PNS n HYDERABAD

The percentage of active casesamong the total number ofinfections is nearly53.76percent as ofWednesday inTelangana.

L i k e w i s e ,Andhra Pradesh isfrontrunner with54.19 per cent ofcases being active ofthe total cases.

While the Telangana govern-ment claims that the death ratedue to Covid-19 is less than thecountry average, what’s alarm-ing is the percentage of active

cases in the state. The twoTelugu speaking states overtakeCovid-19 hotspots likeMaharashtra, Delhi, Tamil

Nadu, which have 43.48per cent, 30.07 per cent

and 43.13 per centactive cases respec-tively. The nationalaverage of the activecases is 37.3 per cent.

While the death ratein Telangana is 1.59 per

cent, the discharge rate is44.64 per cent. With 260 deathsand 7,294 discharges, the per-centages are way below thenational average.

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RNI No. APENG/2018/764698

*Late City Vol. 2 Issue 240*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Established 1864Published From

VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN HYDERABAD

5

Fabindia appoints AdityaGhosh to board of directors

8

Enhancing water use efficiency in irrigation

2

India to banChinese cos fromhighway projects,says Gadkari

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated July 01, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANAC

TODAY

Month & Paksham:

Ashadha & Shukla Paksha

Panchangam

Tithi : Dwadashi: 03:16 pm

Nakshatram :Anuradha: 01:13 am

(Next Day)

Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)

Rahukalam: 01:57 pm – 03:35 pm

Yamagandam: 05:49 am – 07:27 am

Varjyam: 06:20 am – 07:51 am

Gulika: 09:04 am - 10:42 am

Good Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 03:24 pm – 04:55 pm

Abhijit Muhurtham: 11:54 am – 12:46 pm

VIJAYAWADA

WEATHERFFoorreeccaasstt:: CloudyTemp: 34/26Humidity: 84%Sunrise: 05.45 amSunset: 06.54 pm

AP, Telangana States registerpositive GST revenue growth

SUMIT ONKA n VISAKHAPATNAM

Signalling significant recoveryfrom the devastating impact ofCovid-19, the Goods andService Tax (GST) collectionswitnessed a positive growth inthe two Telugu states in June2020, compared to the corre-sponding month of the last fis-cal.

On Wednesday, the Ministryof Finance issued details of theJune GST collections, includingthose from all states. The grossGST collections for June stoodat Rs 90,917 crore at the nation-al level, about nine per centlower than GST revenue inJune, 2019.

The June GST collectionsare higher than those recordedin April and May, the peakmonths of lockdown due toCOVID-19 pandemic.

Andhra Pradesh andTelangana registered a positivegrowth of 6% and 3%, with GSTrevenues totaling Rs 2,367 croreand Rs 3276 crore respectively.In contrast, most of the devel-oped mainland and industrialstates have recorded a negativegrowth in the country. Gujarat,Maharashtra and Tamil Naduare among the states that have

witnessed negative growth.The revenues during the

financial year were negativelyimpacted by COVID-19: first-ly, due to the economic impactof the pandemic; and, second-ly due to the relaxations givenby the Government in filing ofreturns and payment of taxes onaccount of the pandemic.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Like the Koyambedu market inChennai that turned into aCovid-19 hotspot spreadingthe virus to other states, thefishing harbour and its openretail market under the OneTown police station is in danger of turning a superspreader.

Fish vendors, mostly women,hailing from villages likePedajalaripeta and other areaswhich reported around 150cases during the last 10 days, reach the harbour to dobusiness.

An average of 6,000 peoplegathered for purchase of fishfrom the harbour market on

each of the last four Sundays,according to reports from fish-

eries department.The fisheries department

deployed its personnel andsought help from the policedepartment to control thecrowds and made it mandato-ry for all to wear masks andmaintain distance. But itbecame difficult for the policeand the personnel to control thecrowd.

The report of 15 positivecases surrounding the harbourand its vicinity released onWednesday shocked theauthorities.

Special officer for Covid-19for north coastal Andhra DrPV Sudhakar said the address-

es given by the patients indicat-ed that they were close to thefishing harbour.

Asked whether the fishingharbour would be closed fol-lowing the report of 15 casesfrom the vicinity, joint directorK Phani Prasad said his depart-ment was not authorised toclose the market.

“We can only regulate andsee that extra precautions aretaken to prevent infection,’’ thejoint director said.

Sources said the health offi-cials were suggesting the districtcollector to close down the fish-ing harbour temporarily till analternative market was located.

Vizag fishing harbour another ‘Koyambedu’!

JAGAN REJIGS YSRC PARTY,SAJJALA GETS KEY ROLE l Vijayasai to oversee party in North Andhra; YV Subba Reddy given key districtsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

YSRCP president and AndhraPradesh Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy has cho-sen three of his closest aidesand entrusted them with theresponsibility of handling theparty affairs in three differentregions of the state.

According to party sources,party general secretary andparliamentary party leader VVijayasai Reddy will look afterthe YSRCP activities inSrikakulam, Vizianagaram andVisakhapatnam districts andcoordinate the party activitieswith the government.

Senior party leader andTirumala TirupatiDevasthanams trust boardchairman YV Subba Reddy

will look after the party activ-ities in East Godavari, WestGodavari, Krishna, Gunturand Chittoor districts.

And the party activities inthe remaining districts –Nellore,

Prakasam, Kadapa, Kurnooland Anantapur districts wouldbe taken care of by anothersenior YSRCP leader and advi-sor Sajjala RamakrishnaReddy.

Sajjala will also look afterthe responsibilities of coordi-nating the party activities inthe YSRCP central office atTadepalli in Guntur district.

“These decisions have beentaken by the party president tofurther strengthen the YSRCPorganisation at all levels.

All Covid infected foreignreturnees recovered fullyPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Since the outbreak of theCovid-19 pandemic in India,positive cases were mostlyreported from foreignreturnees.

In Andhra Pradesh, 403foreign returnees have beentested positive till July 1, ofwhich 332 (82 per cent) arefrom Kuwait. As many as 193patients out of 15,000 havesuccumbed to the virus.However, all the foreignreturnees have recovered from

the infection.Two districts, Krishna and

Kurnool report 70 per cent ofdeath cases in the state andremain to be badly hit by thevirus. However, the biggestand populous city,Visakhapatnam remains to becontaining the virus well com-pared to other districts.

Four districts have report-ed more cases in AP —Kurnool a total of 2,045 cases,Anantapur 1,689, Krishna1,519 and Guntur 1,429.

AP and TS have highnumber of active cases

NGT noticesto AP onillegal sandmining in EGPNS n HYDERABAD

The National Green Tribunal(NGT) on Wednesday servednotices to the AndhraPradesh government overillegal sand mining in parts ofthe state, mainly in EastGodavari.

Hearing a petition filed byE Venkatapathi Raju whosought action to prevent ille-gal sand mining in Rajole,Antarvedi and different partsof East Godavari, the NGTsaid it is the duty of the gov-ernment to provide com-plete protection to the natur-al resources as a trustee of thepublic at large.

Further, the green panelhas asked the government toconstitute a committee toassess the loss to the environ-ment and loss of naturalresources.

SCS for AP appears impossible: BosePNS n VIJAYAWADA

Deputy Chief Minister PilliSubhash Chandra Bose andhis Cabinet col leagueMopidevi Venkataramana,who were recently elected tothe Rajya Sabha, handed overtheir letters of resignationfrom the Legislative Councilon Wednesday.

Later speaking to mediapersons, Bose made somerather interesting comments

by stating that it wasnot possible to getspecial categorystatus forA n d h r aPradesh.

He recalledthat ChiefMinister YSJ a g a n m o h a nReddy had strug-gled hard to getSpecial Category Status,but to no avail. Bose opined

that it is impossibleto achieve SCS

for the stateand clarifiedthat it was hisp e r s o n a lopinion andhad nothing

to do with theparty or gov-

ernment.He further said

that he has served as aRevenue Minister for a year

and the Chief Minister gavefull freedom to serve thepeople and had given theopportunity to pursue hisgoal of stepping intoParliament. Commenting onMP Raghu RamakrishnamRaju, he said that MPs shouldbe loyal to the party.

It is known fact that theduo has been sent to RajyaSabha following the decisionto abolish the LegislativeCouncil.

CM flags off a new era inhealthcare for the StatePNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy onWednesday launched aCancer Care Centre andflagged off 1,088 ambulancevehicles coinciding with theNational Doctors’ Day.

The Chief Minister alsoinaugurated a Cancer CareCentre at GunturGovernment Hospital in asso-ciation with Natco Trust hereon Wednesday.

Speaking on the occasion,he said that he was very happyto launch the two pro-grammes on Doctors’ Dayand extended his compli-ments to all the doctors.

“It is a delight tosee the fleet ofambulance vehi-cles rolling outin a row andthis is day tobe writtenin goldenletters inthe histo-ry of theState asnowherehave 1,088v e h i c l e sflagged outon a singleday. We havealso includedvehicles for neo-natal serviceswhich will bringdown the infant mortal-ity rate,” Jagan said.

He said that the State willsoon have electronic healthcards for every citizen of thestate and every mandal willhave a PCH with a doctor anda 104 ambulance. The elec-tronic cards will store all themedical data of the patient.

“We should instil confi-dence among the people thatthe response time for theambulance is strictly adheredto as the facility during theprevious government hasbeen severely hampered. The

change should be visible clear-ly as we have seen rats biting

infants in Governmenthospitals and surgeries

were done under cellphone lights,” the

Chief Ministersaid.

He said thatchange is inthe offingand the gov-e r n m e n tw i l limprove thef a c i l i t i e sand brings t a t e - r u n

hospitals onpar with

national stan-dards.The Chief

Minister said that thesalaries of 108 staff will

be increased. The driverspay has been hiked from Rs10,000 to Rs 18,000 and Rs28,000 depending on the ser-vices and the salary of techni-cians are increased from Rs12,000 to Rs 20,000- Rs30,000, he said.

Covid tallycrosses15,000 mark PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Addition of 657 fresh casespushed the Covid-19 tally inAndhra Pradesh to 15,252 onWednesday.

In the last 24 hours, sixcoronavirus deaths werereported, taking the overalltoll in the state to 193, the lat-est bulletin said.

Kurnool and Krishna dis-tricts reported three deathseach, taking the individualtally to 68 and 66 respective-ly, the highest in the state.

l Among few Covid-hit economies that are recovering well

Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy Vijayasai Reddy

Nostalgia prevailed inthe air as Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddyflagged off a fleet of1,088 ambulance vehi-cles, amplified by thevoice of late Dr YSRajasekhara Reddy on

108 service playing inthe background and the ‘hospitals on wheels’ equipped

with life support systems moving with the unmistak-able siren to reach every mandal taking forward

medicare in the State many notches higher.

3

33

3

33

3

3

GOLD PRICES HIT ALL-TIMEHIGH, REACH RS 48,871

PRIYANKA VADRA ASKED TO VACATEGOVT BUNGALOW BY AUGUST 1

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been asked to vacate hergovernment bungalow in Delhi by August 1. A government notice said today

that her allotment stands cancelled from today. In a letter, the Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs has asked Priyanka to exit the bungalow on Lodhi Road in oneof the most protected zones of Delhi as she no longer has SpecialProtection Group security. "Consequent upon withdrawal of SPGprotection and grant of Z+ security cover by Ministry of Home Affairs,which does not have provision for allotment/retention of governmentaccommodation on security ground to you, the allotment of Type 6Bhouse number 35, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi is hereby cancelledwith effect from 01/07/2020," said the ministry's notice.

PATANJALI CAN SELL ITS DRUG BUTNOT AS ‘CURE’ TO COVID-19

Yoga guru Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved on Wednesday said there areno AYUSH Ministry restrictions on selling Coronil, a drug the

company recently launched as a medicine for COVID-19 but is nowcalling it a product to manage the disease. The Unionministry confirmed that Patanjali can sell the product but notas a cure for COVID-19. AYUSH Ministry has only givenpermission to sell this particular formulation as immunitybooster and not as a medicinal cure for COVID-19, it said.At a press conference in Haridwar, Ramdev claimedthe ministry has said that Patanjali did an anappropriate job for COVID-19 management .

Gold hit an all-time high on Wednesday with futures trading at Rs48,871 per 10 gm as the demand for the safe haven asset continued

to soar with the Covid-19 global shocks and economic uncertaintyhammering down business sentiments. "Gold surged to its highest innearly 8 years on Tuesday as mounting fears of a resurgence of newcoronavirus cases kept safe haven demandfor gold alive, setting the preciousmetal on path for its biggestquarterly gain since March 2016.Gold has given a return of 20 percent in 2020 so far.

The US is witnessing a wave of bankruptcies of erstwhile storied namesespecially in the retail and energy sector due to Covid-19 pandemic.

The bankruptcies this year due to Covid-19 have already gone past thenumber and volume seen in 2008, the year of the global Financial Crisis.The biggest bankruptcy has been Hertz, the car rental company. The otherbig bankruptcies include Latam Airlines, FrontierCommunications, Intelsat, McDermott International,Whiting Petroleum, Avianca Holdings, Diamond OffshoreDrilling, Extraction Oil and Gas, Hornbeck Offshore,Foresight Services, Unit Corporation, Chuck E Cheese,Stage Stores, LSC Communications, Quorum Health.

US HIT BY WAVE OF BIG TICKET BANKRUPTCIES

Son gives

shape to YSR legacy

Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Printed at Sree Seshasai Enterprises, D.No. New 3-88, Old 3-22, Chandra Theatre, Gosala, Penamaluru Mandal, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh - 521 151, Resident Editor: B Krishna Prasad, AIR SURCHARGE of Rs 2.00.

Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for any

damage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only. Readers are advised and requested to verify and seek appropriate advice to satisfy themselves about the veracity of any kind of advertisement before

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VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | JULY 2, 2020 vijayawada 02

EGG

RATES

` 50,490 (10 gm)

10

GOLD

` 48,560 (1kg)

` 110

HYDERABAD 346

VIJAYAWADA 364

VISAKHAPATNAM 349

RREETTAAIILL PPRRIICCEE `44..0000

SILVER

VIJAYAWADA

BULLION RATES

`//110000

CHICKEN

RATES

Dressed/With Skin `165

Without Skin `188

Broiler at Farm `114

`//KKGG

(IN VIJAYAWADA)

Governorcondolesdeaths inVizag gas leakPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Governor BiswabhusanHarichandan has expressedconcern at the incident ofbenzimidazole gas leakagethat occurred in a factory sit-uated in Jawaharlal NehruPharma City in Paravada inVisakhapatnam in the earlyhours of Tuesday.

The Governor has notedthat two employees of thecompany had lost their livesand four others were hospi-talised in the incident and thegas leakage has been broughtunder control.

Harichandan desired thatthe affected persons be pro-vided necessary medical careand treatment till they recov-er fully. He also offered hisheartfelt condolences tomembers of the bereavedfamily.

7 varieties of parksin VizianagaramPNS n VIZIANAGARAM

The Vizianagaram districtadministration is gearing up todevelop different types of parksin the town area by involvingyoungsters and various depart-ments such as Forest andMunicipal in the district. Theadministration would alsoplant over one crore saplings inthis year (2020) as part of theHarita Vizianagaram.

The district authorities tookup the plantation drive (HaritaVizianagaram) over a year agoto develop seven varieties ofparks such as Eco Parks,Oxygen Parks, Forest Parks,Meditation Parks, CommunityParks, Children Parks and fewothers in Vizianagaram Townand few other places in the dis-trict to provide a clean envi-ronment.

Maintaining the socials dis-tancing and wearing masks tocontain the spread of thedreaded Covid-19 pandemic,some samplings have beenplanted at government offices,open places, sides of the roads,near the water bodies and fewother places in the district.

With peak rainy seasonnearing to start, the districtadministration has sped up the

plantation drive in all the areasand also decided to concen-trate on the survival and pro-tection of the plants.

The forest department hasbeen supplying all kinds ofsaplings for the plantationdrive and they have activelyinvolved the youngsters andcolony residents for the task ofplantation drive and also careof the saplings till they attainstrength.

“Compared to Vizag city,Vizianagaram town has beenrecording at least 2 to 3 degreesCelsius higher during the sum-mer season and sometimesthe temperature touchesaround 40 degrees Celsius.

We are hoping that HaritaVizianagaram programme willturn into a grand success andhome the temperature will benormal in the coming sum-mer,” said N Ram, a resident ofVizianagaram Town.

At present over 60.5 lakhsaplings of various varieties areavailable at various nurseries inthe district and some saplingshave been planted at variousareas.

On Monday, Hari Jawaharlalplanted some saplings at theAPEPDCL office inVizianagaram Town. If every-thing goes as per plans, theplantation drive of 1,08,59,000will be completed by July 2020.

Notwithstanding theusual western bias indenying credit to India,

irrigation is an ancient sciencepracticed in the subcontinentfrom time immemorial.

However, the history ofmodern day irrigation beginswhen British introduced a def-inite irrigation policy in 1854with the setting up of PublicWorks Department and insti-tuting a separate fund for irri-gation works. India has madesignificant progress since then.

Why is irrigationimportant ?

Water is one of the criticalingredients for plants growth.Based on availability of waterin the lean period, agriculturecould be classified as rain-fedor irrigated. Irrigation ensureswater to crops in differentspells over and above what isreceived during the rainfall.

Taking water from a sourceto farmers fields could be

achieved in a number of ways.While rain-fed farming solelydepends on rainfall, irrigationis application of water from asource to the land or soil.Irrigation assists in growingagricultural crops, mainte-nance of orchards, and reveg-etation of disturbed soils in dryareas and during periods ofinadequate rainfall.

It significantly reduces risksassociated with farming andother relevant sectors.Adequacy of water also enablesmultiple crops in a year.

Irrigation can be from sur-face or ground water or a mixof sources. Surface irrigation isthe oldest form of irrigationand has been practised forthousands of years. In surfaceirrigation systems, water movesacross the surface of an agricul-

tural lands in order to wet itand infiltrate into the soil.

Another classification ofirrigation systems is in termsof ‘gravity’ and ‘lift’. Irrigationby gravity is considered sus-tainable. We can also make liftirrigation progressively sus-tainable by using equivalentsolar power.

What is the extent ofirrigated area in India?

Due to terms namely, irriga-tion potential created and

utilised, there remains someambiguity in reported figuresof total gross and net cultivat-ed area by different depart-ments. In India about 80 percent of fresh water is used forirrigation making it nearly48.8 per cent of 140 millionhectare (mha) agriculturalland. The rest is rain-fed. Ingood old days, there was plen-ty of water in comparison to itsdemand. However, thedemand of water is everincreasing due to population

growth and improved lifestyles. Overall demand for water is

more than the current supplyin India. That calls for moreefficient use of water in irriga-

tion sector in India. Water is valuable and water

lifted is even more so. There is a pressing need to use

water more prudently and effi-ciently in the states like Telangana,largely dependent on lift irriga-tion systems. In fact, equal atten-tion is required at each of the twocomponents namely, ‘water dis-tribution efficiency from sourceto farmers’ fields and ‘on formwater use efficiency’.

As per available studies,overall water use efficiency inirrigation sector is about 32 percent. It means that if one tmcft of water is released at thesource, only 0.32 tmc ft wateris used by crops with ‘distrib-ution efficiency between 50 percent to 70 per cent’ and ‘onform water use efficiency ofabout 50 per cent to 60 per

cent’ in an open canal irriga-tion system.

Every percentage point effi-ciency improvement leads tosaving of lakhs of power unitsin a lift irrigation system.Improvement of irrigation effi-ciency is equally relevant forgravity systems. Imagine sav-ings of water in a state likeUttar Pradesh with a canal net-work of 75,000 kilometresserving 1.81 crore farmers.

We need to strive for anideal situation where farmershould be able to demand irri-gation water like differentpackages offered by telecomcompanies at a specified time,duration and flow rates.

As a first step in this direc-tion, it is, therefore, necessaryto take a holistic approach byplugging leakages, seepages

and minimising evapotran-spiration losses. It is are pru-dent to establish a propermanagement system based onthe crop water requirement.Human knowledge needs to besupported by a network of ‘soilmoisture sensors’ and ‘satelliteimageries’ to determine preciseirrigation water requirement.

Water Resources / I&CADdepartments of the states shouldgear up to be in a position toprovide water on demand fordifferent crops throughautonomous irrigation systems.

We should conduct morestudies to come to a conclu-sion to opt for ‘open canal’versus ‘piped irrigation’ sys-tems. It is now time to movetowards achieving higherwater use efficiency in theIrrigation sector.

SHAILENDRA KUMAR JOSHI

FORMER CHIEF SECRETARY

OF TELANGANA

ADVISOR OF TELANGANA

GOVERNMENT.

Enhancing water use efficiency in irrigationIt significantly reduces risks associatedwith farming and other relevant sectors.Adequacy of water also enables multiplecrops in a year.

Force Motors supplies 1,000Traveller Ambulances to APPNS n NEW DELHI

Force Motors on Wednesdaysaid it has supplied over 1,000new 'Traveller Ambulances' tothe Andhra Pradesh govern-ment to help in the fight againstcoronavirus pandemic.

These ambulances include130 advanced life supportambulances, 282 basic life sup-port ambulances and over 656mobile medical units that willsignificantly upgrade the health-care infrastructure, improvereach and reduce response time,the company said in a state-ment.

The mobile medical unitsdelivered to the Andhra Pradeshgovernment are also equippedwith COVID-19 screening facil-ities and can be accessed by thecitizens by dialling 104, it added.

Force Motors ManagingDirector Prasan Firodia

said:"The ongoing pandemichas suddenly highlighted theinadequacies in our healthcaresystem. It is very heartening tosee that local administrationsand state governments areresponding quickly by upgrad-ing their public health deliverysystems."

The company said all of itsambulances comply with allthe provisions of the recently

introduced NationalAmbulance Code.

The Dr Abhay Firodia Grouphas also earmarked Rs 25 croreto support various COVID-19relief activities by supportingupgradation of healthcare infra-structure and facilitating mobileclinic/testing capabilities thathave treated over 10 lakhpatients during the lockdownperiod, the statement said.

‘People look at me and my partner differently, but it doesn't matter’PNS n NEW DELHI

Star Indian sprinter DuteeChand concedes that her rev-elation of being in a same-sexrelationship last year led topeople looking at her "differ-ently" but insists that it does-n't bother her one bit.

