CONSEQUENCES OF REDUCING TRAFFIC FINES Gadkari says … · 2019-09-11 · Kupendra Reddy (JD(S)...

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CELEB TALKS 14WHEN MUMBAI COPS

WARNED PRIYANKA, FARHAN

ANALYSIS 9A PRESCRIPTION

FOR REVIVAL

SPORTS 15LESSONS FROM

THE PAST

HYDERABAD, THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 12, 2019; PAGES 16 `3

}ANUSHKA IS ADUMB ARTIST

IN NISHABDAM

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RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHI DEHRADUNVIJAYAWADA

*LATE CITY VOL. 1 ISSUE 339*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

HYDERABADWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated September 11, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Bhdrapada & Shukla PakshaPanchangamTithi : Chaturdashi : Full NightNakshatram: Dhanishtha: 04:59 pmTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 01:43 pm – 03:15 pmYamagandam: 06:07 am – 07:38 am

Varjyam: 01:05 am - 02:53 am

Gulika: 09:09 am - 10:41 amGood Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: NILAbhijit Muhurtham: 11:48 am - 12:36 pm

Forecast: CloudyTemp: 31/23Humidity: 78%Sunrise: 06.03Sunset: 06.21

PNS n HYDERABAD

Following spot checking atzonal levels, the ElectionCommission has found thatthere is no substance in alle-gations made in various quar-ters that 'malpractices' tookplace during the December2018 Assembly elections inTelangana State.

Charges that people castvotes on behalf of dead voters,used cell phones inside pollingbooths, and engaged pollingagents who carried hundredsof voter ID cards were not sub-stantiated, according to theTelangana ElectionCommission, which investi-gated the allegations. So, theEC has wound up the probe.

It was in December 2018that Telangana State went topolls and re-elected theTelangana Rastra Samithi(TRS) for a second term.During and post elections,there were umpteen allegationsof 'malpractices'.

Apart from the foregoingallegations, there were reportsof hundreds of students beingforced to vote, Booth LevelOfficer carrying 200-odd voterID cards, and BLO helping a

woman cast vote in favour ofTRS, among others. The ECbegan its inquiry into theseand other allegations inFebruary this year, particular-ly with regard to charges of pollmismanagement.

Documents obtainedthrough Right to Information(RTI) by Swecha, a non-prof-it organization that works foropen data and free internet,suggest that EC sought reports

from the poll officials con-cerned. The reports that weresent to the office of TelanganaChief Electoral Officer RajatKumar were forwarded to therespective zonal offices fromwhere the complaints werereported. However, they wereallegedly closed with little orno further inquiry, and thatwas the end of the matter forthe EC.

Continued on Page 4

EC finds no ‘malpractices' inTS polls, closes complaint

Public holidaytoday in viewof Ganeshimmersion

Rs 1 cr rewardon Maoist leaderin Jharkhand

New iPhones tocome to Indiafrom Sept 27 NEW DELHI: Apple enthu-siasts will be able to get theirhands on the latest line-up ofiPhones — iPhone 11,iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone11 Pro Max — priced Rs64,900 onwards from Sept27. The Cupertino-basedtech giant has also revisedprices of its older generationiPhone models in India withthe iPhone 7 (32GB variant)now available at Rs 29,900.

"iPhone 11 Pro andiPhone 11 Pro Max are themost powerful andadvanced smartphones wehave ever made. They arepacked with sophisticatedtechnology that pros cancount on to get their workdone, and for anyone whowants the best device made,even if they are not a pro,"Apple Senior Vice-President(Worldwide Marketing) PhilSchiller had said.

HYDERABAD: TheTelangana government hasdeclared September 12th as apublic holiday in view ofGanesh immersion and pro-cession. The holiday is applic-able to government offices,schools and colleges inHyderabad-Secunderabad,Ranga Reddy and Medchaldistricts. Since Thursday hasbeen declared a holiday, thestate government hasannounced that September14, which is second Saturday,will be a working day.

Steps have been taken forsmooth Ganesh immersion.L&T HMRL will be runningextra trains as per requirementat minimum 4.5 minutes' fre-quency on Thursday to facil-itate Ganesh immersion andprocession. HMRL MD N VS Reddy said that the trainswould be run beyond mid-night as per requirement.

Continued on Page 4

PNS n NEW DELHI

States will be responsible ifthey try to dilute traffic violationfines, Union Minister NitinGadkari said today as the rul-ing BJP was embarrassed by itsown government - Gujarat -slashing the fines.

"To those states who arerefusing to enforce the fines,isn't life more important thanmoney? This was done to savelives," Gadkari, the SurfaceTransport Minister said.

"People need to have a fear oflaw. Why was the death penal-ty for rape after the Nirbhayacase? To create a fear of the law."

Tuesday, BJP-ruled Gujaratannounced that the fines wouldbe reduced by 90 per cent,even though the party's gov-ernment at the centre pushedfor steep new penalties underthe new Motor Vehicles(Amendment) Act.

"I had resolved to protectlives. And this (the new law),was done to save lives. That ismy first objective, but I need the

cooperation of state govern-ments. This should be aboveparties and state governments,"Gadkari said.

Pressed on whether he couldforce states to fall in line, heremarked: "Jisko karna hai kare,na karna na kare (those whowant to enforce it can do it.

Those who don't, need not."On Gujarat going the way of

many non-BJP states that haveresisted the new rules, MrGadkari said, referring to ChiefMinister Vijay Rupani: "If hethinks he can do that, thenmaybe he was taken a consid-ered decision." Defending thenew rules, he said these weredrafted after consultations andstudying the laws in the UK,Canada, California andArgentina. "I will tell all chiefministers to get into this. I willspeak to them if I have to," saidthe Union Minister. Referring tothe long queues of car-ownersrushing to get their pollution all-clear to avoid hefty fines,Gadkari said: "Should we notbother about clean air for ourfuture generations?"

Gadkari says Stateswill be responsible

CONSEQUENCES OF REDUCING TRAFFIC FINES

To those states which are refusing to enforce the fines, isn't lifemore important than money? This was done to save lives. People

need to have a fear of law. Why was the death penalty introduced forrape after the Nirbhaya case? To create a fear of the law

— NITIN GADKARI , Union Minister

ANINDYA BANERJEE n NEW DELHI

The upper house or the RajyaSabha (RS) members ofParliament are often called'unelected'. Many a time allega-tions are levelled against polit-ical parties that such seats are"sold". Now the Association forDemocratic Reforms (ADR), aNational Election Watchdoghas reviewed financial interestsof 213 sitting Rajya Sabha mem-bers to sense why they are sosought after. The ADR reporthas found 89 (41.8 per cent)MPs have declared that theyhave a financial interest that fallsunder either of these categories:Remunerative directorship,Regular remunerated activity,Shareholding of controllingnature, Paid consultancy orProfessional engagement.

But the report has found 124(58.2 per cent) MPs have not

provided any detail about finan-cial interest under any of thesefive categories.

Twenty four MPs (11.3 percent) have declared that theyhave some financial interest inthe form of remunerative direc-torship of a company.

The highest amount receivedfor Remunerative Directorshiphas been declared by D.Kupendra Reddy (JD(S)Karnataka) with a value of Rs40.68 crore per annum followed

by BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekharwith a value of Rs 7.03 crore andAbdul Wahab (IUML Kerala)with Rs 3.34 crore. Thirty MPs(14.1 per cent have declared thatthey have a financial interest inthe form of Regular Remunerated

Activity. The highest amountreceived from regular remuner-ated activity has been declared byBJP's Mahesh Poddar(Jharkhand) at Rs 3.18 crore perannum, followed by Mary Komwho is BJP Nominated, with Rs2.50 crore per annum andSwapan Dasgupta (Nominated)with Rs 66.60 lakh as annualincome from regular remuner-ated activity.

Meanwhile, 44 (20.7 per cent)MPs have declared that they have

financial interest in the form ofshareholding of controllingnature. The highest amount ofshareholdings of a controllingnature in companies have beendeclared by BJP's RavindraKishore Sinha from Bihar, witha value of Rs 747 crore followedby Congress's Abhishek ManuSinghvi with a value of Rs 386crore and Independent MPKakde Sanjay Dattatraya with avalue of Rs 262 crore.

But only a mere 2 MPs whichconstitutes 0.9 per cent havedeclared that they have financialinterest in the form of Paid con-sultancy. The highest value ofbenefits derived for all paid con-sultancy has been declared bySenior Advocate K. T. S. Tulsiwith Rs 27.50 lakhs, followed byVikas Haribhau Mahatme with5.60 lakhs. While Tulsi is a nom-inated MP, Mahatme is from BJP.

Continued on Page 4

From shares to consultancy, RS members earn in crores

RANCHI: Jharkhand hasannounced a Rs 1 crorereward on the head of aMaoist leader. According tosources here, the Rs 1 crorebounty has been put on thehead of Asim Mandal, aliasAkash, alias Anal D., aliasToofan. He is a central com-mittee member of the bannedorganisation, CommunistParty of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist). He is active in bothJharkhand and West Bengal.

Besides, the police havealso announced a reward ofRs 15 lakh on the head ofRam Prasad Mardi and Rs 10lakh on Maharaja Parmanik.

L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

Notwithstanding the noticesissued by various unions of theTS Road TransportCorporation threatening strikein the days ahead, ChiefMinister K Chandraskehar Raois understood to have decidedto tackle the issue with an "ironhand". It may be recalled thatKCR's threat to summarilysack employees resorting tostrike yielded prompt resultsduring similar situation inJune 2018.

This time, the Chief Ministeris expected to hold a meetingwith the Minister and officials

concerned in the TransportDepartment in a day or two(after Ganesh Nimajjan) totake stock of the situation asvarious unions have servednotices threatening to go on

strike from the nextweek.

During the meeting,KCR would make it clear that,should the unions go aheadwith their strike plan, the Stategovernment would be left withno option but to privatise RTCor close it down, considering

that the corporation is alreadyreeling under heavy financiallosses and it cannot afford tobear additional burden onaccount of strikes.

The proposed strikewould not only

affect thedeplorable finan-cial position ofthe corporationbut also burden

commuters in theentire state at a time

when passenger rushwould peak for RTC buses inTelangana during Dasara hol-idays from September lastweek till October 10, it wouldbe pointed out.

Harish Rao gets CM's keyportfolios in AssemblyPNS n HYDERABAD

Senior TRS leader T HarishRao, re-inducted into ChiefMinister KC h a n d r a s e k h a rRao's cabinet onSeptember 9and allotted thecrucial portfo-lio of Finance,has been allo-cated someadditional keyportfolios current-ly held by KCR.

The government issuedorders on Thursday transfer-ring to Harish certain port-folios such as Irrigation, GAD

and law & order. Harish willhandle these portfolios in theLegislative Assembly and theLegislative Council on behalf

of the Chief Minister.Harish will answer

questions raised bymembers on thesesubjects in boththe Houses ofLegislature dur-ing the ongoing

budget session.Since Harish

earned good marksas Irrigation Minister in

KCR cabinet's previous term,the Chief Minister has allot-ted the subject, consideringhis vast experience on core

issues in irrigation projects.Harish will be helpful to thegovernment in counteringthe Opposition onslaught.Similarly, ministers KT RamaRao, Vemula PrashanthReddy and Talasani SrinivasYadav have been allottedadditional portfolios currentlyheld by CM.

KTR has been allottedMines and Geology, I&PR,while Prashanth Reddy hasbeen al lotted Revenue.Talasani has been allottedcommercial taxes. TheseMinisters will deal with thesesubjects in the Legislature onbehalf of KCR.

PM divertingattention fromreal issues:OwaisiPNS n HYDERABAD

AIMIM chief AsaduddinOwaisi on Wednesday said thatPrime Minister Narendra Modiis trying to divert public atten-tion from real issues like the eco-nomic crisis, poverty and unem-ployment by talking of 'cow' and'Om'. He told reporters thatModi doesn't want debate onfalling growth rate and peoplebecoming jobless.

Owaisi was reacting to Modi'sremarks made at the launch ofa disease prevention programmefor livestock at Mathura in UPearlier in the day.

Continued on Page 4

Not toimplementnew MV law:MamataPNS n KOLKATA

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee said onWednesday that she will notimplement the new MotorVehicle (Amendment) Actin the state citing a steepincrease in traffic violationpenalties. Mamata Banerjeesaid, "I cannot implement thisMotor Vehicle Act right nowbecause our govt officials areof the opinion that if weimplement it, it will over-burden people."

Mamata Banerjee had ear-lier rejected steeper penaltiesas part of the new amend-ments to the MV Act as itwould distress commuters.

Not just West Bengal butmany other states have raisedconcern over the steep penal-ties under the new traffic reg-ulations. There have beenseveral incidents over thepast few days when vehicleowners and drivers have beencharged hefty fines, someabove Rs 50,000. On Tuesday,cops in Delhi issued a Rs 1.41lakh challan to a Rajasthantruck driver for overloadingvehicle.

24 MPs (11.3 %) havedeclared that theyhave some financialinterest in the form ofremunerativedirectorship of acompany

KCR to act tough on TSRTC strikel Mulls privatisation or closure

if staff goes on strikel No question of following AP

CM Jagan on RTC mergerl TRS affiliated RTC

union TMU servesstrike notice

l Netizens vent ire at GHMC officials

‘Stop theatrics’NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

When babus talk about clean-liness, sanitation, this andthat; they need to be doublysure about what's there intheir own backyards. If thereis a mismatch in what peopleget to see on this front, thereactions these days on socialmedia platforms can beextremely embarrassing,though highly instructive.Civic authorities have justlearnt some unforgettablelessons relating to theirdomains.

"Good you cleaned yourhome, now clear stagnantwater on roads." This is thepith of what many irate citi-zens suggested to GHMC offi-cials and netas who had sharedpictures of themselves clean-ing homes as mere photo-ops.As GHMC woke up to the call

given by MA&UD Minister KT Rama Rao to clean homes,people asked officials to stopindulging in theatrics and dosome real work on the ground.

Netizens, reacting to thephotos, shared pictures of thedeplorable condition of roadsin their vicinity. Given the geo-graphical spread of the neti-zens, virtually no stretch ofroad remained unmentioned!

In response to the appeal ofKTR, officials posted picturesof draining stagnant waterfrom under the home plantsand other places.

Continued on Page 4

MAYANK TIWARIn HYDERABAD

Although the Telangana gov-ernment has declaredSeptember 12th as a publicholiday in view of Ganeshimmersion and the main pro-cession, which would makenormal traffic along thor-oughfares impossible, the ITcompanies based in the west-ern part of Hyderabad haverequired their employees towork even on Thursday. Thisis despite the fact that thereis no scope whatsoever forensuring cab facilities, withover 10,100 Ganesh idolsproceeding from Cyberabadalone.

"I was told to come on myown, as cab drivers are onleave. I stay near old city andI am seriously worried about

the crowd," said an employ-ee associated with HSBCBank, HI-Tec City. "On theVisarjan day, public transportis also on halt, and privatetransport is not safe duringnight t ime," added theemployee, who wished not tobe named.

Continued on Page 4

IT workers dragged to workon Ganesh Visarjan day

‘Flesh traderacket' bustedat society ofbureaucratsPNSnMUMBAI

The Mumbai police onWednesday claimed to havebusted a prostitution racket byraiding a flat at PatliputraSociety in the upmarketOshiwara area. Most of the flatsin the society belong to IAS, IPSand other senior-rankingbureaucrats. Two women wererescued while another woman,who allegedly acted as a pimp,was arrested, an official from theOshiwara police station said.

Acting on a tip-off, a policeteam raided a flat in Galaxybuilding in the housing com-plex late Tuesday night and res-cued two women aged 21 and19, apart from seizing somecash. Shabana Sheikh (45),who allegedly acted as agent inthe flesh trade, was arrestedunder the Prevention ofImmoral Trafficking Act.

Hyderabad witness 6% hike in IT jobs DESPITE ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN

PNS n HYDERABAD

Despite a flat trend in hiringactivity in August 2019, sectorslike IT-Software and Accountingwitnessed a hike of 6 percent inHyderabad -- the highest inIndia -- while it went up by 1percent in Bengaluru and 3percent in Pune. Mumbaishowed a dip of 8 percent andChennai experienced a drop of

3 percent. Overall hiring inIndia remained flat year-on-year(YoY) for August due to a

decline in growth rates acrosssectors such as Banking,Financial Services and Insurance(BFSI), Auto, and Constructionaccording to Naukri JobSpeak.

Hyderabad, Pune, Bengaluruand Kolkata witnessed a positivehiring trend, whereas cities likeChennai, Delhi and Mumbai,posted negative YoY growthrates during the month.

Continued on Page 4

There were reports of hundreds of students being forced to vote, Booth LevelOfficer carrying 200-odd voter ID cards, andBLO helping a woman cast vote in favour ofTRS, among others

I was told to come onmy own, as cab drivers

are on leave. I stay near oldcity and I am seriouslyworried about the crowd. Onthe Visarjan day, publictransport is also on halt, andprivate transport is not safeduring night time

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HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 hyderabad 02

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ONE TELANGANA CARDREMAINS DISTANT DREAMn Choice of Closed Loop system hampers cashless travel facility for buses, Metro, shopping

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Cashless travel remains a dis-tant dream as One Telanganacard is failing to make anymajor headway. Going againstthe Open Loop Card systemproposed by NPCI for NationalCommon Mobility card(NCMC), One Telangana cardwill be Closed Loop. For inter-operability like using for buses,Metro, MMTS, shopping andparking vehicles, the card hasto be Open Loop.

Bengaluru stands as anexample of how a Closed Loopcard can fail. In Bengaluru, theNCMC was launched withmuch pomp in March, butsoon it hit a roadblock becauseof non-synchronisation ofautomated fare collection(AFC) gates at Metro stationsand BMTC ticketing machines.

The NCMC was proposed tomake sure only one card is usedfor travelling in both public andprivate vehicles, toll plazas andeven retail shopping.

After inviting tenders forOpen Loop card system, theTelangana governmentchanged it stance and went infor Closed Loop.

As per sources, since there isno perfect Open Loop card atthis moment, the governmentdecided to go ahead with thecard as Closed Loop SmartCard with single issuer.

The HMRL a lso hasClosed Loop Smart Card,which cannot be used for anyother purpose other than

travelling in Metro. Sourcessaid that the payment forMetro train is through thegates which are compatiblewith Closed Loop or OpenLoop systems. For TSRTC,the payment is through POSmachines, while for cabs andautos or toll gate or retailshopping, the payments isthrough QR code. POS andQR code do not depend sig-nificantly on Open or ClosedLoop standards.

Sources said that the OneTelangana card will be ClosedLoop Smart Card, but with

ability to switch to Open Loopat some stage in a phasedmanner.

As per sources, the govern-ment will observe the changesand expansion of Open Loopcards in next few years. Maybein future, the Closed Loopcard could be changed to OpenLoop in phases after discussionwith stakeholders like Metro,TSRTC and others."

The government is notexpecting any revenue fromthis project and will help onlywith branding and promotionfor ease of access.

Two years on, Metrocard not quite smartPNS n HYDERABAD

Almost two years into theexistence of Metro Smartcards, the online rechargeprocess continues to beunreasonable. People have toplan their journey two hoursin advance if they choose torecharge online and not atthe station. While govern-ments promote digital pay-ments, it takes forever for theonline transaction tobe com-pleted ordismissed.The processof recharg-ing the cardh a s n ' tevolved andall suchrequests to L&THMRL havefallen to deaf ears. Afterusing the T-savaari app torecharge the smart card, peo-ple have to wait for 2hoursand then visit the metro sta-tion and tap at the ticketmachine for the money toreflect. Ironically, onWednesday L&T metro hasbeen making announce-ments that recharging onlineusing paytm would fetchRs150 worth rewards. Allthese offers are unfruitful asit is time consuming process

in digital age. If you initiate online

recharge, then you have totap your card at any of themetro stations within 15days from the date ofrecharge. If you fail to tapwithin 15days, the amountwill get refunded manually.There is no answer for whenthe amount will be refundedas 'refund takes time'.

According to L&THMRL,the transac-tions on appand at thegates are keptindependent-ly to ensurep a s s e n g e rdata securi-ty. Further

the concessionaireclaims that at cost of securi-ty of commuters' data, theminimum wait time of2hours and maximum timeof 15days has been added.

Citizens are apprehensiveover the invisible money andso prefer to do a manualtransaction because rechargeamount does not added inapp. There are many badreviews about the rechargeoption in app as commuterscan't find the money in theiraccount even though it isdeducted from bank.

Bengaluru is example why ClosedLoop card can fail. There, it hit aroadblock due to non-synchronisationof automated gates at Metro stationsand BMTC ticketing machines

n Court to wait for SC to dispose related plea

BJP demandshike in Govtemployees’ payPNS n HYDERABAD

Claiming that state Budgethas completely neglected gov-ernment employees, the BJPdemanded the government topresent a sub-plan for itsemployees. Speaking at theparty's state office inHyderabad onWednesday, BJPleader and for-mer MLC BMohan Reddywarned oflaunching ana g i t a t i o nagainst the gov-ernment ife m p l o y e e s 'demands continue tobe neglected.

"The budget presented byCM KCR has ignored employ-ees. There is no mention of IRand PRC for employees.Already, employees have lostPRC twice and are facingsevere problems. At least now,the CM should give clarity onthe issue of PRC and IR. Thegovernment must present asub-plan for employees in theAssembly and LegislativeCouncil to discuss the spend-ing being done on employees.

If KCR does not heed to ourdemand, then we will launchan agitation against the TRSgovernment to fulfill employ-ees demands," said MohanReddy.

Stating that employees arealready disappointed with theTRS government, Reddy

warned the CM that hemust not to test their

patience further."Employees and

teachers have beenneglected by theTRS government.As a result, the

education systemand governance are

suffering. If educationsector is allotted a meager

Rs 1,600 crore in the budget,how is quality education pos-sible? The large-scale vacan-cies in the education depart-ment are affecting the qualityof education in governmentschools. We demandEducation Minister SabitaIndra Reddy to immediatelyfill up 999 headmaster postsand 449 MEO posts lyingvacant in Telangana," saidReddy, who served as MLCfrom teachers' constituencyin the past.

KTR stresses on strengthening TRSPNS n HYDERABAD

TRS working president KTRama Rao has said that theaction plan of the party willbe to focus on strengtheningthe party further.

In a meeting with partygeneral secretaries and statesecretaries held at TelanganaBhavan here on Wednesday,he said that TRS emerged asthe strongest party across thecountry with a member-

ship of over 60 lakh. Theparty would take the gov-ernment schemes furtherwith into the people, givenits strong presence in thestate.

The party would workwith the goal of winning allmunicipalities wherever elec-tions are going to be held inthe state soon, he said, andasked local MLAs to coordi-nate with the party cadres toensure the party's victory.

Party secretaries appraisedKTR of the conditions pre-vailed in various municipal-

ities in the state. The meet-ing discussed constitution ofthe party district commit-tees.

The party rank and fileextended grand welcome toKTR for becoming a min-ister for the second time.

TRS youth wing leaderSambipur Raju and TRSactivists, party MLAs, MLCs,TRS corporators, seniorleaders welcomed KTR tothe Telangana Bhavan. Gutha takes

charge asCouncil chairmanPNS n HYDERABAD

TRS leader Gutha Sukender Reddyassumed charge as Legislative Councilchairman on Wednesday. With only onenomination received for the post, Reddywas declared unanimously elected as thecouncil chairman.

The members of Legislative councilextended wishes to Sukender Reddy on hiselection. Speaking on the occasion, min-ister KT Rama Rao said that PocharamSrinivas Reddy, who served as agricultureminister, was appointed as assembly speak-er while Sukender, who served as the pres-ident of Telangana State Farmers'Coordination Committee, has beenappointed as council chairman.

He said that it is a good sign for farm-ers that leaders having a connection withagriculture sector have been appointed asthe heads of Legislative Assembly andCouncil.

File PILsubmissions onpolls in writing:High CourtPNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Courton Wednesday directed thecounsels for petitioners toplace their submissions inwritten form in PublicInterest Litigations (PILs)filed against issuance of noti-fication to conduct municipalelections in the state.

A division bench com-prising of Chief Justice RSChauhan and Justice AAbhishek Reddy also saidthat it would decide thematter after perusing thewritten submissions of peti-tioners in the case. It lateradjourned the case hearingto September 26. It may benoted here that two PILswere filed in the case.

Third-party affidavits ofpoliticians like Congress PartyMPs K Venkat Reddy and ARevanth Reddy and BJP MPB Sanjay Kumar were alsofiled in the case in order tosupport the arguments of oneof the petitioners.

TRS leader Gutha Sukender Reddy is greeted after hetook charge as Telangana Legislative Council chairmanin Hyderabad on Wednesday

Campus envoys in colleges tohelp out with voter enrollmentPNS n HYDERABAD

The Election Commi-ssion will appoint CampusAmbassadors in collegesto enthuse students takepart in voter enrolmentand verification. Three orfour students will beselected from each collegein the state and providedday-long training to takeup voter verification andnew enrolment in theircolleges.

Joint CEO Ravi Kiransaid in an All India Radioprogram that voter veri-fication drive has beennamed as 'Mega MillionLaunch' which began onSeptember 1 throughout

the country. He said vot-ers can get their detailschecked even after votersdraft list is released.

