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VIJAYAWADA WEATHER

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

In a scathing attack on TDPand its allies, Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy hassaid that the Opposition is jit-tery and green with jealousyas the welfare schemes havebeen providing a groundswellof popularity to the Stategovernment. TermingChandrababu Naidu, PawanKalyan and their friendlymedia a bunch of thieves,who are desperate power-mongers to loot the State, he

said that the gang had takenup a smear campaign todefame the government bysitting inHyderabad.

SNV SUDHIRn VIJAYAWADA

As expected, all the 24 members ofthe State Cabinet submitted theirresignations to Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy on Thursday.The resignations will be sent to theRaj Bhawan for the Governor’sapproval. The new Cabinet will besworn in on April 11 around 11.30am. While accepting their resigna-tions, the Governor is expected toask the ministers to continue asinterim ministers until the newCabinet takes the oath.

As directed by the ChiefMinister, all the ministers, after theCabinet meeting on Thursday,signed the resignation letters pre-pared by the officials and submit-ted them to Jagan. While the min-

isters had brought the blank andopen letterheads along with them,the CMO staff is said to have takenthem and typed the content in theresignation format and got themsigned by the ministers.

Before receiving their resigna-tions, Jagan gave a pep talk to the

outgoing ministers. He asked themto work for the party in the next700 days as they were in the gov-ernment as ministers for almost1,000 days. He tried to placate hisCabinet colleagues even if anyonewas unhappy with themove.

SNCN ACHARYULUn HYDERABAD

"Former Jharkhand gover-nor Draupadi Marmu andChhattisgarh governorAnusuiya Uikey are front-runners as presidential can-didate As winning theupcoming Presidential elec-tions is crucial to keep theopposition parties in self-defence mode, theBharatiya Janata Party ismulling to field a womancandidate and that too fromthe ST community.According to sources, PrimeMinister Narendra Modirevealed this to Andhra

Pradesh Chief Minister YSJagan Mohan Reddy duringtheir meeting on Tuesday.

Andhra Pradesh CM YSJagan went to Delhi onTuesday and met Modi,Union Home Minister AmitShah and other UnionMinisters. During his meet-ing with the Prime Minister,the forthcomingPresidential elections cameup for discussion. Whileseeking support from Jagan,Modi reportedly sharedwith the AP CM that theywere considering to field awoman candidate from theST community.

AP Cabinet ministers quitJagan to give outgoing ministers the responsibility to defeat TDP

Anusuiya UikeyDraupadi Marmu

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The State Cabinet meeting chaired byChief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddyon Thursday took key decisionsincluding creation of two new revenuedivisions, approving 'YSR SunnaVaddi' and AP Millets Mission andland allotments for setting up healthhubs, among others. Briefing the

media, Information and PublicRelations Minister PerniVenkatramaiah said the Cabinetapproved the YSR Sunna Vaddischeme for the third consecutive yearand the Chief Minister would launchthe scheme and disburse the interestamount of Rs 1,259 crore benefittingaround 90lakh DWACRA women onApril 22. He said the Cabinet approved

creation of two new revenue divisions,Kothapeta division of East Godavaridistrict and Pulivendula division ofYSR district. Kothapeta revenue divi-sion would have seven mandalsincluding Athreyapuram, Alamuru,Ravulapalem, Kothapeta, PGannavaram, Ambajipeta andAinavalli.

Cabinet nod for 2 new revenuedivisions, ‘YSR Sunna Vaddi'

BJP to field STwoman as itsPrez candidate

CM tears into Oppn, callsNaidu & Pawan thieves

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy, while bringing down curtainson the months-long suspense onThursday about the proposed over-haul of the State Cabinet, unveiledanother period of larger suspense tillApril 11 on who will make to the list.Since he hinted a few of the outgo-ing ministers will be taken backintense speculations are going onabout those names. Party sourcesalso said that political heavyweightslike Peddireddy RamachandraReddy and Botssa Satyanarayana,and other ministers like KodaliNani and Buggana Rajendranathwill also not be retained in theCabinet due to severalequations.

Number ofIndianstudents inUS up 12% PNS n WASHINGTON

The number of Indianstudents in the UnitedStates increased byover 12 per cent in2021, while thosefrom China, whichaccounts for thelargest number,dropped by more thaneight per cent, accord-ing to an officialreport. In its annualreport released onWednesday, the USCitizenship andImmigration Services(USCIS) said theCOVID-19 pandem-ic continued to impactinternational studentenrolment in theUnited States in 2021.

Speculation rifeover who willretain berths

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PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The much-delayed construc-tion of the proposed EastCoast’s only shore-basedoceanography lab of theNational Institute ofOceanography (NIO) at Vizagis expected to begin within sixmonths as the governmenthad initiated the process of ter-mination of the contract withthe Project ManagementConsultant (PMC) on mutualconsent has been initiated.While the foundation stone forthe NIO’s lab was laid in 2015the construction workremained a non-starter.NIO received CoastalRegulation Zone (CRZ) clear-ance from the Ministry ofEnvironment, Forests &

Climate Change on December10, 2013.Union Minister of State forScience and Technology Dr.Jitendra Singh told Rajya Sabhathat the reasons for the delaywere mainly in obtaining theCRZ clearance, finalization of

schemes, and other adminis-trative and statutory clear-ances. “M/s Bharat SancharNigam Limited (BSNL) wasselected as ProjectManagement Consultant(PMC) for the construction ofthe Laboratory Building and

the work order was awarded in2009. Since then, BSNL hadprepared different versions ofarchitectural drawings for theproposed building and submit-ted the final drawings alongwith preliminary estimates forRs. 30.50 crores. As per thecontractual agreement withthe PMC, it shall provide ser-vices for planning, designing,and execution of the develop-ment of the new CSIR-NIOcampus as per the given scopeof work and terms & condi-tions for a lump sum fee.However, PMC is not ready tofulfil the obligation as per theexisting agreement terms andconditions and this has causedfurther delay. Hence, theprocess of termination of thecontract on mutual consent

has been initiated,” he said.CSIR-NIO Regional Centre atVisakhapatnam is currentlyhoused in two rented build-ings. Since the centre is well-equipped with state-of-art lab-oratory equipment, the regu-lar R&D activities are notaffected to a major extent.“CSIR-NIO has initiated termi-nation of the contract withPMC on mutual consent anda fresh tender will be invitedfor the appointment of a newPMC. The entire process alongwith the getting of administra-tive and financial approvals isexpected to be completedwithin 6 months. Thereafter,the actual construction work isscheduled to be completed in18 months’ time,” the unionminister added.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

National Science andTechnological Laboratory(NSTL) Director Dr. YSreenivasa Rao has said thatResearch and Development(R&D) has been proved tobe a crucial factor movingthe world's technologicalfrontiers and IndianUniversities should play akey role in the advance-ment of research and inno-vation.

He participated as chiefguest to inaugurate an inter-national conference on“Breakthrough in Heuristicsand Reciprocation ofAdvanced Technologies(BHARAT-22) jointly organ-ised by GITAM Deemed tobe University EECE depart-ment and IEEE Vizag Bay

Section on Thursday. Whileaddressing the gathering hementioned that centralresearch organisations likeDRDO, ISRO and NSTL areshowing interest to associatewith HEIs to do collabora-tive research.

He said that the govern-ment of India launched anew scheme for the develop-ment of the semiconductorsand display manufacturingecosystem with Rs.76,000crore will position India asa global hub for hi-tech pro-duction and attract largechip makers. He said thatinviting private partners indefense R&D will give ascope of new innovations.

Accenture TechnologySolutions ManagingDirector GS Rao said thatCOVID-19 forced the com-

panies to rapidly operate innew ways and IT is beingtested as never before. Hementioned that most com-panies invest more in tech-nology up-gradation andinnovations. He advised thatfaculty and students mustprepare for the lifelonglearning process to face thechallenges.

GITAM President MSribharath, GITAM Academic Pro Vice-ChancellorProf.Jayasankar Variyar,GITAM Engineering DeanProf.C.Vijayasekhar, IEEEVizag Bay Section ChairProf.S.Lakshmi Narayana,GITAM EECE DepartmentHead Prof.J.B.Seventline,CSE Department HeadProf.R.Sireersha and othersparticipated in the pro-gramme.

Govt initiates process of contracttermination with NIO’s Vizag lab PMC

Indian varsities should playkey role in research: NSTL Dir

Continued from Page 1

Jagan said he has nothing per-sonal against any of them andthe decision was only toaccommodate other aspirants.The ministers were also seenmentally prepared for theday. Their staff and other offi-cials of their respective min-istry offices were also seen ona farewell visit to the minis-ters in the secretariat all day.

Jagan asked them to beavailable on April 11 as a fewof them may get the chance totake oath again. The ChiefMinister also said that a fewof the outgoing ministers willagain be taken as per the cri-teria of experience and socialequations.

Jagan also gave the respon-sibility of defeating TDP chiefN Chandrababu Naidu in theupcoming polls to the outgo-

ing ministers who will begiven party responsibilities.

“He asked all of us to ten-der our resignations and wedid. For us, our leader YSJaganmohan Reddy’s word isultimate and we will abide bywhatever decision he takes.He had clearly told us we willbe given the responsibility tosteer the party in the upcom-ing polls. As foot soldiers, wewill do our job sincerely what-ever responsibility we aregiven. The Chief Ministeralso said that a few of us willbe again taken back into theCabinet. He may take four orfive of us back,” said outgoingCivil Supplies Minister, KodaliSri Venkateswara Rao (Nani).