The 24-year-old Dutee, con-sidered the fastest Indianwoman right now, has askedthose in same-sex relation-ships to be courageous andstand firm.

"One may fall in love any-time and with anyone. Onedoes not decide that based oncaste, religion or gender," Duteesaid in an online interactionwith US Consul General in

Hyderabad Joel Reifman.In May last year, Dutee had

revealed that she was in a rela-tionship with a woman from

her village in Odisha. She hadsaid that "coming out of thecloset" was better than "hiding"her personal life from the pub-lic.

"My partner supported meevery time and I have chosenher for my life. People may lookat us differently or call us byany name like gay, lesbian etc.

That does not matter so far aswe get to spend our lives witheach other," she added.

Her family had objected tothe relationship and her oldersister even threatened to dis-own her, but Dutee has beenunruffled, expressing her desireto settle down with the woman.

"For all who are in love but

afraid of the world you mustshow courage because theworld has always taken time toaccept all good things," shesaid.

"So please do not be afraidbecause it is your life and yourhappiness."

After her public disclosure,Dutee became the first Indianwoman track and field athleteto clinch a gold in the WorldUniversity Games by winningthe 100m dash in a time of11.32 seconds.

She is a national recordholder in women's 100m witha time of 11.26 seconds. Shealso won a silver each in 100mand 200m in the 2018 AsianGames.

ShareChat, other homegrownapps log ‘exponential growth’PNS n NEW DELHI

Homegrown apps likeShareChat, Roposo, Chingariand GoSocial have seen a sig-nificant increase in downloadsand user signups on their plat-forms after the government'sdecision to ban 59 apps.

Most of the banned appshad Chinese links and themove, announced by theInformation TechnologyMinistry on Monday evening,came against the backdrop ofborder standoff between Indiaand China.

ShareChat, India's largestregional language social mediaplatform, said it has witnessedan "exponential growth" in thelast two days. The platformclaimed to have seen 5 lakhdownloads on an hourly basisand over 15 million downloadssince the ban was announcedon Monday evening.

"We are excited to see theway people are exploringShareChat for the endless pos-sibilities it offers to the peopleand making it the preferredIndian social media platform...enabling us to emerge as theleader in the Indian socialmedia landscape. We are con-fident that this sets up the foun-dation of another success forShareChat," ShareChat COOand co-founder Farid Ahsansaid.

The company said it hasalready seen more than onelakh posts supporting the gov-ernment move towards ban-ning Chinese applications. The

posts were liked by over onemillion users, with over half amillion shares on WhatsApp, itadded.

ShareChat has over 150 mil-lion registered users and 60million monthly active usersacross 15 Indian languages.

Mahindra Group ChairmanAnand Mahindra-backedHapramp said its social net-working solution GoSocial hasseen a surge of 20 per cent inits user base in the last few days.It now has over 80,000 users.

Shubhendra Vikram,Founder and CEO ofHapramp, said while there hasbeen a surge in downloads ofIndian apps, this could be tem-porary.

"It's time for founders to get

back to their planning boardsand chalk out a plan for astrong technology infrastruc-ture which ensures user needsfor a seamless experience andsecure online presence are metin the long term," he added.

Social media app Trellclaimed that traffic on its plat-form has increased more than500 per cent in just 24 hoursafter the ban.

"We have had over 1.5 mil-lion downloads and counting.Users are truly appreciative ofthe platform and are engagingwith the community actively.They are even encouragingfellow Indians to join them andpromote our home-grownapp," Trell Co-Founder PulkitAgrawal said.

Partial lockdown in Vizianagaram’s ParvathipuramPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Following orders issued by thedistrict administration, peoplein Parvathipuram Town inVizianagaram district, with thehelp of local MLA AlajangiJoga Rao, convinced the localtraders and other institutionsto voluntarily lockdown andrestrict timings for all theactivities to restrict spread ofthe virus.

Accordingly, theParvathipuram police said thatthe shops, hotels, tiffin centresand a few other commercialestablishments can remainopen from 7 am to 12 noon inParvathipuram Town. Medicalstores too can remain open,they said. The restriction will

continue till further ordersfrom the district administra-tion, the police said.

No persons will be allowedto move unnecessarily for non-

essential work and movementof persons shall be allowedonly from 5 am to 7pm, andfrom workplace on productionof an identity card issued by the

employer. The police said thatsince the Covid-19 cases havebeen increasing in the region,they have been appealing thepeople to obey the new restric-tions to fight against the virus.

They also said that any vio-lations of the above said willinvite criminal proceedingsunder relevant provisions ofthe Disaster Management Act,2005 and the Indian PenalCode.

The Covid-19 cases load inVizianagaram district hasincreased to 258 and a total of74 Covid-19 patients recoveredfrom the virus and have beendischarged from the hospi-tals. The Vizianagaram districthas reported one Covid-19death.

ShareChat, India's largest regional language

social media platform, said it has witnessed an

"exponential growth" in the last two days. The

platform claimed to have seen 5 lakh

downloads on an hourly basis

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

For CH Ramana, 33-year oldconstruction worker fromAnakapalli, happiness knowsno bounds. After experienc-ing trauma and excruciatingpain in the knee due to giantcell tumours since threemonths, now he is sure of hisfuture that nothing can stophim.

A team of doctors headedby Dr. Pethakamshetty SatishKumar, Managing Director &Chief Joint ReplacementSurgeon, KIMS-ICONHospital- Visakhapatnamperformed a rare surgery,custom made knee replace-ment on CH Ramana ,whowas diagnosed with a giantcell tumour (a locally aggres-sive destructing bone tumouralso called Osteoclastoma)on his left knee.

Sharing his happinessabout the patient being ableto walk from second dayonwards with walker, Dr.Kumar said, earlier for thiskind of cases we used to sac-rifice the joint or some timeeven the limb by performingabove knee amputations. Butfor this case, I designed a cus-tom made joint (patient spe-cific) with exact measure-ments and got this manufac-tured by MIDHANIHyderabad. For this kind ofcases we get imported mod-ular implants which costenormous. We got it done forone tenth of the cost ofimported joint.

“For me innovation in thefield of medicine is regular. Ibelieve in helping patientsrecover quickly so that theycan get back to normal assoon and safely as possible”added Dr. Kumar

According to Dr. D.Ragunatha Rao, Head ofDepartment, OncologyKIMS Icon hospital, Giantcell tumours are typicallytreated with a techniquecalled "scoop out and fillwith bone chips.

Rare customizedkneereplacementsurgery

Her family had objected to therelationship and her older sistereven threatened to disown her, butDutee has been unruffled,expressing her desire to settledown with the woman

CM KCR greets Venkaiah Naidu on his birthday PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao has greet-ed the Vice President VenkaiahNaidu on his birthday onWednesday. The CM has con-veyed his greetings to the VicePresident over the phone andsent a flower bouquet to theVice President. The CM wishedthe Vice President a long lifeand to continue with his ser-vices to the Nation in the daysand years to come.

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | JULY 2, 2020 vijayawada 03

Politics of vendettaagainst Galla, says NaiduPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Leader of the Opposition NChandrababu Naidu has foundfault with the YSRCPGovernment's order to takeback land from Amara RajaInfratech belonging to theTDP MP Galla Jayadev andalleged that the move was partof political vendetta.

Naidu said that the land wastaken back only to politicallyharass the MP. He recalled thatthe company has providedemployment to about 16,000people with a mission to cre-ate jobs for another 20,000. Healleged that the YSRCPGovernment was creatingobstacles and demotivatingsuch progressive industrialgroups under vengeful politics.

Naidu said that in the back-ward western part of Chittoordistrict, a lot of developmentcame after the Amara Raja unitwas set up at Bangarupalyamlands where half of the allottedland was already fully devel-oped while plans were afoot for

completing the remaining pro-ject. He said AP emerged as afavourite destination for invest-ments during TDP's 5-yearregime but now, in just over ayear of YSRCP rule, industri-alists were running away fromthe state.

He claimed that YSRCPGovernment has not takenany action against those whohave taken lands but not shownany development but sadlywho are developing the lands

being harassed. He deploredthat nobody would come to APif the industrialists are target-ed like this.

Naidu blamed the rulingYSRCP government and theAP police for 'delaying' actionfor over three days on a com-plaint given by womanemployee Usha Rani after shewas attacked in her office inNellore.

He said that the womanfiled her complaint on June 27

but the culprit was arrestedthree days later only after thevideo depicting the attack wentviral all over the media.

Naidu recalled that a lot ofnoise was made about theDisha Act and women's protec-tion but the government failedto provide justice to a different-ly-abled woman. He sought thepolice to explain to the peoplewhy they have not arrested theculprit before the videos wentviral.

Naidu’s allegations reek ofdouble standards: SrikantPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Government Chief Whip GSrikant Reddy on Wednesdaylashed out at the TDP for itsallegations of irregularities inambulance vehicles even as theinduction of 108 and 104 ser-vices was hailed by the entirecountry.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, Srikanth Reddy saidthat Naidu was adopting dou-ble standards by levelling base-less allegations against theState government.

“While Jaganmohan Reddywas reviving 108 & 104 ambu-lance services to save the life ofpeople, the TDP leaders aremaligning the State govern-ment by tagging corruptioncharges in the tender process.We have transparently award-ed the tenders as per normsand there was a Judicial Reviewas well in the process. TDPleaders should read the tenderdocuments before levellingallegations. We are ready for anopen discussion on the issue,”he said.

There was transparency inwhat the government has been

doing, Srikant Reddy said. Hechallenged Naidu to prove hisallegations if he could. SrikanthReddy also questioned a sec-tion of the media for support-ing Naidu’s baseless chargesagainst the government.

He said that Naidu can’t seethe welfare measures beingtaken up by the State govern-ment which has spent Rs28,122 crore in the last sixmonths on public welfaredespite losing entire revenue.

In a span of 13 months, theChief Minister fulfilled over90 per cent of the promisesmade in the manifesto and

practically implemented thoseschemes that were neglectedby the previous government.“With a special focus onhealthcare services, Jagan hasrevived the ambulance ser-vices across the state bylaunching the new 108 and104 vehicles,” he said.

Srikanth Reddy said that itwas shameful of Naidu to goon making false accusationsagainst the government,despite the fact that the pub-lic are getting benefited by theState government initiatives.

In the last six months, theState government spent Rs262.5 crore for the benefit of2,62,493 beneficiaries throughYSR Vahana Mitra, Rs 3675.25crore for benefiting 49,43,590farmers through YSR RythuBharosa and Rs 8457.59 crorefor 59,03,000 beneficiariesthrough YSR Pension Kanuka.Through various schemes likeAmmavodi, Jagananna VidyaDeevena, Jagananna VasthiDeevena, YSR Kanti Velugu,Nethanna Nestham andMSME restart package a totalof 3.53 crore people were ben-efited, he said.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Reiterating his Government'scommitment to farmers wel-fare, Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy has saidthat e-marketing and JanataBazaars would help farmers ingetting remunerative prices.

“We have been seeing thatprices fall whenever farmerswant to sell their produce andsteeply increase after they selltheir products. This trendshould change and e-market-ing and Janata Bazaars are toprovide them a fair deal,” theChief Minister said during areview meeting here onWednesday.

He enquired about the work

in progress on Janata Bazaarsand the functioning of RBKs.

The government should buyat least 30 percent of local pro-duce and market it throughJanata Bazaars. Poultry andaqua products will also be pur-chased, he said.

RBKs should have grading,cold storage and marketingfacilities by June. Tobacco isbeing purchased under thesupervision of Government andprices are paid as per grading.

Agriculture Minister KKannababu, AgricultureSpecial Chief SecretaryPoonam Malakondaiah,Agriculture CommissionerPradyumna and other officialsattended the meeting.

Govt committed tofarmer welfare: Jagan

Atchannaidu shiftedto sub-jail from GGHPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Former labour minister andTDP deputy floor leader in theState Assembly KinjarapuAtchannaidu was onWednesday discharged fromthe Government GeneralHospital, Guntur. He is shift-ed to Vijayawada sub-jail evenas the ACB court is likely totake up Atchannaidu’s bailpetition on Thursday.

Supreme Court seniorlawyer Sidharth Luthra, repre-senting his client Atchannaidu,has filed the bail petition.

While the ACB courtreserved hearing on the bailpetition to Thursday,Atchannaidu was shifted toVijayawada sub-jail.

Atchannaidu has written tothe superintendent of GunturGeneral Hospital that he bedischarged from the hospitalafter his complete recovery.Further, Atchannaidu in hisletter to the superintendentnoted that certain medicalreports were still pending.

Atchannaidu had to under-go colonoscopy and Covid-19tests. Despite his plea, he wasshifted to Vijayawada sub-jail.

TDP Srikakulam MP KRammohan Naidu, nephew ofAtchannaidu, along with

senior TDP leaders rushed tothe GGH to meet the arrestedleader. However, they werenot allowed to meet him.

Atchannaidu, who wasencircled by a posse of police-men and hospital staff, wascarted away in a wheelchair tothe ambulance.

Later, he was shifted toVijayawada sub-jail amidst slo-ganeering from the TDP lead-ers. Rammohan Naidu ques-tioned the wisdom of the stategovernment in shiftingAtchannaidu to Vijayawadasub-jail when the ACB will behearing his bail petition onThursday.

“Where was the need to shiftAtchannaidu garu to jail? It isonly a matter of one day.

Clearly, the government wantsto keep him at least one day inprison. This is sheer politicalvendetta,” Rammohan Naiduaccused.

Earlier, the ACB sleuthscompleted their interrogationof the TDP leader in the GGH;the interrogation lasted forabout 10 hours and 30 minutesspread over the three days,three hours on the first day,five hours the second day andtwo hours and 30 minutes thethird day. Earlier, the ACBcourt on June 27 had extend-ed the remand of Atchannaidutill July 10.

Atchannaidu was arrestedon June 12 in an early morn-ing swoop from his residencein Tekkali in Srikakulam dis-trict. The TDP leader at thetime of arrest underwent pilessurgery. Despite the surgery,the TDP leader was made totravel more than 500 kmsfrom his home town to Gunturand forced to sit in a car forover 15 hours. Atchannaiduwas arrested in the ESI scamthat relates to the purchase ofdrugs, medicines, medical kitsand furniture.He was lateradmitted to Guntur GeneralHospital. The doctors had toperform a second surgery asthe bleeding did not stop.

Guv to clearAppropriationBill: KallamPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Ajeya Kallam, principal advisorto the Chief Minister, onWednesday said that the stategovernment can use funds forvarious state activities only ifthe Appropriation Bill is passed,but an ordinance has beenpassed during the lockdownthat allowed Finance MinisterBuggana Rajendranath to usefunds till June 30.

Kallam reminded that theAppropriation Bill was notpassed by the AP LegislativeCouncil during the two-daybudget session held on June16 and 17.

Generally, if the money billis not passed in the LegislativeCouncil for 14 days, theGovernor can pass the bill,said Kallam. The principaladvisor to CM said that the 14day period to get the moneybill passed by the governorwill be end on July 2.

He informed that theemployees’ salaries were notpaid as the AppropriationBill was not passed, and washopeful the Bill would beapproved by the Governor bySaturday, July 4.

Naidu said APemerged as afavouritedestination forinvestments duringTDP's 5-year regimebut now, in just overa year of YSRCPrule, industrialistswere running awayfrom the state

NGT noticesto AP onillegal sandmining in EG

Continued from Page 1

The petitioner alsobrought to the notice of thegreen panel that illegal cul-tivation of prawns was ram-pant along coastal EastGodavari.

The NGT served notices tothe Andhra Pradesh govern-ment, Central EnvironmentDepartment, CentralPollution Control Board andCentral Mining Department.

The green tribunal alsoordered the Andhra PradeshCoastal Regulator yAuthority, East GodavariDistrict collector, CentralEnvironment Departmentand Central PollutionControl Board to constitutea panel to submit a detailedreport on the illegal sandmining activity in EastGodavari district.

The NGT ordered thedepartments concerned tosubmit a report within threemonths from the receipt of itsnotice.

On its part, the AndhraPradesh government deniedany illegal sand mining.Hearing the arguments, theNGT posted the case toOctober 8 for further hearing.

AP and TS have high...Continued from Page 1

Likewise, Andhra Pradeshhas recorded 187 deaths and6,511 discharges. While deathrate in Andhra Pradesh is1.28 per cent, the dischargerate is 44.61 per cent. This isway below the national aver-age. The data has been pickedup from MOHFW website.

Union Health Minister Dr.Harsha Vardhan said, “As aresult of the coordinated stepstaken by the Ministry ofHealth in India along withStates/UTs for containmentand management of COVID-19, the recovery rate furtherincreased to 59.43 per cent.Recovered Cases exceedActive Cases by 1.30 lakh”.

AP, Telangana Statesregister positive GSTrevenue growth

Continued from Page 1

However, figures for thepast three months show recov-ery in GST revenues.

The gross GST revenue col-lected in the month of June,2020 is Rs. 90,917 crore, ofwhich CGST is Rs. 18,980crore, SGST is Rs. 23,970crore, IGST is Rs. 40,302 crore(including Rs. 15,709 crorecollected on import of goods),and cess Rs.7,665 crore(including Rs. 607 crore col-lected on import of goods).

The Government has settledRs. 13,325 crore towardsCGST and Rs. 11,117 croretowards SGST from IGST aspart of regular settlements.The total revenues earned bythe Central Government andthe State Governments afterregular settlement in themonth of June 2020 is Rs.32,305 crore for CGST and Rs.35,087 crore for SGST.

The revenues for the monthare 91% of the GST revenuesin the same month last year.During the month, the rev-enues from import of goodswere 71% and the revenuesfrom domestic transactions

(including import of services)were 97% of the revenuesfrom these sources during thesame month last year.

During the month of June,returns of February, Marchand April 2020 have also beenfiled in addition to somereturns of May 2020 since theGovernment has allowed arelaxed time schedule for fil-ing of GST returns. Somereturns of May 2020, whichwould have otherwise got filedin June 2020, will get filed dur-ing the first few days of July2020.

The GST collections for themonth of April was Rs. 32,294crore, which was 28% of therevenue collected during thesame month last year; and theGST collections for the monthof May was Rs. 62,009 crore,which was 62% of the revenuecollected during the samemonth last year.

The GST collections for thefirst quarter of the year is 59%of the revenue collected dur-ing the same quarter last year.However, a large number oftaxpayers still have time to filetheir return for the month ofMay 2020.

CM flags off a new era in healthcare for the StateContinued from Page 1

The Cancer Centre atGuntur GovernmentHospital will be the firstcomprehensive CancerCare facility in public sec-tor and with the inaugura-tion of the Centre theState will have seats oneeach in Oncology and onein Radiology, the ChiefMinister said.

He lauded Natco TrustCMD NannapaneniVenkaiah Choudary andhis team who were presentat the inauguration func-tion at CM Camp Office.He said that such initia-tives will help in bringingcancer cure nearer to thepoor.

A similar unit will bebuilt at Kurnool hospitaland it may be operationalin one year's time, Jagansaid.

Aarogyasri will beextended to six districtsfrom July 8 and will coverthe entire state byNovember and the num-ber of procedures will beincreased to 2059, theChief Minister said.

Son gives shape to YSR legacyContinued from Page 1

The Chief Minister saw offthe vehicles from Benz Circlein heart of the city here onWednesday The ambulancesmoved in four columns andwent past the dais to variousdirections to reach their respec-tive destinations.

What started as a healthcareinitiative as part of theAarogyasri scheme initiatedby Dr YS Rajasekhar Reddy hastaken a complete shape withthe 104 and 108 services worthRs 201 crore accelerating thespeed of medical services. Theresponse time for 108 is 15minutes and for 104 is 20 min-utes which will help in ferryingthe patient with the goldenhour and save many lives.

For 108 service, 412 newvehicles were purchased addingto the existing 336 ambulances.The new vehicles are equippedwith BLS (Basic Life Support)and ALS (Advanced LifeSupport) and in 26 vehiclesneo-natal services are also pro-

vided. The BLS include, spineboard stretcher, scoop stretch-er, wheelchair, bag mask, multipara monitor while in the ALSvehicles also have ventilatorsand in neo-natal vehicles incu-bators are arranged.

With the new fleet of vehiclespressed into service, the ratio ofambulance has come downfrom one vehicle for 1,19,454people to 74,609 persons.

The 104 is a Mobile MedicalUnit (MMU) which has onemedical officer, data entryoperator, driver, ANM, AshaWorker and will be attached toPHC and will have GPS.

Apart from oxygen cylin-ders, the new ambulances areequipped with ventilators, infu-sion pumps, syringe pumps,comfortable stretchers and haveprovisions for delivery. Thevehicles are also enabled withsurveillance cameras to ensureproper health care monitoringby doctors.

The neo-natal vehicles aresupported with Sick NewbornCare Unit (SNCU).

Delivery Locations andSNCUs are perfectly mapped toprovide early intervention dur-ing the transport to SNCUwhich will reduce the InfantMortality Rate (IMR). It hasbeen estimated that around 10per cent to 12 per cent of allnewborns require SNCU sup-portive care.

The 676 MMUs of 104 willbe spread across one vehicle foreach mandal. Through thesevehicles, 20 types of medicalservices including all screeningfor communicable and non-communicable diseases will beprovided. In all, 744 doctors willbe made available for theseservices and they will visitevery village once in everymonth to offer medical services.

Dr YSR Rahadari Bhadrathais also being linked to 108Services, where any road acci-dent case will be treated free ofcost in any hospital across thestate for first 48 hours and upto Rs 50,000 cost. The amountwill be reimbursed by Dr YSRAarogyasri Health Care Trust.

Jagan rejigs YSRC Party,Sajjala gets key role

Continued from Page 1

Accordingly, he delegated theresponsibilities to senior partyleaders,” party sources said.However, the latest politicaldevelopments within YSRCPfuelled speculations that Jaganhas sidelined Vijayasai Reddy by

stripping him off his responsi-bility of overseeing party affairsat his Tadepalli central office andby confining him to NorthAndhra region. It also triggeredspeculations that Jagan has givenmore prominence to SajjalaRamakrishna Reddy overVijayasai Reddy.

No casualty among infected...Continued from Page 1

Put together, the four dis-tricts reported a total of6,679 Covid-19 cases in thestate, which is 52.12 per centof the total AP cases (12,813)while the remaining ninedistricts contributed 6,134cases (47.88 per cent) in the

state.Given the casualt ies ,

Kurnool recorded 68 deaths,Krishna 66, Guntur 18 andAnantapur 8, put together160, which means 82.9 percent of the total 193 Covid-19 deaths in the state.

