoting yogaPNS n NEW DELHI

Information and BroadcastingMinister Prakash Javadekaron Tuesday conferred awardsto 30 media houses in recog-nition of their contributiontowards promoting healthyliving through yoga.

The awards at the first'Antarrashtriya Yoga DiwasMedia Samman' were present-ed under three categories.

Javadekar described theaward as a unique honour tomedia organisations that con-tributed to promote yoga forthe benefit of society.

"This event, the first of itskind, also marks a new trendof recognition of the endeav-our of media organisationsthat go beyond news, viewsand advertisements, and workin mission mode for the larg-er benefit of society" the Unionminister said. Javadekarrecalled that Lokmanya Tilakhad launched the newspaper'Kesari' as a medium to gener-ate awareness towards'Swarajya' (good governance).

He said media organisa-tions are creating greater pub-lic awareness towards 'Suraaj'– where good healthcare, edu-cation, and civic amenities areavailable to all. He describedthis as a sign of India's maturedemocracy.

Javadekar said yoga hasgained global respect due tothe vision and efforts of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

Speaking on the occasion,Union Minister of State(Independent Charge) forAYUSH Shripad Yesso Naikcongratulated Javadekar forthe successful conduct of thisnew initiative of Yoga DiwasMedia Samman. Chairman ofthe jury and the Press Councilof India Justice C K Prasaddescribed yoga as an invest-ment with zero risk and con-siderable benefits.

Eleven awards were con-ferred under the "Best MediaCoverage of Yoga inNewspapers" category, eightunder the "Best MediaCoverage of Yoga in Television"and 11 under the "Best MediaCoverage of Yoga in Radio"category.

Minister Prakash Javadekar

He said media organisations are creatinggreater public awareness towards'Suraaj' – where good healthcare,education, and civic amenities areavailable to all. He described this as asign of India's mature democracy

Gujarat NSUIgeneral secretaryNikhil Savanisustained serioushead injuries andwas admitted to VS General Hospitalhere, a member ofthe Congressstudents' body said

Later, Shiv Senaleader Sanjay Rauttold reporters herethat those holdingthe "Free Kashmir"poster wantedfreedom fromrestrictions oninternet, mobileservices andcommunication

PNS n THANE

The Thane police have reunit-ed a man with his family 20years after he fled his home inUttar Pradesh as a 13-year-old,an official said on Tuesday.

The matter came to lightduring the investigation intothe robbery and killing ofmobile store owner JitendraSingh Rajpurohit who wasgunned down inside his storeat Kalwa town on December28, senior inspector of theCrime UnitI Niteen Thackresaid. On examining the CCTVfootage from the area, thepolice found that the suspectwas moving towards MahimDargah, he said, adding thatlocals also alleged that the per-son spotted in the footage wasone Dilli, who was residing inthe locality for the last twoyears. The police subsequent-ly tracked down the suspect,who was fund sleeping undera bridge at Vakola in the west-ern suburb of Santacruz, hesaid. On interrogation, thesuspect revealed his name asMohammad Ahmad @ DilliBashir Shaikh (33) and that hewas involved in collectingscrap, Thackre said.

The police subsequentlyrealised that it was a case ofmistaken identity and the manwas in fact a runaway, who hadleft his home at Benki in UttarPradesh 20 years ago, the offi-cial said.

Charred bodyof 17-yr-oldgirl found inBengal, 3 heldPNS n BALURGHAT

Charred body of a 17- year-old girl was found under aculvert in West Bengal'sSouth Dinajpur district,police said on Tuesday.

The victim's family allegedthat she was gang-raped andthen set ablaze.

The charred body of thegirl with injury marks wasfound under a culvert inKumarganj area on Monday,district Superintendent ofPolice Debarshi Dutta said.

Three persons suspected tobe involved in the incidenthave been arrested, he said.

"We could only saywhether she was raped or notafter getting the post-mortemreport," Dutta said.

The victim's brother saidshe went missing on the wayto a nearby shop on Sundayafternoon.

Local BJP MP SukantaMajumdar warned of a majoragitation if the culprits werenot brought to book.

Terming the incidentunfortunate, KumarganjTMC MLA Toraf HossainMandal demanded an impar-tial probe.

A woman's charred bodywas found in a mangoorchard in Malda district inDecember last year, days aftera similar incident occurred inHyderabad leading to anationwide uproar overwomen safety.

Man reunitedwith family 20yrs afterfleeing home

‘Molestation victim' leaveshome to ‘commit suicide'

JNU violence: ABVP, NSUI membersclash in Gujarat, over 10 injured

‘CAMPUSES MUST NOT BECOMEHAVENS FOR POLITICS OF HATE’

MAHA

India has ambitious plans for investingin wind power. A recent news reportindicated that the Governmentannounced its aim to set up 500gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy

capacity by 2030. This, it was indicated,would substantially reshape the global ener-gy market dynamism and support the back-ground of current plans to install 175 GWof renewable energy capacity by 2022, ofwhich 60 GW would come from wind.

Currently, the largest capacity in windenergy is installed in China with a surpris-ing second place being achieved by the US.Interestingly, the State of Texas, which hasbeen a pioneer in the development ofhydrocarbon resources and supply, is todayleading all the States of the US in terms ofwind energy capacity. This is clearly a reflec-tion of the economic attraction of tappingwind energy in a State where oil and gashave been in favour for many decades now.The third place among countries with windenergy capacity is occupied by Germanyand India follows in the fourth place.

It is particularly significant that Denmarkis the leader in wind energy innovation andhas been harnessing to a remarkable extentthe potential that exists in that country. In thisrespect, perhaps, Denmark features as the firstcountry to develop and implement a strate-gy for building an energy system independentof fossil fuels. This renewable form of ener-gy already accounts for more than one-thirdof the total electricity consumption inDenmark. What is particularly significant isthat wind power has been integrated with therest of the energy supply system.

It is anticipated that by 2021, Denmarkwould be able to achieve 60 per cent of thewind energy supply as part of its total ener-gy from all sources. Denmark’s achievementhas been the result of vision on the part of theGovernment, widespread public support aswell as collaboration across various industries.For instance, the Energy Innovation Clusteris Denmark’s cluster organisation and a net-work for innovation related to energy produc-tion. It facilitates collaboration among com-panies and sources of knowledge, such thatthe country uses the latest technology and cre-ates innovative solutions that help society atlarge. Can India achieve a similar place in theworld on technologies, which would definethe future of human activities?

Recently, the world’s largest floatingwind turbine began generating power off thecoast of Portugal. This involves connectingthe first of three 8.4 megawatt (MW) turbines.The project itself is connected to a substationin Portugal through a 12-mile cable, whichis secured with chains to the sea bed 100 metrebelow. The benefit of a floating offshore instal-lation such as this is that wind speeds are gen-erally much higher in those locations whichare a distance away from the coastline and thecost of a floating installation eliminates theneed for anchoring the wind energy platformto the bottom of the sea. The prospect is that

perhaps more than a dozen addi-tional floating offshore windprojects may be commissioned inEurope by 2022, even thoughthere are some concerns aboutoverestimating wind farm capac-ity offshore.

The developments in windenergy technology bring out thepower of innovation and theunderlying direction that vision-ary management andGovernment policies can pro-vide. It was decades ago that asthe Minister of External Affairs,Dinesh Singh had asked thiswriter a question on whatprospects exist for wind energyin our country. The Minister wasapparently interested in wind asa source of energy and had pos-sibly been reading some mater-ial on this subject.

A detailed assessment wascarried out by this writer on thescanty information available onwind speeds in different parts ofthe country and a conclusionreached that wind energy prob-ably had no potential in Indiagiven the unsuitable wind speedsand unsophisticated technologyof the time. Indeed, for severalyears, wind energy developmentsmade no sense for us but with theevolution of technology, partic-ularly the economies of scale thatwere built into large-scale turbineunits, the economics of windenergy technology has beencompletely transformed.Encouraged by the develop-

ments of the past three decadesor so, this is an area wheremajor developments should takeplace in the next 10 years or soworldwide and in India.

China recently confirmedplans to build the world’s biggestwind turbine. This innovationwould be in collaborationbetween GE’s renewable energydivision and a local organisation,which would establish the 12MW offshore wind turbine inGuangdong province in China.Unfortunately, India has not yettaken the lead in coming up withinnovations in this field, nor isthere any evidence of indigenousmanufacture of state-of-the-arttechnology. India has a coastlineof over 7,500 kilometres and veryfavourable wind regimes in sev-eral offshore locations but mind-sets continue to believe inexpanding the use of fossil fuels.

Recent developments, withthe US having targetted anIranian General located inBaghdad, would lead to a hard-ening of global oil prices. Thereis a valid fear that any furtherescalation of conflict in theMiddle-East could lead to furtherprice increases, which wouldimpact unfavourably on India’salready unsatisfactory rate ofeconomic growth.

Earlier concerns related toenergy security and the objec-tives of bringing about energyindependence appear to havebeen given low priority as a

result of a glut in the global oilmarket in recent years. At thesame time, the negative external-ities of coal production andconsumption remain understat-ed, with an expansion of supply,essentially to maintain coal asthe major fuel for power gener-ation in this country. There is aneed, therefore, to articulate along-term renewable energystrategy, which would also meetthe objectives of theGovernment’s “Make in India”initiative. Wind energy develop-ments will be an excellent can-didate not only for India toachieve a sustainable energyscenario in the future but also asa means to meet a large range ofeconomic and social objectives.

It is inevitable that theworld would move away fromfossil fuels largely for mitigationof carbon dioxide emissions,which are resulting in climatechange world over. Hence,there would be a growingdemand and a major marketopportunity for nations, whichinnovate and produce equip-ment for harnessing renewablesources of energy. India has agrowing opportunity to play arole in this market. It would bevisionary on the part of theGovernment and the industryto treat this sector as a grow-ing opportunity.

(The writer is former chair-man, Intergovernmental Panelon Climate Change, 2002-15)

The Indian Medical Association (IMA),which has always been adamant aboutstaying away from politics simply

because it should not colour the way doctorsreact and treat their patients, has come outagainst the violence at JNU in strong terms.Questioning the “New Truth in India” as AIIMSdoctors and nurses were stopped by goonsfrom attending to injured students, it has asked,“How does it reflect on the nation, if it cannotprotect its doctors and nurses reaching out tothe injured? Is this a civil war? What is the mes-

sage that goes out to the nation?” The IMA has clearly decided not to be a silentmajority and speak out as a responsible community. This is the same IMA, whichin August 2019, had accused the medical journal, The Lancet, of committing a“breach of propriety” while commenting on “a political issue,” when it slammedthe Narendra Modi-led Government for its clampdown in Kashmir. But now thatdoctors, too, are at the receiving end of a police State, it is bent on upholdingthe Hippocratic oath, one which binds them to the business of saving lives, evenof the enemy’s. The IMA had even questioned police action inside hospitals onDecember 22, during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests, call-ing the crackdown “a new low in the civic life of the nation.”

So does the medical body’s slow change of stance mean that realisation isslowly dawning in civil society that we have to speak and stand up against theacts of subversion of democracy that we are witnessing in our lifetime? Perhaps,the IMA change in stance has been influenced by the fact that junior doctors inpremier institutes like AIIMS have also participated in protests and solidarity march-es against the CAA. Perhaps, it has woken up to the need for addressing thestudents’ angst and concerns as citizens and not shoving them under the car-pet. This is in sharp contrast to the JNU administration, which is yet to take anystep to engage with protesting students. No arrests have been made. Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar is at best indifferent to the plight of those underhis care and has not visited the injured faculty members and students. Neitherhas any police officer been sacked for inaction, nor has any probe been initiat-ed against the cops’ partisan role during the violence and claims by a fringe Hindugroup, the Hindu Raksha Dal, that it was responsible for the mayhem in JNU.The country cannot afford to be dumbed down anymore.

