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MONEY 8INDIA KEEN ON US ALLOWING RESUMPTIONOF OIL SUPPLIES FROM IRAN, VENEZUELA

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VIJAYAWADA, THURSDAY DECEMBER 3, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN HYDERABAD

{

PIO in panel forPrez inauguration

5

Rahul Gandhislams Centre, callsit govt of ‘lie andloot'

4

PM to addressFICCI AGM onDecember 12

8

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Assembly passes severalBills including APSDCPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Assembly on Wednesdaypassed several key Bills,including the controversialThe Andhra Pradesh StateDevelopment Corporation(APSDC) Bill- 2020. The BJPin the past had objected to theprovisions of the GO No 80that was issued in August toestablish Andhra Pradesh StateDevelopment Corporation(APSDC).

It may be recalled that it wasreported in these columns ofThe Pioneer a few days agoabout the broad objectives ofthe APSDC and plans of theState government to borrowloans from the financial insti-tutions from the market byassigning some of the existingState revenues and the new

ones to an escrow account ofthe APSDC as a monetaryguarantee.

The government lacks fiscaldiscipline and indulged in votebank politics by raising loans,alleged BJP State general sec-retary S Vishnuvardhan Reddy.

On Wednesday, FinanceMinister BugganaRajendranath said the APSDCBill is proposed to ensure allthe resources and funds toimplement the welfare schemesof the State government. TheAssembly had also passed

Andhra Pradesh AssignedLands (Prohibition andTransfers) (Amendment) Bill-2020 by voice vote onWednesday.

Deputy Chief MinisterDharmana Krishna Das, whotabled the Bill, explaining theobjective behind amendingthe Bill said the farmers wouldbe given Rs 25,000 per annumas rent for an acre and the landwill be taken for lease only ifthe farmers give voluntarily.The Finance Minister said thedistricts in the Rayalseemaregion receive less rainfall andfarmers would be very happyfor getting Rs 25,000 for lease.The Bill was passed by voicevote and members welcomedit.

Andhra, Odisha borderdispute turns violent

SUMIT ONKA n VISAKHAPATNAM

The poor financial health ofthe three electricity powerdistribution companies in theState will continue even in2021-22 with the deficit run-ning to Rs 11,911 crore. Thisreflects in the ARRs(Aggregate RevenueRequirement) and proposedTariffs for Retail SupplyBusiness submitted to the APElectricity RegulatoryCommission by theDiscoms— APEPDCL,APCPDCL and APSPDCL—for the next fiscal.

Approximately, 68,369 MUpower will be purchased by thethree Discoms at a cost of Rs30,206 crore, including thenetwork and other costs of Rs4,640 crore, the AggregateRevenue Requirement is 44,030 crore. However, the rev-enue generated at the pro-posed tariff rates, including

other sources is Rs 32,119,making the deficit running upto Rs 11,911 crore.

The Andhra Pradesh gov-ernment had claimed thathigh renewable energy (RE)tariffs were the reason for thefinancial distress of localDiscoms, hence, wanted arenegotiation of power pur-chase agreements (PPAs).

MANHANDLING OF MARSHALS

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Speaker TammineniSeetaram has referred to theEthics Committee the com-plaint lodged by marshalsabout the alleged unrulybehaviour of TDP leaders,who manhandled the securi-ty personnel. On Tuesday,marshals had lodged a com-plaint with the Speaker stat-ing that the TDP MLAs hadmanhandled them when theytried to evict them from theHouse after the orders fromthe Chair.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The entire Assembly had burstinto laughter after a video inwhich a group of TDP womenworkers were seen singing asong praising the then ChiefMinister N ChandrababuNaidu at the Polavaram project.Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy had accused that theNaidu government had spentaround Rs 83 crore for suchprogrammes for publicitythough there was not muchprogress on the Polavaramproject construction.

A two-minute video clip in

which a parody song was ren-dered revering Naidu to Godis being circulated on severalsocial media platforms.

YSRCP cadre made fun ofthe song by circulating thevideo clip on social media.During the discussion on the

Polavaram project while giv-ing his concluding remarks inthe Assembly on WednesdayChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy had showed the videoclip to establish the fact thatthe previous TDP governmenthad indulged in wastefulexpenditure by ferrying peopleonly to get publicity even with-out any progress on thePolavaram project construc-tion. All the members in theHouse, including the ChiefMinister and SpeakerTammineni Sitaram, could notcontrol laughter while watch-ing the video.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The Andhra-Odisha borderdispute turned violent onWednesday as the border vil-lagers were seen jostling witheach other with heated argu-ments.

Dumriguda mandal inAndhra Pradesh andJamuguda of Odisha startedabusing each other after thedemarcation. However, thelocal officials of the Vizag dis-trict administration managedto pacify the protesters.

It may be noted that theKotia area has been the boneof contention between thetwo States and are now will-ing to entice the people tobring it to their limits.

Kollaput panchayat is inDumbriguda mandal inPaderu Agency. The lands,which are in a scheduled

area, are being occupied bythe people and Governmentof Odisha. During the pasttwo months, the people ofOdisha are occupying thelands and axing coffee plan-tations apart from attackingpeople of Andhra,” alleged theleaders.

The Girijana Sanghamleaders and KollaputPanchayat Committee leadersstaged a protest at theCollectorate here on Mondaydemanding justice to the trib-als living on the Andhra sideof the Andhra-Odisha Border(AOB) in the district.

Parody song on Naidu evokes laughter

This is according tothe proposalsubmitted to theAPERC

Discoms to run intoRs 11,911 cr deficit

Speaker refersissue to EthicsCommittee

CM vows to completePolavaram on timeSNV SUDHIRn VIJAYAWADA

State government’s prestigiousPolavaram multipurpose theproject had sparked enoughfireworks in the Assembly onthe third day of the ongoingwinter session. During thediscussion on the Polavaramproject, Chief minister YSJaganmohan Reddy assertedthat his government will not

only complete the project dur-ing his tenure as per the time-line he had earlier announced,but also install a 100 feet tallstatue of former CM Dr YSRajasekhara Reddy. He saidthat there was no question ofreducing the height of thePolavaram dam, which isbeing falsely propagated by theopposition parties and also asection of the media.

Covid scare inAssembly as YSRCPMLA tested positivePNS n VIJAYAWADA

Covid-19 scare gripped theAssembly on Wednesday, thethird day of the ongoing win-ter session, as YSRCP MLAKarumuri Nageswar Rao wasreportedly tested positive forthe lethal virus.

Though there has been noofficial confirmation, reportson Wednesday suggested thatthe 56-year-old MLA wentinto home quarantine and hiscondition is said to be stablewith only mild symptoms.

While it is not knownexactly how many MLAs hadcome in touch with the MLAin the last two days, a few ofthem said to have abstainedfrom the House onWednesday and rushed to getthe Covid tests done.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Former Union Minister SureshPrabhu addressed a letter toUnion Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman urgingher to take measures to checkpublic money being used bystate governments to fund wel-fare schemes to gain popular-ity.

Suresh Prabhu was nomi-nated to the Rajya Sabha fromAndhra Pradesh by the BJP.Prabhu’s letter to Sitaramanhad assumed significance sincethere has been widespreadcriticism from all quarters thatthe YS Jaganmohan Reddygovernment has been spendingpublic funds for freebies as partof vote bank politics. The let-ter further gained importancecoming from a BJP MP.

Forwarding a letter written

to him by Vizag-based ITentrepreneur and APChambers of Commerce andIndustry Director O NareshKumar on Wednesday, theformer union minister said inthe letter to Sitaraman “NareshKumar has pointed out someserious issues with regard tothe funding of welfare schemesby State governments.According to him, the funds ofState-owned corporations are

being diverted to distributefreebies in order to win pop-ularity by State governments.He has also suggested strictimplementation and monitor-ing of FRBM limits. Alsoensuring that all loans arebacked by a land guarantee of200 pc of the registered valueplus mortgage the same andalso to mention State repay-ment capacity year wise. Eventhe loan should not cross totalCIBIL limits.”

Prabhu further stated thatthe suggestions of O NareshKumar are very relevant in thepresent context when publicfunds are being diverted byState governments for electoralgains. “I would recommendstrong measures to check thistrend before it goes out of con-trol,” the former union minis-ter said.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The fate of over 1,300 candi-dates, who were selected in theAPPSC Group-I prelims exam,hangs in the balance as theywere given only 45 days toappear for the mains examscheduled from December 14to 20.

The APPSC has released afresh list of 1,327 candidatesafter correcting mistakes inthe final key following theHigh Court order last month.

V Gopal, an aspirant, said,"We were informed sudden-ly last month that we clearedthe exam. It took a lot of timeto gather ourselves and beginpreparation. With a new syl-labus in place, it is impossi-

ble for us to prepare sevenpapers and appear for anexam within a very shortspan of 45 days, let aloneclearing it."

He added, " Group-I job isa dream for many aspirantslike me and we should begiven a fair chance to clearthis exam. We urge theAPPSC to give us an addi-tional time of at least threemonths as the aspirants, whogot selected in the first list,got more than a year to pre-pare." An expert in competi-tive exams training, said, "Idon't understand why there issuch a rush to conduct examwhen all the legal hurdles arecleared by the single judgebench of High Court. Given

the vastness of the syllabus, itis only plausible to give thenew list of candidates, a rea-sonable amount of time.Giving 45 days for a syllabus ashuge as that of UPSC CivilServices is like giving no timeat all.” Many aspirants alsourged the Commission to post-pone the exam as severalCentral and State governmentexams like RRB, NTPC, SSC,CAPF and APSET are sched-uled on the same dates.

Swathi, an aspirant selectedin the new list, said, "Severalhundreds of students fromour State will be at a disadvan-tage as they don't get theopportunity to compete for thenational-level exams.

Suresh Prabhu urges FM to checkStates’ spending on freebies

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Actor turned politician andJana Sena Party chief PawanKalyan has said it is not goodfor the State if farmers shedtears. “We will exert pressureon the government till everyfarmer affected with cycloneNivar gets financial assis-tance. He toured cyclone-affected areas in Krishna andGuntur districts onWednesday and interactedwith farmers and enquired

about their grievances. Heinspected the damaged paddyat Vuyyuru town.

Pawan demands relief for farmers

China has started importing Indian rice for the first time in at leastthree decades due to tightening supplies and an offer from India of

sharply discounted prices, Indian industry officials told Reuters. India isthe world's biggest exporter of rice and China is thebiggest importer. Beijing imports around 4 milliontonnes of rice annually but has avoided purchasesfrom India, citing quality issues. The breakthroughcomes at a time when political tensions between thetwo countries are high because of a border dispute inthe Himalayas. "For the first time China has made ricepurchases. They may increase buying next year afterseeing the quality of Indian crop," said BV KrishnaRao, president of the Rice Exporters Association.

CHINA BUYS RICE FROM INDIA FOR FIRST TIME IN DECADES

VIRAT KOHLI ENDS 2020 WITHOUT ODICENTURY, FIRST INSTANCE SINCE 2008

The Shiv Sena today attacked Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath for his attempts to reach out to Bollywood to make movies in

his state on a day-long visit to Mumbai. "It is not easy to shift Mumbai'sfilm city to another place. The film industry in southIndia is also big. There are film cities in West Bengal andPunjab, too. Will Yogi ji visit these places, too, and talkto directors and artistes there? Or is he going to do itonly in Mumbai?" Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut askedtoday in Mumbai, according to ANI. Raut's statementscome on a day when Mr Adityanath is set to meet adelegation of Bollywood personalities, includingfilmmaker Subhash Ghai and Boney Kapoor, to discussthe future of a proposed film city in his state.

The famous Lord Ayyappa Temple opened for the famous annual Mandala-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season. Sabarimala Tempe is all set to receive

more pilgrims now with the Kerala governmentdeciding to allow more devotees for darshan byadhering to COVID-19 protocols. According to thenew decision, a maximum of 2000 devotees wouldbe allowed at the hill shrine on weekdays and 3000on weekends, the state Devaswom MinisterKadakampally Surendran said. "It has been decidedto allow more pilgrims at the Sabarimala temple.The entire booking will be done online," he said in astatement. Pilgrims can book darshan on thewebsite from today, the minister added.

Virat Kohli finished the year 2020 without a century in One-dayInternational cricket, the first such instance since his debut in 2008.

Although cricket tours around the world were hit by the COVID-19pandemic that forced cancellation of tours,including India's home series against SouthAfrica earlier in the year, Kohli batted in nineinnings in 2020 and scored 431 runs at 47.88with five half-centuries. He finished his final ODIinnings of the year on 63 in the third ODI againstAustralia on Wednesday. Kohli is second on thelist of top scorers and most centuries for India inODIs. His 12,040 runs are behind SachinTendulkar's 18,426 runs.

WILL YOGIJI TALK TO SOUTH FILMINDUSTRY OR JUST MUMBAI?: RAUT

SABARIMALA TO RECEIVE 2,000 PILGRIMS

DAILY DURING MAKARAVILAKKU

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Group-I aspirants’ fate hangs in balance

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vijayawada 02VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | DECEMBER 3, 2020

EGG

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(IN VIJAYAWADA)

TDP deplores govt apathytowards construction workersPNS n VIJAYAWADA

On the third day of theAssembly session, the TDPMLAs and MLCs led byLeader of the Opposition NChandrababu Naidu took outa protest rally up to theAssembly premises demandingthat the YSRCP governmentgrant relief to the constructionworkers in the State.

Naidu registered his strongprotest against the govern-ment's 'indifference'. Over 30lakh construction workerswere thrown onto to the streetswithout any work due to severesand shortage in the past 18months of Jagan’s misrule, healleged.

The TDP MLAs and MLCsheld placards and raised slo-gans against the governmentdemanding reintroduction ofthe free sand policy, which wasfollowed by the previousregime to create a livelihoodfor the workers. The rulingYSRCP cancelled the free sandpolicy and later caused artifi-cial sand the shortage that ledto the collapse of the construc-

tion industry and thereby thelives of the workers.

TDP Legislature PartyDeputy Leader KAtchannaidu deplored thatmany construction workerswere committing suicides dueto the severe sand crisis. Allthe suicides of the construc-tion workers should be treat-ed as the government's mur-ders, he alleged.

Stating that sand mafia wasruling the roost, Atchannaidublamed the Ministers andMLAs for 'rampant exploita-tion' of the sand resources in

utter disregard to the interestsof the construction industryleaving the lakhs of workers inthe lurch.

TDLP Deputy LeaderGorantla ButchaiahChowdary said that the rulingparty leaders have plunderedover Rs 5,000 crore worth ofsand in the State till date.Spurious and substandardsand was being given to thepeople while the best qualitysand was being smuggled toother States and nearby metrocities to sell it at far higherrates and to make easy money.

CM launches AP-Amul projectPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy said that the govern-ment wanted to give a betterprice to milk cooperatives,which would create competi-tion in the market and privatediaries would eventually comeforward and pay more. Jaganon Wednesday launched theAP-Amul project, which wouldstrengthen the dairy sector incooperatives besides empower-ing women.

The project was virtuallylaunched here on Wednesday,in 400 villages spread overthree districts in the first phase.Speaking on the occasion, theChief Minister said that theproject stemmed out of theplight expressed by dairy farm-ers during 3,648 km padayatra,who said the price of one litrewater bottle and one litre ofmilk was the same.

The government signedMoU with Amul on July 21 tostrengthen milk cooperatives.Amul, which is a cooperativemovement, pays more thanthe existing price per litre andthe profit earned would be dis-

tributed among the stakehold-ers periodically. It stands eighthin the IFCN 's ranking.

Through the AP-Amul pro-ject, 9,899 villages across the

State will be brought undermilk production where BulkMilk Chilling Units (BMCU)and Auto Milk CollectionUnits (AMCU) will be set upwith an expenditure of Rs3,000 crore. The project willempower women from therural areas for 20-30 years, pro-viding a recurring incomeresource and a sustainable

livelihood.In the first phase, milk col-

lection takes off in 400 villagesin Prakasam, Chittoor andKadapa districts and within 10days of milk collection theamount will be directly credit-ed into the farmers’ accounts.

In addition to these, as perthe choice given by theCheyutha beneficiaries, 4.69

lakh women have opted forinvesting their money in dairysectors and for them, the gov-ernment will be providing cat-tle units in three phases at acost of Rs 6,551 crore.

On Wednesday, around7,000 cattle units will be dis-tributed, followed by one lakhunits in February and 3.6 lakhunits in August 2021.

The government has alsosigned MoUs with major busi-ness houses like ITC, P&G andothers for sustainable liveli-hood to Cheyutha and Asarabeneficiaries. Meanwhile,Managing Director of Amul RSSodhi lauded the ChiefMinister for inspiring andmotivating them to start thisproject in Andhra Pradesh.

He said Amul is being runby 36 lakh farmers, whichaims at reduce the gap betweenmilk procurement cost andsupply cost, so that both thecustomers and farmers getbenefited. Drawing a compar-ison between AP and Gujarat,Sodhi said that the only differ-ence is productivity, where APstands first in terms of produc-tion.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

IndianOil is slated to invest Rs1,689 crore in projects acrossthe State that includes Rs 1,522in petro products infrastruc-ture and Rs 167 crore in LPG,said RSS Rao, ExecutiveDirector and State Head,IndianOil, Andhra Pradeshand Telangana.

Addressing the media at aprogramme here onWednesday, Rao said besidesgrowing the existing fuel net-work and sprucing them upwith state-of-the-art technolo-gies like full automation andmaking them environment-friendly.

To meet the increasingdemand of LPG in AndhraPradesh, 120 TMTPA GrassRoot LPG bottling plant at aninvestment of Rs 167 crore is

coming up in Chittoor, whichwould add another 36,000LPG cylinders to the dailyoutput of IndianOil in the

State. The aforementioned pro-ject is expected to be commis-sioned in July 2022. Thiswould take the bottling capac-

ity of Indane LPG to 1.4 lakhcylinders per day.

Revamping the facilities andstorage capacity augmenta-

tion at existing Vijayawadapetroleum storage terminal atKondapalli is being undertak-en at a total project cost of Rs316 crore. To meet the grow-ing demand for petroleumfuels in Andhra Pradesh,IndianOil is setting up a newGrass Root Terminal, which iscoming up in 60 acres atA t c h u t a p u r a m ,Visakhapatnam at an invest-ment of Rs 466 crore with astorage capacity of over74,000-kilo litres (KL).

A new state-of-the-art railfed depot is coming up inNakkanadoddi in Guntakal in83 acres with a tankage capac-ity of 55,000 KL at an invest-ment of Rs 385 crore.

R Chidambaram, GeneralManager and PhaniRammohan, Chief GeneralManager, were present

IndianOil to invest Rs 1,689 cr in AP

Assembly passes severalBills including APSDCContinued from Page 1

The House also passed theAndhra Pradesh StateAgricultural Council Bill- 2020,which proposes to set up anAgricultural Council, anautonomous body. AgricultureMinister Kurasala Kannababuexplained the salient features ofthe Bill and said AndhraPradesh would be the first Statein the country to set up anAgriculture Council, and all theactivities related to agricultur-al graduates, entrepreneurs,extension, research, develop-ment and marketing wouldcome under one roof through it.

The Andhra Pradesh ValueAdded Tax (SecondAmendment) Bill- 2020,Andhra Pradesh Value AddedTax (Third Amendment) Bill-2020 and The Andhra PradeshTax on Professions, Trades,Calling And Employees(Amendment) Bill- 2020 pro-posed by Deputy ChiefMinister K Narayana Swami

(Excise, Commercial taxes)were also approved by theHouse. The minister explain-ing the amendments in thethree Bills said the amend-ments were needed as theState was in revenue deficit asthe economic activity hadcome to a halt since Covid-19lockdown.

The House also passed theAndhra Pradesh Animal Feed(Regulation of Manufacture,Quality Control, Sale andDistribution) Bill-2020, theAndhra Pradesh FiscalResponsibility and BudgetManagement (Amendment)Bill-2020, The Andhra PradeshState DevelopmentCorporation Bill-2020 andAndhra Pradesh AgriculturalLand (Conversion for Non-Agricultural Purposes)Amendment Bill-2020.

Regarding the Animal FeedBill, Animal HusbandryMinister. Seediri Appalrajuexplained the salient features ofthe Bill and said the Bill pro-

poses to monitor feed beingsupplied to animals and sup-ply of quality feed.

Buggana Rajenranath alsoexplained the amendments inAndhra Pradesh FiscalResponsibility and BudgetManagement (Amendment)Bill-2020 and said the amend-ments should have been made in2015-16, but were not made andthe old and new amendmentswere incorporated in the Bill.

Three Bills were introducedduring the day. EnergyMinister Balineni SrinivasaReddy introduced the AndhraPradesh Electricity Duty(Amendment) Bill-2020 andHome Minister MekathotiSucharitha introduced TheAndhra Pradesh Disha Bill-Andhra Pradesh SpecialCourts for Specified OffencesAgainst Women and ChildrenBill- 2020 and RevenueMinister DharmanaKrishnadas introduced theAndhra Pradesh land TitlingBill-2020.

Discoms to run intoRs 11,911 cr deficit Continued from Page 1

The renegotiation was back-tracked after the Union gov-ernment and the courts raisedconcern over it.

The average unit rate of thethree Dicoms buying power isat Rs 4.42. And, the govern-ment claims that the per unitprice could fall by its half fol-lowing the renegotiation.

Meanwhile, the Union gov-ernment has announced Rs3,300 crore loan to AndhraPradesh as part of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan forthe implementation of variousschemes pertaining to thepower sector.