The remaining nine dis-tricts in the state contributed

33 Covid-19 deaths (17.1 percent of the total deaths in thestate).

Andhra Pradesh now has atotal of 7,033 active Covid-19cases, including 3,251 casesin the four (Guntur, Krishna,Anantapur and Kurnool) dis-tricts.

A total of 5,587 patients,

including 3,268 patients inthe four districts, recoveredfrom the virus and were dis-charged from the hospitals.

Andhra Pradesh has arecovery rate of over 44.86per cent while the positivityrate is over 1.59 per cent andthe mortality rate is around1.3 per cent.

Covid tallycrosses15,000 markContinued from Page 1

The bulletin said 342Covid-19 pat ientsrecovered in the last 24hours and were dis-charged from hospi-tals.

With this, the totalnumber of those recov-ered stood at 6,988,leaving 8,071 activecases.

On Wednesday, thestate a lso crossed the nine-lakh mark inthe number of coron-avirus sample tests,aggregating 9.18 lakhtill date.

The state boasted ofcarrying out 17,199tests per million popu-lation, ahead of TamilNadu's 15,204.

According to a gov-ernment data , thecumulat ive 15,252coronavirus cases inAP included 12,813locals, 2,036 from otherstates and 403 foreignreturnees.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Spokesperson of the TDP KPattabhi Ram accused theYSRCP Government of execut-ing another fraud on the peo-ple of AP in the name of 104and 108 ambulance servicesmeant for the poor and needy.Pattabhi asserted that ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy flagged off the Rs 307crore ambulance services amida huge publicity show todaywhich incidentally marked thebirthday celebrations of theCM's co-accused and MP VVijayasai Reddy.

He asked whether Jagan hasgiven a gift worth Rs 307crore to his co-accused inmassive corrupt ion. Heclaimed that the contract forthe ambulances project wasgiven to Vijayasai Reddy's in-law R amprasad Reddy'sAurobindo Foundation with apremeditated plan to plunderhuge public money under thegarb of extending medical ser-vices to the poor people.

Pattabhi also accused theCM of misusing public moneyby way of giving widespreadpublicity for the inaugurationof ambulances in all media. Hesaid that while the BVG organ-isation gave ambulance ser-vices at Rs 1.31 lakh per monthper vehicle during the TDPregime, the YSRCPGovernment has agreed to payRs 2.21 lakh per vehicle toAurobindo Foundation now.

The TDP leader saidAurobindo Foundation has no

prior experience in providingambulances while BVG has gota glowing track record with itspresence already in Delhi andMaharashtra. He claimed thatit became clear that Jagan hasdeliberately set aside BVGonly to favour VijayasaiReddy's relatives.

TDP smells a scambehind ambulance fleet

He said that whilethe BVG organisa-tion gaveambulanceservices at Rs1.31 lakh permonth per vehicleduring the TDPregime, theYSRCP Govern-ment has agreedto pay Rs 2.21lakh per vehicleto AurobindoFoundation now

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | JULY 2, 2020 nation 04

SHORT READS

Mayawati demandspunishment for dumpingof Covid victims' bodies LUCKNOW: After a videopurportedly showed healthworkers tossing bodies ofCOVID-19 victims in a large pitin Karnataka, BSP chiefMayawati on Wednesday saidthe incident is the "height ofcruelty and insult to humanity".She demanded that the guiltybe punished. "The tragedy thatthe bodies of COVID-19 victimsbeing thrown into trenches inBallari, Karnataka is height ofcruelty and an insult to huma-nity. Though incidents related toinhuman cruelty with coronapatients are rampant but guiltyof Ballari must be punished bythe state government,"Mayawati said in a tweet.

Short-Form Video AppMitron Traffic Jumpsup 11-Fold

Sonipat murder of 2cops: One arrested,another accused killedCHANDIGARH: An accusedwanted in connection with themurder of two policemen inHaryana's Sonipat district waskilled in retaliatory action whena police team that had gone toJind district to nab him and hisaccomplices was attacked bythem, police said onWednesday. The accused,identified as Amit, had six orseven criminal cases againsthim, a police official said.Another accused, identified asSandeep, who was also wantedin connection with the murderof the two personnel, wasarrested by the police. Theofficial said Amit attacked thepolice team when the copstried to nab him on Tuesdayevening, but was criticallywounded in retaliatory fire fromthe police and succumbed tohis injuries in hospital.

BANGALORE: A day after theGovernment banned severalChinese apps, popular short-form video app Mitron reportedthat its daily traffic jumped upby more than 11 times. Just 5days after crossing the 10million (1 crore) downloadsmilestone, Mitron has nowannounced that the app hasbeen downloaded by 17 million(1.7 crore) users in India.Mitron app has been one of themost downloaded apps in Indiaduring the last two months. “Itis incredibly exciting to see therapid adoption of Mitron byIndian users. 11-fold jump intraffic, immediately after the banof Chinese apps, was beyondour expectations,” said ShivankAgarwal, Founder and CEO,Mitron. Anish Khandelwal,Founder & CTO said, " We havebuilt a solid backend infrastruc-ture and our platform is nowcompletely scalable and auto-nomous and that is helping usto cater to the sharp rise intraffic on Mitron App.”

CRPF says terrorists killedcivilian in J-K's SoporePNS n NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR

Terrorists hiding in a mosquekilled an "old man" during theattack on security forces inSopore town of Baramulladistrict of Jammu andKashmir, the CRPF said onWednesday.

A jawan of the force and thecivilian were killed in theattack at Model Town Chowkin Sopore.

The paramilitary force, in astatement issued in Delhi, saidthe violent incident beganwhen its troops started gettingdown from their bus at thelocation to "occupy theirrespective spots of deploy-ment."

"Militants hiding in the atticof a nearby mosque started fir-ing indiscriminately on the

troops resulting in injuries tofour CRPF personnel," it said.

"A civilian vehicle whichwas coming from Sopore andgoing towards Kupwara wascaught in the firing range ofterrorists.

"An old man who was dri-ving the vehicle stopped thecar and got down from vehi-cle to move away for safe spotbut got killed by terrorists fir-ing," the force said.

CBI books arms dealer, Korean co.for corruption in OPAL projectPNS n NEW DELHI

The CBI has booked purport-ed arms dealer SanjayBhandari for allegedly receiv-ing about USD 50 lakh fromKorean company SamsungEngineering Co Ltd to influ-ence officials in granting a con-tract for a DFCU project ofOPAL at Dahej in Gujarat, offi-cials said Wednesday.

The probe agency has alsonamed the then Senior Managerof Samsung Engineering Co Ltd(SECL) Hong Namkoong, UK-based Foster Wheeler EnergyLtd and Bhandari's UAE-basedcompany Santech InternationalFZC besides unidentified offi-cials of ONGC and its specialvehicle ONGC Petro AdditionsLtd (OPAL) for alleged corrup-

tion, they said. Bhandari who isbeing probed in a number ofdefence deals is believed to bein London, they said.

The CBI has alleged thatBhandari as Director ofSantech International enteredinto a criminal conspiracywith SECL by charging a con-

sultancy fee of USD 49.99lakh from it, in violation of theintegrity clause in the contractagreement between the Koreanmajor and OPAL, they alleged.

The alleged consultancy feewas received in overseasaccounts of SantechInternational, they said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

India and Pakistan onWednesday exchanged lists ofcivilian prisoners and fisher-men in their respective custodiesas per the provisions of a 2008agreement. India handed overlists of 265 Pakistani civilian pris-oners and 97 fishermen in itscustody to Pakistan, the Ministryof External Affairs said in a state-ment.

Similarly, Pakistan has sharedlists of 54 civilian prisoners and270 fishermen in its custody,who are Indians or believed-to-be Indians, the MEA said.

The Indian government hascalled for early release and repa-triation of civilian prisoners,missing Indian defence person-nel and fishermen, along withtheir boats, from Pakistan's cus-

tody, it said. In this context,Pakistan was asked to expeditethe release and repatriation ofseven Indian civilian prisonersand 106 Indian fishermen toIndia whose nationality has beenconfirmed and conveyed toPakistan, the MEA said.

Pakistan has also been askedto provide immediate consularaccess to Indian fishermen and18 believed-to-be Indian civilian

prisoners who are in Pakistan'scustody, it said.

The government has alsosought from Pakistan that itexpedite the grant of visas to themembers of the medical experts'team and facilitate their visit tothat country to assess the men-tal condition of believed-to-beIndian prisoners of unsoundmind, lodged in differentPakistani jails, the MEA said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Resident doctors of AIIMSwith the help of IIT-Delhi stu-dents have developed a mobileapplication to track real-timeCOVID-19 patients in the hos-pital, who can become poten-tial plasma donors 28 days afterrecovery along with those whohave been discharged.

The app named COPAL-19has details of patients whohave already been dischargedfrom AIIMS, those currentlyundergoing treatment and theirblood groups so that patientswho require plasma therapycan get it in time without anyhassle, AIIMS RDA President,Dr Adarsh Pratap Singh, said.

"Amidst shortage of donorsfor plasma therapy, team ofAIIMS Resident Doctors alongwith IIT-Delhi team devel-oped an app to correct the mis-match between COVID-19 dis-charged patients and patientsrequiring plasma donation. Itwas a great initiative by DrAbhinav Singh Verma and IITDelhi students," Dr Singh said.

The app was launched at the

premier hospital on the occa-sion of Doctors' Day.

Dr Verma, a resident doctorof the neurosurgery depart-ment at AIIMS, the main per-son behind the COPAL-19app, said its a simple userinterface application with auto-mated donor matching.

Though it has been launchedfor AIIMS patients primarilyfor now, the app will be avail-able on open platforms. It willbe an open source code appwhich people from other insti-tutions can copy and use intheir hospitals, Dr Verma said.

"This app will act as a bridgebetween patients seeking plas-ma therapy and are moderate-ly and severely symptomaticand donors who have recov-ered from COVID-19 and havecompleted 28 days post recov-ery," Dr Verma explained.

The app will also automati-cally track donors who will beeligible to donate plasma aftera cycle of every 14 days.

He also referred to the caseof his senior who got infectedwith the virus and recalled thedifficulties they had to facearranging plasma for him.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The AAP government onWednesday told the Delhi HighCourt that prior COVID-19test was not mandatory foradmitting pregnant women inhospitals for in-patient inter-ventions, including surgeryand deliveries, and in emergentsituations, treatment wouldnot be denied for want of testresults.

The test can be conductedsimultaneously with the treat-ment and if the result come outto be positive, the pregnantwoman would ideally be trans-ferred to a dedicated COVID-19 hospital for further manage-ment, the Delhi governmenttold the high court.

It also told a bench of ChiefJustice D N Patel and JusticePrateek Jalan that it has

"expanded" the use of RapidAntigen Testing at hospitals toensure availability of test resultsin quick time and this will fur-ther take care of difficultiesbeing faced by people/patients,including pregnant women.

"As regard to admission inhospitals for in-patient inter-ventions including surgery,delivery etc., prior Covid-19test is not mandatory and inemergent situations the treat-

ment must not be denied forwant of COVID-19 test results.The test may be conductedsimultaneously as per ICMRtesting strategy.

"However, the pregnantwoman if found positive ontesting is ideally to be trans-ferred to dedicated COVID-19hospitals for further manage-ment," the Delhi governmentsaid in its affidavit. The submis-sions were made in response toa PIL by a lawyer who hassought that test results of preg-nant women be given priority.

The high court on June 22had remarked that 5-7 dayscannot be taken for gettingCOVID-19 results for pregnantwomen prior to admittingthem in hospitals for child-birth and asked the ICMR andDelhi government to look atexpediting it.

Prof SanjayDwivediappointed DG, IIMCPNS n NEW DELHI

Professor Sanjay Dwivedi wason Wednesday appointed as theDirector General of the IndianInstitute of MassCommunication (IIMC) here,according to a PersonnelMinistry order. Dwivedi is atpresent Registrar of MakhanlalChaturvedi National Universityof Journalism andCommunication, Bhopal. TheAppointments Committee ofthe Cabinet has approved hisappointment as the DG, IIMCon direct recruitment basis fora period of three years, theorder said. The post of thehead of one of the premierinstitute of journalism andmass communication was lyingvacant for over a year.

Indian Navyrepatriates over600 Indiansfrom IranPNS n TUTICORIN

The Indian Navy on Wednesdayrepatriated over 600 Indiansfrom Iran as part of the Centre's"Samudra Setu" mission to evac-uate stranded Indian citizensfrom abroad. Indian Navy ShipJalashwa repatriated 687 Indiannationals from Iran and arrivedat the VOC Port here today. Ithad left Bandar Abbas in Iran onJune 25. Those who arrived onWednesday hailed from TamilNadu and Kerala, officials said.On arrival, the evacuees werescreened by the Port Health offi-cials and their luggage wassanitised as per COVID-19protocol. Self-declaration formswere obtained from the passen-gers and after completion ofImmigration and Customs for-malities, they were taken totheir respective districts bybuses. The Indian Navy hasdeployed its ships 'Jalashwa'and 'Airawat' to carry strandedIndians from different parts ofthe world like Maldives and SriLanka and has so far repatriat-ed about 4,000 such persons,Defence sources said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A plea has been filed in theSupreme Court seeking adirection to the Centre tomake public its trade policieswith China amid the bitterstandoff between the twoarmies at multiple locations ineastern Ladakh for the lastseven weeks.

The Indian and the Chinesearmies are engaged in a standoffin various areas in easternLadakh and the tension escalat-ed after 20 Indian soldiers werekilled in a violent clash in GalwanValley on June 15. The Chineseside also suffered casualties butit is yet to give out the details.

Following the Galwan Valleyincident, the government hasgiven the armed forces "fullfreedom" to give a "befitting"response to any Chinese mis-adventure along the Line ofActual Control (LAC), the3,500-km de-facto border.

The petition filed in the apexcourt has referred to mediareports and alleged that a stateand a private firm had signedmemorandum of understand-ing (MoU) for business with

China-based firms.The plea filed by Jammu-

based lawyer Supriya Panditahas said that after the June 15incident at the LAC, the citi-zens and trade associations inIndia are calling for boycott ofChinese goods in the country.

It said on June 29, the gov-ernment banned 59 Chinesemobile app citing threat toIndia's security.

"While the ban on thesemobile apps may be a welcomestep but on the other handallowing few select businesshouse or few select state gov-ernment to enter in to MOU

with Chinese business house orstakeholders from China sendsa wrong message to the peopleof India," said the plea, filedthrough advocates Om PrakashParihar and Dushyant Tiwari.

The plea has also sought theapex court's direction to theCentre and others to "termi-nate" the MoUs signed withChinese firms.

It claimed that MoUs signedby the states or companies withChinese government or firmsfor trade and business isagainst the Prime Minister'scall for 'Atmanirbhar Bhara'(self-reliant India).

AIIMS and IIT-D to launch app forpatients needing plasma therapy

Centre should make public its tradepolicies with China: plea in SC

India, Pakistan exchangelists of civilian prisoners

No prior COVID-19 test required to admitpregnant women for delivery, surgery: AAP

Six men killed in boilerexplosion in TNPNS n NEYVELI (TN)

Six men were killed and 16 oth-ers injured when a boiler explod-ed at the NLC India's thermalplant here on Wednesday, anofficial said.

Home Minister Amit Shah,expressing anguish over the lossof lives, spoke to Chief MinisterK Palaniswami and assured allpossible help. While preliminaryinputs from the explosion sitesaid two people died, the toll hasgone up to six now, the NLCofficial said. "Six men have died.Sixteen people who sustainedinjuries have been rushed to ahospital in Chennai," he said.The six deceased men, agedbetween 25 and 42 years, werecontract workers. The injuredinclude employees who have

sustained at least 40 per centburn injuries according to an ini-tial assessment, the official said.

The mishap occurred at thefifth unit of the thermal powerstation-II (210 MW x 7) whenworkers were in the process ofresuming operations this morn-ing. The Home Minister said onhis twitter handle: "Anguished tolearn about the loss of lives dueto a blast at Neyveli powerplant boiler in Tamil Nadu.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Union Public ServiceCommission (UPSC) hasallowed candidates to changetheir centres for the civil servicespreliminary examination, sched-uled on October 4.

“Keeping in view the largenumber of candidates of the civilservices (preliminary) exami-nation, 2020 (including theIndian Forest Service (prelimi-nary) examination, 2020) andrequests received from the can-didates for changing their cen-ters, the Commission has decid-ed to give an opportunity to themto submit their revised choice ofcentre,” the UPSC said in astatement on Wednesday.Besides this, the option to changethe centers for the civil services(main) examination, 2020, andthe Indian Forest Service (main)examination, 2020, is also beingmade available, it said.

The window of submitting therevised choice of Centers by thecandidates will be operational in

two phases i.e. 7th-13th July, 2020(6 PM) and 20th-24th July, 2020(6 PM) on the Commission'swebsite https://upsconline.nic.in.

"The candidates are advised tovisit the website and submittheir choices of centers of theabove examination, if required,"the statement said.

The request for change will beconsidered against the enhancedcapacity intimated by the centersfor accommodating additionalcandidates, it said.

“The candidates may pleasenote that their requests for

change in the centers will be con-sidered based on the principle of‘first-apply-first-allot' basis(which is followed in all theexaminations of the Commissionand was mentioned in the exam-ination notices of the civil ser-vices (preliminary) examina-tion, 2020 and Indian ForestService examination, 2020) andonce the capacity of a particularcentre is attained, the same willbe frozen,” the Commission said.

The candidates, who cannotget a centre of their choice dueto ceiling, will be required to

choose a centre from the remain-ing ones, it said.

Originally, the civil servicespreliminary examination 2020was scheduled to be held on May31, but it had to be postponed toOctober 4, due to the coron-avirus pandemic. The civil ser-vices examination is conductedannually in three stages – prelim-inary, main and interview -- bythe UPSC to select officers for theIndian Administrative Service(IAS), the Indian Foreign Service(IFS) and the Indian PoliceService (IPS), among others.

The option to change

the centers for the

civil services (main)

examination, 2020,

and the Indian Forest

Service (main)

examination, 2020, is

also being made

available, it said

UPSC allows prelims' candidatesto change exam centres

Kolkata's Kalighat temple reopensfor devotees after 100 daysPNS n KOLKATA

The doors of the famedKalighat temple in Kolkatawere reopened for devotees onWednesday, nearly 100 daysafter they were shut in the wakeof the COVID-19 outbreak,authorities of the religiousinstitution said.

The decision of the templeauthorities in this regard camea month after the West Bengalgovernment allowed thereopening of places of worshipfrom June 1, with adherence tosafety protocols to prevent thespread of COVID-19.

"Ten devotees are beingallowed inside the templepremises at a time. Over 100devotees have entered the tem-ple since the gates werereopened at 6 am," a templecommittee spokesman said.

The temple will remain openfrom 6 am to 12 noon and from4 pm to 6.30 pm. However,devotees will not be allowed toenter the sanctum sanctorumof the temple, he said.

Devotees will have to enterthe temple compound through

sanitiser tunnels installed at thegates where disinfectants will besprayed on each person for 20seconds, the spokesperson said.

No devotee will be given'charanamrito' (holy water) orwill be allowed to carry flow-ers inside the temple, he said.

"We could not visit the tem-ple on 'Poila Boisakh' (BengaliNew Year's Day), a customwhich we had followed allthese years. But I am happy toenter the temple on 'Ulto Rath'(Return Car Festival) today,"Hiranmoy Chakroborty, a

devotee from Paikpara area innorth Kolkata said.

Chhanda Dey, anotherdevotee, said she prayed to thegoddess for a COVID-freeworld and wellbeing of familymembers and fellow citizens ofthe country.

The Kalighat temple is oneof the 51 Shakti Peethas.Legend has it that one of thetoes of the goddess's right leghad fallen at the place on thebanks of the Adi Ganga riverwhere the temple stands today.

While zamindar Sabarna

Roy Choudhury had built thepresent temple complex in1809, there were references tothe Kalighat temple in Hinduscriptures dating back to the15th century. Temple priestssay a Kali temple existed on thesame location in the 15th cen-tury.

The Tarapith Kali temple inBirbhum district, also a ShaktiPeetha, had reopened on theday of Rath Yatra on June 23.Around 400 devotees are vis-iting the temple every daysince then.

"Ten devotees arebeing allowedinside the templepremises at a time.Over 100 devoteeshave entered thetemple since thegates werereopened at 6 am,"a temple committeespokesman said

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | JULY 2, 2020 nation 05

SHORT READS

2 held for supplyingdrugs in DelhiNEW DELHI: The Delhi Police'sCrime Branch has arrested twomen for supplying drugs after800 grams of heroin wasseized from them, an officersaid on Wednesday. Shamim(38) and Nadeem Khan (39) areresidents of Old Mustafabad inthe national capital, they said.The police claimed to haveseized 500 grams of heroinfrom Shamim and another 300grams from Khan. The vehicleused by the duo for thecommission of crime was alsoseized, police said. An FIR hasbeen registered under relevantsections of the Narcotic Drugsand Psychotropic SubstancesAct, 1985 (NDPS) at CrimeBranch Police Station, theofficer said. The antecedents ofthe accused are being verified,the police said, adding thesource of the contraband isalso being probed.

Four killed, 6 injuredin two separateaccidents in Rajasthan

Two brothers amongfour killed in roadaccidents in UPHAMIRPUR/FATEHPUR: Fourmen, including two brothers,were killed in separate roadaccidents in Uttar Pradesh'sHamirpur and Fatehpurdistricts, police said onWednesday. In Hamirpur, twobrothers were killed when amotorcycle was hit by a jeep inJaria area on Wednesday, thepolice said. The deceased wereidentified as Naresh (28) andRam Autar (22). They workedas labourers, they said. Thejeep driver managed to fleefrom the spot, they said, addingthat a probe is underway. InFatehpur, two persons werekilled after their motorcycle washit by an unidentified vehicle inTharion area on Tuesday night,the police said. Ajay Paswan(32) and Pintu (25) wereinjured in the incident and wererushed to a hospital, wherethey died during treatment,they said.