Special meetings willbe held with IT compa-nies and Resident WelfareAssociations for greaterparticipation in voter

enrolment. Special stallswill also be put up in ITcompanies for the pur-pose. He also said the vot-ers will be facilitated totag their family mem-bers' details if they wish toexercise their franchise inthe same polling station

henceforthRavi Kiran said the

voter verification drivewhich will continue fortwo months is aimed atfacilitating the voters toverify their details in theEPIC voter cards likename, address, age andget them corrected iferrors occurred. He saidthe voters can get theverification done throughwww.nvsp.in orwww.ceotelangana.inwebsites and the ElectionCommission's MobileApp. The voters can cor-rect their details which inturn will be verified bythe Election officials forissuing new EPIC cards.

HC holds back plea forSIT in 'fake' encounter

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana governmenttold the High Court onWednesday that the SupremeCourt had granted stay in theSpecial Leave Petition (SLP)filed in the alleged fakeencounter of one PunnamLingaiah alias Linganna.

It also told the court that theSLP was filed challenging theearlier order of the HC direct-ing the magistrate to recordstatements of 'eye-witnesses'under Section 164 of CrPC.This has prompted a divisionbench comprising of Chief

Justice RS Chauhan and JusticeA Abhishek Reddy to hear thePIL seeking special investiga-tion Team (SIT) probe into thealleged fake encounter of thevictim after the disposal of thepetition pending before theSupreme Court.

The encounter of Lingaiahtook place at Rallagadda villagein Gundala mandal BhadradriKothagudem district on July31. The High Court, whiledealing with the case had alsodirected the state governmentto provide security to the fourwitnesses named by the peti-tioner in the case.

Meetings will beheld with ITfirms andResident WelfareAssociations forgreaterparticipation invoter enrolment

MRPS to protest denial ofCabinet berths to MadigasPNS n WARANGAL

Madiga Reservation PorataSamiti (MRPS) presidentManda Krishna Madiga hasaccused Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao of dealinga blow to the self-respect ofMadigas, who constitute only12 per cent of the state's pop-ulation, by not accommodat-ing the community in therecent Cabinet expansion.

Addressing media here onWednesday, he charged theKCR government with dis-criminating against the sub-castes listed under the Madigacommunity ever since hebecame CM.

Does showing an empty

hand to senior MLAs fromundivided Warangal districtnot amount to discriminatingMadigas against, he said.

KCR did not give a minis-terial berth to any of the sub-castes included under Madigas,he said, blaming the CM forgiving six ministerial berths to

the Reddy community, whoconstitute only 5 per cent of thetotal population of the state. Hedemanded the CM to give anexplanation on this.

To oppose this, he saidprotests would be staged infront of village panchayats inTelangana till September 15beginning from Wednesday.

On September 18, rastarokos would be staged on a bigscale in all mandal andAssembly constituency head-quarters. An Avedana Deekshawill also be staged onSeptember 21 at KDC groundsin Hanmakonda, he said, andappealed to people of thecross-section of people to takepart in the event.

Woman whoabused CMKCR arrested

TSRTC staff plan stirover merger demandPNS n HYDERABAD

TSRTC employees unions aregearing up for a mass agita-tion to demand merger of theroad transport corporationwith the government and tofulfill other long-pendingdemands.

With fellow Telugu stateAndhra Pradesh CM givingnod for the merger ofAPSRTC in its government,RTC employees unions inTelangana are planning tobuild up on the momentumand mount pressure on TRSgovernment. While alreadyTSRTC Employees Union,TSRTC Jathiya MazdoorUnion (TJMU) and other

unions have given protestnotice to TSRTC manage-ment, now even TelanganaMazdoor Union affiliated toTRS is said to have decided togo on protest.

"TSRTC is facing severeproblems due to neglect ofgovernment. Government isnot releasing pending duesand subsidies to the corpora-tion. Even salaries are notbeing paid properly to staff,"said Raji Reddy, TSRTC EUleader, speaking to ThePioneer.

RTC employees unions wantto wait for a week to see theresponse from TSRTC man-agement, else they will go onstrike on September 17.

PNS n JAGITIAL

Following a complaint filedby local TRS leaders, theJagtial police on Wednesdayarrested Banawat Lakshmi,who had criticised ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao over the shortage ofurea. A case had been filedagainst her on Tuesday.

Lakshmi hails f romTatlavai village of RaikalmandalThe police, however,showed no leniency towardsher and confined her to thepolice station for about sixhours. Lakshmi later saidshe went critical of the CMout of emotion. "Is this whatthey mean by BangaruTelangana," she said.

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Giant office in Hyd hints of Amazon’s big plans

PNS n HYDERABAD

Amazon's new office inHyderabad is a major part ofthe e-retailer's global opera-tions and employs some 15,000full-time staff workers, rough-ly constituting a third of itsemployee base in India.

"The Hyderabad campus is asignal to the government thatwe are increasing our base inIndia and we are making surethere is a lot of India that isbuilt into Amazon's globalstory," Ankur Bisen of Delhi-based consulting firmTechnopak told reporters.

Amazon's new Indianheadquarters in Hyderabadis a 282-ft-tall building,equipped with 49 elevators,cafeterias, recreational spacethat will have Zumba danceclasses et al. It is also thecompany's biggest buildingglobally, equating its ambi-tions in a vast but challeng-

ing market.Amazon has earmarked $5

billion in investment funds in

India of which Hyderabad getsa big share.

According to the recent

research by industry bodyNational Associat ion ofS of tware and S er vicesCompanies (NASSCOM)and PricewaterhouseCoopers"India's e-commerce salesare expected to tr iplebetween now and 2022, whenthey are likely to pass the

$100 billion mark."" Amazon has already ear-

marked $5 billion in invest-ment funds for India, whereone in three people use theinternet - the figure forecast islikely to swell to 300 million by2020 mainly due to growingsmartphone use.

n Of the $5 billion investment it has earmarked for India, Hyderabad gets a big share

The e-tailer’s new India headquartersin Hyderabad is a 282-ft-tall building,equipped with 49 elevators

Bureaucratic blockades The new e-commerce rules thatcame into force in Februarybanned companies like Amazonfrom selling products fromfirms in which they have astake, according to the reports,they are also forbidden fromentering into exclusive dealswith sellers. The regulationswere brought in after brick-and-mortar retailers complained thee-tailers were unfairly sellingproducts at discount prices."Going forward, the challengesare more around regulation and

how to navigate the policy andregulatory environment," saidAnkur Bisen. Prospects are inprogress but, the risk is high,Amazon and Flipkart incurringbig losses as they expand andattempt to tap into new marketsin Asia's third-largest economy.Both firms will also face fiercecompetition from Indianconglomerate RIL run byMukesh Ambani who isplanning to go up against thetwo US companies with his owne-commerce platform.

QNET SCAM VICTIM HELDIN HIS OWN MLM FRAUDPNS n HYDERABAD

The Cyberabad police arrest-ed a victim of the MLM scamwho lost an investment of Rs13 lakh started his own racketof pyramid scheme in Vizag.His company also has a simi-lar scheme as that of Qnet andhas about 5,000 investors.

The accused, identified asBaki Srinivas Reddy, 28, theMD of his fraud company'Serfa' was residing inKukatpally and set up thefirm in Visakhapatnam. Thescheme is rampant in the twoUnion Territories(Lakshadweep and Andaman& Nicobar islands) and also in16 states, including Telangana(3,267), Andhrapradesh(1,449), Karnataka (51), andOrissa, Maharashtra,Jharkhand, Bihar,Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Kerala,Madhya Pradesh, Manipur,Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, UttarPradesh and West Bengal.

The company came under

police scanner following acomplaint from a victim fromthe city who was cheatedamong several others in thepyramid scheme.

"The money circulationcompany was established in2018 and is registered withROC in Vijayawada. Its MD,accused Srinivas Reddy, hadinvested Rs 13 lakh in QNet,which he lost. Subsequently, in2018, he started his own multi-level marketing business sim-

ilar to QNet in Vizag with abranch office at Kukatpally.The company has around5,000 representatives as itsmembers," said CyberabadPolice Commissioner VCSajjanar.

Srinivas Reddy used to moti-vate people, especially stu-dents, homemakers and unem-ployed youth, to join the busi-ness and earns handsome prof-its. Initially, a member joins thescheme by paying Rs1,200 and

subsequently, he get two moremembers so that he would getRs 4,000, including Rs 2,000 asbinary income and Rs 2,000 asreferral income.

The arrest of Srinivas wasmade from his office inKukatpally. Officials also seizedhard disc pertaining to thesoftware used by the companyfrom him. Other accused per-sons involved in the scheme areyet to be arrested.

"The Cyberabad Policerequests the public not to fallprey to such money circulationschemes which are being pro-moted in the name of Multi-level Marketing, Network mar-keting, Referral marketing,Chain marketing, DirectSelling etc. The productsshown to lure are just a cam-ouflage but the back end is aMoney Circulation Schemesbanned in India under theprovisions of Prize Chits andMoney Circulation Schemes(Banning) Act 1978" conclud-ed the official.

n Accused, who had lost Rs 13L, started scheme that has 5,000 investors

n Srinivas Reddy, whocalled himself MD ofMLM company 'Serfa',lived in Kukatpally area

n Baki Srinivas Reddystarted his own pyramidscheme in Visakhapatnam

n He came underscanner after a victimfiled a complaint

‘Forest Martyrs' Day'observed at Hyd zooPNS n HYDERABAD

Forest Martyrs' Day was observedat Nehru Zoological Park inHyderabad on Wednesday tocommemorate the Forest andWildlife Department personnelwho laid down their lives whileprotecting forest wealth andwildlife in the state.

Forests and EnvironmentMinister Allola IndrakaranReddy and principal chief con-servator of forests (PCCF) RSobha laid flowers at theforesters memorial in the zoo tohonour the men and womenwho have made the ultimate

sacrifice for forests and wildlife.Forest Minister recalled that

on September 11, 1730, over360 people of the Bishnoicommunity were killed inKhejarli village of Rajasthan forprotecting Khejri trees. Healso evoked that since 1984 inTelangana, 21 officers of vari-ous cadres have laid died pro-tecting forests.

Telangana government istaking many steps to protectthe forest, Minister IndrakaranReddy said, "The HarithaHaram initiative to increaseforest cover from 24 to 33 per-cent will be achieved with the

progressive plantation pro-gramme. Our forest depart-ment officials and staff arebrave enough to protect thestate's forest wealth."

Addressing the event, RSobha said, "146 base camps,each with five local tribalsand non-tribal watchers, areestablished in the interior vul-nerable forest areas prone toillicit felling of trees, smug-gling, and encroachment. It isthe obligation of every respon-sible citizen to join hands withthe forest department in con-serving the green cover and inprotecting wildlife."

PNS n HYDERABAD

US Consul General inHyderabad, Joel Reifman,made a courtesy call onMinister KT Rama Rao atTUFIDC office in Hyderabadon Wednesday. The ConsulGeneral was accompanied byConsular chief EricAlexander, economics spe-cialist Kristen Loehr andpolitical and economics spe-cialist Srimali Kari.

During the formal meeting,Consul General Reifman con-gratulated KTR on beingappointed as minister for thesecond time. Minister KTRhighlighted the long-standingrelationship Hyderabad haswith US businesses and alsoopportunities for further

investments in the state. "I look forward to working

closely with this future-focusedleader KT Rama Rao as weseek to advance shared goalsand further strengthen theUS-India partnership," Joel

Reifman said.Minister for Roads and

Buildings Vemula PrashanthReddy and Minister forWomen and Child WelfareSatyavathi Rathod were alsopresent.

US Consul General calls on KTR Schoolteacher diesin hit-and-runat GolcondaPNS n HYDERABAD

A 39-year-old woman waskilled in a hit-and-run inci-dent at Golconda onWednesday. The victim wasidentified as Uma Jante, ateacher at Glendale Academyat Sun City.

According to the police,Uma was going to the schoolfrom her residence inNarsingi when the incidenthappened. When shereached the Indoor stadiumat Ramdevguda, an uniden-tified car hit the two-wheel-er she was travelling onfrom behind. "Due to theimpact of the hit, Uma wasthrown off her vehicle andcrashed onto the divider.She suffered severe injuriesand died on the spot," saidGolconda sub-inspectorMallaiah.

Passersby used Uma'sphone and called her broth-er who rushed to the spot, butUma had succumbed to herinjuries by then. The car thathit he fled the spot after theincident.

The Golconda police reg-istered a case under Section304a of IPC and are investi-gating the case by analyzingCCTV footages of nearbycameras to try and identifythe car.

City to host greenbuilding meetPNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad will host the 17thedition of Indian GreenBuilding Council's flagshipevent 'Green BuildingCongress 2019' at HICCbetween September 25 and 28.The event will focus on thetheme 'Green BuiltEnvironment for People &the Planet'.

The event, an internation-al conference and exhibi-tion, will focus on topicslike green homes, greenschools, health and wellbe-ing, net zero buildings, greenand smart cities, greenaffordable housing, com-mercial buildings, construc-tion technologies, greenproducts and technologies,green hotels, sustainablemobility and green transit.

Coinciding with Green

Building Congress is the inter-national exhibition of greenbuilding products and tech-nologies, where some new,innovative and futuristic greenbuilding products, materialsand technologies will be dis-played.

The annual Green BuildingCongress is a platform wherenational and internationalstakeholders converge to learnand explore new growthopportunities in the areas ofgreen buildings and sustain-ability. The Telangana gov-ernment is a Partner State forthe building congress.

India, with over 7 billionsqft of land area, is one of thetop-five countries in the worldin terms of largest registeredgreen building footprint, withover 5,400 projects adoptingCII- IGBC green building rat-ing systems.

Notorious thiefdetained under PD Act

Aproperty offender, who alsoharassed women by

dressing up as a cop, wasdetained under PD Act by theRachakonda police. The movewas a part of the ongoing driveagainst habitual offenders toensure public safety andsecurity. The offender wasidentified as 27-year-oldRamavath Naresh, an autodriver from Ramanthapur. Heused to dress up as a cop andharass women since long inareas of LB Nagar, Hayathnagarof the Rachakondacommissionerate andKachiguda PS of Hyderabadcity. He committed thefts andextortions in the same guise,said officials. Naresh was earlierarrested by police several timesand convicted in courts.However, after getting out of jail,he continued to indulge invarious crimes. Officialsidentified five offences ofattention diversion/ extortions inLB Nagar and one case ofextortion in Kachiguda in 2019alone. Police said Naresh alsotargeted old people in busyareas at night and stole goldornaments from them.

Jobless mancommits suicide

A28-year-old man committedsuicide by hanging at his

residence in Jubilee Hillsfollowing his inability to find ajob. The deceased wasidentified as K Shiva, a nativeof Khammam, used to stay atRahmathnagar along with hisfriend Bhanu, said the police.On Monday afternoon, Bhanuwent out on some work whileShiva stayed back in the room.In evening when Bhanu calledShiva over phone, he did notrespond, following whichBhanu returned to the house ofwhich he found the doorlatched from inside. Onpeeping through the window,he found Shiva hanging fromthe window of the house."Shiva, who came to the cityeight months back in search ofemployment, was reportedlydepressed as he could not finda job although he had appliedto various companies withBTech qualification," said theJubilee Hills police quoting thefamily members of thedeceased. A case under Section174 of CrPC was registered bythe police. A postmortemexamination was conducted onTuesday afternoon and bodyhanded over to the familymembers.

Two held withganja

The police arrested twopersons who were found

with the possession of 640gm of ganja on Tuesday. Thesuspects were identified asIrfan Khan and MohammedAbdul Awais, both residents ofMallepally. According to thepolice inspector of Falaknuma,K Srinivasa Rao, the duo weregoing on a bike when theywere stopped at Farooqnagarbus station during a vehiclechecking drive held onMonday night. The duo triedto escape but cops chasedand apprehended them. Afterthe body search, 640 gm ofganja was found on them,police said.

Ganesh laddugoes for Rs 7.56 lakhat auctionPNS n HYDERABAD

A gold laddu of BholakpurGanesh was auctioned for Rs7.56 lakh on Wednesday, aday ahead of Nimajjan.

Sri Siddhi Vinayaka BhagatSingh Youth Association con-ducted the auction atBholakpur amid a largecrowd of devotees. The asso-ciation arranged the goldladdu of worth Rs 5 lakhalong with the Prasad laddu.

Bairu Vishnu Prasad, whoowned the laddu, sold it to thehighest bidder who coughedup Rs 7.56 lakh. MusheerabadMLA Gopal, TRS youth wingleader Jayasimha, BJP con-stituency co-convenor NaveenGoud and several others werepresent. Last year, KadaboyinaBhaskar had bid and boughtthe laddu for Rs 8.1 lakh. Deceased Uma Jante


BAKKA TENNYSONn NALGONDA

Congress party organised bigprotests demanding adequateurea supplies and fulfillment offarmers' demands at variousplaces in Nalgonda, Suryapetand Yadadri Bhongir districtson Wednesday.

The protesting leaders raisedslogans against the govern-ment and alleged that theadministration was showing an'empty hand' to farmers overissues concerning them. Theprotests in Yadadari Bhongirwere spearheaded by MPKomatireddi Venkat Reddyand local leaders who accusedthe state government and thechief minister of diverting the

attention of the public in orderto avoid accountability.

Farmers were facing anacute shortage of urea, and one

farmer even succumbed in thequeue in Medak, but the chiefminister has not shown anyconcern towards the issue and

gone ahead and expanded theCabinet to divert people'sattention, Congress leadersalleged. Hundreds of farmersparticipated in the Congress-led dharnas the district head-quarters, where party leadersvowed to support the farmersin their difficult time.

In Suryapet district, protestswere spearheaded under theleadership of R DamodarReddy. Congress leaders camedown heavily on both the cen-tral and state governments fortheir anti-farmers attitude.

In a dharna at Nalgonda dis-trict headquarters, Congressleaders demanded that thegovernment release the pend-ing Rythu Bandhu fundsimmediately.

Cong holds protests in districtHQs over farmers' issues

Continued from Page 1

While there were several allegationsof votes being cast in the name of deadpersons, the EC looked into only a few.One of them was a vote allegedly castin the name of JennapalliNarsimhareddy who had died three-and-a-half years ago. The name wassupposedly found in the voters listdespite prior requests to delete itthrice. Even a voter slip was alleged-ly issued in Jennapalli's name by theoffice of the Siddipet District ElectoralOfficer (DEO), an election-related postheld by district collectors.

However, the then SiddipetCollector, D Krishna Bhaskar, in hisreport to EC said the dead person'sname was present in the voters list ofChinnakistapur in Jagdevpur mandalas the Booth Level Officer (BLO) con-cerned had not reported the death."On verification of records, officialsclaim they found that no voter slip wasdistributed and no vote was cast onbehalf of the dead elector on the poll

day," Bhaskar wrote in his report.Further, TDP candidate Nama

Nageswara Rao had alleged on the dayof the polls that TRS candidate andpresent MLA Puvvada Ajay Kumarwas forcing around 200 studentsstudying at Mamatha Medical Collegein Khammam to vote for him in thename of dead voters.

Videos had alsoemerged of theTDP candidateNama NageswaraRao questioningthe BlockDevelopment Officerfor catching a studentpossessing a voter slipwhich was not in her name. In his let-ter to the CEO, DEO RV Karnan,wrote, "The students have stated thatthey were studying in MamathaMedical College and were forced tosupport its owner." The college isowned by Puvvada Ajay Kumar.

Based on the DEO's instructions, theReturning Officer conducted an inquiry

in the presence of the complainant onDecember 8, 2018, and found that noneof the allegations was substantial anddeserved no consideration.

There was also controversy arounda video of a man caught carrying over200 voter ID cards in the Gajwel

Assembly constituency inSiddipet district. The man

was supposedly one KRamesh, a Booth

Level Officer(BLO).

Bhaskar'sreport, how-ever, said

that reports ofBLO carrying 200

voter IDs was false. "No BLO is work-ing in the name of K Ramesh in theGajwel Assembly constituency," theSiddipet Collector said.

Another news report that had goneviral at the time pertained to a cellphone video taken from inside apolling booth at Sanathnagar inHyderabad. It was alleged that a Block

Development Officer helped an elder-ly woman cast her vote for the TRS.However, the inquiry report said thatthis was simply a man helping hismother cast her vote, and not a gov-ernment official.

The Returning Officer of theSanathnagar Assembly constituency, inhis report to EC, explained that an oldwoman came to the polling stationaround 1 pm, along with her son, toassist her. The officer stated that he wasnot aware of the use of cell phones insidethe polling station as there was a bigqueue on the polling day. The officerfurther stated that he and his pollingofficers had not entered the room withthe EVM, and the allegation madeagainst them was false and incorrect.

The polling officials also denied thatany Block Development Officers vis-ited the polling station during that day.The EC even asked the Chief Editorof a daily (which reported it) for videoevidence, but was not provided withone. The allegations were dismissed asno further action was warranted.

Election Commission finds no ‘malpractices'in Telangana polls, closes complaint

PM trying to divertattention from realissues: Owaisi


"Some people get ashock at hearing wordslike cow and Om and it isunfortunate," Modi hadsaid.

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen(AIMIM) chief said it isunfortunate that Moditalks of only one religion."He doesn't talk of the

beauty of India, which is home to all the religions. He tookoath on the Constitution and we had hoped that he willtalk of all religions," he said.

He alleged that the Prime Minister made the remarkswith an eye on the ensuing Assembly polls in Maharashtra,Haryana and Jharkhand.

"We want to ask the Prime Minister whether it is not truethat each morning every Indian hears the azan from amasjid, Om from temple and hymns from other places ofworship. He should have said the beauty of this nation isthat it has followers of all religions.

"We also want to know from Mr Modi as to how manyincidents of mob lynching occurred since he became PrimeMinister," Owaisi said.

He said Modi stated three to four times that these inci-dents are painful but his words had no effect because hisgovernment and his party's state governments, instead ofdoing justice to the oppressed sided with the oppressor.Owaisi cited the case of Tabrez Ansari who was mob-lynched in Jharkhand. The murder charges have beendropped against the accused.

He said as Hindu brothers consider the cow as sacred,their religious sentiments should be respected. He, how-ever, pointed out that the Constitution has given the rightto life to human beings.

On Modi's remark that the cow is key to the economy,Owaisi commented that the economy is already destroyed."He is bothered about the cow economy but not concernedabout country's economy. The GDP growth has slumpedto five per cent. 10 lakh people are going to be jobless inautomobile sector. The rupee's value is falling but he is both-ered about cow economy."


Mayor Bonthu RamMohan, Water Board MDDana Kishore, Collectors ofNarayanpet and Khammam,Zonal CommissionerMamatha and (GWMC)Commissioner N Ravi Kiranposted pictures of clear pots,drums at their homes andoffices.

Terming Mayors' clean-updrive as a Fake Photoshoot, anetizen Chanakya said, "Goodphoto ops! Streets aren't clean-er and you ask us to clean ourhouses. Every street is filledwith drainage/stagnant water.What is GHMC doing in thismatter?" People questioned asto who will take care of Musiriver and various nalas ofHyderabad as they are themain cause of breeding mos-quitoes".

Not just Mayor, everyGHMC official who postedphoto was questioned by neti-zens over their negligence allthese days. A netizen, Eshwar,said, "If KTR does not give acall, you will not clean, whatother activities do you wait fortill KTR to tell (sic)?" Anotheradvised the officials to con-sider State as their home andtake up field level inspections.In fact, KTR asked officials tobe on field at morning 5.30 amwhich was only a one-dayaffair. Only Deputy MayorBaba Fasiuddin was on groundeven on Wednesday inspectingthe on-going fogging and anti-larval operations.

A Sandeep Vanagala said,"Please consider State as yourhome and majority does nothave flowers pots, air coolersand water bodies at home.Roads have become pondswith overflowing drainage.

Being proactive by the gov-ernment would have prevent-ed all these. Please plan onworking outside(sic)."

Citizens also suggested offi-cials to come out of their lux-urious homes and target realbreeding grounds. AnotherAman said, "Majority of usdon't have this luxury. Pleaseleave the theatrics and dosome real work. How abouttargeting the real breedinggrounds? The community sep-tic tanks aka lakes (sic)"

Another Krishna said, "Youguys clean them at your hous-es as they are just mugs andspoons of water, What aboutstagnant water on roads?Who's going to clean them?Come to Lingampalli/Bhelbus station and see how thedrainage water is flowingacross wholesale shops? (sic)"

Netizens pointed that toclean their homes; they had towait for KTR to become min-ister. A Harish Munigela said,"To clean your home you wait-ed for KTR to be in cabinet. Toclean Hyderabad, will youwait till TRS party forms gov-ernment in Center? KTR canyou please post pics of roadsoutside your home and give achallenge to GHMC,Commissioner and Mayor toprovide same roads across thecity and see how many of themaccept the challenge?"

Meanwhile, Delhi CMArvind Kejriwal, ManishSisodia, Mahesh Babu came insupport of the campaignlaunched by Minister K TRama Rao. Arvind said thatthe fight against dengue iscatching up in rest of thecountry too. Manish Sisodiatermed KTR's approach asthe best way to prevent dengueto make India dengue-free.

From shares toconsultancy,RS membersearn in crores


As much as 40 (18.8 percent) Rajya Sabha membershave declared that they havefinancial interest in the formof professional engagement.The top 3 in this category areall lawyers. The highestamount received has beendeclared by Congress'sAbhishek Manu Singhvi withtotal fees received from pro-fessional engagements at Rs177 crore, followed by P.Chidambaram and Tulsi.

Interestingly, there's asmuch as 104 MPs in theupper house with total assetsworth more than Rs 1 crore,yet they have no financialinterests, claims their decla-rations.

