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TOLLYWOOD 13SHARWAA GIVES PRECEDENCE

TO CHANDOO MONDETI

ANALYSIS 9THE SOCIOLOGY

OF BANKING

SPORTS 16NEHWAL RETURNS

WITH EASY WIN

HYDERABAD, THURSDAY AUGUST 1, 2019; PAGES 16 `3

}MLA SLAMSDEEPIKA, SHAHIDFOR ‘DRUGGED

STATE’ AT KJO PARTYPage 11

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RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

RANCHI BHUBANESWARDEHRADUN VIJAYAWADA

*LATE CITY VOL. 1 ISSUE 298*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

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Month & Paksham:Ashadha & Krishna PakshaPanchangamTithi : Amavasya 08:41 amPratipada: 05:11 am (Next Day)Nakshatram: Pushya: 12:12 pmTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

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CJI allows CBIinquiry againstHC judgeNEW DELHI: Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi has permittedthe Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) to regis-ter a case against S.N. Shukla,a judge of the Allahabad HighCourt, for his alleged role ina medical admission scam.

Justice Shukla has becomethe first sitting High Courtjudge to be investigated --after a gap of nearly 28 years.

Justice Shukla has beenaccused of extending favoursto a private medical college byallowing it to extend its dead-line to admit students, whichwas considered against theexisting rules and a violationof the Supreme Court order.

In 1991, the top court, inthe case of K. Veeraswamy,did not allow any investigat-ing agency to register a FIRagainst any sitting SupremeCourt or High Court judgewithout sharing the infor-mation on the nature of evi-dence with the Chief Justice.

CBI booksSengar,Minister's kinLUCKNOW: The CBI hasfiled a FIR charging BJPMLA Kuldeep Singh Sengarand nine others, including thekin of an Uttar PradeshMinister, with murder overthe road-truck accidentwhich left the Unnao girl whohad accused the MLA ofrape in a critical condition.

The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) has alsoregistered a FIR against 20other unknown persons.

The FIR against all of themhas been filed under varioussections of the Indian PenalCode including murder(302), attempt to murder(307), criminal intimidation(506) and criminal conspir-acy (120B).

Leopard spottedin Kukatpally PNS n HYDERABAD

A leopard has been spotted inthe vicinity of Pragati Nagar inKukatpally in the wee hours ofWednesday. Inhabitants of thecolony even captured theimage of the big cat near therocky terrain located betweenPragati Nagar andGajularamaram forest area.

This has led to a panicamong the residents, whohave alerted wildlife officials,following which a team leadby Forest Range OfficerSridevi investigated the areaand found no clues. "Noteven pug marks, because theterrain is rocky," said DeputyConservator of forests AShankaran, who is also theOfficer on Special Duty forWildlife in GreaterHyderabad.

Continued on Page 4

Doctors extract526 teeth from7-year-old CHENNAI: Doctors haveextracted an astounding 526teeth from the mouth of aseven-year-old boy in a raresurgery performed at thecity's Saveetha DentalCollege and Hospital, doc-tors said.

Suffering from a rare caseof "compound compositeondontome", the boy wasbrought to the hospital witha swelling in his lower rightjaw.

"The parents first noticedthe swelling when the boywas three years old. But theydidn't bother much as theswelling wasn't much thenand the boy did not cooper-ate with investigative proce-dures either.

Continued on Page 4

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Income Tax Departmenthas unearthed fresh evidencein the VVIP choppers scamcase after raiding a Hyderabad-based group, which purport-edly had dealings with RajivSaxena, who has been arrestedin the case, the Central Boardof Direct Taxes (CBDT) saidon Wednesday.

It said in a statement that taxsleuths searched the premisesof a business group on July 24,which is engaged in conduct-ing seismic data analysis. Itfound four undisclosed foreignbank accounts, three un-reported companies based intax havens, unexplained cash ofRs 45 lakh and jewellery worthRs 3.1 crore.

While the statement didnot identify the company orits promoter, official sourcesnamed the Hyderabad-basedfirm as AlphaGeo and itspromoter and CMD asDinesh Alla. Attempts weremade to contact the compa-ny but it did not respond toneither an email nor phonecalls.

The Central Board of DirectTaxes, which frames policyfor the tax department, allegedin the statement the group"indulged in large scale over-invoicing of imports through aDubai-based operator who is

an accused in a VVIP chopperscam."

The sources identified theaccused as Rajiv Saxena,deported to India from Dubaiearly this year in connectionwith the Rs 3,600-croreAgustaWestland VVIP chop-pers scam case.

On his deportation, theEnforcement Directoratearrested Saxena and he is nowin judicial custody.

CBDT said the surplus fundsgenerated by the Hyderabad-based firm through allegedover-invoicing totalled USD 6million and it was parked inDubai-based accounts ofSaxena.

"During the search, incrim-

inating evidence includingemail and mobile conversa-tions were found between themain director of the searchedcompany and the Dubai-basedoperator (Saxena), pertainingto over-invoicing of imports,"it said.

When confronted, the state-ment said, the persons con-cerned admitted to over-invoicing.

The raid, conducted by theDelhi investigation wing ofthe department, led to detec-tion of at least four additionalundisclosed foreign bankaccounts in UBS Bank inSwitzerland, OCBC Bank inSingapore, Citizens Bank in theUS and Bank of Nevis

International in St Kitts(Caribbean islands).

Moreover, three undisclosedcompanies of the promoter intax havens like British VirginIslands, Island of Nevis andSingapore were also detected,it said.

The unexplained cashamounting to Rs 45 lakh hasbeen seized and the jewellerywith an estimated worth of Rs3.1 crore is being verified, thestatement added.

On January 1, 2014, Indiascrapped the contract withFinmeccanica's British sub-sidiary AgustaWestland forsupplying 12 AW-101 VVIPchoppers to the Indian AirForce over alleged breach ofcontractual obligations andcharges of paying kickbacks tothe tune of Rs 423 crore by itto secure the deal.

L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao has assuredthat the state government wouldprovide the necessary financialsupport to power generation anddistribution companies inTelangana. He maintained thatall the required measures will betaken to prevent electricityorganisations from sufferingany financial crisis, as they havealready proved their mettle ingeneration, distribution andsupply of power. They haveeven stood as role models to oth-ers in the country.

"Since the state's develop-ment is dependent on the work-ing of electricity organisations,the government would protectthem," the Chief Ministerassured.

He said his government'smotto is "no power breakdowneven for the wink of an eye, nofinancial trouble for the elec-tricity organisations". Heannounced that a stringentmethod would be put in place,so that government institutions,departments and local bodiespaid their power dues on time.Chandrasekhar announced thata "power week" will be observedshortly in all the villages andtowns in the state to settle allpower-related problems andissues.

Continued on Page 4

NAVEEN KUMAR n HYDERABAD

A software engineer fromMadhapur, who lost Rs 25lakh in ponzi schemes pro-moted by QNET, the Malaysia-based Multi-Level Marketing(MLM) firm, which hasallegedly cheated lakhs ofinvestors across the country,killed himself at his residenceearly on Wednesday morning,as he could not get thepromised returns. Thedeceased has been identified as31-year-old Aravind Adapa,an employee of Accenture inHiTEC City and a native ofSrikakulam. Police said no sui-cide note has been found.

Aravind was residing at CSRResidency in Madhapur whilehis family was at their nativeplace. "He invested his savingsof Rs 25 lakh in QNET and has

not received any returns so far.Depressed, he locked himselfup in his room on Tuesday ataround 10 pm. On Wednesdaymorning at 6:30 am, when hisroommate broke open the doorafter repeatedly calling out tohim, he found Aravind hang-

ing from the ceiling," saidMadhapur Police Inspector SVenkat Reddy. Police haveinformed Aravind's fatherRamchander, who has reachedthe city with his family toclaim the body.

Speaking on QNET, top offi-cials of Cyberabad police saidthat the brand was operatingsince 2012 under a companynamed Vihaan Direct Selling(India) Private Ltd. It was thelatest avatar of former moneycirculation companiesGoldquest InternationalPrivate Ltd (formed in 2001)and Questnet Enterprises IndiaPrivate Ltd (formed in 2004)and promoted by the QI group.

Continued on Page 2

While the CBDTstatement did notidentify the companyor its promoter, officialsources named theHyderabad-based firmas AlphaGeo and itspromoter and CMD asDinesh Alla

PV KONDAL RAOn KHAMMAM

In a fierce encounter betweenBhadradri Kothagudem policeand naxalites of the CPI MLNew Democracy group, topnaxalite leader Linganna waskilled and certain other nax-alites injured on Wednesday.The encounter between thepolice and naxalites took placewithin the RollagaddaDevallagudem forests.

On coming to know of theincident, villagers ofDevallagudem tried to preventthe police from taking awayLinganna's body, calling theencounter a fake one and alsopelted stones on the policeparty. Police then opened fireto disperse the villagers.

Tension was palpable with-in the Gundala forest belt tillthe evening. Additional forceswere rushed in to prevent anyuntoward incident.

According to police, thenew democracy naxalites wereholding a meeting to mark theMaoist Martyr Memorial Weekat Devallagudem village with-in the Rollagadda belt ofGundala forests in BhadradriKoththagudem district. On atip off, police forces sur-rounded the area. When thenaxalites came to know of it,they opened fire to make goodtheir escape from the scene.Police returned the fire and in

the resulting encounterLinganna was killed.

When police tried to shiftthe dead body of the slain nax-alite, villagers in the forestbelt resisted terming theencounter a fake one. Theprotest by the villagers lastedfor 2-3 hours. Police sum-moned additional forces in anattempt to take away the bodyfrom the encounter spot.Villagers then started peltedstones following which policeopened fire in the air and dis-persed the villagers.

Meanwhile, spokespersonof CPI ML New Democracy,West Godavari district, UVenkateshwar Rao, released astatement terming theencounter as a cold bloodedmurder by the police. Thenaxalite leader said the NewsDemocracy Dalam was hold-ing a meeting when policesurrounded the area andopened fire unilaterally. Hedemanded that the policerelease the remaining nax-alites it had taken into custodyunharmed.

When police tried to shift the dead body of the slainnaxalite, villagers in the forest belt resisted termingthe encounter a fake one. Police open fire in air todisperse villagers before taking away the body

Villagers wailing over the body of Linganna, an alleged naxalite leader, who waskilled in an 'encounter' by the police on Wednesday

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Rashtra Samithiworking president KT RamaRao said on Wednesday thatthe Congress was not able tofind any issue to take on theruling party. The grand oldparty was at a loss to determinewhat step it should take next,he commented, while talkingto media persons at TRS head-quarters here.

KTR pointed out howCongress leaders had made tallclaims in the past and evenvowed not to shave theirbeards if they failed to vote theparty to power. "Everyoneknows what happened in theend. The TRS would teach abitter lesson to the Congress inthe forthcoming municipalelections too," he observed.

Sharing details of the party'smembership drive, KTR saidthat the TRS focused on build-ing the party and training itsworkers. Since June 27 over 50lakh people had enrolled in theparty as members. All mem-bers would get accident insur-

ance benefits, he said. TheUnited India AssuranceCompany was paid a premiumof Rs 11.21 crore towards pre-mium, he added. KTRthanked party leaders whohad taken active part in con-ducting the membership drive.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Court onWednesday asked petitionersas to why a new assemblybuilding cannot be construct-ed by the state government ina new state like Telangana.

The HC also asked peti-tioners if the state govern-ment did not have the powerto show off or display its mightby building a new assembly

building complex. In this con-text, it noted that several otherstates in the country havetaken up construction of new

assembly buildings. A division bench of the

High Court, comprising ChiefJustice RS Chauhan and Justice

Shameem Akhtar, made theseobservations while hearing abatch of petitions filed by dif-ferent people opposing thedecision of the state govern-ment to demolish the IrrumManzil heritage building tobuild a new assembly complex.During the course of the hear-ing, the court also gave exam-ples of states like Rajasthan tosupport its question.

Continued on Page 2

TRS working president K T Ramarao being felicitated at the party headquarters inHyderabad

Aravind Adapa

PNS n MANGALURU

Cafe Coffee Day (CCD)founder-chairman V.G.Siddhartha is no more, as hisbody was found in Karnataka'sNetravathi river, near here,police said on Wednesday. Hewas 60.

"Two fishermen foundSiddhartha's body early thismorning about 500 metresaway from the road bridgefrom where he alleged to havejumped into the river onMonday night,a MangaluruPolice Commissioner SandeepPatil told reporters here.

The port city of Mangaluruis about 360km west ofBengaluru.

The body was found by thefishermen near Hoige Bazar introusers but without shirt.

"The body has been shifted to

the state-run Wenlock hospitalmortuary here for autopsy.

Continued on Page 2RELETED REPORTS IN PAGE 2

The HC also asked petitionersif the state government didnot have the power to showoff or display its might bybuilding a new assemblybuilding complex

Speaking on QNET,top officials ofCyberabad policesaid that the brandwas operating since2012 under acompany namedVihaan Direct Selling(India) Private Ltd

Discoms avert powercrisis for a week

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao presiding over a high-level meeting onpower sector at Pragathi Bhavan in Hyderabad on Wednesday

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana power dis-tribution companies (dis-coms) have averted animpending power crisis inthe state for a week.

The two discoms (TSSPD-CL and TSNPDCL) onWednesday opened Letters ofCredit (LoCs) in various banksfor a short duration of oneweek to meet the Centre'sAugust 1 deadline on 'pay firstand get power" from powergenerating companies (gen-cos). As per a directive of theCentre, power supply for dis-coms would otherwise havebeen stopped.

The TS discoms were sup-posed to open the LoC for a

period of one month bydepositing Rs 1,017 crore inbanks. But they are alreadyreeling under severe financialcrisis and unable to depositsuch a huge amount. The dis-coms had sought the help ofstate government to come totheir rescue last week.However, there has been noresponse from the state gov-ernment till today noon.

With this, TS discomsdecided to open one-weekduration LoC with whateverlittle funds available with them.Incidentally, the Centre haspermitted discoms to openeven one-day duration LoCbased on their financial con-dition.

Continued on Page 4

Family members and relatives pay their last respects to the mortal remains of CafeCoffee Day founder VG Siddhartha, in Chikmagalur.

Siddhartha’s body found in Netravathi river

I-T unearths Hyd companylink to VVIP choppers scam

Why can’t a new Assembly be built, asks HC

Techie incurs huge loss in QNETponzi schemes, commits suicide

Top naxal leader Linganna killed in ‘encounter’ with police

Opposition has no issue totake on TRS: KTR

Will save discoms fromfinancial crisis: CM KCR

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Friends, first dates and love of coffee: Fond memories of Café Coffee DayPTI n BENGALURU

Before India could order a'venti chai latte' fromStarbucks, before Coffee Beanand Tea Leaf turned into acommon sight at the mall, andbefore Mocha's Oreo-ladenmilkshakes became an after-college indulgence, there wasCafé Coffee Day. When VGSiddhartha's iconic coffeechains first started in 1996, itwas more than just the creatorof Tropical Icebergs and Deathby Chocolates - Coffee Daybrought a long-awaited caféculture to India.

After news broke ofSiddhartha's death onWednesday morning, politicaland business communitiesmourned the loss of the entre-preneurial leader, dubbed himthe "coffee king" of India.

But many also recognisedthat Siddhartha had giventhem something else - a spaceto hang out with friends afterschool or just make use of thefree WiFi outside the office; thesite of first dates, first coffeesand first loves; a refuge fromthe pressures of school, officeand parents.

Even before cafés becamethe norm in Indian cities, itwasn't difficult to get a goodcup of coffee. But the experi-ence offered by chains likeAdigas and Shanti Sagar werequick and easy affairs - steel

tumblers of boiling hot coffeeto be drunk as quickly asthey're served so you couldmake way for the next set ofcustomers. India Coffee Houseand other older coffee shopswere more relaxed settings, buthad only a handful of locationsin each city.

CCD, however, spread quick-ly and widely, and it was rarelyin a hurry to kick you out.

"It's one of my favourites forcoffee, since Barista cut downon their branches. My favouriteused to be the chocolate shots,but they were stopped a whileago. My boyfriend's favourite iscaramel cappuccino," MadhavP, working in business devel-opment in Hyderabad, said.

Just like most of students whogrew up inThiruvananthapuram, Nithin, a

final year engineering student inKerala's capital city, has count-less memories of the city's first-ever CCD outlet in Kowdiar."CCD is to me what the IndianCoffee House was to my fatherand his friends. Me and the boysused to just loiter in CCD afterour tuition classes near theoutlet," Nithin recalled.

Ann Mary John, a PR pro-fessional in Hyderabad, saidshe went to CCD for the firsttime with an old boyfriend. "I

had coffee for the first time inmy life because he wanted meto try it, and surprisingly Iliked it," she said. Theboyfriend left, but the love forcoffee stayed on.

CCD was also strategicallylocated near schools andbecame a go-to spot for stu-dents. "When we were inschool and our parents didn'tapprove of going out toomuch, the most acceptablehangout was CCD. It was justthe most sought-after chillingspace of my generation," saidKirtana Ponnuswamy, whostudied at Bishop Cotton Girls'School in Bengaluru.

What's more, for youngpeople who had to find a wayaround their parents' strictrules, CCD became a happycompromise. "In our family,

once engaged, the boy and girlare allowed to meet alone onlyat CCD, after parent's approval.Be it arranged or love, CCDwas a go-to place," saidJhankar, a PR professional.

Some took to Twitter toshare memories of CCDs intheir cities. "As friends in var-ious businesses in our late30s, we as a group catch up atCCD one Saturday afternoonevery month. We have a goodtime. It's the only time we havefor frolic with friends in themonth," tweeted VinodSreeramalu, from Chennai.

And that experience wasn'tjust limited to cities, but high-ways as well. Independentjournalist Subha J Rao recalled,"Once we were driving fromSalem to Shivamogga and tookthe village route. There was abig hotel en route but therestroom was terrible. Then, aswe were driving past the villageof Arsikere, suddenly thisCCD popped up like an oasis."

Talking about why spottinga CCD on the highway was ajoy, she says, "What I'll remem-ber with gratitude, as willmany other women, is that itmeant decent restrooms, ararity till then."

Since opening in 1996, CCDhas grown to include roughly1,700 cafes, around 48,000vending machines, 532 kiosksand 403 ground coffee-sellingoutlets.

PTI n BENGALURU

Siddhartha Hegde was theonly son of Gangaiah andVasanthi Hegde, born after alot of prayers and offeringsmade to gods and goddesses.He made it big, creating CaféCoffee Day and turning it to aninternational brand. The brightson took Chikmaglur Coffee toevery nook and corner ofIndia and even abroad.

While the country ismourning the Coffee King'sdeath, his 96-year-old fatherGangaiah Hegde, still does notknow that his beloved son isno more. When the CCDfounder, who went missingsince Monday night, wasfound dead early Wednesdaymorning on the banks of theNetravati river nearMangaluru -- his senile fatherwas battling for his life in aprivate hospital in Mysore.According to his family mem-bers, he is now slipping intocoma.

Fifteen days ago, GangaiahHegde was admitted toShanthaveri Gopala Gowdahospital in Mysore, which is

run by a relative ofSiddhartha's father-in-law andformer chief minister ofKarnataka, SM Krishna. Hisfamily claims that the oldman is suffering from agerelated issues and the possi-bility of him recovering isbleak.

Just three days ago,Siddhartha had gone toMysore to see his father.According his cousin, the sonwas in tears on seeing hisfather's deteriorating health.

"I did not know that it washis last meeting with hisfather. Siddhartha was therefor a few hours and left,promising that he will returnsoon. Who knew what washappening in his mind?" saidone of his relatives.

It was just themost sought-after chillingspace of mygeneration,"said KirtanaPonnuswamy,who studied atBishop CottonGirls' School inBengaluru

‘Operation Muskaan’rescues 3,470 kids in TSPNS n HYDERABAD

More than 3,000 children,including five from Nepal, wererescued from different parts ofTelangana as part of 'OperationMuskaan' from July 1 to 31, asenior official said Wednesday.

During the operation, chil-dren residing in shelter homes,platforms, roads, religious placeswere screened and as many as3,470 children including 3,024boys and 446 girls were rescued,Joint Director, Integrated ChildDevelopment Services (ICDS) atDepartment of WomenDevelopment and ChildWelfare, KRS Laxmi Devi toldreporters here.

Out of the 3,470 rescued chil-dren, 2,992 of them belong to

Telangana state, while 309 arefrom states like Bihar, MadhyaPradesh, and Rajasthan, amongothers. Five children are fromNepal, Devi said.

All those rescued are below18-years of age. Most of themhave been handed over to theirparents. Those belonging toother states have been sent totheir respective destinations.Some have been sent to ChildHome run by the department,she explained. Particulars of thechildren rescued have beenuploaded on the Missing Childportal of the Ministry of Womenand Child Development andalso shared with media. This willenable parents, relatives andpolice to get information aboutthese children, she added.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Agriculture and Civil SuppliesMinister S Niranjan Reddyhas said that e-PoS machineswill be introduced to supplyfine variety of rice to mid-daymeals scheme being served inschools to rule out any irreg-ularities and to ensure greatertransparency in rice distribu-tion.

From August 1, fine varietyof rice would be supplied toover 28,623 governmentschools for the Septemberquota.

Every month 12,000 MT offine variety of rice would be

distributed to benefit 8.76 lakhstudents in 3,965 social welfarehostels and 23,87,751 schoolstudents, he said.

The e-PoS system is intro-duced to rule out any irregu-larities in supply of rice,Niranjan Reddy said, referringto supply of rice also to hostelsand Anganwadi centersthrough e-PoS system.

The system will help keeptab on how much rice is dis-tributed, how much is stillrequired and know the open-ing and closing balancedetails.

The system would helpclosely monitor the whole dis-tribution operations. Themonitoring will be donethrough command controlcentre, the minister said.

Wait gets longer for Salar Jung bridge NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

The wait for Salar Jung pedes-trian bridge is going to be long.The architectural design for thenew pedestrian bridge acrossRiver Musi opposite Salarjungwas approved by ChiefSecretary SK Joshi in January,but there has been literally noprogress on it since then.Officials said the Model Codeof Conduct (MCC) kicking inone after the other for a seriesof elections has put the projecton hold. As per the MCC, newworks that are at tender-sub-mission stage must be kept onhold. A senior civic officialsaid, "We can hear about someprogress on the bridge onlyafter the municipal elections.Despite GHMC not going to

polls, the announcement orcommencement of works isdirectly or indirectly influ-enced by the upcoming elec-tions."

From the inception of

Charminar PedestrianisationProject (CPP), there has beena demand for an additionalbridge across River Musi toaccommodate hawkers andvendors. The official said that

all hawkers at Charminar willbe relocated. He said, "We arenot shifting them right now asthere is no alternative arrange-ment. Once this bridge comesup, we will have a reason to tellthe hawkers to move. Ourintention was that the designshould be in sync with thearchitecture, hence the bridgenow costs a bit more." Thestructure is estimated to costRs 231.5 crore.

Fruit vendors, who weremoved from Charminar earli-er, were relocated atCharkamam. However, this

met with a major resistancefrom the jewellers' associa-tions and it was decided torelocate them by building abridge at Nayapul. The 10-year-old CPP has constantlybeen delayed due to variousreasons like funds crunch,transfer of officials and resis-tance from hawkers, shopowners and politicians.However, since 2014, about 40per cent of the work related tothe project has been complet-ed and about a fortnight agoelectric bollards were installedat the historic monument.

Despite GHMC not going to polls, thecommencement of works will bedirectly or indirectly influenced by theupcoming municipal elections

Why can’t a new Assemblybe built, asks HCContinued from Page 1

Responding to the questionraised by the High Court, thecounsel for one of the petition-ers Nalin Kumar said the peti-tioners do not have any objec-tion if the state government builtthe assembly building in anopen place. Their oppositionwas to the decision of state gov-ernment to demolish the her-itage Irrum Manzil for build-ing the new assembly complex.

The counsel pointed out tothe HC that heritage buildingsfrom the city were included in

the HMDA Master Plan as perRegulation 13 of the HMDAZoning Regulations. AHeritage ConservationCommittee was formed as perthis regulation. The counselmaintained that the state gov-ernment did not have powersto remove the heritage build-ings from the list withoutcomplying with Regulation 15of the zoning regulations. Hestated that the state govern-ment had decided to demolishthe heritage building withouttaking permission from theconservation committee.

Siddhartha’sbody found...Continued from Page 1

It will be handed over toSiddhartha's family andtaken to Chikkamgalurufor the last rites," UllalCongress legislator and for-mer minister U.T. Khadarsaid.

"It was identified to beSiddhartha's with a goldring on his right hand fin-ger, a digital watch on hisleft hand and shoes he waswearing when he appears tohave jumped off the roadbridge.

On asked about the bodyfound with the torso nakedand only trousers on,Khader said though it wasfor the police to investigatewhether he took them offbefore jumping into theriver, as they were not foundon the bridge or in thevicinity during the 36-hourlong search operation.

The 36-hour long massivesearch in the river had con-tinued over the last two nightwhich led to the spot wherethe body surfaced and seenby the two fishermen.

"The body will be kept forhomage by the public atChikkamgaluru and the lastrites will be performed atSiddharatha's native villagein the Coffee district.

On Tuesday, a fishermanhad claimed to have seen aman jumping into theNetravathi river from thesame bridge, almost 24hours after his driver raisedan alarm about the missingbusinessman.

Fine rice for mid-day meals via PoS

S Niranjan Reddy

Techie incurs hugeloss in QNET,commits suicideContinued from Page 1

"The promoters have beenforming new companies asand when law enforcementagencies start taking legalaction against their moneycirculation frauds based onpublic complaints across thecountry. Also, to attract new-entrants into their network ofmoney circulation, they comeup with a new brand everytime they legally and social-ly exhaust themselves," asenior officer said.

The Cyberabad Police havearrested as many as 70 peo-ple and booked about 30cases so far in these cases.

QNET has, however,released a statement claimingthat reports that the death ofthe techie was because of himincurring loss due to QNETis false. It further said that hewas a distributor who iden-tified himself as a 'HappilyUnemployable Entrepreneur'.

"At this time, we have notreceived any requests fromauthorities about this matter.We will provide all necessaryinformation to assist in theinvestigation, if requested,"said the firm.

Enrolling members in anendless fortune hunt

QNET SWINDLE

PNS n HYDERABAD

Enrolling members in an end-less fortune hunt seems to bethe only requirement for thegullible who get sucked intothe net woven by the likes ofQnet.

Several victims of Qnet andmany of its former companies,who formed an associationbased in Mumbai, have evenlaunched a legal battle to bringthe promoters of the shadycompany to book. They arealso creating awareness amongvulnerable sections in society,particularly youth, to see to itthat they do not fall prey to theschemes of the company.

The prize chit/benefit/sav-ings schemes benefit primar-ily the promoters and do notserve any social purpose, saida report which James S.RajStudy Group submitted to theReserve Bank of India in 1975on deceptive money circula-tion schemes in the country.

Still, the promoters of Qnethave been indulging in decep-tive tactics to circumvent thesurveillance of law enforce-ment agencies and the judi-ciary, said CyberabadCommissioner V.CSajjanar."In fact, deception isthe key to propagate the pyra-mid schemes as the newly-to-be recruited person is to beconvinced of buying theopportunity rather than ofconvincing him/her of buy-

ing/selling the product. Here,the business opportunity issold, which is earning hugecommissions and the sellergains only through payment ofcommissions to him byenrolling more members onhis chain" he said.

The key difference betweendirect selling and pyramidschemes is that in direct sales,the person making sales getsmaximum commissions andhis uplines get progressivelylesser and lesser than him,whereas in pyramid schemes,the primary seller at first doesnot get any commission but asthe pyramid beneath himgrows, he gets massive com-missions far in excess of pri-mary seller/recruiter. Thismotivates persons to recruitrather than to sell directly toearn huge money.

"Adding a product to thepyramid scheme is the latesttrend in the evolution of suchmoney circulation schemes.They target the most vulner-able section of society and theproducts are mostly unbrand-ed and sourced fromunscrupulous agencies.

CCD founder's 96-yr-old

father unaware of son's death

An artist’s impression of the Salar Jung bridge

RIMEORNERC

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | AUGUST 1, 2019 hyderabad 03

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PNS n HYDERABAD

In a brazen case of police high-handedness, a cop in muftipinched, pushed and jostledwith female medical students,taking advantage of his uni-formed colleagues' chargedaction to quell protests bytwo groups of students onWednesday.

The ugly incidents tookplace during protests held bystudents of Unani College. Avideo that captured the inci-dents has gone viral on socialmedia platforms. It clearly

shows the constable in muftipinching the student's backeven as she is screaming inpain while being dragged by awoman cop.

The protests were a sequelto the vandalism that tookplace on Tuesday when stu-dents of the GovernmentNizamia General Hospitaltargeted the in-patient wardof the GovernmentAyurveda Hospital, housedin the same compound, andheckled the staff and theDuty Medical Of f icer(DMO) since they had notvacated their portion of the

premises as per plan.According to the hospitalstaff, over 200 PG students ofUnani College entered thehospital around 3:30 pmasking patients and doctorsto vacate the premises.

In response, students of theAyurvedic wing protested onWednesday demanding justiceand chanting slogans "we wantjustice". They asserted thatthey would not vacate thebuilding as demanded by

Unani students. Personnel of the Hyderabad

City Police - South Zone thenreached the spot and starteddispersing the protestors. Inthe melee, a police constable,identified as Pramesh of

Charminar Police Station, whowas in mufti, had the temeri-ty to pinch a girl's shoulder asa woman cop was draggingher.