BIKANER/JAIPUR: Four peoplewere killed and six othersinjured in two separateaccidents in Rajasthan'sBikaner and Jaisalmer districts,police said on Wednesday. Ajeep collided with a truck onWednesday in Bikaner's Nokhapolice station area, killing twopeople and leaving threegrievously injured, they said.Those in the jeep werereturning after attending amarriage ceremony. MahendraKumar and Ram Swaroop werekilled in the accident. Theirbodies have been handed overto their family members afterpostmortem, police said. Theinjured persons are beingtreated at the PBM Hospital,they said. In the Nachna policestation area of Jaisalmer, a jeepcollided with a motorcycle onTuesday night, killing twoyouths and leaving three othersinjured. Police said that fivepersons were riding on themotorcycle when it was hit bythe jeep. It is suspected that thedriver lost control of thevehicle, they said.

Another Covid-19 wave couldresult in loss of 340 mln jobs: ILOn UNITED NATIONS

The ILO has warned that ifanother COVID-19 wave hits inthe second half of 2020, therewould be global working-hourloss of 11.9 per cent - equivalentto the loss of 340 million full-time jobs.

According to the 5th editionof International LabourOrganisation (ILO) Monitor:COVID-19 and the world ofwork, the recovery in the glob-al labour market for the rest ofthe year will be uncertain andincomplete. The report said thatthere was a 14 per cent drop inglobal working hours during thesecond quarter of 2020, equiv-alent to the loss of 400 millionfull-time jobs.

The number of workinghours lost across the world in thefirst half of 2020 was significant-ly worse than previously esti-mated. The highly uncertainrecovery in the second half ofthe year will not be enough togo back to pre-pandemic levelseven in the best scenario, theagency warned.

The baseline model – whichassumes a rebound in econom-ic activity in line with existingforecasts, the lifting of workplacerestrictions and a recovery inconsumption and investment –projects a decrease in workinghours of 4.9 per cent (equivalentto 140 million full-time jobs)

compared to lastquarter of 2019.

It says that in thepessimistic scenario,the situation in the sec-ond half of 2020 wouldremain almost as challenging asin the second quarter.

“Even if one assumes better-tailored policy responses –thanks to the lessons learnedthroughout the first half of theyear – there would still be a glob-al working-hour loss of 11.9 percent at the end of 2020, or 340million full-time jobs, relative tothe fourth quarter of 2019,” itsaid.

The pessimistic scenarioassumes a second pandemicwave and the return of restric-tions that would significantlyslow recovery. The optimistic

scenario assumesthat workers' activi-ties resume quickly,

significantly boostingaggregate demand and

job creation. With thisexceptionally fast recovery, theglobal loss of working hourswould fall to 1.2 per cent (34million full-time jobs).

The agency said that underthe three possible scenarios forrecovery in the next six months,“none” sees the global job situ-ation in better shape than it wasbefore lockdown measuresbegan.

“This is why we talk of anuncertain but incomplete recov-ery even in the best of scenar-ios for the second half of thisyear. So there is not going to bea simple or quick recovery,” ILO

Director-General Guy Rydersaid.

The new figures reflect theworsening situation in manyregions over the past weeks,especially in developingeconomies. Regionally, workingtime losses for the second quar-ter were: Americas (18.3 percent), Europe and Central Asia(13.9 per cent), Asia and thePacific (13.5 per cent), ArabStates (13.2 per cent), and Africa(12.1 per cent).

The vast majority of theworld's workers (93 per cent)continue to live in countries withsome sort of workplace closures,with the Americas experiencingthe greatest restrictions.

During the first quarter of theyear, an estimated 5.4 per centof global working hours (equiv-

alent to 155 million full-timejobs) were lost relative to thefourth quarter of 2019.Working- hour losses for thesecond quarter of 2020 relativeto the last quarter of 2019 areestimated to reach 14 per centworldwide (equivalent to 400million full-time jobs), with thelargest reduction (18.3 per cent)occurring in the Americas.

The ILO Monitor also foundthat women workers have beendisproportionately affected bythe pandemic, creating a riskthat some of the modestprogress on gender equalitymade in recent decades will belost, and that work-related gen-der inequalities will be exacer-bated.

The severe impact ofCOVID-19 on women workersrelates to their over-representa-tion in some of the economicsectors worst affected by the cri-sis, such as accommodation,food, sales and manufacturing.

Globally, almost 510 millionor 40 per cent of all employedwomen work in the four mostaffected sectors, compared to36.6 per cent of men, it said.

The report said that womenalso dominate in the domesticwork and health and social carework sectors, where they are atgreater risk of losing theirincome and of infection andtransmission, and are also lesslikely to have social protection.

“Even if one assumesbetter-tailored policyresponses – thanks tothe lessons learnedthroughout the first halfof the year – therewould still be a globalworking-hour loss of11.9 per cent at theend of 2020, or 340million full-time jobs,relative to the fourthquarter of 2019,” it said

PM greets onAshadi EkadashiPNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday extend-ed greetings on AshadiEkadashi, praying for a happyand healthy world. "May LordVitthal's blessings bring goodhealth and prosperity to thepoor and deprived. MayVitthal's blessings be uponyou to keep your world happyand healthy," he said in aseries of tweets in Marathi.The prime minister saidAshadi Ekadashi is a day tocommemorate the "Warkari"tradition. "Salutations to SaintDnyaneshwar, Namdev,Eknath, Ramdas, Tukaram,and many others who havealways inspired us by teach-ing equality and social har-mony," Modi said.

India to ban Chinesecos from highwayprojects, says GadkariPNS n NEW DELHI

India will not allow Chinesecompanies to participate inhighway projects, includingthose through joint ventures,Union Minister Nitin Gadkarisaid on Wednesday amid bor-der standoff with China.

Gadakri also said the gov-ernment will ensure thatChinese investors are notentertained in various sectorslike Micro, Small and MediumEnterprises (MSMEs).

The senior minister's asser-tions assume significanceagainst the backdrop of borderstandoff between India andChina in Ladakh that also sawthe death of 20 Indian Armypersonnel last month.

Amid escalating tensions,the government on Mondaybanned 59 apps, mostly havingChinese links, citing threats tonational security.

"We will not give permissionto joint ventures that haveChinese partners for road con-struction. We have taken a firmstand that if they (Chinesecompanies) come via jointventure in our country, we willnot allow it," Gadkari said.

The Road Transport,Highways and MSME minis-ter said a policy will be outsoon banning Chinese firmsand relaxing norms for Indiancompanies to expand their

eligibility criteria for participa-tion in highway projects.

Currently only a few projectswhich were undertaken muchearlier involve some Chinesepartners. When asked aboutthis, the Minister said that thenew decision will be imple-mented in current and futuretenders.

With respect to existing ten-ders and future bids, Gadkarisaid rebidding would be doneif there are any Chinese jointventures.

"We have taken a decision torelax norms for our companiesto ensure that they qualify inbidding in large projects. I havedirected the HighwaysSecretary (Giridhar Aramane)and NHAI Chairman (SSSandhu) to hold a meeting forrelaxing technical and financialnorms so that our companiescan qualify to work," he said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Respiratory droplets travelbetween eight to 13 feet beforethey evaporate or escape, with-out wind and depending on theambient condition, accordingto Indian researchers who sug-gest that physical distancinggreater than six feet may beessential to avoid COVID-19transmission.

The researchers, includingthose from the Indian Instituteof Science (IISc), Bengaluru,Karnataka, noted that it is wellestablished that the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causesCOVID-19 disease is transmit-ted via respiratory dropletsthat infected people eject whenthey cough, sneeze or talk.

The team developed a math-ematical model for the earlyphases of a COVID-19-likepandemic using the aerody-namics and evaporation char-

acteristics of respiratorydroplets.

The research, published inthe journal Physics of Fluids,modelled the pandemicdynamics with a reactionmechanism, wherein eachreaction has a rate constantobtained by calculating thedroplet collision frequency.

The researchers then com-pared the droplet cloud eject-

ed by an infected person to theone by a healthy person.

"The size of the dropletcloud, the distance it travels,and the droplet lifetimes are,therefore, all important factorsthat we calculated using con-servation of mass, momentum,energy and species," saidSwetaprovo Chaudhuri fromthe University of Toronto inCanada.

"The model could be used toestimate approximately howlong droplets can survive, howfar they can travel, and whichsize of droplet survives forhow long," said Chaudhari,one of the authors of the study.

He added the actual situa-tion could be complicated bywind, turbulence, air-recircu-lation or many other effects.

Physical distancing over six feet essential toprevent Covid-19 transmission, says study

Germany easingentry rules for 11non-EU nationsn BERLIN

Germany says it is easingrestrictions on travellers fromup to 11 countries outside theEuropean Union — but notthe full list recommended bythe European Union. TheInterior Ministry said, peoplefrom Australia, Georgia,Canada, Montenegro, NewZealand, Thailand, Tunisiaand Uruguay will be able toenter without restrictions.That will also apply to Japan,South Korea and China —but only if those countriesalso allow people fromGermany to enter. Germanyomitted four countries fromthe list released by the EU onTuesday of those whose peo-ple should be allowed into the27 member countries andfour other nations in thevisa-free Schengen area:Algeria, Morocco, Rwandaand Serbia.

‘Due process must to declaresanitary pads as essential item'PNS n MUMBAI

The Union Ministry of Healthand Family Welfare has toldthe Bombay High Court thata decision to declare sanitarynapkins as an essential com-modity can be taken only afterfollowing the due process, andunderstanding the currentmarket scenario and demandand supply gap.

The central governmentfiled an affidavit in the highcourt earlier this week inresponse to a petition seekinga direction to the governmentto declaresanitarynapkinsas anessential commodity and sup-ply them on par with otheressential commodities to all thepoor and needy women amidthe COVID-19 pandemic.

The petition, filed by twolaw students Nikita Gore andVaishnavi Gholave, allegedthat the Centre and the stategovernment were not imple-menting effective menstrualhygiene management result-ing in women, particularlyadolescent girls, facing barri-ers.

The Union government inits affidavit said the decision toinclude sanitary napkins in the

schedule (list) of essential com-modities must be taken afterunderstanding the currentmarket scenario, the demandsupply gap and also keeping inmind various options ofbrands, quality, costing andpreferences of the beneficiaries.

"The decision can be takenafter a due consultative processunder the Ministry ofConsumer Affairs ensuringinvolvement of all stakehold-ers, the affidavit said.

The Union government fur-ther said it has issued a guid-ance note on provision ofReproductive, Maternal,Newborn, Child, AdolescentHealth Plus Nutrition(RMNCAH+N) services dur-ing and post the COVID-19pandemic.

PNS n PURI

Lord Jagannath's 'Bahuda Jatra'— the return car festival —began on Wednesday in theabsence of devotees, and amidtight security and curfew, as theseaside pilgrim town virtuallyshutdown to prevent gather-ings in view of the COVID-19pandemic.

As the divine siblings --Lord Jagannath, his elderbrother Lord Balabhadra andtheir sister Devi Subhadra --embarked on their return jour-ney back to the 12th-centuryshrine, the administrationappealed people to stay homeand watch the rituals on TV.

The world famous Rath

Yatra, which commenced onJune 23, is being held sans pub-lic attendance as the SupremeCourt had on June 22 allowedit, only in Puri, and with con-dition that a limited number ofservitors will participate andthere would be no congrega-tion.

The three deities end theirannual nine-day sojourn to SriGundicha Temple, their birthplace, and are now returning toSreemandir or Shri Jagannathtemple on three majesticwooden chariots during'Bahuda Jatra'.

The Grand Road between

the Shree Gundicha Templeand the main shrine, the abodeof the celestial siblings, whichhosts lakhs of devotees fromacross the country and abroadduring the historic car festivalevery year, wore an emptylook this year.

Puri District CollectorBalwant Singh said all arrange-ments have been made in com-pliance with the SupremeCourt's order on conduct of theRath Yatra.

"Devotees are not allowed onthe Grand Road. All entrypoints to Puri town have beensealed and the devotees arerequested to stay home andwatch the Bahuda Jatra ontelevision," Singh said.

Lord Jagannath's ‘Bahuda Jatra' begins sansdevotees as Puri remains under curfew

NHRC notice to TN DGP,over deaths of father, son PNS n NEW DELHI

The NHRC on Wednesdaysaid it has issued notices to theDGP of Tamil Nadu and SP ofThoothukudi district in thesouthern state over the deathof a father-son duo allegedlydue to torture by police.

The National Human RightsCommission (NHRC), in atweet, also said it has soughta report from the police offi-cers, which has to "includeinquest report, post-mortemexamination report, medicaltreatment record, magisterialenquiry report and healthscreening report of both vic-tims, within 6 weeks".

P Jayaraj and his son Bennix, who were arrested for "vio-

lating" lockdown norms overthe business hours of their cellphone shop, died at a hospitalin Thoothukudi's Kovilpatti onJune 23, with the relativesalleging that they were severe-ly thrashed at the Sathankulampolice station by the person-nel earlier. The incident hastriggered a nationwide furore.

Priyanka says weaversin Varanasi sufferingPNS n NEW DELHI

Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra on Wednesdayalleged that weavers in theprime minister's con-stituency, Varanasi, arebeing forced to pledgetheir jewellery andhouses to survive,and said only a con-crete financial packagecan help them. "UP CMat an event told the PM thatlakhs of jobs are being provid-ed in small and medium indus-tries.But the reality is thatweavers who are the pride ofVaranasi, PM's parliamentaryconstituency, are today forced tolive by pledging their jewelleryand houses. All their work hascome to a standstill during the

lockdown," she said in a tweet inHindi. She said the condition ofsmall entrepreneurs and artisansis bad. "Only a concrete finan-cial package and not mere pro-

paganda can help thememerge from this crisis,"she said.

The Congressleader tagged a newsreport alleging that

weavers in Varanasiare on the verge of star-

vation and are being forcedto pledge their jewellery andhouses to survive. The Congressin-charge for Uttar Pradesh hadon Tuesday targeted the chiefminister on unemployment andalleged that the UP governmentwas trying to cover up "massiveunemployment" through adver-tisements.

Goa open to domestictourists from July 2: MinPNS n PANAJI

Goa Tourism Minister ManoharAjgaonkar on Wednesdayannounced that the coastal statewill be open to tourists startingJuly 2, as 250 hotels have beengranted permission to resumeoperations.

Goa, one of the country'smost popular tourist destina-tions, has remained shut for trav-ellers since the nationwide coro-navirus-induced lockdown wasimposed in March.

The decision to restarttourism activities was takenduring a state cabinet meeting,the minister said.

The tourism department hasso far granted permission to250 hotels, which can operate inkeeping with the standard oper-

ating procedures (SOPs) put inplace by the state government.

"We have decided to allowdomestic travellers to enter Goafrom July 2 onwards providedthey comply with certainnorms," the minister said. It willbe mandatory for tourists to pre-book their stay at hotels, whichhave received the tourismdepartment's approval, he said.

The team developed

a mathematical

model for the early

phases of a COVID-

19-like pandemic

using the

aerodynamics and

evaporation

characteristics of

respiratory droplets

UP govt rollng out a red carpet forMicrosoft to set up world-class hubPNS n LUCKNOW

The Uttar Pradesh governmentis preparing to roll out the redcarpet for software giantMicrosoft to set up a world-classtechnology hub in GreaterNoida, UP foreign investmentand export promotion ministerSidharth Nath Singh said onWednesday.

"The state will roll out the redcarpet for Microsoft to make iteasier for the company to dobusiness," said Singh, who hasbeen holding virtual road showswith global industry players inorder to convince them to investin the state by offering incentives.

Microsoft has said it wants toset up its North India campus inGreater Noida and the next stepwill be site inspection by the teamboth in Greater Noida and alongthe Yamuna Expressway. Thiswill be followed by the compa-ny's proposal which the state gov-

ernment will examine, he said. Avirtual agreement by MicrosoftIndia MD Rajiv Kumar wasconcluded during a discussionwith Singh on Monday and it willsoon be followed by a site visit bythe global software major. He saidthe authorities have identifiedoptions for land for Microsoft inGreater Noida and YamunaExpressway.

The government had earliersaid it will make it simpler forinvestors willing to acquire land

within 1 km distance on each sideof the state's expressways.

Following the coronaviruspandemic, the state governmenthas been trying to increaseinvestment in the state and cre-ate additional employmentopportunities, the minister said.

He said that in the next three-four years, the campus strengthwould reach its maximumpotential of 4,000, making it thesecond-largest tech hub ofMicrosoft in India.

On the ground in easternLadakh, there is a pro-found lack of clarity afterthe Galwan fracas. It isreminiscent of China’s

sudden announcement in December2010 that it did not have a border withIndia in Jammu & Kashmir as a pre-lude to signing the China-PakistanEconomic Corridor (CPEC) agree-ment. In an act of defiance, thePeople’s Liberation Army (PLA) hasrestored its new post at the confluenceof Galwan and Shyok rivers, which wasdestroyed by Indian soldiers, leadingto the Galwan clash.

According to satellite imagery ofJune 25, the PLA has encroached 500metres on the Indian side of the Lineof Actual Control (LAC) in Galwan. Ithas continued with its build-up andblocked Indian forces from patrollingup to its LAC in Galwan, finger areaswhere a PLA helipad has come up,Gogra Heights, Chushul and DepsangBulge. Except for Galwan, which ismountainous, all other intrusions arein the plain areas. All of this has com-pelled the Indian forces to block thePLA intrusions in strength and alsooccupy gaps where it could make freshencroachment. This has turned theLAC in eastern Ladakh into a virtualLine of Control (LoC), occupied bythree Indian Infantry divisions. Thisis unprecedented.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’soriginal statement, where he gave aclean chit to China during an all-partymeeting after the Galwan brawl —despite clarification from the PrimeMinister’s Office (PMO) and his warn-ing last Sunday that “those casting anevil eye on Indian soil in Ladakh havegot a befitting reply” — was translat-ed into Mandarin and widely circulat-ed. There was a method to his word-play that “India’s territorial integrityhad not been violated.” The articula-tion was strategic, meant for his elec-toral constituency while keeping thewindow open for salvaging summitrywith Chinese President Xi Jinpingwhere he is heavily invested.

Notably, Modi did not condemnChina for any treachery. Instead, sevenweeks after multiple intrusions by theChinese, on June 26, the Ministry ofExternal Affairs (MEA) admonishedChina — about amassing troops, itsunjustified and untenable claims,changed behaviour, attempting tochange status quo and violating bor-der protocols. These were regurgitat-ed the next day, which is last week, byAmbassador Vikram Misri in Beijing.The veil of denial was finally lifted.

Galwan has become the tippingpoint for India-China relations. But

why did we wait for 45 days tospeak up and show the strengthto push back or at least containthe intrusions? We have provedhopeless in the battle of narra-tives compared to our reactionsduring Depsang (2013),Chumar (2014) and Doklam(2017); though these were pro-mulgated singly and not collec-tively like now.

This time, the PLA isenforcing its 1959 claim line togive depth to its strategic assetsin Aksai Chin and at the sametime, threatening India’s newstrategic highway to DaulatBeg Oldie. One reason cited forthe glaring infrastructural dif-ferential, besides constraints offunds and terrain, is the erst-while defeatist reasoning thatconnectivity on our side of theborder would facilitate PLA inits operational plans. FormerDefence Minister AK Antonyrevealed this last week and asa veteran, I can confirm this tobe the legacy of the 1962 syn-drome.

China picked up thethreads of its intentions in2010 to excise the 1,500 kmborder with Jammu & Kashmir,reducing it from 3,488 km to2,000 km. Mandarins in theMEA had then said that Chinacan lop off the LAC but it can-not remove our troopsdeployed in those areas. This isprecisely what the PLA isattempting to do now.Separatist leader MirwaizUmar Farooq had then said, as

China holds parts of Jammu &Kashmir, it is a stakeholder inthe Kashmir dispute, therebytrilateralising a bilateral issue.

China occupies 92,535 sqkm of Jammu & Kashmir —5,180 sq km of the ShaksgamValley was ceded by Pakistan in1963 in violation of the KarachiAgreement (1949) and UNCIP(1950) and 37,355 sq kmannexed in the late 1950s inLadakh through which it builtthe West-East link to Tibet viathe Aksai Chin. Territorially,India holds 45 per cent,Pakistan 35 per cent and China25 per cent of undividedJammu & Kashmir.

In his book, India-ChinaBoundary Issues: Quest forSettlement (2014), late RanjitSingh Kalha, who handledChina negotiations for 12 years,wrote: “In the west, China isalready in possession of terri-tory up to its claim-line.” In theeastern sector, it has to contendwith the McMahon Linethough it claims all ofArunachal Pradesh. The mid-dle sector is the least con-tentious region. The ongoingChinese military coercion inLadakh is extending furthertowards the west — its controlof the 1959 claim-line and themove to enhance security toCPEC, which India has termed“illegal passage through Indianterritory.”

India’s new map followingthe revocation of Article 370shows the Aksai Chin within

the boundary of Ladakh. Kalhaadds, “The major differences indetermining LAC in the west-ern sector are Samar Lungpa,Trig Heights, Depsang,Kongkla Pass, Pangong Tso,Spanggur Gap, Mount Sajun,Dimachele, Demchok andChumar.”

The Galwan River Valleywas never one of them in thewestern sector among the 23contested areas overall. Sowhatever be China’s geopoliti-cal compulsions for its aggres-sive behaviour, the centrality ofLadakh — renunciation of theborder with Jammu & Kashmirand multiple and interlinkedintrusions as fait accompli — isclear.

Few Indians are calling forretribution, adding China is notPakistan. It is insane to start aconflict — in the middle of adeadly pandemic that is yet topeak in India — which youcannot terminate on yourterms given the power differ-ential and its potential to turninto a two-front situation.

Equally, it is unwise toover-emphasise the battle expe-rience variables between thewar-tested Indian military anda Vietnam-bruised PLA in1979. Still, the PLA has decisiveforce multipliers, modernweaponry and is led by Xi. Thisis not to suggest that the PLAcannot be given a bloody noseif push comes to shove, aNathu La à la 1967 can berepeated. But India should

choose its moment and not besucked into a Galwan-like trapagain.

We have stopped the bleed-ing but during negotiations, wemust not lose key terrain in theGalwan River Valley. LikePakistan forced theSiachenisation of Kargil, Chinamay succeed in India’s militari-sation of the LAC, turning itinto a de facto LoC at enormouscost for India. There is muchIndia can do to raise the stakesdiplomatically but turningadversary into enemy has to becalibrated. On the trade andeconomic front, pragmatismand not emotions should dic-tate policy, avoiding overplay-ing atmanirbharta.

