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VIJAYAWADA, FRIDAY JANUARY 17, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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RNI No. APENG/2018/764698

*Late City Vol. 2 Issue 76*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

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RANCHI DEHRADUNHYDERABAD

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated January 16, 2020 5:00 PM

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Month & Paksham:Paush & Krishna PakshaPanchangamTithi : Saptami: 07:27 am Astami: 05:32 am (Next Day) Nakshatram: Chitra: 01:12 am (Next Day)Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 11:02 am- 12:26 pmYamagandam: 03:12 pm – 04:35 pmVarjyam: 10:04 am - 11:35 am07:00 pm - 08:07 amGulika: 08:16 am - 09:39 amGood Time: (to start any important work)Amritakalam: 07:09 pm - 08:40 pm Abhijit Muhurtham: 12:03 pm - 12:48 pm

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Aman from Bhind district in Madhya Pradesh, who currently works ina BPO firm in Punjab, has said that he got the shock of his life when

he received an Income Tax Department notice, asking him to pay Rs3.49 crore penalty for the alleged transactions of Rs 132 crore done in2011-12. Ravi Gupta, who works an assistant manager with a BusinessProcess Outsourcing company in Ludhiana,said that in the notice issued last month, the I-T department asked him to explain thetransactions of Rs 132 crore made in a bankaccount opened in Mumbai using his PAN.

I-T NOTICE FOR RS 3.5 CR PENALTYLEAVES BPO EMPLOYEE ‘SHOCKED'

FOUR GAGANYAAN ASTRONAUTS TOGET 11-MONTH TRAINING IN RUSSIA

MS DHONI DROPPED FROM BCCI'STOP PLAYERS' ANNUAL CONTRACT The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday

announced the new player contracts for India senior men players,with four classifications dividing the players. Notably, former Indiacaptain MS Dhoni was dropped from the BCCI's list of centrallycontracted players, raising fresh doubts on the future ofthe veteran wicketkeeper-batsman, who has not playedsince the World Cup semi-final loss to New Zealand in 2019.Apart from MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Khaleel Ahmedand recently retired, Ambati Rayudu have beendropped from the central contract.

The four astronauts shortlisted for the Gaganyaan project, India's firstmanned space mission, will receive training in Russia for 11 months,

Union Minister Jitendra Singh has said. In a statement, the minister ofstate for atomic energy and space said their training in Russia will startfrom the third week of January. "After 11 months oftraining in Russia, the astronauts will receivemodule-specific training in India. In that, they willbe trained in crew and service module designedby ISRO, learn to operate it, work around itand do simulations," the statement read.

FINANCE MINISTRY FORMER OFFICIALQUESTIONS FISCAL DEFICIT NUMBERSAformer top official in Finance Ministry claims the government is

understating the fiscal deficit, raising questions about the figuresweeks before the annual budget is due to be released. India targeted abudget gap of 3.3 pc of gross domestic product for the year endingMarch -- one that is widely expected to be missed by as much as 0.5percentage points as an economicslowdown hurts tax collections. SCGarg, who worked on the current fiscalyear's budget targets, sees the realshortfall widening to at least 4.5 pc.

India plans new law toprotect foreign investment

AP govt decision on renewable energy projects raised questions on contract obligationIndia is entangled in more than 20 overseas arbitration cases - the most against any

country Institutional investors not preferring India after AP's experience

REUTERS n NEW DELHI

India is planning a new law tosafeguard foreign investmentby speeding up dispute resolu-tion, aiming to attract morecapital from overseas to booststuttering domestic growth,said sources.

In a 40-page initial draft,India's finance ministry hasproposed appointing a media-tor and setting up fast-trackcourts to settle disputesbetween investors and the gov-ernment, one of the sourcessaid.

"The idea is to attract andpromote foreign investment,but a major issue for investorsis enforcement of contractsand speedy dispute resolu-

tion," said the official.The draft proposal is aimed

at diffusing investor mistrustaround the sanctity of agree-ments, which has worsenedrecently after some state gov-

ernments decided to reviewapproved projects, or threat-ened to cancel contracts.

Both officials declined to benamed as the proposal is notpublic, and is still being

assessed by different ministriesand regulators.

Foreign investors have high-lighted the enforcement ofcontracts as one of their biggestconcerns, said the second offi-cial, adding that improvingon this front would also reducelitigation for the government.

While investors can still relyon the existing legal system tosettle disputes, it often takesseveral years for cases to bedecided or settled.

Investors previously had anoption to take India to interna-tional arbitration courts underbilateral investment treaties(BITs) the government hadagreed with dozens of nations.

Continued on Page 3

Jana Sena forges alliance with BJP,aims to unseat YSRCP in 2024 PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Ending the prolonged sus-pense, the Jana Sena onThursday announced itsalliance with the BJP, afterthree-hour-long deliberationsat a hotel in Vijayawada. Thenew allies said that they havedecided to take the failures ofthe TDP and the YSRCP to themasses.

On its part, the Jana Senaassured the BJP that its cadrewill work with the nationalparty not only in AP but alsowherever necessary in thecountry.

Revealing details of thealliance at a joint media con-ference later, Jana Sena presi-dent Pawan Kalyan and BJPstate unit president KannaLakshminarayana declaredthat both the parties wouldfight the 2024 elections togeth-er, set up a coordination com-mittee to iron out any differ-ences and work with the pri-mary objective of capturingpower in the state by 2024 "by

fighting against corruptionand on public issues".

They said that the alliancehas been clinched as the ide-ologies of the BJP and the JanaSena are similar and that their

fight was against anti-people'spolicies of the government.

Earlier in the week, PawanKalyan had met top BJP andRSS leaders in New Delhi.The alliance was finalizedwithin two days of his return-ing to the state.

Pawan Kalyan exuded con-fidence of the alliance formingthe government in 2024. Hesaid that the Jana Sena haddecided to sail with the BJP inthe interest of the people of thestate and for the future of AP.

Continued on Page 3

Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyan announces the alliance in the presence ofNadendla Manohar, Kanna Lakshminarayana and Sunil Deodhar, on Thursday.

Sailajanath appointedAPCC president PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The AICC on Thursdayappointed S. Sailajanath asthe Andhra Pradesh CongressCommittee president, replac-ing N. Raghuveera Reddy.Senior leaders Tulasi Reddyand Shaik Mastanwali wereappointed working presidentsof the party.

Sailajanath was elected toState Assembly twice - 2004and 2009 - from Singanamalaseat in Anantapur district. Heserved as a minister for sometime.

Earlier, he played an activepart in f loating JaiSamaikyandhra Party in asso-ciation with former chief min-

ister N. Kirankumar Reddy. AICC general secretary

Venu Gopal said the appoint-ment will come into forcewith immediate effect.

Continued on Page 3

S Sailajanath

Deodhar, GVL welcome alliance,say it is a historic day for state PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Stating that January 16 was ahistoric day in the annals ofAndhra Pradesh, BJP stateaffairs in-charge SunilDeodhar termed the alliancestruck between the BJP and theJana Sena during Sankranti fes-tival period "a welcome devel-opment".

"The alliance would driveaway darkness in the state giv-ing way to light," Deodharsaid, alleging that the YSRCPgovernment failed in allfronts.

He denied that the BJP hasany understanding either withthe TDP or with the YSRCP.

"The alliance has been struckwith the Jana Sena on thegrounds of ideological similar-ities," Deodhar said.

Ge said BJP and Jana Senawould work together in ending

dynasty rule and corruption inthe State. He said they wouldbring happiness to the lives ofpeople by driving away dark-ness.

Continued on Page 3

Sunil Deodhar GVL Narasimha Rao

IUML movesSC for stay on CAA

LG for rejection of convict's mercy petitionPNS n NEW DELHI

The Lieutenant Governor ofDelhi has recommended theUnion Home Ministry toreject the mercy petition ofone of the convicts of theNirbhaya gangrape case, offi-cials said on Thursday.

Mukesh Singh, one of thefour convicts, filed the mercypetition a few days ago.

"The Home Ministry hasreceived the mercy petitionfrom the LG recommendingits rejection. The petition isbeing examined and anappropriate decision will betaken soon," a HomeMinistry official said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian Union MuslimLeague (IUML), the first peti-tioner to move the SupremeCourt against the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA),filed an application onThursday seeking stay onthe operation of the legisla-tion which came into force onJanuary 10.

In another application, theIUML has sought direction tothe Centre to clarify its posi-tion on National Register ofCitizens (NRC) and NationalPopulation Register (NPR).

The Kerala-based politicalparty filed the interventionapplication in the writ peti-tion against CAA and referredto the decision of UttarPradesh government to rec-ommend the names of 40,000illegal migrants to the Centrewho can be granted citizen-ship under the amended Act.

It sought from the topcourt stay on the notificationdated January 10, bringingthe CAA into force "in theinterest of justice".

"Pass orders staying theoperation of the notificationdated January 10, issued bythe Union of India directingthe coming into force of theprovisions of the CitizenshipAmendment Act, 2019 fromJanuary 10 till the such timethe present writ is pendingbefore the court," it said.

WHO endorses tech on TB developed by Indians PNS n NEW DELHI

The World HealthOrganisation (WHO) hasendorsed a technology devel-oped by Indian scientists todetect tuberculosis and multi-drug resistant TB in view of itshigh diagnostic accuracy,health ministry officials said onThursday.

The WHO's Global TBProgramme has includedTrueNat TB test -- a new mol-ecular test that detects tuber-culosis as well as resistance tothe drug Rifampicin in about90 minutes -- in its rapid com-munication document on mol-ecular investigative procedure

in laboratory medicine andpharmacology.

According to IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR) Director General DrBalram Bhargava, the endorse-ment of the technology by

WHO would enable low andmiddle-income countries toprocure TrueNat for tubercu-losis and Rifampicin resis-tance, thus supporting elimi-nation of the disease in devel-oping countries.

"The TrueNat assay kit ishighly cost-effective comparedto GeneXpert and can be usedin peripheral centres withoutan air conditioned laboratoryas it runs on battery which canbe solar powered.

"The kit works in two steps.In the first step, the DNA isextracted from the sputumand the second stage involvesdetection of tuberculosis andmulti-drug resistant TB," asenior health ministry officialsaid.

Supported by theDepartment of HealthResearch (DHR), Ministry ofHealth and DBT, variousindigenous technologies devel-oped by Indian scientists andcompanies for detection ofmulti-drug resistant(MDR)/extensively drug-resis-tant (XDR) TB were reviewed,an ICMR statement said.

Continued on Page 3

I-T sleuths raidRashmika’s house

Amazon not doing favour by investing a $1bn: GoyalPNS n NEW DELHI

A day after the world's richestperson Jeff Bezos announcedfresh USD 1 billion investmentin India, Union Commerceand Industry Minister PiyushGoyal on Thursday said hisfirm Amazon was not doing afavour to the country by theinvestments and questionedhow the online retailing majorcould incur such "big" lossesbut for its predatory pricing.

Goyal, who has not yet givenBezos an audience, said e-

commerce companies have tofollow Indian rules in letter andspirit and not find loopholes to

make a back-door entry intomulti-brand retail segment.

India does not allow foreign

investment beyond 49 percent in multi-brand retailingand has not yet approved anyapplication of overseas retail-ers.

"They (Amazon) may haveput in a billion dollars but ifthey make a loss of a billiondollars every year, then jollywell will have to finance thatbillion dollar. So, it is not as ifthey are doing a favour to Indiawhen they invest a billion dol-lars," he said at the RaisinaDialogue here.

Continued on Page 3

PNS n BENGALURU

Income-Tax departmentsleuths of Karnataka raided theresidence of Kannada beautyRashmika Mandanna — whois currently basking in the suc-cess of Sarileru Neekevvaru —over suspected tax evasion.

According to reports, the I-T department officers onThursday morning raidedRashmika Mandanna’s resi-dence in Virajpet. Over 10 offi-cers landed at her residence, asper Kannada news channels.

The raids were reportedlymade in connection with sus-pected tax evasion. It is report-ed that the Income-Taxauthorities are investigat-ing whether or notRashmika Mandannahas paid taxes propor-tionate to her income.

R a s h m i k aMandanna is oneamong the veryfew actresses toenter Tollywood’sRs 100 crore clubin such a shortspan of time andis one of themost popularand highestpaid actressesin Telugu andKannada cin-

ema industry. Rashmika madeher acting debut in Kannadamovie Kirik Party in 2016. In2017 she starred in two com-mercially successful films,Anjani Putra and Chamak.

She made her Tollywooddebut with Naga Shauryastarrer-Chalo and she waslater seen in films likeGeetha Govindam and

Dear Comrade whichwhich brought hermuch fame. The back-to-back success of filmsmade RashmikaMandanna one of themost sought afteractresses in SouthIndian film industry.Now she is gearing upto shoot of her nextwith Allu Arjun. Thefilm is being directedby Sukumar.

According to reportsthe Income-Taxauthorities areinvestigating whetheror not RashmikaMandanna has paidtaxes proportionateto her known sourcesof income

NIRBHAYA CASE

Piyush Goyal

Piyush Goyal said e-commerce companieshave to follow Indianrules in letter andspirit and not findloopholes to make aback-door entry intomulti-brand retailsegment

The Jana Sena assuredthe BJP that its cadrewill work with thenational party notonly in AP but alsowherever necessary inthe country.

The WHO's Global TBProgramme hasincluded TrueNat TBtest in its rapid comm-unication documenton molecular investi-gative procedure inlaboratory medicineand pharmacology

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

T Vijay Kumar, advisor to thegovernment, in agriculture andcooperative departments sug-gested to farmers to give upmonocrop system and adoptthe multi-cropping and mixedcropping pattern for betterresults and good income.

Mixed crop system increas-

es the fertility of the soil andinversely the income of thefarmers also would beincreased, he said. OnThursday, he visited Goradaand Santhoshapuram villagesof Parvathipuram agency andinteracted with farmers andvisited the fields.

He spoke to farmers andadvised them to practice the

natural farming. Pulses likegreen gram and black gramshould be cultivated frequent-ly to increase nitrogen in thesoil and increase the fertilitytoo.

"We should sequestrain thesoil carbon into our land andprotect it from fertilizers. Weshould always cover soil andfarms with crops. We should

not allow the sun light to touchsoil and evaporate the nutrientsand minerals from soil. Weshould cover the soil alwayswith any crop. Monocrop sys-tem is not suggestible as theprice of the crop may fall or theyield may be low that year. If wesow many seeds at a time, wecan have an assured incomefrom some crops," he added.

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CAPSULE

‘Goda parinayam'performedVIJAYAWADA: Sri VenkateswaraSwamy was adorned with sacredgarlands brought from AndalAmmavaru located at SriGovindaraja Swamy temple inTirupati on Thursday on theoccasion of 'Goda parinayam'.Earlier, the procession ofgarlands commenced fromPedda Jiyar Mutt in Tirumala andproceeded towards temple.Later, priests decorated thesegarlands to Srivari signifying thecelestial wedding.

‘Kakabali' conductedVIJAYAWADA: ‘Kakabali', anAgamic ritual, was performed inTirumala temple on Thursday.‘Kakabali' (food offered to acrow, which is believed to beauspicious) was conducted inthe wee hours of Thursdayseeking the well being of people.In this, cooked white rice, ricemixed with vermilion andturmeric, all are offeredseparately to VimanaVenkateswara Swamy at AnandaNilaya Vimanam. Tirumala PeddaJiyar Swami, Chinna JiyarSwami, TTD executive officerAnil Kumar Singhal, templedeputy executive officerHarindranath and others tookpart in the celestial event.

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | JANUARY 17, 2020 vijayawada 02SWACHH SURVEKSHAN-2020

GVMC seeks denizensfeedback on SwachhataPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The Greater VisakhapatnamMunicipal Corporation(GVMC) is exploring smartways to draw the attention ofpeople in a bid to ensure thatthey participate in the SwachhSurvekshan-2020 that kickedoff from January 4.

With the spirit of competi-tion running high amongcities, Vizag is also gearing upto wear the Swachhata crownthis time. The performance ofcities in Swachh SurvekshanLeague- 2020 is crucial totheir ranking in SwachhSurvekshan-2020 due to the25% weightage of quarterlyassessments to be included inthe annual survey that wouldgo on till January 31.

From QR code on dustbinsto make the messages on dust-bin attractive, flashing mes-sages on the public digitalboard at prime junctions, skyballoons and many othermethods are being introducedto engage the denizens. Thereason is Swachh Survekshan-2020 is being conducted fromJanuary 4, 2020 and a majorthrust of the survey has alwaysbeen on citizen engagement, beit through citizen feedback orindicators involving citizenparticipation.

This year, the citizen-centricfocus has been enhanced sub-stantially through verificationof the progress made by citieson Swachhata through directresponses from citizens.Citizens can share their feed-

back through the 1969Swachhata Helpline, theSwachhata app, SwachhSurvekshan-2020 portal, out-bound calls and the Vote-for-your-City app from January 4,2020.

QR-coded DustbinGVMC Chief Medical

Officer of Health Dr AHemanth, said: "A monitoringmechanism, regarding thecleaning of dustbins on a dailybasis, needed to be introduced.For this purpose, QuickResponse (QR) code stickerswill be tagged to the publicdustbins. When any citizen,who is passing by, notices thatthe bin needs to be cleaned,they can scan the code on theirmobile phone.

Within no time, an alarm

will be generated to the civicauthorities, and the healthinspector, who will takeprompt action in addressingthe grievance. Once the griev-ance (cleaning of the garbagebin) is attended to, a satisfac-tory report will be sent to thecomplainant. This methodwill ensure that bins through-out the city are cleaned reg-ularly."

"GVMC employees, too,can make use of this systemby scanning the code of thebin they have cleaned. Trialsof this system have beenimplemented on the RKBeach Road. After achievingsuccessful results from the tri-als, the system will be imple-mented on the garbage binsacross the city within a monthor two.

n This year, the citizen-centric focus has beenenhanced substantiallythrough verification of theprogress made by cities onSwachhata through directresponses from citizens

n Citizens can share theirfeedback through the1969 Swachhata Helpline,Swachhata app, SwachhSurvekshan-2020 portal,outbound calls and theVote-for-your-City app

Traffic curbs on BeachRoad for R-Day paradePNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Traffic curbs were imposedfrom January 17 at the RKBeach Road in the city as thegovernment has decided toconduct the Republic Dayparade on January 26.

The decision to organisethe official Republic Day func-tion in Visakhapatnam wastaken at a high-level meetingchaired by Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy.Authorities concernedinformed Governor BiswaBushan Harichandan in thisregard, while the Visakha-patnam district administra-tion has been asked to makenecessary arrangements forthe event. The district admin-istration was exploring othervenues like AP EngineeringCollege Ground and MunicipalStadium.

The decision of conductingthe Republic Day parade inVisakhapatnam holds promi-nence, as efforts of the Stategovernment are apparently infull swing to make Vizag as theExecutive Capital. It is expect-ed that all the governmentoffices, including theSecretariat, would be shifted toVisakhapatnam and an officialannouncement could be madethis month or on Republic Day,according to sources.

After bifurcation of erst-while Andhra Pradesh in June2014, the previous govern-ment has conducted the

Independence Day andRepublic Day in differenttowns and cities. Vijayawadahad remained as the venue forceremonial events, for the lasttwo years.

Diverted traffic routes The city traffic police wing

will impose traffic restrictionson the Beach Road from Fridayin connection with the

Republic Day. The curbs willbe in force from 5.30 am to11.30 am and from 3 pm to5.30 pm.

Traffic ACP ChoudharyPapa Rao in a release here onThursday said motorists goingfrom Park Hotel Junction toNTR statue should take diver-sion at Pandurangapuramjunction and proceed to AllIndia Radio junction.

Those going to Panduranga-puram from Novotel Hotelshould take diversion at NTRstatue and All India Radiojunction. Walking will not beallowed from NTR statue toPandurangapouram. Walkershave been advised to walk onthe beach instead of using thebeach road.

There will be no parking oneither side of the Beach Roadfrom NTR statue to Pandura-ngapuram, All India Radiojunction to Pandurangapuramand NTR statue toPandurangapuram.

The ACP said people livingon the RK Beach should con-tact Three Town Police Stationtraffic inspector (7382296905)for obtaining passes for freemovement during this period.

The decision of conducting theRepublic Day parade inVisakhapatnam holds prominence,as efforts of the government areapparently in full swing to makeVizag as the Executive Capital

IANS n LONDON

A common gut bacteria thatboosts digestive health couldslow and even reverse thebuild-up of a protein linkedto Parkinson's, a new studysuggests.