The top four are T.Subbarami Reddy ofCongress with Rs 422.44crore of total assets followedby TDP's C.M. Ramesh with258.20 crore. Then comesformer Finance Minister lateArun Jaitley with Rs 111.42crore and Ambika Soni withRs 105.82 crore of total assets.

But under each category, asignificant MPs haven't evendeclared their assets. What'seven more shocking is that,there are 17 members of RajyaSabha who have not at all sub-mitted the declaration of theirpecuniary interest, under anycategory, whatsoever.

The names include MishaBharti of RJD, Dola Sen ofTrinamool Congress,Mahendra Prasad of JDU,Rajmani Patel of Congressand Rakesh Sinha of the BJPamong others. What's trou-bling is that leaders from cut-ting across party lines havedefied. Speaking to IANS,Maj. Gen. Anil Verma (Retd),who heads the ADR,expressed concern at thisculture of hiding truth.

"Of course it is a matter ofconcern as far as transparen-cy goes. We are trying to con-vince the current Speakerwhy it is so important for himto intervene. We urged theprevious Speaker as well butto no avail", said Gen Verma.

‘Stop theatrics’


"We will not allow trafficother than the idols' proces-sions to move on the mainprocession route until theimmersion gets completedand the restrictions will be inplace for 30 hours," saidHyderabad Traffic Additional

Commissioner Anil Kumar. At Cyberabad, restrictions

will be imposed on all roadsleading to the major lakes inthe area. At the IDL Lake, roadswill be closed from tankentrance to Rainbow Vista TJunction. Traffic fromBowrampet will be diverted atPragathi Nagar Kaman towards

Bachupally X Road. AtHasmathpet area, vehicles car-rying idols from Bowenpallyand other Secunderabadcolonies can enter the lake viaAnjaiah Nagar.

The public holiday is applic-able to government offices,schools, and colleges inHyderabad, Ranga Reddy, and

Medchal districts because ofVisarjan processions.

"Not just during GaneshVisarjan, the corporation alsoforces us to work on allIndian public hol idays ,national holidays, includingthe Elections Day!" allegedanother employee working ina BPO. "I have been in the

company for over 3 years andI never understood what theleave rules are, and the prob-lem is we are not aware of ourown rights."

"Technically, I work forthe UK and get just 8 days ofholidays in a year which areon UK's calendar and notours," he added.

IT workers dragged to work on Ganesh Visarjan day

Public holiday today in view ofGanesh immersion


Traffic restrictions across Hyderabad, especiallyalong main routes, will be shown live on GoogleMaps, updated on real-time basis. Citizens cansee Google Maps for latest traffic condition. About23 immersion ponds across the city have beenreadied by GHMC to facilitate immersion.HMWSSB has set up 115 drinking water pointsin the city which would provide 32.5 lakh waterpackets. There are nearly 30,000 police constablesdeployed, across all three Commissionerates, forsurveillance. There are 2.90 lakh CCTV camerasin the city to back up surveillance. About 50,000idols are expected to be immersed in Tank Bund.In all, 93 static cranes and 134 mobile cranes havebeen deployed in 32 areas for glitch-free immer-sions. The Bada Ganesh at Khairtabad is expect-ed to be immersed by 1:00pm.

Continued from Page 1The economic slowdown in some sectors has

impacted the overall hiring activity for August2019. However, the growth in sectors like IT,Software ensured that there was no decline inoverall hiring activity. Hopefully, the upcomingmonths will see a revival of hiring in crucial sec-tors," said Pawan Goyal, the chief business offi-cer of Naukri.com.

Hyderabad witness 6%hike in IT jobs

PNS n KARIMNAGAR

Agiculture Minister S NiranjanReddy said the state govern-ment was taking every possi-ble step to provide adequateurea supplies to the farmersduring the current season.Speaking to media personsafter reviewing the urea sup-ply position and availability inthe Karimnagar district alongwith two more ministersGangulaKamalakar and KoppulaEeshwar, minister NiranjanReddy said the governmenthas ordered urea suppliesaccording to the requirements.And since the current supplypattern was modified withthe inclusion of thumbimpression process from theprevious Aadhaar card-basedsystem, the queues at supplypoints have been long, whichdoes not mean there is anyshort supply as claimed byopposition parties but a mereprocedural issue causing somedelay, he said.The thumb impression andbio-metric process was intro-duced by the centralgovernment in order to regu-late and streamline the subsidyclaims, Niranjan Reddy saidand added that fertiliser unitsthis year could not store therequired level of supplies.The major urea manufactur-ing unit Nagarjuna Fertilisers

was closed and hence thecentral government hasimported the supplies fromcountries like Oman andRussia. The delay in importshas also caused some prob-lems, the minister said.Speaking at the meeting,Minister Koppula Eeshwarsaid an artificial scarcity wascreated by some brokers inthe state. Admitting that therewas some scarcity in Jagtialdistrict, Koppula said that theassessments pertaining topaddy area coverage mighthave caused this scarcity. Hesaid about 1,300 tonnes ofurea had been sent in Jagtialand there was no need forpeople to feel any scarcity ofthe fertiliser.

‘No urea scarcity,bio-metrics causeof long queues'

Agri ministersays distributionprocess changedfrom Aadhaar totime-consumingbio-metricverification

PNS n HYDERABAD

Senior leader from Telanganaand former Union MinisterBandaru Dattatreya was swornin as Governor of HimachalPradesh on Wednesday.Himachal Pradesh ChiefMinister Jairam Thakur, UnionMinister of State for HomeAffairs G Kishan Reddy,Telangana BJP chief K Laxman,senior leaders DK Aruna,Chintala Ramchandra Reddyand others were present atDattatreya's swearing-in cere-mony in Shimla.

"Bandaru Dattatraya tookoath as the 27th Governor ofHimachal Pradesh today. ChiefMinister Jai Ram Thakur tookpart in the swearing in cere-mony and congratulated him.We wish under his guidanceand blessings Dev BhoomiHimachal will continue to growtowards new heights," tweetedHimachal Pradesh's CMO,after the swearing-in ceremo-ny. The 72-year-old leader hadserved as Union Minister in theboth Prime Minister Modi'sand Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cab-inets in the past.

Bandaru Dattatreya swornin as Governor of HP

Claims state diverting attention by things like Cabinet expansion, while showing an ‘empty hand' to farmers

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

Swami Vivekananda'smessage of universalbrotherhood relevanteven today: MamataKOLKATA: West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onWednesday said SwamiVivekananda's message ofuniversal brotherhood, in hishistoric address at theconvention of Parliament ofReligions in Chicago, isrelevant even in contemporarytimes. Swami Vivekananda hadintroduced India and Hinduismto the western world in hisspeech in 1893. Payinghomage to the monk, Banerjeetweeted, "Today is the 126thanniversary of SwamiVivekananda's epochal speechat the Parliament of Religionsin Chicago. His message ofuniversal brotherhood isrelevant even today. Myrespectful homage to the greatsaint." The Trinamool Congressgovernment has included thespeech in the school syllabusof the West Bengal Board ofSecondary Education.The state government onWednesday is set to launch theSwami Vivekananda Merit-cum-Means Scholarship(SVMCMS) to help meritoriousstudents from economicallybackward sections.

Patel was right, Nehruwrong on Kashmir:Ravi Shankar PrasadAHMEDABAD: Union ministerRavi Shankar Prasad onWednesday said India's firstprime minister JawaharlalNehru was wrong and SardarVallabhbhai Patel, the country'sfirst home minister, was right inhandling the Jammu andKashmir issue afterIndependence. Prasad wasaddressing a press conferencehere to mark the NationalDemocratic Alliancegovernment completing 100days in office after being swornin for a second consecutiveterm on May 30. "I want to saythat in Jammu and Kashmir,Sardar Patel was right andJawaharlal Nehru was wrong,"Prasad said. The minister saidArticle 370, which gave specialstatus to the northern state,was a "historical blunder" andby scrapping that specialstatus, Prime Minister NarendraModi has shown "immensecourage and corrected thathistorical wrong".

PNS n NEW DELHI

A controversial case of aninter-faith marriage fromChattisgarh was taken up forhearing in the Supreme Courton Wednesday.

A Hindu woman had mar-ried a Muslim man whoadmitted that he converted toHinduism in order to beaccepted by the woman's fam-ily. The woman's family hasdisputed the man's conversionto Hinduism, calling it a sham.

A bench headed JusticeArun Mishra said: "We are onlyconcerned only about herfuture. We are not againstinter-religious or inter-castemarriage. The court observedthat the man should be a "loyalhusband" and a "great lover"

The counsel for thewoman's father insisted that itwas a racket to trap girls. Theapex court has asked the manto file an affidavit and showbona fide. The court queriedthe man on whether he hadchanged his name after themarriage in an Arya Samajtemple and taken proper legalsteps to change his name.

The court observed that it isnot averse to inter-faith andinter-caste marriages. "Weonly want the future of the girlshould be secured." The coun-sel for the woman's fathersaid that the woman does notneed any protection.

The top court sought areply from state governmentand allowed the interventionapplication of the girl.

SC to Muslim man who wed Hindu woman

PNS n NEW DELHI

Congress leader JairamRamesh on Wednesday took aswipe at the Modi governmentover the proposed ban on useof single use plastic, saying itwill only grab headlines and"mask" this regime's true envi-ronmental record.

He also said that he, as envi-ronment minister, had resist-ed the blanket ban on plasticuse as the industry employslakhs of people.

The former Environmentminister said the real problemwas how to dispose of andrecycle plastic waste.

He also tagged a mediareport claiming that a com-plete ban on plastic by theModi government was not agood idea as the economy wasfacing a slowdown.

"As Environment Minister Iresisted blanket ban on use ofsingle-use plastic. Plasticindustry employs lakhs andthe real problem is how wedispose and recycle waste," hesaid on Twitter.

"The ban will only grabheadlines, home and abroad,and mask the Modi regime's

true environmental record," healso said.

Prime Minister NarendraModi had suggested the con-trol on use of plastics whileaddressing the COP(Conference of Parties) here.

Modi government's "blanketban on plastics at this momentof economic slowdown is abad idea," Ramesh added.

Jairam Ramesh slamsblanket ban on use ofsingle use plastic

Be a ‘great lover'

PNS n SATARA

The most popular hill stationin western India,Mahabaleshwar, which earnedthe distinction of being thewettest place on Earth thismonsoon, added anotherrecord to its credit onWednesday, said a top official.

The rainfall in the districthas crossed a whopping 8000mm (800 cms) mark onWednesday, said DeputyDirector-General ofMeteorology K. S. Hosalikar.

"The Mahabaleshwar rainfallhas crossed the 8000 mm markto notch 8012.1 mm onWednesday. The monsoon sea-son's normal for the hill stationis 5530.1 mm, Hosalikar toldmediapersons here.

The IMD official added thatduring this year's bountifulmonsoon, Mahabaleshwarcrossed the 300 mm rainfallmark in a 24-hour period sev-eral times.

Cherrapunji in Meghalaya ofNorth-East India, which onceheld the distinction of beingthe wettest place on the plan-et, lost its privileged positionto the neighbouringMawsynram, which gets over11,870 mm rains annually.However, Cherrapunji has fall-en behind with 11,777 mmrains annually.

Situated at an altitude of4,440 feet or 1,353 metres,

good rains augur well forMahabaleshwar, also known as'strawberry country' account-ing for 85 percent of the coun-try's production on its gentleslopes in the Western Ghats.

As many as five major riversoriginate from this hill station,including the fourth-biggest of

India - River Krishna, whichflows 1,400 kms throughMaharashtra, Karnataka,Telangana, Andhra Pradeshbefore emptying into the Bayof Bengal. The other rivers areKoyna, Venna, Savitri andGayatri.

Though Mahabaleshwar,and its neighbouring twinPanchgani at an altitude of4,242 feet or 1,293 metres, area favourite with tourists duringmonsoons, the incessant heavydownpour has hit the tourismindustry badly this year.

Barely an hour's drive fromhere is the world-famous KaasPlateau, named a UNESCOWorld Natural Heritage Site(2012) - or the 'Valley ofFlowers' where tourists throngfrom all over the worldbetween August and October.

Mahabaleshwar records 8,000 mm rains this monsoon

PNS n MOHALI (PUNJAB)

Science poses surprises - some-times failures and sometimessuccesses, according to Nobellaureate Serge Haroche, whosaid on Wednesday that IndianSpace Research Organisation(ISRO) scientists will certain-ly try to fix the problem withIndia's first moon lander.

"I don't know what happenedwith this (moon lander Vikram)but they will certainly try to solvethe problem," Haroche, 75, toldIANS on the sidelines of the'Nobel Prize Series India 2019'event here, near the state capitalChandigarh. An optimisticHaroche, who won the NobelPrize for Physics in 2012, saidfailures occur in science.

"Science is something whereyou are going in theunknown...you have surprises,sometime good surprises andsometime you have bad surpris-es and failures," Harocheexplained, whose research hasmostly taken place in the KastlerBrossel laboratory at the EcoleNormale Superieure in France.

Categorically saying that he isignorant about what actuallyhappened with the moon lander,Haroche said the equipmet had

worked up to the last stage andthen "you have some kind of fail-ure". The problem, he said, wasthat there was too much expec-tation and excessive media atten-tion around the mission, and"when you lose, you take the riskthat when there is a failure,there is a big amplification of dis-appointment and so on".

"I think the people who workin this area should know thatthere are failures. Since a lot of

money is involved in science, ithas to do with economic and pol-itics and I don't like this mixture,"he said. "The best investment acountry can make is investing inyoung minds. It is important forIndia to make sure that a largefaction of them should comeback to India because we needthese people here," he added.

Haroche was at the NationalAgri-Food BiotechnologyInstitute in Mohali for the three-

day 'Nobel Prize Series India2019' event aimed at highlightingissues related to education andlearning. The event, where Nobellaureates give lectures and par-ticipate in roundtables withexperts, teachers and students,will also be held in Ludhiana andNew Delhi. "In India we havegood education in mathematics,in theoretical physics and inastro physics. I think we need toput money into small-scalephysics projects even if it does-n't have the media attention to thebig projects like moon landing,"said the Nobel laureate, who is amember of the French andEuropean Academies of Sciences.In response to another query, hesaid: "The politicians have tounderstand that they have toinvest a lot of money for longerperiod of time in basic research."

Asked about US PresidentDonald Trump calling climatechange a hoax, Haroche replied:"He has no mind so he cannotchange it." Nobel Prize SeriesIndia 2019 is organized by NobelMedia in cooperation with theDepartment of Biotechnology,the Ministry of Science andTechnology and the Punjab StateCouncil for Science andTechnology.

MOON LANDER

ISRO will fix problem:Nobel laureate Haroche

Science is something where you are goingin the unknown...you have surprises,sometime good surprises and sometimeyou have bad surprises and failures

Cherrapunji inMeghalaya of North-East India, which onceheld the distinction ofbeing the wettest placeon the planet, lost itsprivileged position tothe neighbouringMawsynram

PNS n SRINAGAR

Restrictions were lifted frommost parts of Kashmir onWednesday and some areas inSrinagar city witnessed anincreased presence of privatetransport leading to trafficjams but schools remainedclosed and public transportwas off the roads, officialssaid.

The city witnessed increasedmovement of private vehicleson Wednesday leading to traf-fic jams at several places on theKaran Nagar-Batamaloo-LalChowk-Dalgate axis, the offi-cials said.

They said few auto rick-shaws and inter-district cabswere also seen plying in someareas of the city. The officialssaid restrictions have beenlifted from most areas of thevalley, but security forces con-tinued to be deployed to main-tain law and order.

The restrictions were re-imposed in parts of the valley onTuesday to prevent any proces-sion in the city and elsewhere inthe valley on the tenth day ofMuharram. The curbs on themovement of people in someparts of the valley are imposedevery year on the eight and thetenth day of Muharram to pre-

vent any processions. Restrictions were first

imposed across the Kashmiron 5 August when the Centreannounced its decision toabrogate Article 370 of theConstitution and bifurcatethe state into two Union ter-ritories. The restrictions werelifted in phases from manyparts of the valley as the sit-uation improved with passageof time.

However, the authoritieshave been imposing restric-tions in vulnerable areas of thevalley every Friday, appre-hending that vested interestsmight exploit the large gath-erings at big mosques and

shrines to fuel protests.Friday prayers have not been

allowed at any of the majormosques or shrines in the valleyfor the past one month now.Meanwhile, normal liferemained severely affected inKashmir due to shutdown whichentered 38th day on Wednesday.Markets and other businessestablishments remained closed,while public transport was off theroads across the valley, the offi-cials said.

The efforts of the state gov-ernment to open schools havenot borne any fruit as parentscontinued to keep children athome due to apprehensionsabout their safety.

As environmentminister, hadresisted the blanketban on plastic useas the industryemploys lakhs ofpeople

PNS n NEW DELHI

A young woman who hasaccused senior BJP leaderChinmayanand reportedly has"explosive video evidence" tosupport her charge, which hasbeen handed to the police in apen drive by her friend.

The friend handed over thepen drive to the SupremeCourt appointed SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT),which has reportedly ques-tioned the woman for morethan 15 hours. The woman,who has alleged that she was

raped by the former unionminister for a year, reportedlyfilmed Chinmayanand with acamera on her spectacles.

The 23-year-old has accusedChinmayanand, who was a

union minister in Atal BihariVajpayee's government, of rap-ing her for a year using videosto blackmail her.

In her complaint to thepolice, recorded last week, the

woman says she went to thepolitician for admission into hislaw college last year. Heallegedly admitted her, gave hera job in the college library andthen advised her to move into

the hostel. After she did, heallegedly called her and showedher a video of her taking a bath.

Using the video,Chinmayanand allegedlyraped the student. She says healso filmed the assault andused it to blackmail her. Shesays she decided to start film-ing him earlier this year andfor this, installed a camera inher glasses.

The woman went missinglast month after posting onFacebook a video accusing thepolitician, without naminghim, of exploiting students at

his institutes. Amid public out-rage, the UP police filed a miss-ing complaint three days afterher family came to them.

The woman was found inRajasthan six days later, andproduced before the SupremeCourt, which heard her alle-gations and ordered an SIT toinvestigate.

Last week, the woman fileda rape complaint againstChinmayanand, who has notbeen questioned or charged bythe police so far. Yesterday, theSIT went to the woman's hos-tel room for clues.

UP student claims ‘evidence’ against Chinmayanand in pen driveThe friend handed over the pen drive to theSupreme Court appointed SIT, which hasreportedly questioned the woman for morethan 15 hours. The woman, who has allegedthat she was raped by the ex-Union ministerfor a year, reportedly filmed Chinmayanandwith a camera on her spectacles

PNS n PANAJI

Lauding the Centre for abro-gating Article 370 that gavespecial status to Jammu andKashmir, the MaharashtrawadiGomantak Party (MGP) onWednesday said the Modi gov-ernment should now also makeefforts to get back the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

MGP leader Sudin Dhavalikar,whose party is a former ally of theruling BJP in Goa, congratulatedPrime Minister Narendra Modifor some of his government's bolddecisions during the first 100 daysof its second term.

Dhavalikar, who was former-ly deputy chief minister in thePramod Sawant-led Goa gov-ernment, said the abrogation ofArticle 370 was one of the"remarkable decisions" taken dur-ing the Modi government's sec-ond term.

"After revocation of Article 370,now the Modi-led governmentshould free the Pakistan-occupiedKashmir and annex it to ourland," said Dhavalikar, whoseparty supported the Congressduring the Lok Sabha polls heldearlier this year.

Dhavalikar also congratulatedModi for criminalising tripletalaq and for the significant suc-cess of Indian Space ResearchOrganisation's (ISRO) lunar mis-

sion Chandrayaan-2. The formerstate transport minister also saidthat Goa should immediatelyenforce the amended MotorVehicles Act. "The Act is a resultof four-year long deliberations byvarious state transport ministers.It should not be made redundant,though several opposition partiesare against its implementation," hesaid.

The Motor VehiclesAmendment Act, approved byPresident Ram Nath Kovind lastmonth, aims at stricter punish-ment for violation of traffic reg-ulations and to bring discipline onroads.

The MGP, Goa's oldest region-al party, had three MLAs after the2017 state polls. But, in March thisyear, two of its legislators joinedthe ruling BJP.

Dhavalikar is now the lonefrom the MGP in the state hav-ing a 40-member Assembly.

Modi govt shouldnow work to getback PoK: MGP PNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Keralites on Wednesday cel-ebrated their biggest andmost-awaited harvest festival,Onam with traditional fer-vour and gaiety, shruggingoff the frightening memoriesof horrendous floods thathad washed away their festi-val dreams last year.

Tight security in the wake ofa terror attack warning andincessant rains in some placesdid not dampen the overall fes-tive mood and ecstatic spirit ofthe people.

Special security arrange-mentwas put in place at all

major festival venues acrossthe state based on a recentinformation received by theArmy thatthere may be aterror attack in southern

parts of the country.Though Onam has a Hindu

myth behind it, it has assumeda secular dimension over thecenturies and people, cutting

across caste, class and religion,are taking part in the celebra-tions in unison.

Wearing "onakkodi' (newcloths), people decorated theirhomes with 'pookkalam' (flo-ral decks) to welcome mythi-cal king Mahabali, the right-eousdemon king who isbelieved to visit his subjects onthe auspicious 'thiruvonam'day of the Chingam month inthe Malayalam calendar.

Legend has it that the Devas(Gods), who were envious ofMahabali's popularity, man-aged to get him pushed downto the netherworld with thesupport of Lord Vishnu.

With lavish feast & floral decks, colourfulOnam for Keralites post-floods PNS n MATHURA

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday launchedthe National Animal DiseaseControl Programme(NADCP) for eradicating Footand Mouth Disease (FMD)and Brucellosis in livestock.

With 100 per cent fundingfrom the central government till2024, the Rs 12,652 crore pro-gramme aims at vaccinatingover 500 million livestockincluding cattle, buffalo, sheep,goats and pigs against the FMD.

The programme also aimsat vaccinating 36 millionfemale bovine calves annual-ly in its fight againstBrucellosis disease. The pro-

gramme, launched by theprime minister here, has twocomponents to control thediseases by 2025 and eradica-tion by 2030.

Modi also launched theNational ArtificialInsemination Programmebefore interacting with farm-ers. During his visit, he joinedwomen in segregating plasticfrom waste at the 'Swachhta HiSeva' programme.

New programme launched tovaccinate 500 mn livestock

Curbs lifted from J-K parts,private vehicles on roads

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 nation 06SHORT READS

2 booked for'objectionable'remarks against ModiMUZAFFARNAGAR: Twopeople have been booked inUttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagardistrict for posting"objectionable comments" onsocial media against PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, policesaid on Wednesday. Acting onthe complaint of one ShivamMeghali, police booked BijenderSaini and Prince Ashok Acharyaon Tuesday under theInformation Technology Act,Station House Officer AnilKaparvan said. Meghali allegedthat the accused postedobjectionable comments with aphoto of the prime minister onsocial media, the officer said,adding that investigation wason.

Six men assaultpriest, loot ashram inMuzaffarnagar

Car in Bhagwat'sconvoy hitsmotorcycle, kills boyJAIPUR: A boy was killed anda man injured after their two-wheeler was hit by a car in thecavalcade of RSS chief MohanBhagwat in Alwar district ofRajasthan on Wednesday,police said. Bhagwat wasreturning from a programmein Tijara area when theincident happened and therewere eight to ten cars in thecavalcade, police said. "One ofthe cars in the cavalcade hit amotorcycle leaving a boy deadand a man injured," saidRamswaroop Bairwa, sub-inspector of Mandawar policestation. The cavalcade wenttowards Behror after theincident, he said. The carinvolved in the accident is yetto be seized, police said,adding that a case is beingregistered.

Five held for bid toextort donation forGanesh festivalPUNE: Pune Police havearrested five persons forallegedly beating a shopkeeperand his mother in Wakad areafor refusing to pay donation forGanpati festival, days aftervideo of the incident becameviral on social media. A Wakadpolice station officer said onWednesday that a case hasbeen registered against sevenpersons under section 307(Attempt to murder) of theIndian Penal Code (IPC) andfive of them were arrested twodays back. An undated video ofthe incident shows somemembers of a Ganapati pandalin Wakad demanding donationfrom a grocer, identified asRamesh Choudhari.

MUZAFFARNAGAR: Sixunidentified men entered anashram in Uttar Pradesh'sMuzaffarnagar district, attackedits 70-year-old chief priest andfled after looting the place,police said on Wednesday.Swami Bhajananand Maharaj,the 'mahant' of Tapovan Dham,sustained serious injuries in theincident in Shukratal area underBhopa police station limits onTuesday, Station House OfficerMS Gill said. The priest wasrushed to hospital where he isundergoing treatment. A casehas been registered against theunidentified men and a searchfor them is on, Gill said.'Sadhus' and BJP leaders in thedistrict have condemned theincident and demandedimmediate arrest of theassailants.

PNS n MUMBAI

More than 50,000 police per-sonnel will be deployed acrossthe financial capital of thecountry on Thursday to ensurethat Ganesh idol immersionprocessions pass off withoutany untoward incident, policesaid on Wednesday.

Key routes of processionswill be monitored by drones,an official said.

The 'Anant Chaturdashi'day, which falls on September12 this year, marks conclusionof the ten-day Ganesh festivalin Maharashtra.

In Mumbai, immersion ofidols will take place at 129places including GirgaumChowpatty, Shivaji Park, and atJuhu, Aksa, Versova and Marvebeaches of the Arabian Sea.

Lakhs of Mumbaikars areexpected to participate in keyprocessions like that of'Lalbaug cha Raja', the officialsaid, adding that appropriatesecurity measures are being putin place for crowd manage-ment.