Jaganmohan Reddy onWednesday met GovernorBiswa Bushan Harichandanand explained to him his planfor Cabinet overhaul. He is

said to have briefed him aboutthe resignations of the currentministers on Thursday andalso the new Cabinet oath-taking planned on April 11.

“There is no resentment atall. Everything went on in apleasant manner. TheCabinet meeting went on cor-dially and we all happily gavethe resignation letters to thechief minister as directed byhim. He had already told usin the first YSRCLP meetingimmediately after coming topower that we will be changedafter two and half years. Wewill all now work for theparty,” said outgoing I & PRminister, PerniVenkataramaiah (Nani).

Another outgoing ministerand senior leader BotsaSatyanarayana left to his fatewhether he will be back in theCabinet or not.

Continued from Page 1

While picking the new minis-ters, it is learnt that Jagan willconsider new districts thatwere formed shortly. In June2019, sticking to the caste for-mula balancing regional equa-tions Jagan gave 60 percentberths to Backward Classes(BCs) and Scheduled Castes(SCs). Out of the 25, around 19were first-time ministers andthe remaining six were minis-ters in Jagan’s father Y SRajasekhar Reddy’s cabinet

during the Congress govern-ment. For the first time inAndhra Pradesh, so manyberths went to BCs and SCs.While SCs had always stoodrock solid behind Jagan eversince he floated YSRC, BCswho were a traditional votebank of TD since the party’sinception, had en masse votedto YSRC in 2019 polls.Probably to hold the flocktogether, Jagan had given max-imum berths in his Cabinet toBCs. For the first time in thehistory of Andhra Pradesh

politics, Jagan’s Cabinet hadfive deputy chief ministersdrawn from SC, ST, BC,Minority and Kapu groupseach. The previous NChandrababu Naidu govern-ment had two deputy chiefministers which went to thosefrom BC and Kapu groupseach. In the Jagan’s firstCabinet that had taken oath onJune 8, 2019, seven berthswent to Backward Classes(BCs), five to Scheduled Castes(SCs) in which two went toMadigas and three to Mala,

Kapus and Reddys had gotfour berths each, ST, Vysya,Kamma, Kshatriya andMinority groups got one eachberth. Jagan had also ensuredequal geographical representa-tion in the Cabinet – NorthCoastal Region (4), East andWest Godavari (6), Krishnaand Guntur (5), Prakasam andNellore (4), Rayalaseema (6).While picking his newCabinet, Jagan is also expect-ed to follow the same socialengineering formula he hasadopted in the first cabinet

which is that more than 50 percent of the berths would bereserved for SCs, STs, BCsand minorities and there willalso be five deputy chief min-isters belonging to five differ-ent caste groups. This timearound, Reddy representationin the Cabinet is expected tocome down to three andVysyas may not get any repre-sentation. While the two-and-a-half-year term was complet-ed last November itself, Jagandidn’t take up cabinet revampconsidering the Covid period.

Continued from Page 1

Pulivendula division will con-sist of Pulivendula, Vempalli,Vemula, Chakrayapeta,S i m h a d r i p u r a m ,Veerapunainpalli, Lingala andThonduru. The minister saidthe Cabinet gave approval toset up 12 police sub-divisionsand 16 circle inspector offices,and also passed a resolution tocontinue Zilla Parishads as perexisting policy even after thereorganisation of districts. TheCabinet also gave approval tosanction seven teaching postsand five non-teaching posts inthe Agriculture PolytechnicCollege in Punganuru of

Chittoor district. The Cabinetalso approved the AP MilletMission (2022-23 to 2026-27)policy to encourage cultivationof millets. Approval has beengiven to sanction one assistantgeneral manager post and twooffice subordinate posts in theAndhra Pradesh Education andWelfare InfrastructureDevelopment Corporation andalso 253 posts in the higher edu-cation department of which 23were principal posts, 31 wereteaching posts and 199, non-teaching posts. The Cabinetalso approved 24 teaching postsand 10 non-teaching posts inthe Government Degree Collegeat Thogaram in Amudalavalasa

mandal of Srikakulam districtand the Government DegreeCollege in Darsi of Prakasamdistrict.The Cabinet approved one prin-cipal post in Dental College inKadapa and ratified GO Nos.27, 28, 29 related to HRA inimplementation of PRC. TheCabinet has directed the HealthDepartment to prepare a poli-cy to ensure that governmentdoctors don't engage in privatepractice.The Cabinet has also approvedallotment of land for setting uphealth hubs in the State, whichinclude five acres of land fora super specialty hospital inSuryaraopeta of Kakinada

urban and Kalluru of Kurnooldistrict, 4.5 acres in Santhapetaof Vizianagaram district, 4.32acres in Pathrunivalsa ofSrikakulam district and 4 acresin Anantapur rural.Approval has been given toallot six acres of land to theAndhra Pradesh TourismDepartment for constructinga hotel and convention centrein Rajahmundry urban and100 acres for APIIC to set upMSME Park in Bethamcherlaof Kurnool district. The min-ister listed out other minorland allocations to variousgovernment and private insti-tutions for development andother purposes.

CM tears into Oppn, calls Naidu...Continued from Page 1

Coming down heavily onOpposition and a section ofmedia for equating the Statewith crisis-ridden Sri Lanka,he reiterated that there is nomedicine for their jealousy.Speaking at the Volunteers'felicitation programme inPalnadu here on Thursday,the Chief Minister said thatthe TDP leaders are criticis-ing the YSRCP governmentas they are unable to digestthe welfare schemes beingimplemented in a transpar-ent manner. He advisedthem not to be so jealous, asit can lead to health issuesand can sometimes be fatal.

Going further aggressive,the Chief Minister said thatthe State was looted andpushed into a debt trap dur-ing the TDP regime. Statingthat he was fighting suchunscrupulous elements, heurged people not to believethe words of ChandrababuNaidu, Jana Sena chiefPawan Kalyan, and certainmedia houses. Referring tothe malicious reports carriedby a section of media abouthis meeting with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi inNew Delhi, the ChiefMinister said that the meet-ing was held in a cordialatmosphere, and questionedthe media houses whetherthey were hiding under anycarpet during the conversa-tion. He said that TDP isworried about their depositsas they knew that the peopleare quite happy with thecurrent government and thusare conspiring to defamethe government.

Continued from Page 1

According to sources, the BJPleadership is considering thenames of former JharkhandGovernor Draupadi Murmuand Governor of ChhattisgarhAnusuiya Uikey, both ofwhom are from the ST com-munity. In fact, during the2017 Presidential elections,the BJP leadership consid-ered the name of DraupadiMurmu, then Governor ofJharkhand. But finally theparty zeroed in on RamnathKovind, who was theGovernor of Bihar. Winningthe forthcoming Presidentialelection has become crucialfor BJP as anti-BJP oppositionparties are considering to fielda common candidate againstthe BJP nominee. From theopposition camp, the names offormer Chief Ministers SharadPawar and Mayavati werebandied about. However, bothhave declined to contest in thePresidential election. BiharChief Minister Nitish Kumar'sname was also dropped by

opposition parties. It is against this backdrop

that the BJP leadership isconsidering to field woman STcandidate in the Presidentialelection. Jagan has assured thePrime Minister that his partywould extend support to theBJP candidate in thePresidential elections.

Draupadi Murmu is fromOdisha state and AnusuiyaUikey is from MadhyaPradesh. Both have long polit-ical experience and are educat-ed. Both have served as MLAsand Ministers in their respec-tive states.

In the Presidential elec-tion, the support of AndhraPradesh Chief Minister YSJagan Mohan Reddy andOdisha Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik has become crucial toboth BJP and opposition.Jagan has already assured thePrime Minister of his party'ssupport in the Presidentialelection. If Draupadi Murmuis selected by the BJP asPresidential candidate, OdishaChief Minister Naveen

Patnaik may also extend hissupport as she hails fromOdisha state. Anusuiya Uikeyis presently the Governor ofChhattisgarh. In the previousPresidential elections, the BJPleadership had selected thethen Bihar GovernorRamnath Kovind as a presi-dential candidate. This timealso the BJP leadership mayselect Anusuiya Uikey as perthe view of one section in BJP.But to get the support ofOdisha CM Naveen Patnaikthe BJP leadership may preferDraupadi Murmu as its pres-idential candidate as peranother section in BJP.

In any case, the record vic-tory attained by BJP in UttarPradesh will have an impacton the Presidential electionsscheduled for July.

The Electoral College forthe Presidential election con-sists of parliamentarians andlegislators. The BJP claimsthat their strength is above thehalf way mark in the total elec-toral college of Presidentialelection.