Building on previousresearch linking brain func-tion to gut bacteria, thisstudy in a Parkinson's modelof roundworms, identified aprobiotic - so-called goodbacteria-which prevents theformation of toxic clumpsthat starve the brain ofdopamine- a key chemicalthat coordinates movement.

The findings, publishedin the journal Cell Reports,could pave the way for futurestudies that gauge how sup-plements such as probioticsimpact the condition.

"The results provide anopportunity to investigatehow changing the bacteriathat make up our gut micro-biome affects Parkinson's,"said study lead author MariaDoits idou, f rom theUniversity of Edinburgh inthe UK.

"The next steps are to con-firm these results in mice,followed by fast-tracked clin-ical trials since the probiot-ic we tested is already com-mercia l ly avai lable, "Doitsidou added.

According to the study, inthe brains of people withParkinson's, alpha-synucleinprotein misfolds and buildsup, forming toxic clumps.

These clumps are associat-ed with the death of nervecells responsible for produc-ing dopamine. The loss ofthese cells causes the motorsymptoms associated withParkinson's, including freez-ing, tremors and slowness ofmovement.

For the study, theresearchers used round-worms altered to producethe human version of alpha-synuclein that forms clumps.

They fed these wormswith different types of over-the-counter probiotics to seeif bacteria in them couldaffect the formation of toxicclumps.

Scientists found that aprobiotic called Bacillus sub-tilis had a remarkable protec-tive effect against the build-up of this protein and also

cleared some of the alreadyformed protein clumps.

This improved the move-ment symptoms in theroundworms. Theresearchers also found thatthe bacteria was able to pre-vent the formation of toxicalpha-synuclein clumps byproducing chemicals thatchange how enzymes in cellsprocess specific fats calledsphingolipids.Other studiesinto mice have found thatthe gut microbiome has animpact on the motor symp-toms.

"The results from thisstudy are exciting as theyshow a link between bacte-ria in the gut and the proteinat the heart of Parkinson's,alpha synuclein," said studyresearcher Beckie Port.

"Studies that identify bac-teria that are beneficial inParkinson's have the poten-tial to not only improvesymptoms but could evenprotect people from develop-ing the condition in the firstplace," Port added.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The RINL emerged hasemerged as champions in theAll India Inter - Steel (SPSB)Cricket Championship 2019-20held in Jharkhand. In a wellcontested final, the RINLdefeated hosts Bokaro SteelLimited (BSL) by three wicketsto win the championship. TheBSL scored 142/10 in 20 overswhile the RINL chased the tar-get in 19 overs losing sevenwickets.

For RINL KV KashyapPrakash scored a brilliant 84,while Ch Bheema Rao tookthree wickets and Jagadeeshtook three wickets. The crick-et tournament was organisedby Bokaro Steel Limited (BSL)at Bokaro Steel City fromJanuary 7 to 15.

This is the second time thatthe RINL won the Inter-SteelCricket Championship, theearlier occasion being during2017-18. PK Rath, CMD,RINL, and KC Das, Director

(Personnel), congratulated theRINL Cricket team and theSports Department on theachievement.

In all, 12 teams participatedin the event. Teams were divid-

ed into four groups. The RINL,along with Salem Steel Plant(SSP) and Bhilai Steel Plant(BSP), was in Group 'C'.

In the semi finals, the JSWscored 163/6 in 20 overs, while

the RINL achieved the target in19 overs (165/2). For RINL KVKashyap Prakash hit 56 runs,Ch Jogesh 57 and KP Sai Rahul24, while Jagadeesh took threewickets.

In the first league match,Salem Steel Plant (SSP) scored112/9 in 20 overs. The RINLscored 113/6 in 17.4 overs. SaiRahul of RINL took four wick-ets while Ch Jogesh scored 37runs. In the second league match,the RINL scored 205/5 in 20overs and restricted BSP to 148/8in 20 overs. For RINL, CaptainBP Srinivas 69, KV KashyapPrakash 57, Sai Rahul 51 con-tributed with the bat while ChSrinivas took two wickets.

RINL wins All-India Inter-Steel cricket championship

RINL emerges champions in All India Inter-Steel (SPSB) Cricket Championship held in Jharkhand. RINL defeated hostsBokaro Steel Plant by three wickets in the final. RINL made 143/7 in 19 overs against BSL 142/10 in 20 overs

n For RINL KV KashyapPrakash scored abrilliant 84, while ChBheema Rao took threewickets and Jagadeeshtook three wickets

n PK Rath, CMD, RINL, andKC Das, Director(Personnel),congratulated the RINLcricket team

Eat 7 meals a week, just dinner: Twitter CEOIANS n SAN FRANCISCO

In an update to his eccentricfood habits, Twitter CEOJack Dorsey has now dis-closed that he eats sevenmeals in a week, just dinner.In an interview to YouTube,Dorsey, who fol lowsVipassana meditation andintermittent fasting, added tohis long list of weird lifestylethat includes ice bath, almostdaily.

Dorsey has previouslycharted out his food chart fordinner that includes fish,chicken or steak, and 'a lot ofgreens'. "Then, I have mixedberries as a dessert, maybesome dark chocolate," he saidin March.

Dorsey said he aims atmeditating for two hoursdaily. He, however, clarified:

"I definitely do not do asauna and ice bath everyday."Jack Dorsey created astorm over social media lastyear revealing a punishinghealth regimen that helps

him stay sharper.""During the day, I feel so

much more focused. Youhave this very focused pointof mind... I can go to bed andactually knock out in 10 min-

utes, if not sooner than that,"Dorsey said. Dorsey walks tooffice and take 'lots of vita-min C' every day.

According to Dorsey, ice-cold bath in the morning

'unlocks' his mind and he cantake on any challenge whilea 15-minute 'sauna' in theevening, followed by anoth-er three-minute ice-bath,relaxes him.

n "The results provide anopportunity toinvestigate howchanging the bacteriathat make up our gutmicrobiome affectsParkinson's," said studylead author MariaDoitsidou, from theUniversity of Edinburghin the UK.

n "The next steps are toconfirm these results inmice, followed by fast-tracked clinical trialssince the probiotic wetested is alreadycommercially available,"Doitsidou added

l "Twitter CEO Jack Dorseycreated a storm over socialmedia last year revealing apunishing health regimenthat helps him staysharper"

l According to Dorsey, ice-cold bath in the morning'unlocks' his mind and hecan take on any challengewhile a 15-minute 'sauna'in the evening, followed byanother three-minute ice-bath, relaxes him

PNS n BENGALURU

Bengaluru police formed anall women police motorcyclebrigade 'We for Women' aim-ed at making the city safer forwomen and children.

"We trained 15 womansub-inspectors as of now andwill continue to grow thisteam of motorcyclists. Wewant these women to lead byexample and inspire otherwomen as well, while keepingthe city safe," said city armedreserve headquarters deputycommissioner of police DivyaSara Thomas in a statement.

Women police officers witha passion for riding wereidentified and trained toimprove their riding skillsunder various conditions. Thebullet brigade, set to expandfurther, will execute patrollingduties and shatter genderstereotype, Thomas said.

Bengalurugets its own ‘SHE’ team

Mixed crops give good income, farmers told

Gut bacteria canprotect from,reverse Parkinson's

EGGRATES

` 39,940 (10 gm)

` 400

GOLD

` 46,200(1kg)

` 7700

HYDERABAD 405VIJAYAWADA 449VISAKHAPATNAM 475RETAIL PPRICE `4.49

SILVER

VIJAYAWADABULLION RATES

`/100

CHICKENRATES

Dressed/With Skin `153

Without Skin `174

Broiler at Farm `105

`/KG

(IN VIJAYAWADA)

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | JANUARY 17, 2020 vijayawada 03

CAPSULE

Man injured while tying knife to rooster diesELURU: In a bizarre incident, aperson was killed inPagadavaram village of WestGodavari district during thepast 24 hours while he wastrying to tie a knife to the legsof a rooster as part of theongoing cockfights arrangedfor Sankranti. The deceasedwas identified asVenkateswara Rao. Therooster swung its legsvigorously while tying theknife inflicting a severebleeding injury on the thighregion. He bled profusely andcollapsed on the spot. He wasrushed to local hospital, butdoctors declared him dead onarrival.

Gambling densraidedVISAKHAPATNAM: The CityTask Force personnel raidedtwo places under thecommissionerate limits andarrested 15 persons, whowere allegedly involved ingambling in open places, onThursday. Police raided anopen place of Alakanandalayout near Tallavalasa road ofBhimili Police Station limitsand arrested seven personswhile they were playing cardsby betting. They seized Rs50,760 and playing cards fromtheir possession and handedthem over to station houseofficer of Bhimili PoliceStation for further action. Inanother raid at an open placeopposite Kalyana Mandapam,Reddypalli village underPadmanabham Police Stationlimits, they arrested eightpersons and seized Rs 24,880and paying cards. They werehanded over to station houseofficer of PadmanabhamPolice Station.

Families, who thronged a beach in Visakhapatnam, enjoying flying kites on the occasion of Kanuma festival, on the last dayof three-day Sankranti festivities, on Thursday

ON TTHE HHORIZON

PNS n NEW DELHI

The CBI has registered a caseof cheating and corruptionagainst Adani Enterprises anda former chairman and an ex-managing director of multi-state cooperative NCCF foralleged irregularities in select-ing a company for a tender toferry coal from ports to powerstations in Andhra Pradesh,officials said on Thursday.

The Andhra Pradesh PowerGeneration Corporation(APGENCO) had floated alimited tender enquiry for thesupply of six lakh MTs ofimported coal from sea ports toNarla Tata Rao Thermal PowerPlant in Vijayawada andRayalaseema Thermal PowerPlant (RTPP) in Kadapa onJune 29, 2010, they said.

The tender enquiry was for-warded to seven PSUs, includ-ing National Co-cooperativeConsumer Federation IndiaLtd (NCCF), a multi-statecooperative under UnionConsumer Affairs ministryhaving 78 per cent governmentstake, they said.

The CBI booked AdaniEnterprises, the then NCCF

chairman Virender Singh, thethen managing director ofNCCF GP Gupta and its senioradvisor SC Singhal under IPCSections related to allegedcriminal conspiracy and cheat-ing and Provisions ofPrevention of Corruption Actfor allegedly favouring theAhmedabad-based companyin the tender and violation ofguidelines.

There was no response to aquery sent to AdaniEnterprises Limited seeking its

comments. The CBI allegedthat acts of 'omission andcommission' by the NCCFofficers disclose that they actedin 'a manner as unbecoming ofpublic servants' and conspiredwith the company.

The FIR said the officers"committed irregularities bythe way of manipulation in theselection of the bidders, there-by giving undue favour toAdani Enterprises Limited inaward of work for supply ofimported coal to APGENCO

despite its disqualification."Giving details of alleged

criminal conspiracy and cor-ruption, the CBI alleged thatNCCF, Hyderabad unit, whichhad received the APGENCOtender enquiry on June 29had forwarded it to its head-quarters in Delhi to Singhal,officials said.

The same day the head officeselected a single party -Maharishi Brothers CoalLimited (MBCL) - to transportthe coal at a margin of 2.25 percent instead of initiating theprocess for floating an opentender to call for bids from thecompetitive bidders citing lackof time as the deadline was July7, they said.

Six days later on July 7,APGENCO informed NCCF,Hyderabad, that the date oftender has been extended toJuly 12 following which allo-cation to MBCL was cancelledand open tender was floated,they said.

"It is pertinent to mentionhere that before extension ofthe date of tender they hadseven days (July 1, 2010 to July07.2010) and after extension ofdate they had five days only(July 8 to July 12, 2010) butnow, the management felt thatthey have sufficient time to callopen tender," the CBI FIRhas alleged.

The draft tender noticewas discussed and approved

by three senior officials ofNCCF - Singhal, Gupta, andSingh - who ignored laiddown guidelines without con-sulting head office level com-mittee, it alleged.

Six bidders AdaniEnterprises, MBCL, VyomTrade Links, Swarana ProjectsGupta Coal India and KyoriOremin responded to NCCFtender on July 10, 2010 whosedetails and bids were tabulat-ed and sent to the headquar-ters by Hyderabad unit on thesame day, it said.

Gupta Coal had quoted 11.3per cent NCCF margin whileMBCL had kept it at 2.25 percent but remaining companieshad not quoted any NCCFmargin, it said. Bids of GuptaCoal, Kyori Oremin andSwarana Projects were rejectedby NCCF as they did not ful-fill tender conditions, the FIRclaimed.

The CBI has alleged thatsenior officers of NCCF didpost tender negotiations withAdani Enterprises to give itundue benefits even thoughthe company did not qualifywhen tender was opened atHyderabad office of NCCF,

officials said."Instead of cancelling the bid

of Adani Enterprises Ltd. seniormanagement of NCCF con-veyed the offer margin ofNCCF to the company throughone of its representativesMunish Sehgal who was sittingin the NCCF head office onJuly 10, 2010 in the evening...,"the FIR alleged.

It said subsequently AdaniEnterprises Limited on thesame day informed NCCFthat they agree to pay mini-mum margin charge of 2.25per cent to NCCF. "It is primafacie evident that when thebids were being processed atNCCF HO. New Delhi repre-sentative of Adani Enterpriseswas informed regarding theirimminent rejection due tonon submission of NCCFmargin and also that MBCL,the eligible bidder had quot-ed 2 25 per cent margin," theFIR alleged.

The agency has also allegedthat Vyom Trade Links was aproxy of Adani Enterpriseswhich had given it an unse-cured loan of Rs 16.81 croreand withdrew its offer at laststage on "flimsy grounds".

IRREGULARITIES IN COAL SUPPLY CONTRACT

CBI books Adani Enterprises, 2 NCCF ex-officersThe CBI booked Adani Enterprises, the thenNCCF chairman Virender Singh, the thenmanaging director of NCCF GP Gupta and itssenior advisor SC Singhal under IPC Sectionsrelated to alleged criminal conspiracy and cheatingand Provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act forallegedly favouring the Ahmedabad-basedcompany in the tender and violation of guidelines

PNS n AMARAVATI

Describing Jana Sena chiefPawan Kalyan as a "politicallyand personally unstable man",YSRCP spokesman andSattenapalli MLA AmbatiRambabu on Thursday saidthat there was no need tospecifically respond to thealliance finalised between theBJP and the Jana Sena.

Pointing out that PawanKalyan's party did not have anyimpact in the 2019 generalelections, Rambabu toldreporters here that the JanaSena chief behaves differentlyevery time he reads a newbook.

Reminding that PawanKalyan had, in the past, saidthat the BJP had given the rot-ten laddus to AP, he wonderedif the saffron party had givenfresh laddus this time around."How can Pawan Kalyan'sparty enter into an alliance

with BJP which has denied APSpecial Category Status,"Rambabu asked, and remind-ed that TDP and Jana Sena hadsailed together in the 2014 elec-tions.

"In 2019, Pawan had a hid-den understanding with TDPand a direct alliance with theLeft parties," he added.

The YSRCP leader appealed

to the people to think aboutPawan Kalyan's political behav-iour as he had displayed insta-bility in forging alliancesthroughout. He said YSRCPhad come to power by drivingaway a "failed government"headed by TDP.

Stating that not a single cor-rupt activity had taken place inthe last seven months,

Rambabu warned that theYSRCP government would nottolerate if anyone leveled base-less charges.

He said the State govern-ment was implementing wel-fare schemes like no othergovernment in the past. "Howcan Pawan Kalyan describethe YSRCP government asbeing a failure?" Rambabuasked.

The YSRCP spokesman saidthat the party had come topower by going it alone in thelast elections and observedthat they were not worriedabout any number of partiescoming together.

He said the YSRCP wouldimplement all the promisesmade in its manifesto and seekvotes from the public in thenext elections. He also said thatefforts were being made toshield Naidu and wondered ifthe BJP and Jana Sena hadcome together to help him.

Pawan Kalyan is unstable, says Ambati

SailajanathappointedAPCC president

Continued from Page 1

The AICC appointed aDalit this time as the PCCchief in place of a BC leader(Raghuveera Reddy).

Raghuveera Reddy led theparty unsuccessfully in 2014and 2019 elections; theCongress failing to captureeven a single Assembly seatunder his leadership.

Following these successivedebacles, party senior leaders,including Raghuveera Reddy,submitted their resignation.However, the AICC did notaccept Raghuveera Reddy'sresignation. Since then, hehad not been taking an activepart in politics and had beenmaintaining a low profile.

The AICC made theappointments to revive theparty in the state at least by2024. Accordingly, posts havebeen given to Dalits, Reddyand Muslim communitieswho once formed the strongbase for the party.

Continued from Page 1

Deodhar expressed theconfidence that BJP andJana Sena would form thegovernment in 2024 elec-tions.

Stat ing that AndhraPradesh was in grip ofcasteism, corruption anddynastic rule, Deodhar saidthat the BJP-Jana Sena com-bine would end this trend.

BJP official spokespersonGVL Narasimha Rao calledthe alliance as historic anddescribed it as a welcomedevelopment to cleanse thepolitics in the state.

Referring to TDP andYSRCP declaring for thepast seven months that theCentre favours their rival, heclarified that the BJP has no

political relations whatsoev-er with the two parties. Hecontended that the BJPwould fight for public issuesjointly with the Jana Sena.

Narasimha Rao thankedthe Jana Sena for forging analliance and predicted thatthe combine would grow asan alternative to the YSRCPand TDP. The BJP capturedpower in many stages with amargin of mere 2 per cent ofvotes, Narasimha Rao said,and predicted the same phe-nomenon would take placein AP too.

The BJP would practicedevelopment politics oppos-ing the caste-based politics,politics of vendetta and cor-rupt politics, he said, exud-ing confidence that the peo-ple would bless the combine.

Deodhar, GVLwelcome alliance...

Continued from Page 1

The USD 1 billion invest-ment by Amazon.com to helpbring small and medium busi-nesses online is on the top ofUSD 5.5 billion funding ithad previously announced.

The minister wondered whyan e-commerce market placemodel, where a firm providesan IT platform for buyers andsellers, incurring huge lossesadding that it needs to belooked upon.

"They are investing moneyover the last few years also inwarehousing and certain otheractivities, which is welcomeand good. But if they arebringing in money largely tofinance losses and those loss-es in an e-commerce marketplace model," Goyal said.

He added that in a fair mar-ket place model in a turnoverof USD 10 billion dollars, if acompany is incurring loss ofbillion dollars, it "certainly

raises questions, where theloss came from".

Goyal said that how can amarketplace make such a bigloss unless they are indulgingin "predatory pricing or someunfair trade practices".

"These are real questionswhich need answers and I amsure the authorities who arelooking at it seek those answersand I am sure the e-com-merce companies will havetheir say on that," he said.

Fair trade regulator CCI(Competition Commission ofIndia) has recently ordered aprobe against e-commercemajors Flipkart and Amazon

for alleged malpractices,including deep discountingand tie-ups with preferredsellers on their platforms.

The minister added thatIndia allows foreign invest-ments in e-commerce marketplace model and in this modelbuyers and sellers are free totrade, but the market placeplayer cannot own the inven-tory, or they can not determineprices.

There are several establishedmarket rules for an e-commercemarket place business in Indiaand "I think as long as every-body follows these rules, wevery much welcome e-com-merce into India," he added.

Further, he said that Indiahas strict rules for FDI inmulti-brand retail trading andanybody who tries to use thee-commerce market placemodel to get into the multi-brand retail space surrepti-tiously will have to be ques-tioned and investigated.

Goyal: Amazon not doing afavour by investing $1 bn

Jana Sena forges alliance with BJP...Continued from Page 1

Pawan Kalyan said that he hasbeen holding negotiations withthe BJP leaders for the past sev-eral months and claimed thatdifferences with the saffronparty have been ironed out. "Ifthere are any minor differences,they would be resolved in thefuture," he said.

He said that the alliance her-alded a new era in AndhraPradesh politics and turned anew leaf in the political historyof the state during the Sankrantifestival.

Pawan Kalyan said AP was interrible need of a party like BJP;the BJP leaders contended thatthe alliance has been struck forthe bright future of the state.They said that the state wouldbenefit from a strong govern-ment at the Centre.

"There was a communicationgap with the BJP, especiallyafter the 2014 elections," PawanKalyan admitted.

Lakshminarayana said thatPawan offered to work underleadership of Narendra Modiout of his "large-heartedness"

and termed the alliance as his-toric.

"The alliance would exposeYSRCP and TDP failures andjointly fight for people's issues,"the BJP leader said, exudingconfidence of forming the gov-ernment in the state in 2024.

Pawan Kalyan said develop-ment of the state took a backseatunder TDP and YSRCP rulebecause both the parties haveignored people's welfare andalso because of dynastic andcaste-based politics. He accusedthe two parties of promotinggraft and anarchy.