The Power & New andRenewable Energy Ministryhas assured 30% subsidy onthe 10,000 MW solar powerproject being undertaken bythe AP government.

In a bid to improve its rev-enue, the Discoms proposeinclusion of all Group Housing

Societies, apartment complex-es/buildings (townships,colonies, gated communities,villas & bungalows) under HT1 category with energy chargesof Rs 5.95 ps /unit.

The Discoms proposed shift-ing of poultry hatcheries andpoultry feed mixing plants,aqua hatcheries and aqua feedmixing plants from AgriculturalCategory (Low Tension-V(C)and High Tension- V(C)) toindustrial category (LT-III (A)and HT-III(A)).

Accordingly, new off-peaktimings will be 10 pm to 4 am.The existing Load FactorIncentive for HT-III IndustrialCategory will be discontinued,and inclusion of MerchantPlants/IPPs, which do not havePPA with APDISCOMs underStart-Up Category. Change ofmorning peak TOD (Time ofthe Day) timings from 6 am to10 am and 4 am to 8 am in linewith the incidence of agricul-ture loads.

Speaker refersto Ethics...Continued from Page 1

The Speaker ruled that theCommittee will submit itsreport as early as possible.

Terming the incident asunfortunate, the Speaker saidthe leaders should respect theHouse and the decisionsbeing taken by the Chair. It isthe duty of the marshals tofollow the orders of the Chairas they have done earlier. TheTDP leaders should cooper-ate to run the House, oragree to the suspension deci-sion taken by the Chair.

It’s not correct to manhan-dle the marshals and afterconsultation with theLegislative Affairs Minister,he had decided to refer theissue to the EthicsCommittee.

CM vows to completePolavaram on timeContinued from Page 1

He accused Naidu ofneglecting the project.

He reminded that only 20per cent of the works werecompleted on the project dur-ing opposition leader NChandrababu Naidu’s regimebetween 2014 and 19. Heaccused Naidu of inept andwrong handling of the projectexecution, which led to theinordinate delays. Jagan saidthat it was during his father YSRajasekhara Reddy’s tenurethe Polavaram project wasrevived that has been pendingfor decades.

He also pointed out thatNaidu never showed any inter-est in reviving the Polavaramproject, which is considered alifeline of Andhra Pradesh,during his earlier tenurebetween 1995 and 2004.

The Chief Minister recalledthat all clearances from various

Central government agenciesthat are critical for the con-struction of the Polavaramproject were secured by hisfather when he was at the helmand land acquisition of boththe canals was almost complet-ed and works of the main thedam was also completed byalmost 23 per cent.

He alleged that Naidu wastrying to mislead the public onthe progress of Polavaram pro-ject during his tenure where-as only a diaphragm, which isnothing but the foundationwas built. He also said that theNaidu’s government wasindulged in the wastefulexpenditure by ferrying peopleto the project site.

He also accused Oppositionleader N Chandrababu Naiduof compromising on thePolavaram project while mort-gaging the interests of theState in lieu of a special pack-age announced by the Centre

in 2016 when he was the ChiefMinister.

When Jagan charged thatNaidu had indulged in largescale corruption in thePolavaram project citing PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’scomments that the TDPregime had used the project asan ATM, TDP members raisedslogans and created ruckus inthe House.

After Speaker TammineniSeetaram could not bring theHouse in order, LegislativeAffairs Minister BugganaRajendranath had moved amotion to suspend nine TDPMLAs, who had been obstruct-ing Jagan’s speech. As themotion was accepted by theHouse, the Speakerannounced the suspension ofnine opposition MLAs.However, Naidu and otherTDP MLAs too left the Houseby staging a walkout, alongwith the suspended MLAs.

Covid scare inAssembly as YSRCP...Continued from Page 1

Nageswara Rao, who repre-sents Tanuku in WestGodavari district, took part ina discussion addressing thechair on Tuesday. However, inthe evening, he went for Covidtest after he experienced someuneasiness. While the testresult came out to be positive,he immediately went into self-quarantine.

His temperature vitals werenormal when he underwentthermal screening on Tuesdaymorning while entering theAssembly. As part of Covidprotocol, all the MLAs werebeing thermal screened at allthe entry points of theAssembly. Apart from MLAs,other staff, security personnelare also screened before theirentry into the Assembly.

Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy had decid-ed to hold the winter sessionfor only five days due to theCovid. He had reiterated thatto pass some key Bills and alsoas part of constitutional oblig-ation, the Assembly sessionwas being held reminding thatParliament has also not metfor the winter session due toCovid induced situation.

TDP politburo memberVarla Ramaiah criticised thatthe government had failed incontrolling the Covid spreadand a ruling party MLA con-tracting with the virus hadonly established that fact. TDPsocial media platforms wereflooded with memes and mes-sages stating that not even asingle YSRCP member waswearing a mask thereby aidingthe spread of Covid.

Group-I aspirants’...Continued from Page 1

This is even more worri-some given the Central gov-ernment's measures to trimthe job recruitments as apart of its financial auster-ity measures. It's a doublewhammy for us."

She added, "We havegiven our representationsto the APPSC requestingthem to give us a reasonableamount of time but to noavail. Now we pin all ourhopes on the government tointer vene and render justice."

Pawan demands relief for farmersContinued from Page 1

Speaking on the occasion,Pawan said, “I am at the fieldlevel to know the lossesincurred by the farming com-munity due to cyclone Nivar.We support farmers and I amhere to instil confidenceamong them. It is so painfulthat farmers incurred lossesdue to natural calamities at atime when crops were ready forharvesting. The losses furtherdampened the spirit of farm-ers who are already in debt.Jana Sena will fight till everyfarmer, who incurred losses,get compensation.”

Pawan, who started fromHyderabad to tour cyclone-affected areas in Krishna andGuntur districts, reached theGannavaram airport onWednesday morning. Theparty leaders, workers andfans, who gathered in goodnumbers, accorded him a

warm welcome to him. Hereached the Kankipadu cross-roads through Kesarapalli,Uppuluru and Punadipadu.Thousands of Jana Sainiks andfans from Penamaluru, Gosalaand Poranki reached theKankipadu crossroads.

Wishing thousands of partyworkers and fans, who throngedthe area, Pawan Kalyan movedforward on the road en-route toVuyyuru from the airport. TheJana Sena chief greeted theparty workers and fans all alongthe road and proceeded toVuyyuru, later he visitedPamarru, Chalapalli andMopidevi in the Krishna district.The JSP leader then touredRepalle and then reached Tenaliof Guntur district and interact-ed with farmers, who lost theircrop in the cyclone, and assuredthem support.

While interacting with farm-ers, Pawan Kalyan demandedthat the government pay Rs

25,000 compensation per acre,who lost their crop during thecyclone. A compensation of Rs5 lakh should be given to ten-ant farmers, who committedsuicide. Immediate relief of Rs10,000 should be provided with-in 48 hours to the farmers, wholost their crop due to thecyclone.

He warned of a state-wideprotest if the tenant farmers arenot supported and demandedthat the government announcea special plan of action to sup-port the tenant farmers. Withthe help of village volunteers, thetenant farmers shall be identi-fied.

A the complete report per-taining to crop damage shall beprepared and sent to the entre.Pawan demanded that the gov-ernment support all the farm-ers irrespective of parties andprovide input subsidy to eachgrain the farmer has produced,he said.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Air Intelligence unit ofHyderabad Customs nabbedan air passenger smugglinggold at Rajiv GandhiInternational Airport onWednesday. The accused triedto smuggle gold by hiding it inhis rectum. This is the secondarrest in the last five dayswhere the accused used thesame modus operandi tosmuggle the gold in sameflight.

According to the official, onreceiving credible informa-tion, customs officials inter-cepted a passenger who arrivedfrom Dubai in flight number6E-025 on Wednesday.

On close examination offi-

cials found gold concealed inpaste form in three capsules inhis rectum. Further officialsrecovered 299.19 grams goldvalued at Rs 14.68 lakh

As the passenger couldn't pro-vide proper documents withregard to carrying gold the yel-low metal has been seized by cus-toms officials.

The passenger was found tohave illegally carrying the gold inviolation of the provisions ofCustoms Act. The yellow metalhas been confiscated and bookeda case. Further investigation isunderway.

It is to be noted that, recentlya passenger tried to hoodwinkthe custom officials and sneakgold in paste form worth of Rs 24lakh in airport on November 28.

Customs sleuths seizegold worth Rs 14 lakh

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad Duty Free(HDF), a division of GMRHospitality and Retail Limited,runs duty free shops at RajivGandhi International Airport(RGIA), Hyderabad. Recently,HDF has launched a uniqueservice “WhatsApp VirtualAssistant Chat-bot”. This ser-vice allows international pas-sengers to reach out to HDF

using WhatsApp and get theirqueries answered with ease,also they can ask for a call backfrom HDF customer executiveif further assistance is needed.Leveraging the massive glob-al WhatsApp user base ofover 2.7 Billion users, the newChat-bot service is a veryconvenient medium for cus-tomer engagement, helpingbuild stronger relationshipswith customers.

HDF launches ‘WhatsApp chatbot’ for passengers

vijayawada 03VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | DECEMBER 3, 2020

Kanchi seer lauds TTD spiritual programmesPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Kanchi seer VijayendraSaraswathi Swami lauded theParayanam and other spiritu-al programmes being organisedby TTD. The pontiff, who wasaccorded the traditional cus-tomary Tirumala temple hon-ours on Wednesday, had dar-shan of Lord Venkateswara. Healso took part in the KrishnaYajurveda Jatha Parayanam atRanganayakula Mandapam.

Later speaking to media per-sons outside the temple, he saidall these spiritual programmesnot only boost the morale ofthe devotees, but also providethem a healthy and wealthy life.He also said the Karthika MasaDeeksha programmes atVasanta Mandapam and com-munity Karthika Deepotsavamin Tirupati are good for thewell-being of humanity. "The

Siva Kesava Aaradhana in theholy Karthika the month willprovide health, security, and

prosperity to all", he added.TTD Board Member Sekhar

Reddy, CVSO Gopinath Jatti,

Temple DyEO Haridranath,Temple Peishkar Jaganmoha-nacharya, VGO Bali Reddy and others were present.

The pontiff, whowas accordedtraditionalcustomaryTirumala templehonours onWednesday, haddarshan of LordVenkateswara

Naidu demands timelinefor Polavaram completionPNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP National President andformer Chief Minister NChandrababu Naidu onWednesday demanded that thegovernment explain to thepeople of Andhra Pradeshwhether the Central govern-ment had given any concreteassurance to release necessaryfunds for the immediate com-pletion of the State's lifelinePolavaram irrigation project.

Naidu also urged the Jagan'sregime to specify by which thetime it would be able to com-plete the remaining 30 per centPolavaram works in order topass on its benefits as early aspossible to the farmers and thegeneral public in different partsof the State.

The TDP chief advised ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy to stop betraying thepeople with his fake state-ments and news with the helpof his media. The ruling partyand the CM were only interest-

ed in playing dirty politicswith no commitment and noaccountability.

Accusing Jagan of failing toexert pressure for the Centralfunds because of his cases,Naidu said that the rulingYSRCP leaders would go downin history as 'betrayers of peo-ple' if they caused any perma-

nent harm to the multi-pur-pose project.The TDP chiefasserted that with a lot ofcommitment, their regime hadspent Rs 63,000 crore on irri-gation projects across thelength and breadth of the State.Polavara-m's works werespeeded up with the noblepurpose of making it a vital

factor in the AP river watersinterlinking project. Grandplans were made to link up theGodavari, the Krishna and thePenna rivers, along with manyother streams and rivulets.But, all those efforts were com-ing to zero because of the nar-row mindedness and short-sightedness of the Jagan's rule.

Jilted lover attacks girl with blade, attempts suicide

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

In a tragic incident, a young manattacked a girl with a blade andlater attempted suicide slitting histhroat here on Wednesday afterthe girl's family rejected hismarriage proposal. The incidenttook place at Thomson Streetnear Kothaveehi under One-Town police station limits. Theaccused and victim live nextdoor.

A few days ago, Varalakshmiwas murdered by Akhil Sai atGajuwaka in Visakhapatnam.Akhil Sai, jilted by Varalakshmiallegedly attacked the girl with ablade and she died on the spot.The accused was arrested with-in three hours of the crime. The20-year-old victim Makina SaiEswara Priyanka was attacked inher home by 23-year-oldAddipalli Srikanth. Priyankaand Srikanth are neighbors. Theinjured Priyanka, who is admit-ted to KGH, is battling for life.The accused is also undergoingtreatment with minor injuries.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (Law and Order)Aishwarya Rastogi said thatfamilies of Priyanka and Srikanthhave been neighbours for thepast 25 years, staying in the nextapartment in the same block.Hence, both the families werealso familiar to each other.

Srikanth brought a marriageproposal. Both the families dis-cussed and finally, the girl's par-ents said no to the marriage pro-posal citing various reasons.The girl had broken off with theaccused some time ago. ThoughSrikanth threatened the girl on

a few occasions, the police did-n't receive any complaint in anyform from the victim.

Srikanth developed a grudgeagainst her. On Wednesdaymorning, Srikanth went to thegirl's house and slit her throatwith a blade and later he also slithis throat. The DCP said that acase has been registered againstthe accused under Sections 307,452, 354-A, 354-D and 309 ofIPC. The investigation wasendorsed to ACP, Disha PoliceStation, Prem Kajal, who visitedthe crime spot and examined thekey witnesses.

The girl is battling for life at KGH

GVMC staff told to knownew property tax reformsPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The revenue staff, town plan-ning and ward secretariat staffwere told to know the detailsabout the property tax reforms.

GVMC commissioner Dr GSrijana directed officials toconduct an awareness pro-gramme during a review meet-ing held at VMRDA ChildrenArena on Wednesday, whichwas attended by the GVMCheads of departments andward secretaries.

Speaking on the occasion,she said the reforms werebeing implemented on thedirective of the governmentand there would be uniformtax structure all over the coun-try from the next financial

year.Stating that the reforms

would enable the State to getmore funds under the 15thFinance Commission, theCommissioner assured thatthe new tax structure wouldnot be a burden on the peopleand this should be told to thepeople by the ward secretaries.

She told the secretaries toprepare a map of their wardsunder the guidance of ChiefCity Planner K Vidyulata andother town planning staff andadded that the secretariesshould interact with the rev-enue staff on the methods ofcalculation of tax under thenew reforms.

The mapping and rational-isation process should be sub-mitted to her office onThursday, she directed andadded that the file should con-tain the signatures of revenueofficers, assistant city plannersand zonal commissioners.Additional commissioner KAsha Jyothi and chief medicalofficer KSLG Sastry were pre-sent in the programme.

Accused sent to14-day remandPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Third Additional DistrictCourt in Nandyal onWednesday sent the accused inauto driver Abdul Salaam'sfamily mass suicide case to 14days remand on Wednesday.The accused in the case circleinspector Somesehkara Reddyand head constable Gangadharwere sent to the district jail.Earlier the third additional dis-trict court in Nandyal onMonday cancelled the bailgranted to the accused in themass suicide case.

It may be recalled thatAbdul Salaam, his wife andtwo children, had allegedlykilled themselves by jumpingin front of a train allegingpolice harassment in a selfievideo. Nandyal One-Townpolice inspector SomasekharReddy and head constableGangadhar were arrested bythe police. The duo soonobtained bail from a localcourt. Subsequently, the police

department filed a petitionseeking cancellation of bail.The third additional districtcourt cancelled the bail anddirected the police to producethe accused before the courton December 2.

NANDYAL MASS SUICIDE CASE

TDP chief N ChandrababuNaidu advisedChief MinisterYS JaganmohanReddy to stopbetraying thepeople with hisfake statementsand news withthe help of hismedia

Intelligence wing inspectspolice dogs in VizianagaramPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The Andhra PradeshIntelligence Security Wing(ISW) officials fromVijayawada inspected theVizianagaram police dogssquad units as part of theannual inspection. Duringtheir inspection, they haveexamined the dogs' workingtechniques in finding bombs,narcotics and security checks.

In this connection, RI fromISW, TN Srinivasa Rao andveterinary doctor S Pratapexamined all canine wing(Veena, Rakhi, Dyna, Riya,Rubi, Dolly and a few others)health condition. The ISWofficials said that during theVIP visits, the police dogssquad is playing a key role in

security checks for findingsuspected things and persons.They also interacted with thedog trainers as well as Armed

Reserve Police personnel ofVizianagaram and expressedhappiness over the workingstyle of the dog squad.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The city police arrested six per-sons, including a woman whenthey were discussing to dis-burse demonetised Turkishcurrency near Dr VS KrishnaCollege main gate inMaddilapalem area. In all, 300currency notes in denomina-tion of five lakh and sevenmobile phones were seizedfrom them.

A senior police officer saidthe circle inspector of MVPColony police station PRamanayya and his staff on atip-off rushed to KrishnaCollege main gate where sixpersons, including the woman,were discussing to disbursethe demonetised currency toinnocent people to rob theirhard-earned money. On seeingthe police, they tried to runaway from the spot but theywere taken into custody.

The police identified them asBujjala Rama Swamy (33), whopossessed 280 currency notesof five lakh denomination andhailing from Srikakulam,Nambari Narayana Rao (40),Dommeti Satya VenkataPrasad (46), Dalayi Yashoda(42), Indila Prudvi Raj (26)and Muvvala Prasad (32).

All these five persons were inpossession of four currencynotes each. The police said

Bujjala Rama Swamy in hisconfessional statement saidthat one Ravi from Vepaguntaarea of Visakhapatnam gavethem the 300 currency notes toexchange with original Indiancurrency. Police arrested thesesix persons when they were dis-cussing a plan of action toexchange the notes, the seniorofficer said. The main accusedRavi is absconding and a searchhas been launched to nab him.

Turkey currency seized in Vizag

ACB unearths Rs 3 crassets of Nellore SEPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The ACB sleuths conducted araid on the Electricity depart-ment superintending engineerKandra Vijay Kumar Reddy's res-idence on Wednesday. Theauthorities conducted raids atseven different places based onthe allegations that the SE hasassets disproportionate to hisknown sources of income. Theyexamined various documents athis house at Children's Park inNellore.

According to the preliminaryinvestigation, the tainted officeris in possession of assets worthRs 3 crore. disclosed that duringthe searches movable andimmovable properties werefound in the name of the accusedofficer and his family members.Two houses worth Rs 1,44,00,000and five house sites were iden-tified measuring 3,834.66 squareyards worth approximately Rs78,27,500.

They identified agriculturalland admeasuring .13.81 centsworth Rs 42,54,000 besides onefour-wheeler and one motorcy-cle worth Rs 8,00,000.Investments worth Rs 50,00,000

in Simhapuri Ferro Alloys firmin the year 2010 were also iden-tified during the search opera-tion. The accused officer also hasforeign currency in his posses-sion. Thai Bahts (20x6) = 120Thai Bahts, Chinese Yuan (1x3& 5x1) = eight Yuan and US dol-lars ( 11 notes) = 43 USD.Furthermore, the ACB officialsfound Rs 59,130 cash, gold (948grams) worth Rs 25,00,000, sil-ver (1210.900 grams) worth Rs50,000 and bank balance of Rs45,00,000.

The ACB officials said that theaccused officer has joined thegovernment service on July 7,1989, as an assistant engineer inthe APSEB. He was promoted asthe assistant divisional engineer(ADE) in December 1997. Later,he was promoted as the division-al engineer (DE) in July 2006 andlater, promoted the as superin-tending engineer (SE) in 2017and presently working as the SE,Nellore, SPSR Nellore district, forfour years. The case is underinvestigation and the accusedofficer was arrested and will beproduced before the SpecialCourt for SPE & ACB Cases,Nellore.

Ensure safe drinking waterfor all by 2024 : GovernorPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Governor Biswa BushanHarichandan said it should beensured to achieve the target toprovide access to and use of safeand adequate drinking water toall households within premisesby 2024. The governoraddressed the participants at the7th WASH (Water, Sanitation &Hygiene) conclave organisedby UNICEF and the NationalInstitute of Rural Developmentand Panchayat Raj (NIRDPR)through a virtual mode from theRaj Bhavan on Wednesday.

He was the chief guest at theinaugural session of a three-dayconclave being held with thetheme of 'Hygiene Matters' inwhich key stakeholders of water,sanitation and hygiene fromAndhra Pradesh, Karnatakaand Telangana have participat-ed on a single platform to dis-cuss key issues with particularfocus on hygiene.

Speaking on the occasion, theGovernor said India hasachieved significant strides inthe water, sanitation andhygiene sector in terms of

achieving open defecation-freestatus, basic drinking water ser-vices through piped water sup-ply (PWS) and is progressingtowards achieving the sustain-able development goal No.6 toprovide 'clean water and sanita-tion'.

He said the supply of ade-quate, accessible, equitable andquality water supply and bettersanitation facilities in house-hold, community and institu-tion-level with community-managed water supply and san-itation system is the soul of JalJeevan Mission and SwachhBharat Mission programmes.

He further said that the State-level programme initiatives suchas 'Manam Mana Parisubrtha' inAndhra Pradesh, 'SwacchotsavaNityotsava' in Karnataka and'Palle Pragathi' in Telanganahas been contributing in a longway towards achieving WASHresilience and a healthy society.

He complimented all thestakeholders of the three States,involved in sustaining the opendefecation-free status andachieving the milestones ofwater and sanitation for all andappreciated their efforts tobecome 100% WASH compli-ant.