However, speaking on theissue, the DCP of South Zone,Amber Kishore Jha said thatappropriate action will betaken against the man and thatthe video is being verified bythe police staff. "Restoringpeace and women's safety isour utmost priority," said theofficial.

The Government AyurvedaHospital was asked to be tem-porarily shifted to Erragadda

by July 25, to carry out reno-vation works.

Sheikh Mohammad, a PGscholar from the UnaniCollege said, "The students inour college are facing spacecrunch ever since Al ArifUnani Medical College andResearch Centre's licence wasrevoked and 100 students wereshifted to our college. TheAyurveda department wassupposed to vacate the premis-es by July 25. However, theyhave refused to vacate andhave stayed put in our build-ing. So we decided to do itourselves," he said.

The ugly incidents took place during protests held bystudents of Unani College. A video that captured theincidents has gone viral on social media platforms. Itclearly shows the constable in mufti pinching thestudent's back even as she is screaming in pain whilebeing dragged by a woman cop

MJ Market restoration to be completed by DiwaliPNS n HYDERABAD

While the announcementof restoration of MoazamJahi (MJ) Market byPrincipal Secretary ArvindKumar drew a lot of cheerfrom city residents lastyear, the delay is a tale initself. Officials now saythat it was hasty to thinkthe work would be com-pleted in 3 months.

Talking about the intri-cacies of delay, Arvindsaid, "The roof is arch-shaped and we thoughtrain-proofing on topwould suffice. But when wewent there, the iron onwhich the arches were sup-ported were rusted andcould come down any day.

It couldn't have been donein three months, but thedelay is not deliberate.Even though the brickswere strong, the iron struc-ture for the entire roofhad to be replaced. Thatitself took about 10months."

He said phase I of therestoration is likely to becompleted by Diwali."Underground cabling istaking time, but we arenearly done. We don't usecement, but lime mortar. Itis sturdy and takes time toconsolidate. We put a mor-tar plant there itself. Onlything remaining is the light-ing and flooring. Our inter-nal target is to complete itby October."

The restoration works onthe mutton market side willbe taken up in phase II. Thefamous Bilal ice-cream mar-ket cannot block the com-mon area which is availablefor use to everyone. In thecommon area, furniture willbe put up for which contri-butions will be sought.Lighting will be on heritagepatterns, and shop nameboards will be uniform. Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar surveying the site with officials on Wednesday

The restorationworks on themutton marketside will betaken up inphase II

Accused Marri Reddy

Chargesheet filed in Hajipur serialkillings' case

Rachakonda Police have onWednesday filedchargesheets in the

Hajipur rape and murder cases.The chargesheets hold serialkiller Marri Srinivas Reddyguilty of raping and murderingthree minor girls at Hajipur inthe district. ACP Bhuvanagirihad investigated thesensational cases and filed thechargesheets before thePOCSO Court in Nalgonda onWednesday. RachakondaCommissionerate YadadriBhongir Zone DCP K NarayanaReddy pointed outinvestigations in the murder-and-rape cases have beencompleted within the stipulatedtime of 90 days. The DCPfurther said steps are beingtaken to ensure that trial isconducted by a fast track courtand conviction of the accusedis achieved quickly. SrinivasReddy is currently lodged inthe Warangal Central Jail Theaccused raped and murderedthree minor girls and a sexworker. All the girls were fromthe small village of Hajipur ofBommalaramaram block inNalgonda district. The last ofthe girls was reported missingbefore the horror storyunfolded, leading to Reddy'sarrest.

Plea againstshifting ofAyurveda hospitaldismissed

Meet on supportsystems formigrant workersPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana NRI official EChittibabu will attend theconsultative conference ofMigrant Forum in Asia to beheld in Philippines' capitalManila on August 3 and 4.

The conference will discussvarious support systemsavailable for migrant workers.The event will serve as aforum for delelgates fromgovernment and civil societyorganisations to share theirexperiences on available sup-port systems for overseasworkers.

Migrant Forum in Asiamembers from India, PNarayana and Manda BhimReddy, welcomed the partic-ipation of the Telangana NRIofficial in the event.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Courton Wednesday dismissed aPIL filed against shifting ofAyurveda hospital atCharminar to another place.It said that it cannot intervenein the policy decision of thestate government, while dis-missing the petition. Thepetition was filed by oneUmesh Agarwal, a native ofGhansi Bazaar of Charminar.

In his petition, Agarwalurged the HC to declare theproceedings of the state gov-ernment and the director ofthe department of Ayush ofthe state to shift the hospitalas illegal, arbitrary and illegaland in violation of the Article14 and Article 21 of theConstitution, and in violationof principles of natural jus-tice. He also urged the HC todirect the state governmentnot to shift the hospital atCharminar to any other placeand make alternative arrange-ments instead.

DOCTORS' STRIKE

OP services hit inTelangana govt hospitalsPNS n HYDERABAD

Doctors at most governmentand certain private hospitals inTelangana boycotted their elec-tive duties in protest againstthe National MedicalCommission Bill. Medical ser-vices throughout the state weredisrupted as a result, with ail-ing patients facing a lot ofinconvenience.

Telangana unit IndianMedical Association (IMA)secretary Sanjeev Singh Yadavsaid "Excluding a few corporatehospitals, about 16,000 IMAmember doctors and over

10,000 medical students par-ticipated in various forms ofprotests across the state". Theprotests will continue tillThursday morning.

The IMA secretary, howev-er, clarified that emergency andin-patient services were notaffected as they were exemptfrom the strike.

Outpatient services atOsmania, Gandhi and NIMSHospital in the city were affect-ed the most during the strike.

The National MedicalCommission (NMC) Bill,2019, provides for setting up ofan NMC in place of Medical

Council of India (MCI). Italso repeals the Indian MedicalCouncil Act, 1956. Further, ithas a provision for makingnational standards in medicaleducation uniform by propos-ing that the final year MBBSexam be treated as an entrancetest for PG and a screening testfor students who graduate inmedicine from foreign coun-tries.

Doctors allege that the NMCBill is highly objectionablewith controversial clauses. "Thebill is anti-poor, anti-peopleand anti-students," the protest-ing doctors maintain.

Moderate rain, drizzlethroughout the dayPNS n HYDERABAD

The IndianM e t r o l o g i c a lDepartment (IMD)officials on Wednesdayannounced that rainsacross the state arebridging the rainfalldeficit gap within thestate.

The State Capitalrecorded moderate toheavy downpour onFriday. A drizzle, how-ever, was prevalentthroughout the dayand scattered acrossvarious parts of thecity.

IMD has forecastthat light to moderaterain will be witnessedin the city and acrossthe state till August 4.

Since three days,there has virtually beenno sign of sun andtemperatures haveplummeted. Theweather was pleasant

on Friday with one ortwo spells of light andmoderate rain, apartfrom continual drizzle.According to theTelangana StateDevelopment andPlanning Society(TSDPS), the down-pour was moderate inOld City while therewas light rainfall inportions of the newcity.

Tamsi Mandal inAdilabad recorded 46mm of rainfall, followedby 26.3 mm at Nirmal.The state capital record-ed about 20 mm ofrainfall. But even shortspells of less than 30minutes inundated sev-eral areas of the city,causing traffic jams.Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation(GHMC) deployed itsteams to clear waterlogging in several areasof the city.

City sees rise inrespiratory problemsMAYANK TIWARIn HYDERABAD

There is a steep rise in the number ofpatients suffering from ChronicObstructive Pulmonary Disease(COPD) and Asthma along with theregular complaints of Tuberculosis atgovernment chest hospital, Erragadda.

"Patients usually complain aboutbreathing difficulties and most ofthem also have cough," said a pul-monologist working at Chest Hospital.

"Monsoon is the season of viruses,bacterias, and fungi and there are res-piratory problems in general, butproblems like COPD and pneumoniaintensify during this season becauseof bacterial or fungal growth inlungs," said the superintendent ofchest hospital, Dr Mahaboob Khan.

The number of patients at the out-patient facility has increased from 350to 500. "Sometimes we record close to600 patients in a day," he added.

There are over 300 beds at the chesthospital, and the inpatients areincreasing each day which adds pres-sure on the managing staff and doc-tors.

"Staff crunch has been an issue hereforever and we as doctors compromisea lot," continued Dr Mahboob. "Thereis an increasing pressure on hospitalslike Gandhi and Osmania, as they takein our patients who need to be admit-ted to the Respiratory Intensive CareUnit (RICU)," he said.

For over a year now, patients whoneed ventilators are being shifted toGandhi and Osmania Hospital fortreatment, because the sanctionedRICU machine at chest hospital is yetto arrive.

"We have made the space tohouse the new RICU equipment andare waiting for it to be deliveredbecause it is burdening other gov-ernment hospitals, especially duringseasons like these," added the super-intendent.

According to pulmonologists, atleast 20 patients who need ventilatorsare being transported to Gandhi andOsmania Hospitals for treatment.

For over a year now,patients who needventilators arebeing shifted toGandhi andOsmania hospitalsfor treatment,because thesanctioned RICUmachine at chesthospital is yet toarrive

Cop in mufti misbehaves with women protestors Hyderabad city police personnel at the protest held by girl students of Unani College at Charminar on Wednesday afternoon. (Pics 1, 2) Women constables try to restraint the students even as some of them shriek in fright. (3) Constables drag a girl student who has fallen on the ground. (4) Apolice official seems to be touching a girl inappropriately while she was looking away. (5) A constable (in checked shirt) seems to pinching a girl. (6) The same constable along with another cop seen touching another girl in her underarms. (7) The constable in checked shirt stands in front of apolice van at the start of the protest

1

4 5 6 7

2 3

BC panel holds meetSC, ST, minority school authoritiesPNS n HYDERABAD

In the meeting heldwith the authorities ofSC, ST, minoritygurukul educationalinstitutions onWednesday, theTelangana State BCC o m m i s s i o nChairmen, B S Ramulu,the Commission askedfor the details of thenumber of teachers andstudents belong toother 18 nomadic tribesin SC, ST, and MinorityGurukul Schools.

The chairmen saidthat in the process of 18nomadic tribes askingfor the inclusion of itscommunity studentsand teachers into BCcommission, the direc-tions were passed tothe Gurukul authoritiesto submit the details ofworking teachers andstudents studying inthe SC, ST, MinorityGurukul schools.

Besides, in themeeting the detailswith regards to thefacilities, amenities inSC, ST and Minorityschools along with thetime to time comple-tion of syllabus wassubmitted to the BCCommission by theGurukul schoolauthorities.

There are around204 Minority institu-tions enrolled with97,400 students, 239Social WelfareInstitutions having1,40,000 students, 281M a h a t m aJyothibapuley with96,000 students andwith 20,500 studentsin Rastriya ResidentialSociety.

The commissionalso asked the SC, ST,Minority Gurukulschools to submit fur-ther details regardingthe welfare of the stu-dents for review.

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | AUGUST 1, 2019 hyderabad 04

SUSHMA NAGARAJUn HYDERABAD

"States have no defined role ineducation" reads the DraftNational Education Policy(NEP). Citing this, theTelangana government hascondemned complete controlexercised by the Centre oneducation, right from pre-primary to higher education,under the draft. The statefeels ambiguity in the draftpolicy indicates a "hiddenconspiracy".

Speaking at a Workshop onDraft National EducationPolicy on Tuesday, TelanganaEducation Minister G JagadishReddy alleged that non-involvement of states in edu-cation under NEP indicates aconspiracy, which might turnout to be dangerous for thecountry's education system.

Supporting his contention,he pointed out that under

Draft NEP, constitution ofRastriya Siksha Aayog, an apexbody chaired by the PrimeMinister, is to ensure excellencein execution of education poli-cies. Though the commissionconstituted in this regard com-prises Chief Ministers of states,the control over the country's

education is in the hands of thecentre. This is unacceptable,the minister maintained;observing that the NEPnowhere precisely defines therole of state governments inframing curriculum, teachertraining, examination system,and so on.

However, Jagadish Reddyconcluded saying that sugges-tions made by educationalexperts will be listed and sent tothe committee for Draft NEP.Already 8,000 suggestions havebeen received by the committee."We hope our suggestions willbe considered," he added.

Draft NEP says states have norole in education: Minister

State govt condemns Centre's complete control on education; hints of ‘conspiracy'

En route hospital, womandelivers on bullock cart PNS n BEJJURU

A housewife delivered a babywhile on way to hospital. Thebaby was born while thebullock cart was crossing astream. She was identified asKondra Sankaramma ofSomini village in Bejjurumandal of Kumram-Bhimdistrict. The stream nearSomini village is in spate fol-lowing recent incessant rains.

The woman's family mem-

bers and some neighbourswere taking her to a hospitalwhich is five km away fromthe village. They used a bul-lock-cart as an ambulancewould not have made itthrough the flooded streamflowing across the village.

The mother and child aresafe and doing well, the fam-ily said. The incident high-lights the difficulty ruralpeople face in accessingmedical facilities.

PNS n BHEEMADEVARAPALLI

A man from Veleru mandal ofMahabubabad district recent-ly floated a firm offering work-from-home jobs to people.

Many unemployed personssigned up as members for a feeof Rs 2,600. The accused, run-ning the firm fromMulakanuru, also offeredthem a commission of Rs 500each for enrolling new mem-bers, apart from paying themfor regular work.

However, when the 'mem-bers' reached the firm's officeon Tuesday they found itclosed. This raised doubtsamong them about theauthenticity of the firm.

The 'members' had beengiven an assignment of writ-ing numbers from 1 to 1,000in a prescribed pattern, andoffered Rs 100 for every 10pages done, Rs 400 for 20papers and Rs 8,100 for 90

papers. The firm's rules said 'mem-

bers' had to do the assign-ment at home and submit thepapers in eight days. At first,the firm paid promisedmoney to those who submit-ted the papers in time. Thesecond week onwards, itstarted pointing out 'mis-takes' in the papers andreduced the remuneration tojust Rs 4 per paper. Some per-sons protested over slashingof their remuneration.

However, after finding thefirm's office locked, they sus-pected something amiss andreported the matter to thepolice. Mulukanuru SI TVRSuri said the police have sum-moned the firm's organiser.

Fake ‘work fromhome' firm surfaces

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana State Real EstateRegulatory Authority (TSRERA) decided to levy penal-ties on real estate projectswhich obtained developmentpermissions between January1, 2017 to August 31, 2018, butfailed to register with TSRERA.

Officials have decided tolevy penalties, as in spite of a

number of requests and exten-sion of deadlines, several realestate developers and compa-nies did not come forward toregistration.

A press release from TSR-ERA on Wednesday said thatpenalty amount will be decid-ed as per section 59 of TSR-ERA and all such projects will be publicisedthrough various media to cau-tion and protect home andproperty buyers from such

unregistered projects. TSRERA also announced

in the press release that no realestate promoter should adver-tise, market, book, sell or offerfor sale or invite persons topurchase in any manner anyplot, apartment or building, asthe case may be, in any realestate project or part of it, inany planning area, withoutregistering the project with theReal Estate RegulatoryAuthority.

TS RERA to crack downon unregistered projects

PNS n HYDERABAD

Many Telangana NRIs in theUS are attracted by theNarendra Modi government'spolicies and want to join theBJP to strengthen it, state BJPPresident K Laxman said hereon Wednesday.

"I was in the U.S.A for aweek. I met several NRIs andheld discussions with them.They said they feel proud nowas Indians because of Modisadministration. They want tojoin BJP and strengthen it," hetold reporters at a press meet.

He said many TelanganaNRIs who had earlier sup-ported the separate statehoodcall were now disillusionedabout the governance of chiefminister K ChandrasekharRao and believed BJP wouldemerge victorious in the 2023assembly polls.

Laxman complimented theModi government for ensur-

ing passage of a bill that makesinstant triple talaq amongMuslims a criminal offenceand alleged that the oppositionCongress had tried to stall it bycreating hurdles

The Telangana BJP, he said,was getting ready to fight thegovernment on two issues -'family rule' and corruption, hesaid.

Laxman said BJP wouldsoon come out with sufficientproof of the 'corrupt practies'of the KCR government.

NRIs keen to joinBJP, says TelanganaBJP chief Laxman

PNS n HYDERABAD

The perceived momentum forBJP in Telangana is non-exis-tent and is only a creation ofmedia, state Congress presi-dent N Uttam Kumar Reddysaid here on Tuesday.

BJPs "communal politics"would not succeed inTelangana, he said, in an infor-mal interaction with media-persons.

Reddy's comments came inthe wake of BJP pulling off sur-prise gains in the Lok Sabhapolls (bagging four of the total17 seats) and party leadersasserting that their party is thealternative to the ruling TRS inthe state.

He claimed the fightbetween BJP and TelanganaRashtra Samithi was "not forreal", as seen by the TRS sup-porting the RTI AmendmentBill last week. He said it wasonly the Congress, which is the

alternative to TRS in the state.The TPCC president said

Congress is gearing up theparty machinery for municipalelections, which are expectedto be held soon.

He observed that it is notcorrect to give powers toDistrict Collectors over munic-ipalities in the Municipalitiesbill, as also the provision ofremoving elected representa-tives for failing to ensure sur-vival of 85 per cent of plantsunder a green campaign.

Reddy expressed grief overthe demise of senior partyleader and former ministerMukesh Goud here.

Meanwhile, state Congressvice-president Mallu Ravidemanded that the TRSexplain why it abstained fromvoting in the Rajya Sabha onthe triple talaq bill.

The NDA government gotthe bill passed with the indirectsupport of TRS, he claimed ina statement.

"What will TRS tell Muslimsin Telangana on the issue," heasked. Ravi also demandedthat AIMIM talk about the roleof TRS in the triple talaq issueas TRS was its ally.

No real increase in support forBJP in Telangana: Uttam

Uttam's commentscame in the wake ofBJP leaders repeatedlyasserting that their partyis the alternative to theruling TRS in the state

AP CM Jagan inHyd for US visa PNS n HYDERABAD

Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy on Wednesday arrivedhere by a special flight toapply for a US visa at theOffice of the ConsulateGeneral of the United Statesat Begumpet here.

Jaganmohan Reddy isgoing on a tour to USA fromAugust 17 to 23, for the firsttime after taking over as theChief Minister of AP, alongwith his family. He is sched-uled to attend a meeting ofNRIs to be held at MichiganKobo Convention Center.

As per prior plans, he isscheduled to leave AndhraPradesh for Jerusalem onAugust 1, along with his fam-ily members. He will returnto AP on August 4.

His security officers SSGSP Senthil Kumar, CM's per-sonal security officer Joshiand certain other officerswill accompany the ChiefMinister on his pilgrimage.

Government sources saidthat the trip is being financedpersonally by the ChiefMinister.

State EducationMinister JagadishReddy alleged thatnon-involvement ofstates in educationunder NEPindicates aconspiracy, whichmight turn out to bedangerous

RAMAKRISHNA PERALA n KARIMNAGAR

Police in north Telangana areon high alert to thwart anyoffensive by the NewDemocracy Party of theNaxalites in their strongholdsin Nizamabad and theGodavari Loya region.

Patrolling has been intensi-fied subsequent to theencounter of rebel Linganna inthe Koththaguda Bhadradridistrict. Gundala forest terraininterconnects the Manthani-Mahamuththaram belt and theforest area. This area has servedas shelter for Naxalites over thepast few months.

The movement of NDPultras had been restricted to theManuguru, Illandu and itscontiguous parts till recently,

but they have now been usingthe Gundala-Eturnagaram-Mahamuththaram andManthani belt to expand theirnetwork, police sources said.

Following the encounter onWednesday, widespread comb-ing operations were launched inthe region and in the Narsampetbelt of Warangal rural district.Police have cordoned off certainforest pockets to search ofNaxalites injured in the incident.Police alert has been soundedeven in the Karimnagar forestterrain. Law enforcers suspectinjured Naxalites could try toescape through the forests here.

Police are taking necessaryprecautions in Nizamabad,where the frontal unit activitiesof NDP are visible, to containprotests in the wake of theGundala encounter.

High alert in Karimnagar after encounterMaoist’s couriertaken into custodyPNS n BHUPALAPALLI

Addit ional SP R ajaMahendra Naik on Tuesdaysaid that people searchingvehicles at Kamalapur cross-roads took into custody aMaoist courier, Thati PavanKumar, and confiscatedfrom him Leftist literature.

Disclosing this to media,the Additional SP said thatPavan Kumar, an autorick-shaw driver, abandoned histhree-wheeler and tried toescape when the policenabbed him.

When the police exam-ined his bag, they foundMaoist l iterature andposters. Upon interroga-tion, he was identified as acourier for the Maoist,belonging to Kasimpalli vil-lage.

Earlier, Pavan Kumaracted as courier for Maoistleader PPG Mohananna.Later, he moved toHyderabad and workedalong with Maoist Jampannaand was involved in several

land disputes settlements.He also developed links withMaoist Damodar during thecourse of his real estatedealings in Hanmakonda.

Prior to the Assemblyelections, he met Damodarsecretly in Dudekulapalliforest area nearBhupalapalli.

When offered work forthe party, he agreed. Hewas introduced to Maoiststate secretary Haribushanin Pusuguppa and Tamurelliforests in neighbouringChhattisgarh.

Pavan Kumar was askedto extend support to Maoistaction team in eliminatingan elected people's repre-sentative in Kataram, policesaid, and added that he tookanother person belonging toHanmakonda to theMaoists.

Haribushan was quoted assaying that the other personwas also asked to assistMaoist action team in elim-inating Maoist targets inHanmakonda and Warangal.

Will save discoms from financial crisis: CM KCRContined from Page 1

In this regard, the ChiefMinister held a review meetingon power sector at PragathiBhavan here on Wednesday.Transco CMD D PrabhakarRao and other senior officialsparticipated.

"Gram panchayats andmunicipalities have to paymajor power dues. It is regret-table that power bills have notbeen paid on time. Bills shouldbe paid for the power utilised.From now onwards, villagepanchayats, municipalities,corporations and HMWSSBshould pay their power billsevery month without fail. If thebills are not paid on time, invillages, the sarpanch and vil-lage secretary; and in munici-palities the chairperson andcommissioners will be pun-ished. The government will gofor a one-time settlement of alldues till date. Dues for elec-tricity organisations will bebought to the zero level,"Chandrasekhar Rao stated.

The Chief Minister furthersaid, "Discipline should also bethere within the governmentdepartments. Many departmentsare not paying their electricitybills on time. From now on, theFinance Department will paybills of departments concernedfrom the budgetary allocationmade to those departments.Install prepaid meters at all the

government departments andpower used for other needs bythe government. The govern-

ment will bear the expenditurewith regard to free power tofarmers and for lift irrigation

schemes and projects. For thispurpose, a special grant will bemade in the Budget and elec-tricity organisations will be paidtheir bills every month. The gov-ernment will also stand guar-antee for electricity organisationsto raise funds and strengthentheir organisations,'' KCR stated.

Contined from Page 1

"Later as swelling increased,the parents brought the boy toour hospital," saidP.Senthilnathan, Professor -Department of Oral andMaxillofacial Surgery at thehospital on Wednesday.

He said, an X-ray and CT-scan of the boy's lower rightjaw showed a lot of rudi-mentary teeth followingwhich the doctors decided onthe surgery.

"We opened up the jawafter administering generalanaesthesia and saw abag/sack inside it. The sack,weighing about 200 grams,was carefully removed andwas later found to contain 526teeth -- small, medium andbig sized," Senthilnathan said.

Though some were verytiny particles, the doctorssaid, they had the propertiesof teeth. It took five longhours for the doctors toremove all the minute teeth

from the sack. "It was remi-niscent of pearls in an oyster,"the doctors said.

"The boy was normal threedays after the surgery," saidPratibha Ramani, Professorand Head of the Department,Oral and Maxil lofacialPathology.

According to the doctors,this is the first ever case doc-umented in the world inwhich in an individual hasbeen found to have so manyminute teeth.

Doctors extract 526 teethfrom 7-year-old

Contined from Page 1

The leopard might have comefrom Gajularamaram forest insearch of prey. Although itspresence has not yet been con-firmed, we are deploying cam-era traps in the area to track itsmovement. A team of RangeOfficers is also on a hunt.

"The image captured by localsdoes not confirm the presenceof a leopard. After all, we onlyhave one image," maintained theforest official adding "Restassured, if there is any leopard,we will trace it soon."

Historical Imagery featureon Google Maps in 2003 depicts

the terrain as rocky, forested anddotted with lakes. "This forms anideal habitat for leopards," saidShankaran. The recent satellitemaps produce tightly packedand disorganised concrete sub-urban blocks nestled nearGajularamaram forest area. Theforest has got wiped out, mostlakes have shrunk, some havedisappeared and rocks havebeen converted into buildingblocks. This is not the first inci-dent of spotting a leopard.Earlier this year, another leop-ard was spotted on the ICRISATCampus in Hyderabad, whichwas captured after four monthsof tracking it.

Leopard spotted in Kukatpally

Contined from Page 1

The Telangana discomsdeposited Rs 240 crore in var-ious banks to get the LoC forone week. They are now fer-vently hoping that the state gov-ernment will come to theirrescue within a week.

In an order dated June 28, theUnion Power Ministry hadmade it mandatory for all dis-coms in the country to open andmaintain adequate Letters ofCredit (LoCs) as payment secu-rity under Power PurchaseAgreements (PPA) with powergenerating companies (gencos).

At present, discoms are util-ising power from gencos firstand paying bills later. Becauseof this, the arrears of all discomshave mounted. Telangana dis-coms owe nearly Rs 14,000crore to various power gener-ating companies belonging tothe Centre and private sector.

To check mounting arrears,

the Centre has changed powerpurchase agreements betweendiscoms and power generationcompanies from 'pre-paid' to'post-paid' from August 1.

The Centre has directedNational Load Despatch Centre(NLDC) and Regional LoadDespatch Centres (RLDCs) tohenceforth dispatch power onlypost intimation by the generat-ing company or distributioncompanies that the requiredLoC has been made available,clearly specifying the period ofsupply. "The dispatch shall stoponce the quantum of electrici-ty under the LoC is supplied,"said the Union Power Ministry,adding that if a discom does notpay in time, the generatingcompany concerned is entitledto encash the LoC after expiryof a grace period of 45 to 60days as per the PPA.

"It shall also be ensured by theLoad Despatch Centre that theregulated entity, during the

period of regulation, has noaccess to procure power frompower exchanges and they shallalso not be granted Short TermOpen Access (STOA)," thePower Ministry added.

Lastly, in case schedulingand dispatch of power producedcannot be carried out due tolack of LoCs, the concerned dis-coms will be liable to pay com-pensation to the generatingcompany. This has left discomsto depend on bank borrowingsto meet LoC requirements,resulting in further rise in theirdebt and, consequently, furtherincrease in interest costs.

There are concerns that thenew system may force discomsto pass on the burden to con-sumers for recovery throughtariff hikes. There are also fearsthat the discoms may also optfor partial load-shedding tokeep their costs under control,which will lead to 'power cuts'across all sectors.

Discoms avert power crisis for a week

Since the state's development is dependent on theworking of electricity organisations, the governmentwould protect them, KCR said

Vanishes aftercollecting feefrom ‘members'

Janasena willmake countrylook towards APone day: PawanPNS n AMARAVATI

Janasena supremo PawanKalyan has vowed to make thepeople of the whole countryturn its head and look towardsAP one day.

Addressing party workersand leaders of theRajamahendravaram LokSabha constituency here onWednesday, he asked partyworkers to identify the omis-sions and commissions madeby the party during the recentelections.

However, he attributed theparty's debacle in the electionsto the inefficient leadership ofparty leaders.

Claiming to be unselfish, hereasoned that he would havemerged the party, along withhis followers, with anotherparty had he been selfish. In2014, some leaders, whom hedid not name, asked him tomerge the Janasena with theiroutfit, but he refused to do so.

Turning his criticism againstYS Jaganmohan Reddy, thePower Star accused Jagan ofnot paying attention to Titlicyclone, though he was thenundertaking padayatra innorth coastal Andhra Pradesh.

On prohibition, he opinedthat Jaganmohan Reddywould not be able to imple-ment prohibition in the State.He advised the Government ofAP not to allow wine shops inplaces where woman had agi-tated against liquor shops.Enforcing complete prohibi-tion would bring its own prob-lems in its wake, he analysed.

On hiking social welfarepensions by only Rs 250 amonth, Pawan stated thatYSRCP would have told thepeople that it would hike thepension by Rs 250 a monthonly. Why should a politicaloutfit make false promises if itis not able to implement them,he questioned.

The Janasena would havewon the elections had it madepromises which are difficult toimplement, he felt.

The bullock cart in the middle of the stream in the village on Wednesday

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | AUGUST 1, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

10 feared trapped asbank building roofcollapsesSOLAPUR: At least 10 personsare feared trapped under debrisafter the roof of a bank buildingin the district collapsed onWednesday, officials said. Theroof of the building whichhouses Bank of Maharashtra'sbranch at Karmala collapsed,officials said. Efforts are on torescue those trapped, they said.