Now that the Delhi elections have beenannounced, coming as they do bang inthe middle of a student-led churning in

India against the status quo of habit in poli-tics, the focus is on the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP). This is its litmus test as it did stir upthe political process when its leaders beganthe transformation story with “India AgainstCorruption,” drew in civil society and students,attempted a pan-India blitz, even nudged in analternative narrative but failed to make a bigsplash nationally. But it still got Delhi and learnt

tough lessons from its missteps — being deserted by its acolytes with higherambitions, repeating the mistakes of the Indian politician’s playbook, blamingthe Centre for vindictive power plays, even earning the ire of voters who thoughtthat they had been short-changed. Yet AAP won the war of perception by deliv-ering the toughest part of governance. That’s performance. This is its only credoand novelty. This election will prove whether that can be pro-incumbency in ahighly polarised context. There can be no doubt that it has shown incrementalsuccess in converting the old rhetoric of bijli, sadak and paani of its predeces-sors into the Delhiite’s new aspiration. Power reforms were the reason the Congress,then led by Sheila Dikshit, got mass acceptability between 1998 and 2013. Thefocus was on improving the quality of power supply through privatisation of theelectricity distribution sector. And when that frayed at the edges, the mess wasa fertile ground for the AAP to emerge as a champion of people’s right to a goodlife. It questioned the privatisation model, alleging financial irregularities by dis-tribution companies to inflate tariffs at public expense. The reduced power billswill top AAP’s performance sheet. Or free water within consumption limits. Ithas set the nation’s agenda in education reforms by allocating 26 per cent ofthe Budget to education, upgrading standards and performance of Governmentschools and introducing the “happiness curriculum.” The mohalla clinics haverevolutionised health delivery modules, the night shelters have eased the woesof the homeless and doorstep delivery of services have endured with the citi-zenry. And while the Urban Development Ministry has now approved regulari-sation of unauthorised colonies, the AAP Government has to be credited for mak-ing it inevitable by upgrading their infrastructure. Of course, it has been social-ist to consolidate its votebank but it has already talked about decongesting andredesigning road infrastructure and launched free wi-fi to appeal to urban sen-sibilities. Some PWD projects are almost complete. Many observers had thoughtthat the tidal personality cult of Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha elections lastMay, which swamped every Opposition leader, including Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal, and pushed back AAP to third place in voting percentage, would be theend. But Kejriwal was quick to seize the trade winds, stopped blame games oreven talking about Modi and steered clear of lambasting Hindutva. Instead, he’sbeen seeking votes on the basis of his performance, asking people not to voteif they don’t like his work and emphasising he was only concerned about Delhiand not the nation. This self-deprecatory and localised, neighbourhood approachhas foxed the BJP.

Lack of State leadership is the BJP’s Achilles’ heel, besieged as it is withfaction fights. It suddenly finds itself without a credible counter-narrative on deliv-erables as it has predictably pitched its campaign on Modi’s personality and itshyper-nationalist agenda. With Kejriwal choosing not to fall for the BJP’s testedprovocation on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the students’ protests,the lofty vision of a Ramrajya would fall flat without an alternative Delhi devel-opment plan. In fact, the BJP’s aggressive adversarial pitch and “everybody hatesModi” plan have fallen flat with Kejriwal choosing to disengage from any areathat crosses paths with the Centre, even full Statehood and police, and stickingto his territorial limits. The problem is the BJP has misread Delhi as a barome-ter of the national pulse without realising that its people are the most vote-con-scious, their loyalty pledged only to whoever has the better Excel sheet. That’swhy its candidate Kiran Bedi lost to Kejriwal in 2015 despite the break-up betweenthe Congress and AAP. Besides, AAP has cultivated caste/regional groups likePurvanchalis, Jats and Uttarakhandis and women, something that both the BJPand the Congress haven’t been able to harmonise. The Congress has lost thegameplan after Dikshit’s death and may not even be a vote-cutter but push theelections to a bipolar duel. February 11 will tell us what won hearts in the end.

Dangerous turn of events

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Night of broken glass”(December 7). Terming the inci-dent at the Jawaharlal NehruUniversity (JNU) as unfortunatewould be an understatement. Wedo not know who the maskedmen were but they caused havoc,injuring both students and teach-ers and they did not even sparean ambulance that stood outside.

Such violence on universitycampuses goes against the ethosof a democratic country as ours.Nothing can justify this act andstrictest punishment must begiven to the guilty, who daredenter the campus and vandalise it.

Nevertheless, the Delhi Policeshould not have remained a mutespectator. Since around 700 policepersonnel were already deployedat the JNU gates due to anti-Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) protest, it was perplexingto see no action from them. Thegrowing violence in various uni-versities across India — BHU,Jadavpur and Jamia — is a dan-gerous trend that needs to bestopped as early as possible.

Bal GovindNoida

On the rampage

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Night of broken glass”(December 7). After the policebarged into the Jamia MilliaIslamia university and attackedhapless students, now it was theturn of around 30 lumpen ele-ments, who entered the

Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU) campus and attacked thestudents and teachers, too.

The tragedy is that all of thishappened right under the nose ofthe Delhi police, which functionsunder direct control of the UnionHome Ministry. More shocking isthat instead of chasing themasked goons, the policeremained a mute spectator. The

pattern of violence at JNU expos-es the nexus between the admin-istration and the police.

Making use of the policeforce to achieve political ends isdangerous. One shudders to thinkwhere our nation is headed to andwhat is in store for the law-abid-ing citizens.

Tharcius S FernandoChennai

Mishandling situations

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Night of broken glass” (January7). It is shameful that students donot feel safe within college cam-puses. Incidents at the JamiaMillia Islamia university and theJawaharlal Nehru University(JNU) have raised questions abouttheir security. In the case of the lat-ter, why did the police not do any-thing to stop the miscreants at theentry gate itself where they weredeployed? How long will it take toarrest the culprits?

Sujit DeKolkata

Word of caution

Sir — While the world grappleswith the aftermath of a seeming-ly whimsical act by the US inkilling the commander of anoth-er sovereign nation, it is easy tobe pulled into unwanted situa-tions as far as India is concerned.It must tread cautiously.

YashVia email

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

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op nionVIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 8, 2020

06

Blowing in the wind

RK PACHAURI

Wind energy can not only help achieve a sustainable future but also meeteconomic and social objectives. India must make the best use of this opportunity

It is heartening to see peo-ple come out and raise theirvoice without fear. It is necessary for people toexpress their point of view to bring about change.

Actor—Deepika Padukone

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O TT H E E D I T O R

Campuses have become dens of politicking

This refers to the editorial, “Night of broken glass”(December 7). The violence at the Jawaharlal NehruUniversity (JNU) is highly condemnable and unpar-

donable. It raises questions about the ability of the admin-istration to provide security to the students. Incidentsof violence are increasing day by day on university cam-puses in our country. Only recently, unruly scenes werewitnessed at the Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi and theAligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh. It is mostunfortunate, however, that these prestigious “templesof learning” have become dens of political activities forvarious political parties. The failure of the police to pro-tect innocent students and academics from armed goonsraises serious questions about its capability, efficiencyand intent. Despite the fact that most of the incident wascaught on camera and the masked people remainedinside the campus for long enough, the police is yet tomake any arrests. But then, it’s not their fault. The policehave always acted on “orders from above” and that hascome to be the Indian ethos.

There’s a lot that happened in JNU before the cam-eras were switched on. Both the “before” and “after” sto-ries are sordid tales of an administrative failure to stopclashes from turning into arson. It is incumbent on theGovernment to ensure that the university becomes a placeof learning once again and regains its lost aura.

JS AcharyaHyderabad

RECENTDEVELOPMENTS

WITH THE US HAVINGTARGETTED AN

IRANIAN GENERALWOULD LEAD TO A

HARDENING OFGLOBAL OIL PRICES.

THERE IS A VALIDFEAR THAT ANY

FURTHERESCALATION OF

CONFLICT COULDLEAD TO FURTHERPRICE INCREASES,

WHICHWOULD IMPACT

UNFAVOURABLY ONINDIA’S ALREADYUNSATISFACTORY

RATE OF ECONOMICGROWTH

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Doctors’ oathA PM, who cannot summonhis voice when students area few kilometres away fromhis residence and are beaten up, is either complicit or incompetent.

CPI(M) general secretary—Sitaram Yechury

Will AAP be able to retain its novelty factor? Does theBJP need to reinvent its campaign pitch?

As doctors were stopped from treating injured JNUstudents, IMA asks if we are in a civil war I am your pehradar

(custodian), if anyonecomes to take awayyour rights, he willhave to do it over mydead body.

West Bengal CM—Mamata Banerjee

The New Year has begun withour world in turmoil. We areliving in dangerous times.Geopolitical tensions are attheir highest level and this turbulence is escalating.

UN Secretary General—Antonio Guterres

All eyes on Delhi durbar

Foster debate, not violence

I BEGAN MY CAREER AS A STUDENT WORKER BUTHAVE NEVER SEEN A SITUATION WHERE THE CAMPUS

IS BEING ATTACKED TO GAG PROTESTS.—WEST BENGAL CHIEF MINISTER

MAMATA BANERJEE

THE COMMUNISTS DESERVED THIS. THEY AREGETTING PAID IN THE SAME COIN. THERE ISNOTHING WRONG IN THIS.—BENGAL BJP PRESIDENT DILIP GHOSH

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

As one gets down to write about one of themost disturbing episodes in the history ofuniversity politics in independent India, it

becomes difficult to aim for balance. Whenbloodied faces of Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU) girls and menacing images of masked mobsbrandishing hammers, machetes, iron rods andsticks flash across one’s mind, how does one showrestraint in expressions?

It is possible that a few readers might miscon-strue my opening observation as a clever but pli-ant pretext to dodge public condemnation of theattack on JNU. Some might even argue that if I wereto write anything other than a spirited declama-tion of the State and the JNU administration, Iwould be doing the institution a great disservice.However, if no denunciation of violence is suffi-cient — and the horror of it cannot be summarisedin language — must public intellectuals be end-lessly polemical in their writings and speeches? Eversince the JNU crisis escalated, we have beenswarmed with accusatory articles of two varieties:One that calls for clampdown on “urban Naxals”and the “tukde tukde” gang, that allegedly thriveis JNU’s subsidised campus, and a second thataccuses a State-corporate nexus of attempting toprivatise higher education and muzzle voices. I feelemboldened to argue that it is precisely this prac-tice of using public forums to launch no-holds-barred assaults on adversarial viewpoints that hasaggravated the crisis. This may not be the occa-sion to philosophise but to me, the sight of masked-assailants targetting political adversaries suggestsa heightened state of intolerance and a completerefusal to communicate.

Simmering intolerance: As has been repeat-edly pointed out, the crisis in JNU, to a great extent,is a fallout of a hostile rhetoric that has been doingthe rounds on news channels and social media. Thenature of this rhetoric is such that it refuses to alloweven the slightest concession to its opponent. It is,therefore, no surprise that over the last few years,even as India kept debating “intolerance”, tolerancehas been the greatest casualty. For months on end,agitated citizens tuned in to news debates, hopingto find answers to issues that had suddenly cometo seize the public sphere. But the domineeringnews anchors and the blaring experts offered pre-cious little other than orchestrated shouting duels.For a sizeable segment in India, which includes stu-dents, shopkeepers and senior citizens, suchinflammatory debates, accessed through TVs andsmartphones, provide an escape from the monot-ony of their placid lives. To argue after ProfessorCraig Jeffrey, this has been our “national timepass”or the politics of waiting in India. It is, therefore,all the more important that on a day such as this,we refrain from indulging in competitive intoler-ance or freestyle rhetoric.