It may be recalled thatAbdul Salaam, his wifeand two children, hadallegedly killedthemselves by jumpingin front of a train

Naidu objects to 100 feetYSR statue at PolavaramPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Leader of the Opposition NChandrababu Naidu onWednesday asked how theYSRCP government couldinstal a 100-ft statue of Dr YSRat the Polavaram lifeline pro-ject when it was being con-structed with 100 per centfunds provided by the Centralgovernment.

Naidu said that Polavaramwas a national project and theruling YSRCP had no moralright to do whatever it wantedas the State government wasnot spending a single rupee onthe project. Has the AP govern-ment convinced the Centreon the statue before planningfor this?

The TDP chief stronglyobjected to the reckless man-

ner in which the Jagan regimehad proposed to spend over Rs200 crore on the 100-ft statueof Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy.Apparently, the Chief Ministerwas only interested in the stat-ue but not the actual projectthat had the potential to servethe long-term interests of theentire State.

Naidu advised the YSRCPgovernment not to trifle withPolavaram as it is the only oneout of the 17 national projectsin the country to complete 70per cent works. All other 16national projects could com-plete just 10 to 30 per centworks only. Polavaram workscould be expedited because ofthe then TDP regime executingthe works on behalf of theCentre in coordination with thePolavaram Project Authority.

TTD mullsKarthikaDeepotsavamin VizagPNS n TIRUPATI

After receiving an over-whelming response forKarthika Deepotsavamobserved at Tirupati onNovember 30, the TTD hasdecided to organise the reli-gious event in Visakhapat-nam on December 14.

A review meeting byTirupati JEO P BasanthKumar with JEO for Healthand Education SadaBhargavi and CVSOGopinath Jatti was held inthis regard at the ConferenceHall in TTD AdministrativeBuilding on Wednesday.

Srivari Karthika SahasraDeepotsavam wil l beobserved on a grand noteakin to Tirupati event withwomen devotees taking partin the mass Deepotsavam.

He instructed the engi-neering authorities con-cerned to visit Vizag forfinalising venue and submita detailed report in twodays.

3 techies heldwith LSD blotsPNS n HYDERABAD

Three software engineers sell-ing drugs have been arrested byHyderabad Excise andEnforcement team onWednesday. Excise officials stat-ed that they started consump-tion of weed during their col-lege, slowly addicted to it andturned as a supplier of ganja andhashish oil.

The arrested were identifiedas I Shiva Sena Reddy, Meka SaiVipin, and CherukuriHarshavardhan who were allsoftware engineer. With a tip off,Excise and Enforcement teamintensified the vigil and inter-cepted Shiva Sena Reddy andMeka Sai Vipin who were mov-ing suspiciously. On close exam-ination, the team found 56LSD blots of each 150 micro-grams and seized two smallplastic bottles each 12 gms ofhashish oil.

Based on the informationdisclosed by the accused SaiVipin, the officials raided ahouse in Singapore Townshipand seized 212 gms of hashishoil from CherukuriHarshavardhan. The officialstook him into custody.

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | DECEMBER 3, 2020 nation 04

Amid the raging "outsiderversus insider" debate inWest Bengal, BJP state

chief Dilip Ghosh onWednesday claimed peoplefrom other states played abigger role than Bengalis inbring about development in thestate.His remarks drew sharpreactions from the rulingTMC,which accused Ghosh of playing "divisive" politics withoutknowing anything about the state's history and culture."Since the pre-Independence era, people who had comefrom other states played a crucial role in Bengal'sdevelopment. Most of those who worked at mills and factorieshere were from other states. So those from outside played abigger role than the Bengalis in developing the state," Ghoshsaid at a programme here.The ruling party is now tagging peoplewho worked for the welfare of Bengal as "outsiders", the saffronparty leader alleged. "Shah Rukh Khan (state's ambassador) andPrashant Kishor( TMC's poll strategist) have become insiders now.This is the irony," he said.Reacting to his comments, TMCsecretary-general Partha Chatterjee said the BJP's intent to"humiliate and undermine"Bengalis now stands exposed."I think Dilip Ghosh is not aware of the role Bengalishad played in the nation's overall development and freedomstruggle," he said.

The Goa Mining People'sFront (GMPF), a bodyrepresenting mining

dependents, on Wednesdayappealed to the Centralgovernment to consider allpossible routes for sustainableand immediate resumption ofiron mining in the state.TheGMPF's appeal has come afterChief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday said the stategovernment is considering auctioning of mining leases as one ofthe ways to restart iron ore mining in the state. "We welcome theinitiatives being taken by the Centre on the Goa mining issue andappeal to them to find us a solution as soon as possible," GMPFpresident Puti Gaonkar. The front appeals to the Centralgovernment to consider all possible routes for sustainable andimmediate resumption of iron ore mining operations in the state,he said.There is an urgent need to resume mining in the stateto restore economic stability and provide a sustainable,self-reliant source of livelihood for the people of Goa,Gaonkar said.Goa has faced a loss of around Rs 7,000 crore in thelast two years due to suspension of mining activities, theGMPF president claimed, adding that the rate of unemploymenthas also risen manifold in the state."If mining is not resumedimmediately, it will be difficult for the state to get back on trackwith the revenue dipping and recover from the acuteunemployment crisis," Goankar said.

SHORT TAKES

NGT directs complete ban onsale, use of firecrackers

The National Green Tribunalhas directed that therewould be a total ban on the

sale and use of all kinds offirecrackers during COVID-19pandemic in the NCR and allcities/towns in the countrywhere the ambient air qualityfalls under the 'poor' andabove category. A benchheaded by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said itsdirection to restrict the use of firecrackers in cities/towns whereair quality is 'moderate' or below to green crackers and for theduration of not more than two hours will continue."There will be atotal ban on the sale and use of all kinds of firecrackers duringCOVID-19 pandemic in the NCR and all cities/towns in the countrywhere the ambient air quality falls under the 'poor' and abovecategory," the bench said. During Christmas, and New Year, greencrackers can be used from 11:55 pm to 12:30 am only at placeswhere air quality is 'moderate' or below, the NGT said. Itdirected all District Magistrates to ensure that banned firecrackersare not sold and asked them to recover compensation fromviolators.

Outsiders played bigger role thanBengalis in developing WB: Dilip

GMPF urges Centre to find ways forresumption of mining in Goa

PTI n NEW DELHI

Congress leader Rahul Gandhion Wednesday attacked theCentre over its claim of dou-bling farmers' income andalleged that their income hasin fact "halved" under the"suit-boot" government, whilethat of its crony friends hasgrown four times.

He also demanded that thegovernment abolishes thethree "black" farm laws whichare against farmers and farmlabourers and asked it not tobefool them with rhetoric.

No immediate response wasavailable from the govern-ment.

Gandhi's remarks come at atime when farmers fromPunjab and Haryana areprotesting at the Singhu, Tikriand Ghazipur borders of thenational capital against theCentre's new agriculturereform laws.

"They (government) saidfarmers' income will be dou-bled. What they did wasincrease the income of (their)'friends' four times and halvedthat of farmers. This is a gov-

ernment of suit-boot, lies andloot," the Congress leader saidin a tweet in Hindi.

Gandhi also shared a videoshowing police using watercannons and firing tear gasshells during protests by farm-

ers with a speech of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi play-ing in the background where-in he says his government istaking steps to resolve theproblems faced by farmersand double their income.

"Modi government, stopgiving 'jumlas' (rhetoric) tofarmers, stop the dishonestyand atrocities, stop givingthem the falsehood of talks,(and) abolish all three blacklaws which are against farm-ers and labourers," Gandhisaid in another tweet.

The Congress has beenattacking the government overthe use of force against theprotesting farmers, and urgedthe dispensation to withdrawthe new farm laws and redressthe grievances of the protest-ers.

Farmer unions say the threenew laws will lead to the dis-mantling of the minimumsupport price (MSP) system,leaving farmers at the mercyof corporate houses.

But the government says theMSP system will continueand the new laws will givefarmers more options to selltheir crop.

Farm leaders met Unionministers on Tuesday, but thetwo sides failed to break thedeadlock. The next round oftalks is scheduled to be heldon Thursday.

Rahul Gandhi slams Centre,calls it govt of ‘lie and loot'

Gandhi's remarks come at a timewhen farmers from Punjab andHaryana are protesting at the Singhu,Tikri and Ghazipur borders of thenational capital against the Centre'snew agriculture reform laws.

PTI n AHMEDABAD

Police have registered a caseagainst some employees of acash collection agency forallegedly siphoning off Rs 5.24crore generated from the saleof tickets of the Statue of Unityin Gujarat's Narmada district,a police official said onWednesday.

The imposing monument ofSardar Vallabhbhai Patel, alsocalled the Statue of Unity, is amajor tourist attraction in thestate since it was inauguratedin October 2018.

The money collected overone-and-a-half years by theStatue of Unity management atKevadia in Narmada districtwas handed over to the thecash collection agency, hired bya private bank in Vadodara, theofficial said.

Some staffers of the agencyallegedly did not deposit Rs5,24,77,375 into the bankaccounts of the Statue of Unity

authorities, DeputySuperintendent of Police VaniDudhat said.

The private bank's managerlodged an FIR at Kevadiapolice station on Monday nightagainst unidentified personsworking with the cash collec-

tion agency, she said.A case was registered under

Indian Penal Code Sections420 (cheating), 406 (criminalbreach of trust) and 120-B(criminal conspiracy), she said,adding that no one has beenarrested so far.

Meanwhile, the Statue ofUnity's authorities onWednesday said the bank hasdeposited Rs 5.24 crore intotheir accounts.

"The Statue of Unity man-agement is not involved in thisissue. It is between the bankand its cash collection agency.The bank has already deposit-ed the amount into ouraccounts," a senior official of

the management said.The bank had appointed

the same agency to collectcash generated from the sale oftickets at the Statue of Unityand other connected touristattractions and deposit it intothe two bank accounts of theState of Unity authorities, the-police official said.

"In a recent audit, the Stateof Unity officials found a mis-match in the amount men-tioned in cash deposit slips,given by the agency staff aftercollecting the cash, and theactual cash deposited into thebank accounts beweenNovember 2018 and March2020," she said.

Rs 5.24 cr of Statue of Unity’sticket sale siphoned off

PTI n LONDON

The UK on Wednesdaybecame the first country toapprove the Pfizer/BioNTechvaccine against COVID-19,paving the way for mass vacci-nations against the deadlynovel coronavirus from as earlyas next week.

The British regulator, theMedicines and Healthcareproducts Regulatory Agency's(MHRA), says the jab, whichclaims to offer up to 95 per centprotection against COVID-19illness, is safe for roll out.

The UK government said theapproval follows a "rigorous"analysis of the data, conduct-ed at a faster pace but withoutany compromise on standards.

"I am thrilled. Help is on itsway...we can see the dawn.Let's redouble our efforts to fol-low the lockdown rules," saidUK Health Secretary MattHancock.

"It's been a very tough 2020but 2021 will be brighter," hesaid.

The government has formal-ly accepted the recommenda-tion from the MHRA, whichmeans the two-dose vaccinecan be injected into arms of

high-risk categories withindays. Around 10 million dosesshould be available soon, withthe first 800,000 arriving in theUK in the coming days.

“The vaccine will be madeavailable across the UK fromnext week. The NHS (NationalHealth Service) has decades ofexperience in delivering largescale vaccination programmesand will begin putting theirextensive preparations intoaction to provide care andsupport to all those eligible forvaccination,” said a spokesper-son for the Department ofHealth and Social Care(DHSC).

“This follows months of rig-

orous clinical trials and a thor-ough analysis of the data byexperts at the MHRA whohave concluded that the vac-cine has met its strict standardsof safety, quality and effective-ness,” the spokesperson said.

The UK's Joint Committeeon Vaccinations andImmunisations (JCVI) willnow publish its final advice forthe priority groups to receivethe vaccine, including carehome residents, health andcare staff, the elderly and theclinically extremely vulnerable.

NHS Chief Executive, SirSimon Stevens, said the healthservice was preparing for "thelargest-scale vaccination cam-

paign in our country's history".Around 50 hospitals are on

standby and vaccination cen-tres in venues such as confer-ence centres are being set upnow, with military personnelbeing deployed to assist withthe logistics.

The joint vaccine, producedby American pharmaceuticalgiant Pfizer and Germanbiotech firm BioNTech, hadrecently claimed trials sug-gested it works well in peopleof all ages, races and ethnicities.

The UK government hadasked the MHRA to look intothe data to clear it for use if itmeets "robust" standards ofquality, safety and effectiveness.

The UK is expected toreceive a total of 40 milliondoses by the end of 2021,enough to vaccinate up to a

third of the population, withthe majority of doses anticipat-ed in the first half of next year.

The Pfizer/BionTech formu-la is an mRNA vaccine thatuses a tiny fragment of genet-ic code from the pandemicvirus to teach the body how tofight COVID-19 and buildimmunity. An mRNA vaccinehas never been approved foruse in humans before, withpeople only receiving them inclinical trials so far.

The UK government hadstressed that the COVID-19vaccine will only be authorisedfor supply by the UK's inde-pendent regulator if it meetsstrict standards of quality, safe-ty, and effectiveness, and ifthey are satisfied the vaccinecan be consistently manufac-tured.

UK first to approve Pfizer/BioNTech vaccineThe British regulator, the Medicinesand Healthcare products RegulatoryAgency's, says the jab, which claimsto offer up to 95 per cent protectionagainst COVID-19 illness, is safe forroll out

PTI n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

In a first in the state, the KeralaAssembly Speaker onWednesday forwarded the-breach of privilege noticemoved by the oppositionCongress against Finance min-ister T M Thomas Isaac to theethics committee of the House.

Speaker P Sreerama krish-nan said he had forwarded thenotice, moved by CongressMLA V D Satheeshan, alongwith the reply filed by the min-ister, for the consideration ofthe Privileges and EthicsCommittee of the stateAssembly.

Satheeshan had moved anotice,under Section 159 of theKerala Legislative Assembly,Rules of Procedure and con-duct of Business against theminister for making publicthe details of the draft CAGreport before it was tabled in

the Assembly."Privilegeand ethics com-

mittee of the Assemblywilltake further decision. We havehanded over the breach ofprivilege notice and theMinister's reply to the notice tothe committee," Sreeramakrishnan told the media here.

The Speaker said there arecertain important issuesmentioned in the complaintof the opposition MLA andother serious matters point-ed out by the Minister in hisreply and both need to bead-dressed by the committee.

"Since the formation of thestate, this is probably thefirst time, such an issue hascome up. The minister haspointed out that this was notjust a matter of breach ofprivilegeof the Assemblybutthere are certainunprecedent-edsituations with regard tothe CAG report. So let thecommittee take a decision ina democratic manner afterhearing both the sides," theSpeaker said. Meanwhile, fol-lowing the Speaker's decision,the Opposit ion leader,Ramesh Chennithala,demanded Isaac's resigna-tion.

Plaint against Kerala Minister tobe sent to Assembly Ethics panel

PTI n MUMBAI

The Shiv Sena on Wednesdaydemanded that the Centretake steps to stop the use ofloudspeakers on mosques tocurb noise pollution.An edi-torial in Sena mouthpiece'Saamana' said the issue is ofnoise pollution and environ-ment protection.

"The Centre should pro-mulgate an ordinance to stoploudspeakers on mosques toprevent noise pollution," itsaid.The comments cameamid a row over Shiv Sena'sMumbai- South vibhag pra-mukh (division head)Pandurang Sakpal's sugges-tion of holding an 'Azaan'recital competition forMuslim children.

The editorial said BJP'scriticism of the Sena leaderpraising 'Azaan' was similarto describing farmers agitat-ing (against new farm laws)on the Delhi borders as"Pakistani terrorists".

PTI n KOLKATA

Senior TMC leader SaugataRoy Wednesday asserted thatall misunderstandings betweenTMC heavyweight SuvenduAdhikari and the party's lead-ership have been clearedthrough dialogue, and the cri-sis that arose out of the situa-tion resolved.

TMC leader AbhishekBanerjee and election strategistPrashant Kishor -- roped in bythe party to boost its pollprospects -- on Tuesday nightmet Adhikari, days after heresigned from the state cabinet,

and subsequently claimed thatall the issues have beenresolved. Senior party leadersSaugata Roy and SudipBandopadhyay, who were

deputed by the party to openbackchannel talks withSuvendu, were also present atthe meeting.

"The crisis is a closed chap-ter now. Adhikari will remainin the party. There were somemisunderstandings, but it hasbeen resolved through dia-logue," Roy told reporters.

The veteran TMC MP exud-ed confidence that Adhikarialong with other leaders,including Abhishek Banerjee,will work together to furtherstrengthen the party in thestate. Mocking the opposition,who were "elated" over

Adhikari tendering his resigna-tion from the cabinet, Roysaid, "We feel bad for them astheir wish to create a divisionin the party remained unful-filled. The party stands unitedand will fight the BJP tooth andnail," he said.

Adhikari, the face of theNandigram movement thatadded to the political heft ofMamata Banerjee and catapult-ed her to power, resigned asminister of transport, irrigationand waterways last week, set-ting off speculation that he mayquit the ruling TMC ahead ofthe Assembly polls next year.

PTI n WASHINGTON

In a huge relief to tens ofthousands of Indian profes-sionals and top American ITfirms, a US court has blockedtwo H-1B regulations pro-posed by the Trump admin-istration to restrict the abili-ty of American companies tohire foreign employees.

H-1B visas is a non-immi-grant visa that allows Americancompanies to employ foreignworkers in speciality occupa-tions that require theoretical ortechnical expertise. The USissues up to 85,000 H-1B visaseach year. Usually, they're issuedfor three years and renewable.Most of the nearly 600,000 H-1B visa holders are from Indiaand China. He also set asideanother policy that narrowedthe eligibility of H-1B valued byUS tech firms and otheremployers.

PTI n PATNA

Veteran BJP leader SushilKumar Modi on Wednesdayfiled his nomination papers forby-election to a Rajya Sabha seatin Bihar which has been neces-sitated by the death of Unionminister Ram Vilas Paswan.

Modi filed his nomina-tion papers at the VidhanSabha secretariat in presenceof a host of leaders of the rul-ing NDA, most notable beingChief Minister Nitish Kumar,whose deputy he had been formore than a decade, sharingan excellent rapport that hasbeen a stuff of legend in thestates political circles.

"I have come here to con-gratulate my former colleague.He is currently an MLC andformerly been a member ofthe Lok Sabha and an MLAbefore that. "With his elec-tion to the Rajya Sabha he will

hold the distinction of havingbeen a member of both hous-es of the Parliament and thestate legislature", Kumar toldreporters smilingly.

Kumar, who has two BJPlegislators Tar Kishor Prasadand Renu Devi as his deputiesin his fourth tenure that beganlast month, remarked wistful-ly that he would have preferredModi by his side "but it is adecision of his party (BJP)".

Sushil Modi filespapers for RS bypoll

Setback forTrump in USCourt

Adhikari to remain in TMC, says party leader

Stop use ofloudspeakerson mosques:Sena to Centre

PTI n AHMEDABAD

The Gujarat High Court onWednesday ordered the stategovernment to come up with anotification, making it manda-tory for those violating theface mask rule to do commu-nity service at COVID-19 cen-tres as a punishment in additionto the fine imposed on them.

A division bench of ChiefJustice Vikram Nath andJustice J B Pardiwala said the

community service atCOVID-19 centres shall benon-medical in nature andshall be for four- six hours fora period of 5 to 15 days, asauthorities deem it fit and nec-essary. The HC also asked thegovernment to widely publicisethis in the media so it couldhave a "desirable deterrenteffect", noting that a person notwearing a mask is not onlyputting himself at risk, butputting the community at risk.

‘Do community servicefor mask rule violation’

PTI n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi spoke with the chiefministers of Tamil Nadu andKerala on Wednesday anddiscussed the situation pre-vailing in parts of the statesdue to cyclone Burevi whilepledging all possible supportfrom the Centre.

The cyclone is likely to hitTamil Nadu on December 4,the Cyclone WarningDivision of the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) said on Tuesday. TheIMD has issued a red alert forsouth Tamil Nadu and southKerala for December 3.

Tweeting about his tele-phonic conversation withTamil Nadu Chief Minister KPalaniswami, Modi said, "Wediscussed the conditions pre-vailing in parts of the statedue to Cyclone Burevi.Centre will provide all pos-sible support to TN. "On histalks with Kerala ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan,he said he spoke on the con-ditions prevailing due tocyclonic storm Burevi in thestate and assured all possiblesupport from the Centre tohelp Kerala.

Cyclone Burevi:PM talks toTN,kerala CM’s

An alleged rape victimhas claimed in a videogone viral on social

media in Fatehpur districthere that she has marriedthe accused, police said onWednesday.Earlier, thewoman's father had lodgeda complaint against sevenpersons, accusing them ofhaving kidnapped hisdaughter on Monday when she had gone to a field in their villageunder city's Kotwali police station, said Station House OfficerRavindra Shrivastava. Following the father's complaint, a case ofrape and kidnapping was lodged, he said. Now a video of the 18-year-old girl has surfaced on social media in which she has claimedthat she left her home on her own and married the accused Kuldeep,the SHO said. The girl was allegedly also kidnapped and raped in2019 following which accused Kuldeep Lodhi, his father Jai Singhand mother Meena were arrested, the SHO said, adding all of themare now out on bail. In the video, the girl has also requested not toharass her in-laws, the SHO said. "As the girl is an adult and is nowtelling that she has married Kuldeep, we have called both for theirstatements," the SHO said.