AP Cabinet ministers quit Number of Indian students in US up 12%Continued from Page 1

The total number of SEVISrecords for active F-1 and M-1 students was 1,236,748 inthe calendar year 2021, adecrease of 1.2 per cent fromthe calendar year 2020.SEVIS stands for Studentsand Exchange VisitorInformation System. F-1 andM-1 are the two non-immi-grant student visas. J-1 is alsoa non-immigrant student visabut is mostly given to schol-ars exchange programmes.In 2021, 8,038 SEVP-certifiedschools were eligible to enrolinternational students, regis-tering a decrease by 280schools from 8,369 eligibleschools in 2020.The number of students fromChina and India made Asiathe most popular continent oforigin. However, China sent

fewer students in 2021 incomparison to 2020 (-33,569)while India sent more students(+25,391), the report said.As many as 37 per cent ofIndian students are females.Overall, China continues totop the list of countries send-ing 348,992 students to theUS. India follows China with232,851 students. China andIndia are followed by SouthKorea (58,787), Canada(37,453), Brazil (33,552),Vietnam (29,597), SaudiArabia (28,600), Taiwan(25,406), Japan (20,144) andMexico (19,680).According to the report, onlyAsia and Australia/PacificIslands saw an overall declinein the number of studentscoming to the United Stateslast year as all other continentssaw an increase. International

F-1 and M-1 students camefrom every continent in theworld other than Antarcticaand from more than 224countries and territories.Students from China andIndia made Asia the mostpopular continent of origin,accounting for 71.9 per cent ofthe international student pop-ulation. China sent fewerinternational students whileIndia sent more, the reportsaid.In 2021, California hosted208,257 international stu-dents, the largest percentage ofinternational students (16.8per cent) of any US state.There were 240,479 activeexchange visitors in theUnited States in 2021 com-pared to 256,944 activeexchange visitors in 2020, itsaid.Most F-1 and M-1 students

ome to the US to take part inthe higher education system.In 2021, roughly 92 per centof all F-1 and M-1 studentswere enrolled in a SEVP-cer-tified associate, bachelor's,master's or doctoral pro-grammes.Specifically, international stu-dents in the US pursued1,142,352 degrees in highereducation, which is anincrease from the calendaryear 2020 (1,121,981).It is important to note that onestudent might partake in morethan one level of education ina given calendar year, so theymay be counted in multipleeducational levels.USCIS said 47 per cent(581,843) of all active SEVISrecords hailed from eitherChina (348,992) or India(232,851) in the calendar year2021, the same percentage as

the calendar year 2020.While the overall number ofactive F-1 and M-1 studentrecords coming from Asiadecreased by 34,781 from thecalendar year 2020 to the cal-endar year 2021, studentrecord trends varied acrossdifferent countries, it said.The number of internationalstudent records from Chinaand India made Asia the mostpopular continent of origin.However, China sent fewerstudents in 2021 in compari-son to 2020 (-33,569), whileIndia sent more students(+25,391), it said. Still, 71.9 per cent of all inter-national students in theUnited States call Asia home.Other Asian countries sentfewer students includingSouth Korea (-9,430), SaudiArabia (-9,439) and Japan (-6,155), the report said.

Cabinet nod for 2 new revenue divisions...

BJP to field ST woman as its Prez...

10 states including AP permittedto borrow addl Rs 28,204 cr PNS n NEW DELHI

The finance ministry on Thursdaysaid 10 states were given the per-mission to borrow an additional Rs28,204 crore in FY22 for undertak-ing power sector reforms. The 10states are Andhra Pradesh, Assam,Himachal Pradesh, Manipur,Meghalaya, Odisha, Rajasthan,Sikkim, Tamil Nadu and UttarPradesh. "Department of

Expenditure, Ministry of Finance,has granted additional borrowingpermission of Rs 28,204 crore to10 states for undertaking the stip-ulated reforms in power sector in2021-22," it said in a statement. Inthe financial year 2022-23 too, thestates can avail the facility of addi-tional borrowing linked to reformsin power sector. An amount of Rs1,22,551 crore will be available asincentive to the states for under-

taking these reforms in 2022-23,it added. The finance ministry,based on the recommendations of15th Finance Commission, haddecided to grant additional bor-rowing space of upto 0.5 per centof the Gross State DomesticProduct (GSDP) to the statesevery year for a four year periodfrom 2021-22 to 2024-25 based onthe reforms undertaken by themin the power sector.

Even when my mother died: Guv PNS n HYDERABAD

Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan has declaredthat she had been travellingonly by train or by road inTelangana. "This is the modeof transport of the Governorof the State. That's all I cansay," she initially said crypti-cally to media persons.

Later, she opened up anddecried the humiliationsmeted out to her by the state.When her mother died in theRaj Bhavan, the ChiefMinister at least did not cometo see her and express condo-lences. "Even Prime Ministerand the President spoke to me,but KCR did not speak on mymother's demise".

Tamilisai said she had askedfor a special flight to take hermother's body to hometown

for cremation, but she was notgiven. After the governmentwas informed, let alonearranging the flight, they evenstopped lifting the phone.She said that they informedvery late that they could notarrange a special flight toconduct final rites. Tamilisaisaid that she considered KCRas 'Anna', but he didn't give

moral support during suchsituation. On the contrary,when E S L Narasimhan'smother died during his tenurein the office of Governor, theChief Minister reportedlyeven went to the graveyard,apart from condoling herdemise.

The Governor recalled thatshe had travelled by road totake part in the Sammakka-Sarakka tribal festival inMulugu district and also visit-ed tribal habitations inNagarkurnool district. TheGovernor's office had informedthe state about her visit toMedaram Jathara. The stategovernment reportedly saidthat helicopter was not avail-able and that the governmentdid not own one. However, shewent to Medaram for thejathara by road.

GOVT COULDN'T ARRANGE SPECIAL FLIGHT 13 techiesfired, 50 getnotice in pubdrugs casePNS n HYDERABAD

The ramifications of the caserelating to the recent raid onPudding and Mink pub haveled to many techies who havereportedly been buying drugsfrom key peddlers and whoconsumed drugs at the pub onApril 3, 2022. Following theraid, some companies, includ-ing Amazon, Google, Infosysand Microsoft, have fired 13employees and issued noticesto another 50 employees whohave been in touch with thelaid-off software employees.IT companies also issuenotices to the employees forbeing involved in Puddingand Mink pub's drug case.

Speculation rife over who will retain berths

vijayawada 03FRIDAY | APRIL 8, 2022

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Telugu Desam Party (TDP)national general secretary NaraLokesh has held theJaganmohan Reddy govern-ment 'totally responsible' forthe untimely death ofUnguturu YSRCP MPPPrasanna Lakshmi in a roadaccident in Krishna district.

Lokesh said the life of thewoman MPP would have beensaved at the last minute if theambulance arrived to shift herto the hospital in time. Thoughcalls were made after themishap, the ambulance didnot come to her rescue.

In a statement here, theTDP MLC described the deathof Prasanna Lakshmi as a'Government murder'.Unrepaired bad roads on the

one hand and unresponsiveambulance service on the otherled to the tragic death ofUnguturu MPP.

Nara Lokesh said innocentpeople were becoming vic-tims of Chief Minister Jagan’sinefficient rule, endless greedfor corruption, and nepotism.The ambulances project wasgiven to Vijaysai Reddy's son-

in-law as a token of dowry.They were only using it to lootpublic funds. The ambulanceof Vijay Sai's son-in-law neverarrived though calls were madeto rescue the MPP's life.

Lokesh remarked sarcasti-cally that Jagan's own partyleaders were falling victim tounchecked corruption. Nopayments were being given tothe R&B road repair billsalready submitted by the con-tractors. As a result, nobodywas coming forward to evenfill the potholes which wereturning wide and deep day byday.

Nara Lokesh pointed outthat YSRCP woman MPP fellonly in one such deep potholein the middle of the road. Howcould the Jagan regime defenditself from these tragic deathsof his own party and others?

CM felicitates volunteersPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Saluting the Volunteers fortheir exemplary services, ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy felicitated them forbeing the pillars of the welfaredelivery system here onThursday.

Addressing the gatheringthe Chief Minister said that thevillage and ward volunteer sys-tem has redefined governancemaking Andhra Pradesh a rolemodel to other states and addedthat the service orientation ofthe volunteers is laudable.

He stated that about 2.32lakh volunteers are being givenawards in three levels with acash incentive, medal, badgeand a certificate at an expen-diture of Rs 239 crore.

Volunteers played a key rolein taking welfare schemes tothe beneficiaries by creatingawareness on every govern-ment initiative including thewelfare calendar, he said,adding that the entire State isfeeling proud for their services.

Recalling the services pro-vided by Volunteers, the ChiefMinister said that so far Rs50508 crore has been distrib-uted by Volunteers throughYSR Pension Kanuka, whereeach Volunteer wears a smileand distributes the pension

amount even before dawn.Drawing a comparison with

the previous government, hestated that earlier people used torun from pillar to post to availgovernment schemes, but the sit-uation has changed in the cur-rent government with the volun-teer system, where every welfarescheme is being provided withcomplete transparency, withoutresorting to any corruption. Inthe last three years, almost Rs1.34 lakh crore has been direct-ly credited to the beneficiaries'account through DBT.

In regard to awards, theChief Minister said that SevaMitra is being awarded to 2.28lakh volunteers, which includesa cash reward of Rs 10,000,citation, shawl, and a badge.

Similarly, Seva Ratna Awardis being given to 4136Volunteers which carries acash prize of Rs 20,000, a cita-tion, medal, badge and a shawl.

Seva Vajra was given to 875persons, the award carries acash prize of Rs 30,000, medal,badge, citation and a shawl.

He stated that the award pre-sentations will go on at man-dal level for the next 20 days.He asked the volunteers to con-tinue their good work andwished them ‘All the Best’.

On the occasion, the ChiefMinister also sanctioned a fly-over, veterinary polytechniccollege and Autonagar toNarasaraopet.

Ministers PeddireddyRamachandra Reddy, BotsaSatyanarayana, ChSriranganatha Raju, local lead-ers and Village/ WardVolunteers were present on theoccasion.