Amarnath yatrasuspended till Aug 4SRINAGAR: The Amarnathyatra will remain suspendedtill August 4 as the IMD hasforecast heavy rainfall inJammu and Kashmir over thenext few days, Shri AmarnathShrine Board (SASB) said onWednesday. "In view ofinclement weather conditions,shooting of stones andlandslides particularly inJammu region, the yatra willremain suspended till August4, 2019," an SASBspokesperson said. He saidthe India MeteorologyDepartment has predictedheavy rainfall for next fewdays all over Jammu andKashmir, which may causelandslides and shooting ofstones on the Jammu andSrinagar national highway,particularly in the stretchbetween Ramban and Banihal.The spokesperson said thetrack from Baltal andPahalgam has becomeslippery due to recent heavyrainfall and the situation islikely to aggravate in the nextcouple of days. The yatra wassuspended on Wednesday asa precautionary measure toavoid any untoward incident,officials said.

PNS n KOLKATA

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee Wednesdaydescribed the death of CCDowner V G Siddhartha as "veryunfortunate". She said that thecoffee baron was depresseddue of "harassment from dif-ferent agencies", failed to runhis business and finally gave up.

She likened the incident tobusinessmen contemplating toleave the country in the face ofhuge pressure at a time whenoppositon political parties wereafraid of horse trading andharassment for politicalvendetta.

"I am deeply shocked by theincident relating to V GSiddhartha, Coffee Cafe Dayfounder. It is indeed very sadand very unfortunate.

"From what he has expressed(in his letter), it appears that hewas greatly depressed due toharassment and pressure fromdifferent agencies for which hecould not run his business ina peaceful manner," Banerjeewrote on her Facebook wallWednesday.

"I hear from differentsources that captains of indus-try in the country are underpressure; some of them haveleft the country and some arecontemplating to move out. Allthe opposition political partiesare afraid of horse trading andharassment with politicalvendetta," Banerjee statedextending her condolences toSiddhartha's family members.

The Trinamool Congresssupremo said at a time whenthe economic growth of thecountry has nosedived to thelowest in the first quarter of the2018-19 and unemploymenthas reached the highest level,the Centre is mulling optionsto disinvest government assets.

"The overall economy is inbad shape with the commonpeople suffering the most.Industry and agriculture and

creation of employment is thefuture of our country. If indus-try is demoralised, then there

will be no economic andemployment growth. As aresult, more and more people

will become jobless," sheadded.

The West Bengal ChiefMinister appealed the Centreto work "in a peaceful manner"to help the people live in con-fidence and "political vendet-ta and agencies do not destroythe future of the country".

"My appeal to the govern-ment is that when you havebeen elected, you have to workin a peaceful manner so thatpeople are confident and thatpolitical vendetta and agenciesdo not destroy the future of thecountry," Banerjee wrote.

The Centre is attempting todisinvest government assets"From Ordnance FactoryBoard to BSNL, from Air Indiato Railways, from ChittaranjanLocomotive Works to AlloySteel Plant in Durgapur andabout 45 more public sectorundertakings," she said.

CCD founder's death veryunfortunate: Mamata

PNS n NEW DELHI

The CBI has booked BJP MLAKuldeep Singh Sengar and 10others on murder charges inthe accident case of Unnaorape survivor, officials said onWednesday.

Immediately after filing theFIR, a team of officers from theCBI's Lucknow unit reachedGurubakshganj area of UttarPradesh's Rae Bareli district,where the accident took place.

According to the normalprocedure, the CBI has takenover the investigation in thecase from the Uttar PradeshPolice by re-registering its FIR.

The FIR was first registeredon a complaint by MaheshSingh, the victim's uncle whois lodged in a Rae Bareli prison.

Singh had alleged that thefamily was under constantpressure from the kin ofSengar, the BJP MLA fromBangarmau constituency, afterhis suspension from the party.They had been threatening tokill the entire family if the caseagainst him was not with-drawn.

He had also alleged thatcomplaints by the victim'sfamily were not paid heed to bythe local police, the FIR said.

The CBI team will also meetofficials of the local policestation in Rae Bareli, the offi-cials said.

On Tuesday, the Centrehanded over the probe to theCBI on the recommendationof the Uttar Pradesh govern-ment. The state governmenthas come under severe criti-cism for failing to providesecurity to the 19-year-oldwoman who was allegedlyraped by the BJP MLA in2017 when she was a minor.

On Sunday, the car in whichthe rape survivor was travellingwith her family members andlawyer was hit by an over-speeding truck in Rae Bareli.Two of the victim's aunts werekilled, while she and her lawyerwere critically injured in theaccident.

The number plate of thetruck, which was coming fromthe opposite direction on thewrong side, was smeared withblack paint.

Unnao rape victim’s ‘accident’:CBI books MLA for murder

PNS n JAMMU

A minor was killed and anoth-er injured in rain-related inci-dents in Jammu and Kashmir'sUdhampur district, while theSrinagar-Jammu NationalHighway was closed for vehic-ular traffic after a landslide,officials said.

The Amarnath Yatra wasalso suspended as a precau-tionary measure to avoid anyuntoward incident, they said.

An eight-year-old boy diedand a 13-year-old girl wasinjured in two house collapseincidents after heavy rains inUdhampur district.

Pawan Kumar died whileSunita was injured seriously inthe incidents in Loundna andUdhampur areas late Tuesdaynight. She was rushed to a hos-pital, where her condition wasstated to be critical.

The intermittent rains alsotriggered a landslide at MorhPassi near Balli Nallah alongthe Jammu-Srinagar NationalHighway in the district, block-ing the only all weather roadlinking Kashmir with the restof the country.

"Heavy rains were hamper-ing the ongoing clearanceoperation on the 270-km

highway," an official said,adding that due to the closureof the highway, the AmarnathYatra was suspended fromJammu for the day.

Director of StateMeteorological DepartmentSonam Lotus said a record-breaking rainfall of 342 mm wasexperienced in Udhampur dis-trict since 8 pm on Tuesday.Katra town, which serves as thebase camp for the Vaishno Devipilgrims in Reasi district, alsorecorded 292.4 mm rainfall dur-ing the same period, Lotus said.

In view of the heavy rains,the movement of pilgrimsalong the new track to theVaishno Devi shrine was sus-pended as a precautionarymeasure to avoid any untowardincident, a police official said.

However, he said the pil-grims were moving towardsthe cave shrine through theold route.

Landslide hits vehicular trafficon Jammu-Srinagar highway

Raids continue in AzamKhan's university; 2,500rare books recoveredPNS n LUCKNOW

The joint raids of the police anddistrict administration contin-ued at SP leader Azam Khan'sMohammad Ali JauharUniversity in Rampur onWednesday even as his sonAbdullaha Azam was detainedfor creating hindrance in gov-ernment work. Rampur SPAjaypal Sharma said over 2,500rare stolen books were recov-ered from the university'slibrary till now. "Azam's son andSP MLA Abdullah Azam hasbeen detained for obstructingthe raids and creating hurdlesin the government work,"Sharma told PTI. Investigationin the case began on June 16after Zubair Khan, principal ofOriental College in Rampur,

earlier known as Madarsa Aliya,lodged an FIR alleging over9,000 books were stolen andtaken to the library in JauharUniversity. Madrasa Aliya isabout 250 years old. "Theraids which started yesterday(Tuesday) are continuing. Rarebooks have been recoveredthere," Director General ofPolice OP Singh told PTI.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Jal Shakti MinisterGajendra Singh ShekhawatWednesday said the existingtribunals constituted for reso-lution of river water disputesamong states have failed toresolve the conflict and need-ed to change the approach onhow to resolve such issues.

Moving The Inter-StateRiver Water Disputes(Amendment) Bill, 2019 forconsideration and passage inthe Lok Sabha, the UnionMinister said there have beeninstances when a tribunal couldnot resolve a dispute betweenstates for 33 years. Shekhawatsaid the 1956 Act was amend-ed in 2002, setting a limit of fiveyears for resolution of anyriver water dispute.

However, the very purposeof bringing the amendmentwas defeated when the tenureof tribunals were given oneafter another extension, he

said. The minister also ruedirregular sittings of tribunals,leading to long delay in givingawards. Among the nine riverwater tribunals, only four couldsubmit its reports which toocame after a seven to 28 yeardelay. Except one or two tri-bunals, no tribunal sat regu-larly, he said.

Shekhawat also said an insti-tutional mechanism will beset up so that states canapproach it for resolution ofany dispute before going to a

tribunal. The Bill seeks toamend the Inter State RiverWater Disputes Act, 1956 tostreamline the adjudication ofinter- state river water dis-putes. A key feature of the billis the constitution of a singletribunal with different bench-es, and the setting of stricttimelines for adjudication.Benches will be set up underthe single tribunal. A retired

Supreme Court judge will headthe tribunal. There will bebenches formed as and whenrequired. The benches thoughwill be wound up once a dis-pute is resolved, sources said.

The tribunal will be man-dated to deliver final award intwo years and it is proposedthat whenever it gives order, theverdict gets notified automat-ically. As per the current pro-

visions of the 1956 Act, a tri-bunal can be formed after astate government approachesthe Union government withsuch a request and the Centreis convinced of the need toform the tribunal. At present,there are nine Tribunals includ-ing those on Cauvery,Mahadayi, Ravi and Beas,Vansadhara and Krishna rivers.

Opposing the bill, Congressmember Manish Tewari saidthe proposed legislation has noprovision for consultation withstates which is an "assault onthe Constitution". Tewari saidthe bill is "completely andabsolutely flawed", saying mat-ters pertaining to water is com-plex and it takes time for res-olution of any dispute.

The Congress MP said theselection panel to be set up forchosing tribunal memberswould have no provision forinclusion of either leader of theopposition in Rajya Sabha orleader of the single largest

party in Lok Sabha.He also said the bill also pro-

vides for membership of aretired judge and domainexperts instead of the currentprovision of only sitting judgeand it "defeats the entire pur-pose" of the proposed legislation.

BJP member Satyapal Singhsaid there should be no doubtin anyone's mind that the cen-tral government wanted to hurtthe federal structure of thecountry and the bill is the needof the hour. The provision formaking domain expert as mem-bers is a significant decision inthe right direction, he said.

Singh said the timely reso-lution of river water disputewill bring development in thecountry. DMK DayanidhiMaran said post Independencemost of the disputes betweenthe states were due to water.Maran said setting up of tri-bunal would not resolve thedispute unless the awards arebinding on states.

‘Existing tribunals have failed to resolve river water disputes’

PNS n MUMBAI

On the eve of the launch of hismass outreach programmeaimed at building a momen-tum ahead of the assemblyelections, Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavison Wednesday reiterated theBJP and the Shiv Sena wouldcontest together unlike 2014.

Speaking at a function afterinducting four MLAs of theCongress and the NCP into theBJP, the chief minister said theBJP, the Sena and allies partieswould like to "break the recordof winning maximum numberof seats in the state polls".

Fadnavis' statement has putto rest the rumours, at least fornow, that the saffron alliesmight contest separately toaccommodate turncoats of the

Congress and the NCP.The Sharad Pawar-led NCP

has witnessed a string of deser-tions in the recent past.

On Tuesday, three MLAs ofthe NCP and one of theCongress resigned from thestate Legislative Assembly.

They joined the BJP in thepresence of the chief ministerand state BJP presidentChandrakant Patil onWednesday morning.

BJP, Sena will contest Mahapolls together: Fadnavis

‘DidiKeBolo' prog a‘hit’ among peoplePNS n KOLKATA

The 'DidiKeBolo' digital plat-form launched by WB CMMamata Banerjee as part of amass outreach programmereceived over two lakh calls inthe first two days. Over twolakh calls have been received sofar since the launch of the plat-form on Monday, while arounda lakh people have shared theiropinions and voiced problemson the helpline number andwebsite, they said. "We are stillcounting. The response is mas-sive," the sources said. Buffetedby reverses in the recent LSpolls, Mamatha on Mondayunveiled the massive publicoutreach programme underwhich over 1,000 party leaderswill visit 10,000 villages over thenext 100 days to understandpeople's problems and redresstheir grievances.

PNS n DINDORI

A case of cheating has beenregistered against a Congressleader from Dindori district ofMadhya Pradesh for alleged-ly duping a tribal of Rs 3.83lakh under the pretext of get-ting him a ticket for theassembly elections held lastyear, police said onWednesday.

The accused IrfanMalik, a delegate ofthe state Congressfrom the district,however, said thecase was regis-tered as part of ac o n s p i r a c yhatched by somesenior leaders of hisparty.

"The complaint was filed bya tribal Ajit Dhurve," saidKotwali police station in-charge Varsha Patel.

Malik was booked onTuesday under various sec-tions of the Indian Penal Code,including 420 (Cheating anddishonestly inducing deliveryof property) and the SC/ST(Prevention of Atrocities) Act,Patel said.

Dhurve alleged that Malikhad assured him to get aCongress ticket fromShahpura assembly segment inthe district.

"I paid money to Malik inseveral instalments. Prior toNovember 2018 assembly elec-tions, I paid Rs 3.83 lakh toMalik in various instalments,"he said.

Dhurve said he wasabused and assaulted

by Malik when hedemanded refundof money afterfailing to get theticket.

" M a i l kreturned only Rs

18,000 to me," heclaimed.

On the other hand,Malik said the case was filedwithout any investigation dueto pressure exerted by seniorCongress leaders.

"This is an attempt to endmy career. I am not authorisedto give or promise the partyticket to anyone. The seniorleaders of my own party arebehind this conspiracy so thatthey can tarnish my image,"Malik alleged.

PNS n PANAJI

Following in the footsteps ofAndhra Pradesh, the Goa gov-ernment is now planning toreserve "80 per cent" jobs in theindustrial units receiving stategovernment subsidies for thepeople of Goan origin, theLegislative Assembly was toldon Wednesday.

Chief Minister PramodSawant also said that "60 percent of the 80 per cent jobs"would be on a permanentbasis.

While the Labour andEmployment policies for thestate will be drafted in the nextsix months, all industries in thestate have been directed to reg-ister with the government andsubmit details about the work-ers and the sectors they arecurrently employed in, he said.

Sawant said the BJP-led gov-ernment will draft the labourand employment policies in

the next six months in whichit might consider reserving"80 per cent jobs for Goans inthe private sector, especially inthe industrial units that getvarious subsidies from thestate government, out of which60 per cent jobs should be ona permanent basis".

"In the absence of labourand employment policies, thestate government could notmake it mandatory for privateemployers to allocate 80 percent jobs to Goans," the chiefminister said.

Responding to a questiontabled by Congress MLAAleixo Reginaldo Lourenco,Sawant said the upcomingpolicies might make itmandatory for the industrialunits to hire 80 per centGoans in jobs.

Goa govt planning to reserve80% jobs in factories for locals

Pramod Sawant

While the Labour andEmployment policiesfor the state will bedrafted in the next sixmonths, all industries inthe state have beendirected to register withthe government andsubmit details about theworkers and thesectors they arecurrently employed in

Cong neta bookedfor cheating in nameof allotting poll ticket

Muslim womenthank PM onpassage oftriple talaq billPNS n NEW DELHI

Scores of Muslim womenthanked Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for ensuringthe passage of the triple talaqbill in Rajya Sabha, at eventsorganised by the BJP in the cityon Wednesday.

Addressing a gathering atparty leader Vijay Goel's resi-dence, Union minister PrakashJavadekar said the move willempower Muslim women.Goel said Prime Minister Modinever indulged in vote-bankpolitics and was inspired onlyby the well being of people.

The Muslim women gath-ered at Goel's residence enthu-siastically hailed Modi, sayingthey feel "empowered". "We hadhigh hopes of Modi that he willban triple talaq and give us rightto fight it.

Moving The Inter-State River WaterDisputes (Amendment) Bill, 2019 forconsideration and passage in the LokSabha, the Union Minister said therehave been instances when a tribunalcould not resolve a dispute betweenstates for 33 years. Shekhawat saidthe 1956 Act was amended in 2002,setting a limit of five years forresolution of any river water dispute

I hear from different sources that captains of industry inthe country are under pressure; some of them haveleft the country and some are contemplating to move

out. All the opposition political parties are afraid of horse tradingand harassment with political vendetta

— MAMATA BANERJEE, West BBengal CChief MMinister

Unearth invisible hands that endedSiddhartha's life: CongressPNS n BENGALURU

The Congress's Karnatakaunit on Wednesday sought animpartial and fair investiga-tion into the death of CoffeeDay Enterprises founder V GSiddhartha, saying "the invis-ible hands that ended his life"should be uncovered. Theparty said the matter "is veryunfortunate".

Former Karnataka ChiefMinister and senior Congressleader Siddaramaiah saidSiddhartha's death was "bothdisturbing and mysterious"."The reasons and the invisiblehands that ended his life in thistragic way should beunearthed through impartialand fair investigation," he said.

"Result of harassment by ITofficials & decline of India's

entrepreneurial position turn-ing virulent by the day, with TaxTerror & collapse of economy.Companies which flourishedunder UPA have been shutdown with many people beingjobless (sic)," the state unit post-ed in its official handle.

The Congress was referringto the letter purportedly writ-ten by Siddhartha, the son-in-law of former Karnataka ChiefMinister and BJP leader S MKrishna, alleging harassmentby the Income Tax

Department, which has deniedthe charges. Siddaramaiah saidthe letter supposed to havebeen written by Siddharthatalked about "tax terrorism",which is the "ugly face of polit-ically motivated institutions".

"What signals are we send-ing to budding entrepreneurswithout even an attempt toreform?" he asked. Congressspokesperson Brijesh Kalappasaid, "He was killed merci-lessly by tax terrorists who arenow seeking to besmirch hismemory by selectively leakingmaterial against him."

The body of Siddhartha,who went missing on Monday,was found on the banks ofNethravathi river near thecoastal city of Mangaluru onWednesday, with the investiga-tion so far pointing to suicide.

DCW chief wantsUnnao rape victimairlifted to Delhifor treatmentPNS n NEW DELHI

Delhi Commission forWomen chief Swati Maliwalmet Uttar Pradesh GovernorAnandiben Patel onWednesday and urged her toensure the Unnao rape vic-tim is airlifted to Delhi fortreatment.

The rape victim's car washit by a truck in Rae Barelidistrict on Sunday. Her twofamily members were killedand she and her lawyer suf-fered critical injuries and areundergoing treatment at aLucknow hospital. The fam-ily has alleged there was aconspiracy behind the roadaccident.

Maliwal also demandedthat legislator Kuldeep SinghSengar, accused of raping thewoman, now 19, at his resi-dence in 2017 when she wasa minor, be expelled fromthe assembly and the BJP.

nation 06HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | AUGUST 1, 2019

Lucknow: The condition of theUnnao rape victim who wascritically injured in a road crashshowed marginal improvementon Wednesday but she remainsunconscious and on ventilatorsupport, doctors said.

The 19-year-old womanand her lawyer were admitted tothe King George MedicalUniversity here after a truckrammed into their car in RaeBareli on Sunday, killing her twoaunts.

BJP MLA Kuldeep SinghSengar, already in jail afterbeing booked for allegedly rap-ing the woman in 2017, has alsobeen charged with murder afterthe truck-car collision.

“The rape survivor has sus-tained multiple fractures. Todaythere was very slight improve-ment in her condition, but thiscannot be termed as satisfacto-ry. She is still unconscious,” DrSandeep Tiwari, the in-charge ofthe hospital’s trauma centresaid.

Tiwari said a CT scan con-ducted on the woman onTuesday showed no head injury.

“However, a head injurycannot be ruled out as manyhead injuries are not detected inthe CT scan. The condition ofthe rape survivor is stable, anda team of doctors are monitor-ing her 24 hours. She is on ven-tilator,” he said.

The condition of the advo-cate is described as stable.

“The injured advocate wasremoved from the ventilator forsome time on Wednesday as

well, and during this period, hiscondition was stable. He waslater put on the ventilator.”

Asked whether there areplans to bring in other doctors,Tiwari said, “There is noshortage of specialist doctorsat the KGMU, and if needed,we can call doctors from otherhospitals in Lucknow - theSGPGI and the Ram ManoharLohia Hospital.” The CentralBureau of Investigation isprobing the road crash afterallegation that the collisionwas deliberate. PTI

Slight improvement in victim’s health: DoctorsUNNAO CASE

Unnao (UP): Unnao rape vic-tim’s uncle on Wednesdayblamed BJP legislator KuldeepSingh Sengar for the tragedybefallen on his family, andsaid he has all the evidenceagainst the political strong-man accused of raping hisniece at his residence in 2017.

Brought to the Ganga ghatfrom Rae Bareli jail to attendthe last rites of his wife, Pushpa,who died in a road accident onSunday, Mahesh Singh was notallowed by the district admin-istration to interact withreporters.

But as he was being takenback to the police vehicle afterthe cremation, he burst out:“My entire family has beeneliminated. I have been framedin fake cases.”

“Kuldeep Singh Sengar hasgot everything done. I have all

the evidence,” he said.Singh’s wife was among

the two people who died whenthe car they were travelling inwith the rape victim and herlawyer was hit by a truck. Theother person dead was therape victim’s another aunt. Allof them were on their way tomeet Singh in Rae Bareli jail.

Singh has been in jail inconnection with a nearly two-decade-old case for beatingSengar’s brother.

On Tuesday, the Lucknowbench of the Allahabad HighCourt granted a one-day paroleto him to attend his wife’s lastrites.

Sengar, a four-time MLA,has been accused by the now19-year-old woman of rapingher at his residence in 2017when she was a minor. Therape case was filed against theBangermau MLA after thewoman tried to immolate her-self outside Uttar PradeshChief Minister YogiAdityanath’s residence in Aprillast year.

Following an outcry afterthe road accident, the Uttar Pradesh Governmentrecommended for a CBI probe. The central agency tookover the case and has bookedSengar and 10 others in theaccident case. PTI

Both victim, lawyer unconscious and on life support

KULDEEP SINGHSENGAR HAS GOT

EVERYTHINGDONE. I HAVE ALL

THE EVIDENCE—Victim’s uncle

Victim’s uncle blames Sengar,says has all evidence against him

Doctors threatenindefinite strikeagainst NMC BillNew Delhi,: Healthcare ser-vices at government hospitals,including AIIMS, Safdarjungand RML in Delhi, are likely tobe severely hit as resident doc-tors have threatened to go onan indefinite strike, includingwithdrawal of services at emer-gency departments, to protestagainst the National MedicalCommission (NMC) Bill.

The bill, which seeks toreplace the graft-taintedMedical Council of India(MCI), is slated to be tabled inthe Rajya Sabha on Thursdayafter the Lok Sabha gave its nodto it on July 29.

"Resident doctors willrefrain from working in OPDs,emergency departments andICUs as a mark of protest onThursday and the strike willcontinue for an indefinite peri-od if the bill is tabled andpassed in the Rajya Sabha," DrSumedh Sandanshiv, president,Federation of Resident Doctors'Association (FORDA), said,alleging that the bill was "anti-poor, anti-student and unde-mocratic".

The Resident Doctors'Associations (RDA) of theAIIMS, RML and some otherhospitals have given separatenotices to the administrationregarding the proposed strike.

Agitations continued atvarious hospitals as doctorswore black badges to work asa mark of protest against thebill.

Following strike notice,several hospital authorities haveissued a contingency plan forthe smooth functioning ofhealthcare services as a part ofwhich emergency services willfunction with the help of spon-sored residents/pool officersand faculty members.

"In addition, faculty mem-bers of other medical/surgicaldepartments wherever applic-able will also be deployed in theemergency. Further ICUs willalso be managed with the helpof sponsored residents/poolofficers and faculty members.

"Inpatient (General andPrivate) wards patient care ser-vices, Labour Room and

Maternity Operation Theatre(OT) and support services willfunction normally and will besupervised by the concernedfaculty of hospital administra-tion," according to the contin-gency plan drawn by AIIMS.

While Out PatientDepartment (OPD), dialysis,radio-diagnosis and laborato-ry diagnosis services are sched-uled to function on a restrict-ed basis, routine operation the-atre services will largely remainsuspended on Friday, theauthorities said.

Emergency cases of oper-ations will be taken up as perrequirement while for routineOT services patients will betaken up for surgery as perfeasibility and mutual agree-ment between the concernedfaculty of surgery and anaes-thesiology.

The Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA), which hasalso expressed reservations overseveral sections of the bill andhad given a call for a 24-hourwithdrawal of non-essentialservices on Wednesday, saidseveral health facilities acrossthe country responded to it.

The largest body of doctorsand medical students in thecountry with around threelakh members, the IMA hadalso called for demonstrationsand hunger strikes at its localbranches and had urged stu-dents to boycott classes.

It has warned in a state-ment that it will intensify theagitation if the governmentcontinues to be "indifferent toour concerns".

At a joint meeting of rep-resentatives of the FORDA,the URDA and the RDA-AIIMS held on Tuesday, itwas resolved to oppose theNMC Bill, 2019 in its currentform.

"It is to inform all theconcerned that a gross breachof medical ethics and utterdisregard for the noble pro-fession in the form of theNMC Bill has been passed inthe Lok Sabha and is alsoscheduled to be tabled in theRajya Sabha. PTI

Mumbai: The wife of a sessionscourt judge in Maharashtra haswritten to the chief justice of theBombay High Court complain-ing that her husband and in-lawswere “harassing” her.

After receiving the letter onJuly 29, Chief Justice PradeepNandrajog forwarded it to theregistry of the high court for pre-liminary inquiry, the woman’slawyer said on Wednesday.

In the letter, the 37-year-oldwoman has demanded aninquiry against her husband.

She said she married thejudge, presently posted atBaramati in Pune district, onMay 8, 2007.

“My husband and in-lawsstarted harassing me and myfamily for dowry soon after mymarriage. Even after giving them`5 lakh, furniture and bearing

the wedding expenses, my hus-band and his family later start-ed demanding a car and 30 acresof agricultural land,” the letterstated.

After her father’s death in2008, her husband and in-lawsstarted demanding that herfather’s land be transferred in thejudge’s name, she alleged.

When she refused, her hus-band and his parents assaultedher and threw her out of thehouse, the woman claimed inthe letter. She spent some timeat her mother’s house in Latur.After she moved into her hus-band’s house, when he was post-ed at Akola, she was againforced to leave, the womanalleged. On July 4, 2012, shelodged a complaint against herhusband and in-laws, appre-hending threat to her life. PTI

Woman writes to BombayHC about ‘harassment’by her judge husbandAhmedabad: More than

28,000 doctors in Gujarat onWednesday joined the 24-hournationwide strike against thepassage of the National MedicalCommission (NMC) Bill 2019in Lok Sabha, which seeks toreplace the graft-taintedMedical Council of India(MCI).

The Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA) had given acall for a 24-hour withdrawal ofnon-essential services acrossthe country against the NMCbill, dubbing it “anti-poor, anti-student and anti-democratic”.

“We believe that more than28,000 doctors in Gujarat havejoined the strike on Wednesdaybeginning 6 am,” according tothe Gujarat chapter of IMA.

“This is not a full-fledgedstrike. We expect that 28,000doctors in Gujarat have joinedthe strike from today morningin solidarity with agitating doc-tors across the country,” said DrKamlesh Saini, state secretary,Gujarat Chapter, IMA.

While the Gujarat IMAclaimed majority of the regis-tered doctors joined the strike,officials at Ahmedabad civilhospital, the largest facility in thestate, said the strike did not haveany major impact on services.

“Civil hospital is function-ing as usual. Our doctors have

not joined the strike. It is up tothe doctors to join the strike ornot. Doctors associated withthe government-run hospitalshave not joined the strike,” saidcivil hospital superintendent MM Prabhakar.

The IMA, the largest bodyof doctors and students in thecountry with around threelakh members, had called fordemonstrations and hungerstrikes at its local branches andurged medical students to boy-cott classes and proclaim soli-darity with IMA.

It had warned in a state-ment it will intensify agitationif the government continues tobe “indifferent to their con-cerns”.

The IMA had said theNMC Bill would enable non-qualified persons to practicemedicine like qualified doctors.

“The Bill provides forlicensing of 3.5 lakh unquali-fied non-medical persons topractice modern medicine. Theterm ‘Community HealthProvider’ has been vaguelydefined to allow anyone con-

nected with modern medicineto get registered in NMC andbe licensed to practice modernmedicine.

This law legalises quack-ery,” it had stated.

The bill was passed by LokSabha on Monday as thousandsof doctors protested across thecountry against it. The bill pro-vides for setting up of a NationalMedical Commission in place ofMCI for development and regulation of all aspects of med-ical education, profession andinstitutions. PTI

Over 28K medicos join nationwide strike NATIONAL MEDICAL BILL

Medical students raise slogans against the Centre to protest against NMC Bill 2019 in front of NRS Medical College andHospital in Kolkata on Wednesday PTI

MOHIT KANDHARI n JAMMU

Tension prevailed along theLine of Control in North

Kashmir’s Tangdhar andNowshera sector of Rajouridistrict in Jammu region afterheavy exchange of artillery fireduring daytime in which atleast nine civilians receivedinjuries. Hitting back, inresponse to indiscriminate fir-ing by the Pakistan Army,Indian Army inflicted heavydamages across the Line ofControl.

Two intruders, attemptinginfiltration in Gurez sectorwere also neutralised by thealert jawans. Reports indicatedPakistan Army had providedcover fire to these heavilyarmed infiltrators.

Meanwhile, one woman,injured in the Pakistan firing inTangdhar succumbed to herinjuries on Wednesday. InJammu, last rites of martyredsoldier Naik Krishna Lal wasperformed with full militaryhonours in his native village ofGhagriyal in Khour area ofAkhnoor.

According to officialsources, “following heavy

artillery exchange between thetwo neighbouring armies dur-ing day time on Tuesday inter-mittent firing was reportedthrough out the night in theforward areas”. At least onedozen Indian posts were tar-geted by the Pakistan Army. InNowshera sector of Rajouri,Pakistan Army targeted civilianareas and forward Indian postspast midnight. The firing in thearea continued till wee hours ofwednesday.