While it is indeed a painful truth that balancedattempts at seeing the other side in contentiousdebates are socially not so rewarding but given thecircumstance, it has become imperative. Occasionalself-criticism, reflection and survey of the socio-political trends, which have dragged us to this point,will, perhaps, throw up strategies to escape thisquagmire.

Breakdown of communication: Let us alsoadmit that over the past two decades, in spite ofthe giant strides that we have taken in the field ofmass communication, our ability to communicatehas diminished significantly. If intolerant rhetoricis public enemy number one, breakdown of com-

munication occupies the second spot.Further, those little conversations that wemanage to have with our adversaries areso toxic that they end up pushing us inback into our respective cocoons, insteadof helping us crawl out of them. As wedebate, we interrupt, hoot, caricature,abuse and threaten.

In Think Again: How to reason andargue, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong arguesthat these days, people do not have closefriends with radically different politicalviews. It is indeed true that today, themajority prefers to live in communities,both real and virtual that are similar withrespect to religion, politics, news sourcesand even social media networks.Moreover, if at all we encounter peoplewith views hostile to our own, we avoidinteracting with them. Consequently, theideological schisms that divide us havewidened more than ever. The world,including India, has transformed into aparliament of ideas with little possibili-ty of syncretic exchanges and everychance of violent confrontations.

If you ever speak to the JNU alum-ni, you will find that the stories of cam-pus camaraderie that cut across politicalideologies and all other affiliations areaplenty. Most will admit that while thecampus debates were always intense, theynever even bordered on hatred, letalone violence. However, of late, thingshave taken a rather unfortunate turn.Shortly after the violence on January 5,a friend from JNU posted something tothe effect that hereafter she would ban-ish all BJP/RSS sympathisers from her lifeand that she would never ever interactwith any of them or engage them indebates. If dialogue is not the way for-ward, how then do we propose to take

things further and resolve the crisis?Beyond JNU: This breakdown of

communication inside the campus ismatched by a similar disruption ofcommunication with the world beyond.People outside the campus, even acad-emicians based in prominent regionalcentres, are upset because media hous-es and activists have persistently refusedto engage with the plight of universitiesbeyond Delhi. For anyone, who has stud-ied at provincial universities, scenessuch as those witnessed by JNU onJanuary 5 are commonplace. The presentoutcry over JNU, which is being project-ed as the last citadel of knowledge anddemocratic values in India, tends to over-look this reality. While the slightest sug-gestion of State intervention in Delhi-based institutions provokes massive out-pouring of grief and indignation in cer-tain sections of media, activists fromDelhi had turned a blind eye when uni-versities across India were being system-atically dismantled. And those respon-sible for destruction of the likes of PatnaUniversity, Allahabad University andLucknow University, among others,were socialists and the self-proclaimedfollowers of Ram Manohar Lohia andJayaprakash Narayan (JP). According toAndre Beteille, the JP Movement did notlead to any significant moral cleansingof the students.

Student politics today: In 1970,writing on university politics in India, PGAltbach dismissed student activism as aspent force. He felt that it had lost its pre-independence idealism and sense of pur-pose. Although Altbach was provenwrong by the JP Movement, yet it is fairto argue that the months precedingEmergency saw the last major show of

student unity. Since then, these move-ments have been spontaneous, sporadicand mostly disjointed. This can beattributed to a number of factors. First,owing to the expansion of institutions ofhigher education, the student populationhas become much more heterogeneousthan earlier. Second, emphasis on com-merce and technical education, asopposed to liberal arts and social sci-ences, has rendered them largely indif-ferent to socio-political issues. Third, ourpublic institutions, such as the Parliamentand judiciary, have become muchstronger than earlier. Fourth, the extentand practice of students activism is notthe same everywhere. Those based inmetropolitan centres are more aware ofpolitics and, therefore, more prone toactivism. This difference has been fur-ther sharpened by an ever-wideningrural-urban divide. Fifth, to most onlook-ers, student politics is a waste of time,resources and a breeding ground for cor-rupt politicians of the future. It is no sur-prise that calls for banning campus pol-itics have become so ubiquitous in pub-lic discourses. Given the glorious lega-cy of student politics in India, this is high-ly undesirable. However, under thechanged circumstances, some initiationin campus behaviour, culture and polit-ical socialisation should be made a partof orientation programme.

The hooligans, who vandalised JNU,must be arrested. This might give somekind of closure to the aggrieved students.But we need to rekindle the culture ofdebate, dialogue and cordial disagree-ment too.

(The writer teaches at the Universityof Delhi and is a commentator on publicsphere and cultural politics)

The hooligans who vandalised JNU must be arrested. This might give some kind of closureto aggrieved students. But we need to rekindle the culture of debate and dialogue

analysis 07F I R S T C O L U M N

There’s nothing anti-Hindu in it

MARKANDEY KATJU

Faiz’s poem Hum Dekhenge that attacks oppressionwas written in the times of martial law in Pakistan.IIT-Kanpur’s administration should have known that

GAUTAM CHOUBEY

FOR ANYONE WHOHAS STUDIED AT

PROVINCIALUNIVERSITIES,

SCENES SUCH ASTHOSE WITNESSED

BY JNU ONJANUARY 5 ARECOMMONPLACE.

THE PRESENTOUTCRY OVER JNU,

WHICH IS BEINGPROJECTED AS THE

LAST CITADEL OFKNOWLEDGE AND

DEMOCRATICVALUES IN INDIA,

TENDS TOOVERLOOK THIS

REALITY.WHILE THESLIGHTEST

SUGGESTION OFSTATE

INTERVENTION INDELHI-BASED

INSTITUTIONSPROVOKES

MASSIVEOUTPOURING OF

GRIEF ANDINDIGNATION IN

CERTAIN SECTIONSOF MEDIA,

ACTIVISTS FROMDELHI HAD TURNEDA BLIND EYE WHEN

UNIVERSITIESACROSS INDIA

WERE BEINGSYSTEMATICALLY

DISMANTLED

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur has set up a panelto consider whether the poem Hum Dekhenge by the famousUrdu poet Faiz is anti-Hindu. This followed the recitation of the

poem by students of IIT-Kanpur on December 17, 2019, on their cam-pus during a gathering in support of the students of Jamia Millia Islamiain Delhi, who were assaulted by the police during their anti-CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) agitation. One need not go into the inanity ofsuch a step by the IIT authorities who seem to have no understand-ing of Urdu poetry or of this particular poem.

No poetry in England, America, France, Germany, Russia and inany language, whether it is English, German, Hindi, Sanskrit, Bangla,Tamil and so on, in fact, no poetry in the world, expresses the voiceof the human heart in such a powerful and yet elegant manner (andaaz-e-bayaan) as Urdu poetry does.

Mirza Ghalib is regarded by many as the greatest Urdu poet ofall times and Faiz the greatest Urdu poet of the 20th century. I hadthe privilege of meeting Faiz once when he visited my hometownAllahabad in 1981 and was honoured at a massive function on theAllahabad University’s lawns.

Urdu poets often express their thoughts not in direct languagebut indirectly, through hints and allusions. Urdu shers (couplets) oftenhave a literal, superficial meaning but they also have a deeper, realmeaning which is conveyed by indication, suggestion and metaphors.It is this deeper, real meaning which the poet is seeking to convey.But to understand it, one has to ponder deeply and apply one’s brainsto understand what the poet is trying to say. This is particularly doneby poets in times when it may be dangerous to talk directly, such asduring martial law. It was during this time that Faiz’s poem HumDekhenge was written.

Take for instance Faiz’ sher: “Gulon mein rang bhare baad-e-nauba-haar chale. Chale bhi ao ki gulshan ka kaarobaar chale.” Now the lit-eral meaning of this couplet is: “Among the colourful flowers, the newspring breeze is blowing. Come, so that the work of the garden canbe done.” But that is only the superficial meaning of the couplet. Theword “gulshan” literally means garden but here it means the nation.So, the real meaning of the sher which the poet is conveying is this:“The objective conditions in the country are ripe. Come forward patri-ots, the country needs you (for a revolution).”

Similarly, when we read Urdu poetry we must rack our brainsand try to understand what it is really that the post is seeking to con-vey. Coming now to Faiz’s poem Hum Dekhenge one must remem-ber it was written during General Zia-ul-Haq’s oppressive martial lawregime when it was dangerous to talk directly. So part of the poemuses traditional Islamic imagery. However, it is used to attack Zia’sdictatorship and restore democracy, not for establishing orthodox Islam.The poem was sung by Iqbal Bano, deliberately wearing a sari (regard-ed by some as an Indian and unislamic dress for Pakistani women),despite the ban on public recitation of Faiz’s poems at that time. Infact, Iqbal Bano was later banned from singing anywhere in Pakistan.Many from the audience were rounded up, grilled and detained.

Some of the lines of the poem which are now being describedas anti-Hindu are: “Jab arz-e-khuda ke kaabe se sab but uthwaayejaayenge. Hum ahl-e-safa mardood-e-haram masnad par baithayejaayenge.” The literal meaning of this couplet is, “When from the abodeof God (Kaaba) all icons will be removed. Then, we the faithful, whowere debarred from sacred places, will be placed on the royal throne.”It is alleged that these lines are anti-Hindu as Hindus worship idols,and these lines are clearly against idol worship. But this is only a super-ficial understanding. What it means is that self-styled icons of powerwill be thrown out and God’s beloved or common people will rule.Faiz was a life-long communist and he could hardly have meant thathe wanted Islamisation of society. In fact, it was his antagonist GeneralZia who wanted Islamisation. To understand these lines we must seethe context and also see the couplets preceding and succeeding them.

Before these lines, the verses in the poem are: “Jab zulm-e-sitamke koh-e-giraan, rui ke tarah udh jaayenge. Hum mehkoomon ke paaontale, yeh dharti dhad dhad dhadkegi. (When these high mountainsof tyranny and oppression turn to fluff and evaporate. And we oppressed,beneath our feet will have this earth shiver, shake and beat.)” The suc-ceeding lines are: “Sab taaj uchaale jaayenge, sab takht giraayejaayenge. (When crowns will be thrown off and overturned will bethrones.”

It is obvious from this that there is nothing anti-Hindu in this poemand it is the height of absurdity to regard it so. It is a poem power-fully attacking the oppressors of the people and expressing a con-viction that one day the oppressed will become the rulers of their owndestiny as has been promised to the people. The administration ofIIT, Kanpur, which is otherwise a reputed institution, has made itselfa laughing stock before the whole country by setting up a panel toreview if the poem is anti-Hindu or not.

(The writer is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India.)

Will there be a move to con-tain the population explo-sion in the country? After

Prime Minister Narendra Modiannounced from the ramparts of theRed Fort that “keeping one’s familysmall is an act of patriotism” hintingat some measures to contain the pop-ulation, there were expectations thata Bill might be introduced in thisregard in the upcoming BudgetSession.

Addressing the issue for the firsttime in his Independence Dayspeech, Modi expressed concernover the steep rise in India’s popula-tion and said that the Centre and

States should look at measures to dealwith it. “The time has now come thatwe should take such challenges headon,” he announced from the rampartsof the historic fort.

Currently, the population ofIndia is at 1.37 billion and will over-take that of China, the world’s mostpopulous country by 2027. However,millions still do not have access toclean water, food, healthcare and edu-cation, thanks to the unmanageablenumbers. Plus, more mouths meanmore strain on the resources.

However, now that there arepan-India protests over theCitizenship Amendment Act (CAA)and National Register of Citizens(NRC), it is doubtful whether thePrime Minister would open up onemore front. Just as the CAA and NRCare perceived to be targetting theMuslims in the country, this too willbe seen as an attempt to target thebiggest minority community in India.In any case, the “P-word” is a verysensitive subject and no politicianwants to touch it after the forced ster-

ilisation drives during the Emergency.It became an election issue andIndira Gandhi lost that election.