PNS n AMARAVATI

TDP leader and former minis-ter Yanamala Ramakrishnuduhas slammed the YSRCP gov-ernment for 'totally destroyinglocal bodies by creating a par-allel system of grama and wardvolunteers’.

Ramakrishnudu said CMJagan Mohan Reddy had turnedhis much-trumpeted decen-tralisation of development intoa farce. The grama swaraj thatGandhiji dreamt of had becomea mirage under the YCP regime.

In a statement here onThursday, the OppositionLeader in the LegislativeCouncil challenged the ChiefMinister to speak out howmuch was spent by his govern-ment on development. Thegrama secretariats were formedon the pretext of strengtheningthe local bodies. But eventual-

ly, the Jagan regime snatchedtheir funds as well.

Ramakrishnudu stronglyobjected to the governmentdiverting Rs. 7,500-crore fundsof panchayats under the 14thand 15th Finance Commissionsand another Rs. 3,500 crorefrom the general funds. A totalof Rs. 11,000 crore funds of pan-chayats were diverted in totalviolation of the financial norms.The local bodies were deprivedof their powers and funds.

The TDP leader said JaganReddy had thrown into thedustbin the Articles 243 G and243 W related to panchayat raj

bodies and municipalities as perthe 73th and 74th Constitutionamendments. He wonderedwhether the AP CM had anyidea that the 73th and 74thamendments related to theautonomy of the local and civicbodies.

Expressing concern,Ramakrishnudu said the YCPgovernment blocked all devel-opment activities and at thesame time imposed unbearableburdens like the garbage tax onpeople. “Jagan Reddy has delib-erately crushed the leadership ofweaker sections and backwardclasses in local bodies. He gavea big blow to the SCs, STs, BCsand minorities. The volunteerssystem was created only tousurp the powers of sarpanch-es, chairmen and mayors. Jaganhas no moral right to talk aboutdecentralised development,” theTDP leader said.

Lokesh blames govt for deathof YSRCP woman MPP

‘YSRCP destroyed local bodies’Terms decentralisation of development a ‘big farce'

Minister Jayaram amassed Rs 735 cr commissions: TDPPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Telugu Desam Party (TDPleader and former ministerKollu Ravindra on Thursdayaccused Labour MinisterGummanuri Jayaram of com-mitting over Rs 735 crore ofcorruption in the past threeyears of the YSRCP rule.

Ravindra said MinisterJayaram focused on amassinglavish gifts like a 'Benz car'while leaving the workers totheir fate. Irregularities havetaken place in every issue relat-

ing to the workers.Addressing a press confer-

ence here, the TDP leader saidthe Minister has snatched Rs 6crore commissions by promis-ing to increase the age limit ofESI medical staff from 60 to 63years. Commissions of Rs 140crore were collected from ESImedicines suppliers, Rs 28crore for sanctioning bills inreferral hospitals and Rs 5crore in empanelment of refer-ral hospitals.

Kollu Ravindra slammedJayaram for extorting Rs 17

crore on the workers' insuranceissues in the labour depart-ment. He resorted to landgrabs by threatening industri-alists with regard to construc-tion workers' insurance. J-taxwas collected by setting upcounters in ESI hospitalsthough they were meant forpoor people, he added.

The TDP leader demandedan explanation from theMinister why there was noaction against gambling densand illicit liquor manufactur-ing units in his own assembly

constituency. Jayaram wasdemanding and collectingcommissions for every smallwork being taken up in his seg-ment. The road works were noexception.

Ravindra said the peoplewere calling Jayaram a'Commissions Minister' butnot Labour Minister. He hascommitted lots of illegalitiesand atrocious activities for thesake of his frauds and scams.He has shown work opportu-nities for his party activists andleaders in illicit liquor and

gambling dens. Thousands offamilies became victims ofthese unlawful activities.

The TDP leader assertedthat their party would bring tothe fore all the corruptionscams of Gummanuri Jayaramin the coming days. Instead ofdeveloping his assembly seg-ment as a model for others, theMinister has turned it into ahub of gambling and illicitliquor.

There was no trace of anydevelopment or welfare in theMinister's own constituency.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh GovernorBiswabhusan Harichandan hassaid that the people of the coun-try would always remember theservices provided by doctorsand healthcare workers duringthe Covid-19 pandemic. He saidthat Prime Minister NarendraModi called them the ‘frontlinewarriors’ in the battle againstCovid-19. He added that thedoctors should be sympathetictowards the underprivileged andthe downtrodden sections ofsociety.

The Governor was the chief

guest at the programme organ-ised at the Andhra Hospitals hereon the occasion of World HealthDay on Thursday.

He said that World HealthDay, observed every year onApril 7, celebrated the establish-ment of the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) in 1948and drew the attention of thepeople all over the world to a spe-cific health topic of concern.

“The World Health Day callsfor global attention on the urgentneed for action and a movementfor a healthy planet for all livingcreatures, as the climate crisis isthe single biggest health threat

facing humanity,” said theGovernor.

He congratulated the director,

a team of doctors and the asso-ciates of the Andhra Hospitals forsuccessfully performing more

than 2,000 heart surgeries onchildren free of cost in the pastsix years and he was happy to seethe children who had been oper-ated on recently, as part of theWorld Health Week celebra-tions. He complimented theteam of doctors for their nobleservice.

R.P. Sisodia, Special ChiefSecretary to Governor, Dr. P.V.Ramana Murthy, ManagingDirector, and Chief SurgicalGastroenterologist, Dr. P.V. RamaRao, Head of Children’s Servicesand Director of AndhraHospitals, and other dignitariesattended the programme.

“The World Health Day calls

for global attention on the

urgent need for action and a

movement for a healthy

planet for all living creatures,

as the climate crisis is the

single biggest health threat

facing humanity” said

the Governor

SP makes PP presentationon ‘Pratyaksha Spandana'PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Krishna districtSuperintendent of PoliceSiddharth Kaushal took part inthe training classes conductedby the National PoliceAcademy (NPA), Hyderabad,for the 120 IPS and DIG rangeofficers on Thursday. Heexplained the PratyakshaSpananda programme to theparticipants.

IPS officers and DIG range

officers from various parts ofthe country attended the train-ing classes.

Kaushal made a PowerPointpresentation and explainedhow technology could be usedto receive complaints fromremote villages. He said'Pratyaksha Spandana' helpedthe people to get police ser-vices in their villages as theydid not need to go to the dis-trict headquarters or any otherplace to lodge complaints.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Indian Railways State-of-the-art indigenously developedAutomatic Train Protectionsystem namely Kavach hasbeen deployed for a total of 859Rkms during 2021-2022.Under Prime Minister ofIndia's initiative ofAtmanirbhar Bharat this is thebest-ever performance by theZone in a financial year, sincethe commencement of the pro-ject.

Kavach has been developedby the Research Design andStandards Organisation(RDSO) in collaboration withIndian Industry.

South Central Railway(SCR) has been closely associ-ated with its implementationand is facilitating trials toachieve the objective of safetyin train operations.

It is aimed to prevent colli-sion of trains. It activates thetrain braking system auto-matically if the driver fails tocontrol the train as per thespeed restrictions. In addi-tion, it prevents collisionsbetween two trains or locomo-tives.

During the development

phase it was implemented fora length of 264 kms covering25 stations across Wadi toVikarabad to Sanatnagar andVikarabad to Bidar sectionsover SCR.

Later, during 2020-21, thesystem was further deployedfor additional 322 kms cover-

ing 32 stations. In the lastfinancial year 2021-22, thesystem has been implementedin additional 859 kms covering77 stations. With this, thecumulative deployment ofKavach has reached 1,445 kms(including 68 RKms ofAutomatic signalling) covering

133 stations, 29 LC Gates and74 Locomotives.

Arun Kumar Jain, GeneralManager (In-charge), SCR hascomplimented Signal andTelecom officials and staff bothat the Zonal and DivisionalLevels for their hard work anddedication.

SC Railway implements Kavach for 859 route kms during 2021-22

PNS n HYDERABAD

University of Hyderabad con-tinues to occupy the top slotsin QS World University SubjectRankings (WUSR)- 2022released recently.

This year's ranking analysedand published Rankings for 51subjects from 1,543 universitiesacross 161 locations around theworld. Every university includ-ed in this year's rankings isassessed based on five indica-

tors: Reputationamong acade-mics, Reputationamong globalemployers, thenumber ofR e s e a r c hCitations the uni-versity achievesper paper in that subject, the'H-index', which measures theproductivity and impact ofeach published scholar of theUniversity, and International

Research Network(IRN) which is ameasure of effi-ciency of establish-ing stable researchcollaborations inevery of our 5broad subject areas.

The Departmentof English is in the 301-320ranks, and remains the top-ranked subject in UoH for thesecond consecutive year.

Chemistry is within the 401-

450 ranks. Closely followingthem are the Life Sciences at551-600 and Physics at 601-610. All of these academicunits in UoH have producedhighly-cited work, with facul-ty publishing in top-rankedjournals.Prof BJ Rao, Vice-Chancellor said: "I am delight-ed to see that two of our dis-ciplines, English andChemistry, have already metthe IoE mandate of enteringthe top 500 ranks.