In Jammu, after organising

a wreath laying ceremony withfull military honours at MilitaryStation, Akhnoor, mortalremains of Naik Krishan Lalwere dispatched to his nativevillage for performing last rites.

Local residents downedtheir shutters and chantedpatriotic slogans as decoratedmilitary vehicle, carrying mor-tal remains of the martyred sol-dier, passed through the area inhis native village. Close fami-ly members including, par-ents, wife and son of the mar-

tyr saluted his mortal remainsbefore bidding tearful farewellto their loved one.

Maj Gen R Dewan, GOCCrossed Swords Division andother senior army officers alsolaid wreath and paid tributes.

Wreaths were laid on behalf of the Chief of Army Staff, military authoritiesand representatives of civiladministration. A large gath-ering had assembled in hisvillage to pay their respects tothe brave heart.

Thrissur(Ker): A 44-year-oldCongress worker died after hewas brutally attacked by an 18-member gang at Punna inChavakkad, police said onWednesday.

The deceased identified asNaushad was a local congressleader who was very popular inthe area.

Naushad, who sufferedserious injuries on the neck andhands, died Wednesday morn-ing at a hospital.

Three others were alsoinjured in the attack.

Eyewitnesses said thearmed attackers with their facecovered, came in motorcyclesand attacked the four men ataround 6.30 pm Tuesday.

The attack is suspected tohave been carried out by work-ers of Social Democratic Partyof India (SDPI).

Leader of Opposition,Ramesh Chennithala said themurder was “painful” and theaccused should be brought tobook immediately.

Terming it as a “politicalmurder,” KPCC President,Mullapally Ramachandran saidthe police should ensure thatthe accused, however high andmighty they may be, should bebrought to book.

Naushad had worked asyouth congress secretary in thearea and was active as a localleader and his death was a bigloss for the party, he toldreporters inT h i r u v a n a n t h a p u r a m .Condemning the incident, AICCsecretary, Oommen Chandy, theattack was without any provo-cation. A group of people camewith the intention to killNaushad and SDPI workerswere behind the attack, Chandytold reporters at Delhi. PTI

9 civilians injured in ceasefire violation by Pak

Major General R Dewan, GOC Crossed Swords Division, saluting mortal remains of Naik Krishan Lal in Akhnoor onWednesday Pic: Defence PRO

Mumbai: A day after his meet-ing with Maharashtra BJPpresident Chandrakant Patiltriggered speculations abouthim joining the ruling party,NCP MP Sunil Tatkare onWednesday asserted his“unflinching” loyalty to partychief Sharad Pawar.

Tatkare called on Patil,also Revenue Minister in thestate government, at his offi-cial residence here on Tuesday,the day three MLAs of theNCP resigned from theAssembly.

The trio and an MLAfrom the Congress joined theBJP on Wednesday morning.

In a video message,Tatkare said he met Patil andsome other ministers overpublic works to be carried outin his Raigad constituency.

He said it was “wrong” tomalign his image by spreadingsuch rumours of crossover.

During his meeting withPatil, Tatkare discussed aboutconstruction of roads in hisconstituency on a hybridannuity mode.

The NCP leader said heconveyed the demands ofKunbis from Dapoli in hisconstituency for a land forcommunity purpose to Patil.

“I met Chandrakant Patil,

Tourism Minister JaykumarRawal and also Minister ofState Dada Bhuse (of ShivSena). I met four principal sec-retaries and secretaries too. Imet these people in my bid tofulfil promises made to thepeople during Lok Sabhapolls,” Tatkare said.

“My unflinching loyaltyis with Pawar Saheb only. It iswrong to malign my image byspreading rumours,” he added.

He said the NCP will riseagain like a proverbial phoenixbird under Pawar’s watch inthe Maharashtra Assemblypolls, due in September-October this year. PTI

Congress workerhacked to deathby gang in Kerala

Extremely heavy rain likely at isolatedplaces in 5 Maha districts, warns MeTMumbai: The Met depart-ment has issued a warning of“extremely heavy rains” atisolated places in Palghar,Raigad, Pune, Kolhapur andSatara districts for August 4.

The department onWednesday predicted “heavyto very heavy” rainfall at fewplaces during the entire weekfor Konkan, and parts ofsouth Madhya Maharashtra.

Marathwada andVidarbha region wouldreceive light to moderate rainstill Sunday, the forecast stat-ed.

On Wednesday, Mumbai,Navi Mumbai and Thane havereceived intermittent showerssince morning.

Meanwhile, despite theincreased activity of the southwest monsoon overMaharashtra, 11 districts in

the state are still deficient oftheir normal rainfall at theend of July, according to IMD.

Maharashtra generallyreceives seasonal rainfallbetween June to Septemberand at times till mid-October.

The state has receivedgood showers in the last oneweek but the deficiency in theprecipitation created due tolate arrival of the south-westmonsoon has not yet met, anIMD official said.

When asked about theperformance of the monsoonin Maharashtra in the firsttwo months of the season, theIMD official said, “the dis-tr icts such as Solapur,Osmanabad, Beed, Latur,Nanded, Parbhani, Hingoli,Washim, Yeotmal, Bhandaraand Gondia are still deficientcompared to their actual aver-

age rainfall”.“Pune is the only district

where largely excess rainfallhas received so far in the state,as it received 98% excessshowers as against its normalprecipitation till July end,” theofficial said.

The districts that havereceived excess rainfall areNashik, Ahmednagar, Satara,Kolhapur, Ratnagiri, Raigad,Thane, Palghar, Mumbai cityand Mumbai suburban, wheremore than 20% of the actualrainfall was received.

The rest of the districts,which are mostly in northMaharashtra, and northerndistricts in Marathwada andfour districts of Vidarbha(Wardha, Nagpur,Chandrapur and Gadchiroli)have received normal rainfall,he said. PTI

Mumbai: Questioning theMaharashtra Government’sdelay in demolishing illegalprivate structures along thebeachfront at Alibaug inRaigad district, the BombayHigh Court asked the state onWednesday why it was hesitantto pull down such properties.

The observation cameafter the state informed abench of Chief Justice PradeepNandrajog and Justice N MJamdar it was yet to demolishmany such structures owing toseveral injunction orderspassed by the lower courts,protecting such properties.

The bench, however,noted that the state had madesimilar submissions on thelast date of hearing on June 4this year.

It also noted it had passedan order at that time, direct-ing the state to make applica-tions before the lower courtsasking that orders to maintain

status quo on such structuresbe vacated.

It had also sought, at thetime, details of the 111 suchorders that the state claimedhad been passed by variouslower courts protecting suchproperties.

According to the submis-sions made by the state onJune 4, a total of 159 proper-ties have been served demoli-tion notices by the Alibaugdistrict authorities as theyviolated construction andcoastal zone norms. Of these,24 structures have alreadybeen demolished, while 111properties have obtainedorders requiring status quo tobe maintained.

On Wednesday, the state’scounsel Manish Pable told thehigh court that some of itsapplications seeking that thestatus quo orders be vacatedhad been dismissed.

He also said that such

properties that did not haveany court orders protectingthem would be demolishedwithin the next eight weeks.

At this, the bench said,“Do you know that there existcase laws to prove ownershipof land and encroachment?Have you cited any such caselaws to get the status quoorders vacated?”

“Why do you hesitate touse the bulldozer (to demolishillegal structure) when youhave orders in your favour,” thebench asked the state.

Questioning how rampantillegal construction could bepermitted to continue, theHC said, “We live in a freenation, but free nation doesnot mean ‘muft ka’ nation (Acountry where everything isfree). This is like a loot here.”

The court directed thestate to begin demolishingsuch illegal properties that donot have any protective orders

in their favour. It also direct-ed the state to place on recordthe details of all status quoorders passed in favour of theillegal structures by the lowercourts.

The high court has beenhearing a Public InterestLitigation since 2009, allegingseveral “wealthy persons” haveconstructed bungalows andprivate structures along thebeaches in Alibaug in violationof the state’s and coastal zoneauthority’s norms.

The PIL, filed by activistSurendra Dhavale, had urgedthe court to direct the author-ities to demolish all unautho-rised constructions in severalvillages in Alibaug.

Such structures included abeach-side bungalow ownedby fugitive jeweller NiravModi. The bungalow wasdemolished by the localauthorities following the HC’sprevious orders. PTI

HC questions Govt’s ‘hesitation’ in razing illegal structures in Alibaug

I am loyal to Sharad Pawar:NCP MP Sunil Tatkare

nation 07HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | AUGUST 1, 2019

RML HOSPITAL’S MEDICALINSTITUTE TO BE RENAMEDNew Delhi: The Union HealthMinistry has approved aproposal for renaming theCentre-run Ram Manohar LohiaHospital’s medical institute asAtal Bihari Vajpayee Institute ofMedical Sciences after the lateprime minister. A formal orderin this regard is in the processof being issued. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is likely toinaugurate it.

IAF CHIEF LAUNCHESMOBILE VIDEO GAMENew Delhi: Seeking to give theyouth a “realistic feel of the AirForce”, a new mobile videogame, themed on various aerialcombats and missions,including airstrikes undertakenby the IAF, was on Wednesdaylaunched here by Air ChiefMarshal BS Dhanoa. The game,‘Indian Air Force: A Cut Above’,will let the Indian youth knowmore about the IAF, andmotivate them to take it up as achallenging and exhilaratingcareer option, he said. Thegame, available on both Androidand iOS, aims to engageaudience above the age of 14.

HOUSING FOR ALL BY2022, REITERATES PMNew Delhi: In the first ‘Pragati’review meeting of his secondterm in office, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi reiterated onWednesday his Government’scommitment for the “Housingfor All by 2022” mission andurged bureaucrats to removehurdles to achieve the objective.

BOOK ON WETLANDS INHIMALAYA LAUNCHED New Delhi: Blue Rose Publisheron Wednesday released a book‘Distribution of Wetlands InIndia And Economic Valuationof Lesser Known Wetlands inEastern Himalaya’. Dr FamesLinggi and Prof. Amitava Mitraare the co-author of the bookwhich talks about wetlandswhich is one of the mostthreatened ecosystems in theworld.

I&B MIN: READING CLUBSSHOULD BE FORMEDNew Delhi: Information andBroadcasting Minister PrakashJavadekar on Wednesday saidreading clubs should be formedin neighbourhood to promote areading culture. He made theremarks while launching severale-projects of the PublicationsDivision such as its redesignedwebsite, mobile application, e-version of the ‘RozgaarSamachar’ and e-book‘Satyagrah Geeta’.

PROVISIONS OF NI ACTTO BE ENFORCED: SCNew Delhi: The Supreme Courthas held that a provision of theNegotiable Instruments (NI) Act,which took effect from Septemberlast year and provides for interimcompensation to complainant incheque dishonour case, will beenforced prospectively.

INSHORT

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE nNEW DELHI

Aday after the MuslimWomen (Protection of

Rights on Marriage) Bill, com-monly known as Triple TalaqBill, was passed by the RajyaSabha, the Opposition onWednesday charged theGovernment with not keepingits word to send some bills,including this legislation, to theSelect Committee as proposedby the Opposition. It furthersaid the UnlawfulActivities(Prevention) Bill,known as UAPA Bill, was alsoone of the bills proposed by theOpposition to the committeebut the Government did not doso.

Raising the issue, Leader ofOpposition Ghulam Nabi Azadsaid the government hadapproached them to ask whichbills they wanted to be sent toSelect Committees. Leaders ofall parties wanted that at leastsix bills be sent to committeesfor further scrutiny, he saidadding that various partieswere under the impression thatthe two bills will be referred tothe Select Committee.However, the triple talaq billwas not sent to the committee,he said adding it was unfair onpart of the government.

He said the governmenthad approached the oppositionthrough the ParliamentaryMinister and he wanted toknow which bills were to besent to Select Committees.There were 23 bills listed in theongoing session and the

Opposition wanted at least halfof them to be referred to theSelect Committee.

“We identified as many as6 bills as A-category to be sentto Select Committees, and twounder B-category and the listwas taken by the government,”Azad said.

The Congress leader saidthe bill discussed on Tuesdaywas the first bill which wassupposed to go to SelectCommittee. The Bill, which islisted as number 2, was alsoslated to go to SelectCommittee, which the oppo-sition had recommended. Healso said the triple talaq billwas listed at night and “wewere in the dark and we could

not inform our members ofParliament. The second bill,

which is being consideredtoday for passage, is also onthe priority list to be sent tothe Select Committee,” Azadsaid.

He was supported byDerek O’Brien (TMC) whoalleged the government waspushing through legislationswithout scrutiny. O’Brien saidtwo bills — the triple talaq billand the UAPA bill — were ontop priority of the oppositionfor sending them to the SelectCommittee for further scruti-ny.

“One got listed on Mondaynight and the second one waslisted today. We seek your pro-tection. Out of the 23 bills,even though we are not going

to go back to what has beenpassed the last time, the oppo-

sition together had a list of sixbills, four of which weremarked as A-plus.,” he said.

Ram Gopal Yadav (SP)also sought to know whether

the minister is denying that hehad told the opposition aboutbills being sent to select panels.

While Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu said he will

examine the issue, UnionMinister Prakash Javadekarcountered the Oppositioncharge. He said the chair hasalready said that eight out of 10

bills in last two years have beensent to the Select Committee.The minister said the UAPAbill was not sent to the select bythe UPA regime too.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n NEW DELHI

With the Elders expressing concernover lack of affordable medical facil-

ities to treat cancer patients, especiallypoor, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan saidon Wednesday in the Rajya Sabha theGovernment is giving attention to researchfor combating the menace through nation-al as well as international collaborationsand plans to establish 1.5 lakh health andwellness clinics in the country by 2022.

Giving this assurance while replyingto short duration discussion on the needto ensure basic facilities and affordabletreatment to cancer patients, he said atpresent there are 482 centres in thecountry for cancer treatment with 695teletherapy machines. The Elders in theirassertions demanded setting up of a can-cer unit in every districts with qualifieddoctors to treat poor patients. They alsomooted the idea of free treatment of thedisease as medicines and other associat-ed measured like chemotherapy wereexpensive. They also sought increase ingovernment spending on healthcare andreduction in cost of cancer treatment andmedicines.

The minister said the ‘National CancerGrid’ initiative for uniform treatment ofcancer patients was being closely moni-tored by the Prime Minister, with 177 insti-tutions, activists, patients and advocacy

groups associated with it. He shared thateight institutions have already been ded-icated towards this objective, while two arein the offing in Odisha and Bihar.

He underlined that India was one ofthe seven founding member countriesamong the 40 nations globally which haveestablished an international cancer genomeconsortium, and are engaged in extensivework in the area through the consortium.He observed that 60-70 per cent of thecommon cancers detected in India are pre-ventable and highlighted the significanceof early diagnosis.

Congress leader and former healthminister Ghulam Nabi Azad sought thestatus on various programmes of erstwhileUPA government for boosting infra-structure, human resources and awarenessin health care sector particularly killer dis-eases cancer, diabetics and hypertension.

He told the House that the UPA gov-ernment had given Rs 5 crore each to 640districts for early detection of killer diseasesand Rs 120 crore per hospital to states formaking those as centres for treating suchdiseases. He suggested the governmentprovide more funds for creating infra-structure, human resources and awarenessfor early detection of these diseases.

Jogen Chowdhury (TMC), PrasannaAcharya (BJD), Ram Nath Thakur(JD-U)who disclosed that his wife is under-going treatment for blood cancer for thelast 11years, Birendra PrasadBaishya(AGP), Binoy Viswam(CPI),Narendra Jadhav (Nominated) andRamdas Athawale(RPI (A) also spoke onthe issue and gave suggestions to improvefacilities for cancer treatment. The dis-cussion was initiated by VishambharPrasad(SP).

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi willbe joined by his Cabinet colleagues Amit Shah,Ravi Shankar Prasad and Smriti Irani- all threefirst time Lok Sabha members- in the front rowof the lower house, with UPA chairperson SoniaGandhi and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadavretaining their front seats meant for Oppositionleaders. While Shah and Prasad had front row

seats in Rajya Sabha before the generalelections, it is for the first time Irani will have afront row seat in Parliament. Leader of theCongress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhuryand DMK leader TR Baalu were also allocatedseats in the front row. Among the bigger parties,leaders of JD(U), Trinamool Congress andYSRCP have also got front seats. PNS

New Delhi: The Government on Wednesday rejected the Opposition’scharge that it was pushing bills through in the Rajya Sabha withoutproper scrutiny, saying in the last two years of the NDA-I, several billswere referred to parliamentary standing committees.Responding to questions from reporters, Union minister PrakashJavadekar said that since this is the first session of the recently-constituted 17th Lok Sabha, standing committees have not beenformed as parties are yet to send names of their members.“This has happened in the past too,” he said. “Half the bills broughtwere those which had lapsed due to dissolution of (16th) Lok Sabha.These were pending in the Rajya Sabha. People did not get justice,” hesaid, attacking the opposition for blocking the bills in Rajya Sabha. Onallegation of Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad that governmentpassed bills in Rajya Sabha through deception, he Said: “Who deceived them, they have to see.” PNS

Opp slams Govt for not sending Bills to Select Committee

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE nNEW DELHI

The Lok Sabha onWednesday passed the

Inter-State River WaterDisputes (Amendment) Bill,2019 to expedite and streamlineresolution of inter-state waterdisputes. A key feature of theBill is the constitution of a sin-gle tribunal with differentbenches, and the setting up ofstrict timelines for adjudica-tion. The Bill was passed byvoice vote, though there werecontradictory argumentsbetween MPs from the Stateshaving water disputes likeTamil Nadu and Karnataka.

At one point, Speaker OmBirla reminded the MPs thatthe debate is in Lok Sabha andnot in their State Assemblies.Piloting the bill, Union Jal

Shakti Minister Gajendra SinghShekhawat said the existing tri-bunals constituted for resolu-tion of river water disputesamong states have failed toresolve the issues and a changein approach was needed. Hesaid there have been instanceswhen a tribunal could notresolve a dispute between statesfor 33 years.

While underlining theneed for strict and timelyimplementation of the awardsof tribunal, the Ministerobserved, “We have to focus onmanagement of water as nei-ther court nor tribunal can cre-

ate water.” On concerns expressed by

members regarding reliabilityof data, the Minister said thatgovernment will make all dataon water public with a view tomake everything transparent.During the debate, oppositionparties like the Congress andTrinamool Congress allegedthat the proposed legislationhas no provision for consulta-tion with states and was anassault on the federal structure.

In his reply, Shekhawat saidthe bill aims to address long-standing water disputes per-manently and urged all parties

to back it. He said all states wereconsulted way back in 2013 andthen the draft bill was sent to astanding committee. Its rec-ommendations were taken onboard before the bill wasfinalised, he added. The earli-er Bill lapsed when the term ofthe 16th Lok Sabha ended.

Under the proposed law, aretired Supreme Court judgewill head the tribunal. Therewill be benches formed as andwhen required. The benchesthough will be wound up oncea dispute is resolved.

The tribunal will be man-dated to deliver final award intwo years and it is proposed thatwhenever it gives order, the ver-dict gets notified automatically.

As per the current provi-sions of the 1956 Act, a tribunalcan be formed after a state gov-ernment approaches the Uniongovernment with such arequest and the Centre is con-vinced of the need to form thetribunal. At present, there arenine tribunals including thoseon Cauvery, Mahadayi, Raviand Beas, Vansadhara andKrishna rivers.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on

Wednesday questioned formerJammu and Kashmir ChiefMinister Farooq Abdullah inconnection with a money laun-dering case related to allegedfinancial irregularities in thecricket association of the State.

Abdullah appeared beforethe ED’s Chandigarh officeand his statement was record-ed under the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA).

The ED had filed themoney laundering case aftertaking cognisance of a CBI FIR.

The charge sheet was filedby CBI in July last year againstAbdullah and three others forallegedly misappropriating overRs 43 crore from grants givenby the Board of Control forCricket in India to the Jammuand Kashmir CricketAssociation (JKCA) for pro-

moting the sport in the Statebetween 2002 to 2011.

Besides Abdullah, the CBIhas charged three otheraccused persons -- the thenJKCA General Secretary MdSaleem Khan, the thenTreasurer Ahsan AhmadMirza, and J&K BankExecutive Bashir AhmadMisgar -- under sections of theRanbir Penal Code related to

criminal conspiracy and crim-inal breach of trust.

The CBI had taken over thecase from the State police in2015 following a directive fromthe Jammu and Kashmir HighCourt.

Abdullah and his sonOmar Abdullah have earlierdenied any wrongdoing.

Abdullah reiterated he had“done no wrong” and was opento scrutiny after being ques-tioned by the ED onWednesday. “I have done nowrong. I am open to investiga-tion,” Abdullah told an agency.

Abdullah, who is the LokSabha member from Srinagar,said it was not the job of thepresident of the JKCA to keepa track of how the fundsreceived from BCCI werespent.

“I have recorded my state-ment today. The matter is sub-judice and I have full faith inthe judiciary of the country,”Abdullah added.

ED sleuths quiz Farooq Abdullahin money laundering case

LS okays changes in Inter-State River Water Disputes Bill

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed by voice votethe Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants)Amendment Bill, 2019, Bill which seeks to crackdown on unau-thorised occupants of government residential accommodations.Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri saidit was good time to push through the legislation as many MPswere waiting for their new accommodation. Of the total 15,416residential accommodation under the government quota, “cur-rently 3081 cases were under litigation,” which was a matter ofconcern, he told the House. PNS

PNS n NEW DELHI

BJP’s total assets registered anincrease by 22 per cent in

the last one year even while thatof the Congress saw a declineof 15 per cent. Between 2016and 2017, the declared assets ofBJP totaled Rs 1213.13 croreand increased by 22.27 percentto Rs 1483.35 crore during2017-18.

However, the total assets ofthe TMC increased by 10.86per cent, from Rs 26.25 crore

during 2016-17 to Rs 29.10crore in 2017-18. The assets ofthe BSP also showed anincrease from Rs 680.63 crorein 2016-17 to Rs 716.72 crorein 2017-18, while the assets ofthe CPI-M were Rs 463.76crore in 2016-17 and it went upto Rs 482.1 crore in 2017-18.

The assets of the CPI alsorose from Rs 10.88 crore in2016-2017 to Rs 11.49 crore in2017-18. The assets includefixed assets, loans andadvances, deposits made and

investments, the report said. The total assets declared by

the seven parties -- BJP,Congress, NCP, BSP, CPI, CPI(M) and TMC - in 2017-18 wasRs 3,456.65 crore, up from Rs3,260.81 crore in 2016-17.

According to theAssociation of DemocraticReforms (ADR), the BJP wasamong the seven national par-ties whose assets, as declared bythem during 2017-18, was 6 percent more than their declara-tion in 2016-17. INC and NCP

are the only two national polit-ical parties to show a decreasein their annual declared assets.

The total assets of theCongress between 2016-17 and2017-18 decreased by 15.26 percent (from Rs 854.75 crore toRs 724.35 crore) while those ofthe NCP fell by 16.39 per cent(from Rs 11.41 crore to Rs 9.54crore) during the correspond-ing period.

According to the ADRreport, the total liabilities for2016-17 declared by these par-

ties, however, amouted to Rs514.99 crore (an average of Rs73.57 crore per party), whichdecreased by 27.26 per cent toRs 374.61 crore in 2017-18.

“For 2016-17, the Congressdeclared the highest liabilitiesof Rs 461.73 crore followed bythe BJP with Rs 20.03 crore.

“And for 2017-18, highestliabilities of Rs 324.2 crorewere declared by the Congressfollowed by the BJP with Rs21.38 crore and the TMC withRs 10.65 crore.”

New Delhi: The Centre onWednesday told the SupremeCourt that its decision to grant10 per cent reservation in jobsand education to economical-ly weaker section is intended touplift around 200 million peo-ple who are below the povertyline even after over 70 years ofindependence.

Justifying the Constitution(103 amendment) Act 2019,which grants 10 per cent reser-vation to EWS, the Centre tolda bench headed by Justice S ABobde that nobody can saysuch people should not be givena “helping hand” to uplift them.

Attorney General K KVenugopal, appearing for theCentre, told this to the benchwhich reserved its order on thelimited issue of whether to refera batch of petitions challengingthe Constitution (103 amend-ment) Act, 2019 to a Constitutionbench for adjudication.

During the arguments, the

bench, also comprising justicesR Subhash Reddy and B RGavai, observed that “poorpeople need the help of state,not the rich ones”.

The bench made it clearthat it would deal with the issueof interim relief of stay afterdeciding whether the matterwas required to be referred toa Constitution bench.

Venugopal said that argu-ments advanced by the peti-tioners that reservation cannotexceed 50 per cent is “falla-cious” as up to 68 per centquota was given in Tamil Naduand the state’s decision wasupheld by the high court.

He said that in Tamil Nadureservation matter, the apexcourt has not stayed the oper-ation of the high court’s order.

“After over 70 years, pover-ty is endemic and around 200million people are below thepoverty line,” he told the bench.

PTI

PNS n NEW DELHI

The deficiency of southwestmonsoon reduced to 9 per-

cent on July 31, from 35 percentat the end of June 30. Of the 36meteorological subdivisions,12 had deficit rain and 24 nor-mal. As many as 302 districtsacross the country have lessrainfall so far. The all Indiarainfall was recorded to be410.5 mm against the normalof 452.2 mm, a deficiency of 9percent till July 31.

Meanwhile, flood situa-tion in Assam and Biharimproved further onWednesday with water level ofall the major rivers as well itstributaries showing a recedingtrend and no death reportedduring the last 24 hours.

According to the IndiaMeteorological Department, thecurrent vigorous phase of themonsoon will continue, withfavourable weather systemsdeveloping in different parts ofthe country. “The total rainfallin August would be about 99%of normal,” the IMD said.

“Rainfall has revived mostsignificantly in Central India, aregion defined by the IMD as the

area between the country’s mid-latitudes to include Gujarat,Odisha and Maharashtra, apartfrom Madhya Pradesh. Theregion’s seasonal rainfall is just 5percent below normal. Thedeficit is 11 percent in East andNorth East India; 8 percent inNorth-West India; 5 percent inCentral India and 19 percent inSouth Peninsula “ the IMD said.

In the eastern and north-eastern parts, rainfall has been11 percent below average. Butthe season’s normal rain is soheavy that even after this short-fall, the region has got muchmore than rest of the country.

According to latest datafrom the department of agri-culture, till July 26, kharif cropshave been sown in around68.87 million hectares, which is6.43 per cent lower than the areacovered during the same peri-od last year. This is also 7.29 percent less than the average areacovered in the last five kharifseasons. The rains entered Indiaon June 8, after a delay of morethan a week. Its progress acrosssouth, central and east India washampered by Cyclone Vayu inthe Arabian Sea which suckedout much of its strength.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE nNEW DELHI

In India, where just 55 percent of babies are exclusive-

ly breastfed during 0-6 monthsand 41 per cent are able tobegin breastfeeding within anhour of birth, the total healthsystem cost of not breastfeed-ing is estimated to be around`732.43 crore, as per a WHOtracking tool.

This cost attributable to notbreastfeeding includes the costof avoidable health care treat-ment of type 2 diabetes mor-bidity in mothers i.e. Rs 30.01crore, cost of avoidable healthcare treatment of childhooddiarrhea i.e. Rs 513.09 crore,cost of avoidable health caretreatment of childhoodARI/pneumonia i.e. Rs 189.32crore, as estimated by the tool,“Cost of Not BreastfeedingTool .”

A first-of-its-kind tool aimsto help policy-makers and

advocates quantify the humanand economic costs of notbreastfeeding including lostlife, lost productivity, andincreased costs to health sys-tems at country, regional andglobal levels.

As the World BreastfeedingWeek begin from 1st to 7thAugust 2019, BreastfeedingPromotion Network of India(BPNI)’s central coordinator DrArun Gupta said: At themoment India lacks an officialpolicy and budgeted plan ofaction on breastfeeding/IYCF.

“Women still struggle forcorrect information and prac-tical support at health facilitiesand in communities.“Commercial influence of for-mula companies on health staffand parents still remains anissue even though a legalframework exists that bans thepromotion of baby food up to2 years. Our policymakers needto take immediate actions toimprove the current state of

affairs in this area” This year’s theme is

“Empower parents, enablebreastfeeding: Now and forthe future -Cost of InadequateBreastfeeding is Too High to beIgnored .”

To ensure optimal childhealth, survival, nutrition anddevelopment the WHO andUNICEF recommend initiatingbreastfeeding within one hourof birth, exclusive breastfeedingfor the first 6 months andcontinued breastfeeding for 2years or beyond along withadequate and appropriate com-plementary feeding after 6months of age and skin-to skincontact immediately at birth.

The World HealthAssembly has set a target toincrease global exclusive breast-feeding rate from 38% in 2012to 50% in 2025 globally. Indiahas to achieve a 65.7 per centexclusive breastfeeding rate by2025 as per the WHO trackingtool.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP on Wednesdayappointed its vice presi-

dent Avinash Rai Khanna aselection in-charge for theJammu and Kashmir assemblypolls, the schedule for whichhas not been announced yet butwhich is expected to be heldlater this year.

Making the announcement,BJP general secretary ArunSingh said the party will workto make members in everybooth, an indication that the saf-fron party will go all out to makeits presence felt in the Valley, aregion where it has been tradi-tionally an insignificant force.

Khanna is also the party’sin-charge for the state’s organ-isational affairs.

