c m y k c m y k

WEATHERMax: 32OC Min: 26OC Rainfall: 1.1 mm

SPORT | 8Sindhu pulls out from

Uber Cup

THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIACHENNAI I THURSDAY 3 I SEPTEMBER 2020

CITY | 2Physical hearing in subordinate

courts from Sept. 7

STATE | 3I-T dept issues notice on

freezing Sasi’s properties

deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle, google.com/+deccanchronicle Vol. 16 No. 159 Established 1938 | 8 PAGES| `3.00

ASTROGUIDESarvari: Aavani 18

Tithi: ThuvithiyaiStar: Puratathi

Rahukalam:1.30 pm to 3 pm

Yamagandam: 6 am to 7.30 am

PRAYERSFajar: 4.46 am

Zohar: 12.14 pm Asar: 3.21 pm

Maghrib: 6.21 pm Isha: 7.32 pm

SUNSET TODAY 6.18 PMSUNRISE TOMORROW 5.58 AM

MOONRISE TODAY 7.19 PMMOONSET TOMORROW 7.29 AM

Parliament to beginon September 14New Delhi: There will be no

Question Hour, a curtailed ZeroHour and no private members'

bills during the upcoming mon-soon session of Parliament, the

Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha sec-retariats have decided, prompt-

ing opposition leaders to accusethe government of trying to

“murder the democracy” in thename of the Covid-19 pandemic

and of reducing “Parliament to anotice board”.

In separate notifications, the twosecretariats also said there will beno breaks as well during the ses-sion to be held from September

14 to October 1, and both Houseswill function on Saturdays andSundays as well. In view of the

Covid-19 pandemic, the sessionwill be held in two shifts — 9 am

to 1 pm and 3 pm to 7 pm.Except for the first day, the RajyaSabha will sit in the morning shift

and the Lok Sabha will sit in theevening, according to the notifi-

cations.

India moves troops to Finger areaPAWAN BALI | DCNEW DELHI, SEPT. 3

The Indian Army hasstarted repositioning itstroops in the Finger areaon the northern banks ofPangong Tso in Ladakh toup the ante against theChinese People’sLiberation Army whichintruded into the area inearly May.

Sources said the Army onSunday climbed the hillsand established posts onthe ridgelines betweenFinger 2 and Finger 3 onPangong Tso’s northernbanks. These posts willhelp the Army trackChinese deployments onthe ridgeline of Finger 4,that it occupied after itsintrusion in the area.

This comes after Indiapre-empted PLA soldiers

on the southern banks ofPangong Tso on Saturdaynight as Indian troopsoccupied many peaksthere to dominate the area.

During the initial phaseof disengagement,Chinese troops had movedits troops from the banksof Finger 4 to 5 on July 9on the northern bank ofPangong Tso. But it con-tinued to hold the ridge-line at Finger 4. WithChina refusing to vacatethe entire Finger area dur-ing various diplomaticand military talks, Indiafinally seems to havestarted firming up its posi-tions. “As part of the pre-cautionary deploymentcarried out on 30 August,some readjustments of ourpositions on the northbank of Pangong Tso onour side of LAC had also

been carried out,” asource said. China hasillegally occupied around8 km of Indian territory inthe area between Finger 5and Finger 8.

The Indian action comeseven as Beijing is report-edly enraged that its localPLA commander hadwithdrawn forces when aphysical conflictappeared imminent withIndian troops on PangongTso’s southern banks onSaturday night, accordingto US intelligence reports.

The Indian troops werebetter prepared to respondto the Chinese provocationafter bolstering their pres-ence following the deadlyJune clash in the GalwanValley, according to areport published by USNews, citing Americanintelligence sources.

DC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, SEPT. 2

In view of the rising ten-sion with China along theLine of Actual Control inLadakh, the Union homeministry has raised thestrength of border-guard-ing forces in other parts ofthe India-China border,particularly in Sikkimand Uttarakhand. Nearly 100 companies of

paramilitary forces, or10,000 personnel, havebeen rushed to theseareas.

Sources said security on

both the China and Nepalborders were beefed upsubstantially, especially atthe tri-junction area ofChina’s border withSikkim and Uttarakhandas intelligence inputs sug-gest China could try andopen another front inthese sectors.

The tri-junction, locatedon the southern side ofDoklam, had in 2017 wit-nessed skirmishes asIndian Army engaged theChina’s People'sLiberation Army. Securityhas beefed up on Indi-nepal border, too.

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, SEPT. 2

Bus and train servicesbetween the districts willstart on Monday(September 7) with a viewto providing public trans-port for people requiring totravel inside the state onwork and business.

Hitherto people had todepend on private vehiclesor taxis to travel betweendistricts even after the e-pass system was done awaywith. But after bus servicesresumed within the cityand the districts, demands

were placed before the gov-ernment to extend the ser-vices to the other districtsalso.

Acceding to populardemand, the governmenthas allowed the plying ofboth private and govern-ment buses connecting var-ious districts, an officialpress release said onWednesday.

Similarly, train servicesacross the state will alsoresume on September 7, therelease said, adding thatStandard OperatingProcedures would, howev-er, be strictly adhered to.

Inter-district buses,trains from Sept. 7

Girl forgets NeetID, commits suicide

More security forces movedto Sikkim, U’khand borders

India bans PUBG, 117 more appsNew Delhi, Sept. 2: Indiaon Wednesday banned 118more mobile apps withChinese links, including po-pular game PUBG, citingdata privacy concerns and athreat to national security.This takes the total count ofChinese-linked mobile appsbanned by India to 224.

The 118 apps banned onWednesday include Baidu,Baidu Express Edition, Ali-pay, Tencent Watchlist, Fa-ceU, WeChat reading, Go-

vernment WeChat, TencentWeiyun, APUS LauncherPro, APUS Security, CutCut, ShareSave by Xiaomi,and CamCard, besidesPUBG Mobile and PUBGMobile Lite, according to anofficial release.“The Government blocks

118 mobile apps which areprejudicial to sovereigntyand integrity of India,defence of India, the secu-rity of the state and publicorder,” the statement said.

The move comes amidfresh border tensions withChina in Ladakh.

The statement citednumerous complaintsreceived by the IT Ministryfrom various sources,including several reportsabout the misuse of somemobile apps available onAndroid and iOS platformsfor stealing and surrepti-tiously transmitting users'data to servers outsideIndia. —PTI

DC CORRESPONDENTKOLKATA, SEPT. 2

West Bengal Chief Min-ister Mamata Banerjee onWednesday joined hercounterparts in TN,Telangana and Delhidemanding that the Uniongovernment pay the GSTcompensation due to thestates pending for several

months. “Depriving statesof GST compensation isan attempt to underminefederalism,” Ms Banerjeesaid in a letter to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

Ms Banerjee asked PM“not to allow an insuffer-able blow to the federalistpolity of the nation bydepriving the states of theGST compensation”.

R. VALAYAPATHY I DC PUDUKKOTTAI, SEPT. 2

A 17-year-old girl allegedlycommitted suicide by con-suming poison out of frus-tration for not able todownload her hall ticket forNeet at D. Kalapam villageunder Alangudi police lim-its in Pudukkottai districton Tuesday. Police said thedeceased student, G.Hari-shma, finished her plus-2 ata private school in Pattuk-kottai and applied for Neet.

A few days back, while

her friends downloaded th-eir hall tickets for the Neet,the deceased was unable todownload her hall ticketafter she forgot her ID.

When she approachedthe school, the schoolauthorities did not help herand her parents also gotangry with her. On August29 she consumed pesticideat her house and wasadmitted at the govern-ment medical college hospi-tal at Pudukkottai whereshe died on Monday notresponding to medicines.

GST: Don’t belie states’trust, Mamata tells PM

CITY pg 2DECCAN CHRONICLE | THURSDAY | 3 SEPTEMBER 2020 | CHENNAI

SHORT TAKESEO to discuss

electoral roll revisionDC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, SEPT 2

Chief Electoral OfficerSatyabrata Sahoo is holdingdiscussions with DistrictElection Officers in the state onThursday to chart out a planfor revision of electoral rolls inthe context of the prevailingpandemic situation.

The electoral roll revisionprocess has to begin soon as thedraft roll has to be published onNovember 16. After correc-tions, additions and deletionsto the draft roll, the final rollwould be unveiled on January14 as the rest of the work forthe conduct of elections wouldhave to start by February ifelections were to be held inApril end or May beginning.

But in the unique situationnow, one of the major chal-lenges is the conduct of thecamps for revising the rolls forthe 67,000 polling booths in theState. So to elicit the views ofthe District Election Officers,Sahoo is holding the meetingthrough video conference tocome up with a plan.

Anna varsity dateextended for other

state studentsDC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, SEPT 2

The last date for registration andsubmission of applications forcourses offered by the AnnaU n ive r s i t yhas beenextended toS e p t e m b e r30 for candi-dates fromother States.

A notifica-tion from theu n ive r s i t ysaid the dateextension was for online applica-tions for BE/B Tech, B Arch andMCA courses for the academicyear 2020-21.

No social distancing on buses

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, SEPT 2

In an alarming trend, sub-stance abuse continues tospoil the youth in the city.In a recent case of drugusage, the city police havearrested seven personsnear Tambaram forallegedly injecting anal-gesic tablets along withliquefied saline syrup toinject into the veins forgetting ‘high’.

The police received a tip-off that a few men inTambaram, BurmaColony, Chromepet,Pallavaram andThiruneermalai areaswere involved in taking incrushed painkillers alongwith liquefied salinesyrup through a syringeinto the veins to get high.

Based on the informa-tion, the police team raid-ed a place in Kadeperi andseven youths were caughtred-handed while inject-ing diluted painkillers onTuesday evening. Theaccused were identified asSaravanan, 23, Karthik,25, Vishnupathy, 21,Balaji, 20, Ajmir,19, Kaif,21 and Gowtham, 22 fromwest Tambaram. Thepolice seized a strip ofNitravet-10 tablets alongwith syringes.

Nitravet-10 MG tablet isa hypnotic and sedativeused for severe sleep dis-order. This medicine mayincrease the risk of habit-forming tendency if takenfor a long duration or in

larger doses and addictsuse it to get high. Thesetablets, strictly availableon prescription, used to besold to addicts higherthan the retail price inthe black market.

Not only Nitravet-10 butalso Tapentadol and sever-al other drugs are beingmisused by the peopleaddicted to getting high in

the city and suburbs.Cough syrups such asPhensydyl, pentazocine,surgical spirit, aspirintablet, alprazolam and afew others are used to gethigh. Irrespective of theeconomic backgroundyouth from all classes getaddicted to the habit dueto the easy availability ofsubstance to get high.

Youth get highusing analgesic� City cops arrest 7 youth near Tambaram

Ecstasy pills, crystalsworth `7 lakh seizedDC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, SEPT 2

The Chennai air cus-toms seized 215 MDMApills and 7 gram MDMAcrystals worth `7 lakhunder the NarcoticDrugs and PsychotropicSubstances (NDPS) Act,1985, from three postalparcels, said theCommissioner ofCustoms, Chennaiinternational airport,on Wednesday.

The postal parcelsarrived from the UnitedKingdom and theNetherlands at foreignpost office (FPO),Chennai.

The first parcel fromNetherton, UK, con-signed to an Ooty basedperson was taken up forexamination. On open-ing a kids jewellery toybox , a pouch containing

15 grey skull-shapedMDMA pills "MyBRAND" and 7 grams ofMDMA crystal powderwas found. On openingthe second parcel, 50green grenades & 50purple skull MDMAPills were recoveredfrom two plastic pouch-es found inside. Theparcel was addressed toa Nammakal based per-son and had arrivedfrom the Netherlands.100 MDMA pills withmarking 'Tesla' wererecovered from thethird parcel whicharrived from theNetherlands and wasaddressed to a Chennairesident. Customs offi-cers seized the drugsworth `7 lakh. Theysaid that follow upsearches were carriedout and further investi-gation is in progress.

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, SEPT 2

In a major catch, theTirumullaivoyal policehave seized a large quan-tity of gutka stashed in ahouse in the Ayapakkamslum clearance boardapartment onWednesday morning.

Gutka weighed 970kilograms in total,stored in house number9181 was seized by thepolice. According to thepolice, the contrabandwas seized at around 3am in the early hours ofWednesday following theraid conducted by theTirumullaivoyal policeunder the leadership ofassistant commissionerof Avadi.

The police acted oninformation about suspi-cious movement of somepeople at odd hours inand out of the rentedhouse. Inquiriesrevealed that theaccused identified asMurugesan had pro-cured the tobacco prod-ucts from other statesand had been selling itthere. Police havelaunched a search forhim.

970 kg of gutkaseized inTirumullaivoyal

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, SEP 02

Directorate of Vigilanceand Anti-corruption (DVAV), Kanchipuram,has arrested an officerfrom the Hindu Religiousand CharitableEndowments departmenton the charges of accept-ing a bribe, onWednesday.

The arrested executiveofficer (EO) was identi-fied as Saravanan, 48,managing nearly 10 tem-ples in Kanchipuram dis-trict. According to theDVAC sources, the officerhad allegedly demanded`1.4 lakh from the son ofa temple priest, Natarajarwho had recently dieddue to cardiac arrest.Natarajar’s son Hariapproached Saravanan togive him his father’s postas a priest, when the offi-cer demanded bribe fromthe victim. “The victimhad initially refused togive the bribe citing lackof money, but the officerhad allegedly insisted thebribe,” the sources said.

As the victim did notwant to pay a bribe, he

had approachedKanchipuram DVAC DSPKalaiselvan and lodged acomplaint against theofficer, Saravanan.Following the complaint,the DVAC sleuths laid atrap and directed him to‘give’ ` 40,000 to him as aninitial payment.

The victim was asked tocome to Saravanan’soffice on Wednesdayevening to hand over thecash to the officer. “Onthe advice of officials, thevictim handed over thechemically treated cur-rencies, while the sleuthswaited for him to acceptthe money,” the sourcessaid. When he reportedlyaccepted the bribe, thesleuths caught him red-handed. The DVAC offi-cials arrested Saravananand remanded him injudicial custody.

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, SEPT 2

Director general ofpolice J. .K Tripathy hasordered the transfer ofinquiry into theencounter death ofRowdy Shankar to theCB-CID.

Shankar, a 48-year-old‘A category rowdy’ hail-ing from Ayanavaram inChennai who had 51criminal cases includ-ing four murder, fourattempts to murder, saleof ganja and extortionwas gunned down bypolice in the early hoursof August 21 when heallegedly attacked apolice constable with aknife on New AvadiRoad. Ayanavaram.

DVAC arrestsHR&CE officer

Encounter casetransferred to CB-CID

A. ARUL PALANI I DCCHENNAI, SEPT. 2

Welcoming the announce-ment of Chief MinisterEdappadi K. Palaniswamipermitting inter-districtbus transport and passen-ger train services withinTamil Nadu fromSeptember 7, theFederation of BusOperators Associations ofTamil Nadu has requestedthe Chief Minister toincrease the seatingcapacity in the buses up to100 per cent.

Among others, the gov-ernment allowed 60 percent seating capacity forthe buses to operate in thestate.

Mr D.R. Dharmaraj, sec-retary, Federation of BusOperators Associations ofTamil Nadu, told DeccanChronicle on Wednesday,“We requested the govern-ment to allow inter-dis-trict bus services with 100per cent seating capacity”.

Citing the Karnatakagovernment move to allowbuses to ply with 100 percent seating capacity, theKerala and Rajasthan gov-ernments permitted busesto ply with 100 per centseating capacity nearly amonth ago.

Mr Dharmaraj said “onsimilar lines the TamilNadu government maypermit us to operate buseswith full capacity”. He

also assured that no stand-ing passengers would beallowed.

“Even though we hadnot operated buses formore than five months wepaid quarterly road tax forthe buses”, he said andrequested the state gov-ernment to waive them4otor vehicle tax fromMarch.

He demanded theCentral government andIRDA to direct the insur-ance companies to permitinsurance premium waiv-er for the buses fromMarch. The associationwill hold a meeting ofstate-level office-bearerssoon and discuss theissues faced by them.

2,60,40,084WORLD CONFIRMED CASES

STATE GOVERNMENT BULLETINS

CASES

(+81,480)38,47,588

(+5,990)TN: 4,39,959

DEATHS

(+1,016) 67,476

7,516

8,63,572215

DEATHS

COUNTRIES,AREAS WITH

CASES

CORONA C UNT

worldometers.info

covid19india.org

COUNTER POINT

Devotees maintain social distance at TTD temple in T Nagar on Wednesday. — DC

Bus operators hail CM,urge 100% seating capacity

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, SEPT 2

The Madras high courthas permitted physicalhearings in the subordi-nate courts in the districtsof Chennai, Kanchee-puram and Tiruvallur.from September 7, 2020.

After discussing theissues relating to physicalhearings with the princi-pal judge, city civil courtand chief metropolitanmagistrate, Chennai,principal district judgesand chief judicial magis-trates of Kancheepuramand Tiruvallur districts,the administrative com-mittee of the Madras highcourt took the above deci-sion.

According to an officialmemorandum issued byC.Kumarappan, RegistrarGeneral of the Madrashigh court, the physicalhearing in all subordinatecourts in 29 districts inthe state of Tamil Naduand in the subordinatecourts in the UnionTerritory of Puducherryhas already commencedand in operation asalready directed by thehigh court. The adminis-

trative committee nowdiscussed the with regardto physical hearing beingextended in these threedistricts, as well as modal-ities for the purpose offacilitating litigants andlawyers alike in therespective district courts,he added.

He said, “On a detaileddiscussion, the committeepermits the physical filingof all nature of casesthrough “drop boxes” notonly in these three dis-tricts, but in all the dis-tricts throughout the stateof Tamil Nadu and in theUnion Territory ofPuducherry. The districtcourts at the headquar-ters, may on a trial basis,proceed with the physicalhearing of 3 to 5 cases aday and the nature of

cases to be taken up shallbe supervised by the prin-cipal district judges.

He said only thoselawyers would be permit-ted on the court premises,whose cases were listedfor physical hearing andthe permission to liti-gants will be only to theextent of such witnesses,who were to depose as wit-nesses in a given case, iflisted for physical hear-ing. The lawyers shall berequested to arrive in thecourt only for theirrespective cases and leavethe court immediatelyafter their cases wereover, in order to avoidovercrowding, he added.

He said the regulation ofentry of any vehicles orthe compulsory atten-dance of any individual,as may required for con-ducting a case, shall alsobe at the discretion of theprincipal district hudges,the principal judge, citycivil court, Chennai, thechief judge, court of smallcauses, Chennai, and thechief judge, Puducherry,but no person shall beallowed to enter the prem-ises, except with his/herpermission.

Physical hearing in subordinate courts from Sept. 7

J.STALIN | DCCHENNAI, SEPT 2

The Madras high courthas directedG.Karthikeyan, assistantsolicitor general of Indiato ascertain as to whetherthe post called joint advi-sor of Siddha in thedepartment of Ayush hasbeen abolished or not andreport before the court.