University of Hyderabad in top slots in QS WUSR rankings 2022

PNS n HYDERABAD

After receiving information onWednesday, in the early hours,Madhapur zone police appre-hended 18 cricket bookies ofOrganised Online Cricket bet-ting, while they were exchang-ing money related to cricketbetting and seized Rs. 42,38,450cash, and five communicationboards with 75 line mobiles,seven laptops, 78 mobiles, oneTab, three TV's and four wheel-ers. All seized properties worthof Rs. 1.62 crore. The arrested are Pavan, Vickey,Bhupathi, residents ofHyderabad, Narsimha from

Kadapa, Srinivas from Ongole,Venkat Rao from Ongole, Premfrom UP, and Jogesh Varmafrom Miyapur. They have beenorganising online cricket bettingin Telangana and AP. They have taken main lineaccess from main bookies. The

accused select these persons tooperate the communicatorboard, laptop which are beingconnected through main lineand also they have access tonumerous bookies inHyderabad through online forcommission. The Profit and loss

of the gamblers/punters can beseen from time to time in theonline betting apps. The illegalcash payment transactions ofcricket betting is throughonline, but in some cases it is innet cash when it is a hugeamount.

Cops bust online cricket betting racket

Arrested persons with seized vehicles in cricket betting case

Nara Lokesh on door-to-door drivein MangalagiriPNS n AMARAVATI

Telugu Desam Party (TDP)national general secretaryNara Lokesh on Thursdayundertook a door-to-doorcampaign in the MangalagiriAssembly constituency againstthe 'Badude Badudu' (squeez-ing) policy of the Jagan MohanReddy Government.

Lokesh called on and con-soled the families of the partyactivists who lost their livesrecently. He distributed can-dles and match boxes at everyhouse to symbolically protestagainst severe power cuts andincreased current charges.

The residents of the coloniesin Tadepalli town told Lokeshthat the YSRCP MLA did not

fulfil his promise to give themhouse site pattas within sixmonths of coming to power.Three years were over, but nota single YCP leader came tolisten to their basic problems.Nulakapet residents recalledhow the YCP MLA told themthat their houses would bedemolished if Lokesh waselected in 2019.

Speaking on the occasion,Nara Lokesh assured them tocarry out an agitation forhouse site pattas in the seg-ment. On its part, the TDPwould give pattas immedi-ately after coming to power inthe next elections. The YSRCPleaders should explain why theU1 zone was not cancelled inTadepalli.

BAADUDE BAADUDU

Healthcare workers will be remembered for services during Covid

04FRIDAY | APRIL 8, 2022

Man held for rape bid and murderBHIMAVARAM: The police arrested the accused in the murder andrape attempt of a minor girl. A minor girl was found murdered andthe family members in their complaint alleged that she wasmurdered by accused Tirumalashetty Sai Prasad for resisting rape atPallepalem village in Kalla mandal. The police registered a case andarrested the accused Sai Prasad. CI Adapa Naga Murali told themedia here on Thursday that on April 4, the deceased Kalyani wassleeping in a room alone. The accused barged into her room andattempt to rape her. When she screamed he killed her by hitting herhead. After committing the crime he fled the scene after locking thedoor of the room. The police registered cases under section Cr.No.77/2022 u/s 449 ,3 42, 354-A, 302,201 R.W 34 IPC. The CI said thatthey were investigating those who tried to make the elders of theaccused and deceased compromise without a police case. Caseswould be registered against them also soon, the CI said.

Man kills woman, ends lifeKURNOOL: The alleged illicit relationship between a man and awoman led to a murder and suicide at Muttukuru village in Asparimandal. Police here on Thursday said that the accused Hanumanthumurdered Lingamma (52) by crushing her head with a boulder.Later he committed suicide by consuming pesticides. He died whileundergoing treatment in the government hospital in Adoni. Policesaid that the husband of deceased Lingamma died a few years ago.She developed illicit intimacy with Hanumanth. They used to quarreloften on money issues. The police registered a case and shifted thebodies to the government general hospital for postmortem.

Five chit fund organisersarrested, Rs 6.36 lakh seizedBAPATLA: The police arrested five chit fund organisers for cheatingpeople in the name of chits at Sopirala village in Chinna Ganjammandal and seized Rs 6.36 lakh cash, 28 grams gold, 420 gramssilver ornaments and documents. DSP Srikanth told the media oneof victims Dharmavarapu Yesunarayana lodged a complaint with thepolice that he was deceived by the chit fund organisers, Theaccused had been running a chit fund company in Chinna Ganjamfor the last 19 years. The Yesunarayana was also a depositor in thechit funds. When he asked for his money, the organisers did notanswer him. As many as 600 people deposited money in the chitfund company and they all deceived. The police arrested the chitfund organisers and seized Rs. 6.36 lakh cash, 420 grams silverornaments and property documents from them. The accused con-fessed the crime, the DSP said.

‘DGP Commendation Disk-2020’ presented to Bapatla SP

BAPATLA: Director General ofPolice (DGP) presented ‘DGPCommendation Disk-200’ toBapatla Superintendent of PoliceVakul Jindal on Thursday. WhenVakul Jindal was working as ASPin Rampachodavaram during2019-2020 he responded swiftlyand efficiently when a boat cap-sized. He acted efficiently toretrieve bodies from the river andshift the injured to the hospital. He

also succeeded in taking effective steps to curb the Maoist activistsin the Maoist-infested areas in the Ramachodavaram division. Healso won accolades by setting up community policing. Vakul Jindalhas presented the DGP Commendation award for efficient perfor-mance as ASP in Rampachodavaram.

PNS n GUNTUR

Guntur Municipal Corporation(GMC) Commissioner KirthiChekuri has warned of impos-ing penalties if garbage and dis-cards are dumped on the roads.

The civic chief visited someof the localities in the city onThursday. She inspected thesanitary works being carriedout at Chautra centre, OldBus Stand, Patnam Bazar,Budampadu, AT Agraharam,and Santhi Nagar.

She asked the petty tradersand kiosks owners to arrangedustbins and instructed themnot to dump their garbage onthe roads. She interacted withthe owners of roadside eateryshops, tea stalls and pettytraders and warned of impos-ing penalties if garbage wasdumped on roads indiscrimi-nately.

She told them that whileclosing the shops they weredumping discards and garbageon the road. She warned ofseizing their shops if they were

found dumping garbage onroads. She appealed to them tocooperate to keep the cityclean. The commissioner toldthe public health officials andenvironment secretaries thatthey should be on main roadsby 6 am to oversee the sanita-tion which would be complet-ed by 6 am every day.

Each Environment Secretaryis required to prepare a sepa-rate plan for comprehensivesanitation within their

Secretariat. The civic chief saidthe city would soon be divid-ed into sectors and superviso-ry officers would be appoint-ed to oversee sanitation work.Environment secretaries arerequired to take chlorine sam-ples during the supply ofdrinking water and record thefull details in the logbook.

She directed theEnvironment secretaries totake samples of chlorine in thedrinking water and register

them in the logbook. The SEwas directed to report on thedrinking water problem inBudampadu and ATAgraharam to submit adetailed report to the CityPlanner on the expansion ofthe main road.

Expressing anger over theincomplete cleaning of roads atChautra locality even after 6am, she directed the officials toissue a show-cause notice tothe sanitary inspector.

Kirti directed the authoritiesto issue show-cause notices tothe Environment Secretary &Environment & Sanitation,41st Ward, 196, Budampad,196 and Shanti Nagar 85,Secretariat, on complaints ofnegligence in the assignedduties, non-response to publicconcerns and delay in resolu-tion. Additional CommissionerP Niranjan Reddy, DeputyCommissioners D. SrinivasaRao, T. Venkatakrishnaiah,Corporator Achala VenkatReddy and others participatedin the visit.

‘Penalty will be imposed ifgarbage is dumped on roads’ PNS n ONGOLE

Prakasam District Collector AS Dinesh Kumar has asked theSecretariat Volunteers to liaisonbetween the people and thegovernment.

A programme was organisedat the Prakasam Bhavan here onThursday to felicitate theSecretariat Volunteers. TheCollector, officials andVolunteers watched a live pro-gramme of Chief Minister YSJagan Mohan Reddy felicitatingthe volunteers in a programmeheld in Narasaraopet.

Later addressing the meeting,the Collector said that the ChiefMinister had introduced a sys-tem of volunteers with revolu-tionary decisions for villageself-government and extolledthe Chief Minister for introduc-ing the village and ward secre-tariat system which could notbe done by any governmentduring the past 30 years.

Dinesh Kumar explained thatthe government had imple-mented a new approach to tak-ing welfare schemes and devel-opment programs to the people.He said it was a good way to

find out how the schemesimplemented by the govern-ment were going to the people,adding that the government hadappointed the volunteers toelicit the views of the people andidentify their needs, addingthat the government wouldprovide available resources tosolve people's problems.

Stating that the role of volun-teers is crucial in providinggood governance to the people,he said the administration wastaken to the rural areas with theintroduction of the secretariatsystem.

“Rs 107 crore worth of socialsecurity pensions are disbursedon 1 st of every month by the

volunteers in the district. Sucha system does not exist in anystate in the country. The secre-tariat system which the APgovernment is implementing,attracted the attention of otherstates”, he lauded. The Collectorsaid that during theCoronavirus crisis the feversurvey was conducted 40 timesby the volunteers, and askedthem to be accountable and dis-ciplined.

Agriculture advisory boardchairman Alla Ravindra Reddysaid that the volunteer systemwas introduced in order to takethe government to the doorstepsof people, adding that welfareschemes are being deliveredthrough volunteers at home.