The Union Health Ministry evenchanged the name of the FamilyPlanning Department to FamilyWelfare Department. Moreover wheneven China, known for its rigidfamily planning programmes hasopted for an overhaul of its earlierone-child norm, why should India bepushing for family planning pro-grammes?

Besides, the Economic Survey2018-2019 says, “India is set to wit-ness a sharp slowdown in populationgrowth in the next two decades.Population in the 0-19 age brackethas already peaked due to a sharpdecline in total fertility rates (TFR)across the country.” Nine States havealready reached the replacement rateof 2.1 or below. All of India will havereached a TFR of 2.1 or below by2021. Almost all major States, includ-ing even populous ones like Haryanaand Bihar, are said to have experi-enced a significant deceleration in

population growth. High fertilityrates persist in 72 districts, a little over11 per cent of the country’s 621 dis-tricts. Although India’s populationcontinues to grow, the pace of netaddition is decreasing.

The southern States have gen-uine concern as they have sought anegative growth and are consequent-ly at a disadvantage, as when delim-itation takes place or when theFinance Commission allocatesresources, one of the criteria is pop-ulation. The five southern States evenheld a conclave to project theirproblems. So special incentivesshould be given to the States thatadopt a negative population growthtarget.

Those who are against any harshmeasures to contain populationargue that the one billion plus pop-ulation would yield a demographicdividend. For poor families, morehands mean more income. Also, ithas brought in higher per capita enti-tlements. Second, the migrationfrom the north and the eastern

States has helped maintain growth inthe South and the West, where fer-tility rates are low.

However, Rakesh Sinha, a nom-inated Rajya Sabha member hastabled a Private Member’s Bill calledThe Population Regulation Bill, 2019,in the Upper House, which he hopesmight be taken up in the upcomingBudget Session. The Bill advocatespenalties ranging from denial offinancial benefits to ineligibility forelected offices and discontinuation offood subsidy and other such things.There are also incentives for thosewho undergo sterilisation after hav-ing two children. The financial mem-orandum of the Bill estimates `10crore as annual recurring expendi-ture. Last year 125 parliamentarianssubmitted a petition to the Presidentto implement a two-child norm. Ifthe Bill gets support, then theGovernment could adopt it withsome amendments. However, whilethe BJP might support the Bill, hop-ing that it will consolidate the Hinduvotes, the secular parties would not

go along with it because of their ownvote bank politics, as they believe thatthe measure is to target Muslims. Butin view of the brute majority of theBJP in the Lok Sabha this measurecould be pushed through.

Containing the populationexplosion is imperative and every cit-izen has a stake in it. It is notenough just to provide contraceptivesto women to enhance demographictransition; it should be accompaniedby awareness, availability of food,employment and healthcare.Overpopulation is a huge problemthat India is grappling with for long.Political compulsions and vote bankpolitics have so far deterred ourPrime Ministers from taking up theissue. It is a good sign now that Modiis willing to change the narrative.

He should not only mobilise thesupport of other political parties butalso of the chief ministers. If Indiawants to be a superpower, thenaddressing the population explo-sion is imperative.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Population explosion must be next targetPrime Minister Modi should not only mobilise the support of other political parties but also of the chief ministers. If India

wants to be a superpower, then addressing the population explosion is imperative

KALYANI SHANKAR

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 8, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

From space, we get a properappreciation of our world andits vulnerability. Until we sentprobes to Mars and Venus,we thought our nearestplanetary siblings couldeasily support life. Instead,spacecraft showed thatVenus is an acid-drenched,scorching vision of hell whileMars was found to have lostmost its atmosphere. Spaceexploration tells us there isno Planet B and no chance ofstarting over again if wecontinue to make a mess.

(The Guardian editorial)

WE HAVE ONLYONE HOME

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 8, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Sakthivel takes over as AEPC India ChairmanNEW DELHI: Apparel ExportPromotion Council of India(AEPC) on Tuesday said it hasappointed A Sakthivel as thenew chairman of theorganisation. Sakthivel saidthe industry had beenstruggling to survive and theexports growth were stagnant."We will work to find new andpotential markets for India'sgarment exports," he said in astatement. Sakthivel alongwith some exporters hadfounded Tirupur ExportersAssociation in 1990.

Kia Motors Indiaappoints Tae-JinPark as EDNEW DELHI: Kia Motors India(KMI) on Tuesday said it hasappointed Tae-Jin Park asExecutive Director and ChiefSales Officer with immediateeffect. Park, who replacesYong S Kim, will beresponsible for driving KiaMotors' sales, marketing,service and networkdevelopment in the Indianmarket, the company said in astatement. Kim is moving backto Kia Motors Corporationheadquarters in Seoul. He hadplayed an instrumental role inestablishing Kia in India,setting up its sales networkand contributed to positioningthe brand amongst the top fiveautomobile manufacturers injust four months ofoperations, it added.Commenting on theappointment, Kia Motors IndiaManaging Director & CEOKookhyun Shim said Parkcomes with immenseknowledge of global marketsand expertise in penetrating anew market. "We havewitnessed a huge demand forSeltos in India and the love forbrand Kia grows continuously.

Paris, US have 15 days to settledigital tax disputePARIS: France and the UnitedStates have given themselves15 days to settle a disputeover the taxation of US techgiants, French FinanceMinister Bruno le Maire saidon Tuesday. Le Maire said hehad a "long discussion" on thetelephone Monday with his UScounterpart Steven Mnuchin."We have given ourselvesexactly 15 days" to solve theissue at the OECD, and urgedWashington not to imposesanctions during this time. LeMaire also met in Paris withEU Trade Commissioner PhilHogan, who stressed the blocwould "stand together withFrance" in the dispute.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Regulators in the country musthave their own sources ofincome so that they do not haveto depend on grants provided bythe government, capital marketswatchdog Sebi's formerChairman U K Sinha has said.

In his new book 'GoingPublic: My Time at Sebi', Sinhahas said that financial indepen-dence is the basic requirementfor the functioning of an inde-pendent regulator.

A regulator should have itsown source of income and flex-ibility to utilise it without look-ing up to the government forfunds, he has written.

"There have been some recentdevelopments to take away thisfreedom and ask Sebi to park itsincome in the ConsolidatedFund of India or in the PublicAccount, and to seek priorapproval of government beforeincurring any capital expendi-ture. Such efforts are not con-ducive in creating a strong andindependent regulatory envi-ronment," he said.

The Sebi Act provides for theregulator to levy fees and

charges and create its own fund.The board of Sebi prepares itsannual budget, where it canrevise the rates of fees upwardsand downwards based on itsestimate of money required forits activities during the year. TheSebi board also has representa-tion from the government.

The former IAS officer said allother regulators also must havetheir own sources of income andnot survive on the receipt ofgrants from the government.

There have been reports thatthe government was pushingSebi to transfer 75 per cent of itssurplus to the Consolidated

Fund of India, but Sebi isbelieved to have opposed theproposal on concerns aboutloss of autonomy.

There have also been con-cerns in the recent past aboutautonomy of another majorfinancial sector regulator, theReserve Bank of India.

In the book published byPenguin India, Sinha said inde-pendence of a regulator shouldnot be defined only with regardto independence from the gov-ernment and its officials.

It should also be seen in thecontext of independence fromany outside influences, includ-ing those from market partici-pants and business corpora-tions, he said.

Sinha said there have beenconcerns about market capture

of regulators in other parts of theworld and the senior leadershipand the boards of the regulatorshave to remain extra cautious onthis account. "Another dimen-sion of independence is internalindependence. Although thelaw permits this, the quasi-judicial function of Sebi needsto be separated from executivesupervision," he said. Withregard to accountability, Sinhasaid independence and account-ability go hand in hand.

"Today, there is no satisfactoryarrangement for a performanceappraisal of a regulator likeSebi. The media does it. Thegovernment does it throughthe presence of their represen-tatives in the Sebi board or whileanswering questions inParliament," he said.

Tech Mahindra opensdelivery centre in WarangalPNS n WARANGAL

Tech Mahindra Ltd on Tuesdayannounced the inauguration ofits new delivery center here.

The centre was inauguratedin the presence of IT andIndustries Minister KT RamaRao. The new facility is in linewith Tech Mahindra'sTechMNxt charter, whichfocuses on leveraging nextgeneration technologies andsolutions, like artificial intelli-gence among others to addressreal world problems to meetthe customer's evolving anddynamic needs, a press releasefrom the IT firm said.

Rama Rao saidthe openingof Tech Mahindra's Warangalcampus is an important step inconsistent efforts to digitallytransform it and other tier-IIcities within the state by ridinghigh on the immense potentialof our people and by leverag-ing new age technologies likeArtificial Intelligence andBlockchain.

"Through this initiative, weaim to provide gainful employ-ment opportunities to ourpeople living beyond the metrocities," he said.

The initiative reaffirms con-tinued efforts by the state gov-ernment to promote tier-IIcities like Warangal as thenext best technology destina-tion in Telangana afterHyderabad, and to generateemployment opportunities forthe youth of the state, headded.

Managing Director andChief Executive Officer ofTech Mahindra, CP Gurnanisaidfor the country to enter theleague of 5 trillion economy, itwas important that the gov-

ernment, industry and acade-mia across all states andregions work cohesively toparticipate and evolve in itsdigital transformation jour-ney. "Tech Mahindra's collab-oration with the Telanganagovernment to open up a newstate-of-the-art delivery centerin Warangal, is a step towardsenabling the talented work-force in tier-II cities to collab-orate and co-create smart andsustainable solutions for thefuture by leveraging next gen-eration technologies," he said.

IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao inaugurating the new delivery centre ofTech Mahindra in Warangal on Tuesday

PNS n NEW DELHI

The country's oilmeals exportfell sharply by 79.20 per centto 67,562 tonne in December2019, due to price disparity insoybean meal, industry bodySEA said on Tuesday.

The country had shipped3,24,927 tonne of oilmealsduring December 2018.Oilmeals are used as animalfeed in poultry and other sec-tors.

Overall shipment ofoilmeals during April-December period of the cur-rent fiscal declined by 25 percent to 18.02 lakh tonne asagainst 24.11 lakh tonne a yearago, according to the SolventExtractors' Association ofIndia (SEA).

"This is mainly due to dis-parity in export of oilmeals,specifically soybean meal dueto higher minimum supportprice (MSP) of beans whichmakes the domestic soybeanmeal expensive in interna-tional market compared toother origins," the SEA said ina statement.

The shipment of soyabeanextract fell significantly to5,876 tonne during December2019 from 1,70,588 tonne inthe year-ago period, it said.

Similarly, export of rapeseedextract declined to 24,609tonne from 87,106 tonne,

while that of rice bran extractto 3,550 tonne from 49,060tonne in the said period, itadded.

However, export of cas-tormeal jumped by nearly 60per cent to 4,69,248 tonne inDecember 2019 from 2,92,511tonne in December 2018.

South East Asian nations,the Middle East as well asEuropean countries likeGermany besides the US aremain export market for Indianoilmeals.

However, export of castormealjumped by nearly60 per cent to4,69,248 tonne inDecember 2019from 2,92,511 tonnein December 2018

India's oilmeals exportdrops over 79% in Dec-19 PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre has warned itsemployees of "consequences" ifthey go on strike called onJanuary 8 by one of their asso-ciations to protest against uniongovernment's policies includinglabour reforms, foreign directinvestment (FDI) and privati-sation, according to a Personnelministry order.

The Central Trade Union,except Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh,and their affiliates in differentsectors are mobilising workersand employees for their pro-posed nationwide general strikeon January 8, to protest againstsome of the central governmentpolicies and press for 12-pointcommon demands of the work-ing class relating to minimumwage and social security amongothers. "Any employee going onstrike in any form would face theconsequences which, besidesdeduction of wages, may alsoinclude appropriate disciplinaryaction," the order said. In a mis-sive issued to all central gov-

ernment departments, it saidexisting instructions prohibit agovernment servant from par-ticipating in any form of strikeincluding mass casual leave etc.