A division bench com-prising JusticesN.Kirubakran andV.M.Velumani gave thedirective while passingfurther interim orders ona petition filed byKaliyaperumal, whichchallenged the detentionof alleged quack Siddhad o c t o rT hir uthanikachallamunder the Goondas Act.

In its brief order, thebench said it has come tothe notice of this courtthat the post of joint drug

controller of Siddha isstated to have been filledby appointing a doctorwho is qualified inAyurveda. The abovenews is correct or not hasto be verified. Further,this court would also liketo know as to whether thepost called joint advisor ofSiddha in the departmentof Ayush has been abol-ished or not. The assistantsolicitor general shallascertain the same andreport before this court,the bench added and post-ed to September 10, 2020.

M e a n w h i l e ,D r. K . K a n a k a v a l l i ,Director General, CentralCouncil for Research inSiddha has filed an addi-tional affidavit on behalf

of the ministry of Ayush,Government of India,New Delhi, in response tothis petition.

In her affidavit,Kanakavalli submittedthat Ayurveda was prac-tised in around 30 statesthroughout the countrywhereas Siddha medicinewas limited to Tamil Naduand it adjoining areas. Atpresent 31institutes/units werefunctioning under theCentral Council forResearch in AyurvedicSciences, New Delhi,whereas only eight insti-tutes/units were function-ing under the CentralCouncil for Research inSiddha (CCRS), Chennai.The quantum of fundswere allotted by the min-istry of Ayush keeping inview the population whohave the option to choosethe system of medicine,she added.

HC directive to ASG on Siddha advisor post

DMK functionary hacked to deathDC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, SEPT 2

A 36-year-old DMK func-tionary was hacked todeath by a six-memberarmed gang in full publicview near Urapakkam onTuesday night allegedlydue to previous enmity.

Parthiban (36), a resi-dent of Mannivakkam,Urapakkam in Chengalpetdistrict, was the zonal sec-retary at the DMK party.He was also involved inreal estate business,

police said.The incident happened

on Tuesday night onUrapakkam- Aadhanurroad. Eyewitnesses saidwhen Parthiban waswalking on the road, sixmen on three motorbikesintercepted him. On see-ing them Parthiban start-ed to run, However, hewas caught by men whostabbed him with knivesand fled the spot after peo-ple started to gather, saida police officer. Parthibansustained severe injuries

and died on the spot.People who witnessed thescene alerted the police.

The police who rushedto the spot and heldinquiries. They sent thebody of the deceased toChengalpet governmenthospital for post-mortem.

Police suspect that hemight have had the previ-ous enmity due to his affil-iation to the party. TheGuduvanchery police reg-istered a case and collect-ed CCTV footages fromthe nearby shop.

IN CHENNAI, KANCHI, TIRUVALLUR

���� The DVAC officials arrested executive officerSaravanan andremanded him injudicial custody

���� Question raisedover post of joint advisor of Siddhain Ayush dept

Film editorfound deadinside carDC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, SEPT 2

A 29-year old Kollywoodfilm editor was founddead inside his car inNanmangalam lakebedlate on Tuesday, thepolice said onWednesday.

Police said Alex RajAntony, a resident ofHasthinapuram inChromepet was founddead inside his car withall windows and doorsclosed. The incidentoccurred when Alex hadparked his Chevrolet caralong Nanmangalamlake bed under thePallikaranai police lim-its, reportedly closed thewindows, turned the ACand gone to sleep on thebackseat of the car.

Meanwhile, onWednesday morning,the police received a callregarding a man lyingunconscious inside acar. Pallikaranai policerushed to the spot andfound the ignition of thecar was on and the air-conditioner running.They knocked on thedoors but they didn't getany response from AlexRaj. The police team rushedhim to a hospital nearby,where he was pro-nounced dead. Policesuspect that he mighthave fallen asleep insidethe car keeping the air-conditioner and the carengine turned on. It issuspected that he mighthave died after inhalingcarbon monoxide leakedthrough the air-condi-tioner or due to illhealth.

Police said they areawaiting postmortemreports to know theexact reason for thedeath. A case has beenregistered and furtherprobe is on. Alex RajAntony is a Tamil movieeditor, who made hisimpact through his firstmovie, “9 Thirudargal.He had also worked asan editor with TamilYouTube channels.

‘Onus on people to contain spread’ PUDUCHERRY: ChiefMinister of Puducherry VNarayanasamy onWednesday reiterated thatcooperation of the people,particularly the youth, wasnecessary to contain thespread of the pandemic inthe Union Territory.Addressing a virtual pressconference here, he said,"In spite of repeatedappeals not to move aboutunnecessarily, the youthare going around, and thisleads to increase in thepandemic cases."

There should be adher-ence to safety protocol tobring the caseload down,he said.The government has takenseveral steps to ramp uptesting of samples forCovid-19 and additionaldoctors and nurses postedin the government hospi-tals to curb the viral infec-tion, the Chief Ministersaid.

He also said he hasreceived complaints frompatients and their relativesthat some private medicalcolleges here were alleged-ly shirking the responsibil-ity of providing medicalcare for the virus-hit.

— PTI

STATE pg 3DECCAN CHRONICLE | THURSDAY | 3 SEPTEMBER 2020 | CHENNAI

OTHER STORYAnger simmersagainst e-pass

in NilgirisB. RAVICHANDRAN I DCOOTY, SEPT. 2

Voices of discontent havebegun to grow in the Nilgiris asthe district administrationchose to continue with the e-pass system for the hill resi-dents to cross the border.Criticising the government as

well as officialdom in Nilgirisfor subjecting the hill residentsto misery, Mr V. A. Bhaskaran,the district secretary of theCPM in Nilgiris, said the e-passscheme is said to be underimplementation in Nilgiris tocontrol tourist flow to the hills.Though it is justifiable, thenwhy did the same e-pass systembe made mandatory for thenative hill residents to crosshill boundaries? he asked.“Many hill residents travel to

places like Coimbatore andTirupur for hospital facilitiesas well as higher educationneeds. When e-pass facility isscrapped in other parts of theTamil Nadu, what is the needfor it to natives of Nilgiris. Thegovernment should interveneto ensure that valid ID cardsare enough for regular Nilgiriresidents to travel to other dis-tricts instead of subjectingthem to agony” he demanded.Mr N. Chandrasekar, the secre-tary of the Nilgiris Hotels andRestaurants Association, want-ed relaxation in e-pass normsto facilitate regulated tourismas the tourism sector is theworst affected in Niligiris.

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, SEPT. 2

A provisional attachmentorder was displayed onWednesday at the sprawl-ing prime property inPoes Garden, where amodern mansion is beingbuilt, reportedly for V. K.Sasikala, late ChiefMinister J. Jayalalithaa’saide, to live in after herrelease from jail.

Situated opposite VedaNilayam, the Poes Gardenresidence of Jayalalithaathat was also Sasikala’sofficial address for a longtime, the nine ground, 860

square feet property hasbeen registered in thename of Sri HariChandana Estate Pvt Ltd.

Since the income taxdepartment had found outthrough investigationsthat the property belongedto Sasikala they had alsosent her a copy of theattachment order to her.The attachment copy hasbeen despatched to theParappana Agrahara jailaddress in Bengaluru,where Sasikala is nowlodged.

I-T department is said tohave identified 65 suchproperties worth `300

crore across Chennai andhas initiated moves toattach them all in placeslike Alandur,S r i p e r u m b u d u r ,Tambaram and so on.These properties had beenbought between 2003 and2005 through benamitransactions.

Sasikala had been underthe I-T department’s scan-ner for a long time andhad been raided severaltimes. Through a raid in2017, tax violations run-ning to several crores ofrupees were detected andmany properties werefreezed in 2019. The latest

investigation that led tothe unearthing of the PoesGarden and other proper-ties was launched recentlyafter news reportsappeared on a house forSasikala being built closeto Veda Nilayam, whichhas been taken over bygovernment .

I-T dept issues notice on freezing Sasi’s property� Assets worth `300 crore across city to be attached

Sleuths of the office ofthe deputy commissionerof income tax (benami prohibi-tion ) have stucknotice at the entrance ofSasikala's building in Poes Garden.

— DC

>>>

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, SEPT. 2

Wall posters inviting M. K.Alagiri to take up the lead-ership of the DMK with aview to ‘livening up thefeelings of true followers,’have appeared in placeslike Coimbatore just asthe party was gearing upfor its district secretaries'meeting on September 3and the crucial generalcouncil on September 9.

Though the Madurai-based Alagiri, the elderbrother of DMK presidentM. K. Stalin, has beentotally sidelined in theparty and is not even a pri-mary member, the postershave created a minor flut-ter in party circles as it is

suspected if it could be areflection of certain mis-givings among the cadre.

Even if party sourceslaugh at the call forAlagiri to take up the lead-ership of the party, whichis just impossible, somesources point out thatAlagiri, who once vowedto contest for the partypresident’s post after his

father M. Karunanidhi’stime, had not fully givenup on the dream even afterStalin had taken full con-trol of the party.

Or, the posters could bejust the handiwork ofsome miscreants who arenot happy with the waythe party is being run now.For, it speaks about ‘truefollowers’ and their ‘feel-ings,’ thus sending acrossthe message that the latestdevelopments within theparty were not to the lik-ing of many traditionalcadre.

Meanwhile, the DMK’selections for the posts ofgeneral secretary andtreasurer, for which thegeneral council is meetingthrough video conference

on September 9, too hadcreated some heartburnsamong top leaders.

While Durai Muruganelevation is sure as he hasno competitors, the realfight is for the treasurerpost that he will be vacat-ing. Since the party lead-ership had a leaders’name in mind for the postand were pushing for it,some senior leaders hadopenly called for an elec-tion for the post.

Finally, it is said that for-mer Union Minister T. R.Baalu might be elected astreasurer and therebelling senior leadershad no issues with hiselection as he had beenwith the DMK for a verylong time.

Posters calling Alagiri to lead put up

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, SEPT. 2

“Online classes arenot for all,” pro-claimed DMK presi-dent M. K. Stalin, urg-ing the governmentto first ascertain if allstudents have thefinancial capabilitiesto move into the newformat of educationbefore launching it.

Referring to thedeath of Nithyashree,a college studentf r o mMettunanavaram vil-lage near Ulundurpetwho committed sui-cide as her fathercould buy only onesmartphone for histhree daughters,

Stalin said it was aheart-wrenching inci-dent.

Nithyashree’s sis-ters were in class 10and 12 and the dis-pute over who woulduse the phone ifonline classes wereconducted for allthree of them at thesame time led to sui-cide, Stalin said in a

statement onWednesday.

There could be moresuch students whocannot afford asmartphone andwithout the resourcesto have a proper con-nectivity, he said. Thegovernment hadshifted to onlineclasses with ensuringthat all studentscould access the facil-ity, he said.

While he made itclear that he was notagainst the idea ofconducting onlineclasses during thelockdown, he said thegovernment shouldcreate equal opportu-nities for all beforemoving fully into thenew system.

GEARING UP

With Assembly session set to be held at Kalaivanar Arangam, workers are readyingthe Anna Salai subway near Walajah road. — DC

Stalin sees dark sideof online classes

DC CORRESPONDENTCOIMBATORE, SEPT. 2

Tamil Nadu’s first-evereatery completely operatedby transgenders was inaugu-rated in Coimbatore onWednesday.

Sangeetha, president,District TransgenderAssociation, said the pan-demic had ruined their lives.‘’When migrant labourers leftduring the lockdown withoutgetting food, we thoughtabout starting a full-fledgedhotel providing quality foodat a reasonable price for theneedy.

‘’A team of 50 transgendersfrom our association tookefforts to start a hotel inCoimbatore. Knowing aboutthe initiative being taken bytransgenders, United Way-Chennai, Swasthi, CSI andBishop Appasamy Collegecame forward to assist us. Weunderwent 20 days trainingon how to run a full-fledgedhotel including cooking vari-ety of dishes, snacks, chats,tiffin, bakery items.

The hotel ‘’Covai TransKitchen” was inauguratednear North CoimbatoreSinthamani on Wednesday.However, the eatery will startfunctioning only after a fewdays as some more interiorworks and infrastructureshave to be completed, addedSangeetha.

Financial and technicalsupport including marketingand food safety permissioncertificate formalities will beprovided by Swasthi, addedregional coordinator PriyaBabu.

The restaurant which canaccommodate 40 customers,however, has been startedwith 32 seats. It will be oper-ated by 10 transgender whowill take care of purchase ofgoods including grocery andvegetables, cooking, bookingorders, serving and cashcounter billing. The eaterywill serve tiffin, lunch anddinner with Indo-Chineseand North Indian items.Transgenders already owntwo eateries in the district atMadhukkarai and Ukkadam.

TN’s first restaurant bytransgenders opened

College students hone artful skills

Covid-19 fatalitiescross 7,500 in TN DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, SEPT. 2

Fatalities due to coronavirus touched7.516 with 98 patients succumbing tothe virus on Wednesday when 5,990new cases were reported all over thestate. Chennai had 1.025 new caseswith 19 deaths, while the districts thathad high rates of infection wereChengalpattu 390, Coimbatore 579,Cuddalore 405, Salem 403, Tiruvallur285, Tiruvannamalai 213 andVillupuram 224.

Meanwhile, health minister C.Vijaybaskar said that an ordinance tolevy heavy penalty for those who vio-lated the norms for controlling Covid-19 would be brought soon to punishthose who failed to wear facemasks,maintain social distancing and suchthings. Speaking to the media after vis-iting the Covid-19 control room at theDMS complex, he lauded the services ofthe 108 ambulance service, which hadbeen doing excellent work during thepandemic. Apart from transporting2,15,948 patients, they had also servedover 5 lakh persons suffering fromother illnesses, he said.

K. MANIKANDAN | DCMADURAI, SEPT. 2

While several people losttheir livelihood due to thelockdown, a few college stu-dents from Madurai devel-oped additional skills toearn an extra income fortheir family.

S. Amrin, a final year BScmathematics student atLady Doak College inMadurai, said that shemade handicrafts, birthdaycards and acrylic paintings.

"Despite lockdown, Ireceived several ordersthrough WhatsApp and Istarted to make them. Butthe only difficulty was todeliver the products to thepeople," she said.

Another college student S.Krithiga (in pic above) said:"I started to market dressessuch as designer churidarswhich were manufacturedby a company. I marketedthese dresses thoughWhatsApp and earned com-mission."

Krithiga also learned pas-try making from socialmedia and made such deli-cacies at her house by bak-ing pastry using a cookerinstead of an oven. Since

the pastries came out well,she also has plans to sellsuch homemade pastries inthe future. The lockdowncould not stop college stu-dent S. Hibba Iffat frommarketing her family'sbiryani business throughsocial media. "I and my par-ents came up with the ideaof making Arabian stylebiryani which is rarelyavailable in Madurai. Wecame up with a specialArabian Chicken Mundiand Arabian Mutton Mandi.The biryani is served with abrinjal gravy, salad and asweet," she explained.

NATION pg 4DECCAN CHRONICLE | CHENNAI | THURSDAY | 3 SEPTEMBER 2020

SHORT TAKES

J&K TO HAVE FIVE OFFICIAL

LANGUAGES NOW

PM CARES FUNDGOT RS 3,076 CR

TILL MARCHNew Delhi, Sept. 2: The PMCARES Fund, set up in Marchthis year by the Modi govern-ment to battle the coronaviruspandemic, received Rs 3,076crore till March 31.

In an audit report publishedon the PM CARES Fund web-site, a declaration has beenmade on the total donationsreceived from India andabroad till March 31.

According to the report, Rs30,76,62,58,096 was the finalbalance of the bank accountlinked to the Prime Minister'sCitizens Assistance and Reliefin Emergency Situation (PMCARES Fund). However, thedonations received afterMarch is not known yet.

This comes amid severe crit-icism by the Opposition andmultiple petitions in courtsseeking more transparencywith the PM CARES Fund thatwas set up to battle Covid-19and has PM Modi and a few topministers of the governmentas its trustees.

Following the announcementof the PM Cares Fund, it wasflooded with donations fromcelebrities, politicians, mem-bers of Parliament, govern-ment officials and privatedonors across the country andabroad.

The Fund's objectivesinclude undertaking and sup-porting relief or assistance ofany kind relating to a publichealth emergency or any otherkind of emergency, calamityor distress, either man-madeor natural, including the cre-ation or upgradation ofhealthcare or pharmaceuticalfacilities, other necessaryinfrastructure, funding rele-vant research or any othertype of support, according toits website.

— PTI

YUSUF JAMEEL | DCSRINAGAR, SEPT. 2

The Centre’s decision to makeHindi, Kashmiri, Dogri andEnglish official languages ofJammu and Kashmir apartfrom existing Urdu has beenboth hailed and assailed bypeople of the twin regions —Valley and Jammu — of theUnion Territory.

However, many people saw‘anti-Urdu bias’ behind themove and also believed that ithas been done for political rea-sons by the present dispensa-tion at the Centre. The legalexperts, on the other hand,said that it is a violation of theJ&K Reorganisation Act, 2019which empowers the newLegislative Assembly of theUnion Territory. to take such adecision.

The Union Cabinet onWednesday, more than a yearafter J&K was stripped of itsspecial constitutional statusand split up into two UTs,approved the introduction ofthe Jammu and KashmirOfficial Languages Bill 2020, inwhich 5 languages Urdu,Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi andEnglish will be official lan-guages, in Parliament.

ARUN MISHRARETIRES FROM

SUPREME COURTPARMOD KUMAR | DCNEW DELHI, SEPT. 2

Justice Arun Mishra who wasat the centre of many contro-versies including the famouspress conference by four topcourt judges on January 12,2018, retired from the SupremeCourt on Wednesday withAttorney General K.K.Venugopal describing him asan “Iron judge” of the topcourt who was both “firm andunshakable”.

Having spent over six yearsas a judge of Supreme Court,Justice Mishra in his farewellremarks said, “I have alwayswritten judgments from myconscience and thinking aboutupholding law.”

Justice Mishra was sworn inas the judge of the SupremeCourt on July 7, 2014.

Sitting with Chief JusticeSharad A. Bobde, Justice A.S.Bopanna and Justice V. Ramasubramanian, JusticeMishra in his parting remarkssaid, “Analyse every judgmentand don’t colour it this way orthat way.”

Referring to AttorneyGeneral Venugopal saying thathe would have appreciated ifJustice Mishra-led bench hadnot punished PrashantBhushan for contempt, JusticeMishra said that they thoughttill last moment …”

Justice Mishra did not elabo-rate any further after CJIBobde desisted him.

MANOJ ANAND | DCGUWAHATI, SEPT. 2

Fate of over 19 lakh peoplewhose names were exclud-ed from the NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC)in Assam continues tohang in balance with theprocess of issuing rejec-tion slips to those left outyet to start and Assam gov-ernment reiterating itsstand for 10-20 per cent re-verification of namesincluded in the finalNational Register ofCitizens (NRC) publishedlast year.