Various wings of policeincluding the State ReservePolice Force (SRPF), RiotControl, Bomb Detection andDisposal Squad, QuickResponse Teams will bedeployed in the city, he said.

"Policemen in civic clothes

will will be part of proces-sions to prevent any untowardincident involving women andchildren. Processions will becontinuously monitored bymore than 5000 CCTV cam-eras," the official said.

An "anti-sabotage checking"

will be conducted at everyimportant immersion point, hesaid, adding that coastal policewill patrol in their speed boatsnear immersion points.

He said at least 53 roads willbe closed for traffic in Mumbaiwhile vehicular movement willbe allowed one-way on 56roads. A total of 18 roads willbe closed for heavy vehicleswhile parking of vehicles is notallowed at 99 places.

Meanwhile, Railway OverBridges (ROBs) at Byculla,Arthur Road (Chinchpoklirailway station), Currey Roadand Juhu Tara have beendeclared dangerous formovement of heavy vehiclesby the Central Railway (CR),he said.

"Accordingly, vehiclesweighing more than 16 tonneswill not be allowed on theseROBs," the official added.

Members of Ganesh pan-dals will be held responsiblein case of any untoward inci-dent taking place on theseROBs during immersion pro-cessions, he said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Former Union minister PChidambaram, arrested in theINX Media corruption case, onWednesday approached theDelhi High Court seeking bail.

Chidambaram also chal-lenged a trial court order'sSeptember 5 order remandinghim to 14 days judicial custodyin the case till September 19.

The 73-year old Congressleader was arrested by the CBIon August 21.

The trial court had earliersaid that the allegations againstChidambaram were found seri-ous, therefore, he was remand-ed to police custody.

It had said the CBI hadapprehension that because ofChidambaram's status and hisposition, the investigation maybe hampered by the accused.

The court had also issueddirections for keepingChidambaram in a separate cell

in Tihar prison as he was a pro-tectee under Z-security.

The trial court had alsoissued notice to theEnforcement Directorate (ED)on Chidambaram's plea seek-ing to surrender in the moneylaundering case lodged by theagency in which the SupremeCourt on Thursday dismissedhis plea against the August 20

order of the Delhi High Courtdenying him pre-arrest bail.

Chidambaram had with-drawn from the SupremeCourt his petition challengingthe non-bailable warrant issuedagainst him.

The apex court had onSeptember 5 dismissed hisappeal against the Delhi HighCourt's August 20 order and

denied him anticipatory bail inthe money laundering caselodged by ED.

On the same day, anotherspecial court grantedChidambaram and his sonKarti anticipatory bail in theAircel Maxis cases lodged byCBI and ED.

The CBI had registered anFIR on May 15, 2017, allegingirregularities in the ForeignInvestment Promotion Board(FIPB) clearance granted to theINX Media group for receivingoverseas funds of Rs 305 crorein 2007 during Chidambaram'stenure as the finance minister.

Thereafter, the ED lodged amoney laundering case in thisregard in 2017.

Chidambaram, who was theUnion home minister and thefinance minister during theUPA rule from 2004 to 2014,was arrested by the CBI onAugust 21 from his Jor Baghresidence.

PNSnNEW DELHI

Pramod Kumar Mishra has beenappointed as the new PrincipalSecretary to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, while formerCabinet Secretary PradeepKumar Sinha is new PrincipalAdvisor, the government said onWednesday. Mishra (71), a retired1972-batch Gujarat cadre IASofficer, took over his new assign-ment on Wednesday, an official

statement said. Mishra was theadditional principal secretary tothe prime minister and washolding the rank of a Cabinetminister. He succeeds NripendraMisra who stepped down recent-ly. Former Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha (64), who was lastmonth appointed as OSD in thePrime Minister's Office, is newprincipal advisor to the PM witheffect from September 11, 2019,a government order said.

PNS n MATHURA

Invoking the 9/11 attack onAmerica this day 18 year ago,Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday said theroots of terrorism are beingnourished in India's neigh-bourhood and asserted thatNew Delhi is fully competentto meet the challenge.

"Today terrorism hasbecome an ideology whichhas transgressed every border.It is a global problem and hasbecome a global threat, whosestrong roots are getting nour-ished in our neighbourhood,"Modi said in an apparent ref-erence to Pakistan.

He said the entire worldneeds to take a pledge againstthis ideology, against thosewho are taking it forward and

those giving shelter and train-ing to terrorists.

"There is need for strongaction," he said. "India is fullycompetent to face the chal-lenge. We have shown this andwill also show it in future."

He was addressing a gath-ering here after the launch ofthe National Animal DiseaseControl Programme(NADCP) for eradicating footand mouth disease and bru-

cellosis in livestock.Modi said his government's

effort to strengthen anti-terrorlaws is a step forward in thisdirection.

Remembering the 9/11attack, he said, “September 11is also a special day for anoth-er reason, as it was on this daya century back when SwamiVivekananda delivered his his-toric address in Chicago.”

"Through that speech, theentire world thoroughlyunderstood the culture andtradition of India. But it isunfortunate that on that verySeptember 11, the 9/11 ter-rorist attack took place in theUS, and it shook the entireworld."

He said people need to unitewhether the problem is sick-ness, pollution or terror.

Modi invokes 9/11, pointsat ‘roots of terror' in Pak PNS n SRINAGAR

Jammu and Kashmir DirectorGeneral of Police Dilbag Singhon Wednesday said there havebeen no reports of any freshrecruitment of local youthjoining militant ranks in thestate, where life is returning tonormal.

The DGP also said there aresome incidents of terroriststhreatening fruit dealers insouth Kashmir against col-lecting fruits but police isaware about the situation and"our job is to facilitate theprocess and ensure that no oneis able to harass them".

"There have been no reportsof any fresh local recruitmentamong the militant ranks.Some youth had been misled(in the past) and in a fit ofanger gone astray, and we havebeen able to bring many ofthem back," Singh toldreporters here.

He said there are somereports of infiltration and "werecently saw two Pakistani ter-rorists apprehended by theArmy in Gulmarg sector".

On September 4, the Armysaid Pakistan is pushing infil-trators into Kashmir to carryout terrorist activities and cre-ate disturbance while playingvideo clips showing twoPakistani nationals associatedwith the Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT)terror group -- MohammadKhalil and Mohammad Nazim

of Rawalpindi -- who werearrested in Gulmarg sector onAugust 21.

On the prevailing situationin the Valley, the police chiefsaid, "Life is returning towardsnormalcy and people are goingabout their activities withschool and offices open."

However, Singh said therewere some incidents of terror-ists threatening fruit dealers insouth Kashmir, telling themnot to collect fruit but peopleare doing it.

"Our job is to facilitate theprocess and we want to ensurethat no one is able to harasspeople...We do not tell peoplewhat to do or what not to do,"the DGP said. He said even onWednesday more than 230truck loads of fruits were dis-patched to markets outsidethe Valley from a particularsouth Kashmir district.

‘No new local youth among militant ranks in J-K’

Goa airport to partially shut onSaturdays for runway repairPNS n PANAJI

The Navy has decided to shutGoa's Dabolim airport for sixhours every Saturday fromNovember 2 for the mainte-nance of its runway which is ina deteriorating condition fol-lowing heavy rains, an officialsaid on Wednesday.

The Dabolim Airport is partof the naval airbase of INSHansa and also doubles up asa civilian facility.

The closure will not affectthe airport's civilian operationsas they would be carried outduring the time allotted fornaval sorties, a Navyspokesperson said.

"The Navy held a meetingwith the Airports Authority ofIndia and all airline operators,including chartered flight oper-ators, on August 1 to discussthe winter flight schedule onweekends in order to facilitateperiodic maintenance of theGoa airport's runway," he said.

"The excessively heavy rainsthis monsoon season haveadversely affected the runwaysurface," he added.

After extensive discussions,

all stakeholders agreed uponthe requirement of runwaymaintenance slot of six hours- from 6.30 am to 12.30 pmevery Saturday, he said. "Manymajor airports in the countryhave runway maintenance slotsof six to seven hours. Therequirement of minimum sixhours is necessary in Goa toprevent deterioration of therunway surface. The Navy ismandated by regulations toensure satisfactory condition ofthe runway surface," he said.

The proposed maintenanceslot affects only one flight ofchartered operator ThomsonAirways from the United

Kingdom, he informed. "Theoperator was offered addition-al slots to cater to their require-ments which was accepted bytheir local manager and also allother airline operators," he said.

The Navy has always beenaccommodating civil/charteredflights during military slots incase of delays and other con-tingencies, the spokespersonsaid. Also, all maintenanceactivities till date are beingundertaken during military fly-ing slots only to ensure leastaffect on civil aircraft operations,he said, adding that this hasaffected operational militarymissions in the past.

PNS n NAWADA/BETTIAH/HAJIPUR

Disturbances related toMuharram processions werereported from three districts inBihar since Tuesday evening,police said.

A group of people whoprotested after they were pre-vented from playing DJ duringa Muharram procession atSadbhavana Chowk in Nawadatown last night were chasedaway by police on Wednesdaymorning.

They staged a demonstrationon Patna-Ranchi highway andblocked traffic by burning tyreson the road. Both Sub DivisionalOfficer (Sadar) Anoop Kumarand Town Deputy SP VijayKumar Jha said, the Nawada dis-trict administration had bannedplaying of DJ during Muharramprocessions as per a directionissued by the Patna High Court.

"This had angered some anti-social elements who claimed tobe associated with Badi Dargah

shrine," they said.No arrests have been made so

far in this connection even as thefestival was observed elsewhere

"with full amicability amongmembers of different commu-nities, they asserted.

In Vaishali district, five per-

sons have been arrested in con-nection with the clash that haderupted at Baligam underBeladam police station duringTazia processions the previousevening that had left three per-sons injured, Superintendentof Police Manavjeet SinghDhillon said.

The situation was tense butunder control, he said.

In West Champaran, raidsare being carried out and anumber of people have beenrounded up in connectionwith Tuesday nights inci-dents at Jokaha village underManuapul police station.

Members of two communi-ties had clashed while a Taziaprocession was being taken outthere, and pelted stones at apolice party, besides torchingtheir jeep and vandalising halfa dozen vehicles, SP Jayantkantsaid. The police officer, how-ever, did not mention the num-ber of people who have beenarrested.

Lakhs of Mumbaikars are expected toparticipate in key processions likethat of 'Lalbaug cha Raja', the officialsaid, adding that appropriate securitymeasures are being put in place forcrowd management

PNS n NEW DELHI

Senior Congress leader PChidambaram onWednesday expressed con-cern over the state of econ-omy and questioned thegovernment on its plan toget the country out of this"decl ine and g loom".Chidambaran, who wassent to judicial custody inTihar Jail last week foralleged corruption given toINX Media when he wasUnion finance minister,asked his family to post a

message f rom him onTwitter.

The former finance min-ister also lauded the capac-ity of the poor people todistinguish between justiceand injustice. "I have askedmy family to tweet on mybehalf the following: Thankyou all for your support. Imust say I am amazed bythe capacity of the poor(who I have had the chanceto meet and interact withover the last few days) todistinguish between justiceand injustice," he tweeted.

Chidambaram gets family topost Twitter msg, expressesconcern over state of economy

Chidambaram approaches Delhi HC for bail

Disturbances reported from 3 Bihardistricts during Muharram

PNS n BENGALURU

Thousands of people belong-ing to the Vokkaliga commu-nity took out a protest rallyhere on Wednesday against thearrest of senior Congressleader D K Shivakumar and toexpress solidarity with him asthe issue appeared to take acaste colour.

The protesters poured intothe city from different parts ofthe State, particularly theVokkaliga stronghold of OldMysuru region, in respose to"Raj Bhavan Chalo" call givenby various outfits of the com-munity. Vokkaliga andLingayat are the two dominantcommunities of Karnataka.

Shivakumar, an influentialCongress leader of Karnatakaand a former Minister, wasarrested on September 3 by theEnforcement Directorate in a

case of alleged money laun-dering and has been in thecustody of the agency sincethen.

The protest march fromNational College grounds toFreedom Park and then to theRaj Bhavan was backed by theopposition Congress and theJDS. Holding placards, ban-ners and posters ofShivakumar, the rallyists raisedanti-BJP slogans. Thousandsof policemen had beendeployed all along the route toensure law and order.

Vokkaligas protest overShivakumar’s arrest

Police defenddropping chargesagainst lynchingaccusedPNS n SERAIKELA

The Jharkhand Police onWednesday strongly defendedits decision to scale downcharges — from murder to cul-pable homicide not amountingto murder — against the 11accused in the lynching case ofTabrez Ansari, saying it wasbased on investigation andmedical report.

Ansari, 24, was seen onnational television being beat-en up with rods while tied to apole and forced to chant 'JaiShri Ram' over an alleged theft.

The Seraikela-Kharsawandistrict police had charge-sheeted 11 of the 13 namedaccused in the case on July 29,dropping the stringent chargeof murder under section 302 ofthe Indian Penal Code. All 11of them will now face the lawfor lesser offence under section304 of IPC (culpable homicidenot amounting to murder).

No arrests have been made so farin this connection even as thefestival was observed elsewherewith full amicability amongmembers of different communities,they asserted

Eye in sky, 50,000 cops forMumbai Ganesh immersion

There have been noreports of any freshlocal recruitmentamong the militantranks. Some youthhad been misled andin a fit of anger goneastray, and we havebeen able to bringmany of them back

Mishra PM's new

Principal Secy, Sinha

Principal Advisor

world 07HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

PTI n WASHINGTON

The US has unveiled newsteps to fight terrorism

and add muscle to the Trumpadministration's ability topursue terror suspects, theirfinanciers and supportersworldwide.

Utilising a new execu-tive order signed by PresidentDonald Trump, issued onthe eve of the 9/11 anniver-sary, the TreasuryDepartment sanctioned overtwo dozen individuals andentities from 11 terroristgroups, including Pakistan-based Tehrik-e-TalibanPakistan (TTP).

Noor Wali, also knownas Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud,from the TTP was one of thesanctioned individuals, theUS State Department said,describing him as a SpeciallyDesignated Global Terrorist.

He was named theleader of the terror group in

June 2018 following the deathof former TTP leader MullahFazlullah.

Under Noor Wali's leader-ship, TTP has claimed respon-sibility for numerous deadlyterrorist attacks acrossPakistan, the State Departmentsaid in a press release.

The executive order allowsthe US government to bettertarget terror group leaders andprovides new tools to pursueindividuals who participate interrorist training, TreasurySecretary Steven Mnuchin said.

It order also authorisessecondary sanctions on foreignfinancial institutions that haveknowingly conducted or facil-itated significant transactionswith sanctioned persons,Mnuchin said. He added thatthe order targets those actorsfor and behalf of specially-des-ignated global terrorists.

"Specifically, we haveleaders, operative andfinanciers from over 11 terror-

ist organisations, includingIran's Quds Forces, Hamas,ISIS, Al Qaeda, and their affil-iates," Mnuchin told WhiteHouse reporters at a joint newsconference with the Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo.

Pompeo described theexecutive order as the "most-significant update" to counter-terrorism sanctions authoritysince September 2001.

The treasury secretary saidthat his department wasenhancing efforts to deny ter-rorist access to the financialsystem.

"Since the horrific attacksof 9/11, the US government hasrefocused its counter-terrorismefforts to constantly adapt toemerging threats. PresidentTrump's modernised counter-terrorism Executive Orderenhances the authorities we useto target the finances of terrorgroups and their leaders toensure they are as robust aspossible," Mnuchin said.

US steps up efforts to combat terrorism AFP n BERLIN

Speaking to theBundestag lower

house of parliament, theGerman leader saidthere was still time tohammer out a workableaccord.

"The EU will in afew months experiencethe exit of an importantmember, the exit ofBritain," Merkel said.

"I am firmly con-vinced that we still have everychance to do it in an orderlyway and the German govern-ment will work toward makingthis possible until the very lastday."

However she added that ifthe European Union andBritain failed to agree on termsfor Brexit that Germany as thebloc's top economy was "pre-pared" for a disorderly divorce.

British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson suspended par-liament Tuesday following aseries of bruising clashes with

MPs over his Brexit plan butinsisted he was making everyeffort to strike an exit deal withthe European Union.

As the planned departuredate of October 31st looms,Johnson said: "We're workingvery hard to get a deal. I thinkwe will get a deal but if absolute-ly necessary we will come outwith no deal."

The Conservative leaderhas faced intense opposition inthe House of Commons to histhreat to leave the bloc withoutagreeing exit terms with

Brussels. Before he sus-pended parliament,MPs rushed throughlegislation requiringJohnson to postponeBrexit by three monthsif he fails to secure adeal at an EU summiton October 17th-18th.

He took office inJuly promising to rene-gotiate the Brexit termsstruck by his predeces-sor, Theresa May, whichwere rejected three

times by MPs. He has previ-ously said he would rather be"dead in a ditch" than delayBrexit.

Merkel has repeatedlyexpressed concerns that a no-deal exit could deal a body blowto the European economy witha recession already looming.

But she has stressed that the integrity of the EU is too important to sacrifice core principles for thesake of a deal.

Merkel still sees ‘everychance' for Brexit deal

AFP n BRUSSELS

The EU warnedWednesday that Israeli

Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu's pledge to annexthe Jordan Valley in the occu-pied West Bank if he winsnext week's election under-mines chances for peace inthe region.

"The policy of settlement construction andexpansion... is illegal underinternational law and its con-tinuation, and actions takenin this context, underminethe viability of the two-statesolution and the prospects fora lasting peace," an EUspokesperson said in a state-ment to AFP.

Annexation pledgeundermines peaceprospects: EU AFP n OTTAWA

Prime Minister JustinTrudeau on Wednesday

kicked off the campaign fornext month's Canadian gener-al election, gunning to holdonto his liberal majority in atight race against newcomerson both flanks.

The parties have alreadybeen wooing voters with pre-election ads, announcementsand whistle stops in key bat-tlegrounds across the country.

But Governor General JuliePayette's dissolution of parlia-ment, at Trudeau's behest,marked the official start of therace to the Oct 21 ballot.

Mr Trudeau, who swept tooffice in November 2015promising "sunny ways" andstressing the importance ofgender equality, gay rights andthe environment, faces an elec-torate more focused on theeconomy and affordabilitywhen it votes on Oct 21.

The 47-year-old marriedfather of three, whose colour-ful socks and classic goodlooks are often splashed acrossthe international media, mayhave history on his side.

Not since 1935 has aCanadian Prime Minister who won a parliamentarymajority in his first term beenbooted from office in the nextelection.

But Mr Trudeau may notwin enough seats to govern byhimself after a series of mis-steps that called into questionhis leadership while cuttinginto his once sky-high popu-larity.

That would leave him andhis Liberal Party weakened,relying on opposition membersof parliament to push throughlegislation.

AFP n ISTANBUL

Turkey has slammed as"racist" Israeli Prime

Minister Benjamin Netanyahu'scontroversial pledge to annex theJordan Valley in the occupiedWest Bank if he is re-elected inSeptember 17 polls.

"The election promise ofNetanyahu, who is giving allkind of illegal, unlawful andaggressive messages before theelection, is a racist apartheidstate," Foreign Minister MevlutCavusoglu wrote on his officialTwitter account in both Englishand Turkis on Tuesday.

"Will defend rights andinterests of our Palestinianbrothers&sisters till the end," headded.

The Turkish governmentregards itself as a champion ofthe Palestinian cause and hasnever shied away from criticismof Israel. Netanyahu issued thedeeply controversial pledge as hegears up for elections onSeptember 17. He also reiterat-ed his intention to annex Israelisettlements in the wider WestBank if re-elected.

Palestinians immediatelyreacted to Netanyahu's state-ment by saying he was destroy-ing any hopes for peace, whilehis electoral opponents accusedhim of a cynical play for right-wing nationalist votes with pollsonly a week away.

Trudeau dissolvesHouse, launchesCanada electioncampaign

Turkey blastsNetanyahu'sannexationpledge as ‘racist'

AFP n TEHRAN

Iran on Wednesday rejectedthe possibility of a meeting

between President HassanRouhani and US counterpartDonald Trump, after the WhiteHouse signalled it was open tosuch an encounter.

Two of Trump's top lieu-tenants on Tuesday indicated hewas ready to meet the Iranianpresident without precondi-tions, after the US leader sackedhis hawkish national securityadviser John Bolton.

But Secretary of State MikePompeo and Treasury SecretarySteven Mnuchin stressed theUnited States would maintain itscampaign of "maximum pres-sure" against the Islamic repub-lic.

The idea of a Trump-Rouhani meeting was floatedlast month by French PresidentEmmanuel Macron, who hasbeen spearheading Europeanefforts to de-escalate tensions

between Iran and the UnitedStates.

The arch-foes have been atloggerheads since May last yearwhen Trump unilaterally with-drew from a 2015 nuclear dealand began reimposing crip-pling sanctions on Iran.

Iran's representative at theUnited Nations reiteratedRouhani's position in an inter-view published Wednesday bystate news agency IRNA.

Majid Takht-Ravanchi saida meeting could take place onlyif Washington ends its "eco-nomic terrorism" by lifting all ofits sanctions against Tehran.

The Iranian envoy said anymeeting must also be held in theframework of the group ofmajor powers that negotiatedthe 2015 nuclear deal.

"As long as the US govern-ment's economic terrorism andsuch cruel sanctions areimposed on the Iranian people,there is no room for negotia-tions," he was quoted as sayingby IRNA.

Iran again rebuffsTrump-Rouhanimeeting

AFP n SYDNEY

Australia on Wednesdayrevealed that three of its

citizens had been detained inIran, the latest in a series ofWesterners to be seized byauthorities in Tehran.

News of the trio's detentioncomes at a sensitive geopoliti-cal juncture, and after Australiaannounced that it would join aUS-led mission to protect ship-ping through the Strait ofHormuz with tensions high inthe Gulf region.

"The Department ofForeign Affairs and Trade isproviding consular assistance tothe families of three Australiansdetained in Iran," a spokesper-son told AFP, declining to com-ment further citing privacyobligations.

Canberra is battling tokeep efforts to free the triounder wraps, and it is notclear if the three have beencharged.

ThreeAustraliansdetainedin Iran

Will Chinese President XiJinping make it to the south-ern beach resort ofMahabalipuram? And if theinformal summit with

Prime Minister Narendra Modi does get con-firmed, can the two leaders pull off a coup andcome to an agreement to solve the vexed bor-der dispute? Today, one is not even sure if themeeting can take place. One obvious reasonis that the next round of border talks betweenthe Special Representatives (SR) of bothnations was postponed recently. The Indianand Chinese SRs were to meet this month inNew Delhi for the 22nd round to prepare forthe Xi-Mo (Xi Jinping-Modi) summit.

It was the Chinese Foreign Ministry’sspokesperson who announced that the talksbetween SRs will not take place now: “Dueto India’s schedule, this visit has been tem-porarily postponed. The two sides will con-tinue to maintain communication on thisissue,” read a Chinese statement. There is cer-tainly more than just a question of “schedule.”India has been deeply shocked by China’sstand at the UN Security Council. After theabrogation of Article 370 of the IndianConstitution, Beijing blatantly supportedPakistan. During a press conference in NewYork, Zhang Jun, China’s PermanentRepresentative to the UN, said that India hadchanged the status quo in Kashmir, causingtensions in the region. He argued that Indiahad challenged China’s sovereign interests:“Such practice by India …will not changeChina’s exercise of sovereignty and effectiveadministrative jurisdiction over the relevantterritory.”

One wishes India would now start talk-ing about the human rights in Tibet, the fateof the Uyghurs in Xinjiang or the aspirationsof the Hong Kong population — the cancel-lation of the SR talks should certainly be seenin this perspective. The Hindustan Times com-mented: “It is rare — in fact unheard of —for China to officially confirm the delay of thetop-level bilateral meeting, which theGovernment, or the Foreign Ministry had-n’t even announced.”

A factor which has certainly played a rolein the postponement is the continuous pro-Pakistan bias showed by Wang Yi, theChinese SR and Foreign Minister. Last week-end, he visited Islamabad and met thePakistani President, Prime Minister ImranKhan and Foreign Minister Shah MahmoodQureshi (officially, he had gone to attend the3rd China-Afghanistan-Pakistan ForeignMinisters’ Dialogue). Perhaps more telling forIndia, Wang had detailed talks with the Chiefof Army Staff, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, andboth pledged to deepen cooperation in var-ious fields between the two nations.

According to Xinhua, Wang asserted thatChina “will firmly support Pakistan in safe-guarding sovereignty, dignity and territorialintegrity and the Government to achievenational stability, development and prosper-ity. China will also firmly support Pakistan

in playing a more constructiverole in regional and interna-tional affairs.”

Was it a coincidence thatPakistan decided to release Jaish-e-Mohammad chief MaulanaMasood Azhar from protectivecustody? According toIntelligence reports quoted in theIndian media, Azhar, thoughdesignated a terrorist by theUnited Nations in May 2019, hasbeen let out to plan terrorist oper-ations against our country.

Another issue usually notmentioned is the fact that the SRtalks have been downgraded.For years, the National SecurityAdvisor used to meet Yang Jiechi,who was then State Councillor(like Wang Yi today). Yang waslater promoted as a member ofthe Politburo, while his Indiancounterpart, Ajit Doval, was ele-vated to the rank of a CabinetMinister. The logical and normalway would have been that Dovalcontinued to meet Yang. Instead,Wang, far junior, was designatedby China as the new SR. Thisamounts to a de facto downgrad-ing of the talks.