Alleged rape victim says in videoshe has married accused: Police

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | DECEMBER 3, 2020 nation 05

INDIA CORNER

Aleopard, which had strayedinto the Jollygrant airportand hid itself in a pipe

inside its premises, has beenrescued by Forest Departmentpersonnel, officials said onWednesday. Terrified by thehigh decibel sound of incomingand outgoing flights, the sub-adult leopard, which had hiditself in a pipe near the new terminal building, remained coweringinside it throughout the day, Sub-Divisional Forest Officer GSMartolia said. However, when calm returned to the airport after thedeparture of the last flight on Tuesday evening, the big cat emergedout of the pipe and was caged by a Forest Department team, he said,adding that the rescue effort lasted for nearly 10 hours. Theleopardess has been kept at Badkot range of Dehradun forestdivision from where it will be released into the wild after a test of itsvital parameters by experts from the Wildlife Institute of India,Dehradun DFO Rajiv Dhiman said. The animal had jumped over theboundary walls to enter the airport premises on Tuesday morning,creating a scare among the airport staff. The airport is surroundedby reserved forests on three sides.

Leopard inside Dehradun airport rescued

Late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister JJayalalithaa's close aide V KSasikala, serving a four-year jail

term on graft charges, has soughtremission and early release fromprison, official sources said onWednesday. Sasikala, lodged at theParappana Agrahara prison here, isexpected to come out on January27, 2021 after she deposited Rs 10crore fine at a special court. However, she has applied for remissionof her jail termto come out early, sources close to the leader told PTI.The prison authorities have forwarded her application to higherofficials. "She has applied for remission of her jail term and it hasbeen forwarded to the head of the department for theirconsideration," a source said. Authorities are yet to take a call onit.After the Supreme Court restored the trial court judgmentin toto against Sasikala and two of her close relatives in thedisproportionate assets case, she surrendered before the courtin Karnataka on February 15, 2017 and has been lodged inParappana Agrahara Central Jail since then. Her two relatives arealso undergoing four years simple imprisonment and all three ofthem were slapped with a fine of Rs 10 crore each.With the death of Jayalalithaa in 2016, who was the first

accused in the case, the appeal by Karnataka against her stoodabated.

Sasikala applies for remission

PNS n KOLKATA

The BJP will launch a cam-paign to highlight alleged mis-deeds of the TrinamoolCongress dispensation inresponse to the MamataBanerjee government's 'DuareSarkar' programme, the party'sstate president Dilip Ghoshsaid on Wednesday.

He said the BJP will reachout to more than one crorehouseholds across West Bengalwith leaflets on alleged failuresand misdeeds of the TMC gov-ernment.

He claimed that the MamataBanerjee dispensation is usingthe services of governmentofficials as well as the partyworkers to canvas for its pro-gramme -- 'Duare Sarkar'(government at doorstep).

"We are starting a pro-gramme named 'Aar NoyAnyay' (no more injustice)and will go to the people'sdoors over the unfair treat-ment they have suffered underthe Trinamool Congress dis-pensation," Ghosh said.

This will be the secondphase of the programme, hesaid, adding that in the firstphase the BJP workers hadgone to one crore householdsin June-July with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi's let-

ter to them, highlighting theachievements of the BJP-ledcentral government.

Claiming that central wel-fare funds have not reachedthe people, he said the cam-paign will commence onDecember 5 across the state.

Asked whether the develop-ment over disgruntledTrinamool Congress leaderSuvendu Adhikari's message toTMC MP Saugata Roy, whowas negotiating a trucebetween him and the party'stop leadership, will pave theway for his entry into the BJP,Ghosh said "I cannot say whowill join or not".

"I can only say that anyonewilling to bring about a pos-itive change in the state is

welcome and we have left ourdoors and hearts wide open,"he said.

"If 10-11 MLAs have comealready, what is the problemin another joining, if threeMPs have come, then what iswrong in a few more com-ing," he added.

On the TMC's charge thatthe BJP is bringing "out-siders" to fight the upcomingassembly elections in WestBengal, Ghosh said that thosewho have settled in the statefrom other parts of the coun-try have a big contribution toits development.

"Don't the Birlas, Goenkas,Neotias, Jindals or Mittalshave a contribution in thestate? Who built the indus-tries? They have been here forseveral generations," he said.Ghosh said that workers innorth Bengal's tea gardens arefrom Chhattisgarh andJharkhand, while those fromUttar Pradesh and Bihar workin the jute mills here andhelped the stateprosper."When people herehave great respect forMahatma Gandhi and somedo politics with his photohung around their necks, howcome the prime minister, whois also from Gujarat, becomean outsider," he asked.

BJP plans massiveoutreach to highlightTMC govt's ‘failures’

PNS n LOS ANGELES

The 2021 Oscars ceremonywill be an "in-person telecast",a representative from theAcademy of Motion Arts andSciences (AMPAS) and chan-nel ABC has said.

There was speculation thatthe biggest annual film awardsshow will be a virtual affair asthe coronavirus pandemic con-tinues to rage on.

But the representative toldVariety, "The Oscars in-persontelecast will happen."

In June, the Academy hadannounced that the 2021Oscars will be held on April 25,2021, eight weeks later thanoriginally planned because ofthe pandemic's effects on thefilm industry.

The eligibility window forfeature films has also beenpushed to February 28, 2021.

Sources inside the Oscars saythat by pushing the awards cer-

emony back, the institutionhoped that theatres would beopen again in the spring, thusallowing for more movies tocompete at the ceremony.

But even if movie theatresstay shut, by holding the Oscarslater in spring, organisers arenow focusing to ensure theevent continues as it always has

live. It is still uncertain howmany people will be allowedinside the 3,400-seat DolbyTheatre in Los Angeles, wherethe ceremony traditionallytakes place.

"The Academy has done awalkthrough of the Dolbyrecently to see all the multipleoptions," an awards publicist

familiar with the situationadded. It is also unknown whatsafety protocols will be intro-duced for the ceremony. A representative from theDolby Theatre declined tocomment. The PrimetimeEmmy awards in Septemberwas a hybrid event that hadsome in-person elements withhost Jimmy Kimmel and mostnominees watching the showfrom home over Zoom.

There are still four televisedawards shows that lead up tothe Oscars: Golden Globes(February 28), Critics Choice

(March 7), SAG (March 14)and BAFTA (April 11).

The Globes, which open thefilm awards season forHollywood, said in a July 27press release that their showwould air live from The BeverlyHilton in Beverly Hills andhosted by Tina Fey and AmyPoehler.

The Hollywood ForeignPress Association, which hoststhe Globes, declined to com-ment on the development.

The Critics Choice Awards,which has traditionally beenone of the first televised award

shows, are open to many differ-ent options.

Joey Berlin, CEO andPresident of Critics ChoiceAssociation, said what theyare sure of is that the "show ishappening".

"Taye Diggs (host) will be onstage. There are three possibil-ities. It's the Emmys, it's like theCritics Choice Awards lastyear, or it's a hybrid. It doesn'tseem likely that on March 7,most of our nominees andeventual winners are going tobe happy to gather some-where," Berlin added.

The SAG Awards, which aregiven out by the 165,000 plusmembers of SAG-AFTRA, aretypically held at the ShrineAuditorium in Los Angeles,which has a seating capacity of6,300.

A spokesperson for the SAGAwards, a crucial precursor tothe Oscars, did not rule out thepossibility for a virtual show.

Oscars 2021 ceremony will be an ‘in-person' showIn June, the Academy had announcedthat the 2021 Oscars will be held onApril 25, 2021, eight weeks later than originally planned, because of the pandemic's effects on the filmindustry

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment told the Supreme Courton Wednesday that “shockingfindings” have emerged in theinvestigation so far in the casein which Kerala-based scribeSiddique Kappan was arrestedon his way to Hathras, wherea young Dalit woman haddied after allegedly being gang-raped.

Kappan claimed that he isworking as a journalist in aKerala-based daily but thatnewspaper was closed twoyears back, the state govern-ment told a bench headed byChief Justice S A Bobde.

“Investigation conducted sofar has found some shockingfindings,” Solicitor GeneralTushar Mehta told the bench,which also comprised JusticesA S Bopanna and VRamasubramanian.

The apex court, which washearing a plea filed by KeralaUnion of Working Journalists(KUWJ) questioning Kappan'sarrest, asked the petitioner asto whether they would like tomove the high court.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal,appearing for KUWJ, said hewould argue the matter in theapex court and the petitionerwould implead Kappan's wifeand others in the plea.

“The high court has grant-ed one month's time on habeascorpus plea of other accused inthe same case and I want toargue here,” Sibal said, adding,“Hear me finally”.

Mehta, who said the lawyer

has met Kappan, argued thataccused is not the party here inthe matter.

Sibal referred to the case ofjournalist Arnab Goswami,who was granted interim bailby the apex court in an allegedabetment to suicide case, andsaid he would rely on that ver-dict as a law has been laiddown in it.

“Every case is different,” thebench observed, adding, “Youshow us any precedent wherean association had moved thecourt seeking relief ”.

“We want to hear the case asper the law and the mattershould have been heard in thehigh court,” the bench said andposted the matter for hearing

next week. The state govern-ment told the bench that itwould file a rejoinder to thecounter affidavit filed byKUWJ in the matter.

Uttar Pradesh recently filedan affidavit in the apex courtclaiming that Kappan wasgoing to Hathras under the“garb of journalism” with a“very determined design” tocreate caste divide and disturblaw and order situation.

The state has alleged in itsaffidavit that Kappan is theoffice secretary of PopularFront of India (PFI) and wasusing a “journalist cover” byshowing identity card of aKerela-based newspaper whichwas closed in 2018.

Shocking findings in probeagainst scribe, UP tells SC

The apex court, which was hearing aplea filed by Kerala Union of WorkingJournalists questioning Kappan'sarrest, asked the petitioner as towhether they would like to move thehigh court

PNS n NEW DELHI

India's COVID-19 active case-load has significantly droppedto 4.28 lakh, the lowest after132 days and comprises just4.51 per cent of the total coro-navirus infections, the UnionHealth Ministry said onWednesday.

The total active cases were4,26,167 on July 23.

There has been a sustaineddecrease in the number ofactive cases, the ministry said.

The daily new cases addedto the country's COVID num-bers have been around 30,000since the past three days.

The number of daily newcases in a span of 24 hours is

36,604.A total of 43,062 recov-eries were registered in a spanof 24 hours. The number ofdaily recovered cases has sur-passed the daily new casessince the past five days, theministry highlighted.

The difference in new recov-eries outnumbering new caseshas also improved the recovery

rate to 94.03 per cent as ondate, it stated.

The total recovered casesstand at 89,32,647.

"The gap between recoveredcases and active cases, that issteadily increasing, has crossed85 lakh today and presentlystands at 85,04,003," the min-istry said.

Of the new recovered cases,78.35 per cent are observed tobe concentrated in 10 statesand UTs.

Maharashtra has reportedthe maximum number of sin-gle day recoveries with 6,290newly recovered cases. A totalof 6,151 people recovered inKerala followed by 5,036 inDelhi.

Active caseload in India dropsto 4.28 lakh after 132 days

PNS n BALLIA (UP)

BJP MP Virendra SinghMast on Wednesday allegedthat the opposition wasmisleading farmers on thenew farm laws to fulfil theirown agenda. H eclaimed that after imple-mentation of the laws,income of farmers willincrease and the legisla-tions are in farmers' inter-est. "The opposition partiesare misleading farmers onfarm laws to fulfil theirown (political) agenda. Butthey will not succeed," Masttold reporters here.

BJP MP: Oppnmisleading ryotson farm laws

PNS n WASHINGTON

President-elect Joe Biden andVice President-elect KamalaHarris have named Indian-American Maju Varghese inthe four-member PresidentialInaugural Committee (PIC),which will organise the activ-ities surrounding their swear-ing-in on January 20.

The team includes TonyAllen as the Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Maju Varghese as theExecutive Director, ErinWilson as the DeputyExecutive Director andYvanna Cancela as its DeputyExecutive Director.

“It is an honour to help leadthe team that will plan theinaugural activities forPresident-elect Biden and VicePresident-elect Harris whilekeeping their commitment toprotecting the health and safe-ty of Americans and demon-strating the strength andresilience of our nation,”Varghese said in a statement.

Verghese is the fifthIndian-American to be givenkey positions by the Bidentransition team.

The inauguration ceremonymarks the commencement ofa new four-year term for the

president of the United States.It is held even if an incumbentpresident begins a second con-secutive term. The majorevents are the oath of office,inaugural address, parade andinaugural ball. “This historicinauguration will serve as thelaunching pad for the Biden-Harris Administration to getto work on day one and beatthe pandemic, build back oureconomy better, and unifyour country,” he said.

Varghese was the ChiefOperating Officer and SeniorAdvisor in the Biden-Harriscampaign from the primariesthrough the general, oversee-ing the campaign's day-to-day operations and leading itthrough an unprecedentedshift to remote working.

PIO in panel forPrez inauguration

PNS n LONDON

Scientists have developed anew vaccine candidateagainst COVID-19 based onthe yellow fever vaccine, asingle dose of which protectshamsters and monkeys frominfection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

The researchers at the RegaInstitute at KU Leuven inBelgium are currently prepar-ing for clinical trials of thevaccine candidate.

To develop the vaccine,tentatively named RegaVax,the researchers inserted thegenetic code of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spikes into thatof the yellow fever vaccine.

RegaVax is a vector vaccinewhich uses the genetic codeof the yellow fever vaccinevirus as a carrier for thegenetic code of the coron-avirus spikes. According to anearly version of the researchpaper accepted for publica-tion in the journal Nature, theresearchers tested the vaccinein healthy hamsters andmonkeys, with another groupof the animals receiving aplacebo.

The inaugurationceremony marksthe commencement of anew four-yearterm for thepresident of theUnited States

New single dosevaccine showsprotectionagainst Covid

PNS n WASHINGTON

President-elect Joe Biden'sCabinet picks are quickly run-ning into the political realityof a narrowly controlledSenate that will leave the newDemocratic administrationdependent on rivalRepublicans to get anythingdone.

Under leader MitchMcConnell, the Republicansenators will hold great swayin confirming Biden's nomi-nees regardless of which partyholds the majority after runoff

elections in January. Bidenwill have little room to maneu-ver and few votes to spare.

As Biden rolled out his eco-nomic team Tuesday — afterintroducing his national secu-rity team last week — heasked the Senate to give hisnominees prompt review, say-ing they “deserve and expectnothing less.”

But that seems unlikely.Republicans are swiftly signal-ing that they're eager to set theterms of debate and exact aprice for their votes.

GOP objects toBiden nominees

PNS n MUMBAI

The Federation of Associationsin Indian Tourism andHospitality (FAITH) onWednesday urged the gov-ernment to set up a targetedtourism transition corpus tomake funds available for theIndian tourism, travel andhospitality industry till theCOVID-19 vaccine isdeployed.

Reports across the worldindicate that by mid-2021 vac-cines will be hopefullydeployed across most of theinternational markets andIndia too. Such a scenario isexpected to result in the recov-ery of the tourism sector,FAITH said in a statement.

Currently, FAITH said thatbarring some spurts of domes-tic travel during long week-ends, almost all segments oftourism are non-performing,including inbound tourism,corporate travel, meetings andevents travel.

All these segments will getunlocked post the deploy-ment of the vaccine, it added.

Till then, FAITH said thatthere should be a bridge fundtargeted at the tourism sectorto enable tourism travel andhospitality companies to drawdown from that corpus. Thecorpus can be set up by theMinistry of Finance for directbenefit transfer on an interest-free basis, the apex industrybody said.

This draw down from thecorpus by the tourism enter-prises may be adjustable over

five years against their GSTand income tax liabilities, itadded.

According to FAITH, thedraw down will set in motiona virtuous cycle enablingtourism travel and hospitalitycompanies to keep their busi-ness and jobs alive, and to beready for the tourism demand.

FAITH is the national fed-eration of the ten nationaltourism, travel and hospitali-ty organisations. They includeAssociation of Domestic TourOperators of India (ADTOI),Adventure Tour OperatorsAssociation of India (ATOAI),Federation of Hotel &Restaurant Associations ofIndia (FHRAI), HotelsAssociation of India (HAI)and Indian Association ofTour Operators (IATO).

Other members are IndiaConvention PromotionBureau (ICPB), IndianHeritage Hotels Association(IHHA), Indian TouristTransporters Association(ITTA), Travel AgentsAssociation of India (TAAI)and Travel Agents Federationof India (TAFI).

‘Set up tourismtransition corpus'

It brought no fresh honourupon the Union Governmentthat agitating farmers from

Punjab were left to shiver on thestreets of Delhi the night gurud-waras had been illuminated forGuru Nanak Dev Jayanti. Even asthe farmers’ agitation had been rag-ing in Punjab since September, theGovernment had been complacentabout it till it knocked the doors ofDelhi. At that time, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had not blinkedtwice before accepting the resigna-tion of Harsimrat Kaur from theCabinet. Her party, ShiromaniAkali Dal (SAD), one of the old-est constituents of the NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA), quitthe ruling coalition a week later.

Whatever the parting of waysmight mean for the SAD, it couldhave serious consequences forpeace in the frontier State. TheBJP’s diminished clout in Punjabcontrasts with its firm grip at theCentre. Also, expanding footprintsacross India might actually drivethe Sikh-majority state into an iso-lationist mindset. The BJP-SADpartnership, according to the lateArun Jaitley, was as much a socialalliance as it was political. Theircoming together in the mid-1990swas an apt postscript to the end ofthe insurgency in Punjab.Moreover, the SAD’s support basewas among rural Jat Sikh agricul-turists while the urban Hindumiddle-class made up the BJP’sconstituency. So the breakup mighttrigger polarisation, with nefariouselements waiting in the wings torevive militancy in the state. Thiswill be the last thing the BJPwants in a State where Hindus arein a minority.

The Modi Government has noSikh face, barring Hardeep SinghPuri, who is a diplomat, rather thana politician by grooming, and helost the Amritsar seat in the 2019Lok Sabha election. The council ofministers is lacking even the orna-mental presence of S.S. Ahluwalia,BJP MP from West Bengal, thoughhe never represented Sikh votes.The saffron party had earlier lostNavjyot Singh Sidhu to theCongress.

The Government might havethe best interest of farmers in itsheart while enacting the new agri-cultural laws but reforms in theagricultural marketing sector werelong overdue to make farmingremunerative. While there was nobar on selling agriculture produce

in the open market, outside theMSP regime, or on items notprocured by the Government,even before the new laws wereenacted, there was no commer-cial and legal architecture for it.Sadly, the Government felt thatconsensus-building was redun-dant. The laws, enacted duringthe Monsoon Session, had orig-inally been rushed through theOrdinance route on June 5. It isunclear whether there were evenminimal consultations with theState Governments (agriculturebeing a State subject under theSeventh Schedule of theConstitution), farmers’ associa-tions and other stakeholders.Even the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh(BKS), a front organisation of theRSS, is unhappy with the way theGovernment dealt with the issue.Mohini Mohan Mishra, the BKSAll India Secretary, recentlystated that nearly 25,000 farm-ers had sent a proposal to thePrime Minister.

There’s no doubt that thelaws have been made for thetraders and would eventuallybenefit them. This is akin towhat Rabindranath Tagore,speaking of the British rulewedded to the idea of progress,observed: “They are not unwill-ing to do a favour but don’t wishto come close. They wouldrather feel relieved if they canhastily beat retreat after doingthe favour…they don’t do mercy,they do a favour, they do not lovebut protect; do not respect buttry to act fairly; they do not irri-gate the land, though neverungenerous in sowing abundantquantity of seeds” (Raja-Praja,P.4-5). His remarks appeartelling today. The Government’scavalier attitude that “we knowwhat’s good for you” vis-à-vis the

farmers has clearly run intoproblems. Even if the VigyanBhawan talks break the ice, theGovernment would have final-ly realised that to act in haste andrepent in leisure is not a goodpolicy.

The critics of the farmers’agitation, active on social media,

have been quick to dub thefarmers as supporters ofKhalistan. Fake photos werealso circulated on the digitalspace. The question is what dothey propose to do even if theyare Khalistan sympathisers?Would they like to send theArmy to quell them? Can theBJP Government afford to burnits bridges in Punjab? Do theyhave a strong constituency oftheir own or friends to rely uponif the agrarian crisis, god forbid,deepens into a social crisis?

The unsympathetic attitudeof slandering democratic gov-ernments of the past for farm-ers’ woes must stop. When aGovernment tries to de-legit-imise the Opposition or viceversa, forces inimical to democ-racy and peace (like theKhalistanis, for instance) takeover. Punjab has profited fromthe dam-building policies byJawaharlal Nehru, FoodCorporation of India (FCI) pro-curement by Lal Bahadur Shastriand the Green Revolution byIndira Gandhi. The right waythe Modi Government canpackage its agriculture policy isby saying that it wants to take thestory forward through mea-sures long overdue.

Fortunately, the BJP did nothave to fight the Khalistaniinsurgency in the State in the1980s and early 1990s. It wasfought mostly by the CongressGovernment, even though it waspartly responsible for its rise andmomentum. In the 1980s,Khalistanis gained by projectingthe post-Green Revolutionagrarian problems in Punjabalong communal lines. At thattime, the Congress, which wasin as strong a position acrossIndia as the BJP is today, was

projected as a Hindu fascistparty. The Hindus of Punjabbecame the first targets ofKhalistani violence. This issomething that all parties,including the BJP, have avoidedrecalling in public for fear ofopening old wounds. Traces ofKhalistani elements, there is nogainsaying, are still active inPunjab. They are likely to exploitfor their evil agenda any unsym-pathetic attitude of theGovernment towards the farm-ers, the bulk of whom are Sikhs.The farmers of Punjab have sofar rightly avoided communal-ising the current issue unlikethey did so in the 80s. In fact,when their agitation took off inmid-September, it was bothagainst the Centre as well as theState, where the Congress is cur-rently in power. Apart fromrolling back the farm bills, theyalso wanted loan waiver fromthe State Government. However,in the last two months, theCongress has been able to gar-ner the farmers’ sympathies.