The appointment comes aday after the BJP working pres-ident JP Nadda chaired a meet-ing of the party’s Jammy andKashmir unit core group.

The Election Commissionis likely to announce the pollschedule after the AmarnathYatra is over, with officialsources indicating that theelections may be held inOctober-November.

South-West monsoondeficiancy drops to 9%;302 dists see less rainfall

BJP’s total assets swell by 22%: ADR report

10% reservation intended touplift economically weakersection: Centre to apex court

WHO: Total health system cost of notbreastfeeding is estimated to `732 cr

BJP appointsAvinash RaiKhanna as J&Kpoll in-charge

Public Premises (Eviction of UnauthorisedOccupants) Amendment Bill passed in LS

Govt to establish 1.5 lakh health andwellness clinics by 2022: Min in RS

PM will be joined by Shah, Ravi Shankarand Irani in front row of lower house

Govt rejects Opp’s charge ofpushing Bills through in RSwithout proper scrutiny

THE BILL PASSED BYVOICE VOTE DESPITEARGUMENTS BETWEENMPS FROM K’TAKA, TN

On July 22, an amusing news itemcaught everybody’s attention. Thevisit by the Communist Party of

China leader and state President, XiJinping, to India in October depended pri-marily on the runway length of the Indianairport. “A runway big enough for the air-craft carrying Chinese President Xi Jinpingand his large high-powered delegation toland directly from Beijing is believed to beone of the key parameters when theIndian and Chinese sides jointly decide thevenue for the second informal summit inIndia between President Xi and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,” said the report.

Several points, therefore, emerge on therunway alone. First, if it becomes one of theprime issues regarding the visit and venueof the Sino-Indian bilateral, then it’s up tothe host nation, India, to take the callbecause once a sovereign nation hosts a topdignitary of another sovereign nation, it’sthe duty and responsibility of the formerto take care of and fulfil all parameters ofsafety, security, hospitality and protocolamong other things. Second, if the guestraises the airport runway length of the hostas an issue three months before the visit,then the bilateral looks more like a logis-tics-centric exercise than a serious diplo-matic discussion. Third, does the unusu-al “runway length” shift the focus on topoor airport infrastructure in India’s back-yard, which the Chinese guest would liketo see as a business opportunity for“upgradations?” Fourth, is it a Chinese ployto play with and point out the vulnerabil-ity and backwardness of the host? To showIndia in poor light in front of the world?Through wide media coverage?

If so, understandably the airport “run-way” has its ancillaries, too, under the scan-ner. Leave road, hotel, transport, commu-nication, media facility, security and hos-pitality aside. There is a need for ampleroom for VVIPs to move around and strollin solitude. There are expectations of aninformal, intimate and private set-up withspacious arena, beyond the gaze, or radar,of the “excessively inquisitive” media,being in tune with the philosophy and stan-dard set long ago by disciples of the Marx-Lenin duo.

Coming back to the Indian airport andChinese aircraft for the Sino-Indian bilat-eral, it may not be far-fetched to visualiseXi alighting from a four-engine US-madeBoeing 747 as there is nothing else in thevicinity, notwithstanding the existence ofthe sole four-engine Airbus 380 of Europe.

Assuming again that Airbus 380 couldbe one of the options for the flight of theChinese leader, as reportedly ChinaSouthern Airlines operates five such air-craft, in reality, it’s highly unlikely. Onlyfour Indian airports of Delhi, Mumbai,Bengaluru and Hyderabad have the facil-ity and capability to handle super-jumboAirbus 380, the maximum take-off weight

of which is between 510 and575 tonnes.

Hence, it’s almost certainthat only a fully-laden four-engine US Boeing 747 will bethe preferred aircraft with amaximum take-off weightbetween 362.875 tonnes and442.250 tonnes (depending onthe model and date of manu-facture). That takes us to thepossible Indian venue of themeet, which has to be thesame city for the foreign digni-tary. Thus, whereas there existsmore than 30 internationalairports in India’s map, han-dling aircraft of various size,shape and capacity for diversedestination, only the top 10longest airport runways couldbe considered for visitingChinese dignitary.

These 10 are New Delhi4,430 metres (14,534′);Hyderabad 4,260 metres(13,976′); Bengaluru 4,120metres (13,517′); Chennai3,662 metres (12,020′) and2,935 metres (9,629′); Kolkata3,627 metres (11,900′) and2,790 metres (9,150′);Ahmedabad 3,599 metres(11,807′); Mumbai 3,445metres (11,302′) and 2,990metres (9,760′); Kochi 3,400metres (11,154′); Amritsar3,289 metres (10,790′) andThiruvananthapuram at 3,400metres (11,154′).

We can now say with a rea-sonable degree of confidence

that the Boeing 747 of Xi willland at one of these 10 airports.Why? Because a fully-ladenBoeing 747 (a VVIP like Xiarriving in India cannot comein an aircraft without full loadowing to various obligatorysafety, security parameter andprotocol) takes anywherebetween 7,000′ and 8,000′length runway for landing andbetween 9,950′ and 10,600′ fortake-off. That said, every flightalso requires an additional2,000′ to 3,000′ length formanoeuvring, in case of anaborted take off or emergencylanding. And one simply can-not take any chance with high-profile visit of an importanthead of state.

So, once decided, onewould like to ask: Which air-port would be preferred for Xi’sOctober visit? Here, I daresuggest, if I was there, I wouldunhesitatingly suggest Kolkataas the venue for the IndianPrime Minister to welcomethe Chinese President for an“informal bilateral visit.”Absurd? Impossible?Hallucination? No. Not at all.It’s real. Practical. Art of turn-ing impossible into possible.

Too much political bicker-ing between Delhi and Kolkatais reaching an unacceptablyhigh decibel, thereby creatingan irreparable rift between theCentre and the whole of theEast and North-East. Perennial

neglect and snubbing of theEast and the North-East is cre-ating a cleavage with potentiallong-term damage. Hence, holdthe meeting in Kolkata toequalise its strategic value as agateway to our Look east pol-icy, China having already con-solidated its economic holdon Southeast Asia. The distancebetween the Kolkata airportand Raj Bhavan can be coveredthrough the aerial route. DumDum to Race Course, underEastern Army Command, issix-eight minute flying time,and Race Course helipad to RajBhawan would be a maximumthree-four minute drive forVVIP motorcade.

The river-front of Hooghly,from Eden Garden to PrincepGhat, could easily be sprucedup again under the EasternArmy Command. Hotels ofTaj Bengal and Oberoi Grandcould be had for the entireentourage. Those coming byroad from airport to hotelscould easily cover the distancethrough fly-overs in 30 min-utes, under controlled protocolof traffic guards.

Politically and diplomati-cally, it can very well be a win-win situation for all. Delhicould show political sagacity.Kolkata its traditional magna-nimity. And the Chinese guestcould have a reunion withthose Chinese who madeBengal their home almost 100

years ago when China (espe-cially Shanghai) was on fire,from May 4, 1919. There stillare Chinese, who do DurgaPuja in China Town and haveeven written slogans in Chineselanguage during the last parlia-mentary elections.

There, however, is oneknotty issue: The date of thevisit. If it’s Durga Puja/NavaRatri, it has to be betweenOctober 2 and 8. The onlything which, perhaps, needs tobe avoided is that it may not bebetween October 20 and 31.October 20 because India wasattacked by China on that dayin 1962. Hence, all 11 daysfrom October 20 to 31, whenIndia was being mauled by thePLA, may not give politicallythe right signals. October 1 willbe the 70th birth anniversary ofthe People’s Republic of China.We all compliment China on its70 years, but Beijing, too, needsto understand the sentiment ofIndians for mutual reciprocitypertaining to goodwill andharmony. Hence, to my mind,a visit between October 6(Ashtami) and October 8(Dussehra) could be ideal.Both diplomatically as well asinternally. It reminds me of thebook by General William Slim,Defeat into Victory.

(The writer, an alumnus ofNational Defence College ofIndia, is author of China inIndia. Views are personal.)

Every highway warrior in India would knowof Cafe Coffee Day (CCD). On the road,it was a place where you could not only

find a hot cup of coffee but also hygienicallyprepared food and clean toilets. No matterwhere you travelled in India, a CCD outlet madefor a quick break. Similarly, for teenage cou-ples in cities and small towns across India, CCDbecame a place where they could talk sweetnothings. Even for office workers in India’smajor service centres, CCD was a place for

meetings as well as evening catch-ups. There is no doubt that V G Siddhartha,the son of coffee plantation owners from the Chikmagalur belt, had created ahuge brand and a massive business that could potentially become a massiveretail chain with its network of stores across the country.

Yet, Siddhartha will also be remembered as a man who jumped to his deathoff a bridge in Mangaluru and in his purported suicide note blamed harassmentby tax officials and private equity firms. This proves that financial pressures candrive even the wealthy and well-connected to take the extreme step. If Siddharthafelt unfairly persecuted, the allegations in his letter have to be thoroughly inves-tigated, even though the Income Tax Department has responded with a rebut-tal. But was a particular Income Tax official trying to push through a corporatebuyout by putting pressure on Siddhartha? Also, many private equity deals areessentially Faustian deals and Siddhartha’s CCD might have been extremely pop-ular and one of India’s biggest brands but it was a share market dud, losing over40 per cent of its value over the past five years even before his suicide. Hopefully,the fact that Siddhartha was an internationally-known investor and the son-in-law of S M Krishna, the former Karnataka Chief Minister, should make the author-ities realise that his suicide was no ordinary one. It will have a dramatic rippleimpact on India’s ability to not just attract foreign investors but also with domes-tic investors who actually put up the huge majority of investment in the Indianeconomy. This suicide also brings to the fore the very important question of men-tal health. Many individuals take the extreme step of taking their own lives becausethey feel helpless and lonely. India has a dire need of training more mental healthprofessionals who can talk to people to urge them to step away from the ledge.A high-profile suicide might even have the impact of forcing several other indi-viduals under financial stress to take the extreme step. This must be avoidedand messaging by the government and by mental health professionals at thecurrent time is very important.

First things first. Now that the Triple TalaqBill is law, an archaic practice of oath-based separation, which anyway had lit-

tle use in the modern context, has been doneaway with and at least empowered the less-er privileged and backward Muslim women.It further allows Muslim women to go througha legal process of reconciliation without theNikaah Halala or the practice of marrying anoth-

er man before seeking to remarry the old husband, mainstreaming them withnot only the rest of India but many Islamic nations as well. Of course, there isthe niggling issue of criminalising the errant husband, some saying a jail termwould mean a sudden economic crunch as maintenance for the affected woman,but the Bill proposes some filters against the exploitative potential, which needto be reviewed on the ground. In the end, the implementation will throw up freshchallenges. But the short-term optics have been done. However, the bigger storyis its political dimension. The ruling BJP has managed to pull off a pro-minoritywomen stance and position itself as a progressive counterpoint to the Congresswhich failed to do so in the Shah Bano case, choosing to yield to the normativecompulsions of the day. The triple talaq law would now become a revolutionarymarker for the Modi 2.0’s “New India” narrative, clearly lending an edge to itscompetitive propaganda as a performing government. The bill passage also bearstestimony to the NDA’s aggressive floor management skills and transactional pol-itics in the hostile Rajya Sabha although the numbers are stacked against it. ManyBJP leaders, in fact, had quite reconciled themselves to the idea of a gradualincrease in the ranks of the Upper House through newly-elected members overthe next two years. Post the mammoth Lok Sabha verdict, it was anyway expect-ed that while the BJP could have its way in the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha wouldact as the nation’s moral conscience and be its speed breaker. Analysts had eventhought the ruling party wouldn’t be gung-ho about aggressive legislations till itwas sure of the numbers. But the way it ensured the passage of the RTI andTriple Talaq Bills by winning over fence-sitters like Biju Janata Dal, AIADMK andYSR Congress, engineering abstentions and soothing anxieties of non-CongressOpposition parties over the interpretation of various clauses shows that theOpposition is just now a notional requirement in the House. That it stands com-pletely defanged by its self-imposed irrelevance, unpreparedness, worse willingacceptance of brute force. In such an environment, more controversial legisla-tions may be steamrolled, amendments to Article 370 and 35A, sooner ratherthan later. All MPs know that abstaining only helps the ruling regime as missingmembers would only bring down the total strength, particularly Opposition num-bers. They would have proved their point by opting to vote “no” instead. So, clear-ly the integrity of the vote has also been compromised, though a few, like theNDA ally Janata Dal-United (JD-U) claimed a fake show of conscientiousnessby the act of walking out.

How else does one explain that the Congress, despite a whip, saw its bench-es empty at the time of voting? At least four party MPs were missing, and in theseason of migratory birds, a headless Congress seemed unable to gather its flock.The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) threw up a big surprise when, despite itsvery public stand against the Bill, its MPs chose to stay away, bailing out the gov-ernment. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)’s Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel weremissing too. For Pawar, who is on the verge of losing the national party tag andis torn by dissension and fleeing members, political survival in the MaharashtraAssembly polls is more important than a piece of legislation. The next big sur-prise came from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), whose members did not vote,an indication that Mayawati is back to prioritising her own gains over stated posi-tions on the Bill. Some MPs of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), SamajwadiParty, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MPs and one member from the Trinamool Congresstoo, stayed away. The Opposition, before accusing the BJP of “dog whistle poli-tics”, should introspect why it couldn’t stand up and be counted or make a casefor a law against all abandoned wives irrespective of religion?

Divorced Opposition

Stern action needed

Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “The teen cannot wait” (July31). The Unnao rape case is onewhere the Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister must ensure justice.The prime accused is an MLAfrom the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP), the party in power. ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath hasdone nothing to restore people’sfaith when it comes to maintain-ing law and order.

Civilised societies cannotallow the fathers of rape sur-vivors to die in mysterious cir-cumstances or have the sur-vivors meeting with a suspiciousaccident. Kuldeep Sengar is anembarrassment for the BJP.

Meghana ANew South Wales

Save the Tiger

Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Tiger tales” (July 31). Whileit is a matter of pride that India’stiger population is nearly 3,000strong in the backdrop ofshrinking forests, we cannotafford to ignore reports of grow-ing man-animal conflict. The

“encounter” in Maharashtra lastyear with Avni the tigress andmore recently, two incidents, thefirst where a tigress and her cubswere poisoned at Chandrapur,Maharashtra and the secondwhere another tigress was beat-en to death by villagers inPilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, a fewdays ago, should set alarm bells

ringing.Steps must be taken to find

a solution to growing encroach-ments in wild habitats. Theimportance of wildlife protec-tion has to be inculcated fromprimary school level. TheGovernment must do its bit.

M PradyuThalikavu

Welcome decision

Sir — Kudos to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for passing theThe Muslim Women (Protectionof Rights on Marriage) Bill,2019. He has proved beyonddoubt that every woman has theright to protection no matter

what religion or community shebelongs to.This is the true spir-it of secularism. This is indeeda bold and right step by theCabinet, which will go a longway in protect the dignity ofMuslim women, who were untilnow often harassed, due to suchill practices.

Jubel D’CruzMumbai

A clarification

Sir — This refers to the article,“Of broken promises” (July 31)by Ashok K Mehta. The writerhad mentioned in his article thatthe Army’s strength was cut by50,000 soldiers to muster `500crore, which the Governmentnever added to the Army’s cap-ital outlay. The cut was done byGen Malik and not Bipin Rawat.

On another count, the writerhad mentioned, “Similarly, itwas overlooked by the ShekatkarCommittee”. The above linesshould read: “Similarly, theShekatkar Committee carriedout a cost-cutting exercise.” Theerror is regretted.

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

www.dailypioneer.comfacebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

op nionHYDERABAD | THURSDAY | AUGUST 1, 2019

08

Essentials of a good host

ABHIJIT BHATTACHARYYA

Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit, India will do well to complete itshomework — from symbolism to business

I read in the papers thatthe Unnao victim had writ-ten to the SC. I haven’t yetseen the letter. It’s yet tobe placed before me.

Chief Justice of India—Ranjan Gogoi

I came to meet Mamataji todiscuss the developmentsregarding EVMs and VVPATs.We will take out a morcha inMaharashtra regarding this.

Maharashtra NavnirmanSena (MNS) chief—Raj Thackeray

I don't understand why any-body runs for the USPresident just to talk aboutwhat we can't do andshouldn't fight for.

Democrat presidentialhopeful—Elizabeth Warren

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

India's failed Kashmir policy

This refers to the editorial, “Temporary reprive” (July27) by Bhopinder Singh. Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan had told us in umpteen unspoken words,

gleefully, that an American President would never iso-late his nation and push it into the waiting hands of China.Indian diplomacy, therefore, needed to be told that itslazy embrace and engage strategy wouldn’t yield prima-cy when “basic instincts” of nations took centre-stage.Together, Donald Trump and Imran Khan have broughtKashmir to the world stage. China’s Foreign Ministryissued a statement, “We support the international com-munity, the US included, in playing a constructive rolein improving Pakistan-India relations through dialogue.”

In the given context, India has maintained a rigidstance that talks and terror can’t go together. This isviewed more as a game of one-upmanship. Pakistan’scalibrated peace overtures to India, unceasing sermonson peace in the region and the exaggerated show of indig-nation using the terror victim tag to the hilt seemed toimpress many a world nation. Also, it would be silly toassume that more troops, more muscular talks and the

forced removal of the special status would quell unrestin the Valley and, thus, integrate it into the mainland.Yet, the lurking unease is discernible. The manoeuvrescould dissipate even the traces of the Kashmiriyat,Jamhooriyat and Insaniyat — the traits described suc-cinctly by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee —left in the Valley.

Haridasan RajanKozhikode

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Awful outcome

I’ve never been offered anaction film. If I am offeredone and if the story haspower, then I will do it forsure.

Actor-Singer—Diljith Dosanjh

The Triple Talaq Bill was an easy sail in the Rajya Sabhanot because of the BJP’s skills but Opp disunity

V G Siddhartha’s untimely death is a reminder that financialpressures can drive even the richest to suicide

The sociology of banking

IT IS TOTALLY AN ANTI-WOMEN BILL. THE LADY WHOLANDS IN SUCH A PROBLEM WILL BE DAMAGING HER

HOME AND CAUSING HARM TO HER HUSBAND.—CHIEF ORGANISER, WOMEN'S WING, AIMPLB

ASMA ZEHRA

THE MESSAGE OF THE BILL IS CLEAR: OUR WOMENWILL BE TREATED WITH RESPECT. NO ONE WILL BEOPPRESSED IN THIS LAND OF EQUALS.—SHIROMANI AKALI DAL MPHARSIMRAT KAUR BADAL

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The Government is planning a megarevamp of the regional rural banks (RRBs)and that includes consolidation for better

operational efficiencies. In the budget 2019-20,it allocated `236 crore towards the capitalisa-tion of RRBs. There are 56 operational RRBs andthe roadmap is to bring them down to 38 orbelow. There were 196 RRBs after the conceptwas originally introduced in 1975, to ensureaccess of affordable credit to the rural popula-tion.

RRBs were set up to eliminate other unor-ganised financial institutions like money lendersand supplement the efforts of co-operativebanks. Although RRBs have performed com-mendably, in recent years, they have lost sheenon account of their inability to preserve the low-cost model and raise capital. RRBs have not beenable to attract bright talent. Poor leadership hasretarded their mission and vision. Issues relat-ing to governance, suitability of design ofproducts and staff productivity continue to sti-fle their growth. At present, the CentralGovernment holds half the stake in RRBs.Sponsor banks own 35 per cent and the rest 15per cent is with the State Governments.

While the Government’s renewed ruralfocus is laudable, some important caveats mustbe in place. It is true that banks can play animportant role in the financial transformationof low-income communities, but sustainabilityshould never be overlooked. In their excitementto oblige their constituencies, politicians runfinancially amok and literally plunder banks forvote-banks. This was precisely the reason whyIndia’s post-nationalisation mass banking pro-grammes degenerated into populist agenda,which financially ruined the banks.

All these highlight how an unenlightenedpolitician can play havoc with the financial sys-tems. The entire execution lacked the soul of agenuine economic revolution because it was notconceived by grassroot agents but was assem-bled by starry-eyed mandarins, who had pickedup bits and pieces about financial inclusion frompompous new-fangled and half-baked ideas gen-erated at seminars and conferences. Cheap loans,followed with periodical waivers and write-offs,have been the hobby horse of eye-on-the-ballexperts and lazy policy-makers.

The original banking concept, based onsecurity-oriented lending, was broadened afterthe nationalisation of banks to a social bankingconcept based on purpose-oriented credit fordevelopment. This called for a shift from urbanto rural-oriented lending. Social banking wasconceptualised as “better the village, better thenation.” However, opening new branches in ruralareas without proper expansion, planning andsupervision of end use of credit, or creation ofbasic infrastructure facilities meant that branch-es remained mere flag-posts. It was a make-believe revolution that was to lead to a seriousfinancial crisis in the years to come.

The Integrated Rural DevelopmentProgramme (IRDP) is a grim reminder of howmechanically trying to meet targets can under-mine the integrity of a social revolution to suchan extent that a counter-revolution can be setinto motion. Arguably, India’s worst-ever devel-opment scheme, the Integrated Rural

Development Programme (IRDP), was intend-ed to provide income-generating assets to therural poor through the provision of cheap bankcredit. Little support was provided for skill-for-mation, access to inputs, markets and necessaryinfrastructure.

In the case of cattle loans, for example, amajority of cattle owners reported that eitherthey had sold off the animals bought with theloan or that those animals were dead. Cattleloans were financed without adequate attentionto other details involved in cattle care: Fodderavailability, veterinary infrastructure and mar-keting linkages for milk among others.

People erroneously came to believe that theState had all the answers to their problems.Governments, international financial institu-tions and non-governmental organisations(NGOs) threw vast amounts of money at credit-based solutions to rural poverty, particularly inthe wake of the World Bank’s 1990 initiative toput poverty reduction at the head of its develop-ment priorities. Yet, those responsible for suchtransfers, had — and in many cases continue tohave — only the haziest grasp of the uniquedemands and difficulties of rural banking.

Working for the poor does not mean indis-criminately thrusting money down their throats.Unfortunately, IRDP did precisely that. The pro-gramme did not attempt to ascertain whetherthe loan provided would lead to the creation ofa viable long-term asset. Nor did it attempt tocreate the necessary forward and backward link-ages to supply raw material or establish market-ing linkages for the produce. Little informationwas collected on the intended beneficiary. TheIRDP was principally an instrument for pow-erful local bosses to opportunistically distrib-ute political largesse. The abiding legacy of theprogramme for India’s poor has been that mil-lions have become bank defaulters through nofault of their own.

Today, the people so marked find it impos-sible to re-join the formal credit stream. Theentire notion of economic revitalisation becamea kind of code: It’s a formulation that isn’t takenliterally and one that worked wonderfully wellto bring all the anti-poverty players together ata time when the world’s energies were focussedon ending poverty. Juicy numbers are music tothe ears of bosses. Numbers have been a greatobsession with Indian planners in particular.Number of men and women sterilised, contra-ceptives circulated, wells dug, toilets construct-ed, villages screened for polio, TB or malaria,children enrolled in schools and saplings plant-ed… there is no accountability for fudged fig-ures. In fact, majority of the rewards are givento officers most adept at massaging figures. Thegame of numbers, without a concurrent focuson social performance and evaluation of qual-ity of assets created, has been the bane of mostcredit programmes for poverty reduction andself-employment.

There are two basic pre-requisites ofpoverty eradication programmes. First, reori-entation of agricultural relations so that theownership of land is shared by a larger sectionof the people. Second, programmes for alle-viating poverty cannot succeed in an econo-my plagued by corruption, inflation and inef-ficient bureaucracy.

A poverty eradication programme mustmop up the surplus with the elite classes. Thesetwo pre-requisites call for strong political willto implement the much-needed structuralreforms. Besides, the Government must aim ata strategy for the development of the social sec-tor — the key component should be populationcontrol, universal primary education, family wel-fare and job creation, especially in rural areas.These and other aspects of poverty alleviationhave not received any importance so far in ourplanning policy making.

During the massive banking expansionphase in the 1980s, opening a bank branch wasmade to look as casual as punching a flag post.It was impossible to locate a proper structure tohouse the bank. The existence of a toilet or amedical centre, a police post or a primary schoolin a village, as a precondition for a bank branch,was simply overlooked. In several cases wherethe expiry of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) licencefor the opening of the bank branch approachedwithout proper premises being identified, bankswere housed in a temple or a local communitycentre, marked by a small banner and a photo-graph screened as evidence of the launch of thebank’s operations.

Rural branch expansion during that periodmay have accounted for substantial povertyreduction, largely through an increase in non-agricultural activities, which experienced high-er returns than agriculture, and especiallythrough an increase in unregistered or informalmanufacturing activities. But there was a signif-icant downside; commercial banks incurredlarge losses on account of subsidised interestrates and high loan losses — indicating poten-tial longer-term damage to the credit culture.

Rural finance programmes should have sub-stantial inputs from rural sociology as part ofthe training kit for rural managers. RuralBanking requires greater insight into rural soci-ology than banking practices as far as financeis concerned. A basic knowledge is adequate tohandle these simple credit proposals. It is onlyin case of high-tech agriculture that technicalskills and expertise are required. With a few sim-ple tweaks, social banking can be made bothviable and result-oriented. We should not com-mit the mistake of throwing the baby out withthe bathwater.

(The writer is member, NITI Aayog’s NationalCommittee on Financial Literacy and Inclusionfor Women)

With a few simple tweaks, rural banking can be made both viable and result-oriented. But for this, political will is needed

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

Bug-eyedmonster issue

GWYNNE DYER

We need to have an international discussion aboutwhether we should make our existence knownshould the SETI research yield a positive result

MOIN QAZI

There is absolutely no procedure enshrined in international lawto respond to a signal from an alien civilisation,” said MartinDominik, an astronomer at the University of St Andrews. “It

makes sense to create a legally binding framework that is proper-ly rooted in international law.” Well, yes, it would make sense. Butif the Bug-Eyed Monsters (BEMs) do send a message, would wereally want to reply at all? BEMs, generally portrayed carrying offhalf-naked Earth maidens with evil intent, were a standard featureof pulp science fiction in the 1950s. We are all more sophisticat-ed now, of course, but fear of alien contact is not necessarily irra-tional. The specific reason for Prof Dominik’s remarks is a surveyof public attitudes towards alien contact that was launched this monthby London’s Royal Society and the UK SETI Research Network,but in broader terms, it is a response to two important develop-ments in the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) thatoccurred in 2015.

One was a debate at the American Association for theAdvancement of Science convention in 2015 about whether “ActiveSETI” was a good idea. Should we advertise our existence and pub-lish our address to the cosmos, or is that just asking for trouble?Many of the scientists present backed a declaration that a “world-wide scientific, political and humanitarian discussion must occurbefore any message is sent.” The other major event of 2015 wasthe launch of Russian-Israeli tech billionaire Yuri Milner’s 10-yearBreakthrough Listen project, which is buying thousands of hoursof time on the world’s most powerful radio telescopes to searchover a million stars for artificial radio or laser signals.

This is “passive SETI”, and there’s certainly no harm in justlooking for signs of the existence of other civilisations elsewherein the galaxy. There is “no bigger question in science,” said the lateProf Stephen Hawking, who was an advisor to the project. But ifyou find such a civilisation, an enormous debate will immediatelyerupt over whether we should reply or not. Hawking thought not.

The breakthrough listen project has been up and running forseveral years now, and last month, it announced that it has so farexamined 1,000 star systems within 160 light years of Earth butdetected no transmissions from alien civilisations. However, evenif there were ten thousand civilisations in the galaxy, the probabil-ity that one of them would be within 160 light years of us is verylow. Moreover, they would have to be using a very powerful sig-nal, aimed specifically at us to be detected at that range. Old tele-vision programmes do not travel across the galaxy intact. (Sorry,Galaxy Quest.)

In fact, it is remarkably quiet out there, but that doesn’t nec-essarily mean that there are no other civilisations in our corner ofthe galaxy. There is a rival hypothesis, which suggests that theremay indeed be one or more civilisations in our galactic neighbour-hood, but that they are observing radio silence. Why? Because theyknow or at least suspect that there is something big and bad anddangerous lurking out there in the dark and they do not want to attractits attention. This hypothesis is increasingly being called the “DarkForest Problem”, after the extraordinary success of Chinese sci-ence-fiction writer Liu Cixin’s ‘Three-Body Problem’ trilogy. It tracesthe calamitous consequences over 400 years of an alien contactscenario, initiated by well-meaning human beings, that goes des-perately wrong.

Nothing in the science we know makes this hypothesis plau-sible. Interstellar travel is virtually impossible and neither trade norconquest would be profitable at interstellar distances even if it didsomehow become possible. The energy required and the time takenwould simply be too great. Or so we assume, but our current levelof scientific knowledge is probably not the last word on the sub-ject. We still have much to learn even about the basic physics ofthe universe — the nature and role of “dark matter” and “dark ener-gy”, for example — and distance alone might not be enough toprotect us from any ill-intentioned BEMs with a sufficiently high levelof technology.

So Dominik is right: We do need to have an internationaldiscussion about whether we should make our existence known,should the intensified SETI research yield a positive result. Andit would be wise to have it before the media circus that woulderupt if we actually found a message. Another of Milner’s pro-grammes, Breakthrough Message, is working on what kind ofanswer we might send, but its remit is clear. It has pledged “notto transmit any message until there has been a global debateat high levels of science and politics on the risks and rewardsof contacting advanced civilisations.”