Later, Seva Vajra was present-ed to five volunteers and a Rs30,000 cash reward was alsoextended to each of them. 22volunteers were presentedSevaratna and Rs 20,000 casheach of them and five weregiven Seva Mitra and Rs 10,000cash reward. ZP CEO E JaliReddy, DPO GV NarayanaReddy, and, Animal husbandryJD Dr.Baby Rani were amongthose who were present.

Collector asks volunteers to liaisebetween people and government

Stating that the role of volunteers is crucial in providing goodgovernance to the people, he said the administration was taken to the rural areas with the introduction of the secretariat system.

PNS n ELURU

Village sarpanches organised anovel protest by seeking almsholding bowls in their hands toregister their protest againstthe government for doing awaywith check power.

The sarpanches holding flexibanners begged alms on thestreet. They demanded thegovernment release the 14thand 15th Finance Commissionfunds.

Talking to the media dis-trict Sarpanches presidentKadali Gopal Rao the stategovernment had taken Rs7,600 crore panchayat funds.Due to a lack of funds, thepanchayats are unable to

carry out sanitation works inthe villages. The sanitation inthe rural areas was crippledwhile the maintenance of streetlights came to halt. The sew-erages got stagnated and stunkin many villages due to a lackof proper sanitation, helamented.

Chief Minister YS JaganMohan Reddy should releasethe funds which the govern-ment had taken from thePanchayat sarpanchesaccounts. The sarpanchesmade it clear that they wouldapproach the court if the gov-ernment did not respond.

Sarpanches ‘beg’ to register protestSHORT TAKES

All eligible people will beextended welfare schemebenefits: CollectorPNS n GUNTUR

Guntur District Collector MVenugopal Reddy has said thatall the eligible people would begiven welfare scheme benefits.

Addressing the Volunteers'felicitation programme hereon Thursday, the Collector saidthat he described the secretari-at system as an unimaginedchange in governance that doesnot exist in any state in thecountry.

The Collector said that ChiefMinister Jagan Mohan Reddysaid that the Secretariat systemwould be made available with-in three months after the for-mation of the new govern-ment in June 2019. He said thathe opined that it was impossi-ble. However, within threemonths, the secretariat systemwas launched; he said, addingthat the volunteers were select-ed for the awards on the basisof performance alone withoutany recommendations, takinginto account factors such asaccountability to the public

and welfare schemes. He con-gratulated those who wereselected for the awards.

Joint Collector G Rajakumarisaid the Chief Minister is com-mitted to the secretariat systemwhich provides welfare schemesto the people at the doorstepirrespective of caste, creed,creed, region, and party with-out corruption. She appreciat-ed the efforts made by the vol-unteers to provide welfareschemes to everyone who is eli-gible despite having three orfour schemes every month. Inparticular, the volunteers want-ed to go to every house in hisarea and explain the welfareschemes and identify the eligi-ble ones and upload them to theapp.

GMC commissioner Kirthi,MLC Dokka Manikya VaraPrasad, KS Lakshmana Rao,Madhya Vimochana PracharaCommittee chairman VLakshman Reddy, MLAMaddali Giridhar and Mayor KShiva Manohar Naidu alsospoke.

19.72 lakhdevotees haddarshan inMarch: TTDPNS n TIRUPATI

The Tirumala TirupatiDevasthanams (TTD) hassaid that 19.72 lakh devoteeshad darshan of LordVenkateswara at the famoushill shrine Tirumala duringthe month March 2022.

A TTD release here onThursday said that on March20, 2020, the LordVenkateswara temple wasclosed following the outbreakof Covid-19. It was the firsttime in 129 years that theTirumala temple was closed.

Though the worship ofpilgrims had resumed partial-ly on June 8, 2020, continu-ous restrictions and subse-quent waves of the pandem-ic continued to impact pil-grim footfall at Tirumala.With Covid cases continuingto decline, the TTD has beenresuming pilgrims worship aswell as various darshan for-mats since the beginning ofMarch, 2022.

During the last month, arecord Srivari hundi collec-tion of Rs 128.64 crore wasregistered and 9.54 lakhdevotees donated their hair,TTD said in a release here.

More than 24 lakh devo-tees had been provided annaprasadam in the temple and486 MLD of water had beenconsumed during the monthof March.

The devotees purchasedover 1.04 crore laddus at thehill shrine, the release said.

PNS n GUNTUR

As many as 21 Telugu Desamparty and YSRCP activists suf-fered injuries in a clashbetween them at Karumanchivillage in Savalyapuram villagein Palnadu district,

Police said that the TDP andYSRCP activists clashed wield-ing sticks, iron rods and hurl-ing stones.

Police said that 13 TDPactivists and 8 YSRCP activistswere injured in the clash. Allthe injured were shifted to thegovernment hospital inVinukonda. The condition ofone of the injured Govardhan

is said to be critical and he wasshifted to the GGH here forbetter treatment.

The police, as a precaution-ary measure, clamped Section

144 in the village. The TDPleaders alleged that the YSRCPactivists attacked them whenthey launched a campaign onthe unscheduled power cuts.

21 TDP, YSRCP activistsinjured in a clash in Palnadu

PNS n HYDERABAD

The rift between the TRSgovernment and GovernorTamilisai Soundararajanseems to widening by theday. Minister for IT andMunicipal Administration KT Rama Rao said onThursday:"If the Central gov-ernment is unable to giveanswers on issues, these diver-sionary tactics are used". Hesaid that the government hadutmost respect for theGovernor and questioned,"Who insulted whom? Wheredid we insult? Why is shethinking that we insulted theGovernor? Why will we havea tussle with Governor? Wehave respect for the Governor.We will also try to understandwhere she felt insulted. If theGovernor behaves like a

Governor, we will definitelyrespect. We have done noth-ing to insult the Governor.Why is she imagining, why isshe talking".

Referring to the Governorholding off Padi KaushikReddy's candidature as MLCunder the Governor quota,KTR said: "Yesterday she saidthat she was insulted becauseshe had opposed KaushikReddy's candidature as MLC.She reportedly said thatbecause Kaushik Reddy is

from political background,his candidature was held back.To become Governor, onecan be a politician? What wasshe before becomingGovernor of Telangana? Shewas BJP Tamil Nadu statepresident. To becomeGovernor political backdropwon't be an issue, but tobecome MLC, why should itbe?"

KTR said that the TRS gov-ernment had never had anyissue with the formerGovernor E S L Narasimhan.He said, "We respect theGovernor. We never had anyissue with Narasimhan.

Now, why will we have anissue with her? Why is sheimagining. She should thinkbefore speaking, Why is shereacting, how is she reacting?We are going constitutionally.

If TN BJP president can be Guv,why can’t Kaushik be MLC: KTR

Court issues notice to CS SomeshPNS n HYDERABAD

On a contempt of court peti-tion filed by the EnforcementDirectorate in the Tollywooddrugs case, which was heardin the Telangana High Courton Thursday, the Court issuednotices to Chief SecretarySomesh Kumar, Director ofExcise Sarfaraz Ahmed.

The ED had previouslyalleged that the call data anddigital records of the accusedin the drugs case were notprovided. The Court orderedthe government to provide thedetails. The government didnot respond to the HighCourt order.

As part of this, it is learnedthat a contempt of court peti-tion has been filed in the HighCourt seeking action against

the CS, Director, ExciseDepartment. The Courtordered them to give anexplanation within 10 days onthe contempt allegations. TheHigh Court adjourned thecase till May 25.

PNS n TIRUPATI

YSRCP leader andGangamma temple formerchairman Parthasarahiallegedly committed suicideby jumping before a runningtrain in Kuppam onThursday.

Police said that thedeceased Parthasarathi wasthe chairman of Gangammatemple till the YSRCP gov-ernment came to power.However, a new board of thetemple was formed recentlyand a new chairman wasappointed.

At the same time,Parthasarathi committed sui-cide. The police registered acase and began an investiga-tion. The body was shifted tothe government hospital inKuppam for postmortem.

YSRCP leaderallegedly ends life

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hindustan Coca-ColaBeverages (HCCB), Coco-ColaIndia's bottling arm onThursday said it will be settingup a second factory inTelangana with an investmentoutlay of Rs 600 crore in thefirst phase.

The FMCG company will bebuilding a state-of-the-art, dig-

itally enabled, automated,smart factory that will manu-facture juices, enhanced water,packaged water, and sparklingbeverages, a company releasesaid.

HCCB and TelanganaGovernment signed a memo-randum of understanding(MoU) for capacity building oforganisations in the areas ofwater, solid waste manage-

ment and skill-building.HCCB's new factory that

would come up atBandathimmapur FoodProcessing Park, Siddipet dis-trict is expected to be ready forcommercial production at theend of 2023 and TelanganaState Industrial InfrastructureCorporation (TSIIC) hasalready allotted a land parcelmeasuring 48.53 acres to the

firm, it further said.Juan Pablo Rodriguez, Chief

Commercial Officer, BottlingInvestments Group, Coca-ColaCompany and Neeraj Garg,Chairman & CEO, HCCBmade the announcement in thepresence of TelanganaIndustries Minister K T RamaRao. HCCB already operates amega factory at Ameenpur inTelangana.