In politics, sentiments mat-ter as much as policy. Way backin March, 1783, a Sikh force ledby Baba Baghel Singh and JassaSingh Alhuwalia had attackedMughal Delhi to hoist the trian-gular saffron flag at Red Fort. Atroop of 30,000 Nihang Sikhsencamped at a place nearby,which later came to be knownas Tis Hazari. The farmers ofPunjab have beaten their swordsin ploughshares and spears intopruning hooks. Nothing must bedone to wake up the sleepingdemons of the 1780s or the1980s.

(The writer is an author andindependent researcher based inNew Delhi. Views are personal.)

The excitement of winning the third and final One-Day International should not divert us from thefact that the Indian men’s cricket team has been

caught out by a well-drilled Australian squad. Whatis also telling is that the men in yellow are playingfar better in their international colours than they didin franchise T20 cricket. The Indian team, on the otherhand, with its uniforms harking back to the 1992Cricket World Cup, seems to have been inspired byits predecessors. The sharpness and competitive atti-tude forged over the last years have been replacedby, as many have joked on social media, the Spirit

of 1992, which let us not forget was the nadir of competitive cricket for the modernIndian team in the post-1983 environment. No matter how classic the outfits mighthave been, our 1991-92 tour of Australia was an unmitigated disaster.

However, one must realise that it is extremely difficult for athletes to stay at theirpeak performance levels after months of inactivity even if there were two months ofthe Indian Premier League (IPL) in between. Getting into shape takes weeks if notmonths and India was very fortunate to walk home with a win after two successiveblowouts. One can only hope that the rest of the tour does not become a repeat ofthe 1991-92 tour of Australia and the Indian players can bring home not just a fewwins but the Border-Gavaskar trophy as well. Hopefully now with a victory under theirbelt, our boys can go from success to success. After several months of no crick-et, the Indian cricket fan has expectations. Of course, we should be proud of an indi-vidual milestone as captain Virat Kohli became the fastest cricketer to score 12,000ODI runs, breaking a record held by legendary compatriot Sachin Tendulkar.

It looks like Canadian Prime Minister JustinTrudeau is yet to understand that his blanket sup-port to settler Sikhs, even the extremist kind, who

form his constituency and gift him a verdict, can ulti-mately cost him bilateral ties with India. His advo-cacy of the rights of protesting farmers to be heardby the Government on new agricultural laws does notjust amount to interference in the internal affairs ofIndia, it is also testimony to his political immaturityand lack of understanding on what is a complex andlayered issue. For it affects the farming communityas a whole and not just Punjabi farmers, who form

a bulk of the migrants to Canada. And using the sacred occasion of Gurpurab to politi-cise an issue, which he has taken up merely to pander to his domestic concerns, issimply inappropriate. Besides, given his known sympathies for Khalistanis, his activismon Punjab farmers and their plight would be read by many quarters as linking it toand endorsing the cause of separatism. Trudeau has forgotten that Punjabis in Indiado not think like the Punjabis in Canada. That Khalistan has no resonance amongSikhs here, least of all farmers. Besides, as an advocate of free market, Canada hasalways spoken against our food subsidies at the World Trade Organisation (WTO),questioning our Minimum Support Price for staples till as late as last year. Is he thenjustifying this protectionism selectively because it is convenient to him? As a worldleader, Trudeau is expected to calibrate each of his responses according to diplo-matic nicety and not be brash or impulsive. Besides, India has been careful aboutnot embarrassing him on his domestic issues and would expect a reciprocal cour-tesy. The MEA has rightly hit back, describing Trudeau’s remarks as “ill informed.”

It is clear that Trudeau has not learnt any lessons from his last visit to India whenhe was given the cold shoulder for including pro-Khalistan leaders in his delegation.Instead of thawing the chill on this issue, he has only been playing this up for hispolitical survival. Some of the most extremist of Khalistani activists, who have beenkeeping the movement alive and are looking at the slightest opportunity to revive itin India, invested heavily in his campaign and ensured his victory in 2015. Ever since,Trudeau has been sympathetic to their concerns, participating in Khalsa Day paradeswith floats iconising militant leaders like Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Amreek Singhand Shahbeg Singh, much to India’s discomfort. In a gross oversight of diplomacy,he was even seen with many radical groups that accuse India of “genocide” duringthe anti-Sikh riots of 1984. And this has continued despite India’s protests. None ofTrudeau’s predecessors have been as vociferous and public about their associationwith pro-Khalistan leaders, clearly careful about not upsetting India. And despite PrimeMinister Narendra Modi himself mentioning the concern such impropriety caused,groups clamouring for a “referendum 2020”, where the Sikh diaspora can vote foran “independent Khalistan”, have only gained traction though the CanadianGovernment has officially opposed it. Trudeau did nothing when 16 Canadian gurd-waras banned the entry of consular officials, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)and Shiv Sena members. And considering that he would not run short of protocoladvisories, Trudeau has rarely given into counsel. Of course, the Sikhs have usedthe Canadian electoral funding system to emerge as a disproportionate influencer inthe Government. Consider this, Sikhs in Canada are only 1.4 per cent of the total pop-ulation of 37.5 million but they are five per cent of the Parliament and eight per centof Trudeau’s Cabinet. The Canadian Prime Minister is also compromised by his reducedlead during his second term in office, with 157 seats in the House of Commons afterthe 2019 polls. In a subdued role of leading a minority Government, he has not beenable to ignore the heft of the New Democratic Party (NDP) whose leader JagmeetSingh has emerged as a powerful Sikh voice in Canada, bagging 24 crucial seats.It’s not a secret that Sikh legislators hold the balance of power for Trudeau as hisoutgoing Cabinet had four of them — Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi, Innovation,Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains, Defence Minister HarjitSajjan and Tourism Minister Bardish Chagger. Now, with Trudeau having to tread athin line going forward, the Sikh influence will be deeply entrenched as Jagmeet, whohas a vast following and was himself a prime ministerial contender, is ambitious. BothNew Delhi and NRIs in Canada are wary at the thought of having Jagmeet as the futurePM because of his alleged “pro-Khalistani” leanings. Besides, he has been a vocalcritic of the Modi Government and the current situation in Kashmir, making him apariah for India. Trudeau’s reliance on the NDP’s support could mean that he has todo a tougher tightrope walk with India. So far he seems to have slipped once toooften. Already many members of his Liberal Party have been embarrassed by theoutrageous posturing of Khalistani hawks. Now India, too, has stepped up its diplo-matic offensive by linking Pakistan’s support to Khalistan as part of its subversiveendorsement of and exporting terrorism in the neighbourhood. With the world tak-ing a stand against Pakistan on terror, Trudeau seems hemmed in. Indian HighCommissioner Ajay Bisaria is, in fact, arguing that the perils of the association couldultimately impact economic relations as Canada, like many other nations in the West,is keen about moving businesses to India from China after the pandemic. Yes, self-preservation comes naturally to him but is it worth alienating world opinion? Can hejustify agenda-driven campaigns as “freedom of expression?” Yet from the looks ofit, Trudeau has to deal with a problem of his own making.

Trudeau messes up

Love thy neighbourSir — The recent trilateralmeeting between India, SriLanka and Maldives led to a his-torical decision on expandingthe scope of intelligence shar-ing to arrest terrorism and beefup cybersecurity. This could seta precedent of self-reliance,security, unity and trust in theworld of South-Asian geo-pol-itics. It will help India gain dom-inance in the sub-continent.With last week’s agreementsbetween India and Bahrain toenhance technology, securityand IT, it can be assumed thatIndia is stepping up efforts todraw neighbouring countriescloser. This way, India can playan important role in ensuringAsian unity and world peace.

Sunil ChilwalHaldwani

Ayurveda codeSir —Any attempt by any alter-nate science to come at par withWestern medicine will alwaysbe suppressed and theWesterners will continue toensure their dominance in thisfield. Yet their science is just 200years old, much younger thanour age-old Ayurveda. But oursis a more holistic system of

treatment with Sushruta per-forming surgeries well ahead ofour times. So is there logic innot allowing post-graduateAyurveda practitioners fromperforming general surgeries asadvocated by the Centre?

Of course, it is well knownthat Kshar-Sootra has receivedsupport from eminent proctol-ogists as the most effectivetreatment for haemorrhoids

and anal fistula. PrasootiTantra, too, has helped in eas-ing gynaecological problems.But that does not mean that wecan open up general surgeriesto vaids. Given the quality ofinstruction and in the absenceof a regulatory code guiding alltraditional medicine institu-tions, its practitioners may notbe equipped to conduct surg-eries at this point. Even minor

procedures need to be clearedonly after meeting modernstandards of efficacy.

Jai Prakash GuptaAmbala Cantt

India in a tight spotSir — UK’s approval of thePfizer-BioNTech COVID-19vaccine gives hope that we maysoon be able to fight the pan-demic but there are concerns.

About 100 drug developmentteams worldwide are racing todevelop vaccines to distributethem on a large scale. Amidthis, Pfizer said that its trialsshowed more than 90 per centefficacy. While this is a reasonto cheer, there are also concernsbecause it needs to be stored atsub-zero temperatures — alogistical nightmare for Indiawith few ultra-cold freezersand a huge population. The newtwo-shot vaccine from Pfizerhas to be maintained at minus80°C. Nowhere on the planetdoes the logistical capacity existto distribute vaccines at thistemperature. Although vaccinescould prove to be a game-changer for the pandemic,wealthy nations have alreadybought up more than half thefuture supply. India has beenscrambling to secure 500 mil-lion doses by July from manu-facturers, in addition to devel-oping its own Covaxin. Indiaalso plans to manufacture up to200 million doses of candidatevaccines from AstraZeneca andNovavax next year.

Bhagwan ThadaniMumbai

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

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op nionVIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | DECEMBER 3, 2020

06

Don’t burn the bridgesThe farmers’ agitation requires sympathetic handling even if the Govt has facts

on its side. A cavalier attitude is fraught with great political and security risk

MHRA has formally authorisedthe Pfizer and BioNTech Groupvaccine for COVID-19. The vaccine will begin to be madeavailable across the UK fromnext week.

UK Prime Minister—Boris Johnson

Deconstructing Obama

That the first volume of former US President BarackObama’s autobiography, A Promised Land, is on wayto becoming a bestseller need not hold us back from

an objective assessment of a leader who has capturedthe world’s imagination. He is larger than life and has abag of tricks for self-promotion.

Obama has used the rhetoric of political slogans toproject himself as a man of substance. In the process,he has generated an elusive sense of depth about his per-sona. His “Yes, we can” slogan paled into insignificancebefore Donald Trump’s “Make America great again.” BothObama and Trump shared jingoism in equal measure intheir own distinct ways. Obama’s foreign policy was notmaterially different from that of those who preceded andsucceeded him. As any other President would have done,Obama, too, ordered drone strikes resulting in thousandsof civilian casualties. Not wanting to be seen as being“soft on terror”, his decisions cost many lives in sever-al Muslim countries. He was right in asking, “For what?,”

when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. With hisunkind characterisation of Rahul Gandhi as a person who“has a nervous, unformed quality about him”, Obamaseems to have an inflated sense of his IQ levels. Clearly,he is a vastly overrated leader of our times. Either he didnot have it in him or missed the opportunity to go downin history as a great statesman.

G.David MiltonMaruthancode

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Blue shockMaybe not playing international cricket for half a year andthe ‘retro’ outfits have made our cricket team a bit rusty

PRIYADARSHI DUTTA

What a wonderfulstory...T. Natarajanmaking his ODI (OneDay International)debut for India today.Dreams do come true!

Australian coach—Tom Moody

We are not on this earth alone and if you can have apositive, meaningful impacton even one life, then you willbecome part of the solutionand not the problem.

Actor —Priyanka Chopra

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

S O U N D B I T EI congratulate two IndependentMLAs for listening to their conscience and voice of suffering farmers and withdrawing support from the Khattar Government.

Congress leader—Randeep Surjewala

THE BJP-AKALI DALALLIANCE WASALSO A SOCIAL

COMPACT. TRACESOF KHALISTANIELEMENTS ARE

STILL ACTIVE INPUNJAB. THEY ARELIKELY TO EXPLOIT

FOR THEIR EVILAGENDA ANY

UNSYMPATHETICATTITUDE OF THE

GOVERNMENTTOWARDS THEFARMERS, THE

BULK OF WHOMARE SIKHS

The Canadian PM may want to pander to his Sikh constituency butis that worth risking diplomatic ties with India?

Prevention better than cure

EVEN AS AAP WAS CLAIMING TO BE SUPPORTING THE

FARMERS, THE DELHI GOVERNMENT EXECUTED THE

BLACK LAWS THROUGH A GAZETTE NOTIFICATION.

—PUNJAB CHIEF MINISTER

AMARINDER SINGH

FOOD AND ESSENTIALS ARE BEING GIVEN TO THE

PROTESTING FARMERS IN DELHI BY AAP. PUNJAB IS

BACKING KEJRIWAL, SO AMARINDER IS NERVOUS.

—AAP MLA

RAGHAV CHADHA

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

It is an unfortunate fact that breathing cleanair, the most basic of human needs for sur-vival, has become a luxury for many around

the globe, and particularly in India, which hous-es 22 of the 30 most polluted cities in the world.Looking at the severity of the problem of air pol-lution and its consequences on the health of mil-lions of people, animals and plants worldwide,dirty air is now being seen as one of the most seri-ous hazards.

Ever since the issue of deteriorating air qual-ity has been highlighted and documented, therehave been growing concerns over its economicaspects, in terms of investments, technologydevelopment and the cost benefits of handlingair pollution. This relationship between environ-mental degradation and economic needs has beenthe object of constant debate among environmen-tal economists. During the last two decades, thisdebate has raised several questions about attain-ing sustainability by normalising environmen-tal management and economic growth with theparticipation of inhabitants on the same scale.

Peripheral effects or externalities are one ofthe most basic concepts evoked by economistswhile looking at problems of environmental pol-lution. In economics, an externality is an impor-tant cause for market failure that arises when theproduction or consumption activities of anindividual or a firm influence the well-being ofbystanders. For instance, smoking a cigarette ina public place, an open kitchen in a hotel, or usingconventional wood/coal-fired cooking stoves inrural households are considered to create a neg-ative impact on the people in the vicinity.

Air pollution is essentially a negative exter-nality as it imposes costs on people who are exter-nal to the transaction of a polluting product.While sustainability focusses on integratingeconomic activity with environmental protectionand social problems, it is obvious that econom-ic development, which ignores environmentaland social impacts, could generate undesirableconsequences on sustainability trends.

There is a general agreement that we mustprevent pollution of our natural resources like air,water and land. On the contrary, there are con-siderable disputes over how controls should bedesigned and how much control is needed. Fromthe Indian perspective, the pollution control lawsand mechanisms adopted four decades ago in1981 got amended over time. They tended to leantowards detailed regulation of technology, leav-ing polluters little choice in methods to achieveenvironmental goals. However, a rapid econom-ic and social change challenge policy design andimplementation. The need of the hour is to lookfor innovative solutions to avoid pollutionrather than focussing on its control only.Addressing the root cause is the most probablesolution left to us. India needs to strengthen itscapacity, both ideologically and practically,through governmental actions and citizen par-ticipation. This would support economic devel-opment, promote the industrial set-up andresult in employment generation.

Thus, understanding the severity of air pol-lution and its associated impacts, the Governmentof India released its strategic action plan theNational Clean Air Programme (NCAP) inJanuary 2019. It clearly elucidates that the tech-nological drawbacks and limitations in expertiseare considered as a major hindrance in achiev-ing our environmental obligations. Thus, swift

technology transfer mechanisms andeffective capacity-building are the wayforward for any collaboration inaddressing persisting environmentalissues.“An ounce of prevention is wortha pound of cure”, said Sir BenjaminFranklin. The importance of curbing airpollution activities over reduction mea-sures cannot be stressed enough. It isthe most effective and economically-feasible option for the long-term.

Along with environmental benefits,pollution prevention practices coulddirectly improve the nation’s well-being by providing a cleaner environ-ment, which in turn increases produc-tivity and the effective use of resources.Hence, in order to meet both econom-ic growth and environmental protectionsimultaneously, it is necessary to widenthe gap between emissions and eco-nomic output with judicious resourceutilisation.

As cost-effective emission controlhas been in focus for decades in inter-national air pollution regulations, thebalance between market-based policiesfor prevention of air quality deteriora-tion and economics of contaminationreduction is expected to play a signif-icant role in India’s economic road map,which aims to achieve the $5 trillion-mark by 2025. The experiences fromdeveloped nations have to be replicat-ed in terms of India’s existing dismal airquality scenario, which includes tech-nologies and mechanisms with short,medium and long-term effects andgoals.

Emissions from the industrial andconstruction sectors are considered asmajor sources of particulate matter pol-lution in India, while the NOx (nitro-gen oxide) emissions are majorly con-

tributed by the transport and powergeneration sector. Thus pollution pre-vention needs to be initiated from thesesectors as the first step towards cleanair. With thoughts of shifting from coal-based energy to natural gas, the tran-sition could provide a long-term answerto climate change with a significantdecrease in CO2 and other air qualitybenefits. But the cost of technologicaldevelopment along with the implemen-tation and industrial acceptance sce-nario needs to be accounted for.

In India, natural gas formed about5.6 per cent of the country’s total ener-gy supply in 2018. The deployment ofa large-scale fuel switch from coal tonatural gas is influenced by various fac-tors viz. switching demand and supplyconstraints, infrastructure, technologyadaptability, high upfront costs and skillcapacity. On the other hand, the recentintroduction of the Faster Adoption andManufacturing of Electric Vehicles(FAME-II) policy, along with BharatStage Emission Standards (BS-VI) ontechnology and fuels, emphasises theGovernment’s efforts in curbing pollu-tants associated with the transportsector.

Moreover, subsidies in the purchasecost of electric vehicles (EVs) wouldincrease cost-effectiveness and accep-tance among people, which would bea huge step for the transport sector.

On the same lines, the PradhanMantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) aimsto provide 100 per cent LiquefiedPetroleum Gas (LPG) access to allhouseholds in India to alleviate the direimpacts of biomass/firewood use forcooking. The need of the hour is theeffective management of the cropresidue, burning of which by farmers

has been a nuisance for some time now.TERI suggests an effective crop residuebusiness model, which emphasises thedecentralised use of biomass at the vil-lage and industry level. It creates aneffective strategy for creating jobsalong with crop stubble management.

The emergence of novel technolo-gies curbing emissions has proven to bean effective tool in stimulating invest-ments in clean energy technology at thesource. Economic models project thatthe introduction of such measures atsource would result in job losses insome sectors (fossil fuel) and job cre-ation in others (renewable energy andso on). In the long-run, such environ-mental policies will favour the econo-my as they will stimulate more efficientuse of resources and result in healthbenefits.

Reducing emissions is a wise, long-term investment that contributes to sev-eral development goals and ultimatelywill yield substantial benefits.Increasing urbanisation and econom-ic development activities along with alack of effective implementation arefuelling air pollution problems.Addressing the issue of a deterioratingair quality requires multi-level partner-ships, incorporating the Government,the private sector, the industry, acade-mia, research institutes, the civil soci-ety and associations with more cohe-sive efforts. The allocation of `460 crorefor pollution-control schemes under theUnion Budget needs to be smartlyinvested with equal emphasis onincreasing public awareness and tech-nology infrastructure.

(Iyer is Fellow, Kamaraju isAssociate Fellow and Emmanuel isResearch Associate, TERI)

The importance of curbing air pollution activities over reduction measures cannot be stressedenough. It is the most effective and economically-feasible option for the long-term

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

Middle East setto lose its clout

GWYNNE DYER

As the climate emergency deepens, oil-guzzlingmotor vehicles are switching to electricity instead.

That does not bode well for oil-rich nations

SURESH IYER

SKAMARAJU

M A EMMANUEL

THE NEED OF THEHOUR IS TO LOOK

FOR INNOVATIVESOLUTIONS TO

AVOID POLLUTIONRATHER THAN

FOCUSSING ONITS CONTROL

ONLY.ADDRESSING THE

ROOT CAUSE ISTHE MOSTPROBABLE

SOLUTION LEFTTO US. INDIA

NEEDS TOSTRENGTHEN ITSCAPACITY, BOTHIDEOLOGICALLY

ANDPRACTICALLY,

THROUGHGOVERNMENTAL

ACTIONS ANDCITIZEN

PARTICIPATION

The only officials present were American and Saudi,” tweet-ed the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin FarhanAl Saud, but he was either mistaken or was not telling the

whole story. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu really didfly into Saudi Arabia recently to spend a few hours with CrownPrince Mohammed bin Salman and US Secretary of State MikePompeo. We owe this knowledge to that indispensable journal-istic resource, the flight-tracking websites. They revealed that theprivate plane Netanyahu usually charters for secret visits abroaddeparted from Tel Aviv recently and flew to Neom in Saudi Arabia,taking off for the return flight three-and-a-half-hours later. So, dida meeting actually take place? Did something go awry? Or did ameeting take place, but each side took the public stance that bestmet its political needs?