(The writer’s new book is Growing Pains, the Future ofDemocracy and Work)

Oceans of the world have so farwithstood the onslaught of cli-mate change but the increas-

ing vulnerability of fisheries to climatechange has put food security at risk.Millions of people in India andabroad depend on the high seas fortheir livelihood but over-fishing,habitat destruction in addition to pol-lution is now eating into the ecosys-tem of the once healthy oceans.These are now getting amplified,thanks to climate change, which iscontributing to the rise in surface tem-peratures of the seas.

Given the dwindling size of theaverage catch, the fishing communi-ty is increasingly finding itself in anunenviable position as mounting

debts and reducing income is not onlydriving away traditional fishing fam-ilies away from the occupation butalso increasing the migration of suchfamilies into urban spaces. Existingfisheries management needs to bereformed to take into account shiftsin fish population distributions,changing habitats and decreasingsizes of fish. Sustainable fisheries man-agement must be prioritised alongsidea reduction in fish discards.Encouraging consumption of non-traditional fish species and a transi-tion to sustainable aquaculture meth-ods are vital to alleviate the impactsof climate change.

However, concerted and adaptiveresponse to climate change can leadto more abundant marine resourcesand increased profits. TheGovernment must commission stud-ies that can eventually suggest howlong-term sustainability of fish pop-ulations can be ensured in order tomaintain healthy ecosystems andsafeguard marine biodiversity. Thiswill ultimately not only deliver a viableand sustainable seafood industrybesides ensuring prosperity for the

dependent population, but also ensurethe conservation of the delicateoceanic ecology.

Climate change is unequivocaland the impacts will have severerepercussions for the ocean in manyways. Higher temperatures causephysical modifications to the marineenvironment: Warmer surface tem-peratures affect how water circulatesat depth and disrupts complex foodwebs. Changing weather patternsbring more frequent and severestorms with implications for bothcoastal habitats and fisheries. In addi-tion, warmer seas hold less oxygen,affecting ecosystems and species pop-ulations. By absorbing more CO2from the atmosphere, the ocean’schemical composition is changing atan unprecedented rate, resulting in amore acidic ocean with negative con-sequences for many species. In anocean warming scenario of over1.5°C, global catch potential is expect-ed to decrease by over three milliontonnes for every additional degree ofwarming. However, if the same tem-peratures are controlled and limitedto 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels

and full adaptive were to be put inplace across the world, one canexpect spectacular gains in seafoodproductivity.

The conditions pertaining toseafood productivity are not exactlygood in other parts of the world aswell. In the North Sea, for example,scientists have found that overfishingis making fisheries increasingly vul-nerable to warming waters. Foodsecurity is a crucial challenge, espe-cially in countries such as India andPhilippines, as these places are warm-ing faster than the global average andface potential reductions in annualcatches of up to 50 per cent by 2050.As the global population looks set toreach nearly $10 billion by 2050 andrequires more resources than everbefore, it is unlikely that we will beable to rely on our marine resourcesas we did in the past — not nutrition-ally, economically, culturally, social-ly or recreationally.

Given the scientific advance-ments, India must pioneer docu-mentation of exploitation of marineresources, which is based on scientif-ic evidence. It must also invent systems

and technology that can enable man-agement of the fish population, har-vesting within safe biological limitsand allows stocks to remain at healthyand sustainable levels, otherwiseunderstood as maximum sustainableyield (MSY). Conservation referencepoints, such as MSY, should be estab-lished for all stocks, including unin-tended catch and bycatch species. Theabsence of scientific data can nolonger be a justification for failing toapply conservation and precautionarymanagement measures. When fishingmortality exceeds reference points,harvest control rules should be imple-mented to bring the affected stockback to sustainable levels.

Maintaining abundant marineresources and healthy marine ecosys-tems are the most effective mecha-nisms to increase ocean resilience andhelp augment the ocean’s capacity toadapt to climate change. Establishingecosystem conservation measuresincludes spatial and temporal protec-tion of habitats, important for differ-ent species’ life cycle phases.Ecosystem-based management plansare critical to support the recovery of

depleted marine stocks and the reha-bilitation of marine ecosystems, inparticular with sensitive and vulner-able species. With nearly 7,000 kmplus coastline, India stands to gainimmeasurably if these steps are imple-mented. In the face of the rapidlyaltering scenario in the wake of cli-mate change, India needs to composea calibrated response, starting with thesignificant and immediate reductionof greenhouse gas emissions. Climatechange adaptation must, in turn, befurther developed to protect andrestore our ocean’s health and to sup-port ocean resilience to the impactsof climate change that are alreadybeing observed.

India must also focus on build-ing and mobilising the capacity of oursocieties to better cope with theimpacts of a warming ocean — fromindividuals to communities to villagesand metropolises. Done effectively, itwill position us to eventually takeadvantage of the challenges andopportunities presented by climatechange.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

Climate change hits the oceansFailure to mitigate and adapt to climate change will lead to dramatic falls in fishery productivity, with negative consequences for

both people and the environment. Societies must be able to better cope with the impacts of a warming ocean

KOTA SRIRAJ

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | AUGUST 1, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

It is nonsensical to thinkthat you can create a lastingpeace by ending so manycivilian lives, and sayingthat the Taliban usescivilians as shields is not afree pass underinternational law. It is clearthat the pro-governmentforces lack both the will andprocedures to protect theAfghans they are supposedto be defending. Withoutproper recording,investigations of andaccountability for injuriesand deaths, these casualtieswill continue.(The Guardian editorial)

AFGHANISTAN WAR

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | AUGUST 1, 2019 money 10

CAPSULE

Affle India IPOsubscribed 2.38times so far on finalday of biddingNEW DELHI: The initial publicoffer of mobile marketingcompany Affle India wassubscribed 2.38 times so faron the final day of bidding onWednesday. The Rs 459-croreIPO received bids for80,28,040 shares against thetotal issue size of 33,78,021shares, as per NSE data till1345 hrs. The initial publicoffer of Affle India wassubscribed 81 per cent on thesecond day of bidding onTuesday. The IPO consists of afresh issue of Rs 90 crore andan offer for sale of 49,53,020equity shares, includinganchor portion of 27,72,483equity shares. Price range forthe offer has been fixed at Rs740-745 per share. Affle Indiaon Friday raised about Rs206.55 crore from 15 anchorinvestors.

Future Retail Q1 netrises 4.67 pc to Rs 159 croreNEW DELHI: Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail onWednesday posted a 4.67per cent rise in consolidatednet profit at Rs 159.24 crorefor the quarter ended June.The company had reported anet profit of Rs 152.13 crorein the corresponding periodyear-ago. Total incomeduring the April-June quarterof the current fiscal stood atRs 5,206.46 crore, up 13.35per cent as against Rs4,593.12 crore in the yearago period, Future Retail saidin a regulatory filing. FutureRetail at present has anetwork of 1,557 stores in437 cities across its brandsincluding Big Bazaar,Easyday, WHSmith, fbb andezone. Future Retail shareswere trading 2.99 per centlower at Rs 407.50 apiece onBSE.

Allahabad Bankokays raising Rs 2,000 cr equitycapitalNEW DELHI: State-ownedAllahabad Bank on Wednesdaysaid it will raise an equitycapital of up to Rs 2,000 crorethrough qualified institutionalplacement (QIP). "The shareissue and allotment committeeof the board of directors in itsmeeting held on date hasaccorded approval for raisingequity capital of the bank byan amount aggregating up toRs 2,000 crore," the bank saidin a regulatory filing. TheKolkata-headquartered lenderis scheduled to announce itsJune 2019 quarter earnings onWednesday. Shares of thebank traded at Rs 38.95apiece on the BSE, down 0.26per cent from the previousclose.

Coffee Day Enterprises appoints Ranganath as interim chairman PTI n NEW DELHI

Coffee Day Enterprises onWednesday named indepen-dent director S V Ranganath asthe interim chairman of thecompany to replace its founderVG Siddhartha, who has beenconfirmed dead days after hewent missing.

The company board, where-in Siddhartha's wife MalavikaHegde is also a director, met onWednesday to put in place aworking structure of the com-pany.

The board appointed "S VRanganath as the interim chair-man of the board" and "NitinBagmane as an interim chiefoperating officer (COO) ofthe company," Coffee DayEnterprises, which runs India'sbiggest coffee chain CCD, saidin a regulatory filing.

It also constituted an execu-tive committee comprisingRanganath, COO NitinBagmane and CFO R RamMohan "to exercise the powerspreviously vested with theChief Executive Officer of thecompany and theAdministrative Committeeconstituted by the Board in2015," it said.

"The board will, in duecourse, prepare a detailed char-ter of authorities vested in theExecutive Committee andapprove the same," the filingsaid.

The Executive Committeewill explore opportunities todeleverage the Coffee DayGroup, it said.

The body of Siddhartha,who had been missing sinceMonday evening, was found onWednesday in the Netravati

river in Dakshina Kannadadistrict of Karnataka after 36hours of intense search, offi-cials said.

Siddhartha purportedlywrote a letter indicating he wasanxious about pressure frombanks, investors and the taxauthorities before he wentmissing.

"The board took cognizanceof statements in the purportedletter from V G Siddhartharelating to financial transac-tions outside the knowledge ofthe senior management, audi-tors and the board.

"While the authenticity ofthe letter is unverified and it isunclear whether these state-ments pertain to the companyor the personal holdings of VG Siddhartha, the board took

serious note of the same andresolved to thoroughly inves-tigate this matter," the filingsaid.

The board expressed its con-dolences to Siddhartha's fam-ily and resolved to lend its sup-port and expressed full confi-dence in the company's man-agement team.

"The board also took note ofa message from MalavikaHegde expressing support andtrust in the company's profes-sional team and the commoneffort to look after the interestof the employees and all otherstakeholders," it said. "Theboard remains deeply com-mitted to safeguarding theinterests of all stakeholders,including investors, lenders,employees and customers."

SIDDHARTHA'S DEATH

Mallya brands Indiangovt agencies "viciousand unrelenting"PTI n LONDON

Embattled liquor tycoonVijay Mallya has dubbed theIndian government "viciousand unrelenting" in his latestintervention on social media,as he spoke out in support ofCafe Coffee Day founder V GSiddhartha who was founddead on Wednesday amidfinancial troubles.

The body of 59-year-oldSiddhartha, who went missingtwo days ago, was found bylocal fishermen and patrollingpolicemen on the banks of theNetravathi river nearMangaluru. The 63-year-oldformer Kingfisher Airlinesboss, who is fighting extradi-tion to India in relation to fraudand money laundering allega-tions, accused the governmentof not doing enough to supportentrepreneurs in debt.

"I am indirectly related toVG Siddhartha. Excellenthuman and brilliant entre-preneur. I am devastatedwith the contents of hisletter," said Mallya onTwitter.

"The Govt Agenciesand Banks can driveanyone to despair. Seewhat they aredoing to me

despite offer of full repay-ment. Vicious and unrelent-ing," he said. Siddhartha'sbody was found after a noteleft by him accusing theIncome Tax Department.

While the authenticity ofthe letter is now being ques-tioned, Mallya compared thesituation of debtors in Indiawith those in the West.

"In Western Countries,Government and Banks helpborrowers repay their debts. Inmy case they are obstructingevery possible effort for me torepay my debt whilst compet-ing for my assets. As far as theprima facie criminal case goeswait for the appeal granted," hesaid, also re-tweeting a series ofother Twitter messages relatedto the financial pressures onSiddhartha. In reference to thelatest proceedings by theEnforcement Directorate (ED)against him in India, Mallya

reiterated thatMcDowell HoldingsLimited is an inde-pendent listed com-pany in India and thesuggestion by theIndian investigatingagencies that it is a"dummy" company

is "preposter-ous".

The board appointed "S V Ranganathas the interim chairman of the board"and "Nitin Bagmane as an interimchief operating officer of thecompany," Coffee Day Enterprises,said in a regulatory filing

India to be included in Oz working holiday visa programmePTI n MELBOURNE

Australia plans to expand the'Working Holiday Maker' visaprogramme to over a dozencountries, including India, torecruit workers to regionalareas to solve the labour short-ages particularly on farms,Immigration Minister DavidColeman said on Wednesday.

The Australian governmentis in discussions to extend thescheme to include backpackersfrom 13 countries to find work-ers wanted by regional busi-nesses to work on farms.

The AustralianGovernment's 'WorkingHoliday Maker Programme',which includes the 'WorkingHoliday visa and the Work andHoliday visa', is a culturalexchange programme whichenables young travellers tohave an extended holiday and

earn money through short-term employment.

Apart from India, othernations which were being tar-geted by Australia to expandthe work and holiday visa werefrom Brazil, Mexico, thePhilippines, Switzerland, Fiji,Solomon Islands, Croatia,

Latvia, Lithuania, Andorra,Monaco and Mongolia.

Coleman said the govern-ment was working on expand-ing work and holiday visa con-ditions in an effort to recruitworkers to regional areas,according to a report by theAustralian Broadcasting

Corporation.Under the current pro-

gramme that allowed back-packers to work while they staywas witnessing a decline thuscreating workers shortage issuein regional parts of the coun-try.

About 150,000 people werein Australia on a working hol-iday visa in March, but the pro-gramme has actually shrunkover the past five years.

Coleman said the changeswere designed to resolve labourshortages in regional areas,particularly on farms.

"We know that working hol-

iday-makers travel further intoregional areas than most otherinternational visitors," he said,adding "They also spend sub-stantial amounts, helping toboost regional economies."

While countries in theuncapped 417 visa scheme aretypical backpacker nations suchas the UK, Canada, Germanyand Sweden, the 462 visa(known as "work and holiday")scheme includes more devel-oping countries like Singapore,Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam,Indonesia, China andBangladesh.

In a recently released video,

Australia has advertised itself as"the best workplace in theworld" for international mar-kets.

Coleman countered sugges-tions that the scheme wasbecoming a channel for low-skill migrant workers.

"Work and holiday appli-cants must meet minimumrequirements before a visa canbe granted, including having afunctional level of English andthey must hold or be studyingtowards tertiary qualifications,''he said.

Last year, Prime MinisterScott Morrison said his gov-ernment had not ruled out anagricultural visa in a bid toattract more backpackers towork on farms.

Changes to the backpackervisa have been welcomed byfarmers but have concernedsome academics.

The Australian government is indiscussions to extend the scheme toinclude backpackers from 13countries to find workers wanted byregional businesses to work on farms

NITI Aayog fordesalination plantsalong coastPTI n NEW DELHI

The Niti Aayog is working ona proposal to set up a stringof floating desalination plantsin marine waters along thecountry's over 7,500-kmcoastline, with a view to tideover the water crisis beingfaced in major urban centresof India.

Recently, several parts of thecountry, especially Chennai,faced severe water crisis, owingto poor storage in various reser-voirs following deficit rainfall.

"The Niti Aayog is workingon linking desalination of seawaters with the Sagarmalaproject," a top governmentofficial told PTI on the con-dition of anonymity.

Sagarmala aims to mod-ernise ports in the country, sothat port-led development canbe augmented and coastlinescan be developed to con-tribute growth.

"Recently, Chennai facedacute water crisis. Why can'twe put some desalinationplants in India's vast coastlineand its marine waters andsupply it to population centresthrough a network ofpipelines," the official said.

According to the Niti

Aayog's report on theComposite WaterManagement Index releasedlast year, 600 million Indiansface high-to-extreme waterstress and about two lakhpeople die every year due toinadequate access to safewater. It, however, added thatthe crisis is only going to getworse.

It had also predicted that 21Indian cities, especiallyBengaluru, Chennai, Delhiand Hyderabad, would run outof water by 2020.

The report had predictedthat by 2030, the country'swater demand is projected tobe twice the available supply,implying severe water scarci-ty for hundreds of millions ofpeople.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Food delivery companyZomato is winning the internetafter it refused on Wednesdayto resolve a customer's com-plaint about being assigned aMuslim delivery executive forhis food order.

"Food doesn't have a reli-gion. It is a religion," the com-pany tweeted in response to thecustomer's request for changeof the rider.

On Tuesday night, a mantweeted about cancelling hisorder placed on Zomato as thedesignated rider was a "non-Hindu".

"Just cancelled an order on@ZomatoIN they allocated anon hindu rider for my foodthey said they can't change

rider and can't refund on can-cellation I said you can't forceme to take a delivery I don'twant don't refund just cancel,"Amit Shukla, a resident ofJabalpur in Madhya Pradesh,tweeted.

In a series of tweets, he alsoshared screenshots of his con-versation with Zomato's cus-

tomer care, saying he wouldtake up the issue with hislawyers.

The company stood itsground and refused to changethe delivery executive.

Zomato founder DeepinderGoyal echoed his company'sstand with a firm message. "Weare proud of the idea of India

- and the diversity of ouresteemed customers and part-ners. We aren't sorry to lose anybusiness that comes in theway of our values," he tweeted.

Zomato's response won itmany admirers.

"Respect. I love your app.Thank you for giving me a rea-son to admire the company

behind it," former Jammu andKashmir Chief Minister OmarAbdullah tweeted.

Former Chief ElectionCommissioner S Y Quraishitweeted: "Salute DeepinderGoyal! You are the real face ofIndia! Proud of you."

Goyal had in an internalmessage to his team at Zomatoapplauded the customer teamfor "upholding our values andnot discriminate on basis ofcaste or religion for sake ofgrowth (or customer satisfac-tion)".

Sources said he told histeam that they should not suc-cumb to any demands of a cus-tomer, partner, or even anemployee on racial grounds orgrounds of any form of diver-sity.

On Tuesday night,a man tweetedabout cancellinghis order placedon Zomato as thedesignated riderwas a "non-Hindu"

‘Global smartphoneshipments slip 1.2% to360 mn units in Q2 2019’PTI n NEW DELHI

Global smartphone shipmentsfell 1.2 per cent to 360 millionunits in the second quarter of2019, making it the seventhconsecutive quarter of decline,research firm Counterpointsaid on Wednesday.

A total of 364.3 millionunits were shipped in theApril-June 2018 quarter glob-ally. The research firm attrib-uted the slowdown to sluggishsales in China.

"The smartphone marketslowdown is mainly due toChina, which has continued todecline for two years now.China alone accounts for overone-fourth of the globalsmartphone shipments anddeclined 9 per cent year-on-year during the quarter," itsaid.

The heightened US-Chinatrade war during the quarterhas further escalated theuncertainties of the smart-phone market, it added.

Counterpoint said Indiaremains a key growth marketas the shipments set a second-quarter record, growing to 37million units during the sec-ond quarter of 2019.

"The US-China trade warescalated with Huawei addedin the entity list in May.Despite the ban, Huawei wasable to register a 4.6 per centgrowth during the quarter,capturing a 16 per cent mar-ket share. The effect of the bandid not translate into falling

shipments during this quarter,which will not be the case inthe future," CounterpointResearch Associate DirectorTarun Pathak said.

He added that Huawei islikely to be aggressive in itshome market in the comingquarters and register somegrowth there, but it will not beenough to offset for thedecline in its overseas ship-ments.

"This will further lead to thedecline of the overall smart-phone market in 2019.However, the gap created inthe market by Huawei gives awindow of opportunity toother original equipmentmanufacturers (OEMs), espe-cially Samsung, to leverage,"he noted.

A total of 364.3million units wereshipped in theApril-June 2018quarter globally.The research firmattributed theslowdown tosluggish sales inChina Flipkart initiative to bring Indian

artisans, weavers on its platformPTI n NEW DELHI

Walmart-owned Flipkart onWednesday launched a new ini-tiative 'Samarth' to bring Indianartisans, weavers and handi-crafts makers on its platform.

The e-commerce giant,which is locked in an intensebattle for leadership in theIndian market, has partneredwith five non-governmentalorganisations (NGOs) to helpartisans use the online mar-ketplace to sell their products.

Flipkart Samarth has beendesigned to support artisans intheir e-commerce journey fromonboarding till they get famil-

iar to selling products online,Flipkart Group Chief ExecutiveOfficer Kalyan Krishnamurthytold reporters here.

"These small businesses arethe backbone of the Indianeconomy...we are helping tradi-

tionally underserved commu-nities access a pan-India marketand engage with over 150 mil-lion customers," he added.

In the first phase of the pro-gramme, Flipkart will haveaccess to 35,000 artisans

through the partnerships withNGOs.

"Our government has takena host of measures to supportthe MSME (micro, small andmedium enterprises) sectorand encourage e-commerceplatforms... According tosome estimates, e-commercecan potentially create 1 mil-lion-plus jobs in the nextcouple of years," Minister ofState for Finance andCorporate Affairs AnuragSingh Thakur said.

He added that e-commerceis also expected to increaseemployment in industries suchas logistics and warehousing.

Apollo Tyres Q1 netdips 44 pc at Rs 142 crPTI n NEW DELHI

Apollo Tyres on Wednesdayreported 43.77 per cent dip inconsolidated net profit at Rs141.6 crore for the June quar-ter of 2019-20.

The company had posted anet profit of Rs 251.84 crorefor the same period of previ-ous fiscal.

Total income rose margin-ally to Rs 4,358.78 crore dur-ing April-June 2019 as com-pared with Rs 4,328.6 crore inthe year-ago period, ApolloTyres said in a statement.

"While the demand fromautomakers remained sub-dued, there was growth in thereplacement market segment,"Apollo Tyres Chairman OnkarS Kanwar said.

"Moving ahead, I am hope-

ful of the markets recoveringand the sales bouncing backaround the festive season inIndia. In Europe, we are per-forming better than the indus-try, which is likely to contin-ue going forward as well," headded.

Speaking at the company'sannual general meeting(AGM), Kanwar said the com-pany has invested close to Rs4,000 crore in a new facility inHungary and has also ear-marked Rs 3,800 crore for agreenfield project in AndhraPradesh.

The company is also com-mitted to upgrading its exist-ing manufacturing plant inChennai, expanding truck tyreradial production to 12,000units a day from earlier 6,000units, he added.

Vedanta contributes0.40% to India GDP: studyPTI n NEW DELHI

Mining giant Vedanta Ltdcontributes around 0.40 percent or Rs 67,554 crore toIndia's GDP through its oper-ations, according to a studyreleased on Wednesday.

Taking into account thecompany's suppliers and theirability to generate employ-ment, the indirect impact isanother Rs 1,69,550 crore or 1per cent of GDP, the studyconducted by Institute ForCompetitiveness (IFC) to assesthe economic and socialimpact of Vedanta said.

In terms of job creation,Vedanta is creating nearly 1 mil-

lion man years of employmentyearly through all its group com-panies. This translates into 17 jobopportunities in India for everydirect employee in Vedanta.

"The induced impact, whichalso takes into account theconsumption patterns of howemployees and suppliers spendtheir wages in the consumereconomy, generating jobs andimpacting GDP is equivalentto 2.20 per cent of India'sGDP," the IFC said.

In rupee terms, the contri-bution of Vedanta, which hasseven companies in com-modities like aluminium, zinc,oil and gas, copper and iron oreworks out to Rs 3,74,000 crore.

Sagarmala aims tomodernise ports inthe country, sothat port-leddevelopment canbe augmented andcoastlines can bedeveloped tocontribute growth

TIDING OVER WATER CRISIS

Zomato skewers bigotry, as customer seeks non-Muslim riderSAYS FOOD DOESN'T HAVE RELIGION

o achieve theGuinness WorldRecord in the cate-gory of ‘the longestsingle line bicycleparade’, Hyderabad

Cyclists Group is all set toorganise a mock ride on August4 with more than 1,000 bicy-clists at ORR Service Roadnear Kompally. The previousrecord of the longest single linebicycle parade was done by1,995 cyclists of Turkmenistan(organised by theTurkmenistan Government).

Ravinder Nandanoori,founder of Hyderabad CyclingGroup mentions that they start-ed HCG with just two membersand now there are more than500 active members. “We know

that it is not an easy task to cre-ate a Guinness World Recordby handling more than 3,000cyclists. To make it possible wemust be prepared.” They havebeen conducting many trainingsessions in the city for the pastfew months. This Sunday, morethan 1,000 cyclists would par-ticipate in the mock ride toinspire more to participate inthe main event to be organisedin September.

Ravinder adds that their pri-mary aim with the event is toinspire city youngsters to takeup cycling. “We are also fight-ing against pollution in the cityby conducting various cyclingevents. Cycling helps one tolead a happy and peaceful life,”he adds.

Achieving the feat isn’t goingto be easy. Many rules must befollowed and the participatingcyclists will be closely moni-tored by the authorities. Sharingthe formalities, Ravinder says,“Every cyclist must go one byone in a line with a speed below10kmph. Every cyclist mustmaintain a distance of 10 ftfrom each other. During theevent, the cyclists should notremove their foot from thepedal.”

Ravinder informed that theyneed at least 3,500 cyclists tocomplete the record, whereover 2,000 cyclists should besuccessful. “Turkmenistancyclists started with more than3,000 cyclists for the record andended up with 1,995. To beat

their record we need at least3,500 cyclists participating inthe event. Our group has morethan 500 active members andwe need to inspire more to takepart through our mock ride.”

To gather more than 3,500cyclists for the fete, Ravindertransformed the 500 membersto active leaders. He mentions

that these active leaders help tofind more participants for theirmain event. “Getting people fora walkathon or a marathon isvery easy. However, it is verydifficult to get active cyclists toparticipate in this event. We aresure that we would manage toget 3,500 cyclists for the mainevent.”

HyderabadCyclistsGroup isstriving toenter theGuinnessWorld Recordsby coming upwith the longestsingle line bicycleparade of more than3,500 cyclists, finds V SATEESH REDDY

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

Turkmenistancyclists started withmore than 3,000

cyclists for the record andended up with 1,995. To beattheir record we need at least3,500 cyclists participating inthe event. Our group hasmore than 500 activemembers and we need toinspire more to take partthrough our mock ride

RAVINDER NANDANOORI

T

ThursdayAugust 1, 2019

he 21-year-oldmountaineer fromTelangana, AmgothTukaram whoscaled MountEverest this June

has again proved his mettle byscaling Mount Elbrus, the high-est peak in Europe. MountElbrus is a dormant volcano sit-uated in south Russia andstands at 18,510 feet (5,642metres) above sea level.

Speaking to The Pioneer,Amgoth, who is currently inMoscow, said that he is feelingecstatic after finishing thissummit. He observed that eventhough this voyage was lessdangerous and stressful thanthat of Mount Everest, thewind posed a difficulty to thevoyage. “While scaling Everest,the biggest aspect to tackle wasthe cold out there. Whereas, atElbrus, one has to manage the

hard-hitting wind. We even hadto delay the journey for threedays as the wind detracted ourpath.” He had earlier said thathis training with NCC(National Cadet Corps) pavedthe way towards becoming amountaineer.

He adds that during theirclimb, there were times whenthe heavy wind almost blewthem away. “There were timesduring the climb when wewere flying in the air; it evenblocked our way at certainlocations. There were momentswhere I thought I wouldn’tmake it to the top, but mydetermination paved the way,”says Amgoth, who hails from atribal family at TekkelapallyTanda village of YacharamMandal in Ranga Reddy dis-trict. He achieved this feat onJuly 27 at 7.45 am. “I dedicatethis achievement to the youth

of this country. I wanted toprove that anything can beachieved when you work withdedication.”

Every time he summits amountain, Amgoth shares apublic service message, and thistime, at Mt Elbrus he distrib-uted pamphlets on the perils ofusing tobacco and on the willto win over cancer. For his jour-ney, he was supported byRamachandru Tejavath, asenior IAS officer workingwith Telangana government.

This journey to Mt Elbrus ispart of his voyage to the SevenSummits (highest mountains ofeach of the seven continents)and he is planning to climb MtAconcagua, which is 22,837feet (6,960 metres) from sealevel, this December.Aconcagua is located inArgentina and is the highestmountain outside Asia.

T

Telangana-based mountaineer Amgoth Tukaramachieved a rare feat recently by summiting Mount Elbrus.

He had earlier scaled Mount Everest and MountKilimanjaro, finds SREENATH S KURUP

SCALINGNEW

HEIGHTS

aturday night vibesat filmmakerKaran Johar’s partydidn’t end on apositive note. AkaliDal MLA

Manjinder S Sirsa has raisedhis voice against severalBollywood actors includingDeepika Padukone and ShahidKapoor for flaunting a“drugged state” at the party.

Johar recently shared a videoof the party that was attendedby top stars including Deepika,Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal,Arjun Kapoor and Shahid,captioning it as “Saturday nightvibes”.

Sirsa shared the video onsocial media and tweeted a jibewith reference to the Shahid-starrer Udta Punjab, whichdealt with drug abuse.

“#UDTABollywood — FictionVs Reality. Watch how the highand mighty of Bollywoodproudly flaunt their druggedstate. I raise my voice against#DrugAbuse by these stars. RTif you too feel disgusted@shahidkapoor @deepika-p a d u k o n e@ a r j u n k 2 @ Va r u n _ d v n@karanjohar @vick-ykaushal09.”

The actors are yet to com-ment on the issue, but politi-cian Milind Deora refutedSirsa’s claims.

“My wife was also presentthat evening (and is in thevideo). Nobody was in a‘drugged state’, so stop spread-ing lies and defaming peopleyou don’t know! I hope youwill show the courage to ten-der an unconditional apology,”

Milind tweeted.Twitterati on Wednesday

went berserk at Sirsa’s tweet.“Let them be stoned or

drunk. Why does it botheryou?” tweeted Ishita Yadavwho is Parliamentary Secretaryto Feroze Varun Gandhi.