HCCB to set up 2nd plant in TS, to invest Rs 600 Cr in 1st phase

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R Veteran lyricist Maya Govind dies after heart attack

Veteran lyricist and poet Maya Govind, known for penning popular songs like "MainKhiladi Tu Anadi" and "Aankhon Mein Base Ho Tum", died at her Mumbai home onThursday following a heart attack. She was 82. The veteran, who started working in the

industry in the early 70s, wrote songs for wide-ranging films like Vinod Khanna-starrer"Aarop", Hema Malini's "Razia Sultan" and Shah Rukh Khan-starrer "Chaahat".According to her son Ajay, Govind wasin a critical condition for the past fourmonths due to a blood clot in her brain,which caused multiple health issues.Govind was hospitalised twice in thelast five months, where was underobservation in the ICU. She breathedher last in her sleep at her residence inJuhu. "She wasn't keeping well and wasalso hospitalised twice -- in Decemberfor about four days and then later inJanuary. Since then, she was gettingtreated at home.

Court directs CBI to withdraw LoC against Aakar Patel

ADelhi court on Thursday directed the CBI to withdraw a Look Out Circular (LOC)issued against the chair of Amnesty International India Board Aakar Patel in a caseof an alleged violation of the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act. Additional Chief

Metropolitan Magistrate Pawan Kumar passed the order and directed the probe agencyto file a compliance report. Earlier during the arguments, the CBI opposed the applica-tion of Patel saying there was a likeli-hood of him fleeing from justice if hewas allowed to leave the country. TheCBI said that Patel was highly influen-tial. "We are not demanding for arrest.We are saying he should not cross thecountry," the agency said. The courtnoted the CBI submission that theinvestigation was continuing since2021, and said if Patel was a flightrisk, he would have been arrested. Thecourt said he could have run awayduring the investigation also then.

Govt to conduct spl events at 75 heritage,iconic sites on Int'l Yoga Day: Sonowal

The government plans to organise special events at 75 heritage and iconic sites onInternational Day of Yoga, Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Thursday as thou-sands of people performed yoga exercises at the Red Fort to mark the 75-day countdown

to the June 21 event. The Yoga Utsav, held as part of the World Health Day, also saw the par-ticipation of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla,parliamentarians, ambassadors of vari-ous countries and Yoga exponents asthey performed the Common YogaProtocol. The Ayush ministry ministryhas planned to conduct yoga at 75 her-itage and iconic sites with prominentIndia branding and has also planned torelay programmes of the event acrossthe world with the movement of the Sun, Minister of Ayush Sarbananda Sonowalsaid on the occassion. This is linked toPrime Minister Narendra Modi's OneSun, One Earth' campaign, he said.

Curtains on Parliament's BudgetSession; stormy scene in RSPNS n NEW DELHI

The Budget Session ofParliament concluded onThursday, a day ahead ofschedule with the Rajya Sabhawitnessing stormy scenes asopposition disallowedChairman M Venkaiah Naiduto complete his customaryvaledictory address.

The Session, which had 27sittings spread over twomonths, witnessed spiriteddebates on a range of issues,while opposition members saidthe Narendra Modi govern-ment had concluded the pro-ceedings ahead of schedule asit wanted to "run away" fromthe debate on high fuel prices.

While proceedings in theLok Sabha were by and largesmooth, the Rajya Sabha wit-nessed an angry exchangebetween Naidu and oppositionmembers, includingMallikarjun Kharge, DerekO'Brien who wanted a discus-sion on repeated hike in fuel

prices.In the Rajya Sabha, Shiv

Sena members Sanjay Rautand Priyanka Chaturvedi triedto raise the issue of FIR regis-tered against the BJP's KiritSomaiya for allegedly siphon-ing off donations collected forsaving INS Vikrant.

Congress members support-ed the Shiv Sena with someremarking that the issue of spi-raling prices of essential com-modities including those ofpetrol, diesel and cooking gaswasn't allowed to be raised inthe entire session, but at least"this scam" should be dis-

cussed.However, Naidu rejected the

opposition plea and called forZero Hour. As oppositionmembers trooped into theWell, Naidu adjourned theproceedings sine die withoutthe customary valedictoryaddress.

"Rajya Sabha adjourned twodays early... To suit its politicalconvenience, Modi govern-ment ran away from discussionon price rise, broken promis-es to farmers, and the LabourMinister didn't even reply todebate on labour &(un)employment," Congress

leader Jairam Ramesh said.Ramesh contended that

since Parliament wasadjourned at 11:00 a.m. onThursday, no business could betransacted and it amounted toproceedings of two days beingwashed out.

Parliamentary AffairsMinister Pralhad Joshi hit backat Ramesh claiming that he was"lying". Joshi claimed that theCongress leaders had made thesuggestion to the Rajya SabhaChairman to end the sessionearly.

The Budget Session hadbegun on January 31 with theaddress of President Ram NathKovind to the joint sitting ofboth the Houses. It was fol-lowed by the presentation ofthe Union Budget by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanon February 1.

The first half of the BudgetSession concluded on February11 when Parliament went intorecess to examine the budgetpapers.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Setting at rest fears over Covid restrictionsbeing relaxed, several experts say the two-yearstringent mask mandate has led to fatigue andcan be removed from public spaces for nowjust as many countries have done.

While the message around the benefitsof masking should continue, it would bewise to lift the mandate and reintroduceit if there is another Covid wave for bet-ter compliance, experts said, pointing tothe futility of ill-fitting masks and lack ofcommunity consensus on the matter.

The issue is of compliance fatigue,Ramanan Laxminarayan, director ofWashington's Center for DiseaseDynamics, Economics & Policy, told PTIwhile noting that many countries aroundthe world have removed mask restrictions.

I would urge messaging around the use-fulness of masking in closed spaces, butwould not suggest that it needs to be

enforced punitively, added GautamMenon, professor, Departments of Physicsand Biology, Ashoka University inHaryana. The assurance comes as Indiareports a low number of cases on Thursday1,033 new coronavirus infections wererecorded and also one case of a new Covidstrain in Mumbai.

On Wednesday the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC) reportedIndia's first case of the Omicron recom-

binant strain XE. However. INSACOG,which monitors genomic variations in theSARS-CoV-2 in India, has decided to takeup another round of genomic sequencingat a national lab for confirmation.

Recombinant' means the genome of XEis a combination of the genomes of theBA.1 and the BA.2 sub-variants ofOmicron.

With India seeing the lowest number ofCOVID-19 cases in two years, severalstates, including Delhi, Maharashtra,Punjab and Haryana, have done away withthe mandatory use of masks.

Epidemiologist Laxminarayan said itmay be necessary for the public to startusing masks again in the future if there isanother variant and wave. But keepingthese requirements in place indefinitelycauses the public to not take them serious-ly. It is therefore better to remove them andthen reintroduce them when necessary,Laxminarayan explained.

No election symbol shall be deemedas religious or national symbol: RijijuPNS n NEW DELHI

The government on Thursdaytold Rajya Sabha that no elec-tion symbol reserved or allot-ted by the ElectionCommission shall be deemedas a religious or national sym-bol.

Law Minister Kiren Rijijuwas asked whether a nationalsymbol such as national bird,national animal or nationalflower can be used as an elec-tion symbol by any registeredpolitical party.

In a written reply, Rijijuquoted a provision of theRepresentation of the PeopleAct to explain the legal posi-tion.

The minister referred to thesub-section 3 of section 123 of

the Representation of thePeople Act, 1951 that listswhat all are deemed to be cor-rupt practices for the purpos-es of this Act.

These include appeal by acandidate or his agent or byany other person with theconsent of a candidate or hiselection agent to vote orrefrain from voting on theground of his religion, race,caste, community or languageor the use of, or appeal to, reli-gious or national symbols"such as the national flag orthe national emblem, for thefurtherance of the prospects ofthe election of that candi-date".

It, however, adds that "nosymbol allotted under this Actto a candidate shall be deemed

to be a religious symbol or anational symbol for the pur-poses of this clause..."

Rijiju also said the ElectionCommission has informed that

election symbols are eitherreserved for national or staterecognised political parties orallotted to unrecognised polit-ical parties under the provi-sions of the Election Symbols(Reservation and Allotment)Order, 1968.

"Accordingly, it is clear thatany election symbol which isreserved/allotted by theElection Commission of Indiashall be deemed as not a reli-gious or national symbol," hesaid.

He was also asked whetherthe government will considerdisallowing use of nationalsymbol as party symbol.

In his response, the ministersaid "no such proposal is underconsideration of the govern-ment".

PNS n KOTA (RAJASTHAN)

Four people were charred todeath, all of them fromMadhya Pradesh, and threeinjured as two cars caught firefollowing a head-on collisionin Jhalawar district ofRajasthan, police said onThursday.

The deceased were identi-fied as Bhanu Pratap Singh(26), Yashwant Singh aliasPhool Singh (24), BhupendraSingh (25) and PrakharSingh, Raipur SHO RajpalSingh said.

The accident took place onthe Jhalawar-Indore statehighway on Wednesdaynight, the police said.

Of the injured, DeshrajSingh, also from MadhyaPradesh, was referred to aKota hospital in a criticalcondition, while LokendraSingh alias Happy andAakansha, residents ofJhalawar, were taken to alocal hospital.

SP MLA who made controversialremark against CM faces bulldozerPNS n BAREILLY (UP)

A petrol pump that had alleged-ly been built illegally bySamajwadi Party MLA ShazilIslam Ansari was bulldozed onThursday, days after the legisla-tor was booked over a provoca-tive remark against Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanath.The demolition of the fuel stationat Parsakheda on the Bareilly-Delhi National Highway wascarried out by the BareillyDevelopment Authority using abulldozer, an official said. BDAvice chairman Jogendra Singh

said Ansari's petrol pump wasbuilt without the required clear-ance. "The notice in this regardhas already been issued but noreply was received," he said. Less than a week back, an FIRwas lodged at Bareilly's Baradaripolice station against the oppo-sition MLA over a remark madeby him against CM Adityanath.