Taking down Chinese appswill incur costs. The lessonfrom Galwan is to keep up yourguard. Right now, neither thediplomatic WorkingMechanism for Consultationand Coordination (WMCC)mechanism nor military com-manders dialogue — thirdround was held on Tuesday —will result in a breakthrough:Disengagement terminating instatus quo ante on May 5.Maybe a Modi-Xi summit canhope to achieve it if troops ininadequate habitat are to avoida harsh winter at 17,000 ft.

(The writer, a retired MajorGeneral, was Commander IPKFSouth, Sri Lanka and foundermember of the Defence PlanningStaff, currently the IntegratedDefence Staff.)

St Stephen’s College, one of Delhi University’stop institutions, has been known for its strictadmission process for years. Instead of sole-

ly choosing its next intake of students on the basisof marks obtained, it also conducts personal inter-views in order to make the final selection. The col-lege usually shortlists five to seven candidates forevery seat and those who have endured the processwill tell you that it is a gruelling personal examina-tion. While the college has every reason to con-duct the interview — giving some candidates whomight have faltered a little bit in the board exams

a shot at making it — one wonders whether conducting virtual interviews in the wakeof the pandemic makes any sense this year. Some teachers have argued that con-ducting online video interviews is potentially unfair to those students without high-bandwidth data connections. This indeed is an issue. In fact, a much deeper one thatpolicy-makers in the education sector will need to come to terms with in a post-COVIDworld. The pandemic has already undone years of economic progress made by mil-lions of Indians to rise out of poverty. It should not be allowed to make the educa-tional gap between rich and poor Indians even wider. Online learning is a good solu-tion but all stakeholders, not just educators and the Government but also telecomcompanies and hardware makers, should try to devise solutions to ensure that thisgap does not grow.

However, will it make sense to start the interview process when there is no clar-ity as to how the educational boards will issue results? Further, there’s no clarity aboutwhen colleges will reopen. Even optimistic projections for educational institutions ofall sorts reopening are predicting that this will not happen till September. The open-ing of schools and colleges is a sure sign that things have returned to some senseof normalcy. But the truth is that the pandemic is still wreaking havoc on India’s health-care system, particularly in bigger cities. And while Governments have managed totame the dragon for now, a hasty reopening, coupled with social distancing and hygienenorms not being followed, could make matters worse. It might make sense for StStephen’s and the rest of Delhi University to wait until there is some more clarity.

Clearly, a bruised China, which had so far beenused to India cowering before its military andeconomic might, hadn’t quite expected our

Army to pay back the People’s Liberation Army(PLA) in its own coin in Ladakh. And now that“Emperor” Xi Jinping, the new moniker emblem-atic of the Chinese President’s desire to universalisethe “Chinese dream,” is affronted by India stand-ing up to his grand design, he is unleashing hisproxies and opening up new fronts. If Beijing gotNepal to wage a cartographic war with us, it hasnow deployed Pakistan, which has started mov-

ing 20,000 troops in the Gilgit-Baltistan area. This even as India and China are in nego-tiations to restore the status quo at Galwan Valley in Ladakh, which China is claim-ing to be its own and building up pressure by way of ingress, marking lands with itsmaps and reinforcing its presence. By bulldozing India and synchronising joint pres-sure points, it wants us to give up on our strategic gains and positions inimical to itsinterests in Aksai Chin, Xinjiang and of course, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC), part of which runs through Gilgit-Baltistan. And it is hoping for a mutual “back-off” deal. But perhaps it had not bargained for India’s acquired strengths by way ofimproved border infrastructure and connectivity, persistence and most importantly,its practised mountain warfare that could sustain an ambush. Such is its despera-tion and hurt ego that there are reports of the Chinese army holding talks with terrororganisation Al-Badr to incite fresh violence in Kashmir. There have also been reportsabout a new terrorist threat to the iconic Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai. Given Pakistan’sstate of the economy and its own battle with the pandemic, opening two fronts, onein Kashmir and another in the mainland, is not only over-ambitious but nonsensical.But if that is the diktat of its all-pervasive “master,” it will escalate threats for India,which, too, is writhing under the spiral of the pandemic. Pakistan’s Inter-ServicesIntelligence (ISI), egged on by the Chinese, has reportedly stepped up infiltration ina bid to fire up the Line of Control (LoC) and contain India with a pincer attack. Thisis evident from the recent spate in terrorist killings in Kashmir and given the improvedlocal intelligence, even flushouts in key terrorist strongholds. But post abrogation ofKashmir’s special status, it is not being able to galvanise local militancy and is quitefrustrated on that front. So the Chinese strategy seems to be wearing us out on boththe Line of Actual Control (LAC) and LoC while keeping up the pretence of negotia-tions. The Corps Commander-level dialogue on finalising modalities for the disen-gagement of troops from various standoff points in eastern Ladakh lasted 10 hourson Tuesday with little to show on the ground. China is hardly interested in withdraw-ing from its “new claim lines” in Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso and a number of otherareas, which let it keep a hawk’s eye on our troop movements. With Galwan, it intendsto wrest the advantage it had in northern Ladakh before India built a key highwayand commanded the heights.

Diplomatically, too, with the US and France offering help to India in its border cri-sis, China is not sitting idle. It has got its vassal States like Nepal and Pakistan to turnworld opinion against India for attempting to destabilise their respective nations. NepalPrime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is finding himself increasingly isolated within theruling Nepal Communist Party, has blamed India for engineering a rebellion. And PakistanPrime Minister Imran Khan has now decided to extend his support to Oli, joining thechorus of India-bashing. Earlier Khan had blamed India for the Balochi attack in Karachiwithout so much as lining up credible evidence. Even China proposed a condemna-tory statement in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) but was held back byother members who expressed reservations on uncalled for statements by Pakistan.The rebuff was sharp but such is China’s avarice for global domination that it forgetsthat without peace with India, the second largest Asian entity, it cannot convince therest of Asia about its supremacy or “dreams.” Worse, it’s pushing India further towardsthe US in a new bipolar tussle. India has to scale up its diplomacy and use its favourableimage in the West and even its friendly vibes with Japan and Australia. It must makea global case for its patience despite China’s ceaseless “wolf warrior” attacks. It mustfurther use the US, which is anathema to China at the moment, to corner the latterand drive home the futility of its acquisitions at the border which might end up in aworldwide diplomatic censure. Not that it cares about goodwill but post-Wuhan, Chinawill find it very difficult to justify its intentions or positions in world affairs. We needto use every multi-national forum, alliances and reinvigorate bilateral ties with the neigh-bourhood to make enough noise about the asymmetric relationship with China. Ourstudied silence for strategic peace has been clearly interpreted as weakness.

China’s proxy warriors

Police brutality

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Crying shame” (June 29). Thecustodial death of two traders inTamil Nadu is the latest exampleof how police brutality results inthe loss of life. Undeniably, thecase will be investigated by anautonomous high power body.The State Government wants theCBI to probe the case. It is theresponsibility of the investigativebody to fix accountability.

But the current system ofprobe itself is farcical. Retentionof the guilty in service withnominal penalties like transfer isan open secret. Police forces aresupposed to be the watchdog ofthe people but the law and ordersystem is such that the officialsfeel emboldened and flout dueprocess and perpetrate violenceon citizens. According to datasubmitted by State police beforeMadras High Court, there were157 custodial deaths in TamilNadu between 2012 and 2016.While an impartial probe is amust, the State Government mustsend out the message that policeexcesses will not be tolerated.

TKM Kumbalamchuvattil Muvattupuzha

China must mend ways

Sir — Be it concerns regardingthe sovereignty and integrity ofIndia or mounting anti-Chinasentiments, the IndianGovernment’s move to ban 59Chinese apps, including TikTok,is welcome.

It has been argued that the

present ban on apps has comein retaliation to heightened ten-sions between India and Chinaat the border. But the fact is thatthe ban has sent a clear messageto China that India is firm in itsresolve to push Chinese aggres-sion back. It must also be agreedthat a ban on these apps willhardly affect China. If Beijingcontinues to mount pressure at

the border, a ban on Huawei, aglobal leader in 5G and othercommunication technologies,will hurt it the most. Nor havewe as yet put a ban on Chinese-funded Indian businesses orChinese businesses seekingmarket in India. China mustexercise caution.

Mayank KhatriUjjain

Act responsibly

Sir — Amid continuing stalematebetween India and China alongthe LAC, sparring between thetwo main parties, the Congressand the BJP, has refused to diedown. Both parties have accusedeach other of being in league withthe Chinese. It is ironic that in theface of a serious external threat,our leaders have stooped toridiculous levels, becoming alaughing stock of the world.

As a matter of fact, both theUPA and the present BJPGovernment are guilty of under-estimating the threat posed byChina. Instead of lampooningeach other, political leaders mustwake up to the gravity of the sit-uation and act as responsible leg-islators. The time has come for usto collectively introspect, takestock of the situation and builda national security strategy tocounter the Chinese threat.Political leaders must learn howto deal with democratic differ-ences with dignity.

Venu GSKollam

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

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op nionVIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | JULY 2, 2020

06

Stand up to the dragon

ASHOK K MEHTA

The lesson from Galwan for India is to keep up its guard. Right now, neither the diplomatic

mechanism nor dialogue will result in breakthrough. May be a Modi-Xi summit can help

In the wake of the ban whichwe have imposed...I think itis a great opportunity. Let thedependence on foreign apps,with their own agenda for avariety of reasons, stop.

Union Minister—Ravi Shankar Prasad

No one will stop, saying ‘oneis allowed, two can’t, so wewon’t go to work.’ We have tofind a way under the guidelines. Nobody wants to stop working now.

Actor—Taapsee Pannu

As I watch the pandemicspread its ugly face all acrossthe world, including thetremendous damage it hasdone to the US, I becomemore angry at China.

US President—Donald Trump

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

Why a ban is not enough

This refers to the editorial, “Ban on China apps” (July1). The digital strike by the Government of India,banning TikTok, SHAREit, UC Browser, Shein and

many such Chinese apps is a welcome call. But thishas resulted in creating a privacy breach issue for thecitizens than being a response to the India-China mil-itary clashes along the border. Section 69A of theInformation Technology Act, 2000, empowers theGovernment to block any content in the interest of thecountry. Some of these apps were allegedly exploitingpersonal information.

Having said that, app bans are notoriously hardto execute. Usually app firms upload their official ver-sions on Apple App and Google Play store. Even afterthese applications are removed from such platforms,their unofficial versions are still available on the weband are easily downloadable. So, it would require inter-net service providers to blacklist every host and domainname associated with these apps. This poses furthersecurity threats and may be exploited by hackers andcyber criminals.

Also, just a simple ban won’t work. Since manyof these apps have marked prominence in our routinelife, so relevant and similarly efficient alternatives area must. People should be enlightened about substitutesfor these applications, which are already available.Besides, our tech industry should develop unique indige-nous replacements, which are user-friendly.

Ravi Teja Kathuripalli Hyderabad

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Virtual insanity It is a subject of the ExternalAffairs department, we will sup-port the Government stand…But we have to be very aggres-sive and at the same time usethe diplomatic channel.

West Bengal CM—Mamata Banerjee

After Nepal, Beijing is confabulating with Pakistan to open twofronts, by moving troops and pushing terrorists into Kashmir

With no outlook on when the institutions will open, should the admission process even start?

Information overload

BY HIKING PRICES OF PETROL, THE BJP GOVERNMENT

HAS MADE IT CLEAR THAT IT IS ONLY INTERESTED IN

PICKING POCKETS OF THE PUBLIC EVEN IN A CRISIS.

—CONGRESS LEADER

PRIYANKA GANDHI VADRA

THE RECENT INCREASE IN THE PRICES OF

PETROL AND DIESEL HAVE NOT IMPACTED

THE COMMON MAN.

—PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS MINISTER

DHARMENDRA PRADHAN

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

COVID-19 has left the world bewildered asmuch as it has challenged the global scien-tific community, which is making every

possible effort to learn more about the virus, findeffective diagnostic assays, drugs and vaccines forits cure. Learning about the structure, behaviourand prevalence of the virus to help design pub-lic health strategies and medical interventions isthe need of the hour. Almost every scientist is try-ing to make a contribution to the pandemic. Thishas led to everyone, including non-scientists, writ-ing and publishing on almost every aspect of thespread. The research efforts of the scientific com-munity are visible from the mammoth quantitiesof data generated through publications, growingby thousands every day. More than 4,000 new sci-entific papers pertaining to the disease and thevirus were added just in a week’s time.

COVID-19 papers have been downloadedmore than 150 million times since publishersbrought down paywalls on research related to thepandemic. Since January, several major publish-ers have made around 50,000 COVID-19-relat-ed papers freely available. This is the biggest explo-sion scientific literature has ever seen. It is becom-ing increasingly difficult for scientists to keep pacewith the growing volumes of information and sift-ing through all of it to find that which is relevantto their areas of research. The world is grapplingto find ways to manage and effectively use the sci-entific information being generated. Thankfully,data scientists and software developers across theworld have geared up with the help of journalpublishers to create new search tools. These arein the form of datasets through data cleaningefforts and curated sets that bunch publicationsinto collections of similar studies, while also high-lighting the strong papers in those areas ofresearch.

Efforts are also being made to cut outunnecessary noise through automated search toolsvia Artificial Intelligence (AI) so that a researcherlands at the information being sought, thus sav-ing a lot of time and effort. Several datasets anddatabases have surfaced to help ease the COVIDinformation overload crisis for researchers.

WHO COVID-19 database: The WorldHealth Organisation has a WHO COVID-19 data-base that gathers latest international multilingualscientific findings and knowledge. Searches andadditions are made on a daily basis to the datasetthrough bibliographic databases, hand searchesand expert-referred scientific articles from glob-al literature. Efforts are on to build a more com-prehensive database through collaboration withkey partners to enrich citations. The WHO data-base has over 18,000 publications, searchable inmany languages by title, abstract or subject. Itsglobal research page provides quick updates.There is an international clinical trials registryplatform that provides updates on the WHOSolidarity Trial for accelerating a safe and effec-tive vaccine.

The Lancet COVID-19 Resource Centre: Itbrings together new content from across TheLancet journals as it is published, making the con-tent free to access in order to assist health work-ers and researchers. Similarly, there are otherresources on COVID-19 like CambridgeUniversity Press, Centers for Disease Control andPrevention, Chinese Medical Association,Cochrane, Elsevier, European Centre for DiseasePrevention and Control (ECDC), JAMA Network,

The Lancet, LITCOVID: US NationalLibrary of Medicine, New EnglandJournal of Medicine and, OxfordUniversity Press.

The CORD-19 dataset: TheCOVID-19 Open Research DatasetChallenge, an initiative of the WhiteHouse Office of Science and TechnologyPolicy, has brought together theSemantic Scholar team at the AllenInstitute for AI with the likes of Google,the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative andNational Institutes of Health (NIH) tocreate a free resource of open tools anddatasets of over 63,000 scholarly articles.

This is the largest structured datasetthat caters to the ongoing need of theglobal research community for whichthe corpus is updated regularly with cur-rent research featuring in peer-reviewedpublications from sources like PubMed’sPMC, corpus maintained by the WHOand from archival services like bioRxiv,medRxiv and so on, based on searchCOVID-19 and Coronavirus research.In addition to the above major databas-es, there are numerous other datasets, lit-erature repositories, specific informationresources, re-purposing databases andtechnological advancements that arehelping the world make meaning out ofthe mayhem.

Ethical concerns due to rapid pub-lication rate: There is ample reason tobe concerned about the quality of dataas well as regulatory and ethical issuessurrounding data generated at such aquick pace. Questions on gaps in infor-mation generated, its quality and thor-oughness have been raised. A recentretraction in The Lancet and the scan-dal associated with it is proof enough ofthis cause for concern. Social media plat-forms have been instrumental in releas-ing quick information about researchfindings of significance and providinginstant feedback through online com-ments or suggestions for the study, as

also linking the information with sim-ilar studies going on elsewhere in theworld. However, not all significantresearch findings garner the same atten-tion on social media platforms forresearchers to pick up and relate. In fact,some do not surface on such platformsat all or drown in endless tweets orFacebook posts when there is too muchto report on a subject and it’s hard tocatch up, till you are spending too muchtime on these platforms.

A general search for research pub-lications, based on key words likeCoronavirus and COVID-19, has shownthat while there are quite a few promis-ing studies and publications of highquality that can be pursued further, mostother publications are either analysis,commentaries or incomplete studies thathave been reported to either hasten pub-lication or be visible. A thorough peerreview is missing in most cases andhence, the authenticity or the quality ofdata raises grave concern. In many cases,research findings reported do not sup-port the conclusions that have beenstepped up to ensure publication in pres-tigious journals. While most of the lit-erature on COVID-19 is freely available,around 20 per cent of the research pub-lications are still behind paywalls, andthis percentage is expected to grow in thenear future to almost half of the total.That makes a comprehensive analysisquite difficult.

The role of biological resource cen-tres: Rapid data sharing is important tohelp identify the causative agent; inves-tigate and predict the extent of diseasespread; define diagnostic protocols andevaluate treatments and methods to con-tain further spread. The types of infor-mation that can be collated and sharedmay include surveillance data, trialdata, pathogen genomic and proteom-ic data, case study reports and summa-ry of observations from these data

sources. The users may include data scien-

tists, bioentrepreneurs, clinicians, pub-lic health workers, researchers, govern-ments, NGOs, disaster managementexperts, regulatory bodies and so on.However, there are multiple barriers torapid data sharing, including concernsover data protection, confidentialityand different data protection legislationsacross countries. Other major barriersmay be poor curation tools and qualityof data. There is little doubt that break-throughs in various facets of biotechnol-ogy will hugely impact our societies andlives almost as profoundly as informa-tion technologies have done in thepast. Data sharing is necessary forenabling the global community to pre-pare for and respond to pandemics andsimilar global health crisis and speed upthe diagnostic and therapeutic regimen.

With major sequencing effortsacross the world resulting in massivebiological data accumulation, storing,managing, annotating and archiving ithas become quite a scientific challenge.Using this growing body of informationto dig out solutions to the challenges isthe need of the hour. Although, there aremany biological data centres across USand Europe, access to biological dataresources remains restricted due to dif-ferent data protection policies. As aresult, researchers from many develop-ing economies could not access this.

While the world awaits a biologicaldiscovery, our trust in science to han-dle the global crisis and impact scien-tific, societal, political and economicdecisions only grows with passing time.This can also have a separate dimensionfor storage, accession and archival ofpublished information on infectiousorganisms to aid the researcher.

(Bhaskar is Registrar and Suri isCEO, Office of Connectivity, RegionalCenter for Biotechnology)

Almost every scientist is trying to make a contribution to the pandemic. This has led to everyone,including non-scientists, writing on almost every aspect of the crisis. How does one make sense?

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

VK BAHUGUNA

THERE IS REASON

TO BE CONCERNEDABOUT

THE QUALITY OF DATA

AS WELL ASREGULATORY AND ETHICAL

ISSUESSURROUNDING

DATA GENERATED AT

SUCH A QUICK PACE.

QUESTIONS ONGAPS IN

INFORMATIONGENERATED,

ITS QUALITY ANDTHOROUGHNESS

HAVE BEEN RAISED.

A RECENTRETRACTION

IN THE LANCET ANDTHE SCANDAL

ASSOCIATED WITH ITIS PROOF ENOUGH

OF THIS CAUSE FORCONCERN

India went into a nationwide lockdown on March 24 to combat theCoronavirus pandemic and the entire Government machinery wasgalvanised by invoking the National Disaster Management Act.

However, the sudden shutdown announced by Prime Minister NarendraModi created a serious governance and humanitarian crisis as pan-icked migratory workers in metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, andAhmedabad set out for their home States on foot. The Government,before announcing the lockdown, should have asked the LabourMinistry to plan an exit route for migratory workers who are the back-bone of urban India’s economy. But that was not done, leading toendless suffering for the migrant workers.

Bureaucrats enjoy tremendous clout in running the Governmentand advising politicians, but in this case the Government machin-ery, from top to bottom was in deep slumber and failed to visualisethe enormity of the problem. The district-level bureaucracy howev-er, did extremely well in properly visualising and enforcing the lock-down and contained the pandemic to a certain extent. Had the migra-tory workers been tackled carefully, the virus would not have spreadto rural India. For over two months there was chaos on the roadsas nervous labourers and daily wage workers, who lead a hand-to-mouth existence, decided to go home and cover hundreds of kilo-metres on foot. As a result, many died midway due to hunger, thirst,fatigue and some died in horrific road and railway accidents.

The Prime Minister and the Centre realised their mistakes quitelate in the day and started running special Shramik trains to ferrythe migrant workers to their hometowns, just as they began a phase-wise easing of the lockdown. As a consequence, the returning migrantworkers spread the virus in their respective States. For example, inUttarakhand there were only a few cases of COVID-19 in Dehradunand Haridwar earlier. But now the whole State is witnessing a dailyspike in cases. This could have been avoided with foresight.

Most of the migrants fall in the category of the unorganised work-force and are employed by enterprises owned by individuals. Someare self-employed workers engaged in the production, sale of goodsor provide services of any kind. This also includes a worker in theorganised sector who is not covered by any Acts mentioned inSchedule II of the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008.The Government enacted the Building and Other Construction Workers(Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 toprotect them but the mandarins of labour and other Ministries failedto implement the provisions. It is estimated that `31,000 crore isavailable under this Act for building and construction workers. Similarly,labour welfare funds are also available.

Before announcing the lockdown, the Central Government shouldhave asked all the migratory labourers to register at the nearestGovernment office and prepared an online list of such people livingin the cities with the help of the State machinery. Based on this list,the funds available for the welfare of labour could have been utilisedto retain them at their work stations. The employers should have beenasked to pay their salaries for at least three-four months, with somesupport from the Government. Now, the Centre has announced a 20lakh crore stimulus package for the economy, which also includesa package for migrant workers who have returned home. Had it beendone at the start of the lockdown, economic activities would haveassumed without a hitch. After all, without workers, the industrial andmanufacturing economy cannot work. Now the Government has easedthe lockdown but people are finding it difficult to find manpower torestart manufacturing units.