Assam agriculture min-

ister Chandra MohanPatowary while respond-ing to a question in thestate Assembly on statusof the NRC said, “We hadgiven an affidavit in theSupreme Court sayingthat there should be re-verification of 20 per centincluded names in the dis-tricts borderingBangladesh and 10 percent in the rest of the dis-tricts.”

Sticking to the stand ofthe party and governmenthe said, “We need a re-ver-ification because people ofAssam want a correctNRC.”

It is significant thatabout 19 lakh applicantswere left out of the NRC.The NRC process has hit astonewall as the rejectionorders to the 19 lakhexcluded persons - whichwill allow them to appealagainst the exclusion in

the Foreigners Tribunals -are yet to be issued. TheNRC authorities havecited the Covid-19 pandem-ic as a reason for the delay.

The Supreme Court,which proactively super-vised the process of NRCpreparation from 2013, hasnot heard the matter sinceJanuary 6.

In July last year, theAssam government andthe Centre had petitionedthe Supreme Court forsuch a re-verification exer-cise, but it was dismissedby the apex court afterthen NRC coordinatorPrateek Hajela submitted

that re-verification of 27percent names wasalready done.

The Supreme Court hadmentioned the prospect ofsample re-verification inan order in 2018, sayingthat the court could con-sider re-verifying 10 percent of the names includ-ed in the second draft ofthe NRC. Mr Patowaryargued, “The SupremeCourt had earlier men-tioned a re-verification butthe former NRC coordina-tor Hajela did not workproperly. I’m not talkingagainst anyone, but yesthe former coordinator of

the NRC did not workproperly.”

The state governmentalso provided the latestdata regarding ‘foreigner’detection in the state. Inreply to a written questionthe state government saidthat 1,36,149 people havebeen declared ‘foreigners’by the state’s 100 function-ing Foreigners Tribunals,whereas only 227 ‘foreign-ers’ have been deportedfrom March 13, 2013, toJuly 31, 2020.

A total of 425 people arecurrently lodged in the sixdetention centres in thestate.

New Delhi, Sept 2:Thirty-six security per-sonnel under the com-mand of the UnionHome Ministry died bysuicide in 2019, takingthe number of suchcases to 433 in six years,according to the latestNational Crime RecordsBureau (NCRB) data.

Of the 433 suicidedeaths among theCentral Armed PoliceForces (CAPF) person-nel during the six-yearperiod, the least (28)number of cases wasreported in 2018 and themaximum (175) in 2014,the data showed.

The number stood at 60in 2017, 74 in 2016 and 60in 2015, the NCRB datafor the respective yearshowed.

The CAPF refers toseven central securityforces of the countryunder the administra-tive control of theMinistry of HomeAffairs. It consists theBorder Security Force(BSF), the CentralReserve Police Force(CRPF), the CentralIndustrial SecurityForce (CISF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP), the SashastraSeema Bal (SSB),besides the Assam Rifles(AR) and the NationalSecurity Guard (NSG).

As on January 1, 2019,the CAPF had an actualstrength of 9,23,800 per-sonnel, who play a vitalrole in guarding the bor-ders and assisting theCentre and state govern-ments in maintaininginternal security and incurbing other illegal orunlawful activities, theNCRB stated.

However, the NCRBdata did not give a force-wise break up of suicidecases within the CAPF.

A total of 36 CAPF per-sonnel killed themselvesduring 2019, with 14 ofthem (38.9 per cent) dueto family problems andthree due to service-related issues, theNCRB, which also func-tions under the UnionHome Ministry, stated.

The reason for suicidewas not known in eightcases, while it was othercauses in nine. Fall insocial reputation andmarriage-related issuesled to one suicide eachduring the year, the datarecords. - PTI

Dr Kafeel Khan (C) following his release from Mathura jail after the Allahabad High Court quashed his detention under the National Security Actand ordered his immediate release, in Mathura on Tuesday midnight. — PTI

Lucknow/Mathura,Sept. 2: The UttarPradesh government,instead of observing‘Raj Dharma’, wasindulging in ‘BaalHatth’ or childlike-stub-bornness and couldframe him in anothercase, Dr Kafeel Khansaid after being releasedfrom the Mathura jail.

The Allahabad HighCourt on Tuesdayquashed Khan’s deten-tion under the NationalSecurity Act andordered his immediaterelease. Following thecourt’s order, Khan wasreleased from Mathurajail late on Tuesdaynight. “Mathura jailadministration inf-ormed at around 11.00pm that Dr Kafeel willbe released, and aroundmidnight, he wasreleased,” Khan’slawyer Irfan Ghazi said.

Speaking after hisrelease from the jail,Khan thanked the court.

“I will always remainthankful to all my well-wishers, who raisedtheir voice for myrelease. The administra-tion was not ready forrelease, but because ofthe prayers (duaa) ofpeople, I have beenreleased.” — PTI

Assam still firm on re-verificationof 20 per cent names in NRC

GILVESTER ASSARY | DC THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,SEPT. 2

The killings of twoactivists of the CPM led-youth wing DYFI allegedlyby Congress workers inVenjaramoodu inThiruvananthapuram dis-trict was the latest inci-dent in the bloody saga of“murder politics” beingwitnessed in Kerala forover seven decades.

According to rough esti-mates, over 200 personsbelonging to various par-ties have become victims

of this in Kerala since2000.

Though the frequency ofpolitical murders hascome down compared toprevious years, thesekillings after a lull oftenremind one that the sav-agery has not ended yet.

Soon after coming topower in 2016, ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vjayanhad taken personal initia-tive in convening a meet-ing of top CPM and RSS-BJP leaders to end thepolitical violence inKannur district whichaccounts for almost 50 per

cent of the political mur-ders in Kerala so far.

It has almost become aritual that after everypolitical murder there area few arrests, allegationsand counter allegations byrival parties, sporadicincidents of violence andat the end an all-partypeace meeting.

But the “no violence”warranty period oftenexpires within months orat the most after a year,only to be followed byanother round of brutalkillings.

The ruling Left

Democratic Front con-venor A Vijayaraghavansays the Congress and BJPhave always portrayedCPM as a “killer” party,but the truth is otherwise.

“In Kerala, mostCongress leaders havecriminal gangs which theynurture and use againstpolitical opponents. Thereare gang wars even ingroups within theCongress. Three Congressworkers were murdered in2013 and 2015 by rivalgroups within the party inThrissur district. But theCongress always tries to

portray itself as messiahsof peace,” he told thisnewspaper.

The Congress on theother hand points out thatin most political murdersCPM is always found onone side. What does thismean, asks Kerala’s fire-brand PCC vice-presidentand MLA V.D. Satheeshan.

“The twin murders inVenjaramoodu inThiruvananthapuram dis-trict was the result of agang war.”

“A similar murder tookplace Alapuzha in August.Soon CPM leaders accused

the Congress of killingtheir worker. But theirown minister G.Sudhakaran clarified itwas not a political mur-der,” he said.

Mr Satheeshan allegedthat the CPM tried to stallCBI inquiry into the mur-der of two youth Congressworkers in Kasargod in2019. The High Courtrejected their plea andhanded over the probe tothe CBI on August 25. “TheLDF government engagedtop lawyers from theSupreme Court to blockthe CBI probe,” he said

New Delhi, Sept. 2:Amid a political slugfestover the Facebook issue,the company’s India headAjit Mohan onWednesday appearedbefore a parliamentarypanel, which is dis-cussing alleged misuse ofsocial media platforms.

The parliamentarystanding committee oninformation technology,headed by seniorCongress leader ShashiTharoor, had called rep-resentatives of Facebookto hear their views “onthe subject of safeguard-ing citizens’ rights andprevention of misuse ofsocial/online newsmedia platforms includ-ing special emphasis onwomen security in thedigital space," accordingto agenda of the meeting.

Mohan, managingdirector of FacebookIndia, appeared beforethe panel this afternoon,officials said. He wasinside the room for morethan two hours butdetails about his deposi-tion could not be immedi-ately ascertained.

The panel had alsocalled representatives ofthe ministry of electron-ics and information tech-nology on the same issue.An official said 18 mem-bers of the panel includ-ing the chairman werepresent.

Dr Tharoor's announce-ment that the panelwould like to hear fromFacebook about a reportpublished in the WallStreet Journal claimingthat the social mediaplatform ignored apply-ing its hate-speech rulesto politicians of the BJPin India, had evoked astrong reaction from BJPmembers of the panel.

— PTI

FACEBOOK INDIAHEAD APPEARS BEFORE HOUSEPANEL OVER ROWNAYEAR AZAD | DC

PATNA, SEPT. 2

Former Chief MinisterJitan Ram Manjhi onWednesday said that hisparty Hindustani AwamMorcha (HAM) will con-test the Assembly elec-tions as a constituent ofNDA in Bihar.

Making a formalannouncement regardinghis entry into the NDAMr. Manjhi said that “weare not going to mergeour party but have decid-ed to remain in alliancewith the JD(U). From nowonwards we are part ofNDA in Bihar”.

His entry into the NDAis being seen as a majorsetback for the grandalliance ahead ofAssembly elections slatedto be held in October –November.

Sources said that afterquitting the grandalliance in August,Manjhi also explored thepossibility to ally with

several political parties.HAM insiders said thathe discussed the issuewith Pappu Yadav of JanAdhikar Party (JAP) andMukesh Sahani ofVikasheel Insan Party buthis talks failed.

A week earlier JitanRam Manjhi met BiharCM Nitish Kumar to dis-cuss his entry into theNDA. HAM insiders saidthat during his meetinghe asked for around 15-20seats in Magadh regionand one MLC seat forhimself. But the JD(U) isbelieved to have offered10-12 seats.

HAM spokespersonDanish Rizwan told thisnewspaper, “Seats are notthe issue our party is will-ing to accept any numberof seats being allotted bythe NDA. Our motive is tostand firmly behindPrime Minister NarendraModi who is trying to dealwith the current econom-ic condition of the coun-try.”

DC CORRESPONDENTSSEPT. 2

Hyderabad: Telanganacrossed the 1.3 lakh markin Covid-19 cases with thehealth department report-ing on Wednesday yetanother near 3,000 freshcases. It said 2,892 newcases were recorded tak-ing the total Covid-19cases so far to 1,30,589while the deaths from thedisease now stood at 846with another 10 people los-ing their lives to the dis-ease in the state.

The new cases emergedfrom the 59,421 tests con-ducted between Mondayand Tuesday evenings. Ason Tuesday 8 p.m.,Telangana had 32,341active cases of whom25,271 were in institution-al or home isolation.Results from 2,225 testswere still awaited, thedepartment said in theCovid-19 bulletin releasedon Wednesday morning.

Hyderabad city and itsimmediate surroundingareas that comprise theGreater HyderabadMunicipal Corporationarea continued to recordthe highest daily casesamong any geographicalunit in Telangana. TheGHMC area reported 477new cases with neighbour-ing Ranga Reddy andM e d c h a l - M a l k a j g i r ireporting 234 and 192cases respectively.

10,392 new cases, 72 deaths in AP

Vijayawada: AndhraPradesh recorded 10,392new Covid-19 cases takingthe tally to 4,55,531 while72 deaths took the deathtoll to 4,125 in the last 24hours.

East Godavari continuesto top the state with thehighest single day spike ofnew coronavirus infec-tions at 1,199, followed by1,124 in Chittoor and 900

in Guntur. With regard tocumulative Covid-19 posi-tive cases, East Godavarihas been worst hit with61,810. The state healthauthorities discharged8,454 Covid-19 infectedpatients after recoveryfrom various hospitals inthe state in the last 24hours.

Karnataka reports new high of 9,800 cases

Bengaluru: : Karnatakaon Wednesday reported itsbiggest single day spike ofover 9,800 new Covid-19cases and 113 deaths, tak-ing the infection count to3,61,341 and the toll to5,950, the health depart-ment said. The day saw the state test-ing a whopping 73,317samples, including 38,735using the rapid antigenkits, as the cumulativespecimens examinedcrossed the 30 lakh mark. Of the fresh cases, as

many as 3,420 were fromBengaluru Urban districtalone.

Kerala has 1,547 cases, 7 deaths

Thiruvananthapuram:Kerala on Wednesdayrecorded 1547 cases ofCovid - 19 even as 2129 per-sons recovered from thedisease. Of the new cases,1418 contracted the dis-ease through contact, thesource of infection among156 is yet to be traced, 21came from abroad , 65from other states and 36health workers also gotinfected.

Seven more deaths werereported on Wednesdaytaking the death toll in thestate to 305, health minis-ter K.K. Shailaja said in arelease. Kerala has so farreported 78,010 cases ofwhihc 55,782 have recov-ered and 21, 923 personsare under treatment invarious hospitals.

U.P. GOVT CANFRAME ME INANOTHER CASE:KAFEEL KHAN

Rejection orders are yet to be issued to 19 lakh applicants left out of the NRC�� THE SUPREME Courthad mentioned theprospect of sample re-verification in an order in2018, saying that thecourt could consider re-verifying 10 per cent ofthe names included in thesecond draft of the NRC.

36 SUICIDES INCAPF IN 2019,433 IN SIXYEARS: NCRB

New cases inch closer to 3,000 inTelangana; 10,000 in Karnataka

Never-ending saga of Kerala’s political murdersAs per rough estimate, over 200 political workers have been killed since 2000 UNKINDEST | CUT

Manjhi returns toNDA ahead of poll

WORLD pg 5DECCAN CHRONICLE | CHENNAI | THURSDAY | 3 SEPTEMBER 2020

Bangkok, Sept 2: Thailand’sking has reconciled with hisroyal consort, whom he strip-ped of her titles last year afteraccusing her of seeking toundermine his official wife, thecountry’s queen. The restorat-ion of Sineenatra Wongva-jirabhakdi to the good graces ofKing Maha Vajiralongkornwas confirmed by an officialannouncement published Wed-nesday in the Royal Gazette.

The announcement, datedAugust 29, said she was beinggiven back her royal and mili-tary titles. It said Sineenatrawas not tainted by any wrong-doing, and the record shouldnot show that she ever lost herprivileges. Bloggers who followroyal news had reported lastweek that Sineenatra had beenrehabilitated. She had not beenseen publicly after her fall fromgrace last year and her wherea-bouts were never made clear.

THAI KINGRECONCILES

WITH CONSORT

IN BRIEF$27 mn cash

seized from shipSan Juan: Federal authorities

have announced that they sei-zed $27 million in undeclaredcash aboard a ship bound for

the US Virgin Islands, thelargest such seizure ever in

the region. US Customs andBorder Protection on Tuesday

said a dog inspecting cargoon Saturday aboard a ship

docked in Puerto Rico alertedagents to the money foundinside home moving boxes

destined for St Thomas. Noone has been arrested.

Germany porn:50 houses raided

Berlin: A thousand policeofficers in Germany raidedthe homes of 50 people aspart of a nationwide crack-down on the online sharing

and distribution of child por-nography, Cologne police

said Wednesday None of the48 men and two women sus-

pected of involvement wasarrested during Tuesday’s

raids, but investigators seiz-ed around 2,000 phones,

computers and other devicesupon which images were

stored, police said. The sus-pects are accused of sharingimages of child sexual abuse

through networks such associal media and messenger

services, Michael Esser, direc-tor of criminal investigationsfor the Cologne police, said.None of them are suspectedof directly abusing any chil-dren, according to the cur-rent state of the investiga-tion. “Behind every picture

there is a victim of sexualabuse,” Esser said. “We will

never give up the fightagainst pedophile criminals.”The suspects present a crosssection of society, young and

old, single and married,Cologne prosecutor Markus

Hartmann said.

14 on trial overParis attacks

Paris: Thirteen men and a wo-man went on trial over the

2015 attacks against a satiricalnewspaper and a kosher supe-

rmarket in Paris that markedthe beginning of a wave of vi-olence by the Islamic State gr-oup in Europe. Seventeen pe-

ople and all three gunmendied during the three days ofattacks in January 2015. Tho-se on trial in France’s terror-

ism court are accused of buy-ing weapons, cars, and helpi-

ng with logistics. Most saythey thought they were help-

ing plan an ordinary crime.Three, including the only wo-man accused, are being tried

in absentia after leaving tojoin Islamic State. The attacksfrom January 7-9, 2015, start-

ed during an editorial meetingat Charlie Hebdo, whose off-ices had been unmarked andguarded by police since thepublication of caricatures of

the Prophet Muhammed yearsbefore. Brothers Cherif and

Said Kouachi gunned down 12people before carjacking a ve-

hicle and fleeing. They claim-ed the attacks in the name of

al-Qaida. Two days later Ame-dy Coulibaly stormed the Hy-per Cacher supermarket, kill-

ing four hostages in the nameof the IS group as the broth-ers took control of a printing

office outside Paris.

Mirror image

A gardener at work mirrors in an artwork by British Indian artist Anish Kapoor on a sunny day at the sculpturemuseum set in nature in Cologne, Germany, on Wednesday. — AP

Portland, Sept 2: Prote-sters in Portland, Oregon,shifted their focus to thecity’s mayor, and policedeclared a riot as peoplebroke windows, vandal-ised a business and set asmall fire inside theupscale apartment build-ing where Mayor TedWheeler lives. The demon-stration that began lateMonday and extended intoTuesday fell on Wheeler’s58th birthday and fea-tured shiny golden alpha-bet balloons that protest-ers used to spell out anexpletive. They sang onthe street outside themayor's building, somewearing party hats, andthe fire was set with abundle of newspapers in astore housed on theground floor of Wheeler’sbuilding. There were noreports of major damageor injuries.

Wheeler, who is alsopolice commissioner, hascome under fire for hisfailure to bring the vio-lence in Oregon’s largestcity under control and forheading up a police forcethat has used tear gasmultiple times againstdemonstrators.

Some also blame themayor for engaging in awar of words withPresident Donald Trumpinstead of focusing onlocal needs. Trump hasput Portland and otherDemocrat-led cities in thecrosshairs of a “law andorder” re-election cam-paign theme — a movethat's escalated tensionsin the city and drawn theattention of right-wingTrump supporters.

A supporter of the right-wing group Patriot Prayerwas killed Saturday dur-ing clashes between duel-ing protesters. A caravanof Trump supporters, esti-mated at about 600 cars,encountered Black LivesMatter protesters as theydrove through the down-town and skirmishesbroke out.

Police have not announ-ced an arrest in the slay-ing of Aaron J. Danielson,39, of Portland, and havesaid nothing about whatled up the shooting. PoliceChief Chuck Lovell deno-unced the vandalism andsaid it was an escalationof previous protesteractions. “The familiesthat live inside have doneabsolutely nothing to pro-voke a threat to theirlives,” he said. — AP

Protesters targetPortland mayorRiot declared after fire in his apartment

Islamabad, Sept 2: Pak-istan International Airli-nes (PIA) has sacked 74more employees for hav-ing fake degrees, engagingin drug smuggling and forpoor performance, accord-ing to a media report. Ofthe 74 employees sackedby the national carrierlast month, 27 were dis-missed for fake degrees, 31for unauthorised meas-ures, six for not followingrules, four for damagingproperty, one for involve-ment in drug traffickingand three for stealing gov-ernment records, PIA offi-cials told the ExpressTribune newspaper.