"The people are vexed withthe rule of Palegars (YSRCP)while the previous regime wasfull of corruption and irregular-ities. Therefore, the people long

for a third and viable alterna-tive," Pawan Kalyan said.

He thanked Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and BJP nation-al president Amit Shah for theirsupport to the alliance.

On relocation of capital fromAmaravati, he said that the cap-ital was decided after ascertain-ing views of all. He said that hehad opposed pooling such largearea - 33,000 acres - for the cap-ital as it was not feasible.

As predicted, the capital isbeing relocated driving farmersonto streets, the Jana Sena chiefsaid.

If the state capital is relocat-ed, the BJP-Jana Sena combinewould take to the streets tooppose it, and drag the matterto courts if necessary, he

warned. "If Amaravati is to beshifted to elsewhere, BJP-JanaSena combine would not keepmum as the party has a boldleadership," he warned.

The idea of three state capi-tals is mooted to dupe the pub-lic. By merely establishing theHigh Court in a city, the citycannot be called the state capi-tal, he said.

On special status for AP, heheld the TDP accountable. "Hadthe TDP refused the specialpackage it would have been a lotbetter," Pawan Kalyan opined.

Currently, the special statusissue is in the court of YSRCP,which has had 22 MPs in LokSabha, he said.

On Citizenship AmendmentAct, Pawan Kalyan said thatthere was no threat to Muslimsof the country as the Act pro-tects minorities in Pakistan andBangladesh living in India asrefugees.

However, some vestedinterests are spreadingrumours that the citizenshipof Musl ims would beannulled, he said, describingit as "totally false".

Continued from Page 1

But, after suffering setbacksin overseas arbitration matters,India has allowed most of itstreaties to lapse, givinginvestors little to fall back onin case of major disputes.

BITs are agreementsbetween two countries thatgive foreign investors protec-tions, and among other things,legal recourse via internation-al arbitration in disputes witha government.

India is entangled in morethan 20 such overseas arbitra-tion cases - the most againstany country - brought by com-panies including Vodafone,Deutsche Telekom and NissanMotor Co for disputes over ret-rospective tax claims andbreach of contracts.

If India loses these cases,brought before most of itsBITs lapsed, it could end up

paying billions of dollars indamages.

The government's thinking isthat India may not need to signinvestment treaties with othernations if the new law, which ismodelled on a BIT, can giveconfidence to investors, said thefirst source. A domestic law,however, cannot be a substitutefor a BIT as its scope cannot

allow investors to take theircase to international arbitra-tion, the sources said.

Though India's overall rank-ing in the World Bank's ease ofdoing business report hasimproved to 63 from 142 in2014, it still ranks poorly - 163out of 190 - when it comes toenforcement of contracts.

The latest example of a con-

tract wrangle is a disputebetween the Andhra Pradeshstate government in southernIndia and renewable energycompanies. The state has beencurtailing power procurementfrom the companies, citinghigh prices, and has pushed torenegotiate its supply contractswith them.

Investors includingGoldman Sachs, Japan'sSoftBank Group, Singapore'sGIC Holdings, the Abu DhabiInvestment Authority andFrance's Engie have invested inrenewable projects in the state.

The draft proposal for thenew law includes a plan to setup an investment tribunal instate high courts that will takeup cases as a matter of priori-ty, or will see if the NationalCompany Law Tribunal(NCLT), which also handlesinsolvency and corporate mat-ters, can handle it.

India plans new law to protect foreign investmentWHO endorses tech developedby Indians for fighting TB

Continued from Page 1

The most promising kitswere selected by an expertgroup and those were subject-ed to a double-blind validationin comparison to standard testsat four national reference lab-oratories of the country.

After a stringent review, aseries of validation, subsequentfeasibility studies and continu-ous follow-up, the 'TrueNatMTB & Rif ' assay was found tobe on par with the internation-ally recognized molecular assayGene Xpert in terms of sensi-tivity and specificity and detec-tion of rifampicin resistance.

This was taken up byNational TB EliminationProgramme after recommenda-tions from ICMR.

As part of WHO's pre-qual-ification process, ICMR fund-

ed Indian centres of the FIND-coordinated multi-central,prospective field evaluationstudy in four countries -- India,Ethiopia, Peru and Papua-NewGuinea. Based on the interimanalysis of data, WHO includ-ed TrueNat as test to diagnoseTB, replacing sputum smearmicroscopy, and to sequential-ly detect rifampicin resistancein view of its high diagnosticaccuracy. The study has com-pleted enrolment at all sites anda final analysis would be under-taken soon by FIND, Geneva,the statement said.

"It is a matter of pride forICMR, Department of HealthResearch, New Delhi, as thiswas a long journey for promot-ing Indigenous diagnostic tech-nologies for diagnosis of TB andMDR/XDR TB developed byIndian scientists," it added.

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | JANUARY 17, 2020 nation 04SHORT READS

Himachal Speakerresigns, may be madestate BJP presidentSHIMLA: Himachal PradeshAssembly Speaker RajeevBindal resigned on Thursdayamid reports that he will bethe new chief of the BJP'sstate unit. Bindal submittedhis resignation to DeputySpeaker Hans Raj, a dayahead of the filing ofnominations for election to theHimachal BJP president'spost. A state BJP leader, whodid not want to be quoted,said Bindal's appointment willbe announced on Saturday.Bindal is considered close toBJP's working president J PNadda, party leaders said.They said there is unanimity inthe state unit on Bindal'sappointment. BJP state vicepresident Ram SwaroopSharma said nominations forthe president's post can befiled within a 24-hour period.Union Human ResourceDevelopment Minister RameshPokhriyal and BJP's nationalsecretary Sunil Deodhar willcome to the state asobservers for the election, headded.

Anti-CAA protestersdetained atTurkman Gate

Lalu appears beforeCBI court in the fifthfodder scam caseRANCHI: Jailed RJD presidentLalu Prasad appeared before aspecial CBI court here onThursday in connection with acase pertaining to fraudulentwithdrawal of Rs 139.35 crorefrom Doranda Treasury whenhe was the Bihar chiefminister in the 1990s. This isthe fifth and last fodder scamcase against Prasad inRanchi. There is a sixth caseagainst him in Bhagalpur inconnection with the animalhusbandry scam, popularlyknown as the fodder scam. Atotal 34 questions were askedto Prasad during the trial bythe special CBI judge (AHD)Sudhanshu Kumar Shashi inabout three hours onThursday, a CBI advocate toldreporters. He has beenconvicted in the previous fourfodder scam cases and hasbeen ordered prisonsentences ranging betweenthree and a half years and 14years by different special CBIcourts. The Doranda Treasurycase RC/47 has 575witnesses and 111 accused, aCBI official said adding theinvestigating agency has filedcharge sheets against 170people. Prasad, who has beenin jail since December 2017,is undergoing treatment forhis illnesses at the RajendraInstitute of Medical Scienceshere.

NEW DELHI: Somedemonstrators were detainedwhile protesting against theCitizenship (Amendment) Actand National Register ofCitizens in Central Delhi'sTurkman Gate on Thursday.

Breeding loan by zoos helpsconserve Himalayan serow PNS n GUWAHATI

A "breeding loan" arrange-ment between Assam StateZoo and Nagaland Zoo hashelped in the conservation ofthe Himalayan serow, anendangered wildlife species.

A Himalayan serow calf wasborn in the Assam state zoohere on Wednesday, officialssaid.

The Assam State Zoo whichis the coordinating zoo forconservation breeding of serowhad only two female serow andthe Nagaland Zoo had onlyone male.

Both the Zoo discussed thematter and Nagaland Zoo sentthe male to Assam State Zoofor breeding, for a certainperiod of time with theapproval of the Central ZooAuthority (CZA) as there wasno point for the endangeredspecies to remain unpaired, theofficial added.

The Himalayan serow is agoat-antelope native to theEastern Himalayas and Easternand Southeastern Bangladesh

and is listed in the IUCN RedList as its population is dwin-dling due to habitat loss andhunting for its meat.

At the Assam State Zoo, themale and female serow werecarefully paired and within tenmonths of the arrival of themale and pairing with a female,the first serow calf was born onWednesday.

This is the first time that ani-

mals have been exchanged onbreeding loan and the breed-ing has been successful.

"This is a very special occa-sion for both Zoos and for theconservation of serow", AssamEnvironment and ForestMinister Parimal Suklabaidyasaid. He wished for the well-being of the newborn serow andcongratulated both the zoosfor taking this unique initiative.

PNS n DEHRADUN

Bansidhar Bhagat, an MLAfrom Kaladhungi, was electedunopposed on Thursday as thenew president of UttarakhandBJP.

The 65-year-old Bhagat takesover from Nainital MP AjayBhatt who had been given one-year extension after completinghis three-year-term as the stateBJP chief in 2018.

Bhagat, a former minister, hasbeen elected unopposed to thepost, the party's central observ-er and Union Minister ArjunRam Meghwal announced at apress conference.

Soon after Bhagat's election tothe post, HRD Minister RameshPokhriyal Nishank said the

party will benefit hugely fromBhagat's long political experi-ence.

Terming the 2022Uttarakhand assembly elec-tions his top priority, Bhagatsaid that he will boost themorale of each and every party

worker so as to ensure theBJP's victory in the polls. Bhattwhom Bhagat succedes hadbecome the Uttarakhand BJPpresident in December 2015and completed his tenure in2018, but got an extension fora year in 2019.

PNS n SRINAGAR

Low visibility and accumula-tion of snow at the Srinagar air-port led to cancellation of 15flights on Thursday morning,officials said.

Most parts of the valleyreceived snowfall overnight.

“The air traffic remainedaffected on Thursday as well asno flight operations took placein the morning,” an official ofthe airport here said.

He said 15 morning flightsof various airlines to and froSrinagar were cancelled.

“The flights were cancelleddue to accumulation of snowon the runway and low visibil-ity,” the official said.

He, however, said the otherflights for the day were kept onstandby as there was possibil-ity of flight operations takingplace later in the day if theweather improved.

Flight operations have beenaffected at the airport for thepast few days. All flights werecancelled on January 12 and 13,but few operated on January14. However, flight operations

did not take place onWednesday as well due to con-tinued snowfall.

Most plain areas in the val-ley received moderate to heavysnowfall on Wednesday whichcontinued during the night, aMET official said.

He said the higher reaches ofthe valley, Jammu region andLadakh Union Territoryreceived heavy snowfall.

He said there are chances oflight snowfall at isolated toscattered places of J-K over thenext 24 hours.

“No major snowfall isexpected for the next five days.Another spell of lesser intensi-ty is likely from January 21 to24, he added.

Bad weather disrupts flight operationsat Srinagar airport, 15 flights cancelled

PNS n NEW DELHI

Asserting that the frosty India-Pakistan relationship hasimpacted Afghanistan tremen-dously, former Afghan presidentHamid Karzai on Thursdaysaid maintaining a balance inties with the two neighbours hasbeen difficult for his country.

Pakistan's impact onAfghanistan is a "lot greater"than any other country andKabul must convey to Islamabadthat close ties with New Delhiwill not impact their relation-ship, Karzai said at a session atthe Raisina Dialogue here.

"India is the greatest friend ofAfghanistan. India has been atremendous contributor toAfghanistan, but the impactthat Pakistan can make inAfghanistan, is a lot greater thanany other country," the formerAfghan president asserted.

He said the "unfortunate stateof relationship" between Indiaand Pakistan has impactedAfghanistan tremendously.

"We want to be the bestfriends with India and Afghanshave proven to be the bestfriends with India, but we willtell Pakistan that our friendshipwith India is not going to stopus from being the best brothersand friends with Pakistan. Howto convey this is a very difficulttask, but we have to manage it,"he said.

"We have two sentimentstoward Pakistan -- when webecame refugees in Pakistanafter the Soviet invasion ofPakistan, Pakistani peoplereceived us with openarms....On the other hand wehave serious complaints againstthe Pakistani government andtheir military institutions fortheir interference in

Afghanistan, promotion toextremism, and all of that,"Karzai said.

Talking about the peaceprocess in his war-torn coun-try, he said there is no otherway for Afghanistan. It needsthe peace process to be success-ful, he added.

Frosty Indo-Pak ties impactedus tremendously: Hamid Karzai

PNS n KANYAKUMARI(TN)

Two suspects in the murder ofa policeman at a check post inthe district, were brought herefor interrogation on Thursday,amid tight security.

The duo was medicallyexamined at the Thakalaipolice station and interrogat-ed in connection with themurder of Special SubInspector Wilson, police said.

The two men had shot atWilson using a pistol andstabbed him when he was onduty at the Kaliyakavilaicheckpoint on the border withKerala on January 8.

They were picked up fromUdipi Railway station inKarnataka on January 14. Thesuspects have been identifiedas Abdul Shameem (29) andTaufeeq (27), both hailingfrom Thiruvithancode nearNagercoil.

According to police sources,the duo has confessed to hav-ing links with some IS activistsfrom Kerala's Mallapuram andKozhikode districts.

They were said to be help-ing them recruit members forthe terror outfit. The policesaid they were trying to ascer-tain whether the duo con-spired to carry out any attacksin Tamil Nadu.

"India is thegreatest friend ofAfghanistan. Indiahas been atremendouscontributor toAfghanistan, butthe impact thatPakistan can makein Afghanistan, is alot greater thanany other country,"the former Afghanpresident asserted

PNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP on Thursday cited anSIT report to accuse the Congressof protecting those involved inthe 1984 anti-Sikh riots, sayingit never showed interest in pro-viding justice to the victims andits leaders even "justified" the vio-lence against the community.BJP leader and Union ministerPrakash Javadekar said theSpecial Investigation Team (SIT)headed by retired Delhi HighCourt judge Justice S N Dhingrahas brought to fore the truth andsaid what happened in 1984was not just riots but the "worstkind of genocide" against Sikhs.

Javadekar said Congress lead-ers like the then prime ministerRajiv Gandhi and more recent-ly, Sam Pitroda "justified" the vio-lence with their comments.

The report shows that thehands of the Congress are with"murders", he said.

‘Justice Clock' to be set upat Calcutta High CourtPNS n KOLKATA

A 'Justice Clock' is set to beintroduced at the CalcuttaHigh Court soon, displayingthe status of cases before it andin subordinate courts of WestBengal, an official said here.

The electronic LED displayboard to be installed will alsoshow the ranking of the highcourts and district and subor-dinate courts, based on theirperformance in disposing ofhighest number of cases.

There are at least 22.81 lakhcases pending before differentcourts in the state, of which17.7 lakh are criminal cases,according to the NationalJudicial Data Grid.

The 'Justice Clock' will beinstalled in the high courtpremises first and then in sub-ordinate courts and peoplewill be able to view status andpendency of cases before any

court in the state, the officialsaid. The date of the installa-tion of the clock is likely to beannounced on Friday, the offi-cial said.

Of the total pending cases inthe state, including civil andcriminal, 3,16,902 cases arepending before different courtsfor more than 10 years, as perthe grid.

There are 2,28,161 casespending before the CalcuttaHigh Court as on November30, according to data provid-ed by its administration.

Of these, 1,70,039 are civiland 38,302 are criminal casespending before the appellateside of the high court, while19,820 are original side civilmatters.

SSI killing suspectslinked to IS activists

BJP: Dhingra reporthas exposed Cong

Prakash Javadekarcited the Dhingrareport and said thatwhat happened in1984 was not justriots but the "worstkind of genocide"against Sikhs.

Bansidhar Bhagat electedUttarakhand BJP president

Terming the 2022Uttarakhandelections his toppriority, Bhagat saidthat he will boost themorale of partyworker and ensurethe BJP's victory

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High CourtThursday asked AIIMS to treata minor who is suffering fromsevere aplastic anaemia andrequires bone marrow trans-plant, and said the cost will beborne by the Centre.

Justice Navin Chawla askedthe All India Institute ofMedical Sciences (AIIMS) toprovide the necessary treat-ment to the 11-year-old boy, aresident of Bihar, and directedthe Ministry of Health andFamily Services to reimbursethe cost of treatment.

The court listed the matterfor further hearing on July 24.

It had earlier asked the min-istry and AIIMS to respond tothe minor's petition whorequires bone marrow trans-plant which is the only life sav-ing treatment for the disease.

The court was hearing a pleaclaiming lacunae in two majorhealth related schemes --Rashtriya Aarogya Nidhi andAyushman Bharat -- due to

which patients suffering fromlife threatening diseases arebeing deprived of monetarybenefits to avail treatment.

In the petition filed throughhis mother, the minor hassought the court's direction tothe AIIMS to treat him withbone marrow transplantationwhich would cost around Rs 12lakh.

Advocate Gaurav KumarBansal, appearing for theminor, has also sought direc-tion to the Health Ministry toremove the lacunae whichdebars persons like the peti-tioner, suffering from deadly

diseases involving transplanttreatment, to avail benefits asprovided under the RashtriyaAarogya Nidhi (RAN) scheme.

The plea said that as per therules, those who are coveredunder Ayushman Bharat -Pradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojna cannot avail the benefitsof RAN scheme.

Neither bone marrow trans-plant is covered underAyushman Bharat scheme norrules allow the petitioner toavail benefits of RAN scheme,due to which the child hasbeen left with no option exceptto die, it alleged.

HC tells AIIMS to treat minorsuffering from rare disease

Indian Coast Guard eyes 200 ships,100 aircraft inventory by 2025PNS n CHENNAI

The Indian Coast Guard hasplanned to acquire 16 advancedlight helicopters apart from 50vessels to its fleet as part of itsvision to have 200 ships and 100aircraft inventory by 2025.

Speaking to reporters onThursday, Coast Guard DirectorGeneral KrishnaswamyNatarajan said, "Today we have50 ships under construction invarious Indian shipyards andapart from that we have 16advanced light helicopter MKIIIunder production with HAL,Bengaluru."

The first of the twin enginehelicopter was expected to beinducted by March 2020, he saidafter the 19th edition of Indo-Japan joint exercise "Sahyog-Kaijin," about 50 nautical milesoff Chennai coast.

Natarajan noted that theCoast Guard has recorded sig-nificant progress and the presentinventory was at 145 ships and62 aircraft.

"The budget (of Coast Guard)

which was about Rs 1,000 crorehas now grown to more than Rs5,000 crore in terms of both rev-enue and capital," he said.

"We are also in the process ofacquiring 14 twin engine heavyhelicopters and 6 multi-missionmaritime aircraft which willhave a capability of maintainingsurveillance in our exclusiveeconomic zone," he said.

The Indian Coast Guard,fourth largest coastal securityagency in the world, hasinstalled 36 Coastal SurveillanceRadar Network on the mainland

and 10 on islands that can tracksuspicious vessels.

"We also plan to install 38more Radar Stations apart fromintegrating the radar stationswith Vessel Traffic ManagementSystem of the Ports. Our visionis to reach 200 ships and 100 air-craft by 2025," he said.

On the joint exercise, he saidthis year it was the turn ofJapanese Coast Guard to visitIndia, further strengthening tiesbetween the two nations.

Natarajan said the JapaneseCoast Guard has extended sup-

port to Indian Coast Guard bycapacity building in the form oftraining.

"You all should know JapanCoast Guard is the secondlargest Coast Guard of theworld, after the US. I can alsoproudly say Indian Coast Guardhas acclaimed the stature of 4thlargest with 145 ships in itsinventory and 62 aircraft..," hesaid.

In 2019, the Coast Guard hasapprehended Rs 2,000 croreworth of drugs with most ofthem from the Western Coast.

Referring to theMemorandum of Cooperation(MoC) signed with his Japanesecounterpart, the official saidCoast Guard has signed similaragreements with South Korea,Myanmar, Bangladesh, SriLanka, Oman, Vietnam andPakistan.

On the MoC, Japan CoastGuard commandant admiralTakahiro Okushima said therelationships between the twocoast guards was gettingstronger every year.

PNS n KOLKATA

Describing St Xavier's Collegeas the perfect example of a tem-ple of education, West BengalGovernor Jagdeep Dhankharon Thursday said, the institu-tion not only imparts qualityeducation but also ensures thatthose who are recipient con-tribute to societal causes.

Dhankhar, who was deliver-ing the address as the chiefguest of the convocation of StXavier's College, said these areplaces "where you are allowedto fully explore your talent ina seamless environment with-out interruption."

He said a convocation is anoccasion that must persuadeone to think about the rele-vance of education within odds.

Talking about the right toeducation as a fundamentalright, the governor said, "it isheartening to note this righthas been exemplified by StXavier's College and all insti-tutions connected with thatname by providing educationwith quality."