The people at the helm of affairs must ponder over the fate ofthe 45 crore unorganised sector workers who are the backbone ofthe `10 lakh crore construction, industrial and agriculture sectors.The Government should constitute a committee to identify the sec-tor-wise strength of the unorganised sector workers and their prob-lems of finding a livelihood. The Building and Other ConstructionWorkers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act,1996 had made adequate provisions for accommodation, crèche,canteen, education and healthcare. But these were never implement-ed by the contractors, Government engineers and other supervisors,though there is provision for penalty and punitive action. In the absenceof unions, workers are not aware of their legal rights and are exploit-ed and shunted out at the slightest protest.

The Government ought to direct all stakeholders and create anenforcement regime to ensure welfare measures for the unorgan-ised sector workers. The recent package announced should be usedto create all facilities in urban localities as per the 1996 Act provi-sions. It would be desirable to frame a new comprehensive Act cov-ering all migrant/unorganised sector workers. The employers needto be humane and must be dealt with strictly if they fail to take careof workers in emergencies, like they did during the present pandem-ic. Labourers deserve to live with dignity. We must remember thewords of Mahatma Gandhi who once said, “Man becomes great exact-ly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow men.”

(The writer is a former civil servant)

On June 15, India was electedunopposed as a non-perma-nent member of the United

Nations Security Council (UNSC)for a two-year term starting fromJanuary 1, 2021. India secured a com-fortable vote of 184 out of 192 at theUnited Nations General Assembly(UNGA), which was more than thetwo-third majority votes required(128 votes) to become a member. Indiawas a candidate from the Asia-Pacificregion for the non-permanent seat forthe term 2021-22.

Last year, India’s candidature wasunanimously endorsed by the 55-member Asia-Pacific group, including

China and Pakistan. Historically, Indiahad been the non-permanent memberof the UNSC seven times starting 1950.

While the UN has completed 75years of existence, its achievementshave been mixed. Its five organsachieved certain milestones in health-care, economy, social welfare, humanrights and environmental issues, con-cerning mostly the developing nations.At the same time it saw many aspira-tions of the five UNSC permanentmember countries i.e. UK, France,Russia, US and China getting realised.

There have been situations wherethese veto-powered nations did notrespect the verdicts of the InternationalCourt of Justice (ICJ) and made amockery of the organisation for whichthey acted as superlative leaders.Therefore, the universal objective ofjustice and peace has been halfwayrealised.

The global order is still basedupon hegemony and domination.Earlier the world was bipolar, where-by global politics was dominated by

two superpowers, the former SovietUnion and the US. Now it is unipo-lar.

Even after the end of the ColdWar, the smaller States are still strug-gling to align with the bigger powersin order to secure their sovereign sta-tus. Imperialism and expansionism stillexist in many forms in the internation-al arena like trade blocs, illegitimateaccess and exploitation of maritimeresources, building power structuresfor future wars, manufacturing cheap-er goods and dumping the same indeveloping countries despite thosedeveloping countries having a substan-tial workforce to manufacture the samecommodities.

Such tactics and exploitative aspi-rations are often realised by biggerpowers by funding various govern-ments in order to incline their foreignpolicy towards themselves, creatinganimosities among the neighboringcountries, funding and managing thefacilities of other countries. In such ascenario, the concept of NAM (Non-

Aligned Movement) seemed to be veryrelevant as it rose against the conceptof power blocs by drawing on the prin-ciples agreed at the BandungConference initiated by Indian PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehru andIndonesian President Sukarno withEgyptian President Gamal AbdelNasser and the Yugoslav PresidentJosip Broz Tito. The purpose of theorganisation was very clear:Sovereignty, territorial integrity andsecurity of non-aligned countries intheir “struggle against imperialism,colonialism, neo-colonialism, racismand all forms of foreign aggression,occupation, domination, interferenceor hegemony as well as against greatpower and bloc politics.”

Thus, from the very beginning ourleaders foresaw the possible dangers ofaligning with bigger powers. The cur-rent situation is very clear, where theworld is demanding more multilater-alism because the majority of themembers of NAM had to look eitherleft or right as the NAM could not rope

itself tightly. India started lookingtowards the West as China attacked itin 1962, Indonesia started looking atthe US to balance the influence fromChina or the Communist Bloc.

The best example which elucidatesthe above statement is the rise of anassertive China, which is not conflict-free. Several sovereign States in thevicinity or in the neighbourhood havebeen experiencing the pressures of itsimperialistic, aggressive and belliger-ent attitude, especially in the SouthChina Sea (SCS), as well as in otherbordering States like Bhutan andIndia. China’s imperialistic attitude isreflected in the form of illegitimateaccess to their exclusive economic zone(EEZ) and building structures in thecommon waters.

However, things have changed. Asmaller country is visibly more pow-erful now than what it was during thecolonial period, but it is still reelingunder the new colonialism carried outby the bigger power in name of devel-opment or aid.

The UN has expanded its mem-ber base from 50 to 193. In such a sce-nario, we need a stronger UN basedupon the inclusivity and multilateral-ism which would emphasise uponhuman rights, democracy and otherissues facing the world. Indonesia is amember of the UNSC and has a big-ger say in terms of its geostrategicimportance, population and economy.

In an IPI (International PeaceInstitute) virtual event held on April24 with the President of the UNGATijjani Muhammad-Bande, the Chairand former Australian Prime MinisterKevin Rudd said that while theCOVID-19 pandemic was the most“urgent” challenge the 193-nationbody had ever faced, it could be bestaddressed through the global “inter-connectedness” represented by theUN.

Rudd emphasised that “pan-demics are the very essence of the rea-son why we have a multilateral systemof global governments, and we knowthe reason for that is because epi-

demics and pandemics have no respectfor international borders.” He furtheradded, “This has tested not just ourinstitutions of national governmentaround the world, but it has truly test-ed our system of global governance.”He observed that the creation of theWorld Health Organisation (WHO) in1948 and the International HealthRegulations in 2005 had been“anchored” in the UN Charter. Thus,India at the west frontier and Indonesiaat the east can play a very importantrole in seeking a multilateral world.

As the whole world is reelingunder the onslaught of the pandem-ic, China has intensified its belliger-ence, overshadowing humanity byindulging in fierce aggression in theSCS as well as on the Line of ActualControl with India. This clearlydemands revamping and strengthen-ing of the UN in order to isolate suchbelligerence and create a peacefulglobal order.

(The writer is Assistant Professor,JNU)

A multilateral global order need of the hourWhile the world is reeling under the onslaught of the pandemic, China has intensified its belligerence and is indulging in aggression in the SCS and on the LAC

GAUTAM JHA

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | JULY 2, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

DEEPIKABHASKAR

FEROZ SURI

Welfare ofmigrants is key

Employers need to be humane and must be dealtwith strictly if they fail to take care of workers inemergencies, like they did during the pandemic

VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | JULY 2, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Fabindia appointsAditya Ghosh toboard of directorsMUMBAI: Fabindia, whichoperates a chain of storesselling a range of artisansproducts, on Wednesday saidformer Indigo airlinespresident Aditya Ghosh hasbeen appointed as a memberof its board of directors.Ghosh will be guiding themanagement teams withstrategy and new initiatives,the company said in astatement. "Fabindia believesthat the post-Covid period willbring about transformationalchange in consumer behaviourand brands with purpose,sustainability initiatives andearth-friendly commerce willbecome increasinglyimportant...As we evolvetowards a new normal, we areexcited to have Aditya onboard helping with strategyand growth," the companysaid.

Jayant to take overas first Indian CEOof UKIBC from Aug NEW DELHI: The UK IndiaBusiness Council onWednesday announced thatJayant Krishna will take overas its new Group ChiefExecutive Officer from August3. Krishna has previously ledkey initiatives of the PrimeMinister's Skill India missionas CEO, and ExecutiveDirector & Chief OperatingOfficer of the National SkillDevelopment Corporation. Hewill be the first Indian CEO ofUKIBC and the first CEO of theCouncil who shall be based inIndia. "Jayant, who will be thefirst UKIBC Group CEO to bebased in India, will bereplacing the current GroupCEO, Richard Heald. Richardwill step up to the role of Chairfrom 1st September 2020," theUKIBC stated. "I'm pleased toaccept this opportunity towork towards strengtheningUKIBC's support to UK andIndian industry.

HPL acquiresmajority stake inLummus TechnologyNEW DELHI: HaldiaPetrochemicals Limited (HPL),a flagship company of TheChatterjee Group (TCG), hasacquired majority stake in US-based Lummus Technology, acompany spokesperson saidon Wednesday. HPL alongwith international partnerRhone Capital, has acquiredthe US firm at an enterprisevalue of USD 2.725 billion(approximately Rs 20,590crores) from McDermottInternational, spokespersonsaid. HPL said Lummus is aleading master licensor ofproprietary technologies inrefining, petrochemicals, gasprocessing and coalgasification sectors,as well as a supplier ofproprietary catalysts.

PNS n MUMBAI

Chennai-based MurugappaGroup has evinced interest intaking over scam-hit CGPower and Industrial SolutionsLtd by investing around Rs 750crore equity in the company,sources said.

Three sources with directknowledge of the deal said theRs 36,900-crore MurugappaGroup, which also has anengineering arm, has made anon-bindingoffer to investaround Rs 750crore that wo-uld give it 60-75 % stake inCG Power.

The invest-ment, theysaid, was how-ever linked to lenders to CGPower agreeing to debtrestructuring. The transac-tion is likely to conclude inJuly, they said. WhileMurugappa Group spokesper-son did not revert to emailssent for comments, CG PowerChairman Ashish Kumar inreply to an email seeking com-ments said the company hadpreviously disclosed to stockexchanges about the discus-sions it had been having forpast several months towardscapital infusion.

"The company is alsoengaged with the lenderstowards a debt resolution plan.However, we, as a matter ofpolicy don't respond to spec-ulations," he added.

Sources said MurugappaGroup will be issued freshequity shares and the moneythat it brings in would be usedto meet operating and work-ing capital expenditure.

CG Power and IndustrialSolutions, erstwhile known as

Crompton Gre-aves, has anexcellent orderbook as well ashuman capital.

It gotderailed inAugust lastyear after a

board-institutedinvestigation found major gov-ernance and financial lapses,including some assets beingprovided as collateral andmoney from loans siphonedoff by "identified companypersonnel, both current andpast, including certain non-executive directors".

After the scam came tolight, the company sackedfounder Gautam Thapar aschairman, and a new boardthereafter undertook cleaningup of the accounts and to fixgovernance issues.

Sensex rallies 499 points;Nifty reclaims 10,400 levelPNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensex ral-l ied 499 points onWednesday, tracking gainsin index-heavyweightsHDFC twins,R e l i a n c eIndustriesand ITCamid ap o s i -t i v e

trend in the global markets.After hitt ing a high of35,467.23, the 30-share BSEindex settled 498.65 points, or1.43 per cent, higher at35,414.45.

The NSE Nifty surged127.95 points, or 1.24 percent, to 10,430.05.

Axis Bank was the topgainer in the Sensex pack,soaring over 6 per cent,followed by Bajaj Finserv,HDFC, Bajaj Finance, ITC,

I n d u s I n dB a n k ,

S B I ,

ICICI Bank and RelianceIndustries.

On the other hand, NTPC,Nestle India, L&T, M&M andONGC were among the lag-gards.

According to traders,besides stock-specific action,local indices followed gains inglobal benchmarks whichwere largely positive onencouraging macroeconomicnumbers indicating recoveryin world economies.

Bourses in Shanghai andHong Kong ended with gains,while Tokyo and Seoul closedin the red. Stock exchanges inEurope were trading on apositive note in early deals.

International oil bench-mark Brent crude futuresrose 2.67 per cent to USD42.37 per barrel.

On the currency front, therupee settled 9 paise lower at75.60 against the US dollar.

GST collection in June at Rs 90k cr, Q1 mop up dips 59%PNS n NEW DELHI

GST revenue collection in Junestood at Rs 90,917 crore, upfrom Rs 62,009 crore moppedup in May and Rs 32,294 crorein April.

The goods and Services Tax(GST) mop up was 9 per centlower on a year-on-year basisin June, while it was 62 per centdown in May and fell 28 percent in April.

GST collections for the firstquarter (April-June) of thisfiscal declined 59 per cent,when compared to the samequarter last year as lockdownimposed to contain spread ofCOVID-19 pandemic severe-ly impacted economic activity.

"The revenues during thefinancial year has been impact-ed due to COVID-19, firstlydue to the economic impact ofthe pandemic and secondlydue to the relaxations given bythe government in filing ofreturns and payment of taxesdue to the pandemic. However,figures of past three monthsshow recovery in GST rev-enues," the finance ministrysaid in a statement.

States like Punjab,Chhattisgarh, MadhyaPradesh, Bihar, Assam, AndhraPradesh, Telangana, Karnatakawitnessed growth in collection

in June over last year.North Eastern states like

Sikkim, Manipur, Mizoram,Tripura, Nagaland, ArunachalPradesh too witnessed Increasein revenue during the month.

The gross GST revenue col-lected in the month of June,this year stood at Rs 90,917crore of which Central GST isRs 18,980 crore, State GST is Rs23,970 crore, Integrated GST isRs 40,302 crore (including Rs15,709 crore collected onimport of goods) and Cess is Rs7,665 crore, the statement said.

"The government collectedgross #GST revenue of Rs90,917 crore in June 2020,which is 91 per cent of the col-lections in June 2019," Officeof Finance Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman said in a tweet.During the month, the rev-

enues from import of goodswere 71 per cent and the rev-enues from domestic transac-tion were 97 per cent of thecollections from these sourcesduring the same month lastyear.

The government has set-t led Rs 13,325 crore toCentral GST and Rs 11,117crore to State GST fromIntegrated GST as regular set-tlement.

The total revenue earned bycentral government and stategovernments after regular set-tlement in June, stood at Rs32,305 crore for Central GSTand Rs 35,087 crore for theState GST.

The government hadallowed a relaxed time sched-ule for filing of GST returnsand returns for the month ofApril, March as well asFebruary got filed during June2020.

The GST investigation armDGGI unearthed Rs 40 crore

tax evasion by an unregisteredpan masala/gutkhamanufacturing unit in thenational capital. Even asmanufacturing, storing, saleand distribution of gutkha isbanned by the Delhigovernment, data from seizeddocuments revealed that theunregistered factory wascarrying out operation evenduring the lockdown period.Based on specific intelligenceinput, the Directorate Generalof Goods and Service TaxIntelligence (DGGI) carried outsearches in the company'smanufacturing unit, an officialstatement said.

GST investigationarm unearths Rs 40 cr by panmasala mfg unit

Ind banks to face asset quality, earning pressure for 2 yrsPNS n NEW DELHI

Indian banks may continue toface heightened asset qualityand earning pressure for at leasttwo years, as disruption tobusiness activity and supplychains and shrinking person-al incomes damage banks' bal-ance sheets, according to areport by Fitch Ratings.

The reported performanceof Indian banks for the finan-cial year ended March 2020does not adequately reflect theincipient stress caused by thepandemic, the rating agencysaid in the report titled 'Indianbanks vulnerable to pandemicrelated stress'.

"Bank balance sheets are yetto feel the impact of India'sstrict lockdown measures that

were implemented by the gov-ernment from March 25.Moreover, a meaningful short-term recovery looks unlikely, asthe acceleration of newCOVID-19 cases threatens thegradual reopening of the econ-omy," it said.

The impaired loan ratios ofIndian banks fell during 2019-20 in line with our expectationsto 8.5 per cent in 2019-20from 9.3 per cent in 2018-19,driven by fewer fresh impairedloans and continued write-offs. Several state-owned banks

also returned to profitabilitydue to easing credit costs, butthe banking sector's return onassets was low.

"Fitch expects heightenedasset quality and earning pres-sure for at least the next twoyears, as disruption to businessactivity and supply chains, aswell as shrinking personalincomes, damage banks' bal-ance sheets,” it said.

Public sector banks (PSBs)were more vulnerable than

private sector banks cominginto the crisis, with weakerloss-absorption buffers, andappear to be shouldering a dis-proportionate share of the bur-den in bailing out affected sec-tors, it added.

Indian banks are likely torequire at least USD 15 billionin fresh capital to meet a 10 percent weighted-average com-mon equity tier-1 ratio undera moderate stress scenario,Fitch said.

The amount would rise toabout USD 58 billion in ahigh-stress situation where thedomestic economy fails torecover from the coronaviruspandemic-related disruption.

PSBs will require the bulk ofthe recapitalisation, as the riskof capital erosion at the state-owned banks is significantlyhigher than their privately-owned peers.

"We expect the majority ofthe injection to come throughin FY22, as bad loan recogni-tion has been pushed back bya 180-day regulatory morato-rium. However, a clearer pic-ture should start to emergefrom December 2020, unlessthe central bank agrees to aone-time loan restructuring,"Fitch said.

Indian banks are likely to require atleast USD 15 billion in fresh capital tomeet a 10 per cent weighted-averagecommon equity tier-1 ratio under amoderate stress scenario

PNS n NEW DELHI

Exporters' body FIEO onWednesday demanded fast res-olution of issues related to'risky exporters' and immedi-ate release of their refunds tohelp them tide over the prob-lems arising due to COVID-19pandemic.

The Federation of IndianExport Organisations (FIEO)said that during the currentcrisis, exporters are already fac-ing problems and the matter ofrisky exporters is furtheradding to their woes.

An exporter is tagged asrisky if the customs depart-ment suspects that duty draw-back claims and IGST refundsare on the basis of bogusinvoices. The consignmentsof risky exporters undergomanual checking before theirclaims are refunded.

The FIEO said that the gov-ernment can take strict actionagainst erring exporters butshould ensure that no innocentis taken to task.

FIEO President S K Sarafsaid delay in duty drawbackand IGST related refund cre-ate issues for exporters and thegovernment should look intothe matter for its early resolu-tion. Sharing similar views,FIEO Regional Chairman

Khalid M Khan said that thegovernment should clearlyinform about the reasons fordeclaring an exporter as "risky"because this tag has severalconsequences for him/her.

"The issues related withrisky exporters should beresolved as early as possibleduring the current Covid-19pandemic time. They shouldnot stop incentives/refundsunder duty drawback andIGST as we are already facingcredit related problems. Thestandard operating procedurewhich a risky exporter has tobe follow is very complex andthere is a need to simplify that,"

Khan said. He also demandedfor reduction in the docu-mentation as it is time-con-suming and tedious.

Khan said that the federa-tion is undertaking a survey tosee the number of riskyexporters in the country andthe total amount of incentivesstuck due to this.

"Exporters have a vestedright of tax refunds unlessthey are proven guilty andalso have the right to know onwhat grounds they are declaredrisky exporters. The CBICshould show cause theexporters before calling themrisky exporters," he added.

‘Resolve risky exporters issueimmediately, release refunds’

PNS n NEW DELHI

Markets regulator Sebi hasslapped a total penalty of Rs25 lakh on Adel LandmarksLtd and its directors formobilizing funds from pub-lic through collective invest-ment schemes (CIS) withoutobtaining registration fromthe regulator.

Rakesh Kumar Gupta,Sumit Bharana, ArvindKumar Birla, RashmiBharana, Sanjay Chawla andManisha Bharana are thedirectors who have beenpenalised.

The regulator had receivedcomplaints against AdelLandmarks regarding ascheme launched by it forpre-booking of plots, follow-ing which it conducted aprobe in the mater.

During the probe, it wasfound that the company andits directors engaged in fundmobilizing activity from pub-lic, which was in the natureof a collective investmentscheme.

In addition, AdelLandmarks had not obtainedregistration under the CISnorms for fund mobilizingactivity from the public, Sebisaid in an order on Tuesday.

Sebi slaps Rs 25L penaltyon AdelLandmarks

CAIT suggests measures to broaden GSTPNS n NEW DELHI

Traders' body CAIT onWednesday suggested a host ofmeasures, like technical auditsand waiver of late fees, tobroaden the GST base andmake the taxation system sim-ple.

The Confederation of AllIndia Traders (CAIT) hasmade the suggestions toFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman as the Goods andServices Tax (GST) regimecompletes three years of imple-mentation.

"The debut of GST in 2017was a big reform. It was intro-duced/ implemented with anaim of one nation one tax andwith a view of removing thecascading effect of taxes andproviding seamless input taxcredit. Government of all statesare working hand in hand

with each other and with theCentre in order to make thislaw more assessee friendly,"said CAIT in a communicationto Sitharaman.

The traders' body congratu-lated the government on com-pletion of three years of GSTimplementation and also

appreciated it for bringinggradual changes as and whensuggested by the trade.

"We are of the view that thecountry requires two moreyears to make GST a stable tax-ation system provided the GSTCouncil takes stakeholders intoconfidence and draw ways andmeans to simplify the system,remove technical glitches,avoid penal actions except onwilful avoidance of tax andmake attempts to encouragemore and more people toembrace GST taxation sys-tem," it said.

Government of all states are working

hand in hand with each other and with

the Centre in order to make this law more

assessee friendly, said CAIT

Murugappa Group eyesCG Power, ready toinvest Rs 750 crores

Rlys scraps tender for cams onfears of favouring Chinese firms PNS n JEDDAH

The Railways has scrapped atender for thermal camerasafter receiving feedback fromvendors that specifications men-tioned for the procurement ofthe equipment may havefavoured a Chinese company,sources said.

The tender for 800 suchcameras was floated by RailwayPSU RailTel last month for theAI-based surveillance camerasthat measure body temperaturesof individuals and even detectwhether a person is wearing amask or not.

A RailTel spokesperson con-firmed that they had invited anExpression of Interest (EOI)application from amongst theempanelled business associates.

"We received representationfrom other vendors that theycan also offer the solution.Hence, to have wider participa-tion and competition, we havecancelled the EOI and are goingin for open EOI, the spokesper-son said. Sources, however, saidthe tender was scrapped after

many Indian vendors in lettersto RailTel raised concerns thatthe specifications mentionedin the tender favoured Chinesecompany Hikvision, one of theworld's largest video surveil-lance companies which current-ly dominates India's CCTVmarket.

Nissan tounveil newcompact SUVon July 16PNS n NEW DELHI

Automaker Nissan India onWednesday said it will unveilits upcoming compact SUV atits global headquarters inJapan on July 16.

The company's first com-pact SUV model in the coun-try - B-SUV - is scheduled tobe introduced in the secondhalf of 2020-21, according toNissan India's statement.

For the first time, the B-SUV concept will be show-cased to the world on July 16,2020, at the global headquar-ters, it said.