Just to give an example, lastmonth, amid the Hong Kongunrest, important China-US talkswere held in New York. MikePompeo, the US Secretary ofState, met Yang Jiechi. Any seri-ous talks are usually conductedby Yang; if China was seriousabout solving the border issue,Yang should have been named asSR by Beijing.

Another sign of black clouds

gathering over bilateral relationswas when the Northern ArmyCommander Lt Gen RanbirSingh postponed his scheduledvisit to China. Officially, it wasmeant to monitor the situation inKashmir but there is no doubtthat the Chinese side was notkeen on the visit and remainedvague. In these circumstances, isthe time propitious for a seriousadvance on the vexed borderissue? The answer is no.

Officials in India are oftenconfused by the length of India’sborder with China. According tothe MEA: “The entire Sino-Indian border is 4,056 km longand traverses one Indian UnionTerritory, Ladakh, and four Statesviz, Uttarakhand, HimachalPradesh, Sikkim and ArunachalPradesh”. While the MHA says,“India shares 3,488 km of borderwith China that runs alongJammu & Kashmir, HimachalPradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkimand Arunachal Pradesh…theborder is not fully demarcatedand the process of clarifyingand confirming the Line ofActual Control is in progress.”They have forgotten about theShaksgam Valley “donated” byPakistan to China in 1963.Though currently in China’s pos-session, it is very much part ofIndian territory. This should bethe first point on the agenda ofthe SRs when they meet.

On August 29, UnionDefence Minister Rajnath Singhreiterated India’s position:“Kashmir has always been India’s

territory and will remain so.” Headded that Pakistan, which ille-gally occupied Pakistan-occupiedKashmir (PoK) and Gilgit-Baltistan, has no locus standi inKashmir. The implication is thatthe “donation” of ShaksgamValley is invalid and needs to bediscussed. In July 1961, three con-versations took place betweenZhang Wenji, Director of theForeign Ministry’s Asian AffairsDepartment and GParthasarathy, the Indian Charged’affaires in Beijing.

Zhang argued that based onChina’s experience of Sino-Burmese and Sino-Nepalesenegotiations, though the twosides disagree on the facts, twomethods were worked out toresolve differences: (1) Eachpresents a factual basis andobjectively compares them,looking to see whose informa-tion is relatively more logical…and more beneficial to the twocountries’ friendship; (2) eachcan keep to its own position andconsider, from a political stand-point, what kind of resolutionwould be more beneficial.

This could be a way to pro-ceed but basic trust needs to bebuilt first. It is not present today.It is, therefore, doubtful if aXiMo encounter can bring any“early harvest” as predicted by theChinese side. In these circum-stances, the best one can expectis some “softening” of the Line ofActual Control.

(The writer is an expert onIndia-China relations)

Jack Ma, or Ma Yun, to give his Chinesename, is a legend in the world of e-com-merce. Having stumbled upon the oppor-

tunities the internet offered, he began his tech-nological career by essentially moving theChinese classified pages online. For Americancompanies looking to source from China, thisbecame a starting point and Ma became thego-to guy. It was not long before he saw otheropportunities online. His Alibaba website madeit easy for Chinese vendors to sell everything— from plastic containers to computers —

and show off their wares to a global audience of buyers. Indeed, one can arguethat without AliBaba, the “Made in China” phenomenon, with Chinese goods hol-lowing out the manufacturing abilities of nation after nation, would not have hap-pened. It was not surprising that the Chinese establishment began to view AliBabaand its various enterprises, particularly the financial services arm AliPay and AntFinancial services, as instruments of China’s capitalist expansion across the world.Notably, Ma used these two firms to spread into India with investments in com-panies like PayTM.

While he is an innovator, the success of several of his firms is primarily dueto the fact that the internet in China has remained behind the “great firewall.”While Yahoo’s Jerry Yang was an early believer in Ma, most American firms havebeen excluded from directly participating in the Chinese internet. That has not,however, kept away American capital. AliBaba’s Wall Street debut was the mostsuccessful by a foreign firm in the US. Ergo, some of Ma’s comments, whichecho that of the Chinese Government about “open and free” markets, seem ratherironic. China has allowed a host of world-class firms to have been built insideits closed walls, protected from outside predators and now flush with cash, theywant to go out and buy the world. While Ma is no doubt a success story, risingfrom nothing to become one of China’s richest men, India should be doubly care-ful about accepting money in companies that provide essential services. Rumourhas it that the Chinese Government eventually eased Ma out but given the stillopaque way that its corporate environment operates, one can never be sure. Chinais increasingly seeing firms created by the likes of Ma to be tools in its quest totake on the US. May be he protested this, we will never know. But the rise of Mawill eventually be made into a movie, that much is certain.

It would be easy enough to shrug off thegrowing concern in Western capitals aboutthe lockdown in the newly-defined Jammu

and Kashmir (J&K) as one of polemics andarchetypes and question their standpoint ontheir own human rights scenarios. Should webe preached to? Should we attach anyimportance to a slew of US Senators express-ing reservations about the situation in the Valley,given the US’s own unilateral and unreferencedmoves in the Trump era? Should we also ignorethe United Nations High Commissioner for

Human Rights Michelle Bachelet Jeria’s concern about the continued curfew inthe Union Territory? One could argue we should just not react and let the waterslide off a duck’s back. Besides, diplomatically we have definitely scored in con-vincing the world, including the Islamic nations, that the changed status was indeedan internal matter of India, circumscribed within our sovereign Constitutional space.Yet it is precisely because we prioritise it as our internal concern that we needto normalise life in J&K, restore communication networks and let people reclaimtheir everyday lives, currently hemmed in by concertina wires of the kind, reportssay, that wasn’t there during the height of militancy. It is precisely because weare a democracy that we have world opinion and expectation on our side andcannot let that goodwill slip away because of a stubborn sense of purpose. Thiswe need to do for our own sake rather than link any delay to Pakistan’s exportof terror. As it is, the bifurcation of the erstwhile State has alienated its civil soci-ety further, including those who had invested themselves in the alignment withIndia, what with notables and businessmen finding themselves behind bars andthe economy going into a virtual freeze. If Pakistan-sponsored terrorism is leach-ing in despite a lockdown and is feared to become a monster once curbs arelifted, there is all the more reason for the Government to engage with the ordi-nary Kashmiri and demonstrate the will to change his/her lot regardless of Pakistan,not because of it. The best counter-insurgency lesson tells you not to touch theregular or create new flashpoints.

More than international perception, we need basic human rights if we don’twant to birth another generation fed on denial and propaganda which could turnvirulently separatist. We need viral communicators for strategic reasons, too. Howis that possible if people still have to walk 10 km to find a phone booth to con-nect with their folks over landline as mobile networks are pyrrhic in nature? Peoplecannot be greeted in their own community and neighbourhood by more than 10people as that would amount to separatist activity. Nor can funeral processionsbe taken out. Local reports say that Jamia Masjid has remained locked for thepast month. And buying daily rations certainly doesn’t do anything for the con-sumerist economy as online businesses and aggregator start-ups have been forcedto shut shop. The worst-hit are the tourist operators, whose bookings have beencancelled before the holiday season, and apple growers. At one of Asia’s biggestfruit markets at Sopore, prices have crashed and farmers find it cheaper to trashunsolds than repackage them. These apple farmers, already in a debt trap, haveno way of clawing their way out of it as it has been a bumper year. While theGovernment has now decided to buy 60 per cent apples directly from farmersand transfer sale money to their accounts, it has to consider that apple orchardsneed to run and workers need to reach them. One may argue that the older polit-ical establishment had fuelled a terror economy to keep itself relevant for andneeded by the Government. But now that its leaders are behind bars and will bereined in going forward, there are no interlocutors. That elbow room has alsobeen choked altogether. So democratic processes need to be restored at the localgovernance level at least. We cannot wish away the belligerence of people, whohave been yanked out of their axis as they knew it, with the prevalent nationaltriumphalism. The last also entails an ability to absorb dissent, if only to allowfreedom of expression. Pakistan has at least scored in the public relations bat-tle, flooding the world media with reports of claustrophobic impositions in Kashmirand repeated lobbying at the UN. We need to put out as effective a counter-nar-rative, one that justifies why Kashmir is our internal issue, in that space. We can-not wait for the day when everybody in the world will scream freedom.

Normalising Kashmir

Leading from the front

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “True grit” (September 10).Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal andNovak Djokovic, the “big three”who have been dominating theworld of tennis, are exceptionalplayers and have shared the bulkof the Grand Slam crowns in thelast 10 years. This hegemony isunlikely to fade anytime soon.This year itself, all the fourslams were conquered by thistenacious trio.

Such an exceptional display ofspirit and valour deserves alladulation but this dominancealso raises questions as to why theyounger generation has not beenable to dent their supremacy, bar-ing rare occasions. StanWawrinka and Andy Murrayfirmly believe that young playersare likely to entrench themselvesat the top of the game for anextended period.

The 2019 US Open final willbe remembered not only as oneof the greatest victories of Nadalbut also as the revival of hope foryoung guns in the form of DaniilMedvedev. With Murray yet torecover from hip injuryWawrinka, Cilic and even

Nishikori were the top contendersto break the hegemony of the bigthree. However, that threat wasshortlived. Only time can solvethe most pertinent puzzle dom-inating men’s tennis as to whenthe change of guard will ultimate-ly happen.

Rohit Kaushik Via email

Unrealistic move

Sir — With the GujaratGovernment’s decision to cutdown traffic penalties by 25 percent to 90 per cent as against theones notified by the Centre, manyStates have undertaken similaractions. For example, the Odisha

Government has sought toapproach the Centre to demandamendments to the new MotorVehicles Act. Many States havenot even implemented the Actfearing backlash from the people.

Truly speaking, the new leg-islation is good in intent. The heftyfines imposed on those violatingthe rules may lead to a change in

behaviour among them. But it isalso true that not everyone isfinancially strong enough to paythe fines. To top it all, in manycases, traffic policemen have actedoverzealously by imposing multi-ple fines on one person. A way hasto be found to make this Act asuccess. While it is for theGovernment to tweak certainportions of the amended Act tomake the fines realistic, citizens,too, must start behaving.

ShambhaviVia email

Uphold people’s rights

Sir — After the abrogation ofArticle 370, one of the prime con-cerns of the Government shouldbe to uphold basic civil rights.Most parts of Jammu & Kashmirtoday lack mobile and internetconnectivity. It must restore thesebasic requirements without jeop-ardising people’s security. Failureto do so will raise a question markon our credentials as the world’slargest democracy.

GirirajVia email

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

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op nionHYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

08

Shroud on camaraderie

CLAUDE ARPI

It is doubtful if a Xi-Mo encounter (if it takes place at all) can solve the vexed border disputebetween India and China. First and foremost condition is to develop basic trust

I've lost international films andin most cases, the makers feltI don't look conventionalIndian… It's surprising how Ihave been told that I look dif-ferent quite a number of times.

Actor— Aditi Rao Hydari

Some sections of the US media,especially the liberal media, arefocussed on a perspective onKashmir that is being pushedforward by those who are inimical to India's interest.

Indian envoy—Harsh Vardhan Shringla

S O U N D B I T E

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

BJP, a prisoner of its own rhetoric

Soon after the publication of the National Registerof Citizens (NRC) in Assam, Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) chief Amit Shah, who had earlier called ille-

gal immigrants “termites”, thundered that no illegal immi-grant would be allowed to stay in the country. Shah alsosaid that an NRC would be prepared for every State inthe country. But even after spending `12,000 crore ofpublic money on this project, only 19,06,657 people havebeen listed as illegal instead of the figure of 40 lakh ear-lier quoted by Shah. The NRC is, thus, now being treat-ed as a “flawed document” and has left the BJP a pris-oner of its own rhetoric.

The BJP’s Assam unit chief has vowed to protectthe rights of the genuine citizens. But the ruling BJP isin a bind as its plan to move out the illegal Muslim pop-ulation with the help of NRC has backfired. The list showsthat Hindus comprise a large proportion of those exclud-ed from the re-identification process. This has demol-ished the myth of the “massive influx” of illegal migrantsinto Assam that the party has been trying to propagate.All that the faulty list has accomplished is to have ren-

dered thousands of hapless people, especially the poorand the illiterate without documents to establish theirresidency or legacy, homeless in their own country. Oneonly hopes that the Supreme Court intervenes in thismatter to rescue them from an uncertain future andimmense suffering.

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

Send yyour ffeedback tto:[email protected]

China’s tech legendThe automobile industry hasbeen affected by BS-VI (norms)and the mindsets of millenni-als, who prefer to use radio taxiservices than committing tobuying their own vehicle.

Union Finance Minister—Nirmala Sitharaman

We need a counter-narrative than risk being baited on humanrights, one that justifies why J&K is our internal issue

Jack Ma’s AliBaba will be remembered in the annals of techhistory. But hides a darker side of state-sponsored capitalism

ONE WISHES INDIAWOULD NOW

START TALKINGABOUT THE

HUMAN RIGHTS INTIBET, THE FATE OF

THE UYGHURS INXINJIANG OR THEASPIRATIONS OFTHE HONG KONGPOPULATION —

THECANCELLATION OF

THE SR-LEVELTALKS SHOULD

CERTAINLY BESEEN IN THISPERSPECTIVE

We haven't done this(Amendment Act) to augmentrevenue. We have done this tosave lives. If State Governmentswant to reduce it (fine), they arewelcome to do so.

Union Minister—Nitin Gadkari

A prescription for revival

I WON’T BE COWED DOWN BY HOUSE ARREST. I WILLSTAND BY THE VICTIMS (120 SC FAMILIES) AND

FIGHT FOR THEIR RIGHTS.—TDP PRESIDENT

N CHANDRABABU NAIDU

TDP CHIEF CHANDRABABU NAIDU IS INDULGING IN SHAMELESS POLITICS BY USING PAID ARTISTS AS VICTIMS—ANDHRA ANIMAL HUSBANDRY MINISTERMOPIDEVI VENKATA RAMANA

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

If only we could go back to the way things werewhen Prime Minister Narendra Modi came topower in 2014, when there was so much opti-

mism in the country. The wishful thinking is a com-mon refrain now. Much has changed in the macroand micro environment since then as both “endoge-nous and exogenous” factors have played a part inslowing down the global and Indian economy. Andthough it is laudable that the Finance Minister did-n’t wait for the Government’s first full-year budgetin February 2020 to make necessary rectification,hopefully recent interventions can help greenshoots of revival spring up after the next two quar-ters, the minimum time needed for it.

While the existing problems are well known,senior economists are at sea to fathom the natureof the beast at hand. Yet, there are some definitiveassumptions one derives from data points availableand it is important not to get too pessimistic, as eachsector, country and company reacts differently tonegative triggers.

At the macro-level, till January 2021 when a newUS President will be in place, expect a world in flux.That’s because Donald Trump’s re-election campaignhinges on projecting himself as the hero of an“America First” policy, which will continue to esca-late US-China trade tensions, with cascadingeffects on trade and job losses globally. America’strade bullying is making it a “lose-lose” propositionfor American consumers, Chinese manufacturersand the rest of the world. According to InternationalMonetary Fund’s (IMF) forecasts, America’s unilat-eralism will reduce the world economic output by0.5 per cent, having a recessionary impact on theworld economy.

Then, at the micro-level, which pertains to India,let us view how the science of behavioural financeplays out on corporates and retail investors whenconfronted with a “flight or fight syndrome.” Thiscan be seen in relation to how Governments andindividuals responded to business cycles during the1998 Asian financial crisis, the 2008 slump and nowthe 2019 sputter. We are now at the lowest ebb, witha lock-jawed economy at five per cent GrossDomestic Product (GDP) growth.

Here is a textbook example of what occurs whenmoney supply halts. Discretionary spending getspostponed as consumers turn cautious and the resul-tant fall in demand threatens a local and global slow-down, as all economic vitals sink into downwardspirals. Yet, strangely, higher income brackets don’tget impacted during downturns on the consump-tion side, unlike middle and lower middle classes.

Private consumption has been the biggest pro-peller of India’s economic growth. But Private FinalConsumption Expenditure (PFCE) growth was justthree per cent in the June quarter. The salaried classhas become afraid of taking loans for automobilesor housing, as savings-to-GDP ratio comes underpressure. The collateral damage is already impact-ing the construction and automobile sectors, whichare among the largest employers and feed a supplychain of at least 200 ancillaries of growth, as theyare laying-off the unorganised sector labour whichcomprises 90 per cent of the workforce.

Thereafter, the country sinks into deeper sov-ereign debt and yet the only panacea is to looktowards the Government itself to increase spend-ing on welfare schemes and pump funds into infra-structure, railways, roadways and health care. At this

point, there are two options for the Centre.It can tap into the Reserve Bank of India’s(RBI) reserves and go in for sovereign bor-rowing. The latter is a double-edged sworddue to exchange rate risks, especially if itis a Euro/dollar debt. Because though theborrowing interest rates are low, the rateof the rupee could plummet further.Besides, as India’s sovereign rating is “justabove investment grade”, lending costs willbe higher.

The transfer of the surplus amount bythe RBI comes as a well-considered andconsensual move between the Centre andthe central bank, if the infused windfallof ̀ 1.76 lakh crore of the surplus reservetransferred is used to stimulate consump-tion demand instead of diverting it tofunding the Government’s revenue deficit.

India has been growing at an averageof 7.5 per cent in the last five years. Yetglobally, the new-normal for growthrates has seen downward revisions by apercentage point, and a climb-up ofnational debt to GDP ratios to levels ashigh as the pre-2008 years. In order totransit towards a new growth trajectory,we cannot afford to grow at sub-optimalrates of anything below eight to ten percent GDP annually, year on year, for thenext 20 years. The Centre needs a moreholistic approach, which entails bothstructural reforms as well as cyclical booststo raise short and medium term-growth.And even in a slowdown, there exist pock-ets of growth that can be scaled up.

The Centre has the biggest role to playin this by tapping into its own domesticpropellers of growth, of which labour-intensive industries like housing, infra-structure, tourism, education and man-ufacturing, can be the prime movers.

The Centre must have a calibratedapproach towards Industry 4.0 that guz-zles labour-intensive jobs and opts forautomation, as there still exists a vastpotential for labour-intensive manufac-tured goods within the domestic marketand exports to Southeast Asian markets.

The Government needs to lower the

following: The cost of capital, land, elec-tricity and corporate taxes in particular,so that firms hire more, earn more andpay more revenue; while simultaneouslyimproving the quality of human resourcesto increase the productivity quotient.

The potential for upside growth inIndia exists in building infrastructure,urbanisation and making India into aglobal hub for start-ups, exports, servicesand manufacturing. India had hoped toencash the opportunity that US-Chinatrade wars threw up but the anticipatedrelocation to India is yet to happen.

India contributes nearly three per centto the world’s GDP but has only one percent share of the global investmentmoney. The present stock of globalForeign Direct Investment (FDI) exceeds$32 trillion. Global inflows have contin-ued to decline since the peak of 2015,despite FDI policies in India being pro-gressively liberalised, with in-boundinflows of $64 billion in 2018-19. Thereis scope to double this investment by mak-ing India a preferred investment destina-tion, as doubling this figure from one percent to two per cent in itself could yieldclose to $3 trillion inflows into the coun-try.

While there is a silver lining that infla-tion has been contained to below four percent and the fiscal deficit was containedat 3.4 per cent of the GDP, the Centreneeds to rethink its stance on both.Because maintaining the fiscal deficit tar-get of 3.3 per cent amidst a contractingeconomy may not be the best policy intimes of contraction, when there is needto turn expansionary by increasing cap-ital expenditure on public projects. Andinflation must be allowed to rise a bit,because rural wages and consumptiondropped as farmers were paid less.

The intent in correcting some of theanomalies in tax laws is laudable and longoverdue. Implementation of the recom-mendations of the Akhilesh Ranjan-ledtask force on the Direct Tax Code mustwork towards effectively overhauling an

archaic tax administration system. Itsobjective must be to ensure “ease of tax-ation” and to “maximise certainty andminimise disputes.”

The Government also needs toexplore hitherto untapped sources for rev-enue generation. Herein, India must takethe initiative to tax big tech differently, asthis is an untapped source of revenue.Because tech giants like Google, Amazonand Facebook invoice their revenues outof India, while maintaining operations inthe country, showing lesser profits.Developed nations are trying to form aconsensus on a way forward unitedly toimpose higher taxation on big tech.Beyond a maximum revenue threshold,the surplus revenue must be taxed onIndian turf.

Digital commerce is anticipated tobring about the next biggest revolution increating jobs and increasing GDP, as com-panies seek to draw the next 500 millionIndians into the e-commerce main-stream. For example, revenues of Asia’slargest company, Alibaba, rose 42 per centin the last quarter of 2019, defying theslowdown, due to internet- shopping sup-ply chains. Energising the Micro, Small &Medium Enterprises (MSME) market-place needs tapping into low-cost fund-ing from multilateral banks; providingadequate skilling and marketing support,so as to encourage digital entrepreneur-ship in financial services, online retail,online education and remote healthcare.

In conclusion, slowdowns are neveras bad as they appear, nor are economicboom times as prosperous as they seem.Because historically, periods of boom aretimes when asset bubbles get created, giv-ing an illusion of rising prosperity. But ineffect, they have invariably presageddownturns. So let’s ride this out. Toughtimes call for being mindful of efficien-cies at all levels, so India can emergestronger and smarter.

(The writer is an author, columnist,chairperson for National Committee onFinancial Inclusion at NITI Aayog)

To ride out this economic crisis, the Centre can tap into domestic propellers ofgrowth like housing, infrastructure, tourism, education and manufacturing

analysis 09F I R S T C O L U M N

New TDS ruleschain citizens

SHIVAJI SARKAR

The Indian economy, which is already in thedoldrums, is headed for more trouble as revised

tax rules will shackle much-needed spending

BINDU DALMIA

SLOWDOWNSARE NEVER AS

BAD AS THEYAPPEAR, NOR AREECONOMIC BOOM

TIMES ASPROSPEROUS AS

THEY SEEM.BECAUSE

HISTORICALLY,PERIODS OF

BOOM ARE TIMESWHEN ASSETBUBBLES GET

CREATED, GIVINGAN ILLUSION OF

RISINGPROSPERITY. BUT

IN EFFECT, THEYHAVE INVARIABLY

PRESAGEDDOWNTURNS. SO

LET’S RIDE THISOUT

The economy is in shambles and expecting it to thrive is akinto expecting a miracle. A supposedly nationalist Governmentis keeping it in shackles by curbing spending, one of the fore-

most conditions for a thriving economy. The Gross Domestic Product(GDP) has come down to five per cent and if the ailing economy isnot allowed to blossom now, growth can fall to critical levels.

Normally, the share market is not a reflection of the state of theeconomy. However, the continuous fall in indices is an indication ofthe dip in domestic as well as Foreign Portfolio Investments (FPI).For the record, FPIs have withdrawn `23,000 crore from the mar-ket in less than two months due to policy flip-flops as nobody under-stands why the Finance Minister is withdrawing Budget proposals.The real estate sector is gasping, the banking sector is unstable, theindustry is in a tizzy, the auto sector is preparing for a continuousfall in demand and the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sec-tor is forced to cut prices owing to vanishing buyers.

It’s a very telling sign when a member of the Prime Minister’sEconomic Advisory Committee Rathin Roy admits that the countryis in recession. Noted economist and NITI Aayog Chairman RajivKumar has been even more candid in acknowledging that India isfacing an economic downturn, a liquidity crisis wherein lenders havestopped funding businesses, resulting in them having to survive oncash. So do we have a solution? It is worse than the disease. TheUnion Budget 2019 has several tax-related amendments and new,draconian rules. Whether you are buying life insurance, property ormaking banking transactions, the new norms that came into effectfrom September 1 will have an impact on income and taxes. In short,it means every spender would have to be more meticulous aboutmaintaining accounts of expenditure than engaging in earning orspending money.

The five new commandments of the Income Tax Departmentwould put brakes on productive activities, affect savings and putspending on hold. These are as follows: Tax Deducted at Source(TDS) on life insurance policy; engaging a professional, even a mason,would need deduction of TDS; having to pay TDS at the time of pur-chasing immovable property; TDS on cash withdrawal and last butnot the least banks would keep a continuous watch and report eventhe smallest transaction.

Yes, India is becoming an effective police State. One of the firstkings to ensure a police State was Alauddin Khilji, who tightenedthe administration to keep every individual in check. The presentGovernment needs to learn from Khilji as the economy collapsedunder his administration. India took a hundred years to come outof that morass.

TDS shows that the system has no faith in the people, so evenbefore an individual can earn, the Government extorts its share. Whytax a life insurance policy when the State needs to promote it to pro-vide a sense of security to the people, increase savings and boostthe economy? A tax on it not only sours the mood but hits insur-ance sale, savings and ultimately the Government itself stands tolose. An intelligent move would have been to allow free sale, raisesavings for welfare programmes and earn taxes by boosting eco-nomic activity. The new rules would ensure the opposite.

Officials possibly believe that whether there is economic activ-ity or not, tax realisation must improve. But the real impact wouldbe diminution of activities. At least TDS on purchase of immovableproperty would ensure it. As it is, the real estate sector is in the dol-drums. Putting more strings would depress it even more as mostgenuine buyers do not have enough money to invest in property. Ifa person puts money in a property now, s/he would have to payTDS on club membership, car parking fee, electricity and water facil-ity fees, maintenance fee, advance fee which are incidental to thetransfer of a property. This raises the price of a property manifoldin an already inflationary market. Also, the Government’s bid to curbcash transactions has led to imposition of 2 per cent TDS on pay-ments above `1 crore. This means an immediate loss of ` 2 lakhand subsequent grilling by authorities.