No matter what the compulsion for the ambiguity, one thingis crystal clear: The meeting was meaningless. Once upon a timeit would have been headline news around the world. ‘US super-power and oil-rich Saudi Arabia get together with embattled Israelileader to carve up the Middle East’, or something along thoselines. Whereas today this meeting barely got noticed. Netanyahuis indeed embattled but it is corruption charges he’s fighting, nota foreign enemy. Pompeo is a soon-to-be-unemployed politicianpolishing up his CV for a senatorial nomination in 2022 or theRepublican presidential nomination in 2024. Prince Mohammedbin Salman is still effectively the dictator of Saudi Arabia, but thatno longer cuts much ice in the rest of the world. Some of thiscollapse in relevance is temporary. Netanyahu will eventually goto jail or retire, but Israel will still be the dwarf superpower thatbestrides the Middle East militarily. Pompeo and his employer USPresident Donald Trump will soon be out of office and the US willrecover some of its former position as a world leader, at least fora while. But Saudi Arabia will never be back as a mover and shak-er. The decline is permanent, because “oil-rich” is a phrase des-tined to become as obsolete as “carbon copy.” The oil revenueof the Arab producers has fallen by more than two-thirds, from$1 trillion in 2012 to only $300 billion this year, and it’s nevercoming back up. The decline so far has been driven mostly bya steep fall in oil prices — demand rose steadily but oil produc-tion persistently rose faster — but now an absolute collapse indemand looms as well.

As the climate emergency deepens, motor vehicles (whichaccount for half of all oil use globally) are switching to electrici-ty instead. That does not bode well for oil rich nations. Britain andFrance are now committed to end all sales of new cars with inter-nal combustion engines by 2030, which means in practice thatnobody there will buy a new petroleum-fuelled car after 2025.Many other countries have or are debating similar measures. Sowhat happens to a country like Saudi Arabia, where four-fifths ofthe Government budget comes from oil revenues? Budget cutsare already happening, of course, but revenues will continue tofall. Moreover, the population in almost all the oil-producing Gulfstates is still growing fast.

At some point these two lines on the graph will intersect ina politically destabilising way. If Saudi Arabia and the smaller Gulfoil-States go on spending vast amounts of money on weapons,ostensibly to protect themselves from Iran, the lines will intersecta little sooner, but in any case it’s just a matter of time. The extra-ordinary stability of these States — not a single change of regimein the six oil-rich monarchies of the Arabian peninsula in the past50 years — has been based entirely on the ability of the tradi-tional rulers to buy the acquiescence of their subjects. Once thewealth goes, so does the stability.

The Arabian peninsula has been briefly a major centre of poweronly twice in world history: Once in 632-661 CE, after which thecapital of the early Islamic empire moved to Damascus, and oncefrom 1973 to the present — but not for much longer. Even theunity of Saudi Arabia itself, which was imposed by force less thana century ago, may not survive the transition. The dominant powercentres of the post-oil Middle East will be exactly where they werefor most of the past thousand years: Turkey, Iran and Egypt. Andat no time in the last thousand years have any two of those threepowers been able to cooperate for long. They do have some thingsin common: Islam (although in two different and generally hos-tile versions), relatively modern, semi-industrialised economies(Turkey most, Egypt least), and around 100 million people each.But they are divided by language (Turkish, Arabic and Farsi havenothing in common except loan-words), distance (the capitalsare more than 2,000 km apart), and by history and politics. Egyptoccasionally got conquered by one of the other two but that does-n’t count as collaboration. So it might be argued that the MiddleEast itself is about to disappear as a meaningful concept. No greatloss, really.

(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is ‘Growing Pains: The Future ofDemocracy and Work.’)

Amid the Coronavirus pandem-ic, the recent Indo-US 2+2Dialogue between US Secretary

of State Mike Pompeo, Secretary ofDefence Mark Esper and their Indiancounterparts, Foreign Minister SJaishankar and Defence MinisterRajnath Singh, has provided a much-needed impetus to a new roadmap indealing with myriad security concernsand challenges posed by the overex-pansionist Chinese mission. Duringthe dialogue, India and the US signedfive agreements, including the BasicExchange and Cooperation Agreement(BECA) that will allow for real-time

sharing of geospatial data. Besides,issues of global cooperation in the eco-nomic arena and public health alongwith the border security apparatus andgeospatial information sharing remaina vital part of the pact.

This would certainly provide ahuge platform for future Indo-US tiesthrough diplomatic endeavours and bethe beginning of a new era of defencedeals. Although it is the third 2+2Dialogue, it holds more importance asthe BECA would enhance the chancesof sharing information with regard toinner-satellite data, military and intel-ligence along with logistics facilities.This is vital as the rising tentacles ofChinese expansionism have raisedserious concerns about the safety of theentire region. In fact, the Quad Group,comprising India, Australia, Japanand the US, recently held a joint navalexercise to counter the threat posed byChina and to ensure security in theIndo-Pacific region.

The BECA would be helpful indeveloping international cooperationfor fighting trans-national terrorism.

According to analysts, it is a welcomedevelopment as it would provide a plat-form for multi-layered security coop-eration that would deal with variousother issues related to terrorism. Rightfrom funding of terrorist activities,policing cooperation, dealing withcyber threats, secrecy through enhanc-ing technological innovations andtightening the border to maritimesecurity information-gathering exer-cise. Cooperation and coordination inaggrandisement of communicationcapabilities and management of secu-rity arrangements to deal with any kindof threat are the main objectives of thepact. The catch here lies in how to gen-erate prudence to anticipate a possiblethreat from religiously-motivatedbands of distraught people.

There would also be chances ofincreased cooperation under theCommunication Compatibility andSecurity Agreement (COMCASA)between the security and defenceestablishments of the two largestdemocracies of the world. However,there has been a paradigm shift in the

foreign policy outlook of nations.Countries have become more pragmat-ic in dealing with others and have start-ed building one-to-one relationships.Therefore, the apprehensions of hav-ing an adverse impact on ties witheither Russia, Iran or China are notgoing to have a place in strategic pol-icy formulation in the present scenario.

Another important area, whichrequires immediate attention andcooperation, is developing a mecha-nism to deal with the chemicalweapons in possession of the newbreed of terrorists. Chemical weaponsare not easily detectable and hence areeasily transportable, as compared toconventional arms. International coop-eration in terms of forming strict lawsand regulations that prevent the acqui-sition of such weapons can provide astrategic management in dealing withterror.

The cooperation between Indiaand the US may also develop a fool-proof mechanism to put an end to theaccessibility of RDX, ErythritolTetranitrate (Penta) and sophisticat-

ed weapons like AK-56 and AK-47assault rifles. Plus, cooperation inpolicing while dealing with the men-ace of drug trafficking will provide astrong mechanism to crack the nexusbetween terrorists and drug dealers inPakistan, Afghanistan, Laos and so on.

However, the main challenge willbe how to frame a strategy to deal withreligiously-motivated terrorists. It iscommendable that the US security andintelligence network could control fur-ther terrorist attacks after September11. India can learn a lesson or two fromthis. Unless we develop a high-levelintelligence network to anticipate suchthreats, the talk of combating strate-gies would only remain a chimera.

During the last two decades, theobnoxious nexus between drug smug-glers and terrorists has posed a seri-ous problem for internal security net-works and compelled various nationsto organise themselves and wage arelentless war against this. But mereimplementation of vigorous drug lawscannot be effective unless the judicialprocedure is modified to ensure speedy

trials. This agreement is an opportu-nity to nip Pakistan’s trouble-makingtactics and the narco-terror it isspreading in the region, as well as curbChina’s expansionist plans.

There is a major transnationaltransition on account of a rapidlychanging value system across theglobe as well as a shift in world-levelpower sharing. Slowly, the old order isgiving way to the new. The recentdevelopments and terror attacks in dif-ferent parts of the globe offer a fewlessons: First, no authority can affordto ignore the popular aspirations of themasses anymore. Change and unrestare inevitable if the demands of peo-ple are not met.

The process of a new threat trans-formation has just begun. Therefore,the present initiative by theGovernments of the US and Indiawould provide a new framework ofsecurity-related information sharingand more chances of confidence build-ing for a better future.

(The writer is a Professor of PoliticalScience)

Time to put security front and centre It is commendable that the US could control further terrorist attacks after September 11. India can learn a lesson or two from this

SUDHIR HINDWAN

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | DECEMBER 3, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

Why does every develop-ment in the Corona crisisseem to take Boris Johnsonby surprise? The PrimeMinister sent two letters toConservative MPs in thehope of dissuading themfrom voting against thepost-lockdown restrictions.The COVID winter plan isdue to take effect now. It isalready unravelling into amessy muddle.(The Guardian editorial)

THE GREATUNRAVELLING

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | DECEMBER 3, 2020 Money 08

INDIA CORNER

Cloud-based browser testingplatform LambdaTest onWednesday said it has secured

USD 6 million (Rs 44.2 crore) infunding led by Sequoia CapitalIndia's Surge, a rapid scale-upprogramme for startups inSoutheast Asia and India.Blume Ventures, Entrée Capital andLeo Capital also participated in theround, along with Gokul Rajaramand Ramakant Sharma, a statement said. The funding advancesLambdaTest's commitment to scaling its ecosystem and building anext-generation cloud infrastructure for the developer and testercommunity, it added. Founded in 2017 by Asad Khan and Jay Singh,LambdaTest is a testing infrastructure company that allowsdevelopers to seamlessly test their websites and apps on any browseror operating system environment. Since its launch, LambdaTest hasbeen used to perform more than 12 million tests by its 350,000users, including companies like Xerox, Cisco, Deloitte, Media.net,Coca Cola, Trepp, SurveyMonkey, Capgemini, HBR, Dashlane andZoho. The company has seen 8-10 per cent month-on-month growthin terms of sign-ups, customers, website visits, and revenue, and hasmore than 350,000 users from 132 countries using the platform. "Ourultimate goal is to bring the whole testing ecosystem to the cloudplatform, where all testing processes are done in a seamlesslyintegrated infrastructure that is easy to scale up and helps for easyapplication, debugging, and ultimately helping to bring out the bestquality products in the shortest amount of time," LambdaTest co-founder and CEO Asad Khan said.

LambdaTest raises $6mn fromSequoia Capital India's Surge

After six months of continuousdecline, investment in mutualfunds through SIPs rose to Rs

7,800 crore in October indicating areturn to normalisation for the retailinvestor.However, the increase inSIP numbers "may induce many toprofit booking, as we are seeing inNovember equity flow preliminarynumbers", said Gautam Kalia, head(investment solutions) at Sharekhanby BNP Paribas. The industry raised Rs 7,800 crore through the SIProute last month, compared with Rs 7,788 crore garnered inSeptember, data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi)showed. This was the first increase in Systematic Investment Plan(SIP) inflows since March this year. With the latest figures, the inflowthrough the route had reached to Rs 55,627 crore in the first eightmonths of the current financial year 2020-21. "While the month-on-month increase is marginal, it may be an indication to a return tonormalisation for the retail investor. "The recent spurt in equitymarkets may also instil more confidence in retail investors who willsee their SIP investments show higher returns in their tatements,"Kalia said.

SIP inflow rises for first time in 7months; tally reaches Rs 55k cr

PNS n NEW DELHI

India, the world's third-largestenergy consumer, wants thenew US administration toallow resumption of oil sup-plies from Iran and Venezuelaso as to give the country moreoptions to meet its require-ments, Oil MinisterDharmendra Pradhan said onWednesday.

"As a buyer, I would like tohave more buying places. Ishould have more destinationsto go for purchasing (of oil),"Pradhan said in response to aquestion about his expectationsfor the resumption of oilimports from Iran andVenezuela under a JosephBiden presidency.

Iran was India's second-biggest supplier of crude oilafter Saudi Arabia till 2010-11,but Western sanctions over itssuspected nuclear programmeled to reduced volumes.

India stopped importingcrude oil from Iran followingthe re-imposition of econom-ic sanctions in May 2019, bythe US.

Venezuela was India'sfourth-biggest oil supplier butimport dwindled afterWashington imposed sanc-tions on Venezuela's state oilcompany PDVSA in January2019, to put pressure on social-ist President Nicolas Maduro.

At a webinar on 'The RoadTo Atmanirbhar Bharat' organ-ised by Swarajya Magazine,Pradhan was asked if as amajor consuming nation, Indiawould like the Biden adminis-tration to relax sanctions onIran and Venezuela.

On Indo-US relations, hesaid nothing will change withthe change of guard in the USfor India. "There is a strongbonding between the twonations. Both depend on eachother. Our relations are sound,our relations are grounded."

"Nothing will change.Elections are a regular practicein America," he said addingIndia offers the US a huge mar-

ket.The relations between the

two nations will continue todeepen irrespective of thecountry being governed byDemocrats or Republicans, hesaid.

"I don't see any dampeningin the relationship (with Bidencoming). It is growing everyday," he said.

India is 85 per cent depen-dent on imports to meet its oilneeds. Two-third of its importscome from the Middle-Eastwith Iraq and Saudi Arabiabeing the largest suppliers.

Pradhan said India is all forreasonable and responsive pric-ing of crude.

"Gone are days of monopoly.Oil producers have to recognisethe aspirations of consumers. Itis a consumer-driven markettoday. India needs a reasonableand responsible price," he said.

India consumed just 6 percent of the world's primaryenergy and its per capita con-sumption is one-third of theglobal average, he said addingIndia will drive the growth inglobal energy demand.

India's energy consumptionis projected to grow at 3 percent per annum up to 2040,faster than all major economiesof the world. Also, the coun-try's share of total global pri-mary energy demand is set toroughly double to about 11 percent by 2040, driven by strongeconomic development, hesaid. The Minister said thatIndia is in the midst of a majortransformative shift that aimsto enhance the availability and

affordability of clean fossilfuels and also reduce the car-bon footprint through ahealthy mix of all commercial-ly-viable energy sources.

"Our government is alsocommitted to reducing theemissions intensity of its GDPby 33 to 35 per cent from 2005levels," he said.

Talking about efforts to shifttowards a gas-based economy,Pradhan said 14,700 km of gaspipelines are being added toover 16,800-km networkpresently.

Also, gas import terminalcapacity is being increased andcity gas networks rolled out in407 districts, he said.

"To ensure energy securityfor our economic growth, weare expanding our refiningcapacity from the current 250million tonnes per annum to450 million tonnes," he saidwithout giving a time frame.

India keen on US allowing resumptionof oil supplies from Iran, Venezuela

India is 85% dependent on importsto meet its oil needs. Two-third ofits imports come from the Middle-East with Iraq and Saudi Arabiabeing the largest suppliers. Pradhansaid India is all for reasonable andresponsive pricing of crude

PNS n NEW DELHI

State-owned CIL on Wednesday said overall offtake of coalincreased by 8 per cent to 51.3million tonnes last month,spurred by increased demandfor the dry fuel from non-power sectors.

The supply by Coal India(CIL) to non-power sectorswas up by a robust 46 per centduring the month, the PSUsaid in a statement.

"CIL's off-take was 51.3 mil-lion tonnes (MTs) inNovember of the ongoing fis-cal, an increase of 3.8 MT com-pared to 47.5 MTs of samemonth last year," it said.

Sectors other than poweraccounted for the entireincrease.

Coal production at 51.7 MTin November clocked a growthof 3.3 per cent, with 1.7 MTuptick in absolute terms.

CIL had produced 50 MT ofcoal in November 2019.

With the non-power con-sumers showing a tendency tolift more coal, CIL's supply tothis segment has risen to 12.3MT in November, logging agrowth of 46 per cent com-pared to 8.4 MT in Novemberlast fiscal.

Non-power sectors' liftingaccounted for 24 per cent ofthe last month's total despatch.This segment predominantlyconsists of cement, spongeiron, captive power plants anda host of other industries.

The growth in supplies tothe non-power sectors tillNovember was 14 per cent at80.6 MT.

"We are reorienting ourmarketing plans. With thedemand from power sector yetto boom fully we are concen-trating our efforts on non-power consumers to expandour sales volume. Till there isdemand resurgence frompower sector, we shall followthis, which is helping us," asenior executive of the compa-ny said.

The PSU further said 83power plants have regulated

lifting of coal in November. Ofthis, 26 have considerablyreduced their programmeplaced for rakes against theirentitlement. The remaining57 have not filed their pro-gramme for rakes, which led todemand stagnation during themonth.

The power sector of thecountry is stocked with 37.4MT of coal at their end, suffi-cient for 22 days. With CIL rid-ing high on 53.5 MT pitheadstock a combined stock of 91MT is available in the system,sufficient to meet any demandsurge.

Coal India posts 8 per cent offtake growth in November

The initial public offering ofBurger King India gotoversubscribed within a

few hours of opening forsubscription on Wednesday.The IPO, which will close onFriday, was subscribed 1.84times. The price band is Rs59-60 per share. Non-Institutional Investors'category received 19 per centsubscription while the portion reserved for retail individual investorsgot subscribed 9.83 times, as per data available with stock exchangestill 2 pm. The IPO will see the Indian subsidiary of the US-basedBurger King raise Rs 810 crore, including a fresh issue of sharesworth Rs 450 crore. Promoter entity QSR Asia Pte Ltd will sell up tosix crore shares through the IPO. At the upper end of the price band,the sale would fetch Rs 360 crore. The chain currently operates 268stores in India and out of them, eight are franchises, mainly located atairports, and the rest are owned by the company.

Burger King India IPO getsoversubscribed

The power sector of the country isstocked with 37.4 MT of coal at theirend, sufficient for 22 days. With CILriding high on 53.5 MT pithead stock acombined stock of 91 MT is availablein the system, sufficient to meet anydemand surge

PNS n NEW DELHI

UK-based global Sikh charitybody Khalsa Aid onWednesday said it has volun-teered to offer free food andessential supplies to farmersagitating at Singhu and Tikriborders of the national capital.

The organization has been apartner of farmers in the 'DilliChalo' movement for the lasttwo months.

Volunteers are providinglangar, tea and refreshmentsand even medical help aroundthe clock to the protestingfarmers who at present are sta-tioned at Singhu and Tikri bor-der, Khalsa Aid Director

Amarpreet Singh said in astatement. Since women were

facing hardships, Khalsa Aidhas ordered 50 portable wash-

rooms as well, he added. Farmers from about 35 farm

organizations, mostly fromPunjab, are protesting at Delhiborders since last week seekingrepeal of the three new farmlaws enacted by the centralgovernment. The Centre hasheld several rounds of meet-ings to address concerns of theprotesting farmer and end thedeadlock at the earliest.

The next round of talkswith them will be onDecember 3. Khalsa Aidprovides support around theworld to victims of natural andhuman-made disasters such asfloods, earthquakes, famineand war.

Khalsa Aid offering free food to ryots on stir

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi will share his thoughtsand vision for the industry'srole in creating an 'InspiredIndia' at FICCI's 93rd AnnualGeneral Meeting onDecember 12, the chambersaid on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister willvirtually inaugurate andaddress the AGM, which isbeing held virtually on 11, 12and 14 December and is basedon the theme 'Inspired India'.

Key policymakers, includ-ing Home Minister AmitShah, Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman, Ministerfor Road Transport &Highways and Micro, Smalland Medium Enterprises NitinGadkari, Minister forCommerce & Industry andRailways Piyush Goyal,External Affairs Minister SJaishankar and Minister forElectronics & IT andCommunications and Law &Justice Ravi Shankar Prasadare likely to attend the event.

The star-studdedline-up of speakers in thisyear's AGM also includesSatya Nadella, Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Microsoft, EricSchmidt, ex-ChairmanAlphabet and Chairman ofNational Security Commissionon AI, and several top-notchIndian business leaders such asTata Group Chairman NChandrasekaran, CadilaHealthcare Chairman PankajPatel, and Ritesh Agarwal,Founder & Group CEO, OYOHotels Homes, among others.

More than 10,000 delegatesare expected to virtually par-ticipate in this mega eventfrom across the globe.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian economy is com-ing out of the pandemic-induced degrowth and GDPgrowth will enter the positiveterritory in the fourth quar-ter of this fiscal, Niti AayogVice-Chairman Rajiv Kumarsaid on Wednesday.

In an interview to PTI,Kumar also said the Centre'snew agriculture reform lawsare aimed at increasing theincome of farmers and thepresent agitation was a resultof misunderstanding andmiscommunication whichneed to be removed.

"The second quarter GDPfigure (contraction of 7.5per cent) reflects that theeconomy is coming out ofthis pandemic-induceddegrowth phase and myexpectation is that in thethird quarter, we will achievethe same level of economicactivity as the year ago peri-od.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court onWednesday stayed the March4 order of National CompanyLaw Appellate Tribunal(NCLAT) asking fair traderegulator CCI to again initiatethe probe against e-commercemajor Flipkart for an allegeduse of its dominant position.

A bench of Chief Justice S ABobde and Justices A SBopanna and VRamasubramanian, which ini-tially was of the view to sendback the matter to NCLATafter setting aside March 4order and decision on all

aspects including the issue ofdominant position beingenjoyed by Flipkart, laterstayed appellate tribunal's deci-sion.

The top court issued noticeto All India Online VendorsAssociation (sellers associa-tion) and CompetitionCommission of India (CCI).

Senior advocate HarishSalve, appearing for Flipkart,said that CCI doesn't look atthe findings of theGovernment and relied on thetax department findings andmisread the findings of the taxtribunal.

He said that the other e-

commerce major Amazon isagainst his client companyand if he is not a dominantplayer then the allegations ofpredatory pricing does notapply on Flipkart.

Salve submitted that thepredatory pricing is an issue tobe considered against the dom-inant player as a case of abuseof power but his client has notbeen held as a dominant play-er. The bench said that theCCI has rendered a categori-cal finding that Flipkart doesnot have the dominant posi-tion and the NCLAT has notreversed the findings on thedominant position.