There was no immediate reac-tion by the SP on the the demo-lition. When contacted, theMLA said he was "very troubled"and did not want to comment onit. Addressing party workers inhis constituency last Friday,

Ansari had said his party'sstrength in the UP House hadincreased after the recent elec-tions and if Adityanath makesany noise now the SP guns willnot emit smoke, but fire bullets.

As a controversy erupted, theMLA seemed to suggest that theremark was being taken too lit-erally, and a news channel hadedited it. What he had said,Ansari told PTI, was that theopposition now is much strongerthan before in Uttar Pradesh andwill reply strongly to Adityanathin the assembly, just as guns firebullets and not smoke.

ED questions OmarAbdullah in J&KBank casePNS n NEW DELHI

The Enforcement Directorate(ED) questioned formerJammu and Kashmir chiefminister Omar Abdullah forfive hours on Thursday in con-nection with a case related tothe purchase of abuilding by the J&KBank about 12 yearsago when he was inoffice, officials saidhere.

The NationalConference (NC)termed the move a"vicious vilification"campaign by theCentre and anattempt by the gov-ernment to silence the voice ofits opposition ahead of a pos-sible announcement of the elec-tions to the union territory.

The NC leader arrived at thefederal probe agency's head-quarters at 11 am on Thursdaywhere his statement wasrecorded in connection withthe case that was registered bythe ED earlier this year, theysaid.

Emerging from the EDoffice, Abdullah said he wasnot an accused in the case.

"They called me for ques-tioning in connection with anongoing investigation in anearly 12-year-old case. Ianswered them as much as Icould. I will further help themif they need me. They did notaccuse me of anything," he

said.According to

the officials, thecase pertains tothe purchase ofthe J&K Bank'sbuilding inBandra Kurla in2010, when for-mer finance min-ister of the erst-while stateHaseeb Drabu

was its chairman.According to them, a two-

member committee headedby Drabu was formed to lookfor a building in Mumbai, andbased on their recommenda-tion, the building, which is thebiggest asset of the bank as ofdate, was cleared for purchase.

The role of the former chiefminister of the erstwhileJammu and Kashmir state inthe bank was limited toapproving the appointmentof its chairperson.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court Thursdaysaid, immediate attention isrequired to be given to the safetyof the 126-year-old MullaperiyarDam and the supervisory com-mittee will be strengthened totake steps that are required to betaken by the National Dam SafetyAuthority (NDSA) under the DamSafety Act 2021. The apex court,which asked both Kerala andTamil Nadu not to go into thehistory and concentrate on thefuture of the dam, said the super-

visory committee will issue direc-tions that will be complied withby both the states. The top court,which appealed to both the statesto let the water flow safely, said itwould pass the order in the mat-ter on Friday. A bench headed byJustice A M Khanwilkar is hear-ing pleas raising issues about theMullaperiyar Dam, which wasbuilt in 1895 on the Periyar riverin the Idukki district of Kerala. OnApril 5, the apex court had saidthe supervisory committee canbe asked to carry out all thestatutory functions until the

NDSA is established. Today,immediate attention is requiredto be given to the safety of theexisting dam, for which there isan authority under the Act but itis not established, the bench,also comprising Justices A S Okaand C T Ravikumar, said onThursday. Senior advocateJaideep Gupta, appearing forKerala, said in principle, theyhave no difficulty with the court'ssuggestions that the supervisorycommittee may carry out thefunctions of national authority,subject to a timeline.

102 visits toIndia by foreigndignitaries inlast 2 yearsPNS n NEW DELHI

There were 102 visits to India byforeign dignitaries includingpresidents and prime ministersin the last two years, accordingto details provided by the gov-ernment in Rajya Sabha onThursday. In responding to aquestion, Minister of State forExternal Affairs VMuraleedharan provided adetailed list of foreign dignitarieswho visited India betweenJanuary 2020 and March 2022.The presidents who visited Indiaduring the period includedPortugal's Marcelo Rebelo deSousa and Brazil's JairBolsonaro.

The prime ministers on thelist included Mette Frederiksenof Denmark and Fumio Kishidaof Japan. To a separate query,Muraleedharan said the govern-ment is planning to issue e-pass-ports to its citizens, starting2022-23, adding it will be a com-bination of paper and electron-ic passports. He said the e-pass-ports will be produced by theIndia Security Press, Nashik,which has issued letters of intentfor the procurement of 4.5 croreICAO (International CivilAviation Organisation)- compli-ant electronic chips along withits operating system.

Four from MPcharred todeath, threeinjured

‘Decriminalisation of minoroffences welcome step’PNS n NEW DELHI

Decriminalisation of minoroffences is a welcome step asit will help unclog the criminaljustice system in the countryand the element of criminali-ty should be replaced by theimposition of civil liability,legal experts said on Thursday.

Prime Minister NarendraModi has asked bureaucrats toexpedite the decriminalisa-tion of minor offences and vio-lations and in a letter datedApril 4, Cabinet SecretaryRajiv Gauba has asked thesecretaries to initiate action oncertain suggestions made bythe prime minister whichincluded reviewing suchcrimes and accordingly takingaction to repeal or amendthese provisions in a time-bound manner.

Senior advocate and SCBAPresident Vikas Singh saidthat decriminalisation ofminor offences was a good idea, especially considering howour judicial system is so over-burdened .

Even in the context of thecentral government's ease ofdoing business mantra, hesaid, every and any step in that(decriminalisation of minoroffences) direction is alwayswelcome .

Echoing similar views,another senior advocate VikasPahwa said, There are variousminor offences which are clog-ging the system and the gov-ernment can think and try todecriminalise them. We haveto see the larger picture.Because of these offences,major offences are the oneswhich get delayed, where tri-als are pending for a long

time because the courts don'thave the time to deal withthem.

Advocate Ruby Singh Ahuja,Senior Partner, Karanjawala &Co stated that such a move willhelp promote the government'sendeavour of making thecountry a business-friendlydestination .

Decriminalization of minoroffences is a step to ease thebacklog in courts and to takeoff the burden of overloadedprison infrastructure.Legislation must be brought into deal with minor acts andomissions differently as com-pared to serious offences, espe-cially for the corporate world,she said.

Pahwa, a noted criminallaw expert, said under theCompanies Act, even the mostminor violations have beencriminalised.''

He said that the focusshould be on major criminal-ity and trying to de-clog thesystem by removing minoraberrations from the ambit ofcriminal law.

‘India has strongdefence againstcyber attacks’PNS n NEW DELHI/BEIJING

Power Minister R K Singh onThursday said the countryhas a strong defence againstany kind of cyber attacks,amid reports of Chinese state-sponsored hackers targetingpower grid inLadakh.

"Our defenceagainst cyberattack is strong.These were prob-ing attacks inD e c e m b e r ,January andFebruary. Theydid not succeed.But we are aware,"Singh said on the sideline of aclean energy ministerial seniorofficials meet in the capital.

The minister also said thataction was taken back in 2018against suspected cyber attackson the country's power supplysystem.

"We had put protocols inplace. Those protocols areworking and we are strength-ening those protocols every-day. So, our cyber defenceagainst cyber attack is strong.We are confident about that,"Singh said.

There are reports thatpower sector in the countrywas targeted by hackers in along-term operation whichwas carried out by a state-sponsored (Chinese) group.

According to the reports,the hackers targeted seven

Indian state cen-tres responsible forcarrying out elec-trical dispatch andgrid control near aborder area disput-ed by the twonuclear neigh-bours.

The groupreportedly used thetrojan ShadowPad,

which is believed to have beendeveloped by contractors forChina's Ministry of StateSecurity, leading to the conclu-sion that this was a state-spon-sored hacking effort.

Meanwhile, in Beijing,Chinese government deniedreports that its hackers target-ed the Indian power grid inLadakh.

"We have noted the relevantreports," China's ForeignMinistry spokesman ZhaoLijian said during a mediabriefing on Thursday.

Immediate attention required to be given to safety of Mullaperiyar Dam

Mask mandate may not be necessary for now, say experts

Our media shouldboycott biasedlocal events whoclaim to be globalawards.

Actor— Kangana Ranaut

tice is banned in more than 20countries, including Pakistanand Malaysia. Globally, pro-gressive Muslims despise it.Last August, it was pointed outthat after the Act was passed,divorce cases in the commu-nity dropped by more than 80per cent! Even those who wereinitially misled must nowacknowledge that it was amuch-needed, though delayed,initiative that has benefited notonly the community, but thenation as a whole. Imagine themeasure of goodwill that astatement from prominentmembers of civil society,appreciating the huge reduc-tion in triple talaq cases, couldgenerate in the country.

One would like politiciansof all hues to come together —and let people know about it— on issues that bring happi-ness to women, children andfamilies, strengthen familybonds and take these to a high-er level of mutual respect andtrust. Similarly, the hijab issuehas been blown out of propor-tion. A number of girls couldnot appear in Class X and XIIBoard exams in Karnatakabecause their parents would-n’t heed the Karnataka Highcourt’s unequivocal judgment.I headed a Regional Instituteof Education in Bhopal from1977 for 11 years. A CBSE-

affiliated school, offering grad-uate, PG and doctoral-levelprogrammes in teacher educa-tion, was part of my charge.We never faced any issueregarding the prescribed