St Xavier's atemple of edu:WB Governor

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | JANUARY 17, 2020 nation 05

CAPSULE

Kejriwal Centrekeep politics awayfrom budgetNew DELHI: Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal onThursday urged the Centre tokeep politics away and presenta budget that is "good" for thenational capital. Kejriwal saidhe would write to the Centreand request special allocationfor tackling pollution andensuring cleanliness in theUnion budget. "The Centreshould keep politics awayfrom the budget and I want torequest the Centre to present agood budget," he said.

Pondy CM daresBedi to prove land-grab charges PUDUCHERRY: PuducherryChief Minister V Narayanasamyon Thursday challenged LtGovernor Kiran Bedi to provethe land-grabbing allegationsmade by a rebel Congresslegislator against him. Hittingout at Bedi for making publicthe allegations against him andhis son by Congress MLA NDhanavelou, the Chief Ministertold reporters here it was"shocking" that she came outwith a press statement on theissue without ascertaining theirveracity. "It is really shockingthat the Lt Governor had comeout with a press statementhighlighting the charges therebel legislator Dhanavelouhad made during his meetingwith her recently,"Narayanasamy said. "Bedishould have ascertained thefacts and genuineness of thecomplaints Dhanavelou hadmade orally that my son and Ihad indulged in land-grabcrimes," Narayanasamy saidand challenged Bedi to provethe allegations. He also said ifcharges of land-grabbing wereproved he would quit office. "Ifcharges of land-grabbing madeout against me and my son bythe disgruntled MlA are provedI will quit office,"Narayanasamy said adding "ifon the other hand the LtGovernor did not prove themshe should go out of public lifeonce and for all.

PNS n HAZIRA (GUJ)

Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Thursday flagged offthe 51st K-9 Vajra-T gun at theLarsen and Toubro ArmouredSystems Complex at Hazira,Surat.

The L&T officials showedthe minister the differentmanoeuvres of the K-9 Vajra-T, a tracked self-propelled how-itzer. Singh sat in the vehicle onwhich the gun was mountedand was driven around theHazira complex.

The gun weighs 50 tonnesand can fire 47kg bombs at 43-kilometre distant targets. Itcan also turn around at zero

radius. L&T had in 2017 won the Rs

4,500-crore contract from theMinistry of Defence to supply100 units of K9 Vajra-T 155mm/52 calibre tracked self-propelled gun systems to theIndian Army under theCentre's 'Make in India' initia-tive.

The K9 Vajra contract

involves delivery of 100 suchsystems in 42 months, which isthe largest contract awarded toa private company by theMinistry of Defence.

The Defence Minister alsoput 'tilak' and drew the auspi-cious 'swastik' symbol withkumkum on the new artillery.During the puja, he also offeredflowers to the gun and broke a

coconut. Singh said in his speech that

he salutes the commitmentand hardwork of employees ofL&T as the company's Haziracomplex is a sign of "newthinking of new India".

"I see this complex has a newand astonishing achievement...There were many sectors inIndia where private sector'sparticipation was almost nil.Defence sector was one suchexample," he said.

Under the 'Make in India'scheme, the government hastaken many steps that willmake the country a netexporter of arms in future, hesaid.

Rajnath flags off 51st K-9 Vajra at L&T complex

‘NITISH WILL LEAD NDA INUPCOMING BIHAR POLLS’

SHAH SEEKS PEOPLE’S SUPPORT TO CAA

PNS n VAISHALI (BIHAR)

BJP president Amit Shah onThursday made an impas-sioned plea for the support ofpeople of Bihar to measurestaken by Narendra Modi gov-ernment like the Citizenship(Amendment) Act.

He also sought to dispel"rumours" of discord withinthe NDA in the state, assertingthat assembly polls in Biharwill be contested under theleadership of Chief MinisterNitish Kumar.

Addressing a pro-CAA rallyof the saffron party in thisnorth Bihar district, Shahslammed the opposition formisleading minorities aboutthe Act and engineering vio-lence that had erupted in theaftermath.

Underscoring that the lawprovided for granting citizen-

ship and not snatching it awayfrom anybody, he said theparty was organizing ralliesacross the country with a viewto busting the misinformationcampaign.

Shah sought support to theModi governments measureslike CAA as also abrogation ofArticle 370 and construction ofa Ram temple in Ayodhya.

"I want to dispel all rumours

about our coalition (withKumars JD(U). The electionswill be contested under NitishKumars leadership, hedeclared.

"Lalu Prasad (RJD supre-mo), who is in jail in corrup-tion cases, may go on dream-ing that our coalition willcome apart. But he shouldknow that the NDA has ledBihar out of his lantern age (an

allusion to RJDs poll symbol)to the LED era.

"The country and the stateshall progress under the lead-ership of Narendra Modi andNitish Kumar respectively",the BJP chief said.

Shah had earlier stated in acouple of TV interviews thatthe chief minister (NitishKumar) will lead the NDAcharge in the assembly pollsthis year.

This was, however, the firstoccasion for him to make apronouncement to the effecton the soil of Bihar.

Those who shouted anti-India slogans at JNU a fewyears ago were sent to jail byPrime Minister NarendraModi but (Arvind) Kejriwalhas refused to initiate prose-cution, Shah said taking aswipe at the Delhi ChiefMinister.

After row, Raut withdrawsremark about ex-PM PNS n MUMBAI

After criticism from allyCongress, Shiv Sena leaderSanjay Raut on Thursday with-drew his controversial remarkswherein he claimed that for-mer prime minister IndiraGandhi met gangster KarimLala in Mumbai.

However, before taking backhis comments, Raut said hiswords were "twisted" by thoseunaware of Mumbai's historyas he meant that Gandhi metKarim Lala in his capacity asrepresentative of the Pathancommunity.

Later, after Congress leadersMilind Deora and SanjayNirupam hit out at Raut overhis "ill-informed" remarks, theSena leader withdrew it.

"If someone feels my state-ment hurt Indira Gandhi'simage, or someone's feelings,I take it back," said Raut,whose party is part of the rul-ing alliance with the Congressand NCP in Maharashtra.

"In the past, I have taken her(Gandhi's) side and arguedwith people who tried tomalign her image. In suchcases, some Congress leadershad remained silent," the RajyaSabha member said.

During an interview to theLokmat media group at itsaward function in Pune on

Wednesday, Raut claimed,"When (underworld don) HajiMastan came to Mantralaya,the entire secretariat wouldcome down to see him. IndiraGandhi used to meet KarimLala in Pydhonie (in southMumbai)."

He also said that "they(underworld) used to decidewho will be Mumbai's policecommissioner and who will sitin Mantralaya".

Karim Lala was one of thethree top underworld dons ofMumbai for over two decades,

from the sixties to early eight-ies, the other two being MastanMirza alias Haji Mastan andVaradarajan Mudaliar.

Taking strong note of theremark, former Union minis-ter Deora and Nirupam askedRaut to withdraw it.

Deora said politiciansshould refrain from "distort-ing" legacies of prime ministerswho are no more.

Former Mumbai Congresschief Nirupam said Raut will"repent" if he continues a "falsecampaign" against Gandhi.

The K9 Vajra contract involves deliveryof 100 such systems in 42 months,which is the largest contract awarded to a private company by theMinistry of Defence

Raut remark on ex-PM

Cong‘disappointed',speaks toThackerayPNS n MUMBAI

Terming Shiv Sena leaderSanjay Raut's comment aboutIndira Gandhi meeting gang-ster Karim Lala as "wrong",Maharashtra Congress chiefBalasaheb Thorat onThursday said such remarkswill not be tolerated, andconveyed their disappoint-ment to Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray.

The state revenue ministercautioned all leaders, includingRaut, against making remarkscriticising great leaders.

"It, indeed, was a wrongstatement and we will not tol-erate such a statement.Nobody should make such astatement. Raut should alsonot make such a statementwhich criticises great men,"Thorat told reporters here.

"We are disappointed withthe statement. We have spo-ken to the chief minister onthe issue," he added.

PNS n CHENNAI

Coast Guards of India andJapan took part in a jointexercise 'Sahyog-Kaijin' off theChennai coast on Thursday aspart of strengthening the bondof the two countries.

One ship of the JapaneseCoast Guard and four shipsand an aircraft of the IndianCoast Guard took part in theexercise.

Led by CommandingOfficer Captain KiyoshiHarada, the 'Ehigo PLH08'and the four ships and aDornier aircraft of IndianCoast Guard participated inthe drill in the Bay of Bengalaround 50 nautical miles offChennai.

The highlight of the drill wasthe scenario of the interceptionof a hijacked ship and subse-quent rescue of crew in a jointoperation led by both theCoast Guards, a press releasesaid.

The exercise markeddemonstrations of search andrescue, external fire-fightingand sharing of best practices,the release said.

According to an official, theapprehension of a pirate vesselMV Alondra Rainbow by theCoast Guard in November1999 off the west coast ofIndia marked the beginning ofregular interaction betweenthe Coast Guards of India and

Japan.The apprehension of the

vessel brought out the signifi-cance of a coordinated opera-tion thereby encouraging thepolicy-makers to have a seriesof conferences and meetings todiscuss issues of various crimesat sea.

The Japanese ship 'Echigo'undertook a goodwill visit toChennai Port following the thesigning of a memorandum ofcooperation between the twoCoast Guards in 2006.

The joint exercise, in its19th edition, was witnessed bythe Japanese Coast Guard

Commandant TakahiroOkushima, Indian CoastGuard Director GeneralKrishnaswamy Natarajan.

A vessel from NationalInstitute of Ocean Technologyalso participated in the exer-cise.

The visit of Japanese ship,which arrived here on January13, focuses on furtherstrengthening ties, mutualunderstanding between thetwo Coast Guards, enhancinginteroperability in communi-cation, search and rescue pro-cedures and sharing of bestpractices.

Express views in dignified manner:LS Speaker Om Birla tells lawmakersPNS n LUCKNOW

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birlaon Thursday asked lawmakersto express their views in theHouse strongly and emotion-ally but also in a disciplinedand dignified manner to "suc-cessfully stand the test" as apublic representative.

In his inaugural address atthe Seventh CommonwealthParliamentary AssociationIndia Region Conference at theUP Legislative Assembly, Birlasaid the faith of people indemocracy has gone up, as thepolling percentage in electionsafter Independence has risen,and so has the responsibility oflawmakers.

"Therefore, the membersshould put forth their viewsstrongly, emotionally, but in a

disciplined and restrainedmanner while adhering to thetraditions of Parliament and ina dignified manner," he said inan apparent reference to therepeated unruly behaviour oflawmakers inside legislatures.

In a democracy, elected rep-resentatives act as a bridgebetween the government andthe people and thus "itbecomes our moral responsi-bility" to successfully standthe test as a public representa-tive, he emphasised.

"Our faith in democracy in

very deep-rooted. Democracyis the soul of our nation. As faras faith in democracy is con-cerned, India is leading theworld," Birla said.

"India is a country wheredifferent religions, castes, lan-guages, dialects exist. Unity indiversity has been the symbolof our country. Hence, our par-liamentary traditions havealways remained 'jeevant'(alive) and active," he said.

He also praised Lucknow'sculture and heritage and paidtributes to former PrimeMinister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.He also lauded the role of UttarPradesh for its contribution infreedom struggle, strengthen-ing the parliamentary democ-racy, and for giving the maxi-mum prime ministers to thecountry.

Om Birla

"Our faith indemocracy is verydeep-rooted.Democracy is thesoul of our nation.As far as faith indemocracy isconcerned, India isleading the world,"Birla said

PNS n CHANDIGARH

A man wanted for killing awoman friend on New Year'seve at a hotel here was arrest-ed from a television studio afterhe confessed to the crime whileon air, police said on Thursday.

The accused, ManinderSingh, was wanted by thepolice for allegedly killingSarabjit Kaur (27), a nurse ata private hospital in Mohali onNew Year's eve.

Singh on Tuesday appearedat the office of a regional tele-vision and confessed hisinvolvement in killing Kaurfollowing which the policerushed to the studio andarrested him when the pro-gramme was being telecastlive, police said.

Out on bail, 31-year-oldSingh is already convicted ina 2010 murder in Haryana'sKarnal, police said.

During the interview, Singh

confessed that he had killedKaur as well as anotherwoman in 2010.

The TV managementinformed police, who bargedinto the studio and arrestedthe accused.

Singh wanted to marryKaur but his family was againsttheir inter-caste marriage sothey decided to go for courtmarriage, the police said.

Singh claimed Kaur wasready to marry him, but laterhe came to know that she wasin touch with another man.

Police said Singh had stran-gled Kaur and later slit herthroat with a knife in thehotel room.

Postal Dept honoursChuni GoswamiPNS n NEW DELHI

Legendary Indian footballerChuni Goswami, who led theIndian gold medal winningteam in the 1962 AsianGames, has been honouredwith a postal stamp issued onhis 82nd birthday by theIndian Postal Department.

Goswami, who turned 82on Wednesday, became onlythe third Indian footballerafter Gostho Paul (1998) andTalimeren Ao (2018) on whosename a commemorativestamp has been issued by thelargest postal network in theworld.

"It was a completely unex-pected gesture. I'm really hum-bled with this honour shownto me. It will further inspireme to live a longer life,"

Goswami said after the com-memorative stamp was issuedin his residence in Kolkata onWednesday.

"Over the years, I havereceived many laurels duringmy sporting career. But thisone at the fag-end of my lifewill surely be right up there,"he added.

‘I am not a rubberstamp’: Kerala GuvPNS nTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Kerala Governor ArifMohammed Khan, who hasbeen at loggerheads with theLeft government over variousissues since the past few days,on Thursday made it clear hewas not a "rubber stamp."

The remarks were made byKhan a day after a section ofthe media reported he hadallegedly refused to sign theordinance on the Local SelfGovernment ward re-organi-sation, which had recentlyreceived the cabinet nod.

"I have to apply my mind. Ihave to take my time. The fileis with me. I will take sometime to make up my mind onwhat to do about it," he toldreporters at the airport.

Khan had not signed theordinance with respect to theamendments to KeralaPanchayat Raj Act 1994 toincrease the number of con-stituencies in Local SelfGovernments.

The Governor said onThursday that he had onlyraised certain queries (withregard to the ordinance) andthe Constitution expects himto apply his mind to ensurethat the process of ordinancewas not used for some extra-neous purposes.

"I want to be satisfied. Idon't want to argue. I haveraised certain questions.Because these provisions,arrangements, they have asanctity about themselves. Youcannot do these things ininstallments. I have raisedonly certain questions...So I

have to take take my time."The Constitution expects

me to apply my mind. And toensure that the process ofordinance is not used for someextraneous purposes," Khansaid.

The Governor said he hadalso raised certain questionsabout the desirability of hav-ing an ordinance when theAssembly was going to meet ina few days time.

"Recently, a senior leadersaid, he appointed someonebecause of their ethnicity. Thevery oath which is prescribedby the Constitution asking todo good to all manner ofpeople without ill-will andaffection," he said.

Arif Mohammed Khan

The Governor saidhe had also raisedcertain questionsabout thedesirability ofhaving an ordinancewhen the Assemblywas going to meetin a few days time

PNS n CHANDIGARH

Over 700 gram panchayats inHaryana have passed a reso-lution to close liquor vends intheir villages in the next fis-cal, Deputy Chief MinisterDushyant Chautala has said.

Of the 22 districts inHaryana, the state excise andtaxation department hasreceived the highest numberof 122 resolutions fromRohtak district, as per a listshared by Chautala on Twitter.

Chautala, who holds theexcise and taxation portfolio,on Wednesday tweeted, "704gram panchayats (gram sab-has) passed resolution inHaryana for closure of vendsin their villages."The list"Statement showing the numberof Panchayat resolutions for clo-sure of vends in 2020-21" statedthat 90 panchayats have passedresolutions in Jind district, 85 inRewari, 69 in Narnaul, 64 inKarnal, 56 in Hisar, 50 in Panipatand 37 in Sonipat.

Thity-four resolutions eachhave been received from Palwaland Jhajjar, 30 from Fatehabad,27 from Kaithal, 25 fromGurugram, 20 fromYamunanagar, 11 each fromAmbala and Sirsa, eight fromFaridabad, seven fromKurukshetra and three fromPanchkula, according to the list.

During an interview to the Lokmat media group atits award function in Pune on Wednesday, Rautclaimed, "When (underworld don) Haji Mastancame to Mantralaya, the entire secretariat wouldcome down to see him. Indira Gandhi used tomeet Karim Lala in Pydhonie (in south Mumbai)"

Chuni Goswami

The highlight of the drill was thescenario of the interception of ahijacked ship and subsequent rescueof crew in a joint operation led by boththe Coast Guards

704 grampanchayatsto closeliquor vends

Japanese, Indian Coast Guardshold exercise off Chennai coast

Man confesses tomurder on liveTV programme

Air pollution in our country, par-ticularly in some of the urbancentres, has become a majorpublic health issue. Dependingon the region and climatic con-

ditions, there are several contributory fac-tors that add to the pollution levels butvehicular emissions in metropolitan citieshave emerged as a major source. Accordingto official estimates, the number of vehiclesin the national capital surged to over 1.20crore, including over 80 lakh two-wheelers.The number of vehicles per thousandpopulation, too, increased considerably —from 317 in 2006 to over 550 in 2016 —leading to visible congestion on the roads.

That vehicular emissions contain car-cinogenic material needs no emphasis. Butwhat has now come to light is that theinhalation of toxic airborne particles emit-ted by diesel and petrol vehicles canweaken bones and speed up the ageingprocess. This finding, based on a fairly largesample size taken from the vicinity ofHyderabad, quantifies on the basis of X-Rays and other studies and determines theextent of osteoporosis ie, the weakening ofbones, in all age groups.

Besides, the World HealthOrganisation (WHO), too, concluded thateach year, thousands of children succumbto acute infections in their lower respira-tory system caused by polluted air. Healthhazards from air pollution due to vehicu-lar emissions are, thus, manifold. Trafficpolice personnel and professional drivers,who face maximum air and noise pollutionexposure on the roads, have to bear thebrunt of this situation.

Last autumn saw Delhi’s Air QualityIndex (AQI) shooting beyond 1000, mak-ing it one of the most polluted cities in theworld. Stubble burning by farmers insome of the States adjoining Delhi, com-bined with vehicular emissions, weremajor contributors to the deterioratingquality of air. In the following months, thesituation somewhat improved but withpeople becoming used to witnessing “haz-ardous” levels of air pollution, even the cur-rent “severe” category appears to be takenin stride without much hue and cry.

With the capital witnessing hazardousair quality, schemes like Odd-Even wereintroduced to limit the number of four-wheelers on the roads. This scheme didshow a dip in pollution levels, howsoeversmall it might have been. Despite it beingknown that emissions from two-wheelers,which include benzene, are far more haz-ardous, the Odd-Even scheme could not bemade applicable for some reason or theother. As a result, a more significant dentin pollution levels could not be achieved.After April 1, when the Bharat-VI normscome into play, the level of auto emissionsis bound to show a downward trend.

But the geometry of roads in Delhi hasmostly evolved as a result of unplanned

organic growth and the lack ofnorms surrounding urban plan-ning. This has resulted in a verylarge number of intersectionswhere vehicles have to necessar-ily give way and accommodateother traffic streams. This hasled to a situation where thenumber of signalised intersec-tions is quite high and drivershave to stop their vehicles everynow and then. Waiting time ata traffic signal depends on thetiming of the microprocessor,which should ideally be deter-mined after a careful study oftraffic load and pattern on a par-ticular arm of the road on anhourly basis. However, this isalways not the case.

As vehicles have to oftenwait at signalised intersectionsin an idle running mode, theyemit very large amounts of pol-lutants. It is well-known that anidle engine is far more pollut-ing than when a vehicle is inmotion. Similarly, slower mov-ing vehicles on the streets,largely two-wheelers, are morepolluting than those at a high-er speed.

The accumulated traffic atintersections awaiting a greensignal is a major source of pol-lution. This can be handledthrough appropriate signalmanagement. It is known thattraffic signals contribute

towards orderly and well reg-ulated movement of traffic,besides increasing the traffichandling capacity of the inter-section. Under favourable con-ditions, they can be coordinat-ed to provide for continuous ornear continuous movement oftraffic at a given speed. Suchcoordinated signals lead toreduced fuel consumption andbring down emissions by min-imising stops and consequentdelays. They can bring downthe journey time, too.

In this context, it can beobserved that in Delhi thereare quite a large number ofbusy intersections where thepattern of signals has under-gone a change over the last fewyears. The flow pattern at theseintersections allows the trafficto move forward only from onecarriageway, while all othersare static. Such road-by-roadclearances not only enhancethe waiting time at intersec-tions but also lead to moreemissions as at any given time,a large number of vehicleshave to wait for their turn tomake the move. The delay injourney time is built in and iscurrently being experienced byall road users.