Apart from these, fouremployees were demoted,and 11 others werepenalised for various dis-ciplinary issues. — PTI

Tallahasee (US), Sept 2:A Florida county institut-ed a curfew Tuesday, sev-eral days after a manpulled a gun at a protestagainst police violence,officials said. Leon Cou-nty Commission Chairm-an Bryan Desloge signedan order declaring a localstate of emergency thatincludes a curfew from 11p.m. to 5 a.m. startingWednesday and lasting fora week. The proclamationcites Tallahassee proteststhat have turned violent,specifically a Saturdayconfrontation where aman pulled a gun on pro-testers. The TallahasseePolice Department said ina statement that the inci-dent occurred during aprotest downtown.

Police said a white man

began “documenting theprotest” and then waspushed from behind.

A fight ensued, policesaid, and the man wasknocked to the ground.The man got up and pulleda gun, police said. Officerstook the man into custodyand dispersed the crowd.No charges were filed, andno injuries were reported.

Police said the man withthe gun “was lawfully car-rying a concealed weaponas a license holder.” Thedemonstration was organ-ised by the TallahasseeCommunity Action Com-mittee in response to thepolice shooting of JacobBlake in Kenosha,Wisconsin, which hassparked protests acrossthe country.

— AP

Gun at protestprompts curfew

Trump spins tale oforchestrated protestsChicago, Sept 2: Presi-dent Donald Trump isrecycling a baseless con-spiracy theory to claimthat recent protests havebeen orchestrated by pow-erful people in “dark shad-ows” intent on undermin-ing his reelection prospe-cts. The claims first tookroot on Facebook andTwitter earlier this yearafter racial justice prote-sts swelled across thecountry following the de-aths of PoC in police cus-tody. Thousands of socialmedia users shared postssuggesting a covert netw-ork was coordinating theprotests and rioters weredescending on communi-ties across the country.

Trump appeared to am-plify those unfounded con-spiracy theories in aninterview with Fox Newshost Laura Ingraham thataired Monday night, sug-gesting that protests inWashington during theRepublican National Con-vention were orchestratedby unspecified forces.

“We had somebody geton a plane from a certaincity this weekend. And inthe plane, it was almost

completely loaded withthugs wearing these darkuniforms, black uniformswith gear and this andthat,” said Trump, addingthat the matter is underinvestigation.

When asked by reportersTuesday for additionaldetails on his assertion,Trump said someone elsewitnessed the activity andhe would have to check tosee if that person waswilling to speak withnews media.

Vice President MikePence was asked in aninterview on Tuesdayevening to explain whatPresident Trump wastalking about.

“Well, I think what thepresident’s referring to isactually what we heard inmany of the cities. I knowin Detroit there were alarge number of arrestsseveral weeks ago and thevast majority of peoplewere from out of state.The same thing occurredin arrests that took placein recent cities,” Pencesaid on Fox NewsChannel’s “Special Reportwith Bret Baier.”

— AP

PIA sacks 74 more staff forfake degrees, malpractices

Washington, Sept 2:China is seeking to set upmore robust logistics facil-ities in about a dozencountries, including threein India’s neighbourhood,to allow the PLA to projectand sustain military po-wer at greater distances,according to a Pentagonreport. In addition to thethree neighbours of India— Pakistan, Sri Lankaand Myanmar — the othercountries where China isconsidering to base itsmilitary logistics andinfrastructure facilitiesare Thailand, Singapore,Indonesia, United ArabEmirates, Kenya, Seych-elles, Tanzania, Angolaand Tajikistan, the reportsaid on Tuesday.

In its annual report“Military and SecurityDevelopments Involvingthe People’s Republic ofChina 2020” that was sub-mitted to the US Congress,the Pentagon said thesepotential Chinese militarylogistics facilities are inaddition to the Chinesemilitary base in Djibouti,which is aimed at support-

ing naval, air and groundforces projection. “A glob-al PLA (People’s Libera-tion Army) military logis-

tics network could bothinterfere with US militaryoperations and supportoffensive operations agai-

nst the US as the PRC’sglobal military objectivesevolve,” the Pentagon saidin the report. — PTI

China plans military facilities inPak, Lanka, Myanmar: Pentagon

Washington, Sept 2:The entire world is begin-ning to unite against Chi-na’s unfair practices andcountries like India, Au-stralia, Japan and SouthKorea are going to part-ner with the US to pushback Beijing on everyfront, US Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo hassaid. The US is intensify-ing pressure on China,piling on visa bans, sanc-tions and other restric-tions that are batteringthe already unsettled tiesbetween the world’s twolargest economies.

In an interview to FoxNews on Tuesday, Pompeosaid, “I think you’re seei-ng the entire world begin

to unite around the cent-ral understanding that theChinese CommunistParty simply is going torefuse to compete in a fair,reciprocal and transpare-nt way.” “So, whether it’sour friends in India, ourfriends in Australia, frien-ds in Japan or South Kor-ea, I think they have allcome to see the risk to th-eir own people, to theirown countries, and you’llsee them partner with theUS to push back (China)on every front that we’vetalked about this eveni-ng,” he said, to a questionposed by the host, Lou Do-bbs, on India reportedlysending a warship into theSouth China Sea. —PTI

World sideliningChina: Pompeo

STUDENTS IN INNER MONGOLIAPROTEST CHINESE LANGUAGE POLICYTaipei, Sept 2: EthnicMongolians, includingstudents and parents, inChina’s Inner Mongoliaregion are demonstrat-ing their anger in rarepublic protests against anew bilingual educationpolicy that they say isendangering theMongolian language. Ahigh school student inthe city of Hulunbuirsaid students rushedout of their school onTuesday and destroyeda fence before paramili-tary police swarmed inand tried to return themto class.

“We senior studentswere talking and wethought we had to dosomething,” said thestudent, Narsu, wholike most Mongolianshas only one name.“Although this doesn’tdirectly affect us now,this will have a hugeimpact on us in the fut-ure.” The policy, annou-nced on Monday aheadof the start of the newschool year, requiresschools to use newnational textbooks inChinese, replacingMongolian-languagetextbooks. — AP

Washington, Sept 2:China has taken a “naive”US and its leaders for aride over the past severaldecades, according to for-mer top Indian-Americandiplomat Nikki Haley, whosaid the Trump adminis-tration through its robustIndo-Pacific strategy isnow learning who its realfriends are.

Speaking at the thirdIndia-US LeadershipSummit organised virtu-ally by the US IndiaStrategic and PartnershipForum (USISPF), formerUS Ambassador to the UNHaley on Tuesday saidAmericans know thatIndians are not a threat tothem. — PTI

CHINA TOOK‘NAIVE’ U.S. FORA RIDE: HALEY

ISLAMABAD TO BE FIRST PAKISTANCITY TO GET ELECTRIC TRANSPORTSHAFQAT ALI | DCISLAMABAD, SEPTEMBER 2

Pakistan Minister forScience and Technology,Fawad Chaudhry, on We-dnesday vowed to makeIslamabad Pakistan’s firstcity where transport willbe fully electric.

Speaking at a news con-ference here, FawadChaudhry said that feder-al government will import120 electric buses thisyear and local assemblingof battery powered buseswill start next year.

“Electric buses willoperate in Pakistan thisyear as the government is

all set to import 120buses,” he said and addedthat domestic manufac-turing of these buses willstart in three year time.

The minister said thegovernment was focusingon the electric vehicles asit will bring revolution inthe transport sector.

He said high technologyfarms will be developed topromote the production ofunconventional crops.

Commenting over theindustrial and medicaluse of hemp, he said thatgovernment has identi-fied Peshawar, Jhelumand Chakwal as sites forthe cultivation of hemp.

End of a dynasty? Joe Kennedyloses in US Senate bidBoston, Sept. 2: Congres-sman Joe Kennedy, longseen as a rising star,crashed to defeat Tuesdayin his bid for a US Senateseat, the first time the sto-ried American politicaldynasty lost a statewideelection in Massachusetts.

Incumbent Senator EdMarkey, a political veteranwho recast himself as thefiery liberal in the race,harnessed the state’s prog-ressive energy to handilyturn back a challengefrom Joseph Kennedy III,the grandnephew ofassassinated presidentJohn F. Kennedy. The 39-year-old Kennedy said he“called Senator Markey to

congratulate him and topledge my support to himand his campaign in themonths ahead.” Withvotes still being counted,Markey was leading 53.5percent to 46.5 percent.“Obviously, these resultsare not the ones we werehoping for,” Kennedy said.The race pitted two well-liked progressives againstone another, but it wasMarkey’s organisationalenergy and appeal to theascendant left that wonout over Kennedy.

“Tonight is more thanjust a celebration of anelection, it is a celebrationof a movement,” Markeywrote on Twitter. Since he

is not allowed to be on theballot as a candidate forboth the House andSenate, Kennedy is notrunning for re-election tohis House seat. ComeJanuary, there will be noone from the Kennedyclan in elected office. Thegrandson of slain attor-ney general Robert F.Kennedy is part of thefamily's fourth generationto carry the politicaltorch, entering the Houseof Representatives in 2013.

“Every race I’ve everrun, I’ve made it clear it’sme on the ballot,” Kenne-dy said as he stumped for11th-hour votes Tuesdayin Boston. — AFP

Navalny poisoned withnerve agent

Berlin, Sept 2: The Ge-rman government saystests performed on sam-ples taken from Russianopposition leader AlexeiNavalny showed thepresence of the Soviet-era nerve agentNovichok.

Navalny, a politicianand corruption investi-gator who is one ofRussian PresidentVladimir Putin’s fiercestcritics, fell ill on a flightback to Moscow fromSiberia on August 20 andwas taken to a hospitalin the Siberian city ofOmsk after the planemade an emergencylanding. He was latertransferred to Berlin’sCharite hospital, wheredoctors last week saidthere were indicationsthat he had been poi-soned. Chancellor Ange-la Merkel’s spokesman,Steffen Seibert, said in astatement Wednesdaythat testing by a specialGerman military labora-tory had shown proof of“a chemical nerve agentfrom the Novichokgroup.” — AP

EDIT pg 6DECCAN CHRONICLE | THURSDAY | 3 SEPTEMBER 2020 | CHENNAI

The Government of India, through law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad,has petitioned the chief executive of social media platform Facebookthat the personnel heading the company’s India operations have beeninimical to the right of the centre political thought and that they have

been aligned with those who “stoke internal divisions and social disturbances”in the country. The minister has also inferred that reports putting Facebook’sactivities in India under cloud reflect “nothing but an internal power strugglewithin your company for an ideological hegemony”.

That the government has refused to see the impropriety of a minister, whoought to represent the people at the left, right and the centre of the politicalspectrum and even those who are beyond politics, taking a partisan approachcannot be missed. But the more serious issues that the letter raises, and theirbackground, need careful assessment.

It was not long ago that the Wall Street Journal came out with a report thatTeam Facebook India short-changed its own policies and refused to act againstpeople and organisations affiliated to the BJP and the Sangh Parivar who usedthe platform for inciting violence and spreading communal hatred. The com-pany’s top officials, the report said, cited potential loss of business should it goagainst the interests of the ruling dispensation.

In an apparent effort to turn the tables on critics, the law minister accusesFacebook of torpedoing BJP’s election propaganda by deleting pages or sub-stantially reducing the reach of the people who are supportive of its ideology.He says the people at the management are tools in the hands of those who “aretrying to discredit India’s democratic process”. The minister has in no uncer-tain terms told Mr Mark Zuckerburg that it is problematic when Facebookemployees are on record abusing the Prime Minister and senior cabinet min-isters, and pointed out that political biases of individuals at the companyimpinge on the freedom of speech of millions of people.

The charges, to sum up, are too critical: Facebook’s actions seek to undermineor interfere with our democratic process and harm freedom of speech; it col-ludes with “anarchic and radical elements” who target social harmony usingthe platform and stoke social disturbances.

The law minister, wittingly or unwittingly, has echoed the Opposition chargethat Facebook in its present form is a biased media platform that has the poten-tial to damage our democracy; only the interpretation on who makes use of ithas changed. It, along with a lot of like-minded people, has already demandedan investigation by a joint parliamentary committee to get to the bottom of theallegations. Since the government shares these concerns, it must order a com-prehensive probe that can address them all.

In the meantime, the government may also reflect on the demands it has madeon the social media giant and what it has been doing about putting in placecommunity guidelines that “respect the social, religious, cultural and linguis-tic diversity of India”.

Govt letter to FB baffling,but an inquiry is in order

The death of for-mer PresidentPranab Mukh-erjee on theevening of

August 31 after battlingmedical complications,including Covid-19, hasopened the debate, a right-ful and meaningful onetoo, about PranabMukherjee the politicianand what is to be countedas his legacy, if there isone. Political colleaguesand journalists have triedto assess the man andmost of them had zeroedin on the “elephantinememory” and “trou-bleshooter” aspects. Somejournalists had showed abit more courage andtalked about how he couldnot become the PrimeMinister either in 2004 orin 2009 because he did notseem to inspire Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi’sconfidence, that was sinequa non for getting the job.It is tempting to rephrasethe position of PranabDada — the genericMukherjee would takeaway from the man offlesh and blood that heactually was — as “theman who becamePresident because hecould not be PrimeMinister”.

But he was not a naturalchoice for the presidencybecause he was a politi-cian to reckon with andneither of the two majorparties — the Congressand the BJP — wanted aseasoned politician to bePresident. That is whyAtal Behari Vajpayee fellback on non-politicianA.P.J. Abdul Kalam in2002 though his firstchoice was Indira Gandhi-era bureaucrat P.C.Alexander, and in 2007 DrManmohan Singh andMrs Sonia Gandhi chose alittle-known politicianfrom Maharashtra,Pratibha Patil. The lastactive politician whobecame President beforePranab Mukherjee was

Shankar Dayal Sharma in1992. So it was not an easygoing for Pranab. He hadto lobby hard, includingthrough Samajwadi Partysupremo Mulayam SinghYadav with a possiblenudge from Reliance’sAnil Ambani in 2012.

Some journalists havethrown in the interestingspeculative line about thepossibility that neverbecame a reality: that DrManmohan Singh shouldhave been sent toRashtrapati Bhavan andPranab should have beenmade the Prime Minister.And how it could havesaved the Congress Partymany of the blushes andignominies. Of course,this was never really inthe realm of possibilitygiven the intense rivalriesand feuds between thesenior leaders in theparty. And there was ofcourse Sonia Gandhi’strust deficit factor. ButPranab was in the habit oftaking whatever came hisway and making it hisown. During his five-yearterm, he fulfilled the oblig-ations of the high officeand used his political judg-ment every bit of the way,including his acceptanceof a BJP government ledby Narendra Modi in 2014.It would have been easierfor a Congressman toaccept a BJP leader otherthan Narendra Modi. Butshowed no hesitation inseeing Mr Modi as the pop-ularly elected leader andhe accepted the 2014 ver-dict with an open mind. Itis this open mindednessthat made him go toaddress RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sanghworkers in Nagpur in2018, after leaving office,and tell them about India’spluralist traditions.

Pranab’s political careerfalls into two clear phases.The first is the IndiraGandhi years, where hewas the charismaticleader’s trusted lieu-tenant, but he was no

mere loyalist. He broughtan intelligent man’s graspto policy matters. There isthe general feeling thatIndira Gandhi surround-ed herself with mindlesssycophants. Pranab wasnot one of them. It is one ofthe reasons that IndiraGandhi gave him ministe-rial responsibilities thatwould have been general-ly considered far beyondhis years.

The second phase, andthe longer one, began withthe tragic assassination ofIndira Gandhi. He nowhad to face rivalries in theparty, including the per-ceived one from RajivGandhi himself, and hewas metaphorically swim-ming in shark-infestedwaters, as it were. RajivGandhi had his own groupof talented people, whowere a generationyounger to him. He couldhave thrown in the towel,but he was not the man todo that. He sat out the dif-ficult days. P.V.Narasimha Rao, whobecame PM once theCongress returned topower after Rajiv’s assas-sination, knew Pranab’sworth well, but Rao hadhis own cunning way ofhandling talent. Pranabbeing offered the post ofdeputy chairman of thePlanning Commissionwas no demotion. It was ajob that suited Pranabeminently if you forget thefact that the PlanningCommission was an anti-quated institution. Raowas not a wholeheartedvotary of the economicreforms that he hadlaunched. He did not giveup his own Nehruvianfaith in a planned econo-my. And Pranab too wasnot a reforms enthusiast,in the manner ofManmohan Singh and P.Chidambaram.

It can be said that

Pranab really came intohis own in the UPA years— the eight years from2004 to 2012 where he wasthe manager of govern-mental workings even asSonia Gandhi was manag-ing political affairs forPrime MinisterManmohan Singh. Pranabshowed that he was capa-ble in dealing with theintricacies of administra-tion without handing overthe levers of power to thebureaucrats. But he alsoshowed that he was notinfallible, and this cameout most starkly when hecommitted the blunder ofgoing to meet yoga guruand agitator BabaRamdev. It was a clearsign of loss of nerve by thegritty politician, and itwas one of the reasonsthat the Congress fared sobadly at the hustings in2014.

Pranab’s stint as financeminister from 1982 to 1984and from 2009 to 2012remains controversial. Inhis 1980s’ stint as financeminister he could be seenencouraging indirectlythrough budgetary incen-tives Reliance’sDhirubhai Ambani andplaying corporate politics.And in his second stint asfinance minister he wasfaced with the 2008 globalfinancial meltdown, and itseemed his misgivingsabout a free market econo-my had been confirmed.The stimulus package hehad rolled out was a signof government patronageof the private sector morethan a mere policy mea-sure. He believed in stateregulation of the economy,where the private sectorflourished but it did nothave a free run. Thestrings of power remainedwith the State — and thatis almost the atavistic eco-nomic thinking of Pranab.Arun Jaitley haddescribed Pranab’s 2009Budget as a rollback to the1980s. But when he wasfinance minister, Jaitleysimply could not resist thetemptation of assertingthe rule of the State, morethan the rule of law, overthe economy. Pranabwould have approved of it.

The writer is a Delhi-based commentator

and analyst

LETTERSREVIVING ECONOMYYour editorial Only longterm measures can resus-citate economy wastimely, bold, vociferousand brought to light theshortcoming of the Modigovernment which hasmade the once healthyIndian economy shrinkmore than 23 per cent inthe quarter ended onJune 30, 2020. The Ce-ntral government hasfailed miserably in its eco-nomic policies includingdemonetisation, GST roll-out and lockdown.Reports say that a fall ofone per cent in GDP willresult in unemploymentof more than 50 lakh pe-ople directly and indirec-tly. The Modi governmenthas thrown the Indianeconomy into the ICU byits inefficient financialpolicies and recovery willtake years. The commonman has to bear the suf-ferings and sacrifice a lotto help put the derailedeconomy back on track..