Building on company'sglobal SUV heritage andadvanced technology, the newcompact SUV is designed as afeature-rich premium offeringwith stylish design for a strongand dynamic road presence,Nissan India said.

The B-SUV is a testimonyof Nissan's global SUV DNAwhich includes models likePatrol, Pathfinder, Armada, X-Trail, Juke, Qashqai andKICKS, it added.

BASF India completes sale ofchemicals biz for Rs 595 crorePNS n NEW DELHI

BASF India Ltd onWednesday said it has com-pleted the sale of its construc-tion chemicals business toMaster Builders Solutions fora consideration of Rs 595.16crore.

In February, the board ofdirectors had approveddivestiture of the construc-tion chemicals business toMaster Builders SolutionsIndia Pvt Ltd.

The shareholders approvedthe divestiture at their gener-al meeting held throughpostal ballot on April 21,2020.

In a regulatory filing, BASFIndia said the "closing of the

transaction has taken placeand consequently, the compa-ny's construction chemicalsbusiness stands transferred toMaster Builders SolutionsIndia Pvt Ltd with effectfrom 1st July, 2020."

"The company has receivedan overall consideration ofRs. 595.16 crores towardsthe said divestiture," it added.

With restrictions andlockdown extending and the

state government mulling overmore in the coming weeks, people have

been finding various means to keepthemselves busy and entertained. The

Pioneer's RACHEL DAMMALAspeaks to the members of variousFood Clubs on how they've been

honing their survival skillsduring the lockdown

We know kids beingat home for thesemany months hasbecome tiring for someparents so we thought whynot keep the kids busy andhence the contest. We also had a‘Beat the Heat’ contest in summerwhere people made and sharedhealth benefits of good,homemade drinks.

HIMARAJA KAUDIK

CO-FOUNDER

OF THE GROUP

I’m more into gourmetfood. I’ve recently taken tocooking exotic dishes withwhatever is available at homeduring this lockdown. Recently, Ididn’t have certain ingredients athome, but I used other ingredientsas substitutes. People have beenasking me to share more aboutthis, which is why I hope to start afood blog soon.

HARIKA BANTUPALLI

The idea was shared withone and it spread to morethan 68,000 people with loveand turned out to be one bigfoodie family. I love to cookand explore all Continental,Desi and Hyderabadi dishesespecially the colloquialNawabi cuisine.

PREM GONUENTREPRENEUR

BONDING OVER FOOD,FUN AND MORE

f you haven’tbeen livingunder a rockyou would’venoticed howalmost everyone

you followed on Instagramor elsewhere kept postingpictures of the variousdishes they tried to cook.Yes, of the many thingskeeping people busy, cook-ing has become the mostpopular one and all for theright reasons.

With more people tak-ing to cooking in the pastfew months, several haveeither started followingfood/cooking channels onYouTube or such accountson Instagram. While someothers joined groups onFacebook that broughtmore foodies and cookingenthusiasts together andmade things more interac-tive than other socialmedia groups. Of themany, one of the mostpopular and active groupshas to be the HyderabadyFoodies Club with over68,000 members. You cango look it up on the appand find at least one ofyour friends to be a part ofthis group.

What happens in thisgroup is not very differentthan any other such groupon social media. Foodiesand cooking enthusiastsput up pictures of whateverthey’ve aced cooking oreating. And the pictureshave people asking forrecipes and evening somementioning nutritional val-ues. So food and health atthe same time!

Prem Gonu, anEntrepreneur by professionbut a food enthusiast and atrue blue Hyderabadi atheart, founded the HFC.The idea was shared withone and it spread to morethan 68,000 people withlove and turned out to beone big foodie family. Headds “I love to cook andexplore all Continental,Desi and Hyderabadi dish-es especially the colloquialNawabi cuisine.” A newdish he explored duringthe lockdown is the ShaadiWala Dum ka Murg.

Himaraja Kaudiki, oneof the co-founders andadmins of the group says

that the group has beenkeeping people hookedwith various contestsincluding one for the littleones, called the JuniorChef Champion. “Weknow kids being at homefor these many months hasbecome tiring for someparents so we thought whynot keep the kids busy andhence the contest. We alsohad a ‘Beat the Heat’ con-test in summer where peo-ple made and sharedhealth benefits of good,homemade drinks. Oncethe situation outside goesback to normal, we willhave a ceremony to awardall our winners of all thesecontests. Most of thesecontests have been theme-based and it was so muchfun,” says Himaraja.

Just like this 31-year-oldwho has his other job, thegroup has several like him,people from differentwalks of life, all comingtogether for the love offood. Himaraja loves tocook Hyderabad disheslike Haleem, Paya, etc., andtook time to explore theart of baking this lock-down. “We aim to promotethe beautiful, age-oldauthentic Nizami cuisineof Hyderabad that notmany are aware of,” sharesHimaraja.

Festivals are a rich cul-

tural extravaganza in thisgroup. There is no stop-ping, at sharing, eating, orcooking. Apart from these,the group is also a hub ofpeople sharing and gainingknowledge of healthy andnutritious food.

One of the active mem-bers of the group, HarikaBantupalli, who is a writer,editor, and so many thingsmore, is also an avid loverof food and enjoys cook-ing. So much so, that she’smulling creating a foodblog soon. “I’m more intogourmet food. I’ve recentlytaken to cooking exoticdishes with whatever isavailable at home duringthis lockdown. Recently, Ididn’t have certain ingredi-ents at home, but I usedother ingredients as substi-tutes. People have beenasking me to share moreabout this, which is why Ihope to start a food blogsoon,” informs the 26-year-old who hopes to perfectthe art of baking soon.

Sandeep KumarChiranjeevi is another foodlover but is happier eatingthan cooking. But since thelockdown and the risk ofoutside food brought himto his knees, he cookedthrough the past monthsand tried his hand at manydelicacies, and believes hewill soon be able to crack

Haleem too. “My signature breakfast

is maggie and omelet andeveryone in the groupknows it. I experimentaround it. I’ve also enjoyedcooking the past fewmonths, giving my better-half a break,” shares the 38-year-old businessman.

Another active memberof the group and one of theadmins, Naveen Kolluguri,fancies eating over cookingbut did try out a few dishesrecently.

“I hope someday I’d beable to prepare Haggies, aScottish dish because itisn’t available here,” sharesNaveen.

The group hopes to havea meet-up post the lock-down like they do regular-ly, and have contest out-doors soon. They hope togo back to reviewingrestaurants, exploring dif-ferent cuisines together,learning more about differ-ent cultures through food.Their immediate focus lieson educating their mem-bers on various attemptsrestaurants have beenmaking to win their cus-tomers back post-COVID-19. “We have food compa-nies showing us how theirfocus, apart from healthand taste, is also onhygiene and care,” informsHimaraja.

I

SUMATI R

SAREENA

DEEPALI BANSAL

ELAKSHI PHUKAN

ARCHANA P

SIKHA DEY

RAGINI KUMARI

NARMADA

VASANTHAN

SHENAAZ

TABASSUM

ZAREENA MV

LIST OF WINNERS:

Celebrating the entrepreneurialdreams of homemakers

arie Gold is fund-ing the dreamsand aspirations often homemakersacross the coun-try! Yes, you read

it right, with BritanniaMarieGold-MystartupContest, tenconsumers of BritanniaMarie Gold had theopportunity to kick starttheir dream venture witha sum of Rs 10 lakh each.

The contest was dividedinto two parts whereinthe housewives had toanswer three basic ques-tions as they plan toembark on their entre-preneurial journey and ifthey liked what changemakers have written, theorganisation will wantthem to travel to meetthem in person!Adapting to the new nor-mal very diligently,

Britannia Marie Goldorganised My Marie MyStart-up 2.0’s grand finalewith grandeur at a cus-tomised online platformwhich was hosted byRidhima Pathak.

It all started with fif-teen lakh entries and thejury managed to filter out10,000 participants, alongwith an awardee of anonline reward of havingan online entrepreneur-ship training programfunded by national skilldevelopment corpora-tion. Moving forward to arigorous selection out ofthe 10,000 entriesBritannia got its final fiftywinners!

“We at NSDC are veryhappy to associate withthis campaign. From ourpoint of view, it ticks offthree very important pri-orities that are to increasethe participation ofwomen in the workforce,the importance of entre-

preneurship in our coun-try, and lastly encourage-ment of digital archwaysof learning. We look for-ward to providing agreater number of oppor-tunities to women across-the-board,” expressesVandana Bhatnagar, chiefprogram officer ofNSDC.

Marigold is a house-hold name for a verylong time now. The fast-moving consumer goodscompany has expandedinto new categories suchas cream wafers andmilkshakes, which havebeen witnessing healthysales. It’s a valued teatime accompaniment inIndian households, buttimes have gotten betternow. Currently, it’s serv-ing as fuel to homemak-ers’ entrepreneurialdreams. “A gentle nudgeand the right skilling iswhat they all need, wehad an overwhelming

response. We are proudof every home-maker,everybody's presentationwas mind-blowing! Theyhave all inspired me,"adds VinaySubramaniam,Marketing Head ofBritannia.

The 21st century isseeing a transcendentalchange in women’s rolesfrom being a simplehousewife to an entre-preneur. They are over-coming the traditionalmindsets, standing talland working towardsshouldering theirresponsibilities in allfields! Communicatingher excitement on theannouncement of win-ners, one of the partici-pants says, “I believed inmyself, I knew I coulddo this. I am hoping topave my way into theworld of business while Iwill manage my house-hold responsibilities.”

M

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Vijayawada Thursday July 2 2020 what’s brewing?

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

ith theatres shutdue to the lock-down, shootingshaving justresumed and pro-motions kept on

hold, the movie business is inno mood to slow down theirentertainment saga! In themeantime, Disney+hotstar isset to revolutionise the wayhundreds of millions ofIndians watch movies withthe launch of Disney+ HotstarMultiplex around the globewith some Bollywood block-busters on board that areready to roll. FilmstarsAkshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn,Abhishek Bachan, Alia Bhatt,Vidyut Jamwala, and KunalKemmu will be releasing theirmovies on this digital plat-form in the next few months.

The first movie of Disney+Hotstar Multiplex will be DilBechara, starring late SushantSingh Rajput, and to com-memorate his invaluable con-tribution to the Hindi cinema,this movie will be available toall. Let’s check out the upcom-ing Bollywood movies thatwill be releasing online andwhat do the actors have to sayabout the smooth shift fromtheatrical releases to an OTTplatform.

Akshay Kumar'sLaxmmi Bomb

Laxmi Bomb features

Akshay Kumar and KiaraAdvani, which is a horror-comedy directed by RaghavaLawrence. It revolves arounda man possessed by the ghostof a transgender. “The moviestays true to its genre andreminds me of my shootingdays from Bhool Bhulaiyaa,it’s a light-hearted horrorcomedy film with a strongsocial message attached to itand I hope to deliver a top-notch performance,” saysAkshay Kumar. An actor whois known for essaying extraor-dinary roles says he will con-tinue to maintain his pattern.The hatke moment of hisupcoming release will showAkshay donning a saree andhe tells how difficult was it forhim to shoot in one. “Initiallymy stylist used to be aroundme since either the sareetends to slip from my shoul-der or create difficulties whilewalking, it was quite tricky.Yet, I urge all my fans to try itout once in their lifetime,”adds the action entertainer.Speaking on OTT v/s cinema,the actor says it’s the balanceof power that’s going to takeplace although he missesgoing to the world of theatres."I still remember when I wasyoung, it was our family tradi-tion to watch every newlyreleased film at the Roopamtheatre with some refresh-ments, because we loved

doing that as a family,” heshares.

Ajay Devgn's Bhuj

Bhuj: The Pride of India, isa war action film set duringthe 1971 Indo-Pakistani war.Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha,Sharad Kelkar, Amy Virk, andNora Fatehi will join Ajay inplaying pivotal roles.Acknowledging the contribu-tion of his co-stars, Ajay felteveryone was quite motivatedand believed in the script todeliver a successful multi-lay-ered film. Believing that OTTplatforms are here to stay, theRaid actor, on the transitionto online platforms, says,“Consumers are loading uptheir smartphones withstreaming apps which comeswith its own advantages. OTTallows audiences to watch ourmovies at their convenience,and we can always co-exist.It's an extensive decision torelease our films online andthere will be no more fightsamidst producers and distrib-utors over theatrical releases.”

Alia Bhatt's Sadak 2

Sadak 2 is an upcomingIndian romantic thriller filmdirected by Mahesh Bhatt.The sequel stars Sanjay Dutt,Alia Bhatt, Pooja Bhatt, andAditya Roy Kapur. “When Iwas in school, the Bhattcamp’s songs were a hit!

Everybody went gaga overthem. I had always dreamt ofworking with my father andit’s happening finally. I amextremely excited. Beforejoining today’s webcast for thebig announcement, I was hes-itant. My whole team choseme as the representative toreveal our movie poster. Ourfilm poster has a specialthought behind this. I askedmy father what was I going tospeak about it? What if themedia asks me where are thecharacters in the poster? etcfor which he said. “Mt.Kailash as shown in the posteris the ageless mountain thathas the footprints of God andsages. It’s the abode of theGod of all gods — Lord Shivaso do we really need anyoneelse in the sacred place Alia”and I was stunned as usual!My father always says that afilmmaker’s destination is theaudience’s heart. Disney+Hotstar VIP gives us thatopportunity to connect withour audience all across thecountry,” expresses Alia Bhatton the new look of Sadak 2.The Raazi actor is all thrilledto enter this booming space ofentertainment and is alsoopen to experimenting withany upcoming web series.

Abhishek Bachan's Big Bull

Junior AB is all set for a

comeback with Big Bull after avoluntary break. The moviewill also be starring Ileana DCruz as his leading lady. It’s abiopic on the life of stock mar-ket king Harshad Mehta pro-duced and is produced byAjay Devgn. “Given the situa-tion around, we were uncer-tain when theatres wouldresume filming movies. Ourteam came to a collective deci-sion to release our film on theweb instead. The productionhouse will also recover itsinvestment from the same. Mymovie will keep audienceshooked till the very end. I’mglad that the movie will laun-ch on a platform like Disney+Hotstar VIP where peoplefrom across the country willbe able to enjoy it uponrelease,” shares Abhishek. Theactor misses shooting on setsand is eager to go back.

The celebs seemedextremely excited about theirnew releases at the virtualpress conference and consid-ered OTT to be a vast plat-form. “Film industry willexpand eventually, theatreswon't lose its importance. Wearen't indulging in a shortterm tactical compromise butmoving towards a very hugeleap. Theatres will always havethe birthright for movies,”concluded Uday Shankar,president, Walt DisneyCompany, India.

Priyanka Chopra on makingway into Hollywood: Had toswallow my pride

ctress PriyankaChopra Jonas saysthe first thing shehad to do whenshe tried to make acareer in the US

was to swallow her pride.After garnering fame in

Bollywood, Priyanka start-ed her journey inHollywood about eightyears ago.

“When I got the oppor-tunity to come to Americaand get representation, Iremember the first thingthat I had to do was swal-low my pride,” variety.comquoted Priyanka as saying.

“I had to explain who Iwas and what I wanted todo. There have been someincredibly prolific Indianactors that have worked inAmerican movies and havedone incredible work —like Irrfan Khan, Tabu,Anupam Kher, AmitabhBachchan — and outsideof Indian Americans likeMindy Kaling and AzizAnsari, there was noprecedent for havingsomeone who was anIndian immigrant fromoutside of the Americanculture to come in andbreak global entertain-ment,” she added.

She made her USdebut as a voice actorin Disney’s animatedPlanes. In 2015, shelanded the starringrole in the TV series,Quantico.

The actress recallswhen she was ateenager watchingSarah MichelleGellar in Buffythe Vampire

Slayer, and seeking inspira-tion from the character.

“I was like, ‘That’s who Iwant to be’. She was anamazing teenage idol. Butwhat if at 13, I had seensomeone who looked likeme? The only person that Isaw at that time who wasculturally representative ofme was Apu from TheSimpsons, and he wasplayed by a white guy,which I found out muchlater, obviously. But as ateenager, I didn't see repre-sentation of myself inAmerican pop culture oreven global pop cultureoutside of the stereotypicalcaricatures of SouthAsians,” she said.

Now, the actress hassigned a two-year multi-million-dollar first-looktelevision deal withAmazon.

She is also collaboratingwith Amazon on two tele-vision projects: Sangeet anunscripted series co-pro-duced with her husband,

Nick Jonas, based on theIndian pre-wedding tradi-tion in which the familiesof the bride and groomcompete against each otherin song and dance, andCitadel, Anthony and JoeRusso’s spy series in whichshe will star with RichardMadden.

“My quest really is to beable to tell female stories,work with creators fromaround the world and cre-ate a cross-pollination ofstorytelling,” said theactress, adding: “Amazon issuch a great partner to dothat because their reachand outlook is so global.My Amazon television dealis a global deal, so I can doHindi language, I can doEnglish language, I can dowhatever language I want.”

According tovariety.com, a report pub-lished in May, researchfirm Media Partners Asiaforecast that Amazon willreach 17 million sub-scribers in the country in2020, just behind marketleader Disney+ Hotstar,with 18 million.

The actress is also lead-ing Sheela, a feature basedon the Netflix docu-seriesWild Wild Country. Shewill star as Ma AnandSheela, assistant to guruBhagwan Rajneesh. Shewill next be seen inNetflix’s We Can Be Heroeswith director RobertRodriguez, as well as TheWhite Tiger. She is alsoshooting for The Matrix 4,which recently resumedfilming after productionwas halted by the coron-avirus pandemic.

A

Knock knock: Big-ticketcinema at your doorstep now!W

AFP n GENOA

Juventus maintained their four-point lead at the top of Serie

A on Tuesday after strolling toa 3-1 win at Genoa that keepschasers Lazio at bay despite theircomeback triumph at Torino.

Three stunning individualgoals from Paulo Dybala,Cristiano Ronaldo and DouglasCosta downed relegation-threat-ened Genoa and kept MaurizioSarri on course to deliver Juve’sninth straight league title in hisfirst season as coach.

Andrea Pinamonti pulledone back with 14 minutes left forthe struggling hosts, who stayjust one point above thedrop zone and third-from-bottom Lecce, who hostGenoa’s local rivalsSampdoria on Wednesdaynight.

Pinamonti's strike was thefirst goal Juve have concededsince losing at Lyon in February,but it wasn’t enough to stop thechampions from cruising totheir sixth straight league win.

“It was a good team effortand we scored three brilliantgoals,” said Sarri. “The team have

recovered well after thedisappointment of losingthe Italian Cup final, it wasonly a matter of time.”

LAZIO CCOMEBACKEarlier, Lazio had done

their part when they camefrom behind again to win 2-1against struggling Torino.

Ciro Immobile’s 29thleague goal of another remark-

able season for the Italy for-ward and Marco Parolo’sdeflected strike in the 73rdminute completed a deservedsecond-half comeback forLazio, who had clawed theirway to a 2-1 win overFiorentina in similar fashionjust two days earlier.

Andrea Belotti gave thehosts an early lead from thepenalty spot after Immobilehandled but spent the rest ofthe match on the back foot andare 14th on 31 points.

11VIJAYAWADA | THURSDAY | JULY 2, 2020

‘SANE BBELIEVE HHE WWILL BBE HHAPPIER AAT BBAYERN’Manchester: Man City manager Pep Guardiola onWednesday conceded that forward Leroy Sane is on hisway to Bayern Munich. Speaking during pre-matchconference, Pep revealed that the transfer is almostdone and Sane is on his way back to Germany. “Lookslike, if not already, done” Guardiola told reporters.“There are still some little issues. Wish him all the beston his new chapter. “He will have another chapter at afantastic club in Bayern Munich. He wanted to leave.Everyone has their own life and he decided to move on.“I would have loved for him to stay but he believed hewould be better and happier there,” he added.

INDIA SSUBMIT BBID TTO HHOST 22027 AASIAN CCUP London: India has bid for the 2027 Asian Cup hostingrights along with four other countries — Iran, Qatar,Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan. “The AFC will now workwith each Bidding Member Association on the deliveryof the necessary bidding documentation in accordancewith the bidding process and will announce the host forthe 19th edition of the AFC Asian Cup in 2021,” said theAFC in a statement.

CSL SSEASON WWILL SSTART OON JJULY 225 Beijing: Chinese Football Association on Wednesdayannounced that the postponed Chinese Super League2020 season, which was originally scheduled to beginon February 22, will kick off on July 25. Suzhou, insouth China's Jiangsu Province, and Dalian, in thenorthern Liaoning Province, have been selected as thetwo host cities to start the season, said the CFA, withoutmentioning a specific league format in the statement.

SAKA SSIGNS LLONG-TTERM AARSENAL DDEAL London: Premier League side Arsenal have signed anew long-term deal with 18-year-old winger BukayoSaka. Saka has been at the club since the age of seven.He made his debut in a Europa League match on Nov 18and has since made 34 first-team appearances. Sakahas assisted 11 goals and is the first teenager to do sofor Arsenal since Cesc Fabregas in the 2006/07 season.

BBEELLLL EEXXTTEENNDDSS WWAARRWWIICCKKSSHHIIRREE SSTTAAYY TTIILLLL 22002211Birmingham: Veteran England batsman Ian Bell hassigned one-year contract extension with Warwickshirethat will see him tied down to the club till 2021. Bell hasbeen one of the most decorated cricketers in club’shistory having won six domestic trophies and scoring17,350 runs, with 38 centuries, across all formats.

NAGAL WWINS PPSD BBANK NNORD OOPEN TTOURNEY Berlin: Rising tennis star Sumit Nagal has become thefirst Indian to win an international tournament in theCovid-19 era after he lifted the PSD Bank Nord Opentrophy, a locally organised clay court tournament inGermany. Nagal, who is currently India's highest-rankedsingles player at 127, recently defeated second seedGerman Daniel Masur 6-1, 6-3 in the final match at thetournament held at the Pinneberg tennis club.

TT SSTARS EEXTEND HHELP TTO FFRATERNITY MMEMBERSNew Delhi: India players Sharath Kamal & G Sathiyanwill be extending financial help to more than 130 needymembers of the table tennis fraternity amid the Covid-19 pandemic after raising more than Rs 13 lakh forcharity. The needy will receive a one-time grant of`10000 each. Former player Neha Aggarwal is helpingSharath and Sathiyan in the initiative. Financial help willbe provided to players, coaches and umpires who havebeen hit hard by the financial impact of the pandemic.