On the other hand, theflow pattern, which enables astraight-straight movement and

which is simultaneously fol-lowed by right-right, can defi-nitely reduce the waiting peri-od at intersections and mayeven reduce the journey time.It can also impact air pollutionin a positive manner. MostDelhiites would recall that sucha system was indeed being fol-lowed until a few years ago.

It has also been observedthat on account of a percep-tion-reaction time loss, sometime at the beginning of eachgreen period remains under-utilised, leading to buildingup of congestion over a periodof time. The use of reversetimers at all points can helpovercome this and ensure max-imum flow of traffic with com-plete utilisation of the greenphase. This would mean areduction in journey time aswell as air pollution levels.

Given the severity of theair pollution problem in Delhi,measures that can lead to areduction in the levels of pol-lution must be attempted at.An appropriate scheme tomanage traffic signals canmake a significant contribu-tion not only to the flow oftraffic but also bring down thelevels of pollution.

(The writer is a retiredDelhi Police Commissioner andformer Uttarakhand Governor)

Vladimir Putin has now become thelongest serving Russian leader sinceJoseph Stalin. No matter what opinion

one may have of the current Russian leaderwith regard to the way he has riddenroughshod over any and all opposition, primafacie he is a lot nicer than Stalin, a man reveredby the Communists in India, who was also oneof the greatest mass murderers in history.Unlike Stalin, Putin also has to worry about asmall thing called a Constitution. But after ashock decision by the Russian Cabinet to resign

on Wednesday, it is clear that Putin will remain in charge well beyond 2024 whenhis second eight-year stint as Russian President will come to a close. And to doso, he will need to reform the Constitution. It’s worth noting that his Cabinet resignednot in a manner of protest but to make his life easier. After all, his long-time aide,former President and newly-resigned Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, was notexpected to do anything but that. How Putin will structure his continued reignremains to be seen. Will he become the head of the State Council or amend theConstitution to ensure he remains President indefinitely?

However, unlike Chinese President Xi Jinping, who, too, made a power graband changed the rules in the People’s Republic of China, Putin’s task is far tougher.First, unlike China, Russia is at least a quasi-democracy. The past three yearshave seen constant protests against Putin as Western sanctions against Russiahave begun to bite. His claims that he is hearing the clamour for reforms with-in the country and that is what is prompting these “reforms” is, therefore, debat-able. But more Putin also means that he will remain a major figure on the glob-al stage. His intervention in Syria and Iran are of grave concern to the US andother Western nations. At the same time, he has made it very clear that he wantsto see a revival of Russia’s international power, wants it to be a nation with thelargest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world and one that continues to devel-op new weapons technology. Russia punches well above its economic heft inthe world. With Putin in charge, it possibly punches a weight category even high-er. While many in Washington DC, London and other Western capitals would beglad to see the back of the man, these new reforms mean that he is not goingaway anytime soon unless the Russians want him to.

All concerns and campaigns for women’ssafety sound vacuous and patronisingwhen the commitment to it, by virtue of

honouring and implementing the law, falters.We lose faith in a system that is exploited rou-tinely and remains imprisoned in a maze oftechnicalities to deny closure. Even if it is asgruesome and indelible a case as that of therape of Nirbhaya, which has taken seven longyears to be taken to its logical end and is stillstopping short of answering to our nationalconscience. Worse, the system is oblivious

and impervious to what this travesty means to women in general and to Nirbhaya’sfamily and friends in particular. Now, the hanging of the four rapists, convictedfor one of the most heinous of crimes in India, has been stalled due to proce-dural drags, simply because all the convicts need to be given time to file mercypleas and each of them would have to be heard following due processes. Thisshould have been initiated earlier given the Supreme Court’s ruling and clarityon the death sentence in a case considered “rarest of rare.” So a case whichushered in special laws, a fast-track mechanism and well-intended course cor-rection is now being denied the same privileges. Yes, due processes of law havebeen followed but the undue stress caused by delays in punishing the offend-ers is the reason that people talk about overriding the system with vigilantism.In the end, women lose confidence in society at large, whose mindset is set byprecedents and examples, and predators are emboldened simply because theythink they can get by. Considered a cut-and-dry case, the Nirbhaya verdict shouldnot have been long in coming but it took four-and-a-half years for the trial court,the High Court and the Supreme Court to pass their judgments, with the lawyersof the convicts using every trick in the book to delay the inevitable. As per thelaw, once the apex court handed out the death sentence on May 5, 2017, thefour convicts should have filed a review petition within 30 days, but the menexploited a legal provision for condonation of the delay if the convict gives a con-vincing reason. Hence all four filed their review petitions at different times afterlong, deliberate delays, in their bid to thwart the justice system. Under prisonrules, if death sentence has been handed out to more than one person in a caseand if even one of them moves a mercy plea, the execution of the others, too,has to be postponed till the plea is decided. Hence, as one of the four convicts,Mukesh Kumar, has a mercy petition pending before the President, all cannotbe hanged. What is appalling is that these oversights have been made by respon-sible arms of the administration, in this case the Delhi Government and prisonauthorities. The Delhi High Court, therefore, slammed the Delhi Government forsitting on the case for a year and not issuing a notice on the mercy plea to con-victs. The court also castigated the Delhi prison authorities for not informing theconvicts that they could move mercy pleas before the President. This is not thefirst time that the convicts have exploited loopholes to thwart justice. Right fromfalse alibis, to buying time by getting pages and pages of trial court proceed-ings translated from English to Hindi, they have done it all.

No wonder then that in a country where the conviction rates for rapes areas low as 32.2 per cent, despite laws dealing with sexual assault being madestringent in the aftermath of the incident, crimes against women have been onthe rise. They have spiralled from 329,243 cases in 2015 to 338,954 in 2016and 359,849 in 2017. From 2013 onwards, over 30,000 women/girls have beenraped. That there is no seriousness about building in deterrence is revealed bya dismal 11 per cent utilisation of the Nirbhaya Fund allocated to States/UnionTerritories for ensuring the safety and security of women/girls. Any reform —police, judicial, infrastructural — will have no meaning till we reform the attitudetowards law enforcement, implement it instead of negating it. Of course, thereis the monster of politicisation even in tragedy. The BJP promptly blamed theAAP Government for delaying notices to convicts considering the Supreme Courtrejected the appeal against their death sentence in 2017. AAP claimed that whilethe Delhi Government’s recommendation was swift, the Centre had been in hiber-nation mode. While the point-scoring over who pushed Nirbhaya’s rights rageson, what both forget is that each had agency and powers to do what could havebeen done in days, not years. Both, as representatives of people, look emaci-ated by the criminals who help them keep their talk points rolling. After all, thereis no political capital to be made out of Nirbhaya’s deathly silence.

Focus on the economy

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “SC to the rescue” (January 16).Protests against the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) and theNational Register of Citizens(NRC) have continued for over amonth now and there appears tobe no end in sight to the con-frontation. While the UnionGovernment refuses to budge,various segments of the countryare not willing to give up. To topit all, now Chief Ministers of var-ious States are knocking thedoors of the Supreme Court tooppose the Government’s move.

The time for the UnionGovernment to act is now. If con-frontations reach magnanimousproportions, it may be too late forit to make any meaningful contri-bution towards its resolution. As itis, much damage to the country’simage has already been done. Ofmuch larger concern for theGovernment should be the state ofthe economy. Demand has evapo-rated from almost all sectors of theeconomy, unemployment figurescontinue to break multi-year lowsand the banking sector refuses toshow any sign of revival. More thanthe CAA, the Government’s focus

must be on the Union Budget,which must be used to re-invigo-rate the Indian economy and pro-vide the much-needed stimulus.

Harminder Singh GumbhirUttar Pradesh

Better late than never

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “SC’s conscience call” (January11). Once again, it was theSupreme Court which had to

come to the rescue of democra-cy. Though delayed, it is laudablethat the top court came downheavily on the UnionGovernment. It minced no wordsin stressing that “Internet free-

dom is part of the freedom ofexpression and cannot be curbed.”

Rightly so, freedom of infor-mation is an extension of freedomof speech and, thus, a fundamen-tal human right. The top court’sorder has raised question marksover the validity of the curbsimposed by the Government inJammu & Kashmir since Augustlast year. Although theGovernment’s decision to abro-gate Article 370 and 35(A) werelandmark, the curbs on internetaccess and landline servicesappeared to be too strident.

Devendra KhuranaBhopal

Flagging issues

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “SC to the rescue” (January 16).The Delhi High Court has givena strong and factual statement,rebuking the police for its failurein handling protests and present-ing the required evidence. Thiscalls for a re-look at the way pub-lic services departments work.

ShubhamVia email

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

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op nionVIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | JANUARY 17, 2020

06

A new air quality agenda

KK PAUL

An efficient traffic signal management can not only help maintain the flow of traffic but also drastically reduce air pollution levels and save fuel

As long as there are Stateswhich sponsor terrorism,we will have to live with themenace. We need to takethe bull by its horns andstrike at the root cause.

Chief of Defence Staff—Gen Bipin Rawat

I feel that only when you’re successful, then only people have an agenda against you, otherwise nobody bothers about you.

Actor—Kangana Ranaut

India has been a tremendous contributor to Afghanistan,but the impact that Pakistancan make in Afghanistan is a lot greater than anyother country.

Former Afghan President—Hamid Karzai

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

When movements are politicised

Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen has called for unityamong Opposition parties to support the ongo-ing protests against the Citizenship Amendment

Act (CAA) and force the Government to roll back thelaw. Though most Opposition parties did not attendthe meeting called by the Congress to discuss the polit-ical situation in the country in the wake of violence inthe Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus and protests over the CAA, the fact is that only a unitedfront can provide the organisational backbone to themovement and make a difference.

Protests against the CAA must be complement-ed by a strong political pushback through a combinedand strong Opposition. The refrain by the media that“a people’s movement” has been hijacked by certainpolitical parties and leaders is but an attempt to dele-gitimise the protests led by the students, civil soci-ety activists and women. Congress leaders likeShashi Tharoor, Mani Shankar Aiyar and student leaderKanhaiya Kumar must not be criticised for being onthe “protest stage” simply because they stand opposedto the Hindutva brigade. They are not piggybacking onthe protest but just extending their support to theprotesting students. May be it is a dictate of “patrio-

tism” that BJP leaders can organise and take part inpro-CAA campaign and rallies and Opposition leadersmust not take part in anti-CAA protests. Aiyar’s rhetor-ical flourish, “Let us see who is powerful — we or thekaatil” was blown out of proportion to see if this canhelp arrest the declining in the BJP’s support base.With protests continuing for over a month now, whatis clear is that no sacrifice is too great to win the “polit-ical” battle for a liberal, secular India.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

ROAD-BY-ROADCLEARANCES NOT

ONLY ENHANCE THEWAITING TIME AT

INTERSECTIONSBUT ALSO LEAD TOMORE EMISSIONS

AS A LARGENUMBER OF

VEHICLES AT ANYGIVEN TIME HAVE

TO WAIT FOR THEIRTURN. THE DELAYIN JOURNEY TIME

IS BUILT IN AND ISCURRENTLY BEING

EXPERIENCED BYALL ROAD USERS

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Putin’s RussiaIn a world that is seeking to break free from mindlesshate, violence, conflict and terrorism, the Indianway of life offers a ray of hope.

Prime Minister—Narendra Modi

As the hanging of Nirbhaya’s rapists gets stalled, we must askif we can get real about women’s safety or just float a bogey

The resignation of the Russian Cabinet has paved theway for his plans to stay on in power beyond 2024

Death of justice

Budget a litmus test

IN THE BJP-LED CENTRAL GOVERNMENT, POVERTY,ANARCHY, VIOLENCE AND TENSION HAVE EXCEEDED

THAT DURING THE CONGRESS REGIME.—BSP CHIEF

MAYAWATI

MISUSE OF POWER HAS BEEN DONE BY THE BSP,AND THE BSP-SUPPORTED CONGRESSGOVERNMENT, WHICH WAS AT THE CENTRE.—BJP LEADER AND UTTAR PRADESH MINISTER SHRIKANT SHARMA

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The economic turmoil that India is current-ly going through is unprecedented. The per-formance of Modi 2.0 has been below par

on various fiscal indicators. Rising unemployment,industry-specific pangs, reduced demand, fallingindustrial output, higher inflation and lower-than-expected tax collections are a few areas of concern.As Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharamangears up to present the Union Budget 2020 onFebruary 1, it is expected that she would try herbest to accelerate the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) growth which is estimated at five per centfor 2019-20, the lowest of the decade. Sitharamanwould be presenting her second Union Budget ata time when the industry’s expectations from itwould be somewhat high considering the slow-down in various sectors, though the Governmenttook necessary steps last year to shore up the econ-omy through stimulus packages, including theslashing of the corporate tax. However, theGovernment’s move to slash corporate tax hasraised the hopes and expectations of the salariedclass for a similar relief in income tax. While themiddle class wants the Modi Government to pro-vide income tax relief, the FM has very little fis-cal room to dole out such largesse and this makesthe Union Budget 2020 very interesting. The gen-eral expectations for the Union Budget 2020 areas follows.

Reduction in individual income tax rates: Inthe Interim Budget, presented in February 2019,income tax relief was provided that primarily ben-efitted individuals with an annual income below`5 lakh. In another sop for the salaried class, thestandard deduction of `40,000, which was intro-duced in the Union Budget 2018, was raised by `10,000 to `50,000 per year. But last year we hadthe economic slowdown brought on by the weak-ness in demand. Therefore, to create demand theGovernment may reduce income tax rates and maycreate some more sub-slabs in the current slabs.For example, the current tax rate is 20 per cent fora slab of ̀ 5 lakh to ̀ 10 lakh. This could be reducedto 10 per cent and a further new slab, say for exam-ple `10 lakh to `20 lakh, could be created with a20 per cent tax rate.

Increase in deduction under Section 80C: Atpresent, the deduction under Section 80C is avail-able up to `1,50,000 and eligible investmentsinclude life insurance policies, Public ProvidentFund (PPF), National Savings Certificate (NSC),five-year notified tax-saving bank deposits, three-year Equity Linked Saving Schemes (ELSS) mutu-al funds, repayment of housing loan, tuition fee andmany more. One can put the entire `1,50,000 inone investment or in more than one instrument.Practically, the overall limit of ̀ 1,50,000 does notoffer any major benefit in real terms, as variousinvestments are clubbed under one single provi-sion. With an increase in the inflation rate, thereis a need for an increase in the threshold limit ofthe Section 80C deduction, too. It is recommend-ed that this deduction should be increased to a min-imum of `2 lakh or even `2.5 lakh. Thus, if thethreshold limit of Section 80C is increased by theFM in the Budget, this will not only boost invest-ments, but also provide a majority of taxpayers themuch-needed relief.

Infrastructure Bonds: The Government istight on funds and needs money to finance thecountry’s infrastructure, so it may consider rein-

troduction of Infrastructure Bonds.These bonds were good for people whoneed a fixed income. This investment wasover and above the investment limitunder Section 80C. They offered adecent rate of interest and tax benefits.The maturity of these bonds is oftenbetween 10 to 15 years with an optionto buy back after a lock-in of five years.

Debt-linked saving schemes: TheAssociation of Mutual Funds in India(AMFI) had last year requested forintroduction of debt-linked tax savingschemes or DLSS similar to EquityLinked Savings Schemes (ELSS). Thebasic argument for introduction of DLSSis that many conservative people do notinvest in ELSS to claim tax deductionsunder Section 80C of the Income Tax Actbecause they are scared of puttingmoney in stocks. The industry believesthat these people would happily invest ina debt scheme like DLSS to save taxesunder Section 80C. The mandatorylock-in period in these schemes can befive years like tax saving bank deposits.

Direct Tax Amnesty Scheme: TheGovernment, which is hard-pressed forrevenue, may come up with a Direct TaxAmnesty Scheme (DTAS) in this Budget.Last year they announced Sabka Vishwas(Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme,2019 for Indirect Taxes through whichthe Government collected more than`35,000 crore. Direct tax collection is fac-ing a severe shortfall in the current fis-cal year. After refunds, it saw a growthrate of 0.7 per cent till December 15, 2019against the Budget target of 17.3 per cent.Advance tax collection after the thirdinstalment stood at `2.51 trillion, com-pared with `2.47 trillion in the corre-sponding period last year, posing a 1.6per cent growth.

DTAS may allow assessees to declare

the additional income of the previousfive-six years without penalty or prose-cution. The proposal, being examined,will allow assessees to revise declaredincome with no fear of past cases beingopened up, or prosecution. It will helpimprove compliance, besides raking inrevenues for the Government. Peoplewho want to declare more income fromthe previous year do not do so becausethe moment they do, they are taken upfor scrutiny, investigation and prosecu-tion and penalties are imposed uponthem. This scheme will also help in pre-vention of litigation. In August last year,the Government increased thresholds fortax litigation, below which the I-TDepartment was directed not to fileappeals and withdraw cases that relatedto the ones under those. The limits wererevised from `20 lakh to `50 lakh forappeals before the tribunal, from ̀ 50 lakhto `1 crore for appeals before HighCourts and from ̀ 1 crore to ̀ 2 crore forappeals before the Supreme Court. Alarge number of pending appeals havebeen withdrawn/dismissed followingthe order.

Setting up of a DevelopmentFinance Institution: The Governmentmay announce the setting up of aDevelopment Finance Institution (DFI)in this Budget. This could be created tocater to core sector project financing.India is going through the rarest of rareeconomic conditions where economists— who often call for fiscal prudence overanything else during the Budget season— have become more realistic, conced-ing that there is a need to breach the fis-cal deficit target. The DFI could be oneof the triggers where the FM would takea decision, even breaching the fiscaldeficit target. To improve sentiments andgrowth, India is in dire need of infra-

structure spending. But for theGovernment, which is in the process ofgenerating revenues through disinvest-ment of various PSUs including AirIndia, BPCL, CONCOR, the SCI and soon, any commitment to such projectswould be considered to be an audaciousact.

Infrastructure push: TheGovernment may announce a massivepush for all forms of physical connectiv-ity through the Pradhan Mantri GramSadak Yojana, industrial corridors, ded-icated freight corridors, Jal Marg Vikasand UDAN schemes. Major commit-ment for ambitious projects likeBharatmala and Sagarmala is also expect-ed. The Bharatmala project would helpdevelop national road corridors andhighways, while Sagarmala wouldenhance port connectivity, modernisa-tion and port-linked industrialisation.

Micro irrigation funds: In 2017,then Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyannounced a dedicated Micro IrrigationFund with NABARD under the PradhanMantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana. Theobjective of the fund was to achieve thegoal of “per drop more crop.” A whop-ping ̀ 5,000 crore was sanctioned for thisin 2018. Considering climate change,which has led to drought in some areasand floods in others, a new corpus wouldbe allocated to this scheme in the forth-coming Budget.

This year’s Union Budget comes withmore expectations than ever because ofsocio-economic conditions. For the firsttime the FM has the leeway to breach fis-cal deficits and come up with realreforms, both for taxation and the econ-omy, but the challenge is whether theGovernment is ready for such action.

(The writer is an author and GST andeconomics specialist)

Sitharaman would be presenting her second Budget at a time when the middle class and theindustry’s expectations from it would be high given the economic turmoil in the country

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

A crippledcampaign

ARMAN ALI

Accessible India intended to take measures tosecure the right to an accessible environment for

people with disabilities. But it failed

ABHISHEK RAJA

THEGOVERNMENT’SMOVE TO SLASHCORPORATE TAXHAS RAISED THE

HOPES ANDEXPECTATIONS OF

THE SALARIEDCLASS FOR A

SIMILAR RELIEFIN INCOME TAX.

WHILE THEMIDDLE CLASS

WANTS THE MODIGOVERNMENT TOPROVIDE INCOME

TAX RELIEF, THEFM HAS VERYLITTLE FISCAL

ROOM TO DOLEOUT SUCH

LARGESSE ANDTHIS MAKES THE

UNION BUDGET2020 VERY

INTERESTING

The enactment of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016has ensured the domestic transition of the social model adoptedunder the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

adopted in 2006 and ratified by the Government in 2007. The princi-ples stated to be implemented for empowerment of persons with dis-abilities (PWD) are respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy,including the freedom to make one’s own choices and independenceof persons. The Act lays stress on non-discrimination, full and effec-tive participation and inclusion in society, respect for difference andacceptance of disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity, equal-ity of opportunity, accessibility, equality between men and women, respectfor the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect forthe right of children with disabilities to preserve their identities. The prin-ciple reflects a paradigm shift in thinking about disability from a socialwelfare concern to a human rights issue. However, the rights-basedvision of the Act has not been translated into reality as yet. This is becauseof the lack of the Government’s efforts to ensure that measures aretaken for which it has been made responsible under the Act. AccessibleIndia has been one of the most visible campaigns of the Narendra ModiGovernment which intends to take measures securing the right to anaccessible environment for PWDs in the country. Launched before theenactment of the 2016 Act, it seeks to ensure a Built EnvironmentAccessibility, Transportation System Accessibility and Information andCommunication Eco-System Accessibility in India, the three of its basiccomponents. It is a matter of great misfortune that India’s biggest cam-paign has failed miserably in its effort. The failure can be basically attrib-uted to the ingenuity shown in its vision, as ambiguous and over-ambi-tious targets were made without any measure of accountability. Thecampaign thus serves more in rhetoric than in action.