M.C. Vijay Shankar,

Subhani

ParsaVenkateshwarRao Jr

Pranab really cameinto his own in the

UPA years when hewas the manager ofgovernmental work-ings even as Sonia

Gandhi was manag-ing political affairsfor Prime MinisterManmohan Singh

Dada’s politics: Adept atmanaging power games

At a time that the Supreme Court is being seen as a muzzled watchdog silent inthe face of rampant rise in hate crimes and unconscionable negligence, it is thehigh courts that have emerged as a beacon, offering limited succour to the per-

secuted. This time around, it has come to the rescue of two brave citizens. Allahabad high court chief justice Govind Mathur has to his credit a long line of

recent orders upholding fundamental rights. Many of them have come in suo motucases. It was Justice Mathur’s bench, for instance, which directed the Uttar Pradeshgovernment in March this year to remove hoardings erected at public places display-ing photos and addresses of alleged Citizenship (Amendment) Act dissenters. And it ishis bench that ordered the release of Gorakhpur paediatrician Kafeel Khan, settingaside the Yogi Adityanath government’s detention order against him, declaring hisspeech at Aligarh Muslim University campus on December 13, 2019, a call to unity andnational integration. Most importantly, it ruled the invocation of the National SecurityAct in the case two full months later as unsustainable. Mr Khan had been granted bailin February but was kept in jail under the provisions of the NSA.

However, anti-CAA activist Devangana Kalita, who was granted bail by Delhi highcourt judge Suresh Kumar Kait who ruled that her presence in the protests at JafrabadMetro station on the night of February 22 failed to prove that she had instigatedMuslim women to violence or given a hate speech, will continue to remain in jail. Sheis in custody under another FIR filed under the draconian UAPA and has been refusedbail in that case.

In his speech at AMU, Mr Khan, whose family has been made the target of miscreantattacks, had called attention to the appalling absence of doctors and basic infrastruc-ture in heartlands, and he had also mentioned that as a member of his community herefused to be browbeaten into silence. He had criticised the impunity with which alabourer was killed in Rajasthan in 2017, simply for being Muslim. In February, MrKhan’s own uncle became the victim of a shooting. The courts should compensate MrKhan for the sufferings that he has endured and the months that he has spent in jail —in 2017, too, he was harassed by the same administration for exposing medical negli-gence. A rational and pluralistic polity should heed his views.

A TRUE NATIONALISTIN THE demise of former PresidentPranab Kumar Mukherjee the coun-try has lost a statesman par excel-lence. A well respected trouble shoot-er and a solution provider to anyproblem placed on his table, he wasone whom ‘everybody wanted’. Hislife was full of challenges, excitementand dedication bordered with a rarekind of intelligence and statesman-ship worthy of emulation by every-one in public life. Throughout hislife, he remained a true nationalist.

Tharcius S.FernandoChennai

STALWART POLITICIANTHE NATION has lost a stalwartpolitician and an outstanding parlia-mentarian. Pranab became the firstPresident with the distinction ofheading before three crucial min-istries – external affairs, defence andfinance. Known for his sharp memo-ry on numbers, Pranab, during meet-ings, would quote figures from pastfive-year plans and other governmentdata in a flash, leaving his colleaguesastounded.

R. SivakumarChennai

A whistleblower’s vindication

Corona ridden Bollywood maywell be asking script writers totry their hand on RahatIndori, the Urdu poet whose

popularity has shaken up the literaryworld particularly since his death onAugust 11. He is a most unlikely icon.The actor who could have played therole most convincingly also diedrecently — the adorable comic,Soorma Bhopali of Sholay fame. Theyboth came from impoverished back-grounds from the Bhopal-Indore beltand had similar accents, flatteningtheir vowels, imparting to theirspeech a typical Bhopali lilt.

Rahat Indori was five years old whenthe much loved poet Majaz died of astroke after he was found on the freez-ing terrace of a country liquor shop inLucknow’s Qaisar Bagh. As someoneborn to a poor cloth mill labourer,Rahat’s nightmare of financial insecu-rity only increased watching the eco-nomically circumscribed lives of Urdupoets. Majaz was only one of them.Rahat worked hard educating himselfright upto PhD on a subject which wasto stand him in good stead in subse-quent years — Urdu Mushaira. Andwhat a performer he became inMushairas charging upto ̀ 10 lakhs foran appearance — quite unprecedented.

This is precisely the reason why

Rahat’s dominance of the media spacefollowing his death is such a phenom-enon. Andy Warhol’s observation issuccinct: society has reached a pointwhere everybody will have fifteenminutes of fame. But applying thisquip to Rahat Indori would be aninsult. Rahat had an extraordinary fol-lowing for decades.

Rahat missed out on any personalexperience of the greats like FaaniBadayuni, Jigar Moradabadi and YaasYagana Changezi. He was too young.But Josh Malihabaid and FiraqGorakhpuri were around till the late80s, and a 30 year old budding poet ofIndore must have overlapped in aMushaira or two. Firaq, ofcourse,taught English literature in AllahabadUniversity, but Josh mostly dependedon feudal patronage after the abolitionof zamindari in 1952. Some experi-ences for a man of his ego were humil-iating. For instance when Josh wasintroduced to the Patiala Durbar, thestate’s Prime Minister Sardar K.M.Panikkar, ill equipped to place anyvalue on an Urdu poet, decided on astipend of `75 per month. TheMaharaja, an admirer of Josh, wasembarrassed: he increased theamount to `300, a princely sum thosedays.

The fastidious would not rank Rahatamong the finest poets, but the poets

who would qualify for their esteemwould never have audiences of thou-sands in their thrall, Mushaira afterMushaira, across India, indeed, worldwide.

What will be Rahat’s place in litera-ture? There is a singular lack ofendorsement of a large swathe of con-temporary Urdu poetry by critics,scholars, connoisseurs and those whohave grown in an informed Urdumilieu. Ironically, this turns out to bein inverse proportion to the unprece-dented popularity of poets like Rahat.How does one explain this equation? Itis almost axiomatic that with risingegalitarianism a taste for classics willdecline. In his diction and delivery,Rahat had cultivated an exaggerated“abhinay”, a knack for coming acrossas a street fighter.

The danger of feudal patronage dry-ing up was real but mostly in NorthIndia. The South remains much themore civilized thanks to such institu-tionalized treats in dance and musicannually as “The Season” in Chennai.In the Hindi belt, just as the feudalpatronage tapered off, enlightenedbusiness houses like the Bharatrams,Charatrams and the Sarabhaisstepped in massively. They have nowbeen superseded by the unbelievableexplosion of music on the socialmedia. Everything, from the earliest

recordings in 1900, is available withthe flip of a switch.

Compared to music, the graph ofUrdu poetry is more complex. AfterPartition it was assumed that interestin Urdu would decline. JoshMalihabadi’s dictum that “a languagewhich does not give you bread willdie” did operate to the extent that thenumber of scholars, critics, indeedeven university faculties dwindled. Amore formal and educated apprecia-tion of poetry was a distinct casualty.Highbrow literature did begin to makeway for more popular genres. ButUrdu was able to frequently shockthose who had written its obituary.Never was this shock more tellingthan during the unprecedented suc-cess of Jashn e Rekhta, a celebration ofUrdu in all its forms, an annual carni-val which fills up half a dozen venuesat New Delhi’s National Stadium dayand night for three days. This brain-child of a remarkable cultural entre-preneur Sanjiv Saraf is an unparal-leled contribution towards upliftingthe drooping morale of Urduwallas.Urdu’s demise, in any case, was pre-maturely predicted after the resilienceit had demonstrated in Bollywood inthe field of lyrics, diction, dialoguesboth, their content and delivery. Littlewonder, Rahat became a sought afterlyricist with music directors like Anu

Malik and A.R. Rehman. Artist M.F. Hussain became one of

Rahat’s obsessive admirers afterwatching him keep a packed hall spell-bound during a poetic symposium inQatar. They became close friends. Infact the cover of one of Rahat’s collec-tions, has been designed by Hussain.

There is stunning irony about hisdeath. Rahat wrote:

“Waba phaili hui hai har taraf Abhi mahaul mar jaane ka naheen” (A pandemic is spreading every-

where This is not the proper season to die.) The poet who wrote these lines is

declared Corona positive on the nightof August 10 and is dead by August 11.Is there a galloping strain of Corona?

Remember how Habib Jalib’s “Mainnaheen manta” became an iconic songduring the anti-citizenship stir?Equally evocative and direct wasRahat’s couplet:

“Sabhi ka khoon hai shamil yahan kimitti mein;

Kisi ke baap ka Hindostan thodi hai” (The blood of all of us has mingled in

this soil; Hindostan is not the property of any-

body’s father)

The writer is a senior journalist and commentator

based in New Delhi

Saeed Naqvi

Rahat Indori:A theme for

Bollywood withbuilt-in lyrics

Wide Angle

3 SEPTEMBER 2020

DECCAN CHRONICLE

ADITYA SINHA K. SUDHAKAREditor Printer & Publisher

R. MOHANResident Editor

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HFCs, NBFCs in bid to shock-proof assets

LICHFL looks toraise `50,500 cr

pg 7THURSDAY | 3 SEPTEMBER 2020 | CHENNAI

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, SEPT. 2

After a lull of severalmonths, gold importsalmost doubled in Augustto 60 tonnes as demandfrom arbitrageurs andlarge investors surgedwhen the gold priceswere shooting up.

Against 32.1 tonnes inAugust last year, importswere almost double at 60tonnes and the highest ineight months. Even interms of value, importswere more than double at$3.7 billion against $1.37billion.

Imports were almostnegligible in the past fewmonths of lockdown andrestrictions. In May thecountry had imported 1.4tonnes and in June, 11tonnes. By July, theimports had moved up to30 tonnes.

According to an indus-

try expert, arbitrageursand large investors wereactive in the market asthe gold prices weregoing up. They have beentrying to use the arbi-trage opportunity onimport tariff rate whichis revised every 15 days.They have been expect-ing that the prices willfurther move up. Butthey are now stuck withthe gold after prices fell.

“Large investors have

been buying bars andcoins in July and earlyAugust when the goldprices were shooting up.However, when the pricesfell in a matter of days,the market came into adiscount. Currently, goldis available at a discountof $50 per ounce,” saidVipin Raina, president,bullion sales and trading,at MMTC Pamp.

However, the demandamong the end con-sumers have not pickedup yet as has been evi-dent from the dullness atthe jewellery stores.“This is a tell-tale evi-dence of the disconnectbetween the fundamentalmarket of gold con-sumers and people whouse the metal for arbi-trage purposes. This hasbeen happening due tothe absence of an appro-priate trading system,”said the expert.

FC BANKING BUREAUMUMBAI, SEPT. 2

A host of non-bankingfinance companies(NBFCs) and housingfinance companies (HFCs)are raising capital tostrengthen their balancesheets tp guard againstunexpected asset qualityshocks or to financeorganic and inorganicbusiness opportunities.The latest to announcecapital raising plans wasLIC Housing Finance,which on Wednesday saidit will seek shareholders'approval in the annualgeneral meeting thismonth to raise up to Rs50,500 crore by issuingdebt securities or otherhybrid instruments on aprivate placement basis.

So far leading non-banklenders, such as ShriramTransport Finance,Mahindra & MahindraFinancial Services, L&TFinance and HDFC haveannounced or alreadyraised capital. MoreNBFCs are expected toapproach the capital mar-kets to raise funds as thesector would take morethan a year to recover fromthe fallout of the Covid-19pandemic. The sector isnearly two years into itscrisis, which was triggeredby the default of IL&FS.

LIC Housing Finance’sannual general meeting(AGM) will be conductedthrough video conferenceon September 28. Theapproval of the membersis being sought by way of"special resolution, autho-rising the board of direc-

tors to issue NCDs and/orany other hybrid instru-ments which can be classi-fied as being Tier II capi-tal under the provisions ofthe Housing FinanceCompanies (NHB)Directions, 2010, up to anaggregate amount notexceeding Rs 50,500 croreon a private placementbasis,” the company saidin a regulatory filing.

LIC Housing Financesaid its overall borrowingpower is of Rs 3 lakh croreand the proposed fundraise plan is within thelimit.

Analysts feel that equityissuance may pick up inthe near-term as issuersseek to bolster capitalpositions.

A. M. Karthik, vice pres-ident and sector head,financial sector ratings,Icra Limited said, "Banksand NBFCs are highlyleveraged entities withleverage of 4-10 times andgenerally operate at thinoperating profitability of2-4 per cent of assets.Ability to absorb even a 4-5 per cent loan loss with-out eroding capital will bechallenging task for manylenders and hence strong

capital position or freshcapital raising to absorbexpected losses willremain a key driver forcredit profile of thelenders."

"In particular, theNBFCs, though they arefairly comfortable on cur-rent capital position,based on the extent ofestimated slippages, theymay need to raise equitycapital of upto Rs 2,5000-35,000 crore in the currentfiscal to shore up their sol-vency and also providecomfort to their lenderson their ability to absorbshocks. Icra also notesthat the pre-provisionprofits of non-banks areabout 4 per cent, whichwould also support theircapital position as assetsunder managementgrowth is expected to benegligible, in the best-casescenario, with a biastowards a contraction, asthe impact of pandemicmay linger around longerin the current fiscal.Further, for NBFCs, thefunding constraints wouldremain a key concern forthe sector in the near tomedium term,” addedKarthik.

New Delhi, Sept. 2:India has joined thegroup of top 50 coun-tries in the global inno-vation index for the firsttime, moving up fourplaces to the 48th rankand keeping the topposition among thenations in central andsouthern Asia.

According to theGlobal Innovation Index(GII) list, 2020 releasedjointly by the WorldIntellectual PropertyOrganization (Wipo),Cornell University andInsead Business Schoolon Wednesday, the rank-ings show stability atthe top but a gradual"eastward shift in thelocus of innovation" asAsian economies likeChina, India, thePhilippines andVietnam have advancedconsiderably in theinnovation ranking overthe years.

Switzerland, Sweden,the US, the UK and theNetherlands lead theinnovation ranking, andthe top 10 positions aredominated by high-income countries, Wiposaid in a statement.

India, it said, hasbecome the third mostinnovative lower mid-dle-income economy,thanks to newly avail-able indicators andimprovements in vari-ous areas of the GII.

India ranks in the top15 in indicators such asICT services exports,government online serv-ices, graduates in sci-ence and engineering,and R&D-intensive glob-

India ranks48th in

innovationindex

New Delhi, Sept. 2: Infurther easing of restric-tions, the government onWednesday permittedIndian airlines to increasethe number of domesticpassenger flights to 60 percent of their pre-Covidservices, according to anofficial order.

On June 26, the Ministryof Civil Aviation hadallowed the airlines tooperate a maximum of 45per cent of their pre-Coviddomestic flights.

The ministry hadrestarted domestic pas-senger services from May25, after a gap of two

months due to the coron-avirus-triggered lock-down.

However, the airlineswere allowed to operatenot more than 33 per centof their pre-Covid domes-tic flights.

Modifying its previous

order of June 26 where ithad put the 45 per centlimit on the number ofdomestic flights, the min-istry issued an order onWednesday stating that,"45 per cent capacity maybe read as 60 per centcapacity."

The average occupancyrate in domestic flightssince their resumption inIndia on May 25 has beenaround 50-60 per cent.

Scheduled internationalpassenger flights continueto remain suspended inthe country since March23 due to the pandemic.

— PTI

Airlines can fly 60% of pre-Covid flights

quickBITES

INDICATORS %Sensex 39,086.03 0.48Nifty 50 11,535.00 0.56S&P 500* 3,548.63 0.62Dollar (`) 73.03 0.20Pound Sterling (`) 97.50 0.36Euro (`) 86.65 0.75Gold (10gm)* (`) 52,314▼614 1.17Brent crude ($/bbl)* 44.59 -0.99IN 10-Yr bond yield 5.920 -0.023US 10-Yr T-bill yield* 0.679 0.008

* As of 9:30 PM IST

Dumping duty onacrylic fibre from4 nations likelyIndia may impose anti-dump-ing duty on a certain type offibre imported from EuropeanUnion, Belarus, Ukraine andPeru as the commerce min-istry's arm DGTR has recom-mended for the same afterconducting a probe. TheDirectorate General of TradeRemedies in its findings con-cluded that acrylic fibre fromthese countries has beenexported at below its associat-ed normal value.

Arbitrageurs bumpup gold imports

Aries: You may get a transfer of choice. Theprofessional front is good. Take care of yourhealth and help elders. Romance is in the airfor couples.Taurus: Maximize your self-confidence to suc-ceed in your work. Being idle will impact men-tal peace. Avoid pessimism. Bring transparencyto the professional front.

Gemini: Try to communicate effectively withsenior management and to motivate subordi-nates. Mental agility will help handle addition-al responsibility on the work front.

Cancer: Falling in love is likely to prove stimu-lating. Respect for the individual is key to suc-cess at the workplace. Don’t force your opin-ion on others.Leo: Don’t let praise go to your head.Investment in antiques and jewellery will beprofitable. Creativity will bring success atwork. It is time to work harder.

Virgo: Self-trust will help you shake off illness.Listening to employees can affect profitabilityand growth. Business issues will be resolved.Control your diet during social gatherings.

Pisces: Intelligent hard work and some anx-iety will lead to success. Don’t allow a self-ish person to interfere in your relationship.Your honest and transparent working stylewill pay off, but not your sluggish nature.

Your day today

Sakshi Malik, an Indian freestyle wrestler. At the 2016Summer Olympics, she won the bronze medal in the 58kg category, becoming the first Indian female wrestler

to win a medal at the Olympics.

You share your b’day with

COFFEE-BREAK

Across1.Forester's machine (8)

7. Started (5)8. Slogan (5)9. Conventional (6)

10. Support (4)12. Friend in war (4)14. Technical language (6)17. Transport (5)18. Memorise (5)19. Let go (8)

Down1. Tobacco roll (5)2. Yearbook (6)3. Lacking feeling (4)4. Player (5)5. Copious supply (9)6. Part (9)

11. Defects (6)13. Clothing size (5)15. Sentry (5)16. Wheel cover (4)

QUICK CROSSWORD

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER

Across: 1. Disallow,6. Core, 7. Mishap,9. Tabby, 11. Debut,12. Limit, 13.Known, 16. Native,18. Mini, 19.Foretell.

Down: 1.Decathlon, 2.Shrub, 3. Lamb, 4.Western, 5. Sea, 8.Potential, 10.Bailiff, 14. Olive, 15.Near, 17. Apt.

TODAY’S RATINGS: 14 AVERAGE; 16GOOD; 18 OUTSTANDING

Word Mine

ANSWERS:code, coded, cued, DECIDUOUS, dice,died, diode, disco, dose, dosed, douse, doused,dude, iced, side, sided, sued, used

DS E O

I D C U U

By Dr C.V.B. Subrahmanyam

Christopher Morley, whowas an essayist, jour-nalist, novelist and poet,

wrote, "The real purpose ofbooks is to trap the mind intodoing its own thinking."