SINGLES

AFP n BARCELONA

Lionel Messi scored his 700th careergoal but Barcelona suffered anotherblow to their La Liga title hopes after

a 2-2 draw with Atletico Madrid onTuesday.

Messi chipped in a penalty to reachanother astonishing milestone at CampNou but Atletico hit back twice with spot-kicks of their own, Saul Niguez convert-ing both after Barca took an early leadthrough Diego Costa’s own goal.

The result gives Real Madrid thechance to move four points clear at the topof the table if they can overcome Getafeat home on Thursday, a formidable leadwith five games left. Atletico stay third, twopoints ahead of Sevilla, who won 3-0 atLeganes.

With a superior head-to-head, itwould take a dramatic capitulation for RealMadrid not to lift the trophy from here butthere is no guarantee Barcelona can fin-ish strongly enough even to create pres-sure.

This was their third draw in fourmatches and with suggestions of dishar-mony between the players and coachingstaff, the future of coach Quique Setienlooks bleak too.

“From the dressing room I feel sup-ported, yes,” he said. “And regarding themeeting with the board, I will not say whatwas said in that.”

Setien was also asked about his job onMonday and had to play down the signif-icance of a frank exchange of views in thedressing room following Saturday’s drawat Celta Vigo.

Messi had also caused a stir byappearing to ignore Setien’s assistant EderSarabia during a water break at Vigoand on Tuesday it was impossible toignore the contrast with Atletico’splayers, who huddled around DiegoSimeone while 50 metres awaySetien stood alone.

At full-time, Setien stared intospace with the look of a coach that is run-ning out of time but he had taken bolddecisions, leaving 120-million-euro sign-ing Antoine Griezmann on the bench andhanding another start to 20-year-oldRiqui Puig.

“It’s true that taking him out of theteam like that is hard for a player of hislevel but the circumstances forced me to

do it,” said Setien of Griezmann.“Tomorrow I will speak to him, not toapologise, but it is a decision he has tounderstand.”

COSTA NNIGHTMAREYet it started well for them as Costa

endured a nightmare first quarter ofan hour, first diverting Messi’s cor-ner into his own net after misjudg-ing the flight of the ball at the nearpost.

Then he missed a penalty, wonafter the excellent Yannick Carrasco

left Gerard Pique for dead and then cutback inside Arturo Vidal, who stuck outa leg.

Costa’s shot was saved but VARshowed ter Stegen had sprung off his linetoo early and Atletico were given a secondchance. This time Saul took the ball andhe scored the equaliser.

Messi dinked over the sliding Renan

Lodi and then whistled a curling effort pastthe far post. His deflected free-kick forcedJan Oblak to adjust his feet and palm over.

Finally, it was laid on a plate for himshortly after half-time. Felipe clippedNelson Semedo and Messi, with the700th in sight, chipped the ball delicate-ly down the middle.

But every time Barca pulled away,Atletico pegged them back. Anotherpenalty was awarded, again instigated bythe speedy Carrasco, who made the mostof the slightest touch from Semedo.

Saul took responsibility again andwhile Ter Stegen got a hand to it, the ballsquirmed into the corner.

Vidal twice went close, the secondtime heading wide Jordi Alba’s cross, andThomas Lemar might even have won itfor Atletico in injury-time. For Barca, thedraw was damaging enough.

Earlier, Sevilla’s Oliver Torres scoredtwice and Munir El Haddadi added a thirdto see off Leganes and boost their hopesof holding onto fourth place.

Sevilla sit five points ahead of Getafe,having played a game more. Leganes stay19th, nine points adrift of safety.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Former South Africa skipper A Bde Villiers said that the semifinal

loss to New Zealand in the 2015World Cup wore him down for abouta year and played a huge role in hissudden decision to retire fromInternational cricket.

South Africa were leftheartbroken when they suf-fered a four-wicket loss toNew Zealand via D/L methodin a rain-affected 2015 WorldCup semifinal and deVilliers accepted thathe had struggledto come toterms with it.

“ T h a treally wore medown a touchbut I kept playing,I tried to bite the bul-let, I tried to be there. Iwas batting really well. Istill had incredible friend-ships and memories,” de

Villiers said during a Cricbuzz inConversation show hosted by HarshaBhogle.

The 36-year-old, regarded asone of the greatest batsmen of alltime, had called time on his 14-year-old International cricket in 2018despite being at the peak of his game.

De Villiers had then said that heran ‘out of gas’ and ‘was feeling tired’as the reasons behind his retirement.

However, the former Proteaskipper said that the New Zealanddefeat played a role in his sudden

decision.“From a personal

point of view, it playeda huge role,” said de

Villiers, who hasscored 8765runs in 114 Tests

and 9577 runs in228 ODIs respec-

tively for SouthAfrica.“We got beaten by

sport on the night and it wasactually a beautiful thing but it

was difficult for me to get throughthat year and to specifically meet upwith the team again a few monthslater, having to go again.

“Here we go again, we have torestart but I am like hold on, I am notover this World Cup. It hurt toomuch. So yes, I am sensitive andthose kinds of things play a huge rolein how I feel and my ambitions,” deVilliers said.

South Africa have been peren-nial under-achievers at the WorldCup, having faced massive disap-pointments in the 1992 and 1999 edi-tions.

De Villiers said he struggled tocope with the 2015 loss for about ayear and regrets not opening upabout his emotions.

“The next 12 months was real-ly tough for me. Maybe I should’vebeen more honest about it when Ilook back and communicated aboutit. I felt like I was a little bit alone atthe time but it’s silly to say that you’realone if you don’t seek help, if youdon’t talk about it,” he said.

JO’BURG: The postponed3TCricket competition, whichwould mark the resumption ofLive cricket in South Africafollowing the coronavirus-forced break, will be held onJuly 18.

The Solidarity Cup, whichwill see 24 of South Africa’s topcricketers feature in threeteams playing two halves in asingle match, was scheduled tobe held on June 27 but waspostponed indefinitely afterCSA felt more work was need-ed to stage it.

The teams that will takepart in the match are theEagles, to be captained by ABde Villiers, Kingfishers, to beled by Kagiso Rabada and theKites, which will have Quintonde Kock as skipper.

The announcement of thenew date comes a day afterSouth Africa’s 44 cricketers,who are part of a men’s highperformance squad, returnedto training amid after gettingapproval from the country’ssports ministry. PTI

PTI n SOUTHAMPTON

England coach ChrisSilverwood believes star all-

rounder Ben Stokes will make upfor a great leader when hereplaces Joe Root as captain forthe first Test against the WestIndies starting here at AgeasBowl on July 8.

Having never led a side infirst-class cricket, star all-rounder Stokes will be captain-ing the national team for the firsttime in his career.

“I think he will do a greatjob. He is a talisman, isn’t he? Heleads from the front anyway. Heis conscious of the people aroundhim as well so I think he will doa great job in Joe Root’s absence,”Silverwood was quoted as say-ing by The Guardian.

“We know he has got anaggressive nature but equallythere is a good cricket brain inthere as well. I think he will bequite vocal about what moves he

is making out there.“I’m looking forward to

working with him from a coach-ing point of view. I will extendhim the same courtesies I doRooty. He will have a lot of sayin what is going on and he willplay a big part in giving his opin-ions in selection as well,” he said.

Silverwood also revealedthat Jos Buttler will be Stokesdeputy in the opening Test.

COLOMBO: Former Sri Lanka captainKumar Sangakkara has been asked torecord his statement in front of a spe-cial investigating unit of the SportsMinistry probing allegations that thecountry’s 2011 World Cup Finalloss to India was fixed, localmedia reported.

Sangakkara was captainof the Sri Lankan team at thattime.

According to local news-paper Daily Mirror, which

quoted SSP W A J H Fonseka, a SpecialInvestigation Division of the Ministryof Sports has asked Sangakkara torecord his statement.

Sangakkara has been asked toappear before the unit on

Thursday at 9 am, according tothe report. The special unit also

recorded statements from SriLanka batting legend Aravinda DeSilva, who was chairman of theselection committee at that time,and the opening batsman of thatmatch Upul Tharanga.

Saul Niguez celebrates after he scores Atletico Madrid’s second goal against Barcelona La Liga/Twitter

FIGURATIVELY

700Lionel Messi has scoredhis 700th first-team goalfor Barcelona (630) and

Argentina (70)

2Atlético de Madrid have scored twogoals in a LaLiga game against Barcafor the first time under Simeone

3Barcelona have drawn three of theirlast four LaLiga games (W1), asmany as they had in their previous 26

matches in competition (W19 D3 L4)

1Diego Costa has scored an own goalfor the first time in the top-flight (194appearances in LaLiga and 89 in

Premier League)

2Takefusa Kubo has become theyoungest foreign player to assist twogoals in a La Liga game in the 21st

century (19 years & 26 days)

100Iago Aspas has become thesecond player to reach 100goals for Celta in LaLiga,

after Manuel Hermida (104)

SAULBETTER CALL

Niguez converts twicefrom spot to cancel

Barca’s advantage asholders title hopestake another blow

Dybala, Ronaldo & Costa score brilliant goals tokeep Sarri’s men on course of ninth straight title

Juve win. Again

Manohar steps down as ICC chairmanPNS n NEW DELHI

Shashank Manohar onWednesday stepped down

as the International CricketCouncil’s first independentchairman, ending a stintwhich coincided with theBCCI losing its influence inthe world body.

Manohar took charge asICC Chairman in November2015. His deputy ImranKhwaja, from Hong Kong,

will be the interim chairman.“ICC Chairman Shashank

Manohar has stepped downafter two, two-year tenuresat its helm. The ICCBoard met today(Wednesday) and agreedthat Deputy ChairmanImran Khwaja wil lassume the responsibili-ties of the Chairpersonuntil a successoris elected,”ICC stated

in a release.The process for the elec-

tion of the next chairperson isexpected to be approved

by the ICC Boardwithin the nextweek. Former ECBchairman ColinGraves and India’sSourav Ganguly are

the main con-tenders

e v e n

though the former India skip-per’s candidature depends onthe whether Supreme Courtwould allow him to continueas BCCI President by relaxingthe cooling off norms man-dated by the Lodha adminis-trative reforms.

Former Cricket WestIndies head Dave Cameron,New Zealand’s Gregor Barclay,Cricket South Africa’s ChrisNenzani have also showninterest at different times.

CWI official calls forcoach Simmons’ removalLONDON: A Cricket West Indies board officialhas sought the “immediate removal” of headcoach Phil Simmons for moving out of theteam’s bio-secure location to attend his father-in-law’s funeral ahead of the three-Test seriesagainst England. CWI board member CondeRiley, who also heads BCA, called Simmons’actions reckless despite the fact that the for-mer West Indies all-rounder had taken CWI’spermission and has now quarantined himself.

Sanga asked to give statement in Lanka’s 2011 WC probe

Live cricket in

SA from July 18 2015 WC loss played hugerole in sudden retirement: AB

Stokes will do great jobas skipper: Silverwood

Juventus' Douglas Costa, second right, celebrates after scoring a goal AP

Ben Stokes bowls during England’straining session ahead of WI series AP

ANew York judge on Tuesday temporarily halted the publicationof a "tell-all" book by Donald Trump's niece that dubs the US

president "the world's most dangerous man." The temporaryrestraining order prevents the release of the 240-page book untilat least a July 10 court hearing that will see Mary Trump and herpublisher, Simon & Schuster, defend its publication. Thepresident's brother, Robert Trump, had initially asked a court inQueens to issue the temporary restraining order, which wasrejected. He said Mary was violating a non-disclosure agreementshe signed in 2001 after the same courtsettled a contentious fight over theestate of real estate tycoonFred Trump -- the father ofDonald and Robert and ofMary's father Fred Trump Jr,who died in 1981. TheQueens judge said he wasnot the right jurisdiction toseek an injunction againstthe book.

After Ind bans chinese apps,

US appeals similar action

Groom who died had 400at wed, 200 at cremationM

ore than 100 people in Bihar havetested positive for coronavirus after

attending the wedding — and thenfuneral — of the groom, whoreportedly tied the knot while he wasill with the disease. Officials said onWednesday the 26-year-old groomhad symptoms of the deadly viruswhen he got married on June 15. Hedied two days later."So far 111 peoplewho either attended the wedding or the funeralhave tested positive," said Raj Kishor Chaudhary, chief medicalofficer in Patna. "All others have been identified and isolated."Doctors are not certain the unnamed groom was the source of theinfection as he was cremated before tests could be carried out.But MChaudhary said around 400 people who attended thewedding or funeral will be isolated following a spurt in infections.The groom, a software engineer who returned home from nearDelhi only a week before the wedding, had shown symptomsbefore the nuptials. He was briefly admitted to a hospital, but hisfamily had him discharged and hosted the wedding with over 300guests. He died at his home two days later, with nearly 200people attending the funeral. Some had attended both. None ofthe groom's relatives — including his bride — tested positive,officials said. Authorities have launched an investigation intopossible violations of social distancing regulations on the numberof guests at both the wedding and the funeral.

India's ban on 59 Chinese apps, including the popular TikTokapp, has been widely noted in the US, including by some

prominent lawmakers, who have urged the Americangovernment to follow suit as it is widely believed that the shortvideo-sharing app is a major security risk to the country. Indiaon Monday banned 59 apps with Chinese links, includingTikTok and UC Browser, saying they were prejudicial tosovereignty, integrity and security of the country. The ban,which comes in the backdrop of India's current stand-off alongthe Line of Actual control in Ladakh with Chinese troops, isalso applicable for WeChat and Bigo Live. "India bans TikTokand dozens of other Chinese apps in the wake of deadly clash,"powerful Republican Senator John Cornyn said in a tweet ashe tagged a news report in The Washington Post.

MostReadN

EW

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3-year-old boy survivesJ&K terror attack

Sopore, Jammu And Kashmir: A three-year-old boy survived ashis grandfather was killed in a terror attack on the Central

Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Jammu and Kashmir's Soporetown this morning. A CRPF jawan was also killed in the line of dutyas terrorists opened fire on a patrol team. In heart-wrenchingimages, the child is seen sitting on the blood-splattered body ofhis grandfather, a civilian caught in the crossfire. The boy wasnumb with fear when he was picked up by policemen. A videoshows him sobbing in a police van as biscuits and chocolates areoffered to him.The Kashmir police also tweeted a photo of thechild being carried to safety by a policeman. "Jammu and Kashmirpolice rescued a three-year-old boy from getting hit by bulletsduring the terrorist attack in Sopore," said the tweet by theKashmir Zone Police.

Trump’s niece book that dubs

him ‘dangerous man’ blocked

rakash Raj, who isone of the mostsought-after actorsacross the whole ofSouth, is making hisHindi OTT debut

with the show Line of Fire, athriller dotted with conspira-cies. To be predominantly shotin the UAE beginning later thismonth, the show will be a jointproduction of sorts betweenBollywood producer GaurangDoshi of Aankhen fame andUAE businessman SuhailMohammad Al Zarooni. Theidea is to film two seasons ofthe show in UAE.

VijayRaaz,JimmyShergill,MohammedZeeshan Ayyub,Tanuj Virwani,TannishthaChatterjee, KabirSingh, Sana Saeed,Manu Rishi and TanviAzmi are among a host ofothers who are a part of theshow. Prakash Raj is alsobelieved to have a signed ashow for Anil Sunkara’s AKEntertainments as well. But thedetails are tightly guarded.

outhern starSamantha Akkineniis happy for every-one making it toJuly.

Samantha took toInstagram, where she posted apicture of herself doing aerialyoga. She is seen performingan inverted pose as she hangswith a help of a cloth. Theactress is dressed in a grey

T-shirt and blue pants.“Congratulations you

and I made it to July,”she wrote alongside

the image.Samantharecently shared

her specialreason for

loving

yoga, saying it is because shegets to practice yoga along withhubby Naga Chaitanya.

The actress, who was lastseen in the Telugu film Jaanu,has made a name for herself inTamil and Telugu film indus-tries. She is known for her per-formances in films such as YeMaaya Chesave, Neethaane EnPonvasantham, Eega, Mersaland Rangasthalam. Sheimpressed all with herrole in Super Deluxelast year.

She will nextbe seen inKaathuvaakulaRendu Kaadhal,starring VijaySethupathi. Thefilm also starsNayanthara. It is directed byVignesh Shivan.

oorg girlSanchithaPoonacha, who ismaking her filmdebut with LoveLife & Pakodi,

directed by Jayanth Gali, saysthat as someone who didn’texpress a lot in life, she chosemediums like theatre, actingand yoga that helped her toexpress. “I would say I wasmore drawn towards perfor-mance and communicationthan acting. When I wasdoing theatre, I thought I’dstick with it, but with cinemaoffering you to reach a largenumber of people, I thoughtwhy not?,” the actress, whohas a degree in Theatre,Media and English literaturefrom Christ University,Bengaluru, tells us.

Language was never a cri-terion for her debut. “I didn’tknow Telugu when I signedLove Life & Pakodi. Whateverlittle I picked up is whiledoing the film. The idea is todo more films because at theend of the day the film in

total conveys the message,”she notes.

When Sanchitha initiallyheard about the audition for

a role in Love Life & Pakodi,she assumed it was for ashort film. “I just graduatedfrom college and was looking

for work. I thought I’ll go toMumbai and get into adver-tising. But I just wanted tosee how it goes with Jayanth.When I met him, he felt Iwas apt for the part. Butwhen I told him that I wasplanning to take up a job, hesaid, ‘Are you sure? Baby, youshouldn’t’. He later somehowconvinced me to be a part ofthe project,” she reminisceswith a smile.

Script and her role aside, itwas Jayanth’s passion thatdrove her to board the pro-ject. “The thing about him isthat every time he narratesthe script to anyone—be it asupporting actor or a spotboy—he does with great fer-vour. He would take one andhalf hours to narrate it andsay every character’s dialoguesin their tone. I’ve never seenanybody like that till then. Iwas intrigued by his passionand decided to be a part of hisvision,” she rhapsodizes.

In the film, which tracesthe journey of a couple whoface complications and con-fusions out of their bondwhile rediscovering them-selves at every step, sheessays Rheya who is a braveand independent workinggirl in Bengaluru. “She is in amodern relationship with therole played by KartheekBimal Rebb. She is strugglingwith her own inner conflictsbut is putting a brave face.She haplessly is goingthrough life like everyoneelse,” the actress shares, surethat most women who areinto a modern relationshipwill identity with the part’scharacteristics and dilemma.

Jayanth and his assistantdirector Ravi came to her

help with Telugu on sets.“The latter would stay rightbehind the camera before theshot and would say my lines100 times to me. Jayanthwould say action later and Iwould reel it with the rightemotion. It was like that inthe beginning but after apoint of time I got a hang oflanguage. It wasn’t too badfrom then on. Moreover, lan-guage was never an integralpart of the script. If I added alittle bit of Kannada andEnglish to the lines, Jayanthwould never stop me becauseit went with the characterwho is settled in Bengaluru,”she explains.

The workshops withKrishna, a trained theatreactor, before the film flagged-off also came in handy. Healso played a supporting rolein the film. “Plus, we werehanded over the script a fewweeks in advance and I sat athome to get the pronuncia-tion part right with myTelugu friends,” she pointsout, adding that she hassigned a Kannada film but itcouldn’t go to sets due to thelockdown.

Right now, Yoga consumesa lot of her time. “During mysecond year of college, we’vedone a stage performance ofThe Lion King, so we had tolearn about animal move-ments and stuff. That’s whenI started learning yoga. Istopped sometime later,before practicing solo again.After the completion of LoveLife & Pakodi, I went toMysore and finished acourse. I’ve been a yogainstructor in Bengaluru forthe past 18 months,” shesigns off.

12

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Vijayawada Thursday July 2 2020tollywood

COMMUNICATINGTHROUGH ARTS

Script and herrole aside, it

was Jayanth’spassion thatdrove her to

board theproject, the

Coorg girlwho is

making herfilm debutwith Love

Life &

Pakodi, tellsNAGARAJ

GOUD

s actressShivaniRajasekharcelebrated herbirthday onWednesday,

the makers of her maidenuntitled film, a whackylove-story with a sci-fitwist to it, unveiled herlook from the film,whose filming is more orless wrapped up exceptfor some patch work.

In the film, Shivani

Rajasekhar plays a girl-next-door Vennela whois pursuing college, whileTeja Sajja will be seen asa news reader. However,it’s the sci-fi angle thatpropels the story for-ward. Awe fame PrasanthVarma, who is also thecreative producer of theproject, has written thefilm’s story, while NarudaDonaruda fame MallikRam directed it.

The supporting cast of

the film, a productionventure of S Originalsand Mahateja Creations,includes Rajeev Kanakalaand Devi Prasad amongothers, while Radhan isthe music composer.

Shivani’s first film wassupposed to be theTelugu remake of 2 Statesbut due to creative differ-ences between key mem-bers, the film had to bestopped after 70 per centof it was wrapped up.

INTRODUCINGSHIVANI AS VENNELA

A

SAMANTHAAKKINENI:

Congratulationsyou and I made

it to July

ollowing in thefootsteps of hisguru PuriJagannadh, who isknown to givemakeovers to his

lead actors, is Guru Pawan.For his maiden film withSumanth Ashwin, the directorgave the actor a stylish lookcomplete with a funky hairdo.The fact that the actor is play-ing an adventure biker in theroad film meant that Gurucould experiment more. Thelook has garnered a ton ofgood responses for the actor,who is hoping for his fortuneto change with this film.

Launched earlier thisFebruary, the untitled filmalso feature Srikanth, Indraja,Priya Vadlamani, Easwari

Rao, Ammu Abhirami,Pridhvi Raj, Sameer,Sapthagiri, Srikanth Iyengar,Satyam Rajesh and Bhadramin supporting roles.

Director Pawan had earliersaid the film, a Sunil Kashyapmusical, follows the 3,450kms bike journey of four dif-ferent personalities fromHyderabad. “Their reason forthe trip and the obstaclesthey face throughout thejourney is what the film allabout,” he said.

The filming which com-menced in March had to beput on pause mode due toCOVID-19 outbreak.Producer G Mahesh is hop-ing to resume shootings oncethe industry decides on aproper date.

Sumanth gets a stylish

makeoverF

Prakash Rajset for hisHindi OTTdebut

P