It said the right to form theassociation does not includeany guaranteed right to strike orprotest. "There is no statutoryprovision empowering theemployees to go on strike," theministry said.

The Supreme Court has alsoagreed in several judgementsthat going on a strike is a gravemisconduct under the rules

and that misconduct by the gov-ernment employees is requiredto be dealt with in accordancewith law, it said.

"All officers are also request-ed not to sanction casual leaveor any other kind of leave to theofficers and employees, ifapplied for, during the period ofproposed strike, and ensurethat willing officers are allowedhindrance free entry into theoffice premises," said the order,also issued to the CentralIndustrial Security Force (CISF)asking it to ensure strict vigil.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A secured creditor cannot sellassets of a company undergo-ing liquidation process to anyperson barred from submittingan insolvency resolution plan,as per a new amendment madeto the norms by the Insolvencyand Bankruptcy Board of India(IBBI). Besides, a secured cred-itor will have to contribute itsshare towards insolvency res-olution and liquidation processcosts and workmen's dueswithin 90 days of the liquida-tion commencement date, anofficial release said on Tuesday.

The Insolvency andBankruptcy Code (IBC) pro-vides for time-bound and mar-

ket-linked resolution processfor stressed corporates. In casethe resolution process doesnot materialise, then the enti-

ty goes for liquidation.The release said the IBBI has

notified changes to the liqui-dation process regulations with

effect from January 6. Theamendment also provides aprocess for a stakeholder toseek withdrawal from the cor-porate liquidation account.

"The amendment clarifiesthat a person, who is not eligi-ble under the code to submit aresolution plan for insolvencyresolution of the corporate

debtor, shall not be a party inany manner to a compromiseor arrangement of the corpo-rate debtor under section 230of the Companies Act, 2013,"it said.

Further, a secured creditorcannot sell or transfer an asset,which is subject to securityinterest, to any person who is

not eligible under the code tosubmit a resolution plan forinsolvency resolution of thecorporate debtor.

"The amendment providesthat a secured creditor, whoproceeds to realise its securityinterest, shall contribute itsshare of the insolvency resolu-tion process cost, liquidationprocess cost and workmen'sdues, within 90 days of the liq-uidation commencement date,"the release said.

Also, the secured creditorhas to pay excess of realisedvalue of the asset, which is sub-ject to security interest, over theamount of its claims admitted,within 180 days of the liqui-dation commencement date.

LIQUIDATION PROCESS

The release said the IBBI has notifiedchanges to the liquidation processregulations with effect from January 6.The amendment also provides a processfor a stakeholder to seek withdrawalfrom the corporate liquidation account

NEW DELHI: Banking services at public sector banks are likely to behit on Wednesday due to a nationwide strike called by 10 centraltrade unions. Most of the lenders have already informed stockexchanges about the January 8 strike and its impact on bankingservices. Various bank employee associations, including AIBEA, AllIndia Bank Officers' Association (AIBOA), BEFI, INBEF, INBOC andBank Karmachari Sena Mahasangh (BKSM), have expressed theirwillingness to participate in the strike. Banking services like depositand withdrawal, cheque clearing and instrument issuance areexpected to be impacted due to the strike. However, services atprivate sector banks are unlikely to be impacted. Nearly 25 crorepeople are likely to take part in an all-India strike on Wednesday toprotest against the government's "anti-people" policies. Trade unionsINTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF,UTUC along with various sectoral independent federations andassociations had adopted a declaration in September last to go on anationwide strike on January 8, 2020. "The Ministry of Labour hasfailed to assure on any of the demands of workers which called ameeting on January 2, 2020. The attitude of the government is that ofcontempt towards labour as we construe from its policies andactions," the 10 CTUs said in a joint statement. "We expectparticipation of not less than 25 crore of working people in theforthcoming National General Strike on January 8, 2020, to befollowed by many more actions seeking reversal of the anti-worker,anti-people, anti-national policies of the Government," it said.

Banking services may be hit dueto trade unions' strike on Jan 8

Asia stocks reboundas Iran fears ease, buttraders stay on alertPNS n HONG KONG

Equities rebounded while oiland safe-haven gold retreatedTuesday as fears of a MiddleEast conflict abated for now, butinvestors remained on alert forany escalation after the USassassination of a top Iraniangeneral. With few major devel-opments in the crisis fuelled bythe killing of Qasem Soleimanilast week, traders were able toturn their attention back to theglobal economic outlook andthe US-China trade deal sign-ing planned for January 15.

Wall Street provided a posi-tive lead, with all three mainindexes reversing early losses toend in the green as traders wel-comed strong service sectordata from the US, Europe andBritain that provided hope thatthe worldwide growth slow-down was easing. Asian mar-kets were broadly higher, withTokyo ending 1.6 per cent up,Hong Kong adding 0.3 percent and Shanghai rising 0.7 percent. Sydney climbed morethan one per cent, while Seouljumped one per cent andSingapore put on 0.7 per cent.Manila, Mumbai and Bangkok

were also up, while Wellingtonwas marginally higher andTaipei eased slightly.

In early trade London rose0.1 per cent, Paris gained 0.4 percent and Frankfurt climbed0.6 per cent. Observers said thelimited impact on markets wasmostly because the standoff wasnot expected to have a massiveimpact on global growth.

The shift back to riskierassets saw oil prices retreat, hav-ing rallied almost seven per centin the previous two days. Goldslipped from six-and-a-half-year highs. "Putting to one sidethe heat and noise of the eventsof the last few days, and in theabsence of further violence andescalations, the reality is thatvery little has changed," saidCMC Market analyst MichaelHewson in a note.

NEW DELHI: Escalation of tensionbetween the US and Iran willimpact India's exports to thePersian Gulf nation, apexexporters body FIEO said onTuesday. Tensions between Iranand the US has increased after anAmerican drone strike killed top

Iranian General last week. Federation of Indian ExportOrganisations (FIEO) President Sharad Kumar Saraf said, "Iran is akey trading partner of India. So far exporters have not flagged anyconcerns related with exports to Iran". However, if the tensionsescalates, it may have an effect on India's exports to Iran, Sarafsaid. He also said that due to existing trade sanctions on Iran,Iranian shipping lines are only taking Indian consignments to thatcountry.

Escalation of US-Iran tension to impactIndia's exports to Gulf nation: FIEO

Asian markets were broadlyhigher, with Tokyoending 1.6 % up,Hong Kong adding0.3% and Shanghairising 0.7%

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Commerce and IndustryMinistry is likely to release thenext index to rank states andunion territories (UTs) interms of ease of doing businessin March, a senior officialsaid.

"It will be released in end ofFebruary or March. Due toelections, the release gotdelayed," the official said.

The exercise is aimed attriggering competition amongstates to improve business cli-mate in order to attract domes-tic and global investors.

State governments are tak-ing several steps such as settingup single window system forapprovals to improve ease ofdoing business.

The parameters includeareas such as constructionpermit, labour regulation,environmental registration,access to information, landavailability and single win-dow system.

The Department for

Promotion of Industry andInternal Trade (DPIIT) in col-laboration with the WorldBank conducts an annualreform exercise for allstates/UTs under the BusinessReform Action Plan (BRAP).

In the last ranking releasedin July 2018, Andhra Pradeshtopped the chart. Telanganaand Haryana were at the sec-ond and third positions,respectively.

Others in the top ten wereJharkhand (4), Gujarat (5),

Chhattisgarh (6), MadhyaPradesh (7), Karnataka (8), Rajasthan (9) and WestBengal (10).

The ranking is based on acombined score consisting ofreform evidence score that isbased on evidence uploaded bystates/UTs and feedback scorethat is based on response gar-nered from actual users of services provided to busi-nesses. The report to bereleased this year will rankstates for 2018.

Next ranking of states forEODB likely in March

Gold prices fall Rs 420on stronger rupeePNS n NEW DELHI

Gold prices corrected by Rs 420to Rs 41,210 per 10 gram in thenational capital on Tuesdayamid a stronger rupeeand profit-bookingin internationalmarket for preciousmetal, according toHDFC Securities.Silver prices alsoplummeted by Rs830 to Rs 48,600 per kgfrom Rs 49,430 per kg onMonday.

Gold hit its all-time high levelon Monday and later closed at

Rs 41,630 per 10 gram. HDFCSecurities Head - Advisory(PCG) Devarsh Vakil said,"Stronger rupee and profit-

booking in internationalgold prices affected the

domestic rates.Traders are opti-mistic about betterdemand afterJanuary 15 as mar-riage season and

festive demandstarts."

The rupee appreciatedby 22 paise to 71.71 against theUS dollar in early trade onTuesday.

There have been some recent developments to takeaway this freedom and ask Sebi to park its income inthe Consolidated Fund of India or in the Public Account,

and to seek prior approval of government before incurring anycapital expenditure. Such efforts are not conducive in creating astrong and independent regulatory environment

— UK SINHA, Sebi's former Chairman

‘REGULATORS SHOULD NOTDEPEND ONLY ON GOVT GRANT’

Face consequences if you go on strike: Centre

Secured creditor cannot sell assets to entities ineligible

UK Sinha

A night ofmusic andmemories

akshminarayanaGlobal MusicFestival is a plat-form that bringsmusicians fromacross the world

on to one platform andprovides young talent anopportunity to learn fromthe best.

On Monday, the cityplayed host to the 29thLakshminarayana GlobalMusic festival that is beingheld in remembrance ofProf V. Lakshminarayana.This festival will be heldacross the country waskicked off from Delhi onJanuary 4 and will be fol-lowed up with events inHyderabad, Pune,Bengaluru and Chennai.

Started in 1992, the festi-val has become a huge plat-form for music enthusiaststo showcase their talent.

Several orchestral compo-sitions written for the festi-

val by Dr L. Subramaniamhas been published by SchottMusic, one of the oldest andleading German music pub-lishers.

Music aficionados andmusic enthusiasts gatheredat the event in large num-bers and it was a nightetched in memories foraudience there who wereseen thoroughly enjoyingthe musical night. Theevent also gave a platformto young Hyderabadi talentto both display their skillsas well as learn new tech-niques from the seniorsperforming there. — PNS

NO MOUNTAINTOO HIGH ENOUGH

Hyderabad-based Shekar Goud is the first triple amputee fromIndia to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Elbrus, and is

preparing to scale seven summits, finds V SATEESH REDDY isability is nevera barrier whenyou believe your-self, says the 29-year-old ShekarGoud who is into

mountaineering, cycling,badminton, swimming andother activities despite thehardships he faced in lifethat would have stoppedothers from living life to thefullest. In 2014, while talk-ing on the phone he waselectrocuted due to whichthe doctors had to amputatehis left leg, right hand andtoes on his right foot. He felthis life became miserableafter that and went intodepression.

“After the incident, I justused to stay at home. I wasdepressed with no hope inlife. But soon, with the helpof my friends, I gathered mystrength and confidence andput my mind to provingmyself that even afterbecoming a triple amputee,I can do whatever I want to.So I began participating inmarathons. Till date, I par-

ticipated in more than 66running events,” ShekarGoud tells The Pioneer withhis head held high.

“I got prosthetics for myamputated limbs and tookup cycling and moun-taineering,” he shares adding“I participated in manygroup cycling events before,but I always wanted peopleto know that people withdisabilities too can do any-thing they want. I finished acycling race from Kashmirto Kanyakumari in 2016. Itwas a memorable experi-ence for me as many peoplesaid that they were inspiredby my efforts.”