Is it also true that the realpurpose of bridge columns isto trap a player's mind intodoing its own analysis?

Today's deal is much easierwhen presented on paperbecause the reader knowsthat there is an unusual playto be found.

Look at the North and Easthands. Against three no-trump, West leads a fourth-highest spade two. Howshould East anticipate thedefense proceeding?

In the auction, North usedStayman to try to uncover a4-4 heart fit. When he failed,he hoped spades would notprove to be a fatal weaknessin three no-trump.

When the deal was origi-nally played, West led hisfourth-highest spade, and

East automatically followedthe "third hand high" dictum,putting up his 10. No need tostrain the brain at that point!

South took the trick andplayed a heart. East won withhis ace and returned thespade five (his originalfourth-highest), but afterWest collected three tricks inthe suit, South claimed theremainder. East's spade eightrotted on the vine.

East should have pausedbefore playing to the first

trick. If he had, he probablywould have seen the necessi-ty to retain his spade 10.South was marked with twospades -- but which two?Surely not the ace and nine,because West would have ledthe king from K-Q-J-2. In allother possibilities, East had toplay low.

Copyright United FeatureSyndicate

(Asia Features)

bridge

PHILLIPALDER

THE HARDPART IS

THINKINGIT

jumble

C A L V I N A N D H O B B E S | B i l l W a t t e r s o n

B L O N D I E | D e a n Y o u n g a n d J o h n M a r s h a l l

A N D Y C A P P | R e g S m y t h e

T A R Z A N | E d g a r R i c e B u r r o u g h s

T H E W I Z A R D O F I D | P a r k e r a n d H a r t s d

A R C H I E | B i l l H e n r y S c a r p e l l i & c r a i g b o l d m a n

How many words of four or moreletters can you make from the lettersshown in today’s puzzle? In making aword, each letter may be used onceonly. Each word must contain the

letter at the top of the pyramid. Thereshould be at least one nine letterword. Plurals, foreign words andproper names are not allowed.

Libra: Students should concentrate more onstudies. Losses from bad investments are likely,but you will soon have the opportunity to makemoney. Don’t take your partner for granted.

Scorpio: Social work will keep you busy.Financial losses are indicated. Get started on ahobby or sport you have been planning to takeup.Sagittarius: Social work will keep you busy.Financial losses are indicated. Get started on ahobby or sport you have been planning to takeup.

Capricorn: Fun and games will charge you up.An auspicious event is indicated. Many interrup-tions are likely, so don’t plan much work.Disputes may disturb you.Aquarius: Solve domestic issues with mutualunderstanding. Avoid discussing controver-sial issues with family and friends.Monetary gains are indicated.

Printed & Published by K Sudhakar on behalf of Deccan

Chronicle Holdings Limited. Printed &Published at Deccan Chronicle Presses

situated at SP-3 Developed Plot,Industrial Estate, Guindy, Chennai.

Editor: T.Venkatram Reddy, RNI Reg.No. TNENG/2008/25473 Air surcharge Re1. © All rights reserved. Reproduction in

whole or in part without written per-mission of The Editor, Financial

Chronicle ® is prohibited.

GAMES pg 8DECCAN CHRONICLE | CHENNAI | THURSDAY | 3 SEPTEMBER 2020

New Delhi, Sept. 2:Suresh Raina is like a“son” to him but ChennaiSuper Kings owner N.Srinivasan on Wednesdaysaid the all-rounder’sreturn to the side this IPLseason after an unantici-pated pullout would bedecided by the team man-agement led by skipperMahendra Singh Dhoni.

Raina had last week leftthe CSK camp in Dubaiamid 13 Covid-19 cases,including national teamseamer Deepak Chahar,but there was some con-troversy regarding analleged breach of bio bub-ble, something the playerhas categorically denied.

The former BCCI presi-dent was initially furiouswith Raina’s departurebut softened his stancelater. The player alsoseemed to have spoken toSrinivasan and called hima father figure besidesindicating that he mightcome back.

“I have treated him likeone (son). The reason forCSK’s success in IPL overthe years is because of thefact that franchise neverpoked its nose into crick-eting matters. IndiaCements is running crick-et since ’60s. I will alwaysremain like that,”Srinivasan said. — PTI

Raina keen to return,but ball in MSD’s court

LANKA LEGENDMALINGA PULLSOUT OF IPL

PAK WIN FINALT20 vs ENG,SERIES DRAWN

New Delhi, Sept. 2:Veteran Sri Lanka pace-man Lasith Malinga haspulled out of the IndianPremier League “to bewith his family”, his teamsaid on Wednesday, addingto growing list of playersabandoning theCoronavirus-hit Twenty20tournament.

Malinga has asked to belet go for personal reasonsthe Mumbai Indians said,while also announcing hewould be replaced byAustralian quick JamesPattinson.

“James Pattinson willjoin MI Family currentlybased in Abu Dhabi thisweekend,” current cham-pions Mumbai said in astatement.

“There is no denying thefact that we will missLasith's cricketing acumenthis season,” Mumbaiteam owner AkashAmbani said.

Malinga has been withthe Mumbai team since theinaugural edition in 2008.

Other players who haveopted out of the tourna-ment include England’sJason Roy, of the DelhiCapitals, and SureshRaina, who quit theChennai Super Kings aftertwo players tested positivefor Coronavirus.

— AFP

Manchester, Sept. 2:Pakistan signed off theircricket tour of Englandwith a five-run win intheir third and finalTwenty20 international todraw the series 1-1 on,with veteran batsmanMohammad Hafeez set-ting up victory with a 52-ball 86.

Hafeez tied his best T20score in his 94th match inthe format to helpPakistan to 190-4 afterbeing put into bat. Key tothe innings was Hafeez’s100-run partnership forthe third wicket with 19-year-old Haider Ali, whohit 54 on his T20 debut.

Moeen Ali starred inEngland’s reply with 61off 33 balls, but was one oftwo wickets to fall in asuperb next-to-last overbowled by Wahab Riaz (2-26). England needed 12 offthe final two balls andalthough Tom Curranstruck a six off the first,he swung and missed offthe last delivery of theinnings by Haris Rauf toleave the hosts on 185-8.

— APBBrriieeff ssccoorreess:: PPaakkiissttaann119900//44 iinn 2200 oovveerrss (M.Hafeez 86 n.o, Haider Ali54; Chris Jordan 2/29) btEEnnggllaanndd 118855//88 iinn 2200 oovveerrss

(Moeen Ali 61, Tom Banton46; Wahab Riaz 2/26).

New York, Sept. 2: SumitNagal became the firstIndian to win a round at aGrand Slam in sevenyears when he downedAmerican Bradley Klahnin his US Open firstround, setting up a contestagainst World No.3Dominic Thiem, here.

Returning to theFlushing Meadows wherehe took a set off RogerFederer, the Indian gotpast the local rival 6-1, 6-3,3-6, 6-1 in two hours and 12minutes on Tuesdaynight.

Somdev Devavarmanwas the last Indian to wina main draw match at amajor and incidentally, itwas at the US Open in 2013when he beat Slovakia’sLukas Lacko after comingthrough qualifiers.

“I qualified for a juniorSlam in 2013 here andthen the men’s and now towin my first round heremeans a lot. I enjoy play-ing here and it has workedout in my favour fewtimes,” Nagal said.

“It was not easy to walkinside the court knowingthis match is more in yourfavour. I was definitelynervous and especiallyplaying for my first slamwin but I did the things Iwas supposed to and keptmy composure,” he added.

After Somdev, Indiantennis saw the rise ofYuki Bhambri, Ram-kumar Ramanathan andPrajnesh Gunnes-waranbut none of them couldwin a main draw round.

Ramkumar did not evenqualify for a main draw inmany attempts.

Bhambri had to copewith injuries and thathalted his progress.Between 2015 and 2018 hecompeted all four majorsbut never crossed a round.

Nagal said Indian tennisshould have done betterand partly blamed it onthe not-so-helpful “sys-tem” as well.

Up next for him will beAustria’s top playerThiem, who advancedwhen his Spanish rivalJaume Munar retiredbefore the start of thethird set. Thiem was lead-ing 7-6(6), 6-3 when Munarfound it difficult to contin-ue as he injured his kneeduring the second set.

Nagal hardly cares forreputations and is expect-ed to make it tough for theWorld No.3. — AFP

New York, Sept. 2:Serena Williams’ quest fora record-equalling 24thGrand Slam got off themark as Andy Murrayrolled back the years witha vintage comeback at theUS Open Tuesday.

Six-time winnerWilliams powered past96th-ranked Kristie Ahnafter Murray came fromtwo sets down to win afive-set thriller in his firstsingles Slam match in 18months.

The pair both pro-gressed to the secondround on day two of a USOpen that is unrecognis-able from previous tour-naments, without specta-tors and with stringentmeasures to preventCovid-19 infections.

Williams defeated Ahn 7-5, 6-3 as she started the lat-est bid of her protractedpursuit to matchMargaret Court’s GrandSlam title with a straight-sets win.

The 38-year-old over-came the loss of her firstservice game in the open-ing set to advance at a vir-tually empty Arthur AsheStadium, where artwork

by black artists is dis-played in honor of theBlack Lives Matter move-ment against racial injus-tice.

Meanwhile, world num-ber one Ashleigh Barty,the second-rankedSimona Halep andCanadian Bianca

Andreescu — whostunned Williams in lastyear’s final — are allabsent from the behind-closed-doors tournament.

A title win for Williamswould also see her becomethe most decoratedwomen’s player at the USOpen in the modern era.

She is currently tied withChris Evert on six.

Murray secured a stun-ning 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6(7/4), 6-4 come-from-behind victory in a bruis-ing 4 hr and 39 minencounter against Japan’sYoshihito Nishioka.

The Scotsman, who whohas barely played in 2020,said he had learnt a lotabout his physical condi-tion and the metal hip hereceived during surgerylast year. “I’ve just playeda four-and-a-half hourmatch when I neverthought I’d be able to,” hetold reporters.

Tenth seed GarbineMuguruza, the 2016French Open champion,advanced to round twowith a 6-4, 6-4 victory overJapan’s Nao Havino.

Also in the women’sdraw, second seedAmerican Sofia Keninneeded just over an hourto score a 6-2, 6-2 win overunseeded Belgian YaninaWickmayer. And ninthseed Johanna Konta beatcompatriot HeatherWatson 7-6 (9/7), 6-1 in atie dubbed the “Battle ofBritain.” — AFP

Murray back from the brinkSumit Nagal of India returns a shot to Bradley Klahn of USA during their first round match at the US Open tennischampionships in New York on Tuesday. Nagal won 6-1, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

Super Sumit showNagal downs Klahn, to meet Thiem in 2nd round

SSEELLEECCTT RREESSUULLTTSS

MMeenn’’ss ssiinngglleess ffiirrsstt rroouunndd ((nnuummbbeerr iinn bbrraacckkeettss ddeennootteess sseeeeddiinngg))::Sumit Nagal (IND) bt Bradley Klahn (USA) 6-1, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1; AndyMurray (SCO) bt Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6(7/4), 6-4; Marin Cilic (CRO x31) bt Denis Kudla (USA) 6-7 (3/7), 3-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-3; Dominic Thiem (AUT x2) bt Jaume Munar (ESP) 7-6(8/6), 6-3, 0-0 abandon; Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x14) bt Tommy Paul(USA) 6-4, 6-3, 6-1; Daniil Medvedev (RUS x3) bt Federico Del Bonis(ARG) 6-1, 6-2, 6-4; Roberto Bautista (ESP x8) bt Tennys Sandgren(USA) 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3); Milos Raonic (CAN x25) bt LeonardoMayer (ARG) 6-3, 6-2, 6-3; Vasek Pospisil (CAN) bt PhilippKohlschreiber (GER) 7-6 (7/4), 7-5, 7-6 (7/3); Alex De Minaur (AUSx21) bt Andrej Martin (SVK) 6-4, 6-3, 7-5; Richard Gasquet (FRA) btIvo Karlovic (CRO) 7-6 (7/0), 7-6 (7/4), 6-1.

WWoommeenn’’ss ssiinngglleess ffiirrsstt rroouunndd ((nnuummbbeerr iinn bbrraacckkeettss ddeennootteess sseeeeddiinngg))::Serena Williams (USA x3) bt Kristie Ahn (USA) 7-5, 6-3; Sofia Kenin(USA x2) bt Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 6-2, 6-2; Madison Keys (USAx7) bt Timea Babos (HUN) 6-1, 6-1; Alize Cornet (FRA) bt LaurenDavis (USA) 6-3, 1-6, 6-0; Garbine Muguruza (ESP x10) bt NaoHibino (JPN) 6-4, 6-4; Johanna Konta (GBR x9) bt Heather Watson(GBR) 7-6 (9/7), 6-1; Karolina Muchova (CZE x20) bt Venus Williams(USA) 6-3, 7-5; Sloane Stephens (USA x26) bt Mihaela Buzarnescu(ROU) 6-3, 6-3; Victoria Azarenka (BLR) bt Barbara Haas (AUT) 6-1,6-2; Ekaterina Alexandrova (RUS x21) bt Kim Clijsters (BEL) 3-6, 7-5, 6-1; Donna Vekic (CRO x18) bt Kristyna Pliskova (CZE) 3-6, 7-6(8/6), 6-4; Margarita Gasparyan (RUS) bt Monica Puig (PUR) 6-3, 6-7 (0/7), 6-0; Sorana Cirstea (ROU) bt Christina McHale (USA) 6-4, 7-5; Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) bt Liudmila Samsonova (RUS) 6-2, 6-3.

I have treated him likeone (son). The reasonfor CSK’s success inIPL over the years isbecause of the factthat the franchisenever poked its noseinto cricketing matters.India Cements is run-ning cricket since ’60s.I will always remain likethat.— N. SRINIVASAN

Chennai SuperKings owner

Wellington, Sept. 2: New Zealand skipper KaneWilliamson has acknowledged that there is a “littlebit of apprehension” as he gears up to leave for theUAE to compete in the Indian Premier League,beginning September 19 amid the Covid-19 pandem-ic.

Thirteen members of the Chennai Super Kingscontingent, including two players, testing positivefor the virus has added to his concerns as he pre-pares for his stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad. Heflies out on Thursday.

“That’s part of the reason why they made everyteam stay at a different hotel, Williamson told ‘RadioNew Zealand’.

“Obviously there’s a little bit of apprehension, cer-tainly as you get nearer to the time. Now it’s two daysout you start thinking you do have to be extremelyvigilant and disciplined,” said Williamson. — PTI

KANE WARY OF COVID-19AHEAD OF GLITZY LEAGUE

I qualified for a juniorSlam in 2013 here andthen the men’s and nowto win my first roundhere means a lot. Ienjoy playing here andit has worked out in myfavour few times.

— SUMIT NAGALafter beating

Bradley Klahn in USOpen first round

SHORT TAKES

BBaarrcceelloonnaa:: Lionel Messi’s fatherarrived in Spain early on

Wednesday and is expected tomeet with Barcelona club offi-

cials to discuss his son’s future.Jorge Messi, who is also

Lionel Messi’s agent, landed inBarcelona from Argentina. He is

expected to meet with clubpresident Josep Bartomeu and

other team officials, but it’sunclear when this meeting will

take place.“I don’t know anything,”

Jorge Messi said briefly afterbeing questioned at the airport.

Lionel Messi last week toldBarcelona he wanted to leave

the club and invoked a contractclause that allowed him to

depart for free at the end ofthe season.

But Barcelona claimed theclause expired in June and said

he must see out his currentcontract until June 2021, orleave by paying the buyout

clause of $700 million euros($837 million).

Barcelona has been saying itwill not facilitate Messi’s depar-

ture and will only negotiate acontract extension.

— AP

NNeeww YYoorrkk:: Former top-10 playerCarla Suarez Navarro has

announced that she will needsix months of chemotherapy to

treat Hodgkin lymphoma.Suarez Navarro pulled out of

the US Open last month.In a video posted on Twitter

on Tuesday, the Spaniard saidshe was diagnosed recently.

“I’m fine and calm at themoment and willing to face

whatever comes,” SuarezNavarro said.

She turns 32 on Thursday.Suarez Navarro has been

ranked as high as No.6 and iscurrently No.71.

She is a seven-time GrandSlam quarterfinalist, including

at the US Open in 2013 and2018. — AP

MMuummbbaaii:: PokerStars India is setto host the first edition of theIndia Championship of Online

Poker (INCOOP), offering atotal of `9 crore as prize

money.Starting on Thursday, the three-

week tournament series willinclude 205 events including100+ knockout tournaments,

culminating in a three-day mainevent.

INCOOP follows the secondedition of the India Summer

Championship of Online Poker(INSCOOP) which took place in

May this year and hosted over185 events.

PPrriivvaass,, FFrraannccee:: Belgian riderWout van Aert won the fifth

stage of the Tour de France onWednesday in a sprint finish,

while Frenchman JulianAlaphilippe kept the race

leader’s yellow jersey.A day after producing a

tremendous effort in the Alps insupport of his Jumbo Visma

team leader Primoz Roglic, VanAert posted a second career

stage win at the Tour.Van Aert used his power in

the slight uphill finish to win byhalf a wheel ahead of Cees Bol

and Sam Bennett. — AP

Messi’s fatherarrives in Barca

First online poker event from today

Belgian Aert winsTour’s fifth stage

Tennis playerCarla has cancer

Live on TVTTOOUURR DDEE FFRRAANNCCEE

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from 12.15 am (Friday) on SonySix, HD

DDCC CCOORRRREESSPPOONNDDEENNTTCHENNAI, SEPT. 2

Within a week of getting the prestigious Dronacharyaaward from the sports ministry, Indian shooting leg-end Jaspal Rana received another ‘Drona’ honour onWednesday. This time, it was bestowed on him byRotary Club of Madras East 3232 at an online function.

Rana, a multiple gold medallist in theCommonwealth and Asian Games and now the coachof India’s junior pistol team, said the Rotary awardwas special as he received it from his former nationalcoach Sunny Thomas.

“From 1991 to 2006, he was with me all the time. Hewas more than a coach; like a friend and brother,” saidRana.

The 44-year-old Rana said discipline is a prerequisitefor sporting excellence. “I know how I made it difficultfor my trainees. As I stressed on discipline, a lot ofkids hated me as a coach. I didn’t let them use phonesand stopped them from eating ice cream,” said Ranawho has been credited with grooming teen sensationsManu Bhaker, Saurabh Chaudhary and AnishBhanwala.

Rana said Indian shooters are planning to resumetheir training soon. “All the shooters are currentlytraining indoors. The shooting federation and the gov-ernment have provided them with equipment. Notbeing able to compete with international shooters is asetback for them. We are planning to resume trainingsoon,” he said.