Ambiguous and over-ambitious targets: The campaign under BuiltEnvironment Accessibility targetted 50 most important buildings in Tier-1 cities and 25 most important Government buildings in Tier-2 cities,to be made fully accessible within a period of six months by July 2016.The revised guidelines have extended the deadline to March 2020. Thenumbers and time period were too ambitious for the reach of theDepartment of Persons with Disability. The deadlines were missed andextended consecutively and targets under it are yet not achieved evenas three years have passed since the campaign was launched. Moreover,there was no study done on the number of Government websites orthe quantum of public documents, which makes it impossible to assessthe Government on the targets it envisaged as they were mostly madein percentage terms i.e. to make 50 per cent of all Government web-sites and public documents accessible by March 2018 . Such ambigu-ous targets make it easier to extend the deadline as it becomes impos-sible to measure the true progress of the work done.

Lack of accountability framework: The department has onlyreleased partial information in terms of the total number of buildingsand websites that were made accessible but greater details about thesebuildings have not been provided. This information is not only neces-sary for awareness but also necessary for accountability purposes.No verification study has been conducted or is currently under processby technically qualified Government or non-government agencies toassess the progress made in built environment or Information and com-munications technology in terms of accessibility. With respect to pub-lic buildings under the State Government, the department issues util-isation funds under the campaign. Data can be easily found on the hugeamount of funds disbursed under the scheme. However, no account-ability is ensued on the State Government as no post-verification studyis done to check the proper use of funds. No training or workshop hasbeen conducted to train engineers in the task of retrofitting. Untrainedprofessionals are unable to understand the reports provided to thempost accessibility audits.

Social audit: The campaign did include a component of “socialaudit” to ensure implementation in the form of a website, a mobile-based application where one could report inaccessible buildings andaction could be taken on it. However, the objective completely failedbecause of sluggish implementation of this measure as both the web-site and the application have been unmanned and thereby lying defunctsince 2016.

The failure of the campaign to properly formulate its target andinclude accountability in its practice has reduced it to a utopian statuswithout any real ground-level impact. This failure is for the lack of tech-nical experts on the subject of accessibility involved in the formulationprocess. There is a sincere need for the Department for Persons withDisability to diverge from this erring process and hire a permanent offi-cer trained in universal design and accessibility so that proper mea-sures can be taken to address the issues of PWDs.

(The writer is Executive Director, National Centre for Promotionof Employment for Disabled People)

The participation of women in theworkforce in India is one of the low-est in the world at around 21 per cent

compared to the global average of 48 percent. And it has been declining steadilyover the last two decades mostly onaccount of the agricultural sector. Some ofthe key reasons for low work participationof women in the country are a dispropor-tionate burden of care-giving and domes-tic duties, rising income of households,absence of suitable jobs, patriarchal socialnorms and poor working conditions. Infact, women’s participation in care-givingand domestic duties in the country is high-est among all the nations across theworld.

The labour force participation rate(LFPR) of women declined more in ruralareas, while it was almost stable or mar-ginally up in urban areas in the last fewyears. Over the years, the rural and urbangap in the LFPR of women narrowed andthen converged in 2018. Agriculture dis-tress, low payment in unorganised sectorjobs and rising participation of women in

higher education are leading to increasingmigration to urban areas in pursuit of bet-ter jobs and opportunities. These trendscould have significant implications in theIndian context as women in urban areasare increasingly participating in new-agejobs, particularly those that are technolo-gy-based such as flexible work on infor-mation technology and other digital plat-forms called the gig economy.

This is helping women maintain awork-life balance and accommodate dis-proportionate care activities by reducingreliance on physical space and presenceand giving them the option to choose theirown working hours and tasks.

This phenomenon has been broughtabout by technological innovation. Theownership and access to computers, tabletswith internet and smartphones — some ofthe prerequisites for active participation ofpeople in the gig economy — has increasedmanifold in India in recent years. This hasencouraged more women to participate inthe gig economy, particularly from urbanand peri-urban areas.

According to the Employment OutlookReport, by staffing platform TeamLease,women gig workers accounted for about68,000 jobs in the country in 2019 and the

gig economy is expected to generate morejobs in the future. It is estimated that it willcomprise half of the urban workforce by2025 and as much as 80 per cent by 2030.

The increasing participation of womenin the gig economy will not only empow-er them financially but also steer the eco-nomic growth of the country. As report-ed by the McKinsey Global Institute, ifIndia increased the workforce participa-tion rate of women by ten percentagepoints by 2025, its Gross Domestic Product(GDP) could rise by as much as 16 per centas compared to the business-as-usual sce-nario. A recent report on the Future ofWork Anywhere-Gig Worker by NobleHouse revealed that men and women havealmost a 50:50 participation in the gigeconomy against the traditional workforcewhere the ratio is about 70:30.

About 86 per cent of women gig work-ers in India believe that this kind ofarrangement gives them an opportunity toearn equal to their male counterparts. The2019 Employment Outlook Report reflect-ed that the new-age internet companieswere seeing more women in frontline roles.It is easy to see why, given the lower attri-tion rates, better ratings for deliverywomen and improved productivity at

warehouses. This has led to greaterdemand for women at delivery hubs andfulfilment centres.

Another study done by BetterPlace(2019) reveals that the number of womenentering the gig economy is rising. Onlinecompanies such as Amazon and Flipkartthat have begun to hire women in deliv-ery roles have also seen better acceptabil-ity by customers. Besides, food-deliveryapps such as Swiggy and Zomato have alsoemployed several thousand womenemployees in cities like Kochi, Jaipur, Puneand other Tier 2 cities.

However, the much-debated issue inthe gig economy is the growing concernregarding availability of decent work andviolation of fundamental rights of work-ers. Under the gig economy, the demandfor workers and supply of opportunities arematched online or via mobile applications.Though the gig economy provides goodjob opportunities and allows for flexibleworking schedules for women, it can alsopave the way for severe commoditisationof work that forces people to choose tran-sient work in the absence of better options.They are also vulnerable to attacks andexploitation.

Flexible work and the possibility of

combining paid and unpaid work couldprovide opportunities to women involvedin care-giving activities but could also leadto the deterioration of their working con-ditions and increase in working hours,given the requirement of constant availabil-ity to both duties of care-giving and paidwork.

While more women are joining the gigeconomy, they are paid less than men forthe same jobs. As much as 60 per cent ofthe jobs are in food technology, 30 per centin e-commerce and courier services and10 per cent in hyper-local delivery.Another study done by BetterPlace (2019)reveals that challenges remain when hir-ing them for frontline roles, especially withregard to their safety.

The Fairwork Project Initiative showsthat app-based service companies such asOla, Uber, Uber Eats and Zomato havesome of the worst working conditionsamong Indian start-ups. These companieswere ranked on five principles of fairnessand score only two-four out of 10. The onlypositive is that they paid at least a localminimum wage including employmentcosts incurred by the workers. It is alsoargued that the new work culture withinthe gig economy is not activity regulated

and women face the possibility of beingdisadvantaged all over again.

The nature and quality of jobs gener-ated for women under the gig economyneed to be examined so that appropriatepolicy suggestions can be put forward forpolicymakers to make informed decisions.It would further provide an improvedunderstanding of the realities of flexiblework arrangements in both crowd work(digital marketing, online tuitions, contentwriters, translators, graphic designers,freelance recruiters, software develop-ment, accounting, data analytics, legalwork, medical transcription, health work-ers and social work) and on-demand ser-vice work (such as personal transport ser-vices offered by Uber, Ola, food deliveryservices provided by Zomato, Swiggy ande-commerce services of Amazon,Naukri.com that require a direct interfacebetween workers and those requesting forgig services) to fill the critical knowledgegap.

(Balwant Mehta is a Fellow at theInstitute for Human Development and aVisiting Fellow at the Impact and PolicyResearch Institute (IMPRI), while SimiMehta is CEO and Editorial Director andBalwant Kumar is Director at IMPRI)

The joys and perils of the gig economyThe nature and quality of jobs generated for women in the freelance workforce need to be examined so that appropriate

policy suggestions can be put forward for policymakers to make informed decisions

BALWANTMEHTA

SIMIMEHTA

ARJUNKUMAR

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | JANUARY 17, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

PNS n MUMBAI

LIC-owned IDBI Bank, cur-rently under prompt correctiveaction since May 2017, isexpected to hold meeting withthe RBI this week to seekremoval of operational restric-tions, according to sources.

The lender will make a pre-sentation to the Reserve Bank ofIndia on its improved financialposition, the sources said, addingthe management is hopeful ofcoming out of the PCA frame-work by the end of this month.

The RBI had placed IDBIBank in May 2017, after it hadbreached the thresholds forcapital adequacy, asset quality(net NPAs was over 13 per centin March 2017), return onassets and the leverage ratio.

Since coming under the PAC,more than a third of its entirebook became dud loans in Q2of FY18, with the gross NPAratio touching 32 per cent andthe net NPAs at 17.30 per cent.

"The presentation to theRBI will be on the key finan-cial numbers. On the capitalfront and in terms of net NPAs,we have been able to makeprogress," the sources told PTI.

A query sent to the bank didnot elicit any response.

The PCA norms trigger if abank's net NPA crosses 6 percent or if CRAR (capital to riskweighted assets) is below theregulatory requirement of

10.88 per cent as of March2019.

In the quarter to September2019, its net NPA stood at 5.97per cent and tier-1 capital andCRAR improved to 9.52 percent and 11.98 per cent, respec-tively.

Capital infusion throughrecap bonds by the governmentin Q2, and also from LIC, andrecovery from stressedaccounts have also helped the

bank in shoring up its capitalposition, another person famil-iar with the matter said.

In the second quarter ofFY20, the bank received Rs4,743 crore from LIC, whichholds 51 per cent stake, and Rs4,557 crore from the govern-ment which still owns 47.11per cent.

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | JANUARY 17, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Zinier raises $ 90 mnin funding fromICONIQ Capital, TigerGlobal, othersNEW DELHI: Zinier, a fieldservice automation solutionsprovider, on Thursday said ithas raised USD 90 million(around Rs 638 crore) infunding from ICONIQ Capital,Tiger Global Management andfive other investors. The seriesC round of funding also sawparticipation from existinginvestors Accel, FoundersFund, Nokia-backed NGPCapital, France-based NewfundCapital and QualcommVentures LLC. The funding willsupport global customeradoption and expansion ofZinier's AI-driven field serviceautomation platform -- ISAC, astatement said. In the past year,more than USD 100 millionwas invested in Zinier totransform the way field servicework gets done, it added.

Yes Bank acquires10.25 pc stake inSical LogisticsNEW DELHI: Private sectorlender Yes Bank has acquired10.25 per cent stake in SicalLogistics,a Coffee Day Groupcompany, by invokingpledged shares. "Yes BankLtd has, pursuant toinvocation of pledge ofshares, acquired 60,00,000equity shares havingnominal value of Rs 10 pershare, constituting around10.25 per cent of the post-issue paid-up share capitalof a listed company, namely,Sical Logistics Ltd," thelender said in a regulatoryfiling. The shares have beenacquired pursuant toinvocation of pledge ofshares of Sical LogisticsLimited subsequent todefault/breach of terms ofcredit facilities sanctioned byYes Bank to Sical ConnectLtd, the filing added.

HDFC ERGO Healthto merge with HDFCERGO through shareswapNEW DELHI: HDFC ERGOHealth erstwhile ApolloMunich Health Insurance willmerge with HDFC ERGOthrough a share swap deal.The board of director of HDFCERGO and HDFC ERGO Healthat its meeting on January 15,approved a scheme ofarrangement andamalgamation between thetwo entities, HDFC Ltd said ina regulatory filing. Mortgagelender HDFC Ltd is promoterof general insurance firmHDFC ERGO.The schemeenvisages amalgamation andwill lead to dissolution ofHDFC Ergo Health withoutwinding up, it said.

Split roles of investmentadvisor, distributor: Sebi

INVESTMENT ADVISERS

PNS n NEW DELHI

Markets watchdog Sebi hasproposed a new set of normsfor investment advisers, underwhich they will have to segre-gate their advisory and prod-uct distribution activities, aspart of its effort to strengthenthe regulatory framework.

Besides, the regulator hassuggested that InvestmentAdvisers (IA) should not comeout with any investment advicesuggesting assured returns toclients in the investment advi-sory document.

Also, Sebi has suggestedmechanisms for charging feesfrom clients and proposed toraise the net worth require-ment for IAs.

Further, it has proposed thatIA should clearly declare to theclient that it will not seek anypower of attorney from itsclients for auto implementationof investment advice.

The new set of proposals areintended to strengthen theregulatory framework forinvestment advisers as well asempower them to effectivelydischarge their responsibili-ties towards the investors whoare their clients, the regulatorsaid in a draft proposal.

Sebi said it has been receiv-ing numerous investor com-plaints against investmentadvisers and most of the com-plaints were related to assuredreturns being offered by IAs,charging of exorbitant feesfrom client with a false promis-

es of handsome returns, mis-selling without adhering tothe risk profile of the client,non-disclosure of completeservice fees and charges andextracting money in the nameof various charges.

To further strengthen andmake the IA Regulationsrobust, the regulator has comeout with fresh proposals in thisregard and sought public com-ments on the proposals tillJanuary 30. The final regula-tion will be put in place aftertaking into consideration,views of all stakeholders.

"There should be clear seg-regation between the two ser-vices provided to the client i.e.

investment advice and distrib-ution of the investment prod-ucts," the Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi)said in the draft proposal.

IAs should provide a docu-ment to the client detailing theterms and conditions of theinvestment advisory servicesoffered to the client. Theyshould ensure that neither anyinvestment advice is renderednor any fee is charged until con-sent is received from the clienton the terms and conditions.

The document must clearlyindicate that IA should not, inthe course of performing itsservices to the client, hold outany investment advice imply-

ing any assured returns or anyother nomenclature that givesthe impression that the invest-ment advice is risk-free or notsusceptible to market risks.

Further, the document mustmention about scope of ser-vices, functions of IA, invest-ment objective and guidelines,risk factors, validity of adviso-ry services, terms of fees, con-flict of interest and liability ofIA among others.

Besides, it has been sug-gested that IA should clearlydeclare to the client that it willnot seek any power of attorneyor authorisations from itsclients for auto implementationof investment advice and itdoes not derive any direct orindirect benefit out of theclient's securities or invest-ment products.

Further, the regulator hasproposed two mechanismunder which an investmentadviser can charge fees -- Assetsunder advice (AUA) mecha-nism of fees and fixed fees.

Under the AUA mechanism,the maximum fees that can becharged will be 2.5 per cent ofAUA per annum per familyacross all schemes or productsand the upper limit of Rs75,000 annually per family hasbeen proposed under fixedfee model.

"If agreed by the client,Investment Adviser can chargefees in advance. However, suchadvance cannot exceed fees fortwo quarter," as per the pro-posal.

Further, it has proposed that IA shouldclearly declare to the client that it willnot seek any power of attorney fromits clients for auto implementation ofinvestment advice

IDBI seeks to exit PCA framework,management to meet RBI this week

Since comingunder the PAC,more than athird of its entirebook becamedud loans in Q2of FY18, withthe gross NPAratio touching32 per cent andthe net NPAs at17.30 per cent

Higher customs duty likely on toys, paper and footwearPNS n NEW DELHI

The government may increasecustoms duty on several prod-ucts like paper, footwear, rub-ber items and toys in the forth-coming Budget with a view topromote 'Make in India' andboost manufacturing growth,sources said.

The Commerce andIndustry Ministry in its Budgetrecommendations to theFinance Ministry has proposedrationalisation of basic customsor import duty on over 300items from different sectors,including furniture, chemicals,rubber, coated paper and paperboards, they said.

For new pneumatic tyres ofrubber, it has proposed to hikecustoms duty to 40 per centfrom the current 10-15 per cent.

Similarly on footwear andrelated products, the ministryhas suggested increase in dutyto 35 per cent from the current

25 per cent."There is a significant

increase in imports of under-valued and cheap footwear.

Hike in the duty will helpaddress the issue of price com-petition. Majority of importsare coming from ASEANcountries, with which India hasa free trade agreement. It is alsosuspected that China is re-rout-ing large quantities of footwearthrough these countries," thesources said.

The ministry has proposedto increase import duty on

wooden furniture to 30 percent from the current 20 percent.

For coated paper, paperboards and hand made papers,it has suggested doubling theduty to 20 per cent.

However, it has asked forremoval of import duty onwaste paper and wood pulp,which is currently at 10 per centand 5 per cent, respectively.

The paper industry hasexpressed concerns aboutcheap imports and surge ininbound shipments.

"This has significant negativeimpact on coated paper man-ufacturing industry. Increase induty will help domestic indus-try to compete with globalplayers. It would also protectlocal manufacturers and ensuresustained growth of domesticpaper industry," one of thesources said.

For wood, metal and plastictoys, the ministry has suggest-ed increase in import duty toup to 100 per cent from thecurrent 20 per cent.

Import of these toysincreased to USD 304 millionin 2018-19 from USD 281.82million in 2017-18 from Chinaand Hong Kong.

For new pneumatic tyres of rubber, ithas proposed to hike customs duty to40 per cent from the current 10-15 percent. Similarly on footwear and relatedproducts, the ministry has suggestedincrease in duty to 35 per cent from thecurrent 25 per cent

BNP Paribassees 9pc growthfor Sensex in ’20PNS n MUMBAI

French brokerage BNP Paribason Thursday said it expects a9 per cent rise in the Indianequity benchmark Sensexamid concerns on the broad-er economy.

It expects the 30-share BSESensex to be 44,500 points bythe end of the year.

Manishi Raychaudhuri, itsSingapore-based head of AsiaPacific Equity, said he has notseen such a sharp correction ingrowth momentum like inthe case of India, and termedthe same as "scary".

He said with the fall in pri-vate investments, this wasbound to happen, adding thatconcerns are both cyclical andstructural, and made it clearthat there is no magic wand tocorrect things up.

Making it clear that heholds "bearish" views on theeconomy, there are a fewthings which can cheerinvestors, and pointed out tocareful stock selection as a key.

Stating that the house is"overweight" on India, its headof India equity researchAbhiram Eleswarapu said,"market is not about the con-omy, but only about the top 50companies."

He, however, said that thereare risks to its market expecta-tions, including stagflation, thegovernment's budget movesand if the US Federal does notcut interest rates twice.

Raychaudhuri said the gov-ernment should not look at thefiscal deficit number and cutdown expenditure to achieve thetarget, warning that such amove can ensure that the currentgrowth slowdown continues.

It expects the30-share BSESensex to be44,500 points bythe end of theyear

India's palmoils import dipsover 8 pc inDec 2019: SEAPNS n NEW DELHI

India's import of palm oilsdeclined by 8.64 per cent to7,41,490 tonnes in December2019, Industry body SolventExtractors Association (SEA)said on Thursday.

India, the world's leadingvegetable oil buyer, hadimported 8,11,700 tonnepalm oils in December 2018.

The country's total veg-etable oil imports declined to11.28 lakh tonne inDecember 2019, compared to12.11 lakh tonne in the year-ago period.

The share of palm oil ismore than 60 per cent of thecountry's total vegetable oilimports.

According to SEA, import ofpalm oils have declined, whilethat of soft oils have risen dueto reduction in the duty dif-ference between the two oils.

Among palm oil products,import of crude palm oil(CPO) declined to 6,31,824tonne in December 2019, from6,70,244 tonne in the year-agoperiod, as per the SEA data.

The shipment of RBD pal-molein dropped to 94,816tonne, from 1,30,459 tonne,while that of crude palmkernel oil (CPKO) rose to14,850 tonne from 10,997tonne in the said period.

Among soft oils, import ofsunflower oil declined to1,97,842 tonne in December2019 from 2,35,824 tonne inthe year-ago period.