Shekar is the first tripleamputee from India toclimb Mount Kilimanjaroand Mount Elbrus. Whenasked whether he tooktraining in mountaineering,Shekar says, “I didn’t under-go any training, but Ilearned the basics by partic-ipating in many trekkingevents. I am happy aboutscaling Mount Elbrus andMount Kilimanjaro in 2019

along with my team led byBharat Tammineni. I’mplanning to scale five sum-mits in five continents tocomplete the seven summitsexpedition.” Shekar is plan-ning to climb MountKosciuszko, Australia’s high-est mountain, which is at2,228 metres above sea-level, in March 2020.

Presently, Shekar works ina private hospital as a med-ical records in-charge. Hesaid that he struggled a lotfor funds for his mountaine-ering expeditions and wasable to complete them withthe help of some sponsors.

Shekar lamented the factthat disabled people get veryless or no support, especiallywhen it comes to them tak-ing up different kinds ofsports. He opined that theywill reach new heights ifthey get proper encourage-ment from the government.“My message for people likeme is never give up and wecan do better than whatthey called as normal peo-ple,” he concluded.

DI participated inmany groupcycling events

before, but I alwayswanted people to knowthat people withdisabilities too can doanything they want. Ifinished a cycling racefrom Kashmir toKanyakumari in 2016. Itwas a memorableexperience for me as manypeople said that they wereinspired by my efforts

RECORDAFTER RECORD

While it istough to even

create oneGuinness

record,Taekwondo

player SaiDeepak Patel

has just set hisfourth one,

PNS

While it istough to even

create oneGuinness

record,Taekwondo

player SaiDeepak Patel

has just set hisfourth one,

PNS

While it istough to even

create oneGuinness

record,Taekwondo

player SaiDeepak Patel

has just set hisfourth one,

PNS

While it istough to even

create oneGuinness

record,Taekwondo

player SaiDeepak Patel

has just set hisfourth one,

PNS

While it istough to even

create oneGuinness

record,Taekwondo

player SaiDeepak Patel

has just set hisfourth one,

PNS

While it istough to even

create oneGuinness

record,Taekwondo

player SaiDeepak Patel

has just set hisfourth one,

PNS

reatingrecords canbecomeaddictiveafter a peri-od of time,

especially for someonewho is used to pushingoneself to the limit.

Hyderabad-basedTaekwondo player, SaiDeepak Patel, is one ofsuch achievers. Hecements yet anotherGuinness World Record,his fourth in fact, forthe ‘Most side lunges inone minute (male)’. Therecord he set is 59lunges in 60 seconds.He performed this featon July 19, last yearwhich was also con-firmed by the Guinnessofficials. Through thisachievement he surpass-es a Pakistani Taek-wondo player’s record of54 lunges in a minute.

Deepak’s otherGuinness WorldRecords are: ‘Most fullcontact elbow strikes(142) in one minute’,‘Most full contact kneestrikes (175) with oneleg in three minutes’and ‘Most one leg fullcontact knee strikes (87)while wearing 5 kgankle weights in threeminutes’.

Speaking to ThePioneer, Sai Deepaksays, “I began to take

interest in martial artsfrom my childhood. Igrew up learning karateand kung fu. After com-pleting my B.Tech, Istarted practisingTaekwondo under theguidance of JayanthReddy sir who himselfhas many GuinnessWorld Records in thissport to his name. Notmany people knowabout this sport inIndia. To date, no onefrom India has qualifiedfor the Olympics in thiscategory. We need toencourage the youth inthe state to take up thissport as a career andfind sponsors to helpattend internationalcompetitions andevents.” Deepak alsotells us about how Vice-President VenkaiahNaidu encouraged himto create more recordslike these when he metthe V-P after setting thisrecord.

Sai Deepak dedicateshis records to peoplewho are striving hardfor the country. He ded-icated his previousrecords to the IndianArmed Forces and therecent one to womensafety. Sai Deepak willnow try and set his fifthGuinness World Recordon National Youth Dayi.e. on January 12.

C

L

THE FESTIVAL ISHUGE PLATFORMFOR MUSIC LOVERSTO SHOWCASETHEIR TALENT

WednesdayJanuary 8, 2020

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

ctor Anil Kapoor, whonext will be seenonscreen in Malang,revealed that he alwaystells superstar AamirKhan not to stop work-

ing with filmmaker RajkumarHirani.

Kapoor was interacting with themedia at the trailer launch ofMalang along with his co-actorsAdtiya Roy Kapur, Disha Patani,Elli AvRam, film’s director MohitSuri and producers Luv Ranjan,Bhushan Kumar, Ankur Garg andJay Shewakraman on Monday inMumbai.

Anil Kapoor has worked withmany directors and produers inhis 40-year acting career. Talkingabout camp culture in Hindi filmindustry and praising makers ofMalang, Kapoor said: “I feel weneed producers like Ankur (Garg)and Luv (Ranjan). I have toldMohit (Suri) to continue doingfilms with them. I always tellAamir Khan by callinghim on phone to say thatyou should not leaveRaju Hirani”.Whenever I see filmsof both of them, I tellAamir not to leavehim.”

He continued: “Ifeel whenever youmake a good teamthen you should holdon to it. Team is veryimportant and there arecertain stars that cometogether to make somethinginteresting and exciting.”

Kapoor gave example ofHollywood actors and filmmakerswhile backing his viewpoint: “Ifyou see Martin Scorsese, RobertDe Niro, LeonardoDiCaprioa they do so manyfilms together. They canwork with others, too, butthey keep working witheach other. There is somemagic, obviously. Youhave to go with thecasting but somewhereI feel teams shouldstand by each other.”

Malang starsAditya Roy Kapur,Disha Patani, AnilKapoor and KunalKhemu in leadroles. It is sched-uled to release onFebruary 7.

10

Vijayawada Wednesday January 8, 2020 what’s brewing?

merica’s sweetheart veteranactor Tom Hanks says he isset to play a ‘bad guy’ inthe Elvis Presley biopic andhe hopes to prove thenaysayers wrong that he

can only play the good guy.The actor, who was feted with the

Cecille B DeMille award at the recent-ly concluded Golden Globes ceremo-ny, is playing Presley’s shifty talentmanager Colonel Tom Parker in BazLuhrmann’s untitled biopic on thelegendary musician.

Newcomer Austin Butler is playingPresley.

“If all goes according to plan, I’ll beplaying Colonel Tom Parker to AustinButler’s Elvis Presley and hopefully Iwill then finally have an answer to allyour stupid questions about why Iwill never play a bad guy.

I think I’m about to do that. That’swho I am playing next,” Hanks, 63,said backstage after accepting thehonour.

The actor, who will be flying toAustralia to shoot the biopic, also sentout ‘good thoughts to Australia forwhat’s going on down there” in thewake of the devastating bushfires.

Tom Hanksto play ‘BAD

BOY' inElvis Presley

biopic

A

Christian Bale to join Thor:LOVE AND THUNDER?

ollywood star Christian Bale isin negotiations to join MarvelCinematic Universe with apivotal role in Thor: Love andThunder.

If the deal closes, the filmwill mark Bale’s return to the superherogenre eight years after he concludedChristopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy with

The Dark Knight Rises.It’s unclear what role the 45-year-old

actor would be playing in the film,reported Variety.

Thor: Ragnarok filmmaker TaikaWaititi is directing the fourth movie inthe franchise, with Chris Hemsworthreprising his titular superhero andNatalie Portman returning as Jane Foster.

The film will also feature TessaThompson’s Valkyrie.

Waititi revealed last week that the pre-production of the film will start in Apriland the team will start shooting fromAugust in Australia.

Marvel Studios or parent companyDisney have not responded to the reportyet.

H

I alwaystell Aamir

not toleaveRaju

Hirani:ANIL

KAPOOR

A

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

he filming ofaction-thriller, 22,starring newcom-ers, Rupesh KumarChoudhary andSaloni Misra, in

lead roles has been complet-ed. A production venture ofRupesh himself, under theMaa Aai Productions, thefilm marks the directorialdebut of prominent producerBA Raju’s son, Shiva Kumar.

Shiva had assisted PuriJagannadh and Maruthi earli-er. Fittingly, it was Puri whounveiled the film’s teaser onTuesday. “I have watched thefilm and it’s too good. I havea lot of confidence in Shiva’stalent and I wish to see himas a big director in the futu-re,” Puri said, after unveilingthe look.

Thanking Puri for takinghim under his wing for allthese years and now takingtime to launch the firstglimpse of debut film, Shivasaid that the iSmart Shankardirector lauded his team afterwatching the teaser. “He wasimpressed with the film’sbackground score by SaiKartheek,” Shiva said. He also

praised Rupesh for believingin him and meeting hisdemands on the productionfront. “Besides being a sourceof encouragement, his pro-duction house assisted me ingetting whatever I needed forthe film,” Shiva said.

Wrapped up in 35 daysflat, the film also featuresVikramjeet Virk, DeviPrasad, Jaya Prakash, RaviVarma, Pooja Ramach-andran, Krishna Chaitanyaand Rajashri Nair amongothers in supporting roles.

egina Cassandra,who bouncedback intoTollywood withEvaru last year,will be playing

the lead in new-age Tamildirector Caarthick Raju’snext. To be shot in Teluguand Tamil simultaneous-ly, the film is a mysterydrama laced with action,adventure, comedy andthrills. It will go to setsfrom January 13 inCoutrallam, TamilNadu. A major chunkof the filming willtake place at real loca-tions.

Raj Shekar Varma,who is producing thefilm under the AppleTree Studios, said that

the film’s storyline kepthim surprised at manypoints. “Of late, it’s hearten-ing to see that strong female-centric films are on the risein the South film industry. To

this effect, I earnestly felt thatApple Tree Studios shouldventure its film journey withone such movie and that’swhen I came across the nar-ration of Caarthick Raju.Furthermore, I could easilysee how Regina Cassandra’sscreen presence is going toenhance the film,” he said.

Regina, who will be seen asan archeologist in the film, isundergoing rigorous trainingto ace her stunts.Manmadhudu 2 fameAkshara Gowda ison board toplay animportantrole.

REGINA toplay anarcheologist

ike itssound-track, themusicalconcert ofAla

Vaikunthapuramlo star-ring Allu Arjun, whichwas held in Hyderabadon Monday evening wasa super hit affair. Thefilm’s unit managed togather all the singers

who crooned for the filmand perform to an atten-

dance.From thepresent

musicalsensation, Sid

Sriram, whosang the record-

breakingSamajavaragamana, toBollywood singer ArmaanMalik who sang ButtaBomma, the singers enthr-alled the audience withtheir energy. The onlyabsentee was ShreyaGhoshal who recorded thefemale version of Samaja-varagamana last month.

Later, addressing thecrowd, Allu Arjun saidthat he didn’t expectSamajavaragamana to elic-it the response it did.

“The popularity ofmusic bands is on the riseand recently my wife,Sneha, asked me to accom-pany her to a band’s per-formance. Later, I told herthat I want one of thesongs of my next film tobe performed by one suchband. Later, during one ofthe music sessions for AlaVaikunthapuramlo, Trivi-kram garu and Thamangaru wanted to know whatkind of a song I was look-ing. Then I told about thethought I had. I told themthat everyone should gomad about the songs and itshould cross millions ofviews. And that’s how thetune for Samajavar-agamana was made byThaman. Seetharamasastrygaru gave life to it with hispen. Sid Sriram took it toanother level with his ren-dition. Overall, I felt wehave a good song in hand.However, I promise you, Inever expected it to createthe sensation it did now.Not even in my dreams,”he declared.

The actor later took theopportunity to thank hisfather, Allu Aravind, whoco-produced the film

along with S. RadhaKrishna.