ANOTHER ‘DRONA’AWARD FOR RANA

Former India shooterJaspal Rana and hismother pose withthe ‘Dronacharya’award given byRotary Club ofMadras East.

New Delhi, Sept. 2: Worldchampion P. V. Sindhu haspulled out of next month’sThomas and Uber CupFinals due to “personalreasons” and could alsomiss the subsequent Super750 tournaments inDenmark.

The Thomas and UberCup Finals, scheduled to beheld from October 3 to 11 inAarhus, Denmark is thefirst tournament in therevised calender, whichwas launched by thesport’s governing bodyBWF last week.

“Sindhu will not be ableto participate in theThomas and Uber CupFinals due to some person-al reasons,” the Olympicsilver-medallist’s father P.V. Ramana confirmed.

“She has some personalwork, so unfortunately shewill have to skip the event.We have informed theBadminton Association ofIndia about her decision,”he added.

The Thomas and UberCup Finals will be followedby the Denmark Open I(October 13-18) andDenmark Masters (October20-25).

An Olympic hopeful,Sindhu, who has beentraining at the nationalbadminton camp inHyderabad, had been plan-

ning to participate in theprestigious tournament.

Asked if she would beparticipating in the two 750events in Denmark,Ramana said: “Actuallythat is also (in doubt) ... Imean the entries have beensent for both the events,but it depends on her per-sonal work if she would beable to play both or not.

“She may have to skipone tournament inDenmark. If she can com-plete her personal workthen she will play one.”

Sindhu had resumedtraining last month underthe supervision of Koreancoach Park Tae-Sang afterthe Sports Authority ofIndia (SAI) allowed thenational camp for eightOlympic hopefuls follow-ing approval from theTelangana government onAugust 1. — PTI

CC.. SSAANNTTHHOOSSHH KKUUMMAARRCHENNAI, SEPT. 2

After a long break, racingaction is all set to return tothe Madras Motor SportClub (MMSC) track inOctober. The last nationalchampionship event heldat the Irungattukottaitrack was the openinground of the four-wheelercategory in February.

Vicky Chandhok, vice-president of MMSC, saidthe wait could end inOctober. “There is stillsome ambiguity in lock-down relaxations when itcomes to sporting events inTamil Nadu. They havesaid sporting facilities canopen for training, but noevents can be held tillSeptember-end. So, we arejust being cautious. We

don’t want to plan any-thing and then cut a sorryfigure,” he said.

Vicky said MMSC, theorganisers of two-wheelerand four-wheeler nationalchampionships, are aimingfor a compact schedule.

“If we manage to start inOctober, we’ll still havethree months to completeour schedule. We willschedule it in such a waythat there won’t be anycompromise on the num-ber of races. We willreduce the number of raceweekends. It will remain afull-fledged and worth-while championship to winfor participants,” he said.

The redesigned KariMotor speedway inCoimbatore is also likely tostart hosting events fromOctober.

Sindhu pulls outfrom Uber Cup

Racing action toreturn in October

���� India’s topwomen’s shuttler P.V. Sindhu will not berepresting India atthe Thomas andUber Cup Finals, tobe held fromOctober 3 to 11 inAarhus, Denmark,due to personalreasons.

The MMSC track at Irungattukottai.

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Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited and Printed at

Deccan Chronicle Presses situated at SP 3, Developed Plot, Industrial Estate,

Guindy, Chennai - 600 032. RNI Registration No: TN ENG/2005/14987 Ph Nos: 22254747, 22254748, 22254750,

22254751Editor: ADITYA SINHA

Regd. No.TNENG/2010/35692

SUREKHA SS

Imagine visiting adoctor for palpita-tions and hair loss

only to realise it has less todo with your physicalhealth and more with yourmental state! That was thecase with Hyderabad-baseddoctor Sapna Vadera,who’d noticed she wasexperiencing hair fall andacne issues, somethingshe’d never had in the past.She recalls having evensome palpitation episodes.Blood checks and routinediagnostic tests turned upnothing.

“Everything seemed nor-mal. Then I went to a der-matologist for the hair falland acne, and she asked mea couple of questions,” nar-rates Sapna. “That waswhen I recollected that thehair fall had started whenmy final exams wereapproaching and it wasthat stress which triggeredit.”Sapna’s is not an isolat-ed case. Today, more andmore medical expertsaround the world concurthat an increasing numberof physical ailments arelinked to stress, includingconstipation, vomiting,hair fall, acne, headache,pre-exam jim-jams andeven premature ejacula-tion.

TURN TO PAGE 2

Chennai matinee

8 >>

Ali’s dilemma over Katrina

glam sham

3 >>

Shibani stands with Rhea

TTHHUURRSSDDAAYY || 33 SSEEPPTTEEMMBBEERR 22002200

CHRONICLEAmitabh Bachchan’s granddaughter opens up about having severe anxiety issues, and seeking

treatment. She has started ‘Aara Health’, a virtual platform for mental health awareness

50 shadesof stress

It’s not just symptomslike balding and

constipation that oneseldom associates with

stress, a range ofdisorders have been

found to be linked tomental and

emotional upheaval

I go for severeanxiety. I getreally bad anxietysometimes and Ijust don’t knowwhy — there’s noone reason. Icould be outsideand it just kicksin. You don’t havecontrol of it

— Navya NaveliNanda

DC CCORRESPONDENT

Amitabh Bachchan’s grand-daughter and ShwetaBachchan Nanda’s daughter

Navya Naveli Nanda is one of themost sought-after star kids inBollywood. The young woman hasnot made any attempt to pursue anacting career so far, but has nowco-founded a mental health aware-ness platform called Aara Health.As part of its launch, she openedup in a video about having sufferedfrom severe anxiety for some time.

“I go for severe anxiety. I get real-ly bad anxiety sometimes and I justdon't know why — there’s no onereason. I could be outside and itjust kicks in. You don’t have con-trol of it,” said Navya in conversa-tion with the other founders of theplatform, Mallika Sahney, PragyaSaboo, and Ahilya Mehta.

Till recently, Navya was not com-fortable talking about her mental

health or even seeking therapy.However, after hitting rock bottommultiple times, she changed herapproach “I was like okay, obvious-ly something has to change, I needto talk about it. I think it helped,coming to that conclusion,” sherevealed.

Discussing the progress she hasmade, Navya said, “Now once aweek, I am in that routine and Idon’t think I am even close to hit-ting rock bottom because I haveeverything in control; I am talkingto someone. Now I can identifywhat are the things that get me tohit rock bottom,” adding, “Peoplerealise too late sometimes thatthey need to get help.” Navya’shonest revelation is a reminderthat mental health issues don’t dis-criminate between people on thebasis of their social standing orbank balances. It can affect therich and famous too.

TURN TO PAGE 2

Navya’s honestrevelation

Shweta Bachchan Nanda with her daughter Navya MANY SHADES

OF GREY

● At the beginning of his term in2009, former US President BarackObama had black hair, which slowlyturned grey towards the end of hisfirst term.

● Former UK Prime Ministers TonyBlair and David Cameroon too had ablack mane which turned greyedtowards the end of their term.

● Many fans envy Indian cricketteam captain Virat Kohli’s stylishbeard, but social media went crazyafter it spotted grey strands in hisbeard.

● Many women swooned overCongress leader Rahul Gandhi’s sexyblack stubble, which has now turnedfully grey — blame it on politicalstress.

● Several politicians and Twitteratidid not recognise J&K leader OmarAbdullah after a photo of him sport-ing a grey-white beard went viral inJanuary 2020. Omar was kept underpreventive detention since August2019.

2Thursday 3 September 2020

Deccan Chroniclethe buzz

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

EARLY GREY AND DEADLYIMPACTS

A new study published in thescientific journal Nature haslinked stress to greying. Themost telling example would beBarack Obama at the begin-ning of his term in 2009, with ahead full of black hair, whichslowly turned grey towardsthe end of his first term. Itsurely grew many shades grey-er towards the end of his sec-ond term.

Sport stars also have shownthe stress they take on. TeamIndia captain Virat Kohli’sgreying beard had become atalking point across the virtu-al space. Many claimed it to bethe stamp of his captaincy,never mind that the man isonly close to 32 years!

The aforementioned studyfound that stress activatesnerves part of the fight-or-flight response, which, in turn,causes permanent damage topigment-regenerating stemcells in hair follicles.

Over the years, stress hasalso been linked to many ail-ments including depression,heart disease, obesity, diges-tive problems, auto-immunediseases and early death. Mostoften, however, when onedevelops physical symptoms,one goes through a string oftests and suffering for manyyears before even wondering ifthe symptoms could be linkedto one’s mental health andstress.

Dr Prakriti Poddar, a mentalhealth expert and managingtrustee of Poddar Foundation,recalls a patient who sufferedaches for many years beforeshe went into therapy.“Doctors informed her thatshe has nerve damage, and shewent through physiotherapyfor a long time. When she cameto me, we did neuro feedbackand counselling. I remembershe told me, ‘It’s like magic. Ican’t feel any pain anymore.’We also realised she got noattention at home, so the painmanifested as a call for atten-tion,” explains Dr Prakriti.

Another example the doctorcites is of a woman who wasadvised knee surgery.“However, after therapy andcounselling, her symptomsimproved and she could walk,”says Dr Prakriti, adding thatthere are many such cases,where physical complaintshave been resolved orimproved with improvementin one’s mental condition.

As per Dr Prakriti, all non-communicable diseases arestress-related. Psychosomatic

disorders are ailments causedby or worsened by mental fac-tors. Worse, an increasingnumber of medical profession-als believe most lifestyle ail-ments are psychosomatic innature.

STRESSED OUT AND STUCK INACHES AND PAINS

Stress can trigger the fight-or-flight response in your body,which is the body’s self-defence mechanism againstphysical threat. Dr Vasant R,consultant psychiatrist, FortisMalar Hospital, even assertsthat any form of mental dis-turbance can present itself inchronic physical symptoms.According to him, stress caus-es the body to get stuck in theflight-or-fight response, result-ing in many health problems.“Stress has a threshold. Whenthat breaches, it manifests inphysical symptoms,” he adds.

Akanksha Pandey, a clinicalpsychologist at Fortis hospital,Bangalore, also points out thatchronic stress can knock offone’s immunity. “Patientsoften get frequent colds, fever,upset stomach, loss of weightor excessive weight gain andmany other problems.”

Stress often causes aches and

pains, especially manifestingin the form of headaches. A2000-study published in TheJournal of Headache and Painshowed that stress could trig-ger chronic headaches. Of the267 patients studied, 45%showed that a stressful event

preceded the chronicheadaches. Another studyfocused on stress andheadache frequency in a sam-ple of 5,159 participants foundan association between stressintensity and headache fre-quency.

Dr Vasant strongly believesthat in the case of aches andpains when all tests show nor-mal results, it’s important totake the patient’s history.“Understand the stressors inhis/her life. There could’vebeen a major life event thatcould’ve been the trigger,”explains the doctor, addingthat this is especially so in ten-sion-type headaches and vaguebody pain.

In such cases, the doctoradvises it as important to treatthe mental problem as it is totreat the physical problem.Social and environmental fac-tors can contribute to stress, asdo social and financial pres-sures, he adds.

THAT GUT FEELING

Sadly, stress can even affectthe digestive system, causinggastrointestinal symptomssuch as constipation and vom-iting. A study published in TheJournal of Tropical Pediatricsfound that the relationshipbetween constipation andstressful life events in 2,699 SriLankan children between theages of 10 and 16 years washigher in those exposed tostressful events (separationfrom best friend, failing inexams, severe illness of a fam-ily member, a parent’s job loss,frequent punishments and liv-ing in separatist war-affectedarea).

Clinical psychologistAkanksha Pandey recalls apatient who had constant vom-iting. “She was to appear forher 12th class exams and wasunder immense stress ofexpectations. For many days,she was constantly vomiting,had stopped eating and waslosing weight. All her medicaltests showed ‘Normal’. After afew sessions of therapy, shestarted opening up to whatwas bothering her. We did apsychological evaluation,counselled her, spoke to herfamily and asked them to bemore supportive. After amonth, the vomiting, whichwe call psychogenic vomiting,stopped.” (Psychogenic refersto a psychological originrather than a physical one.)

So, the next time you feel con-stipated or have pains andaches you aren’t used to, apartfrom trying remedies for yourbody try to understand what’sbothering you, too.

50 shades of stress

Navya’s honest

revelationCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“Just like diabetes and hyperten-sion are biological disorders, wherethere is a problem with your body’schemical composition, anxiety isalso an illness and can affect any-one,” says consultant psychiatristDr Alpes Panchal.

However, there are external influ-ences that aggravate anxiety. “Therehas been a steady increase in anxi-ety in younger patients in the pastdecade. This rise could be becauseyoungsters need to keep up with theworld around them. A part of it isalso fuelled by social media,” feelsDr Panchal.

For Navya, a part of the stress wascaused by the people she was sur-rounded with. “There have beentimes in my life when I haven’t beensurrounded by positive people, and Ihave seen how negatively it hasimpacted the way I think, not justabout myself but about the world. Ihave learnt to surround myself withpeople who make me feel good andhappy,” she said.

Till recently, Navya was notcomfortable talking about hermental health or even seekingtherapy. However, after hittingrock bottom multiple times, shechanged her approach “I was likeokay, obviously something has tochange, I need to talk about it. Ithink it helped,” she revealed

SIGNS OF HIGH STRESS Acne Hair fall Digestive issues Lowered immunity Chronic aches Lack of sleep Headache Change in appetite Reduced energy levels

WATCH OUT

Stress can trigger the fight-or-flight response in your body, which is the body’s self-defense mechanism againstphysical threat. Any form of mental disturbance can present in physical symptoms as well. Stress has a thresh-old. When that breaches, it manifests in physical symptoms

— Dr Vasant R, consultant psychiatrist

All ailments are psychosomatic.Stress and anxieties are relatedto all non-communicable dis-eases. Psychosomatic disordersare ailments that can becaused by or made worse bymental factors. And an increas-ing number of medical profes-sionals believe most lifestyleailments are psychosomatic innature

Stress can even affect yourdigestive system causing gas-trointestinal symptoms likeconstipation and vomiting. So,the next time you feel consti-pated, apart from trying reme-dies for your body, also try tothink about what it is that isbothering you. You may neverknow, the problem could belinked to your mental health

Navya with her mother Shweta and grandparents Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan

3Thursday 3 september 2020

Deccan ChroniclekollywoodSai Pallavi appears forqualifying medical examThe actress obliges fellow candidates with selfiesANUPAMA SSUBRAMANIAN

Actress Sai Pallavi was recentlyspotted writing an exam at theMAM Engineering College in

Siruganoor, Trichy. The Maari 2actress, who completed her MBBS inGeorgia, was taking the FMGE —Foreign Medical GraduateExamination. The test is mandatory forthose who have earned their MBBSdegree from certain foreign countriesand wish to practice in India.

The other candidates did not recog-nise her initially, as she was wearing afacemask and had a shawl drapedaround her head. Later, when she cameout of the hall, they were surprisedwhen they spotted her, and approachedher for selfies. The ‘Rowdy Baby’ girlobliged and happily posed with the stu-dents, removing her mask and flashingher beautiful smile.

The fans’ selfies with the NGK actressare going viral on social media.

On the career front, Sai Pallavi hasLove Story with Naga Chaitanya andVirata Parvam with Rana Daggubati.

Nayan, Samanthafor Rashmi Rocketsouth remake?

Taapsee plays the leadrole in the Hindi film

With an eye onthe polls…

IN THE NEWS

…Kamal collaborates withLokesh for political thriller

Earlier, wehad report-

ed that LokeshKanagaraj, themost sought-after filmmakerof Tamil cine-ma, would bed i r e c t i n gRajinikanth in afilm to bebankrolled byKamal Haasan’shome banner.But there’s beena change of plan.

We hear thatLokesh will nowdirect Kamal,and the newmovie planned, apolitical thriller,is to be made ina short span oftime.

The makers feel it will be ideal to release thefilm before the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly elec-tions, as the MNM party leader, Kamal Hassan, isgearing up to face the polls. The details are beingworked out.

While Lokesh is awaiting the release of hismuch-anticipated film Master with Vijay and VSP,Kamal has Indian 2 and Thalaivan Irukkindranin his kitty.

Director Nandha Periyasamy, whodirected credible films like Oru

Kallooriyin Kadhai, Maathiyosi etc.,recently penned a script based on therunner Rashmi. His story about the girlfrom an oppressed caste in Rajasthanmaking it big as an athlete reached theears of Taapsee Pannu. Impressed withthe script, she reportedly invited Nandhato Mumbai and agreed to essay the leadwhen the script was made into a film.

Taapsee took to Instagram to announcethat from November, she would be shoot-ing for the Hindi sports drama titledRashmi Rocket directed by AkarshKhurana. The Thappad actress alsoshared a picture of herself in a never-seen-before avatar — sporting a tattoo, achoker, curly tresses and a traditionalnose pin.

Now, a city-based company, Masterpiece,has acquired the movie’s Tamil andTelugu remake rights. If a source on theinside is to be believed, the makers wantto cast a different actress for the southremake of the female-centric film, and thefrontrunners are Nayanthara andSamantha.

Pachai Vilakku getsglobal recognition‘Content is king’, exults Maran

Pachai Vilakku, a film on traffic policemenand road safety, with a social message, direct-

ed by Dr. Maran, has won a couple of internation-al awards.

It bagged the ‘Best Social Awareness Film’ atParo’s Druk International Film Festival, and ‘BestFilm’ at India’s Tripvill International FilmFestival.

The film, released last year, was criticallyacclaimed when it was screened at the New YorkMovie Awards Fest, Aphrodite Film Festival,Italy’s Florence Film Fest and CKF Film Fest inLondon.

Says Maran who also played the lead, “I amextremely happy that a movie like PV which wasmade with a very modest budget and without anycinematic frills, has got global recognition. Thisagain proves that content is king.”

The Thappad actress shared apicture of herself in a never-seen-before avatar — sporting a tattoo, achoker, curly tresses and atraditional nose pin

DC CCORRESPONDENT

Advaith is an inter-nationally educatedyoung turk from a

well-heeled family butinstead of opting for agourmet do planned byhis family, he drove toThiruvallur to feed 4 vil-lages with his savings. Hesays, “My childhood hasbeen one of luxury andgreat experiences. Ialways thought of theneedy and how their liveswould be during celebra-tions or special days. Thelockdown period has crip-pled so many families eco-nomically and I felt theneed to reach out.”Advaith has also specifi-cally helped many tribal

families.Varsha Panjabi, a womanwith humungous socialcachet reached out tochild sexual abuse victimson her daughters birthdayand bought them a slideand toys. She says, “As afashion entrepreneur andwith a great amount ofexposure to high endlifestyles I’ve realised howwe splash out on our spe-cial days but seldom payattention to the plight ofthe needy. So instead ofjust sending food ormoney we decided to givekids what they’ll trulyenjoy and remember.”Chaya devi, a socialactivist also promotingadopting strays and res-cue dogs as special deeds.