Sirsa replied, “They are pub-lic figures!! They are called‘Stars’ & they enjoy many priv-ileges. Don’t they lecture us #on every issue from their ver-ified twitter handles? So todaythey are answerable to everyIndian for their drug-effectedstoned look as visible in video.”

Yadav hit back. “Were youthere? Was someone you knowthere? You can’t go aroundattacking people based on con-jecture.”

Sirsa too refused to pause:“Since @IshitaYadav is so furi-

ously defending the celebs &advocating their innocence indrugs... Let us all request@karanjohar @shahidkapoor@Varun_dvn @arjunk26@deepikapadukone to getDOPE TEST done & sharereport on twitter. Pls prove mewrong by dope test reportIshita Ji.”

Another Twitter user, SaniyaSayed, posted, “Nothing’swrong with this video, Sirsa.Bdw what are you smoking?”

Some Twitter users, howev-er, came in Sirsa’s support.

“I support u Sirsa Ji & openchallenge to those in the videoto submit for independentdrug test as drugs remain inthe body for at least few days.I can bet none of them willsubmit to a drug test!” tweet-ed a user. — IANS

S

PEDALFOR THE RECORDS

MLA slams celebs for ‘druggedstate' at KJo party, tweeple hit back

GET YOUR EVENT LISTED: To get your events listed, please send your detailsalong with a poster and contact number to pioneer.features@gmail.com

12

MAA BHOOMIl A political drama dealing with the atrocities ofZamindars and the autocratic rule of the Nizamof Hyderabad, it gives us a glimpse of rural lifein Telangana, and also how people sufferedunder the heavy burdens of taxations andexploitation.August 3, 7.30 pm, Phoenix Arena, HITEC City.

JIHAAD — A SELDOM LOVE STORY

LIKE THE AIR I BREATHElArtist Bakula Nayakexhibits her paintingsinspired by thebeautiful epic lovepoem Ritusamharamand vintageephemeras.August 3, 6.30 pm,Kalakriti Art Gallery,Banjara Hills.

DANCE

THEATRECHUHALBAAZIYAANl This theatrical version of light-heartedconversations that Urdu authors Ismat Chugtaiand Saadat Hasan Manto shared aims to showthat despite their intellectual nature they bothenjoy their share of light conversations.August 4, 7.30 pm, Lamakaan, Banjara Hills.

l This Hindi two-act play talks about inter-religious love stories while also dealing withvarious other problems that plague societyincluding communalism, terrorism, andfascism.August 1, 7.30 pm, Lamakaan, Banjara Hills.

FUN TIME

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.

Hyderabad Thursday August 1, 2019

A JOYOUSEVENING

The members of Business NetworkInternational had a gala time

celebrating their seventhanniversary at a star hotel inHyderabad. Socialites and

entrepreneurs from the city gracedthe event in large numbers. Theevening also witnessed cultural

shows and danceperformances.

PARTY CITY GUIDE

TRACES OF SOLITUDElArtist Harsha Andukuri willshowcase a portrait seriesthat highlight women andtheir testament to thevulnerabilities posed bysolitude.Ongoing, until August 5, 11am to 7 pm, The GalleryCafe, Banjara Hills.

LAASYA l A danceproduction by thechoreographysociety of TISS,Hyderabad. Theproduction willshowcase Indianclassical danceforms.August 2, 7.30pm, Lamakaan,Banjara Hills.

EXHIBITION

SAFARNAMAlRenowned singer LuckyAli will take you on a ridethrough his soulfulmelodies along with hisother popular numbers.August 10, 7.30 pm,Shilpakala Vedika,Madhapur.

MUSIC

OXFORD DRAWINGSl This exhibitionshowcases exquisite worksby renowned and eminentartist KG Subramanyandone in the year 1987-88while he was at Oxford.Ongoing, until August 13, 5to 7 pm, Taj FalaknumaPalace, Falaknuma.

l This play is an adaptation of a Marathi playpenned by Rajiv Naik. The play revolves aroundtribulations faced by a couple in balancing theirmarried and professional lives.August 3, 7.30 pm, Lamakaan, Banjara Hills.

what’s brewing?

IS KAMBAKHT SATHE KA KYA KAREN?

KAIFI AUR MEINlA theatrical andmusical journey whichwill be ShabanaAzmi's tribute to herfather Kaifi Azmi.Javed Akhtar willenact Kaifi in thisventure.August 11, 7 pm, Shilpakala Vedika, Madhapur.

l Jigna

l Preethi l Lipsa

lYe

shas

wini

lNe

eraja

l Mehak

lM

ani P

avitr

a

lSh

arm

ila

Phot

os bb

ySV

Char

y

IN THE VILLAGE-SETCRIME DRAMA, HE ISA PART OF A GANGOF THREE,EMPLOYED WITH ACABLE NETWORK

arvateesam, who was seenin films like Kerintha,Nanna Nenu NaaBoyfriends and RojulaMarayi, is playing the roleof a thief, Dhana, in

Kanakam 916 KDM, directed byRajesh P. In the village-set crimedrama, he is part of a gang of three (theother two being Mohan Bhagath akaGaddam from C/o Kancharapalemand RX100 fame Lakshman),employed with a cable network. “Inthe night, they commit robberies.Dhana has a weakness for women anduses the money he makes out of theftsto visit sex workers. The trio has a rulethat they are only to steal from theirvillage. The villagers are aware of ournature but don’t have proof. The turnsin the story when we go to another vil-lage for burglary is the gist of the film,”Parvateesam tells us, adding that hehas shot for the film for 20 days inAnnavaram and is waiting for the nextschedule to kick-off. “A 30-day outingin Annavaram and a 10-day outing inKakinada will complete the shoot.”

The film is special for the actor, asit marks him teaming up with his bud-dies from theatre days — Mohan andLakshman. “We’ve been in touchsince our theatre days and keep meet-ing every week. Mohan and I keepquarrelling over a lot of things butwhen it comes to our work, we

respect each other. We used to visitproduction offices with our portfolioson his second-hand bike during ourstruggling days. We shared a roomas well,” he reminisces fondly.

Parvateesam, who is awaitingthe release of his mentor SaiKiran Adivi’s Operation Goldfishpresently, also has another film,a Telugu-Kannada film inhand, which is over, pendingtwo songs. The filming ofnumbers will take place inChikmagalur and Bangkok.Sridhar is directing it. “It’s ahorror-comedy where I’ll beseen as a youngster left with nooption but to loot a palatialunoccupied building followinghis mother falling ill. The bun-galow is rumoured to holdhordes of cash. He gets stuckthere and the follow-up eventsare narrated comically,” he signsoff. — NG

The actor mentions thatKanakam 916 KDM is special tohim since he is teaming up withhis buddies from theatre days —Mohan and Lakshman

he Pioneer was thefirst to report thatfilmmaker ChandooMondeti will beteaming up withSharwanand for a

new project (January 21). Thefilm was initially planned to goto sets after Sharwaa wraps up’96 Telugu remake but with theactor committing to 14 ReelsPlus’ Sreekaram, there werequestions regarding whetherChandoo’s film will transpirethis year or not. Not to forget,the buzz about the actor’sTelugu-Tamil bilingual with SRPrabhu and acclaimed choreo-grapher Raju Sundaram’s next

directorial. However, oursources have confirmed thatSharwaa has given priority toChandoo and the film will flagoff later this year.

“Sharwaa is in the final stagesof wrapping up ’96 remake, postwhich he will immediately shiftattention to Sreekaram withdebutant Kishore Reddy. He hadtold Chandoo he would beavailable for him from mid-November by which time hewill be through with Sreekaram,which is planned to be wrappedup under 60 days. Even if the 14Reel’s production gets delayeddue to unavoidable reasons,the actor is keen on startingChandoo’s film in the year-enditself. He wants to shoot a por-tion of it before diving headlonginto the promotions ofSankranti-slotted Sreekaram,”informed a highly placedsource close to the develop-ment.

A production ventureof SudhakarC h e r u k u r i ,who producedPadi Padi LecheManasu withSharwaa last year,the untitled film isa romantic dramalaced with a socialcause — the oneChandoo bouncedoff of the actor lastyear itself.

“Sharwaa is happy with theway the director has fleshed outthe story. The latter is still giv-ing it some final touches. It willbe shot in Hyderabad,Visakhapatnam and parts ofNorth India. The idea is to wrapit up in 70 working days,” men-tioned the source, who furtheradded that Chandoo wouldhop on to Karthikeya 2 soonafter completing this film. “Thesequel has a good 15 minutesdedicated to high-end VFX.The producers are keenon getting theeffects firstb e f o r et h e

filming rolls. So bythe time Chandoocompletes allformalities relat-ed to his filmwith Sharwaa,a portion ofthe sequel willbe in his hand,”the source con-cluded.

Hyderabad Thursday August 1, 2019

13

tollywoodSHARWAA GIVES PRECEDENCE TO CHANDOO MONDETI

The actorwould jump to

Sreekaramafter

completing the’96 remake and

will shiftattention to his

project withChandoo

Mondeti by theyear-end, finds

NAGARAJGOUD

T

egastar Chiranjeevi,who is presentlymonitoring the post-production work ofhis ambitious ven-ture Sye Raa

Narasimha Reddy, will be head-ing to Doha, Qatar, thisIndependence Day. The actorhas been invited to attend theeighth edition of the popularSIIMA (South IndianInternational Movie Awards)awards. He will be the guest ofhonour during the presentationceremony of Telugu andKannada Cinema on August 15.This would be the third time thatChiru will be gracing the SIIMAceremony; he had earlier attend-

ed the ceremonies in 2014 and2016. Giving Chiru company forthe event would be his goodfriend from Malayalam industry,Mohanlal, who will be the guestof honour for Malayalam andTamil Cinema on August 16.The ‘Complete Actor’ is present-ly looking forward to the releaseof his Tamil film Kaappaan(dubbed into Telugu asBandobast), in which he playedthe role of the country’s PrimeMinister.

Bharat Ane Nenu, GeethaGovindam, Aravinda SamethaVeera Raghava, Rangasthalamand Mahanati are in the fray tograb the coveted Best TeluguFilm award.

SIIMA gets a legendary touchThe event inDoha will be

graced by twoof the biggest

stars in theSouth film

industry —Chiranjeevi

and Mohanlal

M

DEAR COMRADEHINDI REMAKE ON

Karan Johar willgo ahead with

his plan toremake the filmalbeit with one

difference. Thestory will be

told from theleading lady'spoint of view

ollywood heavy-weight Karan Joharhad announced theremake of VijayDeverakonda-star-rer Dear Comrade

last week, giving the film moreimpetus on the promotionalfront. With the film failing toconsolidate on its tremendousopening day figures, doubtsabout whether Karan will indeedadvance with remake plans havesurfaced. After all, it is notevery day that one remakes afilm that didn’t do well at thebox-office. However, we hear theleading filmmaker, who outbidthe likes of Bhushan and Murad,

along with Sajid Nadiadwalaand Vijay Gal to snatch theremake rights for a report-ed price of `5 crore, isgoing as planned with asmall change. Sources say hewould tell the film from theleading lady’s point of viewand make it more compact.“With the film touchingsexual harassment at theworkplace, the issue ofwhich dominated newsheadlines six months ago,Karan felt it was the rightfilm to be remade. He con-nected to the film at manylevels, which is why hedubbed it as a ‘stunning andpowerful love story’ in atweet. As a matter of fact, hesuggested the film betrimmed slightly in the sec-ond half to Mythri MovieMakers but by then, it was

too late,” said a source.

B

P

PARVATEESAMTURNS THIEF

Gaddar'ssong in aTelugu film

opular ballad singer Gaddar, who barely singsfilm songs, has written and crooned a numberin Jabardasth fame comedian Sudigali Sudheer’sdebut as a leading man in Software Sudheer.What’s more interesting is that the revolution-ary poet has also performed for the number

Meluko Rythanna, which asks youngsters to stand by thefarming community. “The film has an interesting messageand I hope it inspires the farming community upon release,”Gaddar said. Expressing his joy over Gaddar’s song, film’sdirector Rajashekar Reddy P said, “We consider ourselveslucky to have a song which Gaddar not only penned butalso performed.”

A family entertainer, the film sees Dhanya Balakrishnaalongside Sudheer, while the supporting cast is stacked upwith the likes of Indraja, Posani Krishna Murali, SayajiShinde and Siva Prasad. Industrialist Sekhar Raju is pro-ducing the film, while Bheems is the composer.

P

avenuesHyderabad Thursday August 1, 2019

14

MANAGE FINANCESAre you

planning tostudy abroad?ROHIT SETHI

sharesquestions to ask

yourself beforetaking the final

decisionursuing higher edu-cation from arenowned interna-tional university is athrilling reality testthat can completely

transform one’s life in additionto a great career choice. Itequally involves earning a for-eign degree and exploring newcultures. However, to decidewhether to go for it or not isoften a difficult choice for bothstudents and parents. There isa slew of questions that stu-dents naturally come across,which should be thoroughlyresearched upon before apply-ing for admission into a foreignuniversity.

Here’s a list of some ques-tions one should ask beforemaking the final decision tostudy abroad...

COURSE TO PURSUEDeciding to study abroad

without a clear vision on whichcourse to pursue can be quitechaotic. One should first decidewhy s/he wants to pursue thatparticular programme and whatthe benefits are. Do a thoroughresearch on the course and theuniversity, and see what extrathings does it offers apart froma regular degree. Read thereviews of former students whostudied there, and contact themin case one needs to clarify per-sonal queries. Find out whichcompanies came to the univer-sity for campus placements andhow many students managed toget decent jobs after passing outfrom there.

IS IT AFFORDABLE?This is one of the primary

questions that one should askand figure out how. Which iswhy it’s very important to skimthrough various programmes

offered by noted foreign uni-versities and carefully under-stand their fee structure.Moreover, there is no suretythat the course one is optingfor, falls in the budget. In sucha case, look for the second bestoption.

Although Google can clari-fy almost every query related tocourses and programmes, onecan still go to an educationcounsellor for better assistance.Once decided which course toopt for, seek top student loansthat offer flexible EMIs andeasy repayment options.Usually, shorter duration pro-grammes charge less fee andlonger duration programs dothe opposite.

ELIGIBILITY FOR JOBSMany employers don’t give

weightage to a lot of one-yeardegrees or diplomas. Therecould be situations when onemay not get jobs despite beingeducated from noted foreignuniversities. It is, therefore,important to first find outwhether foreign degrees willmake one eligible for employ-ment in the home country orany other country of choice,and accordingly look for uni-versities that offer programmesrecognised by home employersto avoid unemployment.

HAVING FRIENDS OR REL-ATIVES

Having friends or relatives ina foreign land where one isgoing for the first time can beof great help. Local contactscould help one familiarise withlocal customs and also get thebest accommodations. Plus,they will also act as localguardians in case of any emer-gencies. It’s, therefore, advisableto know a couple of reliable

people out there who can cometo our rescue wheneverrequired.

OPEN TO CULTURE FITThe world is a mixed bag of

people, but not everyone likesto mix up quickly. There arethose who want to pursuehigher studies abroad but haveno interest in acclimatising tothe new culture. This can bequite challenging especiallywhen one is completely reluc-tant to adapt to the new envi-ronment. One can face a com-plete meltdown in times ofsmall differences between theirown practices and the ones fol-lowed in the new country.

SAFETYSafety should be the top pri-

ority for every student when itcomes to studying abroad. Oneshould, therefore, search forcountries such as New Zealand,Canada, Australia, etc. whichoffer a friendly learning envi-ronment to outsiders, involvingless violence as compared toother countries.

Although one should never letfear hold them back, any coun-try would have thieves wholook for opportunities to stealone’s wallet.

This is something very com-mon in any country, and oneshould, thus, be extra carefulespecially while visiting crowd-ed places, train stations or anysuch place that attracts such peo-ple.

CONVENIENCEWhile studying abroad, it is

not just the education expensethat one needs to deal with, buta whole lot of other expensesthat one has to smartly manage— cell phone bill, food and gro-ceries, transport, health, and

insurance, among others. Plus,there are times when one’sexpense may go beyond thepocket money provided byparents. To avoid such situa-tions, one should try to take uppart-time jobs that couldenable them to easily manageextra expenses.

IF REJECTEDA rejection letter is a com-

mon reality for many candi-dates. Don’t be disheartened insuch cases. Rather, start afreshby looking for the next bestoption. Also, if one wishes toreapply, it is always advisable toskim through the university’srejection procedures and guide-lines. Some universities mayallow one to revaluate and thosewho don’t, usually give detailedfeedback about one’s failure.Read the feedback and improveupon the shortcomings. A can-didate may also take a year’s gapand prepare again to score bet-ter. However, in that case, onemust make sure that s/he pre-pares a convincing story aboutthis career gap.

Studying abroad can be thebest decision in one’s life ifplanned well. Therefore, a stu-dent must look for the bestoptions while keeping in mindtheir budget and other keyrequirements. Take time to doin-depth research about variousuniversities and the coursesthey offer. Do not jump intotaking abrupt and quick deci-sions. Rather, start early to geta lot of time for research anddecide wisely.

Remember, it’s not just aboutstudying abroad, but living andlearning abroad.

The writer is Director,ESS Global (Study Abroad

Consultant)

PDesign your futureThe job of an interior designer is not confined to decorating homesand offices. There is much more to it, says SATABDI GANTAIT

re you creativeminded? Do youfancy beautifyingthe interior ofyour own home?Do you have pas-

sion for new designs, colourand aesthetics of a house andthink of giving a makeover tothe mundane surroundings?Do you often change theexisting decorations of yourhouse? If ‘yes’ is your answerto all these questions, InteriorDesigning can be a potentialcareer for you.

The idea of a beautifulhome is always fascinating toall. Since ages, people havedreamt of building a home,which could be a reflection ofhis/her personality. The tasteand preferences of ownershave also evolved with timeand often they look for rec-ommendations, which wouldprovide the comfort of allmodern amenities. The roleof an interior designer comesinto play to create a healthi-er and aesthetically pleasantenvironment with creativity,art and design strategy.

The job of an interiordesigner is not restricted onlyto mere decoration of theinteriors but they are giventhe responsibility to strike acorrect balance between con-venience and beauty for theircustomers. Interior designeris responsible to deal witheverything from floor to ceil-ing designing. He/she hasthe opportunity to show cre-ativity in wide range of fields.He/she should have the eye toforesee, what the space willlook like. The conceptualisa-tion and execution is com-pletely the responsibility ofthe interior designer for bothcommercial and residentialproperties keeping in mindthe budget, time frame andsafety standards.

Interior designers arerequired to have a soundknowledge of the history ofdesign before taking up anyprojects. The key skillsrequired for pursuing thecourse are as follows:n Good artistic sensibilityn Planning and

Administrative skills

n Communication skillsn Computer skillsn Drawing skillsn Maths sensen Leadership skills

The designers generally arerequired to work not onlywith homeowners, but alsobuilders, architects, govern-ment agencies and businessowners. Hence, it is extreme-ly crucial to be a qualifiedindividual with the right skillset before choosing this as acareer option.

After completion of theinterior designing course, thegraduates can explore theircareer by either joining theindustry as professionals orgoing for higher studies orthey can even venture intoentrepreneurship. With abooming real estate and hos-pitality sector, the demand forinterior designers haveincreased in the recent years.Even the workplaces are builton themes to enhance the effi-ciency of the employees. It isalso projected that the interi-or designing industry isexpected to grow 4 per cent

by 2024 and hence careerprospects are much higher inthe near future.

Eligibility criteria for BSc.in Interior designing course isClass XII pass from anyboard. Often the universitiesconduct Common EntranceTest followed by a personalinterview.

It is extremely important topursue interior designingfrom a good college to have agood portfolio. In addition,one should definitely go forone or two internships forhands-on training. In India,the starting salary of an inte-rior designer ranges between`20k-30k and eventually itgets directly proportional tothe years of experience andscale of projects associated.

The interior designingindustry in India is on a fasttrack mode and hence a careerin this is likely to witness high-er level of employability.

—The writer is AssistantProfessor, Dept of Interior

Designing, NSHM School ofDesign

A

n the present sce-nario, as crime isincreasing day by day,there is an immenseneed of a disciplinethat could teach

youngsters how to detect andprevent crime happening insociety. For this particular pur-pose, they need to have a spe-cialised knowledge of the sub-ject that could be applied toovercoming the problems risingday by day. And thus, ForensicScience comes into the scene.Currently, crime rate is increas-ing terrifically, and criminalshave become smarter. So, it isbecoming too difficult for policeofficers to solely handle suchcriminals.

Forensic Science is basicallythe application of various sci-entific principles and techniquesin terms of law for the purposeof justice. It is that branch of sci-ence that deals with investiga-tion, collection, examination,analysis and comparison of evi-

dences encountered at the sceneof crime. The physical evidencesare the ones that are encoun-tered at a particular scene ofcrime. These may include fin-gerprints, footprints, blood, hair,fiber, semen, saliva, trace ele-ments, etc.

n NEED AND SCOPE With the rising number of

incidents of crime and fraud allover the world, the scope offorensic science is definitelyrising. Today there is animmense need of forensic offi-cers both in the government aswell as private sector. Police labs,Crime Branches, CID,Investigation Bureau,Defense/Army, Courts,Narcotics Department,Universities, Detective Agencies,Banks, Insurance Companiesand many Multi NationalCompanies are hiring services offorensic scientists. Apart fromthis, one can even engage him-self/herself in private practice

and can work as a freelanceforensic expert for the banks,insurance companies, individualclients and other law enforce-ment agencies. Forensic Expertshaving expertise in differentfields like fingerprint, hand-writing, ballistics, toxicology,odontology and crime sceneinvestigation etc. They can col-lect clues from the crime sceneand elsewhere and can convertthem into evidences to prove acrime or to solve a case.

n FORENSIC SCIENTISTSAND THEIR WORK PATTERNForensic Scientists are trained

to locate, collect and examine thetrace evidences that are left by thecriminal at the scene of crime.Such as fingerprints, footprints,blood, hair and others. It is onlythe forensic scientist who knowsthe proper collection and exam-ination technique of particularevidence in a specific crime.Overall, the success or failure of

a crime investigation dependsupon the proper collection andevaluation of the evidencesencountered at the scene of crime.Therefore, forensic scientists playan important role during investi-gation and for this he has to be akeen observer with analytics skills.

n EDUCATION AND CAREERPROSPECTS To opt for a career in forensic

science one has to come from sci-ence background, as forensic sci-ence deals with the application ofvarious branches of scienceincluding solving a crime andanalysing evidences. Therefore,the one who has a science back-ground can make his/her careerin forensic science.

Candidates who want to maketheir career in it can opt for any spe-cialisation from general forensics,forensic anthropology, forensic den-tistry, crime scene investigation,questioned document and hand-writing examination, fingerprintscience, forensic toxicology, foren-

sic biology and serology, forensicballistics and explosives.

n HOW CAN ONE EXCEL?n He has to be a keen observer as

he has to visit crime scenes andlook for evidences. Anunskilled person may overlookcertain evidences but a skilledforensic scientist will observethe crime scene thoroughlyand will try to gather more andmore information.

n He must be methodical withresearch skills and thorough inhis investigations.

n He has to have patience asmany of the cases may take alot of time just to reach a con-clusion. Sometimes a forensicscientist has to analyse the evi-dence repeatedly and performhis investigation several timesto look for more clues and cor-roborative evidences.

n He has to have the basicknowledge of all scientificareas and also have the skills toapply different scientific dis-

cipline in the investigation ofcrime and examination of theevidences

n The detective view and solvingskills are very important for aforensic scientist.

n Lastly, he has to have goodcommunication skills as hehas to opine in the court of lawso he is to be able to explainthe findings clearly to lawyers,jurors and the public. There are many new emerging

areas in forensic science thatincludes forensic psychology,forensic paleontology, forensicgenomics, tele forensics, forensicaccountancy, forensic archeolo-gy, digital forensic, cyber foren-sics.

n JOB PROSPECTS A forensic scientist can work

as a freelance forensic expert andcan give his opinion in variousareas of forensic science to court,lawyers and detectives. Theycan work in Govt. ForensicScience Laboratories on various

posts, they can work as freelanceQuestioned Document andFingerprint expert and others.They can also work in bankingand insurance sectors.

In present scenario theForensic Scientists are in greatdemand to solve a large numberof cases and to combat thisrequirement, Govt. is takingaction to open more and moreinstitutions to provide thedegrees and training in the areaof Forensic Science.

The candidate can opt forthis booming area and can makea career in this ocean of inves-tigation. The job market is verygood as the area is booming butone has to keep in mind that hecan also be a freelance expertand can earn more in the areathan a job.

— The writer is AssistantProfessor & Program

Leader, Department of Forensic Science, Amity

University

I

CLUES TO SUCCESS

With rising number of incidents of crime and fraud,the need for forensic experts has increased manifold.

DR BHOOPESH K SHARMA shares tips on how onecan make it a lucrative option

TO BECOME AFORENSICEXPERT, ONEHAS TO OPT FORSCIENCE. THISFIELD INVOLVESAPPLICATION OFVARIOUSBRANCHES OFTHE SUBJECT TOSOLVE CRIMEAND ANALYSEEVIDENCES

sport 15HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | AUGUST 1, 2019

AFP n BIRMINGHAM

England return to ‘FortressEdgbaston’ for the first Testagainst Australia today

looking to round off an alreadymemorable season by complet-ing a World Cup and Ashes dou-ble.

If the World Cup remainsthe pinnacle of the 50-over game,for England and Australia there’snothing quite like a renewal ofTest cricket’s oldest rivalry.

But now there’s arguablymore at stake for both sides thanthe series result.

For England, a home seasonbilled as the most important ina generation started brilliantlywith their impressive run to afirst men’s World Cup title.

For Australia, an Ashes serieswin under the dignified leader-ship of Tim Paine would helpdraw a line under the ball-tam-pering scandal in South Africathat led to long bans for formercaptain Steve Smith, DavidWarner and Cameron Bancroft.

All three batsmen are likelyto feature at Edgbaston, withBancroft set to hear the samebooing that greeted Smith andWarner during the World Cup.

Australia have not won anAshes in England for 19 years,with their batsmen strugglingagainst the heavily stitchedDukes ball on pitches that offerseam movement.

Yet the first Test will beAustralia’s opening first-classmatch of the tour, although thelikes of Bancroft, who has beencaptaining English county sideDurham, have recent experi-ence of local conditions.

The way an England sidefeaturing several World Cupstars were dismissed for just 85by Ireland at Lord’s last weekbefore winning the first Testbetween the countries tells itsown story of ongoing top-orderwoes.

England captain Joe Rootplans to move back to numberthree to help shore up a toporder featuring novice Surreyopeners Rory Burns and JasonRoy.

James Anderson, England’sall-time leading Test wicket-taker, returns from a calf injuryto lead an attack along withChris Woakes and Stuart Broad.

Australia, meanwhile, arepoised to put their faith in arapid four-man attack featuringJames Pattinson and PatCummins.

Several of England’s WorldCup winners appeared jadedagainst Ireland but Anderson,who no longer plays one-dayinternationals and so was notinvolved in that success, hopeshe can revive any flagging spir-its.

“For some of us this is thestart of our international sum-mer and it’s our job to keep theenergy going as a team,” saidAnderson, 37 on Tuesday.

With runs expected to be atpremium while the bowlers holdsway, England will hope all-rounders such as Ben Stokes,restored to the vice-captaincy,can again make valuable contri-butions with the bat.

Australia have not won atEdgbaston in any format since2001, a run that includes their

recent World Cup semi-finalloss to England, when Roy madea sparkling 85. England, by con-trast, have won their last 11internationals at the raucousBirmingham ground.

But a congested schedule,the result of officials crammingan Ashes into the same seasonas a lengthy World Cup, couldhave a bigger bearing on theseries, the first in the ICC’s newWorld Test Championship.

PTI n KOLKATA

Former India captain SouravGanguly on Wednesday said

as the leader of the team ViratKohli has got every right tovoice his opinion in the coachselection process.

In his first media interactionafter India’s World Cup semifi-nal exit, Kohli backed RaviShastri to continue as Indiahead coach after his extendedtenure ends with the tour of theWest Indies beginning later thisweek.

“He is the captain. He hasgot every right to say,” Gangulysaid referring Kohli’s commentat the pre-departure mediainteraction in Mumbai onMonday.

Ganguly was part of theCricket Advisory Committee(CAC) which picked Shastri asthe head coach in 2017. Theother members were SachinTendulkar and VVS Laxman.

This time the CAC compris-ing Kapil Dev, AnushumanGaekwad and ShanthaRangaswamy will pick thecoach. The application deadlineended on Tuesday and incum-bent Shastri gets an automaticentry in the selection process.

The Kapil-led committeehad also picked the Indianwomen’s coach, W V Raman, inDecember.

Gaekwad had earlier in theday however said they wouldnot be prejudiced in appointingthe new coach.

“There’s no question of what

Kohli says or anybody says,”Gaekwad said, pointing out thatthe same committee did notconsult anyone while appointingWV Raman as India women’scoach last year despite a lot ofcontroversy.

“If you remember theappointment of women’s coach,

there was a lot of controversy.But we didn’t take anyone’sopinion,” the former India bats-man and coach said.

“See, whatever (Virat) Kohlior (Ravi) Shastri may say, wehave to adhere to BCCI. He wasasked about his preference (atthe press conference) and Kohli

gave his preference for RaviShastri. We have nothing to dowith that. We are neutral and wewould go with an open mind,”the 66-year-old said.

Ganguly however refused tocomment on Gaekwad’s state-ments: “Every individual is dif-ferent so I cannot comment.”