“We generally don’t liketalking about each other.He introduced me as anactor and seven out of thetotal 20 films I’ve acted inare through Geetha Arts.But I’ve never thankedhim on a public forum orat home. But now I say,Thank you dad. After thebirth of my son Ayaan, I’verealised I can’t be as greata dad as my dad. Even if Ibecome half of what he is,I will consider it as anachievement,” the actorsaid, his voice choked withemotions, as Aravindrushed from the seatingfacility to give his son atight embrace.

He further added thathis dad is highly misun-derstood.

“He is not a tough guy.If you are good to him youwon’t find sweeter personthan him. But if you arecrooked, he will becrooked as well. He’s beenin the film business forover 45 years and only aman with a pure heart cansurvive this long. Hedeserves Padma Shri,”Arjun suggested. — NG

Vijayawada Wednesday January 8, 2020

LT

11

tollywood

Transitioning to comedy was not easy: RASHMIKA

n her briefTollywood career,RashmikaMandanna hasbeen a part offilms where she

shone as an actor. Her last,Dear Comrade, in which sheplayed a cricketer who battlesmental health issues, hadwon her accolades. So, whenAnil Ravipudi, director ofSarileru Neekevvaru, approa-ched her with the story, shewas looking for a role whodoes more than just lookpretty, shake a leg with thehero and fade away, fit toresurface only in the climax.“During the narration, whenAnil sir described mine andSangeetha garu’s portions, Ifelt it’s a performance-drivenrole infused with a lot ofcomedy. I’m at a phase whereI want to know what I amcapable off, so I’m experi-menting. It is an addedbonus for me that I get to actin a film with Mahesh Babusir and Vijaya Shanti ma’am,”she explains.

She is known for her subtleapproach to acting but the

role in Sarileru Neekevvarurequired her to open up likenever before. “I star as anoverly dramatic characterwhose job is to tease Maheshgaru’s character a lot. Therole also has a purpose in thestory and a closure as well.Having mostly played emo-tional roles till now, transi-tioning to comedy was noteasy. Which is why, I askedAnil garu to perform myscenes. I’m a very good copycat. I observed him andgrasped his nuances to laterenact the same in front of thecamera through my bodylanguage,” she points out.

She admits to have been abundle of nerves to strike aconversation with actor-turned-politician VijayaShanti, who is making herfilm comeback after 13 years.She finally spoke to her inthe Kerala schedule and theyboth hit it off instantly.“Once I started speaking toher, I stayed with her all thetime for the next couple ofdays. She doled out advice oncareer, life, dance, and how toace action sequences. I later

took her number and decid-ed to stay in touch with her. Ihope we do a film togethersomeday,” she reveals.

She is extremely happywith the appreciation herdance garnered for the He’sso cute, he’s so handsome…dance number. The dancehas become a big hit onTikTok, with many girls imi-tating Rashmika’s cute act.“For a step to be emulated bya number of people, it has tobe easy and the same timenew. We know the numberwould click but we didn’texpect this level of apprecia-tion,” she states, furtherrevealing that when she cameto the sets for the Mind Blocksong, the makers wereunaware whether she candance or not. “But somehowthey let me experiment onsets. To their surprise I per-formed my step well. Theywere like, ‘Oh, you knowhow to dance?’ I told themno matter what the situationis I will rise to the occasion.We shot the song last monthand people will enjoy in onthe big screen soon.”

RashmikaMandanna,whose briefbut notable

career inTollywood so

far, talks toNAGARAJ

GOUD abouthow she

adapted toplay a differentkind of role in

SarileruNeekevvaru

I

nveiling the firstlook on Tuesday,the makers of ’96Telugu remake,starringSharwanand and

Samantha, haveannounced Jaanu as thefilm’s title. Sharwa, who isplaying a travel photogra-pher, is seen in the poster,taking photo of a herd ofcamels in a desert.

Describing the film as aheart-touching love story,producer Dil Raju said,“We’ve wrapped up shoot-ing and it is currently inpost-production. BothSharwa and Sam havesunk their teeth into theirparts, while director PremKumar has shot it beauti-fully. Govind Vasantha’smusic and Mahendran’scinematography will be anadded asset to the film.We will release the teaserand songs shortly.”

Although our sourcesindicate that Raju is look-ing to release the film onFebruary 21, he hasrefrained from announc-ing the date.

The original, a com-mentary on how we oughtto respect the past becauseit never really leaves us,told the story of K.Ramachandran (played byVijay Sethupati), a travelphotographer, who sets offon a path down memorylane after he visits hisschool in his hometownThanjavur, Tamil Nadu.During a reunion with hisclassmates in Chennai, hemeets Janaki (Trisha), hischildhood sweetheart andthey both go through aflood of emotions. Premhasn’t tweaked the scriptmuch for the remake.

'96remake

titledJaanu

U

Bunny getsemotional atAla… concert

Puri lends support to his protégé

R

AFP n CAPE TOWN

Ben Stokes produced an explosive spellof bowling as England beat South

Africa by 189 runs inside the last hourof the fifth day of the second Test atNewlands on Tuesday.

The win levelled the four-matchWorld Test championship series.

South Africa were bowled out for248, with the last wicket falling whenonly 8.2 overs were left in the match.

Stokes took the last three wickets inthe space of 14 balls to clinch the victo-ry. He finished with three for 35.

South Africa defied the Englandbowlers for most of the day. Only threewickets fell before tea as South Africadefended grimly after starting the day on126 for two after being set an improba-ble 438 to win.

Opening batsman Pieter Malan,making his debut, made 84 in 369 min-

utes and 288 balls before he fell to SamCurran with the second new ball.But he was the only player to bedismissed before lunch and tea.

It meant England neededfive wickets in the last session,with a minimum of 31 oversto be bowled.

Quinton de Kock fell toa rare loose shot after he andRassie van der Dussen hadbatted together for morethan two hours. De Kock,who made 50, had beentroubled by Joe Denly'sleg-spinners into roughoutside his off stump -- butfell to a short ball which he

pulled to midwicket.

Van der Dussen batted for 194 min-utes and 140 balls, scoring only 17,before falling to a smart tactical moveby England. He had been batting solid-ly against Stuart Broad when JamesAnderson moved to leg slip and Van DerDussen promptly glance the next ballstraight to Anderson.

Stokes produced an inspired spell offast, hostile, short-pitched deliveries tohave Dwaine Pretorius and AnrichNortje caught in the slips off successiveballs before he took the final wicketwhen Vernon Philander was caught atgully.

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 8, 2020 sport 12

LEHMANN QQUITS SSOCIAL MMEDIA AAFTER HHACKSydney: Former Australia cricket coach DarrenLehmann quit social media on Tuesday after his Twitteraccount was hacked and used to post “vile” content,including anti-Iran messages. The 49-year-old is nowcoach of Brisbane Heat in Big Bash League and he wasfocused on their upset win over Sydney Thunder onMonday when the incident occurred. The personresponsible used his account to promote anti-Iranmessages and propaganda to Lehmann's 341,000followers. Lehmann said he was stunned and upset bywhat happened, with Twitter having since resolved theproblem and removed the content.

DE RROSSI RRETIRES FFROM FFOOTBALLBuenos Aires: Veteran former Italy internationalDaniele De Rossi announced his retirement fromfootball, just six months after joining Argentine giantsBoca Juniors. De Rossi played only seven matches forthe Buenos Aires outfit, scoring once, but said heneeded to return home for family reasons. “I need to gohome. I'm leaving Boca and football,” said the 36-year-old former Italy and Roma midfielder. “I'm leaving a clubthat has entered my heart, this sport, my passion.” DeRossi, who suffered several injuries during his time inArgentina, insisted that he has “no serious healthproblems” but merely felt “the need to be closer to myfamily, to my daughter. I miss them and they miss me”.

PRAJNESH OOUT FFROM BBENDIGO CCHALLENGERBendigo: Prajnesh Gunneswaran fought hard beforegoing down against Japanese Taro Daniel in the secondround of the Bendigo Challenger event on Tuesday.Prajnesh lost 4-6, 6-7(4) to the Japanese, ranked 16places above him at number 122 at the $162480 ATPChallenger event. The Indian could convert just one ofthe six break chances he created while he saved six ofthe eight break points he faced in the one-hour-30-minute contest. “It was a close match but I had a lot ofchances but I could not convert. I made a lot of errors.I was aggressive and tried to attack and that was thepositive from today's match,” Prajnesh said.

BRAVO NNAMED FFACE OOF 110PL-WWORLD CCUPDubai: West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo wasnamed the face of the third edition of the 10PL-WorldCup of tennis ball cricket, to be held in Sharjah fromMarch 8-13. A total 20 teams will compete in the week-long tournament, to be held under the aegis of theSharjah Cricket Council. “I am delighted to be the faceof the 10PL World Cup of tennis ball cricket tournament.I have learnt a lot of my key tricks that I am sure manyof the players in the tournament will employ, especiallythe use of slower ball and yorkers,” Bravo said.

TURAN RRETURNING TTO BBARCA FFROM BBASAKSEHIRBarcelona: Turkish international Arda Turan ended hisloan spell with Basaksehir Istanbul on Tuesday and willreturn to Barcelona after two years marked by violenceon and off the pitch. "During a meeting yesterday, ourplayer Arda Turan asked approval from our presidentGoksel Gumusdag to leave to write a new chapter in hiscareer," the club said in a statement, adding thatGumusdag approved the request. Turan, 32, joinedBasaksehir in January 2018 on loan from Barcelonawhere he had struggled to impose himself since leavingfrom Atletico Madrid in 2016.

SAINZ SSECURES 333RD CCAREER SSTAGE WWINJeddah: Spain's two-time champion Carlos Sainz,driving a Mini, shot into the overall lead after winning onTuesday's third stage of the Dakar Rally, his 33rd stagevictory in the race being held this year in Saudi Arabia.Sainz clocked 3hr 48.01sec around the loop-shaped404km route setting out from the future megalopolis ofNeom, in the north of the kingdom close to theJordanian border. The 57-year-old Sainz beat homeQatar's defending champion Nasser al-Attiyah, in hisToyota, by 3:31. AGENCIES

SINGLES

PTI n SYNDEY

Considered another Australian legendin making, young batsman Marnus

Labuschagne is keen to test his skillsagainst India, which he says is the tough-est place to travel on a cricket assignment.

Labuschagne, 25, had a remarkableTest summer during which he scored fourhundreds in five Tests, including a dou-ble century against New Zealand in thejust-concluded third Test.

As the focus shifts from the red towhite ball format, Labuchagne is gearingup for a tough test after being named inthe Australian squad for the three-matchseries, starting January 14 in Mumbai.

“Whenever you play India, it’s a toughseries because they’re a very tough oppo-sition. They’ve got great batters andbowlers, so it’s going to be a challenge,”Labuschagne was quoted as saying byCricket Australia website.

“But as a player you always want to testyourself against the best opposition in thetoughest conditions, and there’s nothingtougher than India in India.”

Just 14 Tests old, Labuschagne islikely to claim the third position on theICC Test rankings, behind India’s ViratKohli and his compatriot Steve Smith.

He has already drawn comparisonswith these modern-day greats butLabuschagne played down the plaudits.

“For people to speak like that isamazing, but there’s a lot more work to bedone before anything like that can betalked about,” he said.

“Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli, SteveSmith — those guys have been doing it forfive, six, seven years. To have one goodsummer doesn’t make you a great player.So for me it’s about trying to be consis-tent and trying to get Australia to wingames.”

Labuschagne said competing inSydney where conditions favoured spin-ners was a good preparation before theIndia tour.

“It’s probably good preparation com-ing from (playing on the SCG) going toIndia … that’s probably the closest we havein Australia to spinning conditions. Butwith the format change, and the wicketswill be different.

“I’ve got a lot of experience to lean onwith guys who have played five, six,seven years of IPL and Test tours overthere for Australia, so there’s a lot to learn.”

PTI n SYDNEY

Australia coach Justin Langer is taking a breakand will not travel to India, where his senior

assistant Andrew McDonald will lead the side inthe three-match series ODI series, startingJanuary 14.