However, the shipment ofsoyabean oil rose sharply to1,68,048 tonne from 85,404tonne in the said period.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Drug firm Wockhardt onThursday said it has receivedapproval from the Indian drugregulator for its two newantibiotics indicated for thetreatment of acute bacterialskin and skin structure infec-tions.

The approval by the DrugController General of India(DCGI) is for novel antibioticsdiscovered and manufacturedin India by an Indian compa-ny, Wockhardt MD MurtazaKhorakiwala said in a mediaconference call today.

The approval for the twonovel antibiotics by the DCGIpaves way for a Rs 100 croreopportunity for the companyin the country over 18 to 24months on an annual basis, headded.

The size of Indian antibiot-ic market is around Rs 16,000crore, growing at 7 per centand is one of the largest ther-apeutic segment, with around12 per cent market share of theIndian pharmaceutical market,Khorakiwala said.

The company will alsolaunch these antibiotics inemerging markets primarilythrough partnerships, headded.

"DCGI has approved

Wockhardt's 2 new antibi-otics, EMROK (IV) andEMROK O (Oral), for acutebacterial skin and skin struc-ture Infections including dia-betic foot infections and con-current bacteraemia based onthe phase 3 study involving500 patients in 40 centresacross India," Wockhardt saidin a statement.

The new drug will targetsuperbug like Methicillin resis-tant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA), which is a leadingcause of rising antimicrobialresistance (AMR), it added.

The size of Indian antibiot-ic market is around Rs 16,000crore, growing at 7 per centand is one of the largest ther-apeutic segment, with a 12 percent market share of theIndian pharmaceutical market,he said.

Maruti tohone skills of 800 drivers PNS n NEW DELHI

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI)on Thursday said it hasundertaken an initiative totrain 800 drivers in the cur-rent fiscal as part of a jointprogramme with theHaryana government.

The country's largest carmaker has initiated drivertraining programme underHaryana Skill DevelopmentMission (HSDM).

Training will be conduct-ed at company's operatedInstitute of Driving & TrafficResearch (IDTR) atBahadurgarh and at Rohtak,MSI said in a statement.

The company's associationwith HSDM is targeted to cre-ate a pool of better vehicle dri-vers and make the roads saferin the state, it added.

The institutes atBahadurgarh and Rohtak area joint venture between MSIand Haryana TransportDepartment.

‘IOC to decide onbidding for BPCL aftergovt lays out rules’PNS n NEW DELHI

Indian Oil Corp (IOC), thecountry's biggest oil firm, willdecide on bidding to buyBharat Petroleum CorporationLtd (BPCL) after the govern-ment lists out rules for thestake sale, its Chairman SanjivSingh said Thursday.

The Cabinet Committee onEconomic Affairs had onNovember 21, 2019 decided tosell government's entire 53.29per cent stake in country's sec-ond-largest state refiner BPCL,but a tender for sale hasn't yetbeen issued.

"The expression of interest(EoI) (for BPCL stake sale)hasn't been issued yet. Wedon't know the conditions. Wehave no information whetherPSUs are allowed to bid ornot," Singh told reporters here."I cannot comment if IOC willbid or not unless we see theconditions set out in the EoI."

He said a decision on theissue can only be taken oncethere is clarity on the biddingprocess the governmentintends to follow.

Soon after the Cabinet deci-sion, Oil MinisterDharmendra Pradhan hadhinted that PSUs will be keptout of BPCL privatisation.

"Since 2014, we have a clearvision that the government hasno business to be in business,"Pradhan had said onNovember 22, 2019. "We haveexamples of 2-3 sectors such astelecom and aviation whereushering in private participa-tion has led to customers ben-efiting from price cuts, effi-

ciency, and better service."Asked if the company has

been told that PSUs will bekept out, Singh said there is noinformation on whether state-owned firms can bid or not.

BPCL will give the buyerready access to 14 per cent ofIndia's oil refining capacityand about one-fourth of thefuel marketing infrastructurein the world's fastest-growingenergy market.

It, however, will be sold aftercarving out NumaligarhRefinery from its portfolioand given to a pubic sectorunit. Numaligarh Refinery Ltdis also to be sold out to a PSU,possibly through a biddingprocess.

The expression ofinterest (EoI) (forBPCL stake sale)

hasn't been issued yet. Wedon't know the conditions.We have no informationwhether PSUs are allowedto bid or not

—SANJIV SINGHIOC Chairman

Wipro Ventures sets up $ 150 mn Fundll to invest in enterprise software firmsPNS n NEW DELHI

Wipro Ventures, the strategicinvestment arm of WiproLimited, on Thursdaysaid it has closed USD150 million (aboutRs 1,063 crore) Fundll that will invest inenterprise softwarecompanies.

"Buoyed by the successof its first USD 100 millionfund launched in 2015, Wipro

Ventures will continue toinvest in early to mid-stage

companies building inno-vative enterprise soft-

ware solutionsacross key areas,including cyber-security, applica-tion develop-ment, analytics,

cloud infrastruc-ture, test automation,

and artificial intelligence,"Wipro said in a regulatory fil-

ing.Wipro Ventures, managed

by Biplab Adhya and VenuPemmaraju, has invested in 16early to mid-stage start-ups sofar, including 11 in the US, 4in Israel and 1 in India.

ln addition to making directequity investments, WiproVentures has also invested infive early-stage enterprisefocused venture funds inIsrael, New York and LosAngeles.

Wockhardt getsDCGI approval for two new antibiotics

ot every girl gets a chance topursue higher studiesbecause of financial con-straints.

Many are forced to stay athome or worse work as daily labourersto make sure they earn enough forthemselves and their families. To helpgirls from such impoverished familiesearn a better life, a Hyderabad-basedNGO, Sahara, has set up skill develop-ment training for adolescent girls andwomen. For more than a decade, theorganisation has been helping thou-sands of girls and homemakers gainindependence by giving training incourses such as tailoring, styling andmake up, applying mehendi, comput-er education, English proficiency, officemanagement, making and selling arti-ficial ornaments and more.

Speaking to The Pioneer, RamagiriNarsing Rao, Founder and Secretary ofSahara, says, “Through our NGO, wehave been helping the underprivilegedacross Telugu states for more than threedecades now. In our journey, we haveobserved that many young womenand homemakers are being restricted totheir homes or working in back break-ing daily labour because of financialconstraints. Hence, our NGO helpsthem learn various courses so they canturn to self-employment.”

When asked about how it is differentfrom the Prime Minister SkillDevelopment programme, Narsing Raoshares, “The Prime Minister Skill Deve-lopment programme doesn’t offer prop-er facilities. Many women who got tr-ained under that programme are nowcoming to us for a second round oftraining. We don’t have restrictions onthe number of women joining out te-am of trainees and one can join at anytime. We have one-month short-termcourses and long-term courses that last

three to six months. Our focus is to helpthe people getting trained grow as anindividual and also learn to be a part ofa group.”

Speaking about how the organisationstarted, Narsing Rao says, “I started theorganisation three decades ago inrural areas like Adilabad by startingvarious social activities. We striveto bring an overall sustainabledevelopment in communities.Through years of service we noticedthat only by integration of differentactivities involving various agegroups development is possible.We develop our projects for the chil-dren, the women, the youth and theelderly in fields of environ-ment, health, life,employment andskill development.”

He said thatmore than a1,000 womenhave benefittedthrough theirprogramme tilldate.

He adds, “Wehave been set-ting up variouscentres acrossHyderabad. Wemove from one

location to the next after each training.After the courses, we refer the traineesto beauty parlours and other service sec-tors for employment.”

When asked if they take any fee forthese courses, Rao said that they chargeRs 500 as a registration fee in order tomake the people take the programmeseriously.

About their other social activities,Rao adds, “We sponsor poor girl chil-dren to pursue their education, formchildren clubs and promote child rights.We take care of the elderly living in acommunity and help them by provid-ing food and other necessities for their

survival. We conduct med-ical camps and also

spread awarenessabout the environ-ment.”

ai Dhanush has becomea household nameamong the Telugu audi-ence for his role inNumber 1 Kodalu serial.

In the daily, he plays Rahul whois ambitious and aims to be thebest in all that he does. He is aperson who has his mind set onbecoming successful but eventu-ally gets married to an illiteratewoman. The story is about howhe deals with it.

Began with moviesJai Dhanush began his acting

career in movies and his firstmovie in a lead role was in PotePoni in 2006. He says, “I wasinterested in acting since mychildhood. I learned it underSatyanand master at his actinginstitute. Later, I tried my luck inthe industry and got small rolesin movies like Vijayendra Varma,Mee Shreyobhilashi and more.Later I got lead roles in movieslike Pote Poni and Manorama.”

Cinema to serials After donning lead roles in

movies, Jai entered television.Speaking about his entry intotelevision, Jai says,“Entertainment is my passion.

After acting some movies, I gota chance to enter the televisionindustry. I believe that in orderto rise to the top in movie oneneeds constant support and backup. But through serials theopportunities are more and audi-ence base is more diverse. Ibelieve serials are a reflection ofour daily lives and they connectwell with all age groups. Hence Iworked in serials in all regionallanguages. I did serials likeAlliyambal in Malayalam,Chandralekha in Tamil and got agreat feedback for my efforts.”

Marriage to a co-star Jai did serials like Aadapilla,

Thurpu Padamara, KonchemIstam Konchem Kastam andmore. He married to his co-star

Keerthi. He shares, “WheneverKeerthi and I go to a public place,people recognise us and talk to usabout our work in serials. Theyrefer to us with our names in theserials and that feels good. I metKeerthi in Thurpu Padamaraserial and we worked together inAlliyambal in Malayalam. Weboth act in serials in several lan-guages and this is a great learn-ing experience for us. As we bothare from the same industry, weunderstand each other very well.”

Versatile actor Jai said that actor Vikram is

his role model and want to donversatile roles like him. Heshares, “I have no specific rolethat I aim to act as in movies.Whatever role I get, I want togive it my best and connect withall age groups. My favouriteserial is Number 1 Kodalu. ZeeTV Anuradha madam helpedme set high goals for myself inthe TV industry.”

Content is key He said that the OTT (over-

the-top) services will have noeffect on the viewership of tele-vision serials. He adds, “I believethat content plays a key role inevery medium. Introduction ofvarious platforms is a healthycompetition. Nowadays, serialshave a good story and are givinga tough competition to moviestoo. More platforms means bud-ding actors would get morechances to prove their talent.”

Speaking about women play-ing the villain in many serials, Jaisaid that it is all done for enter-tainment and one shouldn’t careif the negative character is a manor a woman. He says that womendonning such role doesn’t affecthow woman are seen in society.

Social activities Speaking about his experi-

ence in providing social work,the actor says that, “I think itis important for everyone totake part in social work. Myfans have an association inKerala and I take part insocial activities with them. Inthe city too, when I get freetime I take part in social work.”

As a message to aspiringartistes in the film and tele-vision industry, he says thatfocus and dedicationregarding work areimportant for any bud-ding actor, whether manor woman, and every-one must have a goal inlife and work hard toachieve it.

J

N

Speaking to V SATEESH REDDY, Number 1 Kodalu fame Jai Dhanush shares about his entry into movies and television, the impact of OTT platforms and more

Content plays key role

I believe that content plays a key role in every medium.Introduction of various platforms is a healthy competition.

More platforms means budding actors would get morechances to prove their talent

JAI DHANUSH

Laying path forself-sufficiencyHyderabad-based NGO Sahara is training adolescent girls and

homemakers to become self-employed, writes V SATEESH REDDY

We strive to bring an overallsustainable development in

communities. We understoodthat only by integration of differentactivities involving various age groupsdevelopment is possible. We are baseprojects on the children, the women,the youth and the elderly in fields ofenvironment, health, life, employmentand skill development.

RAMAGIRI NARSING RAOFOUNDER AND SECRETARY,

SAHARA ORGANISATION

SAHARA HAS BEEN HELPING THOUSANDS OF GIRLS ANDHOMEMAKERS GAIN INDEPENDENCE BY GIVINGTRAINING IN COURSES SUCH AS TAILORING, STYLINGAND MAKE UP, APPLYING MEHENDI, COMPUTEREDUCATION, ENGLISH PROFICIENCY, OFFICEMANAGEMENT, MAKING AND SELLING ARTIFICIALORNAMENTS AND MORE

FridayJanuary 17, 2020

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/

dailypioneer

inger-actor JustinTimberlake was spottedwalking in solo to acryotherapy appointmenthere. Justin’s recourse to the

therapy fol-lows his

hand-holding scandal with AlishaWainwright in November. The two willsoon be seen together in the upcomingfilm, Palmer. For his cyrotheraphy session,Justin was dressed in a long wool coat andjeans, teamed with a navy beanie, reportsmirror.co.uk.

Cryotherapy exposes the body toextremely cold temperatures for

several minutes for the purpose ofrelieving muscle pain and reduc-ing migraine symptoms.

This comes after he was seenon a night out getting cosy withhis Palmer co-star in NewOrleans on November 21.

The gossip vineyard buzzedwhen Justin and Alisha werespotted getting too intimate dur-ing the night out. She was seen

stroking his thigh even ashe held her hand during

the boozy outing.

Justin has beenmarried toa c t r e s sJ e s s i c aB i e lsince2012.

10

Vijayawada Friday January 17, 2020

CRYOTHERAPY EXPOSESTHE BODY TO EXTREMELYCOLD TEMPERATURES FORSEVERAL MINUTES FOR THEPURPOSE OF RELIEVINGMUSCLE PAIN ANDREDUCING MIGRAINESYMPTOMS

what’s brewing?

etflix on Thursday announcedthe cast of the movie Freedom,directed by Dibakar Banerjee,which includes NaseeruddinShah, Manisha Koirala, HumaQureshi and Kalki Koechlin.

According to a press release from thestreamer, actors Divya Dutta, Zoya Husain,Shashank Arora, and Neeraj Kabi are alsopart of the film.

Starting 25 years into the future, Freedomtraces the history of a family in three sto-

ries that are intricately interwoven withthe personal and ideological historiesof India.

Dibakar said the new project is thestory of the regular middle-classfolks.

“With family ties, parents, grand-parents, children, loves, lies andsecrets lost and suppressed overgenerations. It’s about food, ambi-tion, sex, and betrayal. It’s about

what we hide and what we wear onour sleeves, and about a past and afuture that we call India.”

“As a filmmaker, I want to moveaway from cinematic stereotypes,and working on Lust Stories andGhost Stories with Netflix gave merenewed hope about creative expres-sion in India. Freedom is the next stepforward,” the director said in a state-

ment.The film is slated to start

streaming on Netflix in 2020.

NaseeruddinShah, ManishaKoirala inNetflix filmFreedom

n

Game of Thronesspin-off likely in 2022

ame of Thronesstraight-to-ser iesspin-off titled Houseof the Dragon is like-ly to premiere in2022. HBO program-

ming chief Casey Bloys told thisto variety.com during theTelevision Critics Assn. tour onWednesday, calling it his “bestguess”. He was not able to narrowdown a more precise premieredate at this stage, though. No pro-duction dates have been deter-

mined yet.Co-created by George RR

Martin and Ryan Condal,House of the Dragon is based onFire & Blood and set 300 yearsbefore the events of ‘Thrones’,telling the story of HouseTargaryen.

Bloys said: “They are in theroom breaking story right now.My guess is we’ll see it on the airin ‘22.”

As for the untitled Game ofThrones prequel pilot starring

Naomi Watts, which HBO ulti-mately passed on, the cancellationwas characterised as no singularthing.

“Pilots — sometimes theycome together, sometimes theydon’t. And I would say that wasvery much the case here. There’snothing I would point to and say‘Oh, this was the problem’,” Bloyssaid.

He added that Jane Goldman,who co-created the project withMartin, took on the challenge of

world-building “beautifully”.“That (prequel) was 8,000

years before the current show,so it required a lot more inven-tion. One of the benefits ofHouse of the Dragon is there wasa text from George and therewas a little bit more of aroadmap.

“(Goldman’s prequel) did havemore challenges in terms of estab-lishing a world, but I think shehandled that beautifully... therewasn’t one glaring thing.”

G

apper Cardi B’s bid to make it as a politician has received back-ing from the US Senator Bernie Sanders.

Cardi took to Twitter on January 12 to inform her follow-ers about her latest interest: “I think I want to be a politician.I really love government even though I don’t agree with (our)Government (sic).

“Like I was watching war documentaries. No matter how many weaponsa country have you need people! How are you trying to go against a coun-try and possibly start a war when this country lacks patriotism? I bare-ly see people claiming they love being American.”

Sanders believes the Bodak Yellow hitmaker would be a fantastic mem-ber of Congress.

He has told tmz.com: “Cardi B is deeply concerned about what’s hap-pening in the country. She knows what it’s like to live in poverty and strug-gle, and it would be great for her to bring that experience to politics.”

SANDERSsupports CARDI B'sbid to enter politics

R s

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE GOES FOR CRYOTHERAPY

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

f the ongoing buzz in the media andfilm industry is to be believed, MassMaharaja Ravi Teja will be seen ina Telugu remake of a Tamil movie,helmed by Ramesh Varma. Ravi

Teja will be collaborating with RameshVarma for the second time with the firstone being for Veera.

Ramesh Varma made his directorialdebut with Oka Oorilo in 2005 starringactor Tarun, followed by Ride, Veera andAbbayitho Ammayi. His previous offeringwith Bellamkonda Srinivas was the suspensethriller, Rakshasudu, which performed well at thebox office. This could be one of the reasons for RaviTeja to give his nod although Veera was a disaster at the box office.

Sources said that Ramesh Varma’s latest project, a remakeof a super hit Tamil movie, has now fallen in Ravi Teja’s lap.Mass Maharaja Ravi Teja who is also hungry for deliv-ering a hit movie, has given the nod for the remake.An official announcement is yet to be made.Currently, Ravi Teja is busy shooting forGopichand Malineni’s directorial venture Krackalongside Shruti Hassan.

Meanwhile, Ravi Teja’s Disco Raja,directed by V.I. Anand, will hit screens onJanuary 25. After wrapping up the shootof Krack, the Mass Maharaja will join thesets of Ramesh Varma’s directorial venture.

i

Vijayawada Friday January 17, 2020

11

tollywoodBUNNY EYESBollywood forpan-India appeal

tylish Star AlluArjun has a hugefan following buthe wants to have a‘pan-India appeal’.For this he has

evinced interest in doing aBollywood film. He has saidthat he wants to have a Hindifilm in his f i lmography,though he is yet to choose theright project and directorfrom the ones that wereoffered to him so far. The act-or is currently enjoying thesuccess of AlaVaikunthapurramulo.

Speaking with an Englishpublication, Mid Day, in aninterview, Allu Arjun said, “Iwant to have pan-Indiaappeal, for which I need to doa Bollywood film. It’s a hugeprospect for my growth as anactor. Having a Hindi movie

in my filmography is impor-tant. Thanks to social media,people can now watch andappreciate movies irrespec-tive of the language.”

He said that he has beenoffered Bollywood films. “It isabout finding the right projectand the right director. I don’twant to rush into things.”

Speaking about AlaVaikunthapurramulo, Bunnysaid that, “In mass entertain-ers, we tend to go over-the-top.But this time, I decided to keepmy performance more authen-

tic. We have known each other(Pooja Hegde) for many years.But to [witness] her talent onset was sheer pleasure.”

The film has been receivingrave reviews since its release.Even Pawan Kalyan wrote anappreciation note for AlluArjun. The latter posted a pic-ture of the flowers and thenote and tweeted, “Soo over-whelmed to see this comingfrom PSPK garu himself .Very touched by the gracefulgesture... Thank you very@PawanKalyan garu. (sic)”

s

ALLU ARJUN SAID THAT HE WANTS TO HAVE AHINDI FILM IN HIS FILMOGRAPHY, THOUGH HE ISYET TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT PROJECT AND THERIGHT DIRECTOR FROM THE ONES THAT WEREOFFERED TO HIM SO FAR.

Many Tollywood stars have made foray intoBollywood and Allu Arjun is also keen on joining thebandwagon. K RAMYA SREE writes about theexpectations the Stylish Star has about going national

aruthi Dasari isc o n s i d e r e done of thepioneers of

the new Tollywoodera and one of themost popular direc-tors in the industry.

His direction hasalways been revolu-tionary in terms of hisstyle, making small bud-get films. He never failed todeliver his best and made his markin Tollywood.

Industry grapevine is that thefilmmaker wants to test his luck witha mega hero and is planning to workwith Mega Prince Varun Tej.

Maruthi earlier worked with Naniand Sharwanand and wanted towork with Allu Arjun too. But hefailed to convince the actor. Nowsources said that Varun Tej, who isenjoying the success ofGaddalakonda Ganesh, has agreed tohelm the movie.