4Thursday 3 september 2020

Deccan Chroniclecitylife

GOKUL MM.GDECCAN CHRONICLE

Online art shows and art fairs have become regularfeatures in most parts of the world,as physical gal-leries remain closed due to social distancing norms.In keeping with the trend, Chennai-based artist

Umapathy recently presented a selection of his work atOnArtFair, India’s first virtual art fair, hosted by mojar-to.com. The artist hopes it will be an inspiration for other artistswho would like to showcase their work and earn somemoney during these tough times. The lockdown has hit artists hard, and virtual art fairscould be a way out for those to whom art is bread and but-ter. But Umapathy is thinking of others more than of him-self in these difficult days. He will donate the proceeds fromthe fair for the education of underprivileged children. Themoney will be given to the India Education Collective (IEC)."I have been working as a creative director. I have made cor-porate ads and short filmsduringthe past 20 years. Paintingis one of my passions. Ever since I started earning, I hav-ing been donating a bit to children’s education,"says Umapathy. Since the virtual fair, held from August 28 to 30,was the first such in the country, Umapathy saysthe response was mixed. "It is a novel idea for artlovers. But one advantage is that there was anopportunity for the public to interact with me one-on-one through the platform. And they could visitthe works any time that they wished to."

Umapathy’s paintings are stories narrated on canvas. Heuses vibrant acrylic colours in an expressionist style,blending reality and abstraction harmoniously. The centralmotif is often a human face or figure againsta backdrop ofbold brushstrokes. In addition to directing numerous corporate films, as wellas short films in English and Tamil, Umapathy has alsoworked as a DOP, art director and creative catalyst on fea-ture productions made by Rajiv Menon, Thota Tharani andBharat Bala.Asked how the pandemic has affected art and artists, he

says, “definitely it has affected a lot of artists who are notaware of online platforms or the technologies that we havetoday. Showcasing what you have on a digital platform iswhat it takes to survive.” Stressing that artists should adaptto the situation, he says “you have to be keen on learningnew ways to stay relevant and use technology well. I hadthe opportunity to learn it and I have adapted to the situa-tion well. The pandemic has not affected me personallysince I work from home and I had the tools to get exposure

for my works.” He also feels online art showsand fairs are to stay here.

A virtual first for India

"It is a novel idea for art lovers. Butone advantage is that there was an

opportunity for the public to interact withme one-on-one through the platform."

—Umapathy

No fancy do’sjust good deeds

Chennai-based artistholds an online art fair

While fancy parties were thrown bysome folk, there are those who choseto feed entire villages as a mark ofsolidarity on their special day

Varsha and her daughter Mishika

"As a fashion entrepreneur and with a great amountof exposure to high end lifestyles I've realised how

we splash out on our special days but seldom pay atten-tion to the plight of the needy." — Varsha

Advaith along with his mother Indira

DC CCORRESPONDENT

As the investigation into SushantSingh Rajput’s death is underwayand media trial strengthens over

Rhea Chakraborty, Shibani Dandekar andsister Anusha Dandekar has come out insupport of the actress by seeking justicefor her.

Taking to Instagram, the singer-actorissued a statement revealing that she hasknown ‘vibrant, strong, and vivacious’Rhea since the latter was 16-years-old. “Ihave witnessed such a stark contrast tothis side of her personality over the lastfew months as her and her family haveexperienced the most unimaginable trau-ma. We have watched the media behavelike complete vultures on a witch-hunt,vilifying and torturing an innocent familyto breaking point,” she posted along with a

caption that read, “Istand with you and byyour side always@rhea_chakraborty

#justiceforrhea.”In the long post,

Shibani goes on to revealthat she has seen firsthand what thishas done to her mother’s health, andfather and brother. “What was hercrime? she loved a boy, looked afterhim through his darkest days, put herlife on hold to be there for him andwhen he took his own life she wascrucified (sic),” the note furtherread.

Shibani, who has so much loveand respect for Rhea, ended thenote by calling her a pillar ofstrength and assured her thatshe is always with her.

Vidya gets trolledDC CCORRESPONDENT

After Lakshmi Manchu andTaapsee Pannu’s criticism of

the media trial of RheaChakraborty, Vidya Balan hadalso expressed her displeasure atthe Jalebi actress’ vilification bymedia. However, netizens whohold Rhea guilty for the abetmentof suicide were irked by the act ofsolidarity shown by Vidya andthus trolled the actress on Twitter.

On Monday, the Tumhari Sulluactress had replied to Lakshmi’stweet with a statement that read,“It is so unfortunate that the trag-ic and untimely death of a belovedyoung star Sushant Singh Rajputhas become a media circus. In thesame breath, as a woman, my

heart breaks at the vilification ofRhea Chakraborty. Isn’t it sup-posed to be ‘innocent until provenguilty’, or is it now ‘guilty untilproven innocent’!? Let’s showsome respect for the constitution-al rights of a citizen and let thelaw take its course (sic).”

However, the SSR justice brigadegot angry with the actress forshowing support to Rhea.“@vidya_balan You didn’t say itout loud when things were saidabout Sushant’s 75 year old fatherby Rhea and her lawyer. You didn’tutter a word when Sushant’s sisterwas maligned saying she molestedRhea. Rhea’s every word in herinterview was a lie, we haveenough proofs. (sic),” said oneuser.

5Thursday 3 September 2020

Deccan Chronicleglam sham

Shibani stands with RheaThe aactress ccriticised tthe mmediavilification oof hher ffriend

Ed Sheeran becomes a dadDC CCORRESPONDENT

In December last year, aday before Christmas, Ed

Sheeran took to social media toannounce his break. In a state-ment, he shared that he hasbeen working non-stop since2017 and he has decided to goon a hiatus and will back withmore music.

And now, the Shape of Yousinger broke his social mediahiatus to announce the arrival

of his daughter with wifeCherry. “Ello! A quick messagefrom me as I have some person-al news that I wanted to sharewith you... Last week, with thehelp of an amazing deliveryteam, Cherry gave birth to ourbeautiful and healthy daughter— Lyra Antarctica SeabornSheeran (sic),” he wrote alongwith the picture of a pair ofsocks on Instagram.

The singer further informed,“Both mum and baby are doing

amazing and we are on cloudnine over here. We hope thatyou can respect our privacy atthis time. Lots of love and I’llsee you when it’s time to comeback, Ed x (sic).” The couplewelcomed the little one lastweek.

The singer had kept thedetails of the pregnancy undertight wraps, however, a fewweeks ago, news broke out thatEd and Cherry were soon goingto embrace parenthood.

MEANWHILE

Wehave watched

the media behavelike completevultures on a witch-hunt.— SHIBANIDANDEKAR

‘STARSWILL NOWDECIPHER APRODUCER’SWOES’

Filmmaker C.Kalyan wel-comes the idea

of big stars turningproducers because hebelieves the move will

help them under-stand the diffi-

culties of aproducer andrealise thatproduction isa tough path totrek. He pointsout that on tak-

ing up the high-pressured job of

a producer, super-stars who walked

away with hefty paycheques and led peacefullives, would understand howbound they are to face stress-ful moments. “Everything isdandy till a film is a block-buster, the star-turned-pro-ducers will face one of thebiggest challenges as a pro-ducer — to bear the losses —as the stress starts mounting

on,” he says.

MAHESH BABU ADDS TO THE HYPE

The superstar launched ‘GMB Productions’ and entered

into a partnership with producers of Srimanthudu and

Sarileru Neekevvaru. The films tasted huge success, and

the rest, as they say, is history.

“A big star like Mahesh Babu coming on board as partner

shored up our confidence and also triggered loads of hype

for the film,” points out producer Anil Sunkara. “Mahesh

also shares his valuable tips to deliver a lavish and fool-

proof product. Additionally, the production cost is

cut, which creates a win–win situation for both

the actor and the producer,” Anil says.

Now, Mahesh is also producing a movie

called Major with Adivi Sesh to expand

his creative interests.

RAM CHARAN MAKES

MEGA DEALS

To ensure his father and ace

actor Chiranjeevi could fulfil

his dream of playing a

revered freedom fighter onscreen in

Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, Charan

turned producer. After having tasted success

for this film, Charan is now producing another big-

budget extravaganza, Chiru 152, with Koratala Siva.

Ace cinematographer S. Thirunavukarasu shares

with us that the actor is very clear about what he

wants. “Being a star himself, Ram Charan is able

to push the crew to deliver a larger-than-life

movie without any compromise,” he says.

6Thursday 3 September 2020

Deccan Chronicletollywood

B.V.S. PPRAKASH

Agreed, making a film is nowalk in the park. It’s a lessonsome of the biggest super-

stars in the industry have learnedthe hard way. Take for instance huge-ly successful stars such as PawanKalyan, Balakrishna and VijayDevarakonda who, despite their indi-vidual star image, couldn’t spin box-office magic as producers. Each oftheir production houses’ films, ChalMohana Ranga, N.T.R and MeekuMaathrame Cheptha, respectively,turned colossal duds.

However, just as the industrydecided that ‘successfulsuperstars’ does not neces-sarily equate to ‘successfulproducers’, there emergedanother breed of super-stars-tur ned-producerswho seem to learned all theright tricks to bag successwith their respective produc-tions. Mahesh Babu, RamCharan, Rana Daggubati, SundeepKishan and reigning star Nani havebeen dishing outsome very suc-cessful pro-d u c t i o n s .So, clearly,not allsuperstarsm a k eu n l u c k yproducers.

Stars shiningbright as

producers While big stars like Balakrishna and Pawan Kalyan

produced dud films, the younger ones have been dishing out some very successful productions

RANA TAKES HIS CHANCES

Despite the wisdom in Kalyan’s

observations, some Tollywood super-

stars-turned-producers have been

erring on the side of caution and banking on

‘content-based’ movies to race ahead in their new

job as producers. Take Rana Daggubati — who

despite his dad’s Suresh Productions — has been

chalking his own path to promote new talent and

concepts. With the bold movie under his banner,

Krishna & His Leela, Rana not only tasted success

as a producer of the film, but also ushered a new

outlook in the conservative Telugu cinema.

The new-age star drew critical acclaim for his pro-

duction Awe and then tasted commercial success

with his next film Hit to give a fillip

to his ‘Wall

Poster Cinema’ banner.

Director Sailesh Kolanu of Hit fame is all praise for the

star-turned-producer. “We need producers such as Nani,

who like to explore new-age themes and raise the bar for

the Telugu cinema,” he says. “Initially, I wanted Nani to

act in this film, but after some time, things changed and

Nani asked me to direct Vishwak Sen. And Nani’s judge-

ment turned out to be absolutely on the money.” Sailesh

also recalls how Nani gave him a complete free hand to

do his work after watching him for 10 days. “I

was a debutant, but still he placed a lot

of confidence in our young

team,” adds Sailesh.

NANI TAKES ON THE UNTESTED

N.T.R. Kathanayakudu, producedby Balakrishna, was a flop

Meeku

Maathrame

Cheptha

produced by

VijayDevarakonda

was a dud

too

SUNDEEP KISHAN HAS SUCCESSFUL RUNS

The young actor established his own banner ‘VenkatadriTalkies’ to make the spooky thriller Neenu VeedaniNeedanu Nenu, which introduced a new kind of cinema in

Tollywood. Talking about how passionate he is about movies,Sundeep shares that production is another job he finds fascinat-ing. “The thrill of saying okay to a story idea and seeing the ideatransforming on celluloid is matchless,” articulates Sundeep. But itis not only the financials he takes care of as a producer. “I ensurethat the best team is in place for each product because I intend to pro-

mote refreshing stories. Besides, that ensures we have better control over marketingand promotion of our movies,” he says.

PawanKalyan and

VijayDevarakonda

Culinary divaPadma Lakshmi

turned 50 onSeptember 1, and cel-ebrated the milestoneon social media withsome stunning pic-tures of herself in apink bikini on theseashore.

“50 is the new 30,feel like I’m justgetting started,”she captioned oneof the images,and that said it all!

The Top Chef host,writer, activist andmodel received manymessages of apprecia-tion and congratula-tions. “Happy birth-day, Padma! You’re abeautiful womaninside and out!Thanks for makingthe world better withyour voice andpower” tweeted a fan.

Tiger has beenkeeping up his

workout routineand keeping hisfans posted on

his regimen oversocial media

Karan Johar, who had been forcedoff social media by the backlashfrom the public over the nepotism

issue following the death of young actorSushant Singh Rajput, came out with apost after almost two months on

Tuesday, only to find that he is still inthe netizens’ crosshairs.

The filmmaker revealed onInstagram the title of his chil-dren’s book - ‘The Big Thoughtsof Little LUV’. The announce-ment was accompanied by avideo of his two kids, Roohiand Yash.

But netizens were farfrom impressed, andcalled him out for usingthe children to ‘gainsympathy’. “Ye book bhinepotism products kistories se bharihogi”(This book too will befull of stories of theproducts of nepotism)seemed to be the gen-eral trend of thetrolls that Johar faced.

7Thursday 3 September 2020

Deccan Chroniclespotlight

Actor Tiger Shroff hasshared a video on

Instagram of himselfdeadlifting 220 kg.

“Excuse the warcries...that felt heavya f . . . @ r a j e n d r a d h o l e#220kgsdeadlift,” the Waractor captioned the video.

Reacting to the post, fel-low actor Dino Moreawrote, “Damnnn Tiger

@tigerjackieshroff that’ssome good weight. The bestexercise brother.”

“Baaaaap re” was Kaabilactor Rohit Roy’s com-ment.

Tiger has been keepingup his workout routine andkeeping his fans posted onhis regimen over socialmedia.

Karan is bringing out achildren’s book…

but Netizens say they aren’t interested

Not afraid ofturning 50!Padma Lakshmi slays it inpink bikini

“That feltheavy!”Tiger does some serious lifting

Padma Lakshmiturned 50 onSeptember 1,celebrated themilestone on socialmedia with somestunning pictures ofherself in a pinkbikini on theseashore

LIPIKA VVARMA

Media has been abuzz with thenews that Diljit Dosanjh has

exited from Shaad Ali’s next pro-ject — an untitled quirky rom-comin which the hero of the film getspregnant. This would be theDiljit’s second install-ment with the director.However, Shaad refut-ed the rumours. “Notat all,” Shaad stated,asking instead, “Hashe told you this direct-

ly?”So what is the delay then,

we wonder. “We’re involvedin too many technical issues at themoment,” replied Shaad, adding,“Till Diljit comes to India we can’tsay anything. It’s a technical issuefor him to come to India from the USat the moment as the international

airspace is not open. I’ll confirmonce we have clarity on this.”

As regards the title of the

film, Shaad tells us that they’re stilllooking for one. “Any suggestions?”he quips with a smile, adding,“There is no working title. It’s just‘Production No. 1’.”

While the team is still figuring outif they might start shooting in a cou-

ple of months or even the nextyear, they’ve not yet signed

the female lead either.Shaad Ali had started his

career as an assistant toMani Ratnam for Dil Se.After debuting with YRFwith his 2002 film

Saathiya, he made the2005 hit Bunty Aur Babli

and the 2018 biographicalsports drama based on the life of

Sandeep Singh, titled Soorma.When asked if he regrets not

directing Bunty Aur Babli 2(which is being directed byVarun V Sharma), he laughs,“Haaa! Not at all! My assis-tant is directing it, so I amvery happy in fact.”

Ali was recently given the most expensive film, in thehistory of cinema — the third part of the Tiger franchise.

But it came with a rider: he was to do no other projectsand focus only on the ‘350 crore magnum opus

Ali’s dilemmaAli AAbbas ZZafar cchooses KKatrina’s ffilm oover tthethird ppart oof tthe TTiger ffranchise, bby YYRF

Director Ali Abbas Zafar justlived through a rather difficultdilemma for a filmmaker, when he

had to choose between what he’d like todo and whom he’d like to work withnext. Ali, who’d successfully directedSalman Khan in films such as Sultan,Tiger Zinda Hai and Bharat, has alsodirected Katrina Kaif in films suchas Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, TigerZinda Hai and Bharat.

He was recently given the mostexpensive film in the history — thethird partof the

Tiger fran-chise by Yash

Raj Films.But it camewith a rider:he was to dono other pro-jects andfocus onlyon the ` 350c r o r eworth magnum opus.

The basic idea for the third part ofthe Tiger franchise was Ali’s,which he’d cracked and was likedby Salman too (The actor hadannounced during a trip to theMiddle East that he’d be back withthe third part of Tiger).

“But Ali was also working on asuperhero project with Katrina,which is apparently the mostexciting project that Katrinahas ever done as a performer. Sohe knew if he did the third

installment of Tiger, he needed a lot oftime, which in the given scenario would-n’t be possible. So he chose to opt out ofTiger and let Maneesh Sharma take over,showing his allegiance to Katrina. Hadthe coronavirus not happened, he’d havemanaged to do both,” say sources.

—Sanskriti Media

8Thursday 3 September 2020

Deccan Chroniclematinee

Akshaye getsa relationshipdrama series

Diljit’s pregnant pause

The Accidental Prime Minister actor is allset to make his web debut with a relation-

ship drama series called Decoupled. The pro-ject is helmed by Hardik Mehta, who directedthe Sanjay-Mishra-starrer Kaamyaab, and isdirecting Roohi Afzana starring JanhviKapoor and Rajkummar Rao.

Sources state that the said web-series is basedon writings by veteran journalist ManuJoseph and is being produced by VikramadityaMotwane, who was instrumental in getting theSacred Games seasons in motion. “ProducersBhavesh Mandalia and Sejal Shah will be pro-ducing the series, which will mark Akshaye’sdebut on the web platform. The writer alsocrafted another show for them based onSerious Men, which starred NawazuddinSiddiqui, directed by Sudhir Mishra,” says oneof the sources. Interestingly, Akshaye had alsobeen considering another political thriller onthe digital platform, but the project did notmaterialise owing to its controversial nature.His name was also tossed up as one of the pos-sible actors to play the role of Homi Bhabha ina bio-series on the late nuclear scientist’s lifeon account of his Parsi roots. However, hope-fully, this one being the least controversial ofthem all, may indeed see the light of the day.

—Sanskriti Media

Shaad Ali

Ali Abbas Zafar

FILMO’DRAMA

IDENTIFY THE ACTORSAND THE MOVIES

A. The sequel of the1991 movie. The movie

trailer became the thirdmost disliked video onYouTube in the world,

while it is the most dis-liked video on the plat-

form in India.B. Honey Trehan too

has donned the direc-tor’s hat for the first

time in this AgathaChristie styled inves-

tigative drama. JatilYadav, an unmarried

cop is ordered to exam-ine crime and murders

C. The movie question'sthe patriarchal norms

that we have condi-tioned to submit everyday and the misogyny

that people willingly‘adjust to’ in real life.

D. Seabird, anunmanned ship that

washes ashore inMumbai. It is inspired

by MV Wisdom, a 9000-tonne cargo ship that

was found stranded onJuhu Beach in June

2011.

A

B

C

D

ANSWERS TOMORROW