The 38-year-old McDonald will be in chargeof the national men’s side for thefirst time and Langer is con-fident the former mediumpacer will excel in his newrole.

“I said to him this morning,‘we’re not reinventing the wheel’.He’s got a really good oppor-tunity,” Langer was quoted assaying by Sydney MorningHerald.

“He’s an excellentcoach, we’ve got otherexcellent coaches toback him up. I saidto him I won’t ringhim, I’ll let him go.He said ‘I might ring you’, that’sthe difference. He’ll do a reallygood job,” Langer said.

PTI n SYDNEY

Their confidence soar-ing high after five Test

wins in a row, Australiaskipper Time Paine saysthey can’t wait to hostIndia for a “mouth-water-ing” series later this yearbut revenge is certainlynot on their minds.

Australia had sufferedtheir first ever Test seriesagainst India at home inthe summer of 2018-19when they missed prolif-ic batsmen Steve Smithand David Warner, whowere serving bans follow-ing a ball-tampering scan-dal.

Australia has takenlong strides since thenwith young batsmen risingto the occasion, their fastbowlers doing much bet-ter and Smith-Warner pairgetting back to the fold.

As a result, Australiahumbled Pakistan in boththe Tests inside four daysand scored dominant vic-tories over the Kiwis.

A sense of confidencehas replaced desperationas Paine spoke of India’stour which is still a yearaway.

“If we go toBangladesh and play welland get some wins overthere, then we come backto Australia playing India,and that’s a pretty mouth-watering series for playersand for fans,” Paine said.

“It’s hard not to belooking at that, and we’vegot some people atCricket Australia alreadylooking ahead to thatseries. But for the mainplaying group our nextgoal is Bangladesh, andwe certainly can’t takethat lightly.”

Australia’s struggleagainst India in the lastsummer reflected in theirbatting as the highestindividual score wasopener Marcus Harris’s79 in the final Test inSydney but this seasonthey had a triple-century(Warner), a double-centu-ry (Marnus Labuschagne)and at least one individualhundred in every Test.

Paine said they arenot looking at revengebut something bigger is atstake.

“I certainly won’t belooking at it as revenge.We’re certainly a differentside from what theyplayed against here lastyear, and there’s more atstake — there’s World TestChampionship points atstake.

“Both of the twoteams, Australia and

India, are eyeing off thatfinal so every point isgoing to be critical. If wecan continue our upwardtrend that we’ve shown inthe last 12 months, thenyou’re potentially look-ing at the top couple ofteams that are in the toptwo or three, in the world.It’s going to be an awe-some series.”

Paine acknowledgedthat India not more a sidewhich heavily relies ontheir spinners, rather theirpacers are now as goodtheirs and the likes ofJasprit Bumrah,Mohammed Shami,Ishant Sharma will be fol-lowed keenly.

“They showed lastyear they’ve got a pacebattery that’s going to beevery bit as good as oursso it’s going to be one towatch.”

IANS n SYDNEY

After he became New Zealand’s lead-ing Test run-scorer, an emotional

Ross Taylor has credited former Kiwiskipper Martin Crowe for influencingand shaping his skills in the longest for-mat of the game.

Taylor achieved the feat on thefourth day of the third Test againstAustralia at the Sydney Cricket Groundon Monday. The 35-year-old has 7,174runs from 99 Tests and 174 innings,averaging 46.28, including 19 centuriesand 33 fifties.

Speaking at the post-match pressconference, Taylor said he had alwaysbelieved himself to be a whiteball batsman but it wasCrowe who helped himbecome a serious Testbatsman. “My goal was toplay one Test match,” hesaid.

“I guess it’s anemotional timebecause my men-tor Martin Crowe,that was one ofthe goals he putdown for mewas to be NewZealand’s high-est Test run-scorer. To behonest, I did-n’t believehim, but I’dhave lovedfor him to behere andhelp cele-

IANS n NEW DELHI

While the 2020 edition of theIndian Premier League

(IPL) is set to get underway at theWankhede Stadium in Mumbaion March 29, the final will beplayed on May 24. The 57-daywindow also means that hostbroadcasters Star are likely tohave their way and there will beno double headers. The startingtime is almostcertain to be7:30 pm.

S o u r c e sin the knowof developments confirmed thatthe 2020 edition will be playedover 57 days and the longerwindow means that double head-ers could now be a thing of thepast.

“While the full schedule isn’tready yet, the final is set to beplayed on May 24 and with thetournament starting on March29, you obviously get a longerwindow than say 45 days. So,there should be no issue inaccommodating one game a day.In fact, it should be a walk in thepark for those chalking out howmatches will be played over 57days,” the source said.

Asked about the startingtime, considering that Star iskeen on an early start, the sourcesaid it was almost certain thatgames will start at 7:30 pm andit isn’t just about the broadcast-ers, it is also about how lategames finished last season.

But franchises believe thatfor crowds to come in at thatpoint in time on a working dayis almost impossible.

Even in case of double head-ers, franchises have said that itwas the broadcasters who weren’ttoo keen on having 4 pm games,but the source said that even rev-enue generation wise it is aproblem for the teams.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Alethal bowlingattack that exe-

cutes its plans to nearperfection makesNew Zealand one ofthe toughest places toplay cricket, says topIndia batsman RohitSharma but alsoasserts that he isready for the chal-lenge coming up nextmonth.

After three hun-dreds, including adouble against SouthAfrica in his first Testseries as an opener,Rohit will be facingan attack comprisingNeil Wagner, MattHenry, Trent Boultand Tim Southee inthe two Test matchesin Wellington andChristchurch inFebruary.

“New Zealand isnot the easiest placeto play cricket. Lasttime, we lost the Testseries (0-1) but wegave a good fight. Butthis bowling attackof ours is completelydifferent from whatwe had back then,”Rohit said.

“For me person-ally, it’s going to be achallenge withoutdoubt, facing the newball bowlers and theguys who bowl in themiddle overs,” hesaid.

Rohit has been keenly watching New Zealand’s recent seriesagainst Australia.

Even though New Zealand were soundly thrashed 0-3, Rohitloved the fact that their bowling unit is more consistent in exe-cuting plans compared to some of the other international attacks.

“...They come up with plans and stick to them. It’s one thingto make a plan without being able to execute it and another tomake a plan and implement it to the T. That makes a lethal bowl-ing combination.”

IANS n INDORE

The Indian bowlers fired inunison on Jasprit Bumrah’s

return to international cricketwith Navdeep Saini shiningbright as they restricted SriLanka to 142/9 in the secondT20 international at the HolkarStadium here on Tuesday.

All eyes were on the return-ing Bumrah after India captain

Virat Kohli decided to field firstafter his counterpart LasithMalinga called wrong at thetoss.

Bumrah, who has been outof action after India’s tour of theWest Indies in July-August dueto a stress fracture on his back,started off with a wide in thefirst ball of the match and washit for a four in the second ashe finished conceding seven

runs.Danushka Gunathilaka and

Avishka Fernando hit bound-aries off him in the fourth overas India’s premier pacer lookeda bit rusty starting off but in theend bowled a superbly dis-guised slower one to castleDasun Shanaka in the 17th over.

Bumrah was taken for 12 inthe final over by WaninduHasaranga (16 not out) who hit

a hat-trick of fours to end theinnings with a flourish as thefast bowler returned figures of1/31 in his four overs.

Shardul Thakur (3/23) wasthe pick of the bowlers for thehosts but it was Saini (2/18) whoimpressed the most as KuldeepYadav (2/38) also picked up twowickets.

For the Lankans, KusalPerera top-scored with a 28-ball34 (3x6). The Sri Lanka open-ers looked good against India’space trio of Bumrah, Sharduland Saini before Kohli went toWashington Sundar (1/29) andthe spinner did the trick asFernando (22) hit straight tomid off where Saini took a sim-ple catch.

Sri Lanka raced to 48/1after six overs but just asGunathilaka was looking goodas he thumped Shardul Thakurfor a four down mid off in thesixth over, a Navdeep Sainithunderbolt at 147.5 kph beathim all ends up to rattle thestumps. He was gone for 20.

In-form Perera welcomedKuldeep with a six over deepmidwicket in the 12th over. Butthe chinaman bowler, whorecently became the first Indianto take two hat-tricks in inter-national cricket, had the lastlaugh as he got OshadaFernando (10) stumped in thethird ball of the same over.

Perera reverse pulledKuldeep for a six in the first ballof the 14th over as Sri Lankalooked to up the ante, but in thevery next delivery Kuldeeponce again emerged victoriousas the batsman holed out toShikhar Dhawan at long on try-ing to clear the boundary.

Bhanuka Rajapaksa (9) wascaught behind off Saini whosesearing pace caused the battersa lot of trouble as Sri Lankareached 104/5 after 15 overs.

In the last five overs, the vis-itors managed just 34 runs, los-ing four wickets as Shardulpicked up three in quick succes-sion.

No doubleheaders inIPL 2020

Rohit up forNZ challenge

Rohit Sharma in a file picture PTI

Shardul Thakur, right, celebrates the dismissal of Lasith Malinga, left, during the second Twenty20I match in Indore AP

INDIA NEED 143 TO WINRohit gives pep

talk to Mumbai

Ranji teamPTI n MUMBAI

Senior India player RohitSharma on Tuesday gave a

pep talk to the Mumbai RanjiTrophy team, which has suf-fered back-to-back defeats athome.

Mumbai lost to Railwaysfirst by 10 wickets at theWankhede Stadium and werethen thrashed by domesticheavyweights Karnataka atthe Bandra-Kurla Complexground by five wickets onSunday.

A source in the Mumbaiteam, who was present on theoccasion, said India’s limitedovers vice captain “spoke tothe Mumbai Ranji team onhow to overcome the currentsituation” at the suburbanBKC facility.

He comes to the BKC fortraining and had batted in thenets on Sunday.

Mumbai coach VinayakSamant, bowling coachPradeep Sundaram and teammanager Ajinkya Naik werealso present on the occa-sion.

The 41-time domesticchampions will take on TamilNadu in an away game at theM A Chidambaram Stadiumin Chennai from January 11.

Skipper SuryakumarYadav, who is travelling toNew Zealand with India Asquad, won’t be available forthe game.

In the combined GroupA and B standings, Mumbaiare languishing at the 13thspot as of now, having wonone game and lost two. Onlyfive teams from combined Aand B Group can make to theknockouts.

‘Nothing tougher thanplaying India in India’

Taylor credits Crowefor rise in Tests Master Stokes Burns out of

Lanka tourLONDON: England opening batsmanRory Burns will miss the tour of SriLanka in March after undergoing suc-cessful surgery on ruptured liga-ments in his left ankle, the Englandand Wales Cricket Board (ECB)announced on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old suffered theinjury playing football — part of thesquad’s warm-up routine — lastThursday on the eve of the secondTest against South Africa in CapeTown.

There was a lot of criticism ofEngland’s practice of playing footballfollowing the injury to Burns and ithas now been banned by head coachChris Silverwood with the support ofAshley Giles, England’s director ofmen’s cricket.

Burns’ injury was the second rel-atively serious injury to an Englandcricketer playing football prior to agame in just over a year.

Jonny Bairstow was injured andmissed several matches during a tourof Sri Lanka in October 2018.

“England opening batsman RoryBurns has undergone successfulsurgery on ruptured ligaments in hisleft ankle,” read the ECB statement.

"Surgery took place in London onMonday afternoon.

“The Surrey captain is expectedto be out of action for up to fourmonths. He will miss England’s Testtour of Sri Lanka in March and is aim-ing to return to play with Surrey inthe County Championship at thebeginning of the 2020 season inApril.” AFP

Langer takes coaching breakPaine eyes ‘mouth-watering’ Test series against India