SC stays NCLAT order forCCI probe against Flipkart

GDP growth toenter positiveterritory in Q4:NITI VC

PNS n NEW DELHI

Gold prices rose Rs 675 to Rs48,169 per 10 gram onWednesday reflecting gains inglobal precious metal prices,according to HDFCSecurities.

In the previous trade, theprecious metal had closed atRs 47,494 per 10 gram.

Silver also rose Rs 1,280 toRs 62,496 per kg, from Rs61,216 per kg in the previoustrade.

In the international mar-ket, gold was trading in thegreen at USD 1,815 per ounceand silver was flat at USD23.80 per ounce.

Gold rises Rs675; silverjumps Rs 1,280

PNS n NEW DELHI

IT industry body Nasscom onWednesday welcomed a UScourt's order blocking tworules around H-1B regula-tions, saying the move recog-nises the importance of thehigh-skill visa programs andwill help US businesses accesscritical talent.

On December 1, 2020, JudgeJeffrey White of the US DistrictCourt for the NorthernDistrict of California issued anorder blocking two InterimFinal Rules (IFRs) on H-1Bregulations proposed by theDepartments of Labor andHomeland Security to restrictthe ability of US companies tohire foreign-born employeeson H-1B visas.

The Department ofHomeland Security (DHS)Interim Final Rule was set togo into effect December 7,2020, but will not as a result ofthis ruling, Nasscom said in astatement.

The Department of Labor(DOL) IFR went into effect on

October 8, 2020, and is now nolonger in effect, Nasscom saidadding that this decision effec-tively enjoins DOL and DHSfrom further implementingthe rules unless an appealscourt finds otherwise.

"We welcome the court deci-sion that clearly recognisesthe importance of the high-skill visa programs to the US;and that the IFRs issued pre-viously did not hold legalstatute. Nasscom believes thiswill help US businesses accesstalent critical to the econom-ic recovery phase in the post-COVID world," it said.

The industry body notedthat the DOL IFR changed themanner in which the DOL cal-culates prevailing wage ratesand adjusted the prevailingwage percentiles for Levels Iand IV upward.

The DHS IFR concurrentlymade a number of changes tothe H-1B visa program, includ-ing revisions to the regulatorydefinitions of "specialty occu-pation" and the employer-employee relationship andreductions to the validity peri-od for H-1B workers employedat third party job sites fromthree years to one year.

US court decision recognisesimportance of visa programs

PNS n MUMBAI

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of RBI began itsthree-day deliberation onWednesday here amid expec-tations that the central bankwill maintain status quo on thebenchmark lending rates inview of high retail inflation.

The RBI will announce itsmonetary policy review onDecember 4. After its lastMPC meeting in October, RBIkept policy rates unchanged tohelp tame inflation that in therecent times has surged past 6per cent mark. RBI projectedthe country's GDP to contract9.5 per cent in the currentfinancial year due to the pan-demic. It has cut policy ratesby 115 basis points sinceFebruary.

Experts opined that RBI maynot slash policy rate in the wakeof rising CPI-based inflationdriven mainly by supply sideissues. Amar Ambani, SeniorPresident & InstitutionalResearch Head at YesSecurities said with frequency

indicators and GDP data con-veying meaningful rebound ineconomic activity and retailinflation remaining stubborn-ly high, "we not only expectthe RBI to maintain status quoin December 2020 policymeeting, but the minimalchance of a 25 bps rate cut inFebruary 2021 also appears tobe fading away".

He further said RBI mayupgrade its growth outlook,wherein the central bankwould scale down on its ear-lier pessimistic GDP projec-tion of 9.5 per cent for 2020-21."Similarly, RBI will alsoupdate on the inflation trajec-tory, when compared with theearlier expectations of CPImoderating in Q4 FY21," headded. Madan Sabnavis, ChiefEconomist, Care Ratings saidthe six-member MPC isexpected to factor in its deci-sion making the nascent signsof improvement in the domes-tic economy while also recog-nising the fragile nature of thisrecovery and the underlyingdownside risks.

RBI'S MPC startsdeliberation on policy rate

PM to address FICCIAGM on December 12

hewhole

world is fightingthe Coronavirus for

many months now andthe service of frontline

workers is something that weare forever indebted to.

Especially doctors, who have beenhandling Covid-19 cases, and are

longing for a break. Taking a muchdeserved break to relieve them fromstress, a Doctors Cricket League was

hosted in the city.Though the League has been in exis-

tence for seven years, this year it wassuspended due to COVID. However thedoctors are back at it, as Mighty Sports,the organisers, hosted the tournament.

“It is a welcome break. I was eagerlylooking forward to it,” said Dr. Mahesh,one of the participants at the DoctorsCricket League. The finals were playedbetween Medicover Team andShishuraksha Kamineni on Sunday atMMA Cricket Grounds nearShamshabad. Shishuraksha Kamineniwon the finals beating two time-champi-ons as well as defending championsMedicover Hospitals. The doctors playedthe T-20 in the presence of their spouses,who are also doctors.

One look at the match gave an impres-

sion that they too are on par with thebest seasonal players. And one wondershow they take time out to play? Only thedetermined can take time out, comment-ed Dr. Chandu, an all-rounder. He bats,bowls and fields well. In recognition ofhis all-round performance, he wasadjudged the Man of the Match as wellas the Best Bowler. He knocked 31runsout of 21 balls and remained not out,bowled four overs, gave 33 runs and tookone wicket. He picked up 3 catches too.As a bowler, he took 23 wickets in the 9matches he played!

“We sacrifice a lot to pursue our pas-sion. Being a surgeon, I don’t even get tosee the sunrise sometimes. We get intothe operation theatres early in the morn-ing. But, we not only need to keep our-selves fit but set an example to ourpatients. That is why I try my best tokeep fit and healthy by playing cricket,"said Dr. Chandu.

This was the main motto to even startthe Doctors Cricket League — thatpatients take inspiration from doctors.“Cricket is one good sport. We were sur-prised to find that there were manycricket players in the fraternity. We start-ed Doctors Cricket League in 2013,”shared Ms Nanda Pandey, Director andNikhil Sampath, Co-Founder of MightySports.

According to Dr. Krishna Kiran,Captain of Medicover Hospitals, whowon the title twice in the past, “We wantto convey to the public at large, and ourpatients, particularly that even whilebeing busy one, can also maintain ahealthy lifestyle.”

“Doctors play a key role in keepingIndia healthy. We need to practice beforewe preach it to others. Our participationin the Doctors Cricket League is our

message to the world that being busy isnot an excuse for not leading a healthylifestyle,” said Dr. Shashidhar, Captain ofthe Shishuraksha Kamineni team.

Mighty Sports is also thinking oforganising an exhibition match for allfemale doctors soon. Participants acrossall age groups took part in the event withthe oldest doctor being 62 years old! Itserves these doctors as an offbeat gather-ing to interact with each other and fortheir families as well. And interestingly,the umpires were selected from amongsenior doctors! What a way to live andcelebrate life!

t has beena toughyear foreveryone,including

those who areathletically

inclined.From

not

being able to play street crick-et with friends or even attendyour favorite yoga class, wehave been restricted to indoorworkouts. As the new normalbecomes the new reality andwe try to get back to our rou-tine lives, ace badmintonplayer PV Sindhu shares waysto stay safe while still pursu-ing the activities that keep usfit.

Approaching the newnormal with the right atti-

tudeWhen it comes to2020, the anxiety and

fear we have allfaced has chal-

lenged us inso many

ways.While

we

look to settle into the newnormal, having a positive atti-tude is so important. “I havechosen to not let fear or anxi-ety take control, but ratherapproach my days and weekwith a sense of positivity anddetermination. As an athlete,I am used to quite a disci-plined schedule. Whether it’smy diet, training or evenwater intake, we work tomake ourselves the best ver-sions of ourselves every singleday,” says Sindhu.

Adopting products thatinclude natural ingredients

Sanitisers, sprays, disinfec-tants are our new companionsand while they have become apart of our new reality, PVSindhu looks towards natureas a fitting solution to ourhygiene needs. “I have alwaystrusted nature. I marvel at theway it creates and destroyslife. Just like the freshwater

springs from the moun-tains or the many medic-

inal plants that havehelped us, I trust

nature to help usfind our way.

In terms ofhygiene, I

believethe

added benefits of incorporat-ing natural elements to ourproducts provides the ulti-mate safe and sustained solu-tion,” adds in Sindhu.

Embrace new habits for anew way of living

We have certainly changedour outlook towards hygiene.Whether its washing ourhands repeatedly or using thesanitisers on-the-go, beingconscious of our hygienestandards has induced severalnew habits. One such habitthat Sindhu has adopted ishow she washes her vegeta-bles. “In the past, just runningthem under water seemedgood enough, but now severalof us use fruit and vegetablecleaners to wash our produce.It is all very new to some ofus and we still have ourapprehensions at times onhow safe it is. Nature Protect’sfruit and vegetable cleaner isa perfect example of a safeproduct that is infused withneem extract and naturallyderived actives to do the job.So, it is just for us to find theright products and inculcatenew habits to strengthen ourapproach towards hygiene.”

Always being on-the goready

As the country opens grad-ually and people begin to stepout for work and leisure rea-

sons, it is important to havea 360-degree approach to

hygiene. We must beequipped with hav-

ing the rightessentials in

our bags when on the move.PV Sindhu’s outlook is takingon a proactive approach tothe hygiene habits. “Fromearly morning meditation andtraining, to gym routine andsession with my physio, noth-ing has really changed. Butwith the new realities that wecannot ignore which are themask, sanitisers, wipes andmany more hygiene musts, Ijust need to be extra cautiouson-the-go. I would most defi-nitely recommend the NatureProtect wipes to everyone. It'sa fabulous product, both safeand efficient and has a softfragrance of neem which is sorefreshing.”

The small things thatmake a big difference

For ace badminton playerPV Sindhu, it is the smallthings that make a big differ-ence. As she heads back to thecourt, she resorts to small actsthat will go a long way. “Smallthings like packing the NatureProtect wipes and the on-the-go spray in my kit bag, ensur-ing the fruits and veggies arewashed with the NatureProtect cleaner and othersuch healthy, conscious thingsthat I will be more carefulabout. I think a new way ofliving is what we all need atpresent, given the uncertaini-ty and risks out there.”

eople across the worldcelebrate this time ofthe year by visitingvarious homes in theirneighborhood, theirrelatives, and churches,

singing about the birth of JesusChrist. Several choir competitionsare held, and Hyderabad too,hosts several such prestigiouscompetitions. Apart from these,there also are several choirs in thecity that host their shows at HariHara Kala Bhavan, RavindraBharati, and other big venues.This year, however, none of thisseems to be happening. But likeeverything else, these choirs havemanaged to figure out a way tocontinue spreading the Christmascheer — by going virtual!

The Festival Choristers, whohave been performing in the citysince 2006, realised that this year,choirs can’t be the same as thegroup comprises people across allage groups, and so couldn’t affordto risk practicing amid the pan-demic. Daphne Rebello, one of thethree founders of FestivalChoristers says, “We figured it wasnot going to be possible this year,because we come from differentcorners of the city and are an ecu-menical group, with people fromdifferent religions too. We gener-ally start practicing in August, andthis year, things were too bad tomake people risk traveling forpractices. We began looking forways to put a show withoutendangering people’s lives.”

That’s when the choirdecided to go virtual,but with a uniqueidea. They tookthe pains ofgoingthrough alltheir per-formancesin the last13 years,pickedsome ofthe bestones, while

sticking to a pattern of classical,semi-classical, modern and ver-nacular songs and put them alltogether - a total of 16 to 18 songsin one show! “It sure was labori-ous work, but we were determinedto put up a show this year and dowhatever we could to spread theChristmas cheer. Through theprocess of elimination and sugges-tions, Aruna Bahuguna, RachelChatterjee, I, and others zeroeddown on a final list of songs, cov-ering different choir conductors,songs, etc.” The group man-aged to add an introduc-tion, vote of thanks andwill end the concertwith their ‘LetThere Be Peace

on Earth,

and Let It Begin With Me’ song,because they believe that’s whatthe world is in dire need of, rightnow - Peace. The FestivalChoristers’ virtual concert will belive on YouTube on 15thDecember this year.

Another favourite choir of thecity, The Tabernacles, will missperforming live too. “The decisionto go offline was made after a lotof thinking. Thanks to ZubinGibson, our choir conductor, afteraround 2-3 virtual meetings, wegathered the strength, with trustin one another, said ‘let’s do it’. Wetook all our practices online.Singers of all five parts - Soprano,Alto, Tenor, Bass and Alto, madedifferent group calls and practicedseriously. We thank GodAlmighty for being there withus all through this while,"says Marc Ferdinand, aworking professional,who has beensinging Tenor forthe choir for 9years now.Whenasked if

there’sanythingdifferent thistime, apart from an online con-cert, he replies, “This year, we’vealso added up a few testimonialsof the choristers. Thanks to Zubin,everything went smoothly, theresult is for you guys to see onDecember 5th!”

Going virtual obviously bringswith it some advantages and dis-advantages, and missing the livereaction and cheering from theaudiences is one of the cons. Marcsays he misses running around onthe day of the concert, ensuringthe decorations, and other thingsare in place. But both Daphneand Marc are excited that theshows this time will beviewed by several peopleoverseas and not justin India. “We’renervous since it’sour first timegoing virtu-al, but areconfi-dent

thatbyGod’sgrace,things willturn out well,”Marc says. Another

good thing aboutgoing virtual, Daphne

points out, is elderlysingers,who’ve been part of

the choir since 2006, will beable to watch themselves singagain, "it'll be an emotionalmoment," she says.

Both the groups, and peo-ple around the world, can’twait to get back on stagenext year, to sing livein front of a crowd,and are prayingthings will goback to nor-malcysoon.

Christmas cheergoes virtual this year

It's Decemberand people across theglobe eagerly wait for

Christmas. The festival is allabout sharing love, joy, peace, andhope — all these multiplied by sharing

and making cookies, cakes, décor, gifts andof course, carols — the popular hymns

associated with Christmas! This time though,carol concerts are going virtual and the two biggest

choirs in the city talk to The Pioneer's RACHELDAMMALA about how they're managing the show behind

the screens this year

P

I

PV Sindhu shares personal hygiene routine

A much-deserved break for COVID warriors

T

Marc Ferdinand

Winning team: Shishu Raksha Kamineni

Man of the Match Dr. Chandu, recieving his Trophy

ThursdayDecember 3, 2020

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

10

Vijayawada Thursday December 3 2020

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

webbed

FUN

Starz, one of the premiumglobal streamingplatforms, has launched

its independent direct toconsumer OTT app‘Lionsgate Play’ in India, thecompany announced onWednesday, at a virtual pressconference in the presenceof MrJeffrey A.Hirsch,Presidentand ChiefExecutiveOfficer,Starz andMr. RohitJain,ManagingDirector,LionsgateSouth Asia.Lionsgate Play is committedto innovation in its content,technology, pricing, andaccessibility by makingpremium Hollywood contentavailable in multiple Indianlanguages.The service has launched witha new price point in India,making the app available as

part of two subscriptionmodels, rupees 699 for a yearand rupees 99 per month. InIndia, the app will be availableto download across a broadarray of platforms anddevices including Google Playstore, Apple app store andAmazon firestick.

New content available at

launch includes:

The Anna Kendrick starrerLove Life, a fresh take on aromantic comedy anthologyseries about the journeyfrom first love to lasting love.No Man's Land, a Syriancivil war series thatresonates with relatable

themes like first love, fear ofloss and family sacrifice setagainst the backdrop of war;andThe Goes Wrong Show, alaugh out loud comedyseries with each episodehaving a different theme,including a period romance,

spy thriller,a DeepSouthmelodrama,and aChristmasfable. Thestreaminggiant willalsopremieremoviessuch as theJennifer

Lopez starrer Hustlers,Gerald Butler's action thrillerAngel Has Fallen, thefantasy thriller Hellboy, andthe action comedy TheGentlemen, starring MatthewMcConaughey, Colin Farrelland Hugh Grant, just toname a few, with somethingfor every audience. — PNS

Starz launches OTT App‘Lionsgate Play' in India

If you got nowhere to beand are looking to spruceup your December plans,

then &flix has just the rightthing for you. With gleebells around the corner andjoys of carols in the air,count your lucky stars with&flix's celebrative property.With the year at an end,you now have plentyreasons to sock up, sit inand watch all the 2020Hollywood BlockbusterPremieres in one go andone last time on Flix Recap,weeknights at 9 all throughDecember on &flix.The popular sequel to aonce most popular gamecomes a frantic bunch ofbirds who run short oftemper at the slightest sightof trouble in The AngryBirds 2. Take also, a tripdown the memory lane andsee what it feels like to be apart of a 1960's movie setin the comedy-dramaTarantino film — OnceUpon A Time In Hollywood

starring Leonardo DiCaprioand Brad Pitt. If only your

Grand-Dad were half ascool as Danny Devito or

Danny Glover who cometogether in this visualfantasy movie Jumanji: TheNext Level that makes foran hilarious every singletime you watch it. The heartfollows what the mindwants in this lovely dramafeature starring multipleAcademy Award nomineeTom Hanks in A BeautifulDay In The Neighbourhood.Finally, if you find yourselfhaving missed the biggestsuperhero blockbuster ofthe year, worry not as VinDiesel returns to finishwhat he started in thiscomical adaptationBloodshot where deadlyfists meet rage and fury.

(There is so much more foryou in store before

drawing the curtains onthis year with the best

entertainment yet tocome. Stay tuned for Flix

Recap weeknights at 9 pmonly on &flix.)

— PNS

Blockbuster Premieres InOne Go With Flix Recap

LIS

TIN

GS

TT is cur-rently hav-ing itsmomenthere!Millions of

Indians are cooped upat home with OTTconsumption that haswent through the roof.Presently, consideringthe conditions aroundus, we’re unsure whenwill we be going tomovie theaters here-after. Hence, manyfilm producers havedecided to releasetheir films over someof the well-knownOTT platforms. Thereis no doubt that view-ers are enjoying andappreciating the vari-ety and convenienceoffered by OTT ser-vices.

Veronica Vanij whorecently made herdebut with the web-

series Smartphone iscurrently shooting foranother show called JoHukum Mere Aakawhere she will be essay-ing a hilarious characteralong with the talentedcast. It’s no less than afun ride! Directed byRajiv Ruia, with thehelp of the OTT plat-form, he’s bringing to ussome alluring contentonline. All videostreaming platforms areon cloud nine rightnow, as there is also arising affluence andadoption across all seg-ments. “OTT is one fab-ulous platform. It hasgiven 70mm screens arun for money. Some ofthe biggest stars havesigned OTT today andin india it’s on a rise!We have a whole bunchof talented stars whowork predominantly onthe OTT. I would defi-

nitely say that its sud-den advent is a blessingin disguise to the con-tent space online. I amplaying a very funnycharacter in the seriesand open to all the gen-res, however, comedyremains my favourite.More importantly, I amlooking forward to theaudience’s response tomy OTT performance.Am I going to surpasstheir expectations fromthe last time I enactedin Smartphone or learnsomething new in thisprocess due to changein entertainment mode?It will be fun to watch,”shares the actress.

If you’re looking forenntertainment and arelocked up at home orare hesitant to go outamid the novelCoronavirus, OTTplatforms are the rightplace to be! — PNS

Veronica Vanij ina new webseries!

O

ignal, a short film that high-lights how digital detox isneed of the hour, has nowdropped on OTT. The 32-minute film revolves aroundthe life of a young hotelier

who gets trapped in a forest inUttarakhand due to a landslide andends up on an estate, owned by for-mer fighter pilot Steve Lall.

Raghav Marwah, who plays thelead role in the film, is also servingas its creative producer.

“I strongly believe that each of usneeds to build a connection withourselves first, in this digitally con-nected world. We feel lucky to have

launched this project at a timewhere the pandemic has changedthe future of content consumptionand digital platforms,” said Raghav.

“Though we have done quite a lotof short films in the past, this one isclose to my heart as it addresses thecurrent issue of digital addictionand highlights how a digital detox isthe need of the hour. The music andbackground score is by DhruvDhalla, it is written by Niraj Sharma,and directed by DebangshuChaudhry,” said Akshay Marwah,CEO of Marwah Studios, who haveproduced the film with MarwahFilm Company.

S

Film addressing the issue ofdigital addiction now on OTT

AFP n LIVERPOOL

Curtis Jones sent a depletedLiverpool through to the

Champions League last 16 onTuesday, while Zinedine Zidanedismissed suggestions he mightwalk away from Real Madridafter another defeat by ShakhtarDonetsk left their Europeanhopes in the balance.

Liverpool were without ahost of key players for the visitof Ajax to Anfield in Group D,with 22-year-old IrishmanCaoimhin Kelleher starting ingoal in the absence of Alisson.

Teenager Jones scored theonly goal just before the hour,tucking the ball in after Ajax‘keeper Andre Onana thoughthe could afford to let a NecoWilliams cross sail over hishead.

The result was vital for thePremier League champions aftertheir home loss to Atalanta aweek ago, and it allowed themto secure a spot in the knockoutphase.

They will go through asgroup winners after Atalantahad to come from behind todraw 1-1 at home toMidtjylland.

Atalanta are a point clear insecond from Ajax, with thesides meeting in Amsterdam intheir last game next week.

Two-time former Europeanchampions Porto also sealed alast-16 spot after drawing 0-0 at

home to Manchester City, whowere already through and arenow guaranteed to top Group C.

Porto would have qualifiedregardless, because Olympiakoslost 2-1 to Marseille in France,with Dimitri Payet scoring twopenalties in the second half toturn the game around afterMohamed Mady Camara firedthe Greeks in front.