AFP n BIRMINGHAM

Australia captain Tim Paine says he has no fears aboutlosing his place as he prepares to lead his team in

the first Ashes Test today.The wicketkeeper found himself unexpectedly

thrust into a leadership position in the fall-out from lastyear’s ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

Then-captain Steve Smith and David Warner, hisdeputy, were stripped of their positions by CricketAustralia after the incident and both were banned frominternational cricket for 12 months.

Australia’ssquad for theAshes includesanother wicket-keeper inMatthew Wade,who has alreadyplayed 22 Tests.

Wade hasbeen in fine formwith the bat dur-ing the recentAustralia A tourof England, scor-ing three hun-dreds.

By contrast,Paine has man-aged just onefirst-class centu-ry in his entirecareer. Askedduring a pre-match press con-ference atEdgbaston onWednesday if hefelt under pres-sure to justify hisplace, Painereplied: “No, I donot at all. I’m 34years old, I don’treally care aboutmy place in theside any more.I’m here to do ajob.

“I’ve been putin this team tocaptain and wicket-keep to the best of my ability andI’ve said before, at 34 years of age, if you are looking fur-ther ahead than the next Test match you are kiddingyourself.

“I’m not going to waste time looking over my shoul-der. I’m enjoying the job that I’m doing.”

With Cameron Bancroft, the man who applied sand-paper to the ball during that fateful Test in Cape Town,also set to be included in Australia’s team for the Ashesopener alongside Smith and Warner, there will be arenewed focus on the tourists’ on-field conduct.

But the side, under the leadership of Australia one-day captain Aaron Finch, conducted themselves in exem-plary fashion during the recent World Cup in Englandand Wales.

Paine said they were taking their cue from WinstonChurchill although there is doubt over whether Britain’sprime minister during World War II ever said the wordsascribed to him by the Australians.

“We are going to play competitive Test match crick-et like every other nation does,” he said.

“Our guys understand what’s expected of them andwe are role models,” added Paine, with Australia look-ing to win their first Ashes series in England since 2001.

“There’s been a quote going around our changingrooms this week from Winston Churchill and that is‘behaviour doesn’t lie’.

“We can talk all we like about how we are going toplay and ultimately you guys will see how we play andjudge for yourselves,” added Paine, who said thetourists had been made aware of the quote by assistantcoach Brad Haddin, the former Australia wicketkeep-er who was renowned for ‘sledging’ or verbally abusingopponents during his playing days.

Meanwhile Paine was glad of the strength in depthof an Australia fast-bowling unit where Pat Cummins,Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson, Josh Hazlewood andPeter Siddle are all vying for a place in the side.

“We are in a really good situation at the momentwhere we have a number of quality fast bowlers in par-ticular,” Paine said.

“We are lucky that we feel we have a lot of bases cov-ered,” added the skipper who said Australia would nametheir team at the toss, unlike England, who confirmedtheir side on Wednesday. “It’s up to us to come up withthe best combinations to take 20 wickets.

PTI n MUMBAI

Skipper Deepak Hooda led from the frontas Jaipur Pink Panthers defeated Haryana

Steelers 37-21 in their Pro Kabaddi Leaguematch played here on Wednesday.

This was Jaipur’s third win in as manymatches and the side took control of thegame in the second half by inflicting two ‘all-outs’ on the opposition.

Hooda (14 points) was the star per-former, while Sandeep Dhull (6 points) andVishal (4 points) complemented the skipperwell.

Jaipur opened their account by success-fully tackling Haryana raider Naveen. ButHaryana tackled Hooda to make it2 -1.

Jaipur surged ahead 5-2, cour-tesy a successful raid by Deepak. Butsome good work by Haryana helpedthem reduce the deficit to 5-6 in a closely-fought game.

Jaipur, with successful tackles and raids,were inching ahead. However, with theirdefenders up to the mark, Haryana were clos-ing in on the gap.

But Jaipur defenders successfully tack-led Naveen to take them 10-8 ahead.

Deepak, then with three minutes to gofor the first half, grabbed two points to takeJaipur 12-8 ahead.

Haryana’s K Selvamani was successful-ly tackled by Jaipur in the dying minutes ofthe first half as they went 13 -8 ahead intothe break.

After the break, Jaipur inflictedan all-out to surge 17-8 ahead.

And then there was no lookingback for the outfit as they continued

their dominance maintaining a 10-point leadwith nine minutes left for the game to endover Haryana.

Jaipur inflicted the second all out in the36th minute of the match to move 34-16 andtheir win just remained a formality.

Finally, Jaipur won 37-21 and continuedtheir winning run.

In the second match of the day, UMumba suffered a 23 -27 loss to U P Yoddha,with Monu Goyat (6 points) and Sumit (6points) starring for the side from the north.

The match went down the wire and UPYoddha held their nerves in the dying min-utes of the game to come out triumphant.

England vs AustraliaLive from 3:30pm IST

SONY SIX NETWORK

No pressureon PaineCHASE FOR HISTORY

Eng look to complete double after maiden WC win as Aus eye first overseas series win since 2001ENG -AUS TEST ENCOUNTERSVenue M Eng Aus DrawIn England 166 51 49 66In Australia 180 57 95 28Total 346 108 144 94At Edgbaston 14 6 3 5HIGHEST INNINGS TOTALSEngland 903-7dec at The Oval 1938Australia 729-6 dec at Lord's 1930LOWEST INNINGS TOTALSEngland (in Eng) 52 at The Oval 1948Australia 36 at Birmingham 1902TOP INDIVIDUAL SCORESEngland 364 Len Hutton at The Oval 1938Australia 334 Don Bradman at Leeds 1934BEST BOWLING (INNINGS)England 10-53 Jim Laker at Manchester 1956Australia (in Eng) 8-31 Frank Laver at Manchester 1909LAST 3 ASHES SERIESSeason Venue Winner Result2013-14 Australia Australia 5-0 (5)2014 England England 3-2 (5)2017-18 Australia Australia 4-0 (5)

Faisel FFeatures

The Ashes is named after asatirical obituary published

in a British newspaper, TheSporting Times, in 1882 after amatch at The Oval in whichAustralia beat England on anEnglish ground for the firsttime. The obituary statedthat English cricket haddied, and the body will becremated and the ashestaken to Australia. TheEnglish media dubbed thenext English tour toAustralia (1882–83) as thequest to regain The Ashes.

During that tour asmall terracotta urn waspresented to Englandcaptain Ivo Bligh by agroup of Melbournewomen. The contents of the urnare reputed to be the ashes of anitem of cricket equipment, pos-sibly a bail, ball or stump. TheDowager Countess of Darnleyclaimed recently that her moth-er-in-law, Bligh’s wife Florence

Morphy, said that they were theremains of a lady’s veil.

The urn is erroneouslybelieved by some to be the tro-phy of the Ashes series, but ithas never been formally adopt-

ed as such and Bligh alwaysconsidered it to be a per-sonal gift. Replicas of theurn are often held aloft byvictorious teams as a sym-bol of their victory in anAshes series, but the actual

urn has never been present-ed or displayed as a trophy inthis way. Whichever side holds

the Ashes, the urn normal-ly remains in theMarylebone Cricket ClubMuseum at Lord’s sincebeing presented to the

MCC by Bligh’s widow upon hisdeath.

The first Ashes series wasplayed in 1882-82 in Australia.England and Australia playednine Test matches before Ashesstarted. PNS

WHAT IIS AASHES

AFP n LONDON

W ARNER vs R O Y

Both England and Australiahave batsmen at the top of

the order with the ability to dic-tate the pace of an innings andwith something to prove.

Australia’s David Warner,who had an impressive WorldCup campaign, is resuminghis Test career after serving aban for his part in last year’sball-tampering scandal inSouth Africa.

Warner, who has scored 21Test centuries, has the knack of

quickly taking the game awayfrom the opposition andEngland will be desperate to gethim early.

Jason Roy, has played a sin-gle Test, against Ireland lastweek, after 84 ODIs and will bekeen to show he can bring hisswashbuckling style into theTest arena.

SMITH vs ROOT

When Australia andEngland last met, in

Australia in 2017-18, SteveSmith and Joe Root were theopposing skippers.

Since then, Smith has beenstripped of the captaincy and heis preparing for his first Testouting since being banned overball-tampering incident.

Averaging an eye-catching61.37 in 64 Tests, with 23 cen-turies, Smith is still the mainman for Australia and hescored a total of 687 runs whenthe teams last met, hittingthree centuries in five Tests.

Root’s Test average hasdipped below 50 but heremains one of most fearedplayers in the game andEngland’s finest batsmen, with16 Test centuries under his belt.The Yorkshireman is movingback up to number three toboost England’s struggling toporder.

Since Root dropped a placeduring the India series last year,several options have been tried,including Moeen Ali, JonnyBairstow and Joe Denly.

But none has settled thedebate and now Root is readyto return to a position fromwhich he scored his Test-best254 against Pakistan in 2016.

ENGLISH GUILE vs AUSPACE

England have a new weaponin Jofra Archer but the key

to their Ashes bowling attackwill be veteran openingbowlers James Anderson andStuart Broad.

Anderson and Broad, withmore than 1,000 Test wicketsbetween them, lack the sheerpace to frighten batsmen butare masters of exploitingEnglish conditions with swing.

Australia, on the otherhand, have a battery of fastbowlers who could inflict realdamage on England’s fragile

top-order.“Australia have bowlers

who can blast you away — PatCummins, Mitchell Starc,James Pattinson and JoshHazlewood,” said formerEngland paceman SteveHarmison.

“But if they don’t get itquite right they can go at six anover. Broad and Anderson willvery rarely go at six an over.

“They’ll be down on pacecompared to the opposition,but they’ll have total control of

Jason Roy prepares to bat at nets AP

England captain Joe Root, left, and Australia's captain Tim Paine pose with the Ashes urn before the first Ashes Test match AP

Steve Smith reacts during nets session AP

Virat Kohli smiles during India’s practice sesssion AP/File Picture

U Mumba players celebrate after scoring point PKL

England pacers chats at indoor nets ECB

Key battles

BIRMINGHAM: World Cup-winnerJofra Archer will have to wait forhis Test debut after the fast bowlerwas left out of the England sidenamed on Wednesday for theseries opener.The Barbados-born quick, whohas been struggling with a sideinjury, was omitted from anoriginal 14-man squad along withfellow pacemen Sam Curran andOlly Stone, who both featured inlast week’s lone Test againstIreland.James Anderson, England’s all-

time leading Test wicket-taker,returns to the side following a calfinjury and will team up again withregular new-ball partner StuartBroad.All-rounders Chris Woakes andBen Stokes will provide seam-bowling support in the matchstarting Thursday.England team Rory Burns, Jason Roy, Joe Root(capt), Joe Denly, Jos Buttler, BenStokes, Jonny Bairstow (wkt),Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, StuartBroad, James Anderson AFP

ARCHER MISSES OUT

Pink Panthers beat Steelers‘Kohli has right to give opinion on coach selection’MUMBAI: India’s hunt for a newcoach has attracted topinternational names, includingAustralian Tom Moody, despiteskipper Virat Kohli backing RaviShastri to get a new deal, reportssaid on Wednesday.The deadline for applicationsended Tuesday as the Indian sideset off for a tour of the WestIndies with pressure mountingon Shastri after the team wereupset by New Zealand in theWorld Cup semi-final.According to media reports,Moody, former New Zealandcoach Mike Hesson, Sri Lankastalwart Mahela Jayawardene,ex-India player Robin Singh andformer India manager andcurrent Zimbabwe coachLalchand Rajput are all incontention with Shastri.It was also widely reported that

former Test player Pravin Amreapplied for a batting coach post,while South Africa’s JontyRhodes is eyeing the fieldingposition.While Shastri remains favouriteand has an automatic entry inthe process, Singh told TheHindu newspaper that afterlosing in the semi-finals in twostraight World Cups and theworld T20 championship “achange could be good for theside”.Shastri's contract ended with theWorld Cup but he and hissupport staff have been given a45-day extension for the WestIndies tour that starts Saturday.The 57-year-old Shastri will be inthe West Indies when interviewsare conducted and he will speakwith the advisory committee byvideo call. AFP

Moody among challengers for coaching job

Australia's captain Tim Paine arrives for aphoto call before the 1st Ashes Test AP

sport 16HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | AUGUST 1, 2019

PTI n BANGKOK

Star Indian shuttler SainaNehwal returned to thecourt in style, registering a

straight-game win over localhope Phittayaporn Chaiwan, tosail into the women’s singles sec-ond round of the Thailand Openhere on Wednesday.

Returning to action afternearly two months, Saina, whomade last-minute withdrawalsfrom Indonesia Open and lastweek’s Japan Open because ofinjuries, got past Chaiwan 21-17,21-19 in her opening roundcontest.

The seventh seeded Indianwill play against SayakaTakahashi of Japan in the secondround today.

It was good news for Indiansin the men’s singles event as wellas the likes of Kidambi Srikanth,H S Prannoy, Parupalli Kashyap,B Sai Praneeth and ShubhankerDey all progressed to the nextround by overcoming theirrespective rivals.

Fifth seed Srikanth wasmade to toil hard for one hourand seven minutes by Chinesequalifier Ren Peng Bo before theIndian came out victorious 21-13, 17-21, 21-19. Srikanth will beup against Thailand’s KhositPhetpradab in the second round.

Later in the day, Prannoydefeated Hong Kong’s WongWing Ki Vincent of 21-16, 22-20,

while Kashyap came from agame down to beat Israel’s MishaZilberman 18-21, 21-8, 21-14.

Lady luck smiled onSubhankar Dey as hewas handed awalkover by top seedand world number 1Kento Momota ofJapan in his opening roundcontest.

In the second round,Subhankar faces compatriot SaiPraneeth who came back froma game down to beat Kantaphon

Wangcharoen of Thailand 17-21,21-17, 21-15 in his first roundmatch.

However, it was curtainsfor Verma brothers, Sourabh andSameer as both lost their respec-tive first round matches.Sourabh fought hard for 64minutes against seventh seedKanta Tsuneyama of Japanbefore going down 21-23, 21-19,5-21 in his opening match.

Sameer squandered a firstgame advantage to lose 23-21,11-21, 5-21 at the hands of LeeZii Jia of Malaysia and crash outof the tournament.

Earlier in the day, the mixeddoubles pair of SatwiksairajRankireddy and AshwiniPonnappa recorded one of thebiggest wins of their career,stunning Olympic Silver medal-lists Chan Peng Soon and GohLiu Ying in the first round.

The unseeded Indian pairbattled for one hour and twominutes to get past the fifth seed-ed Malaysian duo of Soon andYing 21-18, 18-21, 21-17.

Ponnappa and Rankireddywill play Indonesia’s Alfian EkoPrasetya and Marsheilla GischaIslami in the second round.

The other Indian mixeddoubles pair of PranaavJerry Chopra and NSikki Reddy eased pastJapanese duo of KoheiGondo and Ayane

Kurihara 21-16, 21-13.In another women’s singles

match, India’s Sai Uttejitha RaoChukka was no match forChina’s Chen Xiao Xin, losing17-21, 7-21 in the first round.

AFP n LOS ANGELES

Bethanie Mattek-Sands,playing her first WTA

singles match since theAustralian Open, rallied tobeat Venus Williams 6-7 (4/7),6-3, 6-1 in the hardcourt ten-nis tournament in San Jose,California.

Mattek-Sands, 34,notched her first singlesmatch win in more than ayear — since a first-round vic-tory at the 2018 French Open.

She dropped her serve toopen the third set on Tuesday,

but won the final six games toset up a second-round clashwith Spain’s eighth-seededCarla Suarez Navarro.

“I’m in for another match,so I’m pumped,” said Mattek-Sands, who like seven-timeGrand Slam championWilliams received a wild cardinto the draw.

Mattek-Sands was side-lined for more than a yearafter suffering a rupturedPatella tendon and dislocatedkneecap at Wimbledon in2017.

She returned to win the

AFP n WASHINGTON

France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated his firsttop-10 rival in nearly two years, ousting

Russian second seed Karen Khachanov 6-4,2-6, 7-5 at the ATP Washington Open.

The 34-year-old Frenchman, ranked 70thin the world, on Tuesday outlasted eighth-ranked Khachanov after one hour and 58 min-utes, turning back the clock to reach the thirdround of the US Open hardcourt tuneupevent.

“I played very good tennis,” Tsonga said.“Everything went OK. Just very happy to

go through. It’s good to see some results forall the hard work.”

Tsonga, who lost his only Grand Slamfinal to Novak Djokovic at the 2008 AustralianOpen, had dropped six matches in a rowagainst top-10 rivals since beating fifth-ranked German Alexander Zverev in October2017 in a Vienna quarter-final.

There’s a revitalized spark in Tsonga,who won his 17th ATP title in February atMontpellier as a 210th-rated wildcard. Hefired 13 aces and won 80 percent of hisfirst-serve points.

Tsonga advanced to a third-roundmatch against British 13th seed KyleEdmund, who defeated South Africa'sLloyd Harris 6-1, 6-4.

Russian third seed DaniilMedvedev reached the third roundby ousting US wildcard BjornFratangelo 6-3, 6-4.

The world number 10 mightface an injured rival in the thirdround as 40th-ranked hometownfavorite Frances Tiafoe beat Kazakhstan’sAlexander Bublik 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) then quick-ly departed with a foot injury.

“I’m very happy to return home with awin,” 16th seed Tiafoe said in a statement.

“Unfortunately at the end of my match Ifelt a tweak in my foot. In the interest of mak-ing sure I can play my next match to thefullest, I will be getting my foot checked out.”

Australia’s Bernard Tomic wasn’t so lucky,withdrawing from his first-round match witha finger injury. German lucky loser PeterGojowczyk replaced him and outlastedRussian Andrey Rublev 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 7-6(7/2).

Khachanov, who earlier this monthbecame the first Russian in the top 10 sinceMikhail Youzhny in 2011, is coached byVedran Martic but has worked the past cou-ple weeks with former world number three

Nikolay Davydenko.“We started to train in Moscow, so that’s

the preparation I’ve had with him, for 10-11days, and then I asked him to come here aswell,” Khachanov said.

“We just started with him. I don’t want tomake any official announcement yet. But hestarted to help me two weeks ago. Hopefullyhe can join the team.”

Together with Medvedev, Khachanov hassignaled a new rise in Russian tennis.

“It’s great for the country and great for usto be higher, slowly reaching new goals,”Khachanov said.

“Hopefully we’re moving up slowly a longways.”

AFP n WASHINGTON

Coco Gauff, the Americanteen who electrified

Wimbledon with a last-16run, and US top seed SloaneStephens crashed out Tuesdayin round one of the WTAWashington Open.

Eighth-ranked Stephens,the 2017 US Open champion,lost to Sweden’s RebeccaPeterson 6-2, 7-5 while 15-year-old qualifier Gauff fell toKazakhstan’s 84th-rankedZarina Diyas 6-4, 6-2.

“Every loss is somethingI learn from,” Gauff said.“Overall it was a good expe-rience.”

The US Open women’shardcourt tuneup event lostits only top-10 entrant inStephens and its star attrac-tion in 146th-ranked Gauff,whose loss came in her firstmain-draw match since shefell to eventual championSimona Halep at Wimbledon.

“I’m looking forward tothe US Open and hope I canmake a good result there,”Gauff said. “I’m going towork on being more aggres-

sive and trusting myself a lit-tle more on the court.”

Gauff has been shockedat the whirlwind speed atwhich her life has changedand that crowds still packevery seat to watch her.

“I’m happy for all thesupport,” said Gauff. “Ithought it would settle backafter a couple weeks but Iguess people are still excited.

“All this has changed soquickly so it’s hard sometimesbut having the experience isdefinitely going to help me forthe US Open.”

Stephens, whose firstWTA title came atWashington in 2015, exitedwith one win or less for theeighth time in 10 non-GrandSlam starts this year.

“I could have played bet-ter,” said Stephens. “It was hot.Tough conditions. But youknow from here only thingyou can do is improve.”

Peterson collected herfirst victory in nine triesagainst a top-10 rival.

“Fought for every pointthat was out there,” Petersonsaid. “I stayed in the

moment.”Diyas dispatched the

crowd favorite before apacked second stadium.

“I knew there was goingto be a big crowd and theywere going to support her soI was ready for it. I was moreaggressive. I served better.

“She’s so young but she’sreally good. She’s so strongand she has a big serve. She’smoving well. I think she’sgoing to be very big in thefuture.”

US second seed MadisonKeys — ousted by US wild-card Hailey Baptiste 7-6 (7/4),6-2 — was impressed atGauff ’s poise in Wimbledon’sintense atmosphere.

“How she has handled itand how mature she is — she’sso wise beyond her years,”Keys said. “I was just reallyimpressed with how well shehandled herself on court. I’mnot sure that many of uscould have done so well.

“Everyone knew she wasa great player and that shecould do a lot. The fact shedid it right off the bat waspretty impressive.”

PTI n MUMBAI

Prithvi Shaw is a “fighter” andwill come out of his eight-

month doping suspension stronger,says Santosh Pingutkar, who taughthim the ABC of cricket long beforehe became his most famous ward.

The BCCI on Tuesday bannedthe talented 19-year-old openerfrom all forms of cricket for failinga dope test.

A release from the Board saidShaw had “inadvertently ingesteda prohibited substance, which canbe commonly found in coughsyrups”.

He childhood coach Pingutkarcalled it a setback.

“He (Prithvi) is a fighter andwill definitely come out of it. He hasworked hard (to reach the top),”said Pingutkar, who first impartedlessons to a young Shaw atVirar, a suburb around 60kilometers from Mumbai.

It was under Pingutkarthat Shaw, who had ledIndia to U-19 World Cupvictory in New Zealandand also made a hundredon Test debut against WestIndies, learned the basicsof the game.

Shaw’s father Pankaj hadtaken him to the coach,who runs an academy.

“Definitely thesetback is huge,but I have theconfidencethat he(Shaw) willcome outof it ,”

added Pingutkar.Shaw’s suspension is retro-

spective in nature, starting fromMarch 16 and ending on November15, which rules him out for India’shome series against South Africaand Bangladesh.

Senior columnist MakranadWaingankar, who has played a for-midable role in shaping Prithvi’scareer, said that there was nothingto worry and everyone makes mis-takes in life.

“Cough syrups are dangerous.Prithvi Shaw should have known itbecause all players are given list ofDo’s & Don’ts by BCCI's anti dop-ing committee. He will come out ofit. Everyone makes a mistake.Nothing to worry,” tweetedWaingankar, who was also a crick-et administrator.

Meanwhile, sources in theknow said that Shaw, while he

was with the Mumbaiteam, had notinformed anyoneabout the medicinethat he took to curecough.

Shaw had alsoaccepted his fate and

said the news abouthis suspension had

shaken him.

PTI n LONDON

With his "hand onheart", England's

World Cup hero BenStokes says he never askedthe umpires to cancel thefour runs off an overthrowduring the epic finalagainst New Zealand.

One of the biggestturning points of the July14 final was the overthrowon the fourth ball of thefinal over bowled by TrentBoult.

In a bid to completehis second run, a divingStokes, his bat out-stretched, accidentallydeflected the ball comingfrom the deep mid-wicketregion to the third manboundary.

"I saw all of that. I wasthinking to myself, did Isay that? But hand onheart, I did not go up to theumpires and say some-thing like that to theumpires," Stokes said in thelatest episode of BBC pod-cast 'Tuffers and Vaughan'.

Stokes, who remainednot out on 84 at the end ofregulation play beforeswinging his bat again inthe Super Over, said heapologised to New Zealandskipper Kane Williamsonand wicketkeeper TomLatham as the ball rolledpast the boundary.

"I went straight to TomLatham and said 'Mate, Iam so sorry', looked overto Kane (Williamson) andsaid 'I'm sorry'," he said.

Stokes' England team-mate James Anderson hadearlier claimed that theall-rounder had asked forthe four overthrow runs tobe cancelled. Stokes said hehas seen the 50th over ofthe England inning multi-ple times since the July 14evening at Lord's and saidit was "nerve-wracking towatch" despite the fact thathis team is already a WorldCup winner.

AFP n PARIS

Liverpool coach Jurgen Kloppand three players —

Mohamed Salah, Sadio Maneand Virgil van Dijk — headednominations released onWednesday for the FIFA Bestawards that will be presented inMilan on September 23.

Klopp led Liverpool, andthat vital trio of players, to theChampions League trophy andalso second place to ManchesterCity in the Premier League.

Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldoand Barcelona's Lionel Messialso make the shortlist for themen’s award along with PSG’sKylian Mbappe, Tottenham’sHarry Kane, Belgian EdenHazard and Dutch duo Frenkiede Jong and Matthijs de Ligt.

American Alex Morgan andcoach Jill Ellis will be favouritesfor the female player andwomen’s coach awards afterspearheading the USA to the thewomen’s World Cup title inFrance last month.

The Best FIFA Men’s PlayerCristiano Ronaldo(Portugal/Juventus); Frenkie deJong (Netherlands/Ajax); Matthijsde Ligt (Netherlands/Ajax); EdenHazard (Belgium/Chelsea); HarryKane (England/Tottenham);Sadio Mane (Senegal/Liverpool);Kylian Mbappe (France/ParisSaint-Germain); Lionel Messi( A r g e n t i n a / B a r c e l o n a ) ;

Mohamed Salah(Egypt/Liverpool); Virgil van Dijk(Netherlands/Liverpool)

The Best FIFA Women’s PlayerLucy Bronze (England/Lyon);Julie Ertz (USA/Chicago RedStars); Caroline Graham Hansen(Norway/Wolfsburg); AdaHegerberg (Norway/Lyon);Amandine Henry (France/Lyon);Sam Kerr (Australia/Chicago RedStars/Perth Glory); Rose Lavelle(USA/Washington Spirit);Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal);Alex Morgan (USA/OrlandoPride); Megan Rapinoe(USA/Reign FC); Wendie Renard(France/Lyon); Ellen White(England/Birmingham City)

The Best FIFA Men’s CoachDjamel Belmadi (Algeria); DidierDeschamps (France); MarceloGallardo (River Plate); RicardoGareca (Peru); Pep Guardiola(Manchester City); Jurgen Klopp(Liverpool); Mauricio Pochettino(Tottenham); Fernando Santos(Portugal); Erik ten Hag (Ajax);Tite (Brazil)

The Best FIFA Women's CoachMilena Bertolini (Italy), Jill Ellis(USA), Peter Gerhardsson(Sweden), Futoshi Ikeda (JapanU-20); Antonia ‘Tona’ Is (SpainU-17), Joe Montemurro(Arsenal), Phil Neville (England),Reynald Pedros (Lyon), PaulRiley (North Carolina Courage),Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands)

Nehwal returns with easy winSaina makes positive start after two months injury break; Rankireddy-Ponnappa upset Olympic medallists

Saina Nehwal returns a shot during women’ singles match BWF

Sindhu, Saina static at 5th, 8th spotsPTI n NEW DELHI

Star Indian shuttlers P VSindhu and Saina Nehwal

were static at fifth and eighthspots respectively in the recent-ly released Badminton WorldFederation (BWF) rankings.

While both Sindhu andSaina held on to their places inthe women’s singles rankings,Mugdha Agrey and RituparnaDas climbed up six and onespot, respectively, to be placedat 62nd and 65th positions.

Among the men’s singlesshuttlers, Kidambi Srikanth andSameer Verma managed to holdon to their 10th and 13th spotsin the latest rankings issued onTuesday.

B Sai Praneeth, who lost toWorld No 1 Kento Momota inlast week’s Japan Open semifi-nals, moved up four places tothe 20th position.

H S Prannoy (31st),Parupalli Kashyap (35th),Shubhankar Dey (41st),Sourabh and Verma (44th) allmoved up the in the men’s sin-gles chart.

Among other Indians inmen’s singles chart, Ajay Jayramis placed 67th while LakshaySen is at 69th spot.

The men’s doubles pair ofSatwiksairaj Rankireddy andChirag Shetty climbed up twoplaces to 16th spot, while thecombination of Manu Attri andB Sumeeth Reddy is static at 25.

Van Dijk, Klopp & Salah headnominations for FIFA Best awards

‘Never asked umpire tocancel four off overthrow’

‘Prithvi will come out stronger’

Bethanie rallies to beat VenusUS Open mixed doubles titlein 2018, but has been sidelinedagain this year by anotherknee injury.

“It’s been a tough coupleof years,” she said.

“I’ve had a few surgeries— I feel like I’ve had 12 surg-eries — but I’m feeling reallygood.”

Unable to capitalize inthe first-set tiebreaker afterclawing back from 4-2 down,she dominated the next twosets.

“I think I neutralisedVenus’s serve a little bit,”

Mattek-Sands said.“A lot of times she can get

some free points on that firstserve, so I stood back a littlebit.”

In other first-roundaction, former world numberone Victoria Azarenka ofBelarus overpowered Frenchqualifier Harmony Tan 6-2, 6-4.

Azarenka converted sevenof her 12 break point chancesto line up a meeting with fifth-seeded Donna Vekic ofCroatia, a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 winnerover Japan’s Misaki Doi.

Tsonga ousts KhachanovTeen star Coco,Stephens crash out

STOKES, WHOREMAINED NOT OUT

ON 84 AT THE END OFREGULATION PLAY

BEFORE SWINGING HISBAT AGAIN IN THE

SUPER OVER, SAID HEAPOLOGISED TO NEW

ZEALAND SKIPPERKANE WILLIAMSONAND WICKETKEEPERTOM LATHAM AS THEBALL ROLLED PAST

THE BOUNDARY