This is preposterous. As a nation do we want to discouragespending by instilling fear in the citizens? The obvious repercussionwould be further meltdown in the market and the economy. The soon-er such “wise” steps are done away with, the better it is.

The last rule virtually chains the citizens. Already the rules demandstatement of financial transactions that are above `50,000 a year.Now the banks have been ordained to report even the smallest trans-actions. Unless these rules are removed by the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) that propagated liberalisation since the 60s, the economy isheaded for doom. Let the people spend freely and contribute to theeconomy and India’s growth. It will be a win-win situation for all.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Aerosols, tiny solid particles orliquid droplets suspended inthe atmosphere, are rapidly

becoming the ubiquitous factor inenvironmental degradation andpushing up the frequency ofdroughts across the world, especial-ly in India. They can come from nat-ural sources, like dust or wildfires, orman-made sources such as vehiclesand industrial emissions.

A team of atmospheric scientistsfrom India, USA and Canada foundthat aerosols in the atmosphere canincrease the severity of droughts inthe Indian subcontinent by as muchas 17 per cent during El Niño years.

The El Niño phenomenon,which occurs when there is abnor-

mal warming over the Pacific Ocean,is already considered detrimental forthe monsoon as it blocks the flow ofmoisture-bearing winds from theoceans to the Indian landmass. Anew study by Indian Institute ofTropical Meteorology (IITM) Punefound that it further weakens themonsoon by transporting aerosolsfrom lower altitudes in the East Asianregion up and into the higher alti-tudes of about 12-18 km, forming anaerosol layer called the AsianTropopause Aerosol Layer (ATAL)over the South Asian region.

It remains suspended there dur-ing the monsoon and its thickeningcuts solar energy to the Earth. Thisin turn weakens monsoon circulationand increases the severity of droughtconditions.

The study, published in theScientific Reports journal, revealsthat the combined effect of El Niñoand aerosols reduces rainfall over theIndian sub-continent as compared tothe individual effect of El Niño.Going by the satellite readings anda series of model simulations in thereport, the severity of droughts dur-

ing El Niño years over the sub-con-tinent has amplified by 17 per cent.

Noting that in recent decadesthere has been an increase in the fre-

quency of El Niño events anddroughts over India, the researcherswarned against any further increasein industrial emissions from both

East and South Asia as they can leadto a wider and thicker aerosol layerin the upper troposphere and furtherintensify droughts.

Given that India is already vul-nerable to hydrological and weath-er extremes, a higher degree ofdrought severity will only subject thecountry to more hydrological stresswhile affecting agriculture and thelivelihood of millions of people.

Reducing aerosol emissions isnot only essential for improving airquality but also for controllingdroughts and their impact on peo-ple in the Indian subcontinent.Rising temperatures, too, are becom-ing the cause of increase in the con-centration of aerosols in the atmos-phere that cause air pollution.

According to a recent study byresearchers from the University ofCalifornia, aerosol presence is exac-erbating climate change and itsadverse effects. While climate changeis warming oceans, it is warmingland faster, which is bad news forglobal air quality. The study, pub-lished in the journal Nature ClimateChange, shows that the land-sea

warming contrast drives up aerosolconcentration in the atmosphere.

Aerosols not only affect the cli-mate system, including disturbancesto the water cycle, they also harmhumans, animals and plants as theycause smog and pollution. Their out-put and emissions are a matter ofgrave concern.

To rein in these soaring emis-sions, we need to understand thelevel of aerosol pollution in India.India needs an aerosol protocol thatis able to set the parameters for pre-venting spread of aerosol emissions.Industries and other man-madesources of aerosol emissions current-ly have a free run thanks to lack ofstringent regulations that set groundrules for operations.

The categorisation of industriesand other aerosol-emitting units iscritical and periodic checking will goa long way in controlling them. Thiswill have a direct impact on the fightagainst climate change and helpIndia arrest its worsening environ-ment situation.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

Aerosol pollution can worsen droughtsThe combined effect of El Niño and aerosols reduces rainfall markedly over the sub-continent and intensifies the

severity of droughts by as much as 17 per cent, as compared to the individual effect of a warm ocean current

KOTA SRIRAJ

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

No sensible observer ofinternational affairs couldlament Donald Trump'sannouncement that he hasfired John Bolton as hisnational security adviser,though Bolton insists thathe quit. Plenty of people inWashington, includinglifelong Republicans, arecheering. Many othersaround the world willcelebrate. This is a rarepresidential outcome thatcan be welcomed even bythose who despise Trumpand all he stands for.

(The Guardian editorial)

A GOOD CALL BYTRUMP AT LAST

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 money 10

CAPSULE

Premji, promotergroup entities sold22.46 cr shares NEW DELHI: Azim Premji andother promoter group entitiessold about 22.46 crore sharesworth over Rs 7,300 croreduring the Wipro buybackoffer that closed last month.In a regulatory filing onWednesday, Wipro said it hadbought back 32.3 crore equityshares under the buybackscheme at Rs 325 apiece, andthe total amount utilised wasabout Rs 10,499.99 crore.Approximately 6.12 croreshares from Azim PremjiPartner representing ZashTraders, 6.03 crore sharesfrom Azim Premji Partnerrepresenting Prazim Tradersand 5.02 crore shares fromAzim Premji Partnerrepresenting Hasham Traderswere accepted under thebuyback, it added.About 4.05crore shares from Azim PremjiTrust and 1.22 crore sharesfrom Azim Premji were alsoaccepted under the buybackoffer, the filing said.

Siraj Choudharyappointed as NCMLMD, CEONEW DELHI: NationalCollateral ManagementServices Limited (NCML) onWednesday said that SirajChoudhury has beenappointed as its newManaging Director and CEO.Choudhury will replace SanjayKaul, who has been appointedas Chairman of the NCMLBoard, an official statementsaid. Choudhury had retired asChairman and CEO of CargillIndia after serving for 30years. He has over threedecades of work experience,of which 16 years were inleadership roles in theagriculture and food space. NCML is a leadingorganisation providing abouquet of commodity basedservices under a singleumbrella.

PTI n WASHINGTON

India's high-tech sectors havethe potential to attract a whop-ping USD21 billion in invest-ment and create millions ofjobs over the next five years,according to a top US businessadvocacy group.

The US-India Strategic andPartnership Forum (USISPF) ina recent report “Hi-techManufacturing in India”, sub-mitted to the Indian govern-ment, stated that India's high-tech sectors can create 550,000direct jobs and 1,400,000 indi-rect jobs over the next five years.

The report is based on thefeedback received from topAmerican companies in thissector interested in investing inIndia.

“India's high-tech sectors(such as electronics, aviation,medical devices) have thepotential to offer an addition-al investment of USD21 billionand create 550,000 direct jobsand 1,400,000 indirect jobsover the next 5 years,” USISPFpresident Mukesh Aghi said.

“Industry looks forward toworking with the governmentto make India a world-classmanufacturing hub that canstrengthen domestic manufac-turing as well as support India's

export sector to create themuch-needed jobs for Indians,”he said.

While electronics, aerospaceand medical devices have wit-nessed the entry of variousglobal multinational compa-nies in India for manufactur-ing, the country's share inglobal production within thesesectors is less than three percent, the report said.

The report is a result ofUSISPF's initiative compris-ing of senior global executivesfrom different industries todevelop a set of recommenda-tions as India advances a hi-

tech manufacturing ecosystemin the country.

The study among otherthings examines the factors thatare impacting India's compet-itiveness for companies plan-ning to setup manufacturingoperations in the country, andhow these challenges can beaddressed to make the countrya dynamic player in the glob-al value chain.

Some of the major chal-lenges identified include theneed for a strong supplierecosystem, reduction in logis-tics cost, enhance skilled work-force, and enabling regulatory

policies, Aghi said.The report also seeks widen-

ing of Goods and Services Tax(GST) coverage by bringing inproducts/sectors presentlyexcluded from it to help reducecascading impact of taxes andmanufacturing cost.

“In the interim refund ofindirect tax on above items andGST on supplies ineligible forcredit to be provided forimproving cost competitive-ness,” the report recommend-ed as it also sought higher taxbenefits for research and devel-opment in these sectors.

Recommending “consisten-cy in policies and expediting ofapproval processes,” the reportsuggests competitive biddingfor government procurement,and enforcement mechanismto ensure central and stategovernments are aligned.

For the electronics sector, thereport recommends uniformduty structure across com-

modities by eliminating anom-alies in HSN; appropriate clas-sification of products to miti-gate the risk of classificationdisputes and continued exemp-tion in the form of zero dutyfor routers and other productsas indicated in the InformationTechnology Agreement.

The report also recommendsto link preferential marketaccess (PMA) to exports andrationalise local value-additionnorms to achievable targets.

It seeks revisions to PMApolicy by incorporating the'Substantial Transformation'rules for value-addition as perglobal norms which addsanother option of measuringlocal value add rather than onlybased on Bill-of-Material(BOM) and providing deemeddomestic manufacturing cred-its to OEMs for 100 per cent oftheir manufacturing volume -independent of product, exportdomestic consumption.

‘Indian high tech sector can attract$ 21 bn, create million of jobs’

The report also seeks widening ofGoods and Services Tax (GST)coverage by bringing inproducts/sectors presently excludedfrom it to help reduce cascading impactof taxes and manufacturing cost.

US firms see leanertimes in China astrade war grinds onAFP n SHANGHAI

American businesses areincreasingly pessimistic abouttheir prospects in China as theUS trade war rumbles on,with growing numbers ofcompanies expecting theirrevenues and investment inthe local market to shrink, asurvey said on Wednesday.

The American Chamber ofCommerce in Shanghai'sannual China Business Reportalso found that 75 per cent ofUS firms opposed the US useof punitive tariffs to forceChina into a trade deal andmarket-access reforms.

President Donald Trumpsays his tariffs against billionsof dollars in Chinese goods -- which have been reciprocat-ed by Beijing -- are hurtingChina and are good for theUnited States.

But only half of US compa-nies surveyed said they expect2019 revenues in China toincrease year-on-year, whilejust over a quarter expectthem to fall -- compared withjust 6.1 per cent in the previ-ous year's poll.

Overall, most members ofthe chamber remain opti-mistic about a country whoseconsumer market is still blos-soming.

The report also foundChina's ongoing economicslowdown -- which predatesthe trade war -- remains thetop overall concern of US

companies.But the standoff is a very

close second, and more thanhalf of companies surveyedsaid they were delaying orreducing further investment inChina as a direct result of thetit-for-tat tariffs.

Just 47 per cent said theyexpected to increase theirinvestments in China in 2019,down from 61.6 per cent lastyear.

"American companies con-tinue to do well in China, butthe trade conflict now shad-ows many businesses," saidEric Zheng, chairman of thetrade association.

Some of the biggest swingsin the survey came in the areaof future expectations forChina's market, with 61.4 per-cent expressing optimism,down from historical rates inthe 80-90 percent range.

The report alsofound China'songoingeconomicslowdown --which predatesthe trade war --remains the topoverall concernof UScompanies

Indians to benefit from UK's post-study work visa offerPTI n LONDON

In a move that addresses along-standing demand to boostIndian student numbers choos-ing British universities, theUK government onWednesday announced a newtwo-year post-study work visaroute for all international stu-dents.

The new 'Graduate' route, tobe in place by next year, will beopen to all overseas nationalswho have valid UK immigra-tion status as a student andhave successfully completed acourse of study in any subjectat undergraduate level or aboveat a government-approved UKhigher education institution.

The visa will allow eligiblestudents to work, or cruciallylook for work, in any career orposition of their choice, for twoyears after completing theirstudies.

British Prime Minister BorisJohnson, who has effectively re-instated a policy ended by hispredecessor Theresa Mayaround nine years ago, said thechange would see students"unlock their potential" tobegin careers in the UK.

"The new Graduate Route

will mean talented internation-al students, whether in scienceand maths or technology andengineering, can study in theUK and then gain valuablework experience as they go onto build successful careers,” saidUK home secretary Priti Patel,the senior-most Indian-origin

member of Johnson's Cabinet."It demonstrates our global

outlook and will ensure that wecontinue to attract the best andbrightest,” she said.

The UK ended its two-yearpost-study work visa offer dur-ing May's term as UK homesecretary in 2012, widely seenas responsible for a major dropin student numbers from coun-tries like India.

"The withdrawal of the PSW[post-study work] visa wasattributed with a decline ininternational student recruit-ment in the UK from key mar-

kets, notably India. Between2010-11 and 2016-17, the num-ber of higher education stu-dents from India more thanhalved," noted a report by theUK's All Party ParliamentaryGroup (APPG) forInternational Students.

The government's latestannouncement was widely wel-comed by university chiefs andrepresentatives, who highlightthat Indian students were par-ticularly prone to make theirhigher education choices basedon being able to gain somework experience at the end of

their degree."Although 82 per cent of our

Indian graduates are satisfiedwith their careers whereverthey are working, we know thatthey value the opportunity tospend some time in the UKworking after their degree.This visa will make it signifi-cantly easier for them to dothat,” said Vivienne Stern,Director, Universities UKInternational, which has beenlobbying for such a visa formany years.

"The UK ranks first for inter-national student satisfactionoverall, compared to othermajor study destinations, buthaving a more attractive post-study work offer will open theUK up to even more interna-tional students. It will alsoallow employers in all parts ofthe UK to benefit from accessto talented graduates fromaround the world,” she said.

The UK ended its two-year post-studywork visa offer during May's term as UKhome secretary in 2012, widely seen asresponsible for a major drop in studentnumbers from countries like India

PNS n MUMBAI

The BSE Sensex ended 125points higher on Wednesday,led by gains in banking andauto stocks amid firm cuesfrom other Asian markets.

The 30-share index settled125.37 points, or 0.34 percent, higher at 37,270.82. It hitan intra-day high of 37,343.46and a low of 37,193.57.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty rose 32.65 points, or 0.30per cent, to close at 11,035.70.

Yes Bank was the biggestgainer in the Sensex pack, ral-lying 13.47 per cent, followingreports that digital paymentsmajor Paytm may buy a stakein the lender from co-founderRana Kapoor. Tata Motors,Maruti, Tata Steel, Vedanta,Bajaj Auto, IndusInd Bank,SBI, Hero MotoCorp, M&M,Asian Paints, Axis Bank, RILand L&T too jumped up to10.21 per cent.

On the other hand, ONGC,

HCL Tech, NTPC, SunPharma, TCS, Bajaj Finance,PowerGrid, Tech Mahindraand Infosys were among thetop losers on the index, shed-ding up to 2.93 per cent.

Besides positive cues fromglobal markets, investor sen-timent was buoyed on hopesof further measures by thegovernment to boost the econ-omy, experts said.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Tuesday saidthe government has set up atask force to boost invest-ments in infrastructure pro-jects and is in the process ofidentifying sectors which needfunding from the Centre.

Sensex rises 125 pts;Yes Bank soars 13 pc

Dr Reddyslaunchesgeneric Emendin US marketPNS n HYDERABAD

Dr. Reddys Laboratories Ltdhas announced the launch ofFosaprepitant for injection,the therapeutic generic equiv-alent of Emend, in the USmarket.

Fosaprepitant is used withother medications to helpprevent nausea and vomitingcaused by chemotherapy.

The launch follows theapproval by the US Foodand Drug Administration(USFDA), a press release saidon Wednesday. Dr. ReddysFosaprepitant for injection isavailable in 150 mg single-dose vial for reconstitution.PTI n LONDON

Researchers claim to have foundthe earliest direct evidence ofmilk consumption anywhere inthe world, in the teeth of 6,000-year-old British farmers.

The team, led by archaeol-ogists at the University ofYork in the UK, identified amilk protein called beta lac-toglobulin (BLG) entombed inthe mineralised dental plaqueof seven individuals who livedin the Neolithic period.

The human dental plaquesamples in the study, publishedin the journal Archaeologicaland Anthropological Sciences,are the oldest to be analysed forancient proteins to date global-ly and the study represents theearliest identification of themilk whey protein BLG so far.

The Neolithic period inBritain ran from 4,000 to 2,400BC and saw the emergence offarming, with the use of domes-ticated animals such as cows,sheep, pig and goats, alongsidecrops such as wheat and barley.

Archaeologists have alsodiscovered evidence of com-plex cultural practices, with

Neolithic communities build-ing large monumental andburial sites.

The ancient human remainstested in the study come fromthree different Neolithic sites-- Hambledon Hill andHazleton North in the south ofEngland, and Banbury Lane inthe East Midlands.

Individuals from all threesites showed the presence ofmilk proteins from cows,sheep or goats, suggestingpeople were exploiting multi-ple species for dairy products.

The evidence comes fromdental plaque from Neolithicremains

PTI n NEW DELHI

Bharti Airtel on Wednesdaylaunched its broadband offer-ing, 'Airtel Xstream Fibre'promising 1Gbps speed for Rs3,999 a month, raising thecompetitive heat in a marketthat has recently seen com-mercial roll-out of Jio's fibrebased services.

"Starting today (onWednesday), Airtel XstreamFibre is available to Homes,SOHO (Small Office HomeOffice) and small commercialestablishments in Delhi,

Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida,Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Pune,Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai,Chandigarh, Kolkata,Indore, Jaipur andAhmedabad," BhartiAirtel said in a state-ment. In the com-ing months AirtelXstream Fibre willbe rolled out inmore markets, thestatement added.

"Airtel Xstream Fibre offersunlimited broadband at 1Gbpsfor just Rs 3,999/month. It alsooffers unlimited landline calls

to any network in India alongwith exclusive 'AirtelThanks'benefits...," it said. The benefits

include three monthsNetflix subscription

gift, one year AmazonPrime membershipand access to premi-um content fromZEE5 and Airtel

Xstream app. OnSeptember 5, billionaire

Mukesh Ambani's Jio hadannounced launch of its fibre-based broadband service, offer-ing minimum internet speed of100 Mbps for Rs 699 a month.

Bharati Airtel launches 1Gbpsbroadband offering at Rs 3,999

New Jersey Governor onIndia tour from Sep 13PTI n WASHINGTON

The governor of New Jersey,home to one of the largest con-centrations of the Indian dias-pora in the US, will embark ona 10-day visit to India onFriday to woo investments inhis state and deepen thealready strong people-to-peo-ple ties.

"We want to make sure thatIndia hears the New Jersey storyloud and clear," Governor PhilMurphy told PTI in an interviewbefore leaving for India.

Murphy, 62, who lived inAsia in the late 1990s, said hewas a frequent visitor to India.He said he was excited to visitIndia, "a country that I love”.

He will lead a high-levelstate delegation, visiting NewDelhi, Mumbai, Agra,Hyderabad, Gandhinagar andAhmedabad, from September13 to 22.

The focus of the mission isto strengthen economic tieswith one of New Jersey's largesttrade and investment part-ners, cultivate international

investment opportunities, anddeepen cultural and educa-tional ties between New Jerseyand India, Murphy's officesaid in a statement.

"As India's role as one of ourkey partners continues toexpand, we want to make surewe maximise the potential ofour economic relationship,"

Murphy said. "We have the number one

rated public education systemin America. We have a locationthat is second to none. We aredeep with talent. We have aparticular edge in innovation,the economy, life sciences,tech and telecom,” he said.

Murphy said he would bevisiting some companies thatalready have presence in NewJersey like Tata Consultancyservices which has some 4,000employees in his state.

"We want to thank them fortheir presence, hope they can

grow their presence. Andalso talk to folks who are notin here yet, who shouldconsider New Jersey,” hesaid. He said New Jersey hasone of the largest Indian-American and Indian popula-

tions among anyAmerican state

and the largestlargest traderelationsw i t hIndia.

We have thenumber one ratedpublic education

system in America.We have alocation that issecond to none.We are deepwith talent

—MURPHYGovernor of

New Jersey

Adani plant gets MERCnod for higher coal pricePTI n NEW DELHI

Adani Power on Wednesdaysaid power regulator MERChas allowed pass through ofhigher coal prices for itsTiroda plant.

The coal mine allocated toTiroda plant was de-allocatedand the company had to makearrangement for fuel supplies athigher cost. Adani Power armAdani Power Maharashtra Ltd(APML) runs Tiroda plant.

In a regulatory filing onWednesday, Adani Power saidthe compensation to APMLhas been granted in respect ofthe 1320 MW power pur-chase agreement signed onSeptember 8, 2008 by APMLwith Maharashtra ElectricityDistribution Co Ltd (MSED-CL), for its power plant atTiroda in Maharashtra.

"APML has been allowed com-pensation on account of non-availability of coal from Loharacoal block by MaharashtraElectricity RegulatoryCommission (MERC)," a com-pany statement said.

Tiroda thermal power sta-

tion has an installed capacityof 3300 MW (5X660 MWsupercritical units), of whichtwo units have been tied upunder the PPA signed in 2008and three have been tied upunder separate PPAs executedwith MSEDCL for 1765 MW.

As per the referred orderfrom the MERC, the de-allo-cation of the Lohara coal blockby the coal ministry wouldqualify as Change in Law, andAPML is entitled to compen-sation for alternative coal usedto meet the shortfall from thecommencement of power sup-ply under the PPA.

Further, APML is also enti-tled to claim carrying costs onthe claim amount till the dateof the subject order, it added.

‘World's earliestevidence of dairyconsumption found'

Archaeologistshave alsodiscoveredevidence ofcomplexculturalpractices, withNeolithiccommunitiesbuilding largemonumental andburial sites

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@TheDailyPioneer

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dailypioneer

ThursdaySeptember 12, 2019

ivine, of the GullyGang fame, who isall set to performin the city feels thathe receives a lot oflove from

Hyderabad. Speaking aboutthe show, Divine, who is vis-iting the city for the thirdtime, said, “It’s going to beunique and something thatHyderabad has never wit-nessed before.”

Divine plans to play thetitle track from his debutalbum Kohinoor as this is thefirst showcase of the GullyGang in the city.

Sharing insights about therap scene in the city and the

country, he said,“The scene inHyderabadlooks promis-ing. I havebeen follow-ing the workof Telugu

rapper PranavChaganty, withwhom I had collaborated forthe YouTube Fan Fest a cou-ple of years ago. Also hip-hopfans in Hyderabad can neverforget DJ Kan-I, who hasbeen the pallbearer for hip-hop genre in India for years.”

“With hip-hop reaching awider audience, Gully Boyhas helped the layman under-stand what rap is. Hip-hop isgaining traction each daywith new labels and talentcoming up,” he said about therap scene in the country.

Talking about his rap jour-ney, he reminisced, “I wasborn in Kurla and grew up inSahar before my mother leftfor a job in the Middle East. Ithen moved in with mygrandmother in JB Nagar. Myintroduction to hip-hop wasthrough a T-shirt my friendwas wearing. It had an illus-tration of 50 Cent on it. I gotcurious and asked my friend

who he was. In response hegave me a CD with 70-80songs in it. ‘In da club’ hadjust come out and 50 Centswas the rage.”

He continued, “I found itto be the coolest thing I haveever heard. I started diggingdeeper and would sit incybercafes to learn as muchas I could about hip-hop. Icame across many artists likeTupac, Biggie, Nas andEminem and learnt all theirsongs. They wrote about theworld around them and I feltI could relate. I grew up in anot-so-privileged neighbour-hood with my grandmother. Iroamed around with friendswho didn’t always live on theright side of the law. I haveseen poverty, helplessness,abuse and government apa-thy up close. That’s the worldI come from. And that iswhat has made me who I amtoday.”

Divine also plans to helpbudding rappers. He said, “Iintend on making GullyGang Entertainment the one-stop-shop for everything hip-hop in India. It will have itsown record label, Gully GangRecords, where I shall notonly release my music butalso those of new and upcom-ing hip-hop talent in India. Iam really excited about thebudding talent in the countryand want to do as much as Ican for the genre.”

Sharing his future plans, hesaid, “All my energy rightnow is focused on my debutalbum, Kohinoor, whichreleases soon.” Regarding hiscollaboration withBudweiser, he says,“Budweiser and I have a greatcollaboration and like all ourother shows, BUDXHYD isgoing to be a great show withthe Gully Gang boys.”

D

ndia’s ambitiouslunar mission -Chandrayaan 2 -has become thecountry’s mosttrending hashtag on

social media platforms such asTwitter, with 67,554 tweets inbetween September 1-9, a newstudy revealed.

SEMrush, the online visibil-ity management companyrecently conducted the studyon the lander Vikram in theperiod between September 1-9, which showed that Twitteris buzzing with Chandrayaan

2, the lander Vikram andISRO.

According to the study,there have been 2,39,109tweets dedicated to the mis-sion. “India is showing greatinterest in the initiatives takenby ISRO. People are usingTwitter as a platform to sharetheir views on the mission. Itis overwhelming to see thatdespite the mission's result,people are being positive andneutral in their approach,” saidFernando Angulo, Head ofCommunications, SEMrush.

“Moreover, Bollywood actor

and influencer Akshay Kumarhas a huge impact on audi-ences, especially after his filmMission Mangal, therefore, histweet is the third most engag-ing tweet,” Angulo said.

The tweets reveal mixedemotions of people as theytweeted 30.04 per cent positivetweets, 66.90 per cent neutraltweets and only three per centnegative tweets on the Moonlander Vikram.

Besides, #Chandrayaan2continues to be the mosttrending hashtag on Twitternowadays with a volume of

67,554, the study said. Theother two most popular hash-tags are#VikramLander(43,749) and#ISRO(38,619).