The result endsMarseille’s ChampionsLeague record run of 13straight defeats andmeans they could yet pipOlympiakos to thirdplace and the consolation of aEuropa League berth.

LUKAKU DOUBLEReal Madrid could yet be

consigned to a similar fate afterthey went down 2-0 to Shakhtarin Kiev, their second defeat thisseason by the Ukrainians.

Substitutes Dentinho andManor Solomon scored second-half goals in Kiev as Shakhtarstunned the 13-time Europeanchampions again, having won

3-2 in Madrid in October.Shakhtar had lost their last

two Group B matches againstBorussia Moenchengladbachby an aggregate score of 10-0,but now move above Real intosecond place with one gameremaining.

Gladbach are top by apoint, while Shakhtar have

the upper hand onReal thanks to theirsuperior head-to-head record.

However,the damagewas limited

for Real after InterMilan won 3-2 awayto Gladbach to keeptheir own hopes alive.

Matteo Darmian put Interahead and Romelu Lukakuscored twice for AntonioConte’s side. Alassane Pleanetted a brace for Gladbachbut was denied a hat-trick,and a late equaliser,because of an offside.

It means Inter are bot-tom of the group but could

still qualify, while Real willdefinitely qualify as long as theywin at home to Gladbach.

Madrid have made it outof their group in every yearsince 1997 and so failure toqualify would be seen as a dis-aster, but Zidane is not con-sidering stepping down.

“I am not going toresign, not at all. We are

always going to havedifficult moments,

and we are on abad run, but we

need to keepgoing,” said theFrenchman.

Real’s cityrivals Atletico

Madrid will also stillhave it all to do in their

final group game afterbeing held to a 1-1 draw athome by a weakened BayernMunich.

Salzburg can snatch a last-16 place if they beat Atleticoat home next week, after theAustrians won 3-1 away toLokomotiv Moscow.

PTI n CANBERRA

Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrahfound his mojo and the Indianteam its winning ways in a

morale-lifting 13-run triumph overAustralia in the third and final ODIon Wednesday, salvaging some of thelost pride in a 1-2 series defeat.

An in-form Hardik Pandyablasted 92 not out off 76 balls andRavindra Jadeja’s useful 66 off 50took India to a healthy 302 for 5 in50 overs after an inept show in thefirst 30 overs.

It was at least 30 runs short of apar-score on a good batting track buta rejigged bowling attack managedto restrict the home team to 289 allout in 49.3 overs.

Shardul Thakur (3/51) anddebutant Thangarasu Natarajan(2/70 in 10 overs) did their bit butit was Bumrah’s (2/43 in 9.3 overs)controlled effort with some swingupfront and the dismissal of amarauding Glenn Maxwell in thenick of time which ultimately turnedthe match in India’s favour.

Bumrah did the most importantthing by bowling one in the block-hole that had the dangerous Maxwell(59 off 38 balls) having his own lit-tle “brain fade” moment trying tofree his arms exposing the stumps.

The ‘Big Show’ was in a moodto punish the bowlers and all heneeded was to see off Bumrah andattack the others as he was doing.

The cushion provided by his“senior” helped Natarajan to startbowling his yorkers under pressureand Thakur also chipped in withnecessary wickets.

The inconsequential matchbecame something of consequencefor Virat Kohli and his men as theygear up for the next white-ballseries — three T20 Internationals inless than 48 hours.

DIFFERENT ATTACKIndia’s bowling attack had a

different look and it did perform waybetter compared to the first twogames.

Natarajan was very steady in hisfirst spell and got his maiden wick-et when Marnus Labuschagne (7), inan unfamiliar role as opener, draggeda wide delivery back onto thestumps.

Thakur, replacing a restedMohammed Shami, was also luckywhen Steve Smith (7) tried to tick-le one down on the ‘fifth leg stump’to be caught by KL Rahul behind thestumps.

Moises Henriques (22) and skip-per Aaron Finch (75) looked goodduring their 51-run stand for thethird wicket before the former failed

to keep a pull-shot down off Thakur’sbowling.

However, what was more heart-ening was Kuldeep Yadav’s (1/57 in10 overs) restrained bowling in themiddle overs with the last overpunishment by Maxwell being moreof an aberration.

The flight was back and so wasthe dip in the air that used to create

confusion in the minds of batsmen.Debutant Cameron Green (21)

played an uppish slog sweep offKuldeep which was snapped inchesoff the ground by Jadeja.

Jadeja (1/62 in 10 overs), whohad a field day, topped up a solid bat-ting show with the prized wicket ofthe rival captain Finch as ShikharDhawan managed to make an easycatch look difficult at long-on.

Maxwell and the calm AlexCarey (38 off 42 balls) looked likedoing an encore of their victoriouseffort against England at OldTrafford last September.

But just when they settled down,Carey went for non-existent singleonly to be sent back by Maxwell asAustralia were reduced to 210 for 6.

Earlier, an in-form Pandya andthe effective Jadeja helped Indiamake an impressive recovery afterthe team struggled during the first30 overs with only skipper Kohli’sfighting half century being thebright spot.

Coming together in the 32ndover, Pandya and Jadeja stitched 150runs for the unbroken sixth wicketto change the complexion of thegame, which would make no differ-ence to the final score-line asAustralia have already sealed it withback-to-back wins in Sydney.

It looked like India would bare-ly reach 250 but Pandya and Jadejamade it a different story.

The duo took some time to set-tle down before opening the flood-gates of boundaries. They scored 53runs from the 46th to 48th over. Inall, 76 runs came from the last fiveovers.

Pandya’s innings had seven foursand one six while Jadeja was at hisbest, hitting five boundaries andthree sixes.

sport 11VIJAYAWADA| THURSDAY | DECEMBER 3, 2020

PTI n CANBERRA

India captain Virat Kohli onWednesday became the fastest

cricketer to score 12,000 ODI runs,breaking a record held by leg-endary compatriot SachinTendulkar.

Kohli reached the milestoneduring the third match againstAustralia.

Kohli, who needed 23 runs for

the landmark coming into thematch, touched the figure in his242nd innings when he took a sin-gle off Sean Abbott in the 13th overof India’s essay.

In comparison, it tookTendulkar 300 innings to get there.

The 32-year-old Indian captainwas playing in his 251st ODI andaverages close to 60 in the format

with 43 hundreds and 60 half cen-turies. He made his debut in 2008.

Tendulkar scored 18426 runsfrom 463 ODIs between 1989 and2012 at an average of 44.83 with thehelp of 49 hun-dreds and 96half cen-

turies.

SYDNEY: The third T20 International between Indiaand Australia is set to be played in front of a capac-ity crowd with the New South Wales Governmentlifting restrictions on stadiums from December7. In a world scarred by the Covid-19 pandemic,the ODI series between Australia and India sawthe return of spectators with restrictions. However,NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announcedthat stadiums can move to 100 per cent capacityfrom December 7. “From Monday, life will be verydifferent in NSW,” Berejiklian was quoted as say-ing by The Australian. This development meansthe third and final T20, slated to be played onTuesday at the Sydney Cricket Ground, which waslimited to 50 per cent of total capacity earlier, cannow have a full house. PTI

DUBAI : Australia on Wednesdayjumped to the top of the ICC WorldCup Super ODI League points tablefollowing their 2-1 series victory overIndia, who are placed sixth.

With the series win, Australiamoved to 40 points, overtakingEngland who are now placed second.

On the other hand, India loggedtheir first points of the tournamentby winning the third and final ODI

and are placed sixth with ninepoints.

Australia had defeated England2-1 in their previous series of the 13-team championship, which wasintroduced this year to bring contextto ODI cricket and also to decide theseven direct qualifiers for the ICCMen’s Cricket World Cup 2023.

India, though assured of a berthas hosts. PTI

PTI n CANBERRA

Former Australia captain Ian Chappellmay call it “blatantly unfair” but Glenn

Maxwell sees nothing wrong in employ-ing the switch-hit, describing it as a “dif-ferent part” of cricket’s evolution over theyears.

A switch hit involves a batsman

changing the order of his hands (fromleft-handed to right handed grip or vice-versa) after the bowler has already start-ed on his run-up.

“...It is within the laws of the game.Batting has evolved in such a way, thatit has got better and better over the years,which is why we see these massive scoresare getting chased down and the scoresare going up,” Maxwell said when askedabout Chappell’s comments.

Maxwell urged the bowlers to comeup with a plan to combat the switch hit.

“And I suppose it is up-to thebowlers to try and combat that,” he said.

“I suppose the skills of bowlers havebeen tested everyday with bowlers hav-ing to come up with different change-ups,different ways to stop batters,” Maxwellsaid at the post-match press conference.

He said as the batsmen have evolved,similarly bowlers should also try andinnovate.

“...We see guys come up with knuck-le-balls and wide yorker fields and dif-ferent tactics. And the tactics of ODIcricket have definitely evolved, so I justsee it (switch hit) as a different part of theevolution of the game…,” he added.

I think the pitch was muchbetter for the bowlers. Sothe confidence levels goup. Playing internationalcricket for so long, that's

the challenge you face. Wewere clinical with the ball

and in the field.VIRAT

KOHLION INDIA’S BOWLING

PERFORMANCE IN 3RD ODI

The way they (Hardik andJadeja) were able to play,they put pressure on, they

accelerated and took thegame away from us withsome really clean hitting

GLENN MAXWELL

ON HARDIK-JADEJA

6TH WICKET STAND

The selection is not in myhands. It is important is

that I try to win games forIndia whenever I play. That

is my mindset. I play towin. Once you are on

ground, all players justfocus on wining matches

SHARDUL THAKUR

ON HIS PLACE IN INDIAN

WHITE BALL SETUP

AFP n CAPE TOWN

Dawid Malan and Jos Buttlerlaunched a savage assault on

South Africa’s bowlers asEngland completed a seriesclean sweep with a nine-wicketwin in the third and final T20Iat Newlands in Cape Town onTuesday.

Man of the series Malan fin-ished on 99 not out, whileButtler was unbeaten on 67.

They shared a world recordT20 international second wick-et partnership of 167 off 90 ballsto make South Africa’s 191 forthree look insignificant. Englandwon with 14 balls to spare.

Rassie van der Dussen (74not out) and Faf du Plessis (52not out) set up South Africa’sbiggest total of the series in anunbeaten partnership of 127off 66 balls for the fourth wick-et.

But the left-handed Malanwas quickly into his stride whenhe joined Buttler after the dis-

missal of Jason Roy. By the end,South Africa looked a demor-alised team.

Malan hit 11 fours and fivesixes in his 47-ball innings.Buttler faced one ball fewer andhit three fours and five sixes.

England were always well upwith the required rate but putthemselves in total command inthe 10th and 11th overs whenthey hit 21 and 19 runs off Lutho

Sipamla and Tabraiz Shamsirespectively.

Playing his first match ofany type since the last SouthAfrican season, Sipmala wasthrashed for 45 runs off 2.4overs.

Left-arm wrist spinnerShamsi conceded 57 runs offfour overs, two days after takingthree for 19 in the second matchin Paarl.

Pandya, Jadeja & bowlers help India win final ODI by 13 runs

Hardik Pandya raises his bat after completing his fifty during third ODI on Wednesday @BCCI

Hardik, Bumrah pull one backKohli fastest to 12K ODI runsPlayer No of innings

Virat Kohli 242

Sachin Tendulkar 300

Ricky Ponting 314

K Sangakkara 336

S Jayasuriya 379

M Jayawardene 399

FASTEST PLAYERS TO REACH 12K

Runs Innings

1000 24

2000 53

3000 75

4000 93

5000 114

6000 136

7000 161

8000 175

9000 194

10000 205

11000 222

12000 242

VIRAT KOHLI IN ODIS

1000 runs Fakhar Zaman

2000 to 7000 runs Hashim Amla

8000 to 12000 runs Virat Kohli

IN ODIS FASTEST

Oz tops Super League

table, India sixth

‘Switch-hit part of game's evolution’

SCG to have capacitycrowd for 3rd T20

Malan, Buttler’s record stand seal SA whitewashRabada to missODI seriesIANS n CAPE TOWN

South Africa pacer KagisoRabada has been ruled out

of the upcoming three-matchODI series against Englanddue to an injury.

Rabada has sustained aright adductor strain, one thatalso kept him out of the dead-rubber final T20I at Newlands.

In a statement, CricketSouth Africa said that the 25-year-old will require threeweeks to heal.

“The player will bereleased from the squad andbio-secure environmenttomorrow to begin recovery,rehabilitation and prepara-tion for the Betway Test seriesagainst Sri Lanka beginningon December 26,” the CSArelease stated.

Onana’s blunder helps Liverpool advance in Champions

League as Kelleher impresses on European debut

Tale of two keepers HAAS SIGN UP MICK SCHUMACHER Sakhir: Mick Schumacher, the son of seven-timeworld champion Michael Schumacher, will drive in F1for the first time with Haas next season, the teamannounced on Wednesday. “Haas F1 Team has signedMick Schumacher as part of its all-new driver lineupfor the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship andbeyond in a multi-year agreement,” Haas said in astatement. “Racing for Haas F1 Team next year is anincredible feeling, and I couldn't be happier,” saidSchumacher, the 21-year-old who is currently toppingthe charts in F2 championship, with one race to go.

GEORGE REPLACES HAMILTON FOR SAKHIR GP Sakhir: George Russell will step up from Williams toreplace world champion Lewis Hamilton, who testedpositive for Covid-19, at F1's Sakhir Grand Prix,Mercedes announced on Wednesday. Russellbecomes just the third Briton to represent Mercedesin Formula One after Stirling Moss and LewisHamilton. “A big thank you also to Mercedes forputting their faith in me,” said Russell. “Obviously,nobody can replace Lewis, but I'll give my all for theteam in his absence from the moment I step in the car.

MARTIN SNEDDEN IS NEW NZC CHAIRMAN Wellington: Former player Martin Snedden was onWednesday elected as the new chairman of NewZealand Cricket after the post was left vacant byGeorge Barclay following his move to the ICCchairmanship. Snedden is a former CEO of NZC and aboard member of the organisation from 1990-1992,from 1999-2001, and again from 2013 until present.

RECOVERED PIOLI RETURNS TO SIDELINESMilan: AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli has recoveredfrom the coronavirus and will be back on the sidelinesfor Thursday's Europa League match against Celtic.Milan said on Wednesday that the latest tests forCovid-19 carried out on Pioli and his assistantGiacomo Murelli were negative. AGENCIES

SINGLES

AFP n MELBOURNE

The Australian Open tennis Major will startthree weeks late on February 8, reports said

on Wednesday, with players cleared to train dur-ing quarantine following lengthy negotiationswith state authorities.

According to Australian media, the start dateof 2021’s first Grand Slam event was announcedto players by tournament director Craig Tiley.If confirmed, it will join the three other majortournaments in being disrupted by the coron-avirus.

Tennis Australia has been in protracted talkswith Victoria state authorities in Melbourne,which only emerged from a months-long lock-down in October following a second wave ofcases.

“It’s taken a while, but the great news is itlooks like we are going to be able to hold the AO(Australian Open) on 8 February,” Tiley wasquoted as telling players in a leaked letter.

“Players will have to quarantine for twoweeks from 15 January, but the VictorianGovernment has agreed to special conditions forAO participants — agreeing that they need tobe able to prepare for a Grand Slam.”

Under the plan, players who test negative forthe virus will be able to train while in isolation,Tiley wrote.

Tennis Australia did not confirm the reportson Wednesday, and said plans were still await-ing approval from the state Government.

A February 8 start date would allow for aweek of warm-up tournaments after quarantine,but would likely mean scrapping the flagshipATP Cup men’s team event due to a lack of time.

Aus Open to startfrom February 8

Glenn Maxwell plays switch hit during 3rd ODI AP

roductionhouse ArkaMedia Works,

which has been extremely choosyabout their projects after the

two-part Baahubali, is tak-ing a digital plunge with

a web series. Accordingto a source close tothe productionhouse, their maidenwork is a high-volt-age political dramaand is being head-lined by NaveenChandra. Hari Eleti

is directing it fromhis own script.“Before going to sets a

month ago, the web serieshad been in development for

almost eight months. It has been

shot for 10 days so far, with anew schedule set to begin shortly.Political angle aside, the story, setin Visakhapatnam, has a revengebackdrop. Naveen will be seen asa carefree guy whose life turnsupside down after a tragedystrikes his family. The rest of thestory is how he rises to the chal-lenge,” the source informs,adding, “Jagapathi Babu andAamani will play Naveen’s par-ents and their parts carry a lot ofweight. The pair is reuniting forthis project as a pair after twodecades. Aakanksha Singh hasbeen cast as Naveen’s romanticinterest. In terms of story spanand budget, it is Naveen’s biggestsolo project till date. The show isbeing made for streamerDisney+Hotstar.”

Vijayawada Thursday December 3 2020tollywood

12

aving lined-up a filmeach with Nag Ashwinand Om Raut, superstarPrabhas on Wednesdayannounced that he wouldbe teaming up with KGF

director Prashanth Neel for anotherproject. Titled Salaar and producedby Hombale Films, the film, anunderworld action saga, will seethe star play a “violent character”.

Prabhas said Salaar has providedhim with an exciting opportunityto delve into a role he hasn’t playedbefore. “This is a very exciting filmand my character is extremely vio-lent, so this is something I haven’treally done before. It’s a pan-Indianfilm and I can’t wait to be on thesets already,” the 41-year-old actorsaid in a statement. According tohim, the film will roll from January.

Prasanth, who is in the processof wrapping up KGF: Chapter 2right now, said he was in talks withPrabhas for a long time and islooking forward to beginning the

project next year.“We are all geared up to present

one of a kind actioner to our audi-ences. They are definitely going tosee Prabhas in a never seen beforeavatar, which I am confident cine-ma fans will love,” the directoradded.

Producer Vijay Kiragandur said Hombale Films believes inproviding a larger-than-life cine-matic experience to the audienceand Salaar will deliver on thatfront.

“This is very special for us and Iam really happy to collaborate withPrashanth Neel and Prabhas forthis. They’re both so good at whatthey do and we can’t wait to beginthe shoot soon. I’m hopeful thatthe audiences will continue to giveus the same amount of love,”Kiragandur said.

The first look poster of Salaar,which features Prabhas in a fierceavatar, resting his forearm on agun, had his fans in collective awe.

Prabhas as Salaar inKGF director's next

The Baabhubaliactor will be

playing a violentcharacter in Salaar,

which flags-off inJanuary. “Theaudiences are

definitely going tosee Prabhas in a

never seen beforeavatar,” tells

Prashanth Neel

Naveen, JB andAakanksha cometogether for apolitical drama

The project is being made tostream on Disney+Hotstar by Arka

Media. A high-voltage politicaldrama, Hari Eleti is directing

it, finds NAGARAJ GOUD

P

he filming of AnilRavipudi’s next F3,starringVenkatesh, VarunTej, Tamannaahand Mehreen, will

begin this month inHyderabad.

According to asource, thedirector will

kick off theshooting on

December 14.“Venkatesh will join

the sets on the 18th ofthis month, while Varun,who is busy shooting forhis boxing drama withKiran Korrapati, will shootfor his portions postSankranti. Production

house Sri VenkateswaraCreations planned sched-ules in a way that the filmwill be ready for a latesummer release next year.Plus, the unit will beadhering to all safety pro-tocols,” the source pointsout.

The source adds thatentertainment dose in F3will be double to that ofF2. “Ravipudi and his teamof writers have come upwith a hilarious script.They’ve used the lockdownperiod to the full effect.The makers believe thefilm will not just mintmoney but spawn into abigger franchise,” notes thesource.

F3 to begin this

month

T

ctor Rahul, whois yet to land amajor breakafter HappyDays, is one ofthe main leads

in debutant directorVirat Chakravathy’suntitled comedythriller. Chetan isplaying the other lead,while SakshiChaudhary andAishwarya will beseen as female leads.A joint productionventure between com-poser Sai Kartheekand Nagam TirupatiReddy, it waslaunched inHyderabad onWednesday.

Dubbing the film asa different thriller,Virat, who workedwith AnnapurnaStudios, RR MovieMakers and UshaKiran Movies in thepast said the filmrevolves around thefour principal charac-ters. “Rahul will beseen as a bike mechan-ic while Chetan plays acorrupted cop. we willroll from December 9in Hyderabad and theplan is to complete itbefore Sankranti in astart-to-finish sched-ule,” the director told us.

Rahul said the scriptthrilled him during thenarration. “I’m certainthat the audience willshare my feeling afterthe film releases. I’mglad that good produc-ers are backing theproject,” the actor, whowas last seen in 2017release Venkatapuram,said.

cting guruMaheshGangimalla,who hastrained manyactors, is

debuting as a directorwith the project,Abhivyakti. He has alsofloated a bannerAbhinaya GnapikaProductions to pro-duce it. His studentsLalith Aditya, AnanyaNagalla, SaiRaghavendra, Sundarand Ramana are play-ing the lead roles inthe project, the muhu-rat of which was heldin Hyderabad recently,with actor RakeshVarre sounding theclapper-board for thefirst shot.

Speaking aboutthe project,Ananya, who

trained under Maheshfor Mallesham, saidthat since she knewabout the story for along time, she is excit-ed to start shooting.“We are happy that ouracting guru is ourdirector,” the actress,who is also playing a

supporting role inthe Pawan

Kalyan-starrerVakeel Saab,

stated.

AMAHESHGANGIMALLA'SSTUDENTS AREPLAYING THELEAD ROLES INABHIVYAKTI

Under mentor's direction

Happy Days Rahul signsa project after 3 years

A

H