With Maruthi’s recent directorialventure Pratiroju Pandage starring Sai Dharam Tej and Raashi Khanna, performing well at thebox office, it is believed that Varun Tej will give his nod to the director. Recently Maruthi Dasariis said to have narrated a story to Varun Tej and though the actor is impressed with the nar-ration, he asked the director to come back with the full script.

m

VARUN inMaruthi's next?

xtendeing theirSankranti greeting,the makers of NagaChaitanya and SaiPallavi-starrer, Love

Story, released the first look onWednesday. The poster wasunveiled on the occasion ofSankranti.

Directed by SekharKammula, the film marks themaiden collaboration of NagaChaitanya and Sai Pallavi.However, Kammula and SaiPallavi are joining hands for thesecond time. The latter madeher Telugu debut with Fidaa.Talking about the project,Kammula had said, “It’s a lovestory of a boy and girl whomove to the city from their vil-lage to pursue their dreams.”He went on to reveal that thefilm will see Chaitanya speakin Telangana dialect.

“Naga Chaitanya has beentrying to master the Telanganadialect for his part. He’s com-pletely surrendered himself to

the role with great interest topull off his part. Also, SaiPallavi could spring a sur-prise for the audience. I believethe lead pair’s performanceswill stand out,” Kammula said.

The film, being produced byRam Mohan Rao, will bewrapped up in three schedules.The project went on the floorslast September and is current-ly on the verge of being com-pleted. If everything goes asplanned, the film will hit thescreens this summer.

If reports are to be believed,Chay will next team up withdirector Parasuram for aromantic comedy. An officialannouncement regarding theproject is yet to be made.

Sai Pallavi, on the otherhand, has begun shooting forRana Daggubati’s VirataParvam, in which she plays anaxalite. Last seen in Suriya’sNGK, Pallavi has a interestingslate of projects in her kitty cur-rently.

e

Love Story firstlook poster out

RAVI TEJA to join Ramesh Varma for Tamil remake

NANI

atural star Nani, who is currently busy working on twomovies — Mohanakrishna Indragranti’s V and ShivaNirvana’s Tuck Jagadeesh — has wrapped up shooting forV, it is learnt.

The film’s director Mohankrishna Indraganti took to twit-ter to make this announcement. The filmmaker tweeted, “It’s aWRAP for V An adrenaline-pumping and emotionally rewardingshoot has come to an end. Stellar performances by the cast Superbcontributions by the crew Now the countdown begins to Ugadi. Firstlook will be out soon Very soon (sic).”

The film is slated for release on March 25, 2020.In the film, Nani essays a role with all negative shades. The film,

produced by Dil Raju, stars Aditi Rao Hydari and Nivetha Thomasas female leads.

On the other side, Nani is currently busy with his upcoming pro-duction venture Hit which stars Viswak Sen in the lead role. TuckJagadesh marks Nani’s second collaboration with Shiva Nirvana.Their first film together was romantic saga Ninnu Kori. RituVarma and Aishwarya Rajesh are playing the female leads.

n

wraps uupshootingfor V

wraps uupshootingfor V

wraps uupshootingfor V

AFP n PORT ELIZABETH

World cricketer of the yearBen Stokes survived three

reviews by South Africa as heand Ollie Pope regained the ini-tiative for England on the firstday of the third Test at StGeorge’s Park on Thursday.

England were 224 for fourat the end of an attritional dayduring which South Africa hadbriefly claimed the advantage.

England were 148 for fourwhen Stokes and Pope cametogether, in danger of failing tocapitalise on batting first on aplacid pitch on a hot, sunny day.

But the pair added 76 with-out being parted and were ableto lift a slow scoring rate afterEngland were able to score only117 for two in 58 overs beforetea. Stokes was unbeaten on 38at the close while Pope made 39not out.

Stokes came into the match

a day after being named playerof the year by the InternationalCricket Council and on theback of a man-of-the-matchperformance when England lev-elled the four-match series bywinning the second Test inCape Town by 189 runs.

Stokes made a shaky start,surviving a leg before wicketreview on umpire’s call againstleft-arm spinner KeshavMaharaj and an appeal for acatch at slip off what SouthAfrica thought was an insideedge off the pad.

South Africa wasted theirlast review when Stokes playedno shot against VernonPhilander with the second newball but the ball was well outsidethe off stump.

Kagiso Rabada took twowickets for South Africa but thehome team's most impressivebowler was Maharaj who tookone for 55 in 32 overs. Hebowled an unbroken spell of 30overs which enabled captainFaf du Plessis to rotate his fastbowlers as England struggled toassert themselves.

OPENERS FALL INTO TRAP Zak Crawley and Dom

Sibley gave England a solidstart, putting on 70 for the firstwicket but both fell to catchesat backward square leg.

Joe Denly was leg before toMaharaj when South Africasuccessfully sought a reviewwhich showed a ball headed forthe stumps had hit pad before

bat, while Root was beaten andbowled by a fast delivery fromRabada which hit the top of hisoff stump.

With the four-match seriestied at 1-1, batting firstappeared to be a considerableadvantage on a pitch which hada fair covering of grass butwhich offered no help to thebowlers.

It was the sixth successiveTest toss lost by Du Plessis.

South Africa picked newcap Dane Paterson as a special-ist fast bowler in place of all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius.Paterson surprisingly sharedthe new ball with Philander,with the quicker Rabada andAnrich Nortje having to wait fortheir turn.

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | JANUARY 17, 2020 sport 12

PTI n RAJKOT

Skipper Virat Kohli is set to beback at his regular number threeposition after the strategy of

coming two-down boomeranged inthe lung-opener as India take on aresolute Australia in the must-winsecond ODI here on Friday.

India go into the game 0-1 downafter Australia registered a 10-wick-et win in the lung-opener at Mumbai,courtesy David Warner and AaronFinch, who hit unbeaten hundreds.

In a bid to field all three in-formplayers — Rohit Sharma, ShikharDhawan and KL Rahul —, Kohlidropped himself down the order butthe plan backfired spectacularly as hewas unable to convert his start.

Opener Dhawan later said he wasready to bat at number three ifasked to by the team management,but since Kohli has been successfulat that position, the skipper would bemore than willing to walk in one-down.

Kohli batting at three also pro-vides stability to the middle-order.

With a concussed Rishabh Pantout of the second game, Rahul is acertainty as he will keep wickets.

So, like in the last game, Rohitand Dhawan, who made a dogged 74off 91 balls in Wankhede, could open,and there could be a toss-up betweenRahul and young Shreyas Iyer atnumber four. Iyer had a rare failureon Tuesday.

Pant's absence could pave theway for the inclusion of Karnatakabatsman Manish Pandey, who madeoptimum use of the opportunitythat he got in the third T20 againstSri Lanka in Pune.

It would also be interesting to seewhich among the experienced Kedar

Jadhav and rookie Shivam Dubemakes the squad.

Rohit, who had a phenomenal2019, failed in the first game, butgiven the form he is in, the openeris expected to bounce back stronglyhere.

Ditto for Kohli, who is just onehundred short of equalling cricket

icon Sachin Tendulkar’s record ofmost hundreds on home soil forIndia.

The bowlers led by JaspritBumrah had a forgettable outing atthe Wankhede and they would bemore than eager to make a strongcomeback and prove their mettle.

Bumrah, since his comeback,

has not been as effective as earlier andhe would like to change the percep-tion.

It would be interesting to seewhether India play Delhi speedsterNavdeep Saini or persist with ShardulThakur, who gave away 43 runs inMumbai.

Ravindra Jadeja looks a certain-ty and so the choice would bebetween chinaman Kuldeep Yadav,who conceded 55 runs in the firstODI and Yuzvendra Chahal as thelead spinner.

On the other hand, a high onconfidence Australia will be lookingto seal the issue to register back toback series wins in India, a rare featfor any visiting team. The Finch-Warner combination will look for-ward to carry the momentum.

Their middle-order comprisingthe experienced Steve Smith, in-form Marnus Labuschange, AshtonTurner and Alex Carey looks more orless settled.

If all of them fire in unison, alongwith the openers, then it will hard forthe opposition bowlers.

However, it will be quite a test oftheir middle-order at the SaurashtraCricket Association stadium.

Australian bowlers also showedat the Wankhede, why they are con-sidered among the best.

Led by pace spearhead MitchellStarc, they bundled out India for asub-par 255 and Mitchell Starc andPat Cummins would be raring to goonce again.

Spinners Adam Zampa andAshton Agar, not only contained theruns, but provided crucial break-throughs and are expected to play asimilar role again in the middleovers.

The track here is expected to be

a belter and India can draw confi-dence from the home series againstNew Zealand in 2017, when they won2-1 after losing the opener, co-inci-dentally in Mumbai.

PTI n RAJKOT

Australia captain AaronFinch has no doubts that

India will “fight back" in the sec-ond ODI here Friday after beingbattered in the series-opener inMumbai.

Australia gave the hosts areality check with a crushing 10-wicket win in the lung-openeron Tuesday, riding on DavidWarner and Finch's unbeatenhundreds.

But Finch said it would besilly to take India lightly as theyboast of world-class players.

“That was a pretty goodperformance. I think our field-ing was a little bit sloppy but allin all we ar really happy with

how the boys went,” he wasquoted as saying by‘cricket.Com.Au’.

“They (India) will fight backno doubt. They are a great side,got some world-class players,”Finch said talking about what toexpect from Friday's match.

Asked about his openingpartner’s batting display, theAustralia skipper said: “He(Warner) is playing unbelievablywell I think. It’s so hard to bowlto him once he gets in. He hitsthe ball all around the ground,so stopping him from scoring isso hard.

“He is so clear with how heis going to bat, his footwork ispretty good. His mental state isunbelievable when he is out inthe middle. He is so clear withhis thoughts and his game. Heis in top shape.”

PTI n RAJKOT

Australian leg-spinner AdamZampa on Thursday said

one needs to have a “strongcharacter” to get the better of aclass act like India captain ViratKohli, who he has dismissed sixtimes in limited overs cricket sofar.

Zampa said despite enjoy-ing an upperhand over theIndian captain in limited-overs,Kohli is a hard nut to crack.

“It’s going to be an attack-ing approach. I think if you’reon the back-foot and have adefensive mindset then that’swhen he (Kohli) can get on topof you. The most important

thing playing in places likeIndia against these guys is tohave a little bit of character,” saidZampa ahead of Friday’s secondODI here.

Zampa has dismissed Kohlifour times in ODIs and twice inT20s.

“You probably know you’regoing to get hit for boundariesbut it can really get worse if youmake that affect you. I have gothim a few times now but I don’tthink there is anything in it. Hestill scores at over 100 (strikerate) against me,” the 27-year-old spinner said.

“He is a very hard guy tobowl to. He’s one of the tough-est guys I’ve ever had to bowl

to. After game one (first ODI),he will be even more switchedon. It will be a big challenge,”said Zampa, who has 66 ODIswickets from 49 games.

Steve Waugh had said inthe past that Kohli has notshown enough respect toZampa, but the leggie dis-agreed with the formerAustralia skipper.

“I don’t think he (Kohli)doesn’t respect me. I don’t thinkthat’s correct (referring toWaugh's statement).”

Zampa said Australia hasmanaged to find out Kohli’sweak point.

“We basically just foundthat Virat finds leg-spinners

hard to line up early in hisinnings. He's such a greatstarter, even the other day hewas 16 off 14. How much ener-gy he brought to the crease, hisrunning between the wickets,some of the cover drives heplayed off the quicks,” he said.

“I think it’s important to tryand have a game plan againsthim. So we figured out beforethe last game that it would begood to start with leg-spin tohim.

“I’ve got him out four timesin the last year or so it's nice tohave that confidence to bowl tohim at the start of his innings,”said Zampa, who is on histhird tour to India.

PTI n RAJKOT

Shreyas Iyer on Thursdaysaid the current competi-

tion in the Indian teamdemands one to bat at anynumber after he did not get toplay at his usual number fourspot in the first ODI againstAustralia.

Iyer returned to India’slimited overs set-up followingthe 2019 World Cup and hasdone well at number four.

“In this situation, youshould be ready to bat at anynumber because it is reallyimportant to play in the team,

(considering) the competi-tion which we have nowright now,” 25-year-old

Iyer told reportersahead of the secondODI here.

The stylish bats-man also said that the

team is looking forward tomore experimentation.

“We can’t give any reasonsof batting at any particularnumber. Yes it is really impor-tant for us to be focused andnot to cry about why wehaven’t been batting at a sim-ilar position. Experimentationis something we are lookingforward to. Hopefully, we willget a good number for eachbatsman.

“This is the time weshould try and experimentthings and hopefully it willwork-out in the future,” saidthe Mumbaikar.

A middle-order collapse inMumbai exposed India'sweakest link but Iyer said thatit was part and parcel of thegame.

“Well it happens some-times and you are not pre-pared. The country was notprepared to see us collapsingin such situations but it is apart and parcel of the game,”said Iyer on the collapse.

“You have to take it inyour stride and move for-ward. As a team we have beendoing really well throughoutthe season and it was just oneof the matches where youcompletely collapsed...Thereis lot of learning from there,”said Iyer.

AFP n ST. GEORGE’S

Ireland rode a career-best 95from opener Paul Stirling

before keeping their nerve in anail-biting final over to pull offa four-run win over worldchampions West Indies in thefirst of a three-match Twenty20series on Wednesday.

The burly Stirling steeredIreland to 208-7 in their 20overs.

However, the home sideappeared comfortably on coursefor victory — bringing up theirhundred inside 10 overs withjust two wickets down — untilthe game was decided in the lastover.

Needing 15 to win, all-rounder Josh Little (3-29) got ridof the dangerous Dwayne Bravo,one of two wickets to fall in thelast over.

With five needed off the lastball and seven wickets down,Hayden Walsh could only wavehis bat into thin air in a desper-ate attempt to win the game.

It was only Ireland’s secondvictory in T20 cricket over theWest Indies who went into thegame having swept the ODIseries 3-0.

“Everyone is ecstatic, wecame so close in that secondODI (lost by one wicket) and itmaybe affected us in that thirdODI, so to show the bottle andcome out against one of the topteams in T20 cricket and get awin was great for the vibe of theteam,” said Ireland skipperAndrew Balbirnie.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was onThursday dropped from the

BCCI’s list of centrally contractedplayers, raising fresh doubts on thefuture of the former India captain whohas not played since the World Cupsemifinal loss to New Zealand last year.

The BCCI announced the centralcontracts for the period of October2019 to September 2020. The 38-year-old Dhoni was in the A category,which fetches a player Rs 5 crore asannual retainership, until last year.

Skipper Virat Kohli, his white-balldeputy Rohit Sharma and top pacerJasprit Bumrah were retained in thehighest A+ bracket of Rs 7 crore.

Dhoni’s contract not beingrenewed is not exactly a surprise as hehas not played a competitive gamesince that World Cup semifinal on July9. He has been on an sabbatical and hasrefused to divulge his future plans.

Head coach Ravi Shastri hadrecently said that Dhoni may soon endhis ODI career but could be in con-tention for a spot in the T20 WorldCup squad provided he does well in theIPL.

Among others, batsman K L Rahulhas been promoted from B grade to A.Having lost his place in the Test side

following a dismal tour of Australia lastyear, Rahul has made a strong come-back and been a consistent performerin the shorter formats.

Test opener Mayank Agarwal, whohas done well since making his debutduring the tour of Australia in 2018-

19, has been included in the Grade Bcategory, which also features HardikPandya and Yuzvendra Chahal alongwith two others.

Pacer Navdeep Saini and T20 spe-cialist Washington Sundar are newentrants in Grade C alongside ShreyasIyer, Deepak Chahar and ShardulThakur. Though he has not playedTests, Saini has emerged as an optionin all three formats.

Iyer, who made a limited-overscomeback following India's World

Cup campaign, has cemented his placein the middle order and seems to be astable number four that the team hasbeen looking for.

Pacer Thakur too has made animpact in the limited opportunities hehas got while the injured Chahar hasbecome a strong contender for a spotin the T20 World Cup with a string ofimpressive performances, including asix-wicket haul against Bangladesh inNovember. It is the best ever in theshortest format till date.

PTI n CAPE TOWN

Afew precocious talents,hardworking teenagers and

a chunky lot which might fallby the wayside in times to comewill form an eclectic 16-teammix in the melting pot calledICC Under-19 World Cupstarting on Friday.

Defending championsIndia will be overwhelmingfavourites to win the juniorglobal meet for the fifth timewith at least six players, includ-ing skipper Priyam Garg hav-ing played senior cricket (first-class, List A or T20).

Not to forget four players— Yashasvi Jaiswal, Garg, RaviBishnoi, Kartik Tyagi—whohave already landed fat con-tracts in the IPL.

India have been the team tobeat on the junior cricket cir-cuit since Virat Kohli's teamdominated the proceedings inthe 2008 edition.

While there will be futurestars in Pakistan, Australia,England and New Zealandteams, the presence of Japanand Nigeria will certainly haveits own curiosity value.

In fact Japan are clubbedwith India, New Zealand andSri Lanka in group D.

The Japanese team mostly

has South Asian expats withnames like Tushar Chaturvedi,Yugandhar Retharekar, IshanFartyal, Debasish Sahoo help-ing out the likes of KazumashaTakahashi, Masato Morita andShu Noguchi.

The Nigerian team, whichis clubbed in a difficult groupcomprising Australia, WestIndies and England, has morelocal flavour in the presence ofSylvester Okpe, Oche Boniface,Ifeanyichukwu Uboh andOlayinka Olaleye.

The tournament starts withhosts South Africa taking onAfghanistan in the 'DiamondCity' of Kimberley on Friday,followed by Australia's big-ticket game against West Indieson the very next day.

Australia like India have anumber of players, who havealready played senior levelcricket with one prominentname being former death overspecialist Ian Harvey’s nephewMcKenzhie Harvey, who hasplayed 2 List A and 13 T20games.

Similarly England haveBen Charlesworth with anexperience of 11 first-classgames to his credit while a fewof his teammates have alsoplayed for their respectivecounties.

India’s captain Virat Kohli bats during a practice session AP

KOHLI TO BE BACK AT NO 3 Bhuvneshwar undergoessports hernia surgery inLondon, rehab in NCAPTI n NEW DELHI

Injury-plagued Indian pacerBhuvneshwar Kumar has under-

gone a sports hernia surgery inLondon and will begin his rehabili-tation at the National CricketAcademy (NCA) after returning tothe country, the BCCI said onThursday.

The Board did not specify anytimeline for his recovery but it islearnt that he will return to actionduring the Indian Premier League(IPL), which is scheduled to start onMarch 29. Bhuvneshwar plays forSunrisers Hyderabad in the T20event.

“Fast bowler BhuvneshwarKumar travelled to London on 9thJanuary and underwent a successfulsports hernia surgery on 11thJanuary. He was assisted by TeamIndia physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar,”read a statement from BoardSecretary Jay Shah.

“Bhuvneshwar will now return toIndia and commence his rehabilita-tion at the National Cricket Academy(NCA) in Bengaluru,” it added.

He was not named in the T20squad for the upcoming tour ofNew Zealand due to the injury.

In current situation, you shouldbe ready to bat anywhere: Iyer

Shreyas Iyer celebrates with Virat Kohli BCCI/Twitter

Need to have a strong character to get better of Kohli: Zampa

Adam Zampa kicks a ball during apractice session AP

‘India to fight back hard in second game’

Aaron Finch bats during a practicesession AP

Runaway favourites Indready for High Five

Ireland stunWI by four runs

Dhoni dropped from BCCI's central contracts list

MS Dhoni in a file photo PTI

Mahi starts training with Jharkhand Ranji squadPTI n NEW DELHI

The 38-year-oldshowed up at his

home team's net prac-tice in Ranchi, indicat-ing that he is gearinghimself for the upcom-ing Indian PremierLeague. This was on aday when BCCI axedhim from the list ofcentrally contractedplayers.

“Even we did notknow that he was goingto come and train with

us. It was a pleasantsurprise. He batted for awhile and did the usualtraining routine,” asource close to theJharkhand team man-agement told PTI.

“We are expectinghim to train with theteam regularly fromnow on. His presencecan only help the play-ers,” the source added.

In fact, Dhoni hasbought a brand newbowling machine for histraining. While the

Jharkhand team willhave their red-ball rou-tines, Dhoni will pri-marily practice againstthe white ball.

Jharkhand’s nextmatch is againstUttarakhand, startingSunday in Ranchi. Theteam has returned homeafter an eight wicketloss againstMaharashtra inNagothane. Out of fivegames, Jharkhand havewon two, lost two anddrawn one.

Pope, Stokes revive England

Ben Stokes in action ECB/Twitter