The study also found thattweets mentioning ISRO havegone majorly viral in the threedays from September 6-9 withthe number of tweets reaching87,336.

The top two tweets by num-ber on the social media plat-form have been tweeted byISRO (@isro) with the highestengagements of 1,49,179 and1,38,698, respectively.

INDIAN FASHION

INDUSTRY LACKS

DISCIPLINE:

PAYAL SINGHALn her over two-decade-long career

as a designer, Payal Singhal has

seen the evolution of the Indian

fashion industry, but she feels it

still lacks the discipline and unity

seen in fashion industries else-

where.“Indians are unparalleled in terms of

design and craft. But unfortunately, we are

not an industry that stands together,” says the

designer.According to Singhal unlike in India where

fashion industry is seen as ‘perilous’, design-

ers in other countries take their work a lot

more seriously. “I don’t know why.

It’s about business… People

have to realise how many

millions of people the

industry gives jobs to.

It’s a serious business.

People’s atti-

tude

has to change,” she points out.

“Today, our industry is a lot more organ-

ised. The social media has changed the way

the industry used to work. Earlier the collec-

tions would take 2 to 3 months to reach the

stores after the show, but it now takes just 15

days. That’s a huge change... Our industry has

become a lot more serious, which I like. And

such changes have happened in the film

industry as well. It is more corporatised now,”

says Singhal, who is known for designing

outfits inspired gypsy and bohemian by styles

that have sizable patrons among Bollywood

celebrities.The Mumbai-based designer, 42, feels the

need for a federation to support the

Indian fashion industry. “The gar-

ment industry is one of the top

industries in the world. But I

don’t see the discipline

expected of our community.

For example, in the jew-

ellery industry, there’s a

jewellers association. But

we don’t have that. And

that is something hold-

ing us back. We need

to be more united. We

should have a federa-

tion behind us that

could bring things

together and work on the

backend to train the

designers to understand

quality, deliverables,

delivery and time.

If that happens,

there’s no stop-

ping us from

becoming

no. 1 in the

world,”Singhalnotes.

— IANS

I

I

CHANDRAYAAN 2most trending hashtag in India

Budweiser Experiences is backwith BUDX, for the very firsttime in Hyderabad and shallbe putting together a unique

experience with popularartists from across the globe

tomorrow at Prism Club.Vivian Fernandes, better

known to the world as Divine,one of the artistes

performing at the event,speaks to ARUN

DANIEL YELLAMATYabout his connection with

Hyderabad, childhoodstruggles, vision through

Gully gang entertainmentand more

THE ORIGINAL ‘GULLY BOY' TO ROCK THE TOWN

what’s brewing?PARTY

12

Hyderabad Thursday September 12, 2019

GADHA KAHINIl The play Gadha Kahini- The story of a Donkey,opens with fivestorytellers trying togather an audience fornarrating their stories andfinally agress upon tellingthe Story of a Donkey, together. September 15, 7.30 pm, Lamakaan

MAHABHARATA - THE EPIC TALEl All historyand mythologyis based oncause andeffect,Mahabharata -The Epic Tale...in-depth dealswith theprimaryemotional andpsychologicalcauses that were the genesis of this destructivewar. The planet has witnessed destruction basedon the whims of a few people. September 14 to October 6, multiple venues

lThis will be thefreshest materialfrom Kunal Kamra.After seeing him takeover the internet withhis extremely edgyhumour, he is backto Hyderabad withhis latest show‘Fresher thoughts'. Ashow where hebrings to you hisbrand new bits. Yetanother YouTube breaking video, a genre-definingpodcast and troll bashing worthy of history books,Kunal is back with new jokes, insights and truthbombsSeptember 13 to October 6, multiple venues in city

THEATRESRIRAM - A STYLISED DANCE DRAMA

CITY GUIDE

EK DURACHARI RAJA

VENTRILOQUISMlVentriloquism is anart of voice manipulationusing a puppet or doll.Sathosh is ainternationalVentriloquism artiste,with more than 20 yearsexperience in performing Ventriloquism shows. He isthe only ventriloquist who is attending internationalVentriloquism convention at USA, since 2012. Heregularly works with schoolchildren & teachers inhelping them to improving their skills.September 21, 11 am, Lamakaan

EXHIBITION

EMERGING PALETTES lA group art exhibition, aplatform for emergingartists to display their work.This is the 11th edition ofthe exhibition organised incollaboration with Goethe-Zentrum. From September 7to October 6 at Shrishti ArtGallery, Jubilee Hills.

COMEDY

SUNDEEP SHARMA LIVElSundeep Sharma is the"Brahman bro" of comedy.This Bareilly guy has atypical North Indianaccent and performsjokes with a desi flair. Heis a storyteller andincorporates social,political and generalissues in his comedy. Hismimicry of famousnational and international personalities only adds tohis hilariousness.September 14, 7 pm, Oakwood Residence Kapil,Gachibowli.

l All of us believethat our presentmay be bad butour future will begood. The Hindiplay Ek DurachariRaja (the story of adespot) adaptedfrom AlbertCamus' Caligularemains universally relevant. It represents theface of despotism, not only in terms of thewhimsical madness and deification of rulers butalso in terms of how people react to such rulewith glimmer of hope for the future.September 22, 7.30 pm, Lamakaan

lShriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra's magnumopus is based on the Indian epic Ramayana. Itwas first produced in 1957 as Ramlila. It hasbeen staged for the last 65 years and hastravelled to many countries. The troupecomprises of 20 artistes.September 14, 7 pm, Shilpakala Vedika

GET YOUR EVENT LISTED: To get your events listed, please send your detailsalong with a poster and contact number to [email protected]

FRESHER THOUGHTS

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

Yesterday’s solution

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.

FUN TIME

l VC Sajjanar l Deepa Saxena l Reshma

l Prameela and Chinnababul Rani lSh

ilpa

Redd

y

lNa

ga R

athn

a Phot

os bb

ySV

Char

y

RUN FORA CAUSE The second edition of the Cancer

Run by Grace CancerFoundation will be held in

Hyderabad. Socialites andgovernment officials attended theposter launch and urged people toattend the event to raise publicawareness against cancer, itsprevention and early detection

uperstar Mahesh Babu was one of the many who was mightyimpressed with Arjun Reddy so much so that he imme-diately asked its director Sandeep Vanga to meet himand narrate a story. It was last February (2018) thatVanga pitched a crime drama with a pan-India appeal

to the actor who instantly evinced interest it. Back then, theactors’ role sketch was in place while the director needed

to work on second half. In-principally, Mahesh has agreedto feature in the film and it was to be produced by Mythri

Movie Makers, MB Entertainments and Asian Cinemas.Post it, Vanga got busy in Bollywood in with Kabir Singh,his Hindi remake of Arjun Reddy, and the phenomenalsuccess of the film meant that he is on the wish list of many

B-town producers as well. However, we hear he wanted tomake a Telugu film but he didn’t hear back from Mahesh. As

the crime drama’s content can resonate with audience acrossthe country, Vanga decided to make in Hindi with THEproducers of Kabir Singh. He was promised to get abilling of the producer as well. To this end, the lat-

est we hear is that Ranbir has endorsed the storyidea and another round of meeting will followsoon. A Mumbai Mirror report has claimed thatSandeep had a “close door meeting” with pro-ducer Bhushan Kumar, who also produced

Kabir Singh along with Ashwin Verde, and nar-rated a story for his next project and they agreedupon the actor they wish to cast in it. “Sandeep nar-rated a story idea to Bhushan, who has liked it and

will produce the film. They met yesterday to discuss thelogistics and casting,” it quote a source as saying. The pro-ject will most likely move to sets next year.

‘Non-committal’ MAHESH forcesVanga to make his next in Hindi?


13

tollywood

ith Tamil superstarVijay’s Telugu dub-bing market on asteady rise, the com-petition to bag the

Telugu rights of his next isincreasing day by day. Andwhen his next marks him team-ing up with Atlee, who gavetwo of him two of his biggesthits (Theri and Mersal), it is butnatural for big names to throwtheir hat in the ring for therights. However, after the Tamilproduction house AGSEntertainments quoted a heftyamount (to the tune of Rs 10crore) to part the Telugu rightsof Bigil, the likes of KonaVenkat and Sudhakar Reddy,both of who were initiallyinterested, backed off, it isunderstood. Finally, MaheshS Koneru, who has pro-duced Kalyanram-starrer118, has snatched the rights.The deal is said to have beenclosed at Rs 7 crore. Itremains to be seen whether

Mahesh will convince Vijay,who is usually reclusive, tocome down toHyderabad topromote thefilm. While hefailed tod i v u l g edetails onthe num-bers whencontacted,he did con-firm that hewill be releasingthe film in Telugu.He is looking torelease it in 400 screensacross the two Telugu states thisDiwali. He said he will

announce the Telugu title soon.A sports drama which

will see Vijay in therole of a dad and

son, Bigil co-s t a r sNayantara,J a c k i eS h r o f f ,K a t h i r ,D a n i e lB a l a j i ,

V i v e k ,Anand araj ,

Yogi Babu,Indhuja, Rebba

Monica, VarshaBollama, and Amrita Iyer.

AR Rahman has composedthe film’s soundtrack.

MAHESH KONERU acquiresVIJAY's Bigil Telugu rightsRDX deals

with a taboosubject,says PAYAL

rolled heavily for her skin show in the recentlyreleased teaser of RDX, her second film after herbreakthrough project RX100 last year, PayalRajput admitted she received a barrage of nega-tive comments with some even questioning

whether she has gone back to RX100 ways again. “Yes,RX100 is my soul but RDX is different, which is why Iaccepted it. It’s going to be inspiring, entertaining and educa-tive at the same time. It deals with a taboo subject and willtug at people’s heartstrings,” she said. She was speaking atthe trailer launch of the film in Hyderabad on Tuesdayevening.

Payal, who will be seen as a spunky village belle in thefilm, emphasised that when she shows off or gets intimatein films, it’s a part of the role that she is essaying.

Film’s producer C Kalyan said the teaser was cut in a waythat people will take notice of it and notice they did, as itclocked four millions views. “The original content isreserved in the trailer. It’s about a young girl who strivesfor the development of her village with her gang if it meanssacrificing her honour as a woman. After seeing Payal’s per-formance I left her a message, saying that she will be the

next Vijay Shanti,” the producer noted.Shot in Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Polavaram andits surrounding areas, RDX, directed by Shankar

Bhanu, features Tejus (of Hushaaru fame), NareshVK, Amani, Nagineedu, Aditya Menon, Tulasi,

Aishwarya, Vidyullekha Raman, ChammakChandra and Gemini Suresh in supporting

roles, while Radhan is the music director.

he first look ofAnushka Shetty-starrer Nishabdamwas unveiled by themakers onWednesday. The

actress will be playing Sakshi, adumb artist in the film, a horrorthriller. Last seen in Bhagamathiewhich released in January lastyear, Nishabdam is theMangalore-beauty’s most ambi-tious film till date as it has beenshot in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi

and English simultaneously,while featuring Madhavan,Anjali, Shalini Pandey, Subbarajuand Avasarala Sriniva and pop-ular Hollywood actor MichaelMadsen in key roles. Directed byVasthadu Naa Raju fameHemanth Madhukar, the film’sshoot has been wrapped up lastmonth in Seattle, US and somepatch work will be shot in

Hyderabad, wehear.

T h e

film, with music by Gopi Sunder,is a joint production venturebetween People Media Factoryand Kona Film Corporation.Speaking about the film, VishwaPrasad, CEO of People MediaFactory, had this to say earlier,“This is a kind of film that willentertain, engage and cheer theaudience across continents.Every screening of the film willend up in a standing ovation andwe expect the film to performwell all over.”

t

ANUSHKA is adumb artist inNISHABDAM

n a rather surprisingdevelopment, film-maker Ravi Babu onW e d n e s d a yannounced that he

has joined hands with leadingproducer Dil Raju to co-pro-duce and release his next,Aaviri. For a major part of hiscareer, the actor-turned-film-maker’s films were distributedby Suresh Babu under hisesteemed Suresh Productions.While we don’t the reason thatprompted the move, Ravi’s lastfilm Adhugo, which Sureshreleased, was a colossal flop.

Ravi said, “I’ve been think-ing of doing a film with DilRaju for the past 15 years andit happened finally with Aaviri.The film is currently in post-production.”

Lauding Ravi, Raju, who hasramped up his distributionactivities of late, said the film-maker is a specialist when itcomes to making comedy andthrillers and he will be releas-ing Aaviri next month.

Like with his all films, Ravihas wrapped up Aaviri, featur-ing him, Neha Chouhan, SriMuktha, Bharani Shankar andMukthar Khan, without asound. A thriller, its screenplayhas been penned by the veter-an Satyanand, while music hasbeen composed by Vydhi.

s

w

i

t MAHESH S KONERU IS LOOKING TO RELEASE IT IN 400 SCREENS ACROSS THETWO TELUGU STATES THIS DIWALI. HE SAID HE WILL ANNOUNCE THE TELUGUTITLE SOON

Surprise! RAVIBABU joins handswith DIL RAJULauding Ravi, Raju said the filmmakeris a specialist when it comes tomaking comedy and thrillers

he Maharashtra Police have givenactors Priyanka Chopra and FarhanAkhtar a warning for a scene in theirupcoming film "The Sky Is Pink".The trailer of "The Sky Is Pink" wasunveiled on Monday and what caught

the eye of Maharashtra Police was a dialogue inthe film, where Priyanka''s character tellsFarhan''s that they would rob a bank as soon astheir daughter Aisha gets better.A tweet from the Maharashtra Police read:"Seven years imprisonment with fine under IPCSection 393." Priyanka replied: "Oops, caught redhanded… time to activate Plan B"Farhan then joked saying: "Never planning aheists on camera again."

Replying to Farhan''s tweet, a post fromthe Maharashtra Police read: "A

heist planned anywhere shall bepunished with rigorous

imprisonment for a termwhich may extend upto

ten years and shallalso be liable to

fine, underSection 399 The

best plan isalways not tohave suchplans in''real'' life.#ReelvsReal."

inger-actor Diljit Dosanjh, who was scheduled to perform in the US onSeptember 21 at a show promoted by Pakistani national Rehan Siddiqi, hasbeen asked by the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE)to “cancel his commitment in the interest of sentiments and dignity” ofIndia.

“We have just seen a poster of artiste Mr Diljit Dosanjh who is giving hisperformance in a show organised by Mr Rehan Siddiqi (a Pakistani National). We arewriting to him to cancel this commitment of his in the interest of sentiments and dig-nity of our nation,” read the release from FWICE.

FWICE also wrote a letter to Ministry of External Affairs for cancelling his and histroupe’s visa in case he doesn’t cancel his tour.

Diljit issued a statement on Wednesday stating that “he was not aware of any suchintimation by the federation before today. My contract is only with Shri Balaji

Entertainment. My dealings and agreement are with them only and nobodyelse mentioned in the federation letter.”

“However, in lieu of the letter by the FWICE I have decided to postponemy Houston show at this time. I love my country and will always stand forthe greater interest of the Nation INDIA,” he added.

Meanwhile, FWICE is “deeply concerned and anguished with ourartistes/singers/dancers/anchors and other performers knowingly perform-

ing in Pakistan and Pak performers performing in India despite ourstrict warnings”.

According to the release, FWICE has also come to know from “ourreliable sources that our performers in general and actor Saif Ali

Khan and singer Shreya Ghoshal in particular are givingtheir performances in America at the behest of Mr RehanSiddiqi, a Pakistani National, who is also the promoter of theshows”.

FWICE has zero-tolerance for such performers and con-demn it as “anti-national and unpatriotic bordering to trea-son with your own country”.

The association has requested all our country’s performersnot to give priority to “monetary considerations and refrainfrom being a part of any such projects with Pak nationalsand Pak performance anywhere in the world”.

SALMAHAYEK SAYS SHE

WANTS TO PROTECTMEXICO'S IMAGE

alma Hayek says she refrains from using social media to comment onproblems in her native Mexico because she wants to protect the country’simage.

During an appearance Tuesday to promote her Netflix series Monarca on afamily’s tequila empire, the actress was asked why she doesn’t use her socialmedia presence to draw more attention to Mexico’s ills.Hayek said she doesn’t believe a post on her Instagram account can change things

because most of her followers don’t live in Mexico.At the same time, she added, a critical post puts negative attention onMexico elsewhere in the world, and “that can affect us with tourism,

with people who are trying to invest inMexico.” She said she

doesn’t want to hurther country.

T

S


14

celeb talks

S

TAAPSEE PANNU

DENIES PLAYING

AMRITA PRITAM

IN NEW BIOPICaapsee Pannu has denied she is playing Amrita

Pritam in a new biopic. Sections of the enter-

tainment media, mistook Taapsee Pannu’s

social media post quoting legendary author-

poet Amrita Pritam to rashly assume that the

actress is set to play Pritam in Anubhav Sinha’s

underproduction Thappad.

It now turns out Tapsee is not playing Amrita Pritam.

“It’s sad that the majority don’t bother to read and inter-

pret my Tweet efficiently enough. Nor connect it with

what I posted just a day before the post on Amrita Pritam.

It’s sad that I have to spell it out so obviously to you,” the

actress said.

T

DILJIT ASKED TO CANCELUS GIG PROMOTED BY PAK NATIONAL

WHENMUMBAI COPS

WARNEDPRIYANKA,

FARHAN

RENNER’SFORMER WIFEDEMANDSSOLE CUSTODYOF DAUGHTER

ctor Jeremy Renner’s for-mer wife Sonni Pachecohas filed for sole custodyof their six-year-olddaughter, Ava.

According to the docu-ments obtained by the SuperiorCourt of California, County of LosAngeles, Pacheco has requested forsole legal and physical custody ofAva and also asked the judge forallowing monitored visitation whenthe Avengers: Endgame actor is withthe child, reports usmagazine.com.

Renner and Pacheco got marriedin September 2014. Their nuptialscame after they welcomed theirdaughter in 2013. But in January2015, they filed for divorce.

Pacheco is set to submit documen-tation backing up her request tochange the custody arrangement anda court hearing is scheduled forNovember 7.

A

sport 15HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

AFP n LONDON

England have droppedJason Roy for the fifth

Ashes Test againstAustralia that starts today,as they look to level theseries at 2-2.

One-day specialist Roywas handed his Test debutagainst Ireland in July aftermaking a devastatingimpact at the top of theorder during England’s vic-torious World Cup cam-paign.

But the Surrey bats-man failed to impress inthe first four matches of theAshes, either as an openeror when he dropped downthe order in the fourth Test,where he made a top scoreof 31.

Paceman CraigOverton has also been leftout for the clash at theOval, with all-roundersSam Curran and ChrisWoakes, who made way

for Overton at Old Traffordlast week, coming into theside.

The England andWales Cricket Board con-firmed that Ben Stokeswould play as a specialistbatsman due to a shoulderinjury.

Captain Joe Root saidRoy had missed outbecause the side needed re-balancing due to Stokes’sinjury.

“It’s always tough toleave guys out, but Stokesyobviously picked up ashoulder injury in the lastgame and won’t be able tobowl the overs we normal-ly expect him to,” he said atthe London ground onWednesday.

“With that we’ve hadto change the balance ofthe side, and Jason’s theunfortunate one to missout.

“Jason’s had an oppor-tunity to come in and play

Test cricket, get a feel for itand it’s not quite gone howhe would have liked.

“But I’m sure he’ll goaway and work extremelyhard and come back againand that’s what you expectof guys when they get leftout.”

Root said it wouldhave been a risk to pickStokes as a frontline bowlerdue to the all-rounder’sfitness issues but he fullyjustified his place as a spe-cialist batsman.

The 28-year-old isEngland’s top-scorer in theseries with 354 runs andtwo centuries, includinghis match-winning ton inthe third Test atHeadingley.Playing XI: Joe Root(capt), Jofra Archer, JonnyBairstow (wkt), StuartBroad, Rory Burns, JosButtler, Sam Curran, JoeDenly, Jack Leach, BenStokes, Chris Woakes

PTI n BENGALURU

The Indian men's hockey teamgoalkeeper PR Sreejesh on

Wednesday said he is expecting agood challenge from Russia in theTokyo Olympic qualifiers, despite avast gap between the two sides inworld rankings.

In a favourable draw, the Indianmen's team, ranked fifth, was onMonday pitted against world no 22Russia in the final round of theTokyo Olympics qualifiers.

India will play back-to-matchesagainst Russia in Bhubaneswar onNovember 1 and 2 to seal theirTokyo Games berth.

"It is every player's dream to playthe Olympics and Russia, who arenow investing in hockey and want todo well in this sport, will surely comewell-prepared and we can definitelyexpect a good challenge from them,"

Sreejesh said.Eight-time Olympic champions

India had mauled Russia 10-0 duringthe FIH Series Final in Bhubaneswarearlier this year.

Sreejesh said before the draw tookplace, they were mentally prepared totake on any opponent be it arch-rivalsPakistan or Austria.

"To be honest we had discussedwhat it would take from the team ifwe had to play Pakistan or Austria orfor that matter Egypt who laterdropped out. So in that sense, we werementally prepared to take on anyteam. Also I think retaining theworld ranking at No.5 was a boon,"he said.

Sreejesh said the tour to Belgiumstarting September 26 will help themprepare for the Olympic qualifiers.

"I think playing world championsBelgium, who have been in greatform, will be like a preparatory test

before the actual exam," he said.The 31-year-old revealed that

they have been working on strength-ening the team's defense amongstother things and will look to executeall the plans against Belgium.

"We have been working on animproved defensive structure, betterpenalty corner defending and also onscoring opportunities and it will beimportant to execute this as plannedagainst Belgium," Sreejesh said.

Talking about India's goalkeepingoptions, he commended his youngercompatriots Suraj Karkera andKrishan Bahadur Pathak for a goodshow in the Olympic Test Event inTokyo, Japan.

"It's good to see both of them per-form well. It is always good to havecompetition within the team and I amenjoying the role of mentoring themand at the same time improving myown game," he said.

PTI n DHARAMSALA

Vice-captain Rassie van der Dussenon Wednesday said that a new look

South African team will be relying a loton IPL regulars Quinton de Kock andDavid Miller to put up a competitiveperformance against formidable Indiain the T20 series beginning here onSunday.

De Kock will captain the team inthe absence of Faf du Plessis, who willbe in India for the Test series.

Van der Dussen, who impressed inthe 50-over World Cup in an otherwiseforgettable tournament for the Proteas,has been elevated to vice-captaincy lessthan a year after he made hisInternational debut.

“Quinton and David have played alot of cricket in India. We will look tofeed off them and ask them a lot ofquestions about the conditions, the kindof bowlers we would be facing so we canquickly adapt against a strong side likeIndia,” van der Dussen said in a mediainteraction.

“We have had two tough trainingsessions since we have been here andtwo more are coming up. It has beenpretty hot and humid, pretty much likeDurban. It is definitely an advantagethat we came here a week before the firstgame.”

Van der Dussen feels captaincy willonly make de Kock a better player.

“Quinton is one of those guys wholeads by example. He doesn’t say a lotbut when he speaks he says really valu-able things. He has won a lot of gamesfor South Africa and everyone respectshim for that. I am sure the captaincyband around his arm will bring moreout of him,” said de Kock’s deputy.

India hammered South Africa athome in the Test series played four yearsago but lost the T20 and ODI series.

One of the T20s was at the scenicHPCA Stadium here and South Africawon the game by seven wickets.

“We have had a look at the condi-tions, Proteas beat India by sevenwickets the last time here. It will be agood wicket to bat on. The boundariesare 65 metres all around, they are notreally big. We know what India aregoing to throw at us and we will pre-pare accordingly,” said the 30-year-oldfrom Pretoria.

South Africa have regrouped forthe first time since the disappointingWorld Cup campaign and the playersare raring to go, said va der Dussen.

“Last time, we were together at theWorld Cup. It was a disappointingshowing by the team. But now it is afresh start, we have a new coaching staff.We have spoken a lot about in the lastfew days how we want to be as a team.We have got a few new faces so it alwaysbrings the energy up.

“India are one of the strongestteams in the world, especially in homeconditions. They have played somecricket recently against the West Indies.It gives us the advantage of looking atthe players and what they are likely todo. We have been off for a while as ateam and guys are fresh and raring togo,” van der Dussen added.

AFP n LONDON

Tim Paine described the fifthAshes Test as Australia’s “grand

final” as they target their first serieswin in England since 2001.

The tourists have already retainedthe urn after winning the fourth Testto take a 2-1 lead but captain Painesaid they are “very hungry” to com-plete the job at the Oval.

All-rounder Mitchell Marsh hasbeen recalled to the 12-man squad inplace of Travis Head to ease the work-load on Australia’s impressive paceattack.

“We’ve already spoken a lot aboutit (the final Test),” Paine said onWednesday on the eve of the match.

“We came here to win the Ashes,not just to retain them.

“Last week’s result was brilliantand we played very well but all theguys are fully aware that this Testmatch is bigger than that one.

“This is our grand final. We wantthis Test just as much as any otherTest that we’ve played in this series.”

He said Marsh’s inclusion wasaimed at easing the workload on hisimpressive pace attack and that he

had “full faith” in his batting.“We just wanted a bit more

bowling depth in the squad to coverwhat looks like a really good wicketand be able to look after our big fastbowlers,” said Paine.Squad: David Warner, Marcus Harris,Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith,Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade, TimPaine (capt, wkt), Pat Cummins,Peter Siddle, Mitch Starc, NathanLyon, Josh Hazlewood.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Opener KL Rahul’s poorshow with the bat could

pave the way for RohitSharma’s return to the IndianTest XI when the selectorsmeet here today to decide thesquad for the three-matchseries against South Africanext month.

White ball vice-captainRohit, who couldn’t make thecut in the playing XI againstthe West Indies, is expected tobe tried out as an opener afterHanuma Vihari and AjinkyaRahane sealed slot Nos 5 and6 in the batting order respec-tively. Rohit’s last Test appear-ance for India was in the awayseries against Australia in2018.

Cheteshwar Pujara, at No3, and skipper Virat Kohli, atNo 4, automatically pick them-selves.

This has left head coachRavi Shastri and skipper Kohliwith only one option, to try anexplosive player like Rohit atthe top of the order, followingthe Virender Sehwag impactmodel.

Bengal openerAbhimanyu Easwaran, a pro-lific performer at the domes-tic and India A games, couldbe rewarded with a place inthe side as a reserve opener, ifthe selection committeedecides to drop Rahul.

The other openers in frayare Priyank Panchal of Gujaratand Shubman Gill of Punjab.

Rahul, considered afavourite of this team manage-ment, has scored 664 runs inhis last 30 Test innings, withhis only notable score — 149against England at the Ovallast year — coming in a deadfifth rubber.

With Mayank Agarwalassured of his place, the onlybone of contention could bethe opening slot where a 15-member squad could ensureboth Rohit and Easwaran

make it.In case they both make it,

then they might feature in theIndia A side in the two-daypractice game against SouthAfrica in Vizianagaram beforethe f irst Test inVisakhapatnam on October2.

Otherwise, the selectionwill remain pretty straightfor-ward with only BhuvneshwarKumar, who isn’t fully fit,likely to miss out.

In that case, all-rounderHardik Pandya could be backin the Test squad or elseNavdeep Saini might come inas a back-up pacer.

However, it remains to beseen whether the Think-Tankwill want Pandya to only con-centrate on white ball cricketin the next 13 months keepingthe World Cup in focus.

Test matches in India nor-mally feature one specialistkeeper in the side butWriddhiman Saha is verymuch in the scheme of thingseven though Rishabh Pantremains the top choice.

Ravindra Jadeja, KuldeepYadav and RavichandranAshwin will be the three spin-ners while Jasprit Bumrah,Mohammed Shami and IshantSharma will be the three pac-ers. In case Shami is rested,then Umesh Yadav can comein.Likely Squad: Openers:Mayank Agarwal, RohitSharma Middle order :Cheteshwar Pujara, ViratKohli, Ajinkya Rahane,Hanuma Vihari All-rounder:Hardik Pandya Wicketkeepers:Rishabh Pant, WriddhimanSaha Pacers: Jasprit Bumrah,Ishant Sharma, MohammedShami/Umesh Yadav Spinners:Ravichandran Ashwin,Ravindra Jadeja, KuldeepYadavIn Contention: AbhimanyuEaswaran (3rd opener),Priyank Panchal (3rd opener),Navdeep Saini (reserve pacer),

IANS n LONDON

Australia head coach JustinLanger has backed out-of-

form opener David Warner tocome good in the fifth and finalAshes Test beginning Thursdayat The Oval.

Warner has been in awfulform in the ongoing Ashesscoring just 79 runs at an aver-age of 9.87 per innings. The left-handed opener has endured atough series tackling the newball, particularly againstEngland seamer Stuart Broad,and has managed just one dou-ble-figure score (61) in eightinnings with ducks from each ofhis last three starts.

"Davey hasn't had a greatseries, there are no secrets aboutthat," Langer was quoted as say-ing by cricket.com.au.

"But he's also a word-classplayer and I've said throughoutthe whole series, if Davey hasone good innings it'll help uswin the Ashes. He probably has-n't been through this lean runbefore, so it's going to be a goodtest of his character.

"But he's a match-winnerand he's been brilliant aroundthe group since he's been back(from suspension)," he added.

Terming Warner a "match-winner", the Australian headcoach said that he is looking for-ward to see the 32-year-old batat The Oval.

"He's been great, good forthe crowds, good amongst thegroup.

"He hasn't got the runs hewants at the moment but jeezI'm looking forward to seeing itwhen he does, and there's nobetter place in the world to batthan The Oval."

Australia have an insur-mountable 2-1 lead in the series,retaining the Ashes, and willlook to win the rubber inEngland for the first time since2001.

PTI n KOLKATA

Deepak Niwas Hooda led by example asJaipur Pink Panthers held the in-form

Haryana Steelers to a 32-all draw in their Pro-Kabaddi League fixture at the Netaji IndoorStadium on Wednesday.

Eyeing a sixth successive win, HaryanaSteelers got off to a solid start and led by fourpoints at half time, but Hooda came up with14 raid points from 22 attempts to help theJaipur outfit salvage a draw.

In fact, Jaipur will rue their missedchances as they held a one-point lead with lessthan a minute left on the clock.

But a final minute blunder by Jaipur'sSachin Narwal handed Steelers a point as theysquandered a great opportunity move to thefifth spot.

At second place, Haryana now have 49points, 10 less than Dabang Delhi from 14matches, while Jaipur are outside top-six with41 points.

The teams went into the match with con-trasting forms as Haryana were on a roll with

Lessons from the pastSA vice-captain says players picking brains of IPL regulars de Kock, Miller ahead of 1st T20

South African captain Quinton de Kock runs with a rugby ball as teammate Dwain Pretorius tries to catch him during a practice session in Dharmsala AP

One goodWarner inningwill help us winseries: Langer

David Warner bats during nets AP

Roy dropped for Oval Test Aus hungry to seal Ashes

Mitchell Marsh chats with Justin Langer duringnets session ahead of Oval Test AP

Jaipur squander lead as Haryana secure drawfive wins, while Pink Panthers hadlost four games on the trot.

Jaipur started the match bright-ly as Pink Panthers had to rely onHooda's raiding prowess and thecaptain secured seven raid points inthe first-half.

The Pink Panthers inflicted anAll-Out on the Steelers in the 16thminute to open a six-point gap.

Haryana bounced back with thehelp of raider Vikas Kandola whowas ably supported by PrashanthKumar Rai.

Kandola's five-point raid in thedying minutes of the first-half gavethe Steelers their first All-Out of thematch and brought about a changein momentum.

The first half ended withHaryana leading Jaipur 18-14.

Haryana maintained their dom-inance in the second-half, withVinay also taking up the raidingduties.

Pink Panthers' lack of qualitysupport raiders for Deepak Hoodahurt them badly as Haryana's

defence held firm.Ravi Kumar picked up a High 5

for Haryana but Deepak Hoodaproduced a series of successful raidsto make it three-point game goinginto the final minutes.

Hooda also secured a Super 10and secured a personal milestone of800 raid points in the process.

The Pink Panthers' teamworkhelped them clinch another All-Outwith four minutes left on the clockto make it a nervous end to thematch for both sides.

Belgium tour like preparatorytest before final exam: Sreejesh

IANS n NEW DELHI

Sanjay Bangar has said that he won't be taking any offers outsideIndia immediately. Bangar's five-year tenure as India's batting

coach ended this month and the former batsman says that he willuse this much needed break to "reflect, refresh and reinvent."

"I have been travelling for five years, I don't think I may takeup roles outside India immediately," Bangar told Cricbuzz onWednesday. He said that despite being the only person among RaviShastri's coaching staff who lost his place when their contracts wererenewed, he does not have negative feelings about the situation andinstead views his tenure at the helm with pride.

"Being disappointed is a natural feeling, which lasted for justa few days. But I thank the BCCI and all the coaches, Duncan(Fletcher), Anil (Kumble) and Ravi (Shastri), for giving me an oppor-tunity to serve Indian cricket for five years.

"I look back on the progress the team made since 2014 and beingNo. 1 in Tests for three years in a row with happiness. We won 30out of 52 Tests played, 13 of them overseas. We also won consis-tently in ODIs in all countries. The only thing that eluded us wasthe World Cup," he said.

One of the biggest criticisms that came Bangar's way afterIndia's exit from the World Cup was the lack of a concrete optionat the number four position in limited overs. During the tourna-ment, KL Rahul played in the position and after the injury toShikhar Dhawan, it was Vijay Shankar who was played in that role.

"The entire team management and selectors were part of thedecision making for the No. 4 spot. The choice relied upon cur-rent form, fitness criteria, whether he was a left-hander, whetherhe could bowl, etc.," he said.

It was during his time that Virat Kohli consolidated his posi-tion as the best batsman in the world across all formats and RohitSharma and Shikhar Dhawan went from strength to strength asan opening pair. Cheteshwar Pujara also took his game to the nextlevel in Test cricket. However, Bangar's time also saw the inter-national career of Murali Vijay plateauing and Ajinkya Rahane'sinconsistency.

"Rahane missed out on converting a lot of 50s into 100s inthe last 18 months and contributed in all our overseas victoriesin Johannesburg, Nottingham and Adelaide. I was happy for himthat he eventually crossed the three-figure mark in West Indies,where he played a pivotal role in seaming conditions," said Bangar.

"As far as Vijay goes, when a player is playing only one for-mat, it adds to the challenge of immediately finding rhythm ininternational cricket if you are opening in tough overseas con-ditions.”

Look back at the progress teammade with happiness: Bangar

KL Rahul kits up before team practice session BCCI/Twitter

KL under scanner,Rohit likely choicefor Proteas Tests

Quinton and David haveplayed a lot of cricket inIndia. We will look tofeed off them and askthem a lot of questionsabout the conditions, thekind of bowlers we wouldbe facing so we canquickly adapt against astrong side like India—Rassie van der Dussen

AFP n LOS ANGELES

Peru grabbed a slice of revengefor their loss to Brazil in the

Copa America final, defeatingthe five-time World Cup winners1-0 in a friendly in Los Angeles.

A headed goal fromArgentina-based defender LuisAbram was enough to give Perua hard-fought win over theBrazilians on Tuesday.

The defeat brought an end toBrazil’s 17-game winning streak,a run which started with a vic-tory over the United States justover a year ago.

Brazil coach Tite meanwhileopted against starting Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar, four daysafter he had made a successfulreturn from injury with a goaland an assist in a 2-2 draw withColombia on Friday.

Tite, who had been reluctantto start Neymar in back-to-backgames as the striker regains fit-ness, brought on the PSG for-ward after 63 minutes in place ofLiverpool’s Roberto Firmino.

Neymar attempted to upthe tempo in attack, but wasunable to break the deadlock,with Brazil, who were also miss-ing Dani Alves and Thiago Silva,struggling to find their usualattacking rhythm.

Instead it was Peru whograbbed a winner, Abram risingto meet Yoshimar Yotun’s free-kick to glance in the winner.

MARTINEZ HAT-TRICKLautaro Martinez fired a

22-minute hat-trick as Argentinathrashed Mexico 4-0 in a friend-ly international in San Antonio.

Inter Milan striker Martinezscored in the 17th, 22nd and39th minutes at the Alamodometo give Argentina a deserved winover a lacklustre Mexico team.

Paris Saint-Germain mid-fielder Leandro Paredes scoredArgentina’s other goal from thepenalty spot after 33 minutes asthe South American giantsromped into a 4-0 lead at half-time.

sport 16HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

AFP n LONDON

England and Portugal both scored fivegoals while France scored three as theyovercame lowly-ranked Kosovo,

Andorra and Lithuania in Euro 2020 qual-ifying on Tuesday.

Captain Ronaldo, making his 160thinternational appearance, scored four asPortugal won 5-1 in Vilnius and strength-ened their position in Group B after a slug-gish start.

For Ronaldo it was a second hat-trick inthree internationals. The victory overLithuania, 130th in the world rankings, keptbrought Portugal five points behind Ukraineat the top of Group B.

Portugal, who opened the group withhome draws against Ukraine andSerbia, started their recovery witha victory in Belgrade on Saturday.They have a game in hand on allthe other teams in the group.

Ronaldo’s first goal was apenalty. The second, with thescores level after an hour, was ascuffed low shot from outside thepenalty area which took a couple of strangesbounces off the artificial turf before it wasparried into the air by the diving ErnestasSetkus. The dropping ball hit the back of thegoalie’s head before rolling in. The third wasa clinical volley from close range. The fourthwas a low shot into the corner.

Vytautas Andriuskevicius scored thehosts’ only goal before William Carvalhoadded a fifth for the reigning champions atthe end.

Serbia beat Luxembourg 3-1, asAleksandar Mitrovic netted twice, to solid-ify their grasp on third place. They are a pointbehind Portugal.

In Southampton, Gareth Southgate’sEngland side trailed early on to Kosovo,ranked 120th in the world, when ValonBerisha scored after 34 seconds. Englandreplied with a first-half goal binge that endedwith Jadon Sancho scoring twice to make it

5-1 at the break.

BIZARRE GAMEThe visitors claimed two back in the sec-

ond half, including a second for Lazio mid-fielder Berisha, but the 5-3 victory putEngland three points clear in Group A, aheadof the second-placed Czech Republic, whobeat Montenegro 3-0.

“A bizarre game,” said Southgate. “Theoutstanding parts of our play were obvious.The errors were obvious.”

In Paris, the world champions made lightwork of beating 136-ranked Andorra 3-0. Itwas Les Bleus’ 100th match at the Stade deFrance.

Antoine Griezmann missed a penalty for

his country for the second game running butKinglsey Coman, Clement Lenglet, with hisfirst on the international goal, and WissamBen Yedder clinched three points.

“It is really annoying. I’ll just need tokeep working. You can’t be on top of yourgame all the time,” Griezmann said.

Cenk Tosun scored twice as the Turksbeat Moldova with ease in a 4-0 victory inChisinau. But Iceland, who had been levelwith the top two, suffered a blow as they lost4-2 in Albania.

That result meant Iceland droppedthree points behind. It also changed thetiebreak, allowing Turkey to take first placefrom France.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Former captain Bhaichung Bhutia on Wednesdayhailed the Indian football team’s performance,

terming the result as a “great achievement”.He said the result can motivate the Indian play-

ers to have a shot at advancing further to the nextround.

“It was a big achievement, drawing against Asianchampions Qatar and that too in Qatar. This matchshould motivate the players to do well and instill con-fidence in the upcoming matches (of the World Cupqualifiers),” Bhutia said.

“The boys have played well against Oman andQatar and if they continue in the same way, therecan be a possibility for India to make it to the nextround, you never know. But it should not be a one-off performance and they should maintain it in thematches coming up,” he added.

Goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was the starof the match as he single-handedly stopped theQataris from scoring any goal by making at least 10saves.

“He was simply outstanding and he was the mainreason (for the draw),” the 42-year-old Bhutia saidof Gurpreet who also wore the captain’s armbandin the match against Qatar.

Talking further about the match against Qatar,Bhutia, who played 104 international matchesbetween 1995 and 2011, said, “India defended real-ly well, the players maintained the shape andremained compact throughout.

“Against Oman, India were dominating in thefirst half but let in two late goals. So, against Qatarit was very scary (thinking India may concede lategoals) but in the end they were able to keep theirnerves and did not commit any mistake.”

He, however, said that it’s early to judge headcoach Stimac as he is new to the job.

“It is too early to say anything about the coach.India has done well so far in these World Cup qual-ifiers and it should not be about one match or twomatches. It should be consistent,” said the formerstriker, who was known as ‘Sikkimese Sniper’ in hisplaying days.

PTI n DOHA

He is “more than happy”with the solitary pointthat the Indian football

team snatched by drawing againstAsian champion Qatar but coachIgor Stimac says he has told theplayers to stay grounded as theycan’t afford complacency duringFIFA World Cup Qualifiers.

The former Croatian interna-tional wants the Indian players tostay focussed and garner morepoints in their upcoming match-es. India dished out a gritty per-formance to Qatar to a goallessdraw in a FIFA World CupRound 2 qualifying match hereon Tuesday night.

“As a coach, I don’t have timeto waste in thinking too muchhigher than it was a few days agowhen we lost to Oman. Stilltoday as a coach, of course, I ammore than happy to get a pointagainst the reigning champions ofAsia,” Stimac said at the post-match press conference here.

“We need to improve in cer-tain areas, on the other hand, allcongratulations not just to my

players but also for Qatar. Therewas excitement in front of bothgoals, of course.”

“It was a great experience forus. All credits to my players, I amvery proud of my players. But themessage to the team is to keepyourself down as it is just a point,”he added.

Despite playing without theirtalismanic captain and strikerSunil Chhetri, who was laid lowby fever, the Indians deniedQatar, who won the Asian Cuptitle in January, despite the homeside managing more than adozen shots on target.

“Qatar deserved more fromthis game. They created morechances today but we also hadmany chances,” Stimac said.

Stimac also took a potshot atthose who criticised his team’s fit-ness levels after India lost 1-2 toOman in their campaign-open-er, with both Oman goals com-ing in the final eight minutes.

The coach asserted that fit-ness was never a problem for hisside.

“You see, I cannot reply toeach comment after a game

because not many people are welleducated about football. We area fit team and we proved ittoday.

“We played against Qatarand we made space for ourselveseven in the last minutes. Wemade sprints even in the 95thminute, showing a lot of concen-tration. So we showed good fit-ness,” Stimac said.

India will play Bangladesh intheir next World Cup qualifying

match in Kolkata on October 15and the coach expects a fullhouse at the mecca of Indianfootball.

“Our country has a popula-tion of over 1.3 billion peoplecompared to that this was a verysmall crowd.

“I want to see 80,000 peoplein Kolkata against Bangladesh.We deserve that and they need tocome and support us,” Stimacsigned off.

AFP n LONDON

England manager GarethSouthgate insists his side

must improve on "obvious"defensive errors after beingbailed out by another devastat-ing attacking display in athrilling 5-3 win over Kosovo inSouthampton.

Jadon Sancho scored hisfirst international goals andHarry Kane and RaheemSterling were also on target asSouthgate's men took their tallyto 19 goals in four Euro 2020qualifiers.

However, the good work ofthe front three was nearlyundone by mistakes from cen-tre-backs Michael Keane andHarry Maguire, as Englandconceded three goals at home ina qualifier for the first time in12 years.

"A bizarre game," saidSouthgate. "There were obviouspoor errors for goals but I'mreally pleased with the compo-sure we showed.

"We had devastating attack-ing play throughout and weused the ball well.

"The outstanding parts ofour play were obvious. Theerrors were obvious."

Kosovo had been on a 15-game unbeaten run stretchingback two years and were giventhe start to spark dreams of amonumental shock for a nationonly given FIFA membershipthree years ago.

Just 35 seconds in, a mis-placed pass by Keane allowedValon Berisha to fire past JordanPickford and give the visitors thelead.

England bounced back inemphatic fashion. It was anoth-er demonstration of the paceand firepower that will make theThree Lions among the

favourites for Euro 2020 oncethe formality of mathematical-ly securing their place at nextsummer's showpiece is out ofthe way.

The World Cup semi-final-ists moved three points clear atthe top of Group A ahead of theCzech Republic, who won, 3-0,in Montenegro. Kosovodropped to third, four pointsbehind. England have a game inhand on all four sides belowthem.

Sterling was in scintillatingform, but the Manchester City

winger scored his sixth goal inhis last six international capswas in unusual fashion, with atowering header from closerange.

Sterling then turnedprovider with a dangerous dartinto the Kosovar half before tee-ing up Kane to drill low pastAro Muric.

- Embarrassed -Sancho's low cross was then

turned into his own net byMergim Vojvoda and theStandard Liege right-back wasfurther embarrassed as England

struck twice more before half-time.

Sterling was too quick forthe Kosovo defence as he cut infrom the left before playing aperfectly weighted pass forSancho to fire in at the near postfor his first goal for his country.

A minute later, the 19-year-old had a second, againthanks to unselfish play fromSterling after leaving Vojvoda inhis wake.

"I'm delighted to score myfirst goal for England," saidSancho.

"It was a crazy game. Fivegoals and I'm just happy to gettwo of them."

Yet, for all England'sthrilling attacking play, therewere concerns for Southgateover their defending as thehosts let Kosovo back into thegame early in the second-half.

Berisha produced a secondcool finish after Keane wascaught under a cross from theright.

Maguire, the world's mostexpensive defender after an£80 million move fromLeicester to Manchester Unitedlast month, then clumsilybrought down Vedat Muriqiinside the area.

Muriqi dismissed Berisha'splea to take the spot-kick withthe chance to complete afamous hat-trick and theFenerbahce striker was relievedas Pickford just did not get astrong enough hand to save hispenalty.

At the other end,Manchester City goalkeeperMuric produced some heroicsas he saved Kane's powerfulpenalty and only the postdenied Sterling a sixth, butEngland had already doneenough to move another stepcloser to Euro 2020.

Indian goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu in a file picture

‘Great achievement’

“I feel extremely proud of the teamfor our performance against Qatar.The team-effort helped us achievethe result. It will help us immenselyin the qualifiers.”—GURPREET SINGH SANDHU

“We defended well in the first half.That was important as we werefacing the best team in Asia. At theinterval, the coach told us to comeout and attack, and enjoy ourfootball. That motivated us further.We played it around, and stretchedthem while maintaining our shapeall throughout.”

—ABDUL SAHAL

“This has to rank at the top. Qatarare an extraordinary side and thiswas a qualifier match as well whichmakes the result even sweeter forus. I'm glad that we could comehere to their home and return withpoints.”

—ANIRUDH THAPA

“Playing a team as strong as Qatarwho have won all their matchesagainst Asian sides in 2019, andnot conceding a goal is special.The credit for the result goes to theentire team. Stimac is building agood team. We are making goodprogress under him. I hope moreand more fans start believing inhim after this performance.”

—ADIL KHAN

IANS n NEW DELHI

India captain Sunil Chhetri isextremely proud of the way

the Blue Tigers fought valiant-ly against Qatar and held themto a goal-less draw in the secondmatch of the FIFA World CupQatar 2022 and AFC AsianCup China 2023 joint qualifiersRound 2 in Doha. Chhetri, who could not takepart in the crucial game on

Tuesday because of fever, tookto Twitter to express his joy afterIndia earned their first points inthe ongoing qualifiers.

“Dear India, that is myteam and those are my boys!Cannot describe how proud Iam at this moment. Not a bigresult for the table, but in termsof a fight, as big as it can get.Huge credit to the coaching staffand the dressing room,” Chhetritweeted.

‘Dear India, that’s my team’

Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri tweets afterBlue Tigers hold Asian Champions Qatarfor goalless draw in Doha on Tuesday

Indian players appreciate crowd gesture after the end of FIFA World Cup qualifier game against Qatar on Tuesday. India managed to hold Asian Champions for goalless draw ITF/Twitter

Anythingis possiblein football:Sandhu

More than happy to get a point: Stimac

PTI n DOHA

Star goalkeeper GurpreetSingh believes anything is

possible in football after a grit-ty India held Asian championsQatar to a goalless draw in aFIFA World Cup Round 2qualifying match.

“I feel extremely proud ofthe team for our performanceagainst Qatar,” said Gurpreet,who also worn the captain’sarmband.

“The team-effort helpedus achieve the result. It willhelp us immensely in the qual-ifiers.

“We have played just twomatches, and we have playedwell, that too against two pow-erful teams. It gives us thatadded motivation and confi-dence that in football, anythingis possible,” he added.

Custodian Gurpreet, whowas unbeatable under theIndian bar, credited the entireteam for stealing an unexpect-ed point from the away match.

“Everyone played theirhearts out, and gave everythingout on the pitch. That enabledus to come back to the dress-ing room, satisfied, and with avery crucial point,” he said.

He also thanked the Indianfans, who had turned up inlarge numbers.

“It was like playing at homeaway from home. The supportwas incredible. They spurredus on, cheering us all through-out,” he said.

England, France hammer minnows

Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring his fourth goal of the night against Lithuania AP

Neymar not enoughAbram strikes late as Peru down Brazil

Neymar reacts after end of Peru friendly AP

Southgate demands even morefrom 'devastating' England

England's Harry Kane, left, and Kosovo's Amir Rrahmani challenge for the ball AP

AFP n COLOMBO

Sri Lanka on Wednesday named deplet-ed squads for a six-match tour of

Pakistan, after 10 top players opted out cit-ing security concerns.

Lahiru Thirimanne has replaced one-day international skipper DimuthKarunaratne, who refused to join the touralong with T20 skipper Lasith Malinga.

Thirimanne will lead a 15-memberODI squad, while the 16-member T20squad will be led by Dasun Shanaka.

A majority of international teams haverefused to tour Pakistan following a March2009 militant attack on the Sri Lankan teambus during a Test match in Lahore.

The other eight players who opted outof the tour are Thisara Perera, Mathews,Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Perera,Dhananjaya de Silva, Akila Dananjaya,Suranga Lakmal and Dinesh Chandimal.ODI squad: Lahiru Thirimanne (Captain),Danushka Gunathilaka, SadeeraSamarawickrama, Avishka Fernando,Oshada Fernando, Shehan Jayasuriya,

Dasun Shanaka, Minod Bhanuka, AngeloPerera, Wanindu Hasaranga, LakshanSandakan, Nuwan Pradeep, Isuru Udana,Kasun Rajitha, and Lahiru Kumara.T20 squad: Dasun Shanaka (Captain),Danushka Gunathilaka, SadeeraSamarawickrama, Avishka Fernando,Oshada Fernando, Shehan Jayasuriya,Angelo Perera, Bhanuka Rajapaksha,Minod Bhanuka, Lahiru Madushanka,Wanindu Hasaranga, Lakshan Sandakan,Isuru Udana, Nuwan Pradeep, KasunRajitha, and Lahiru Kumara.

SL name depleted squads for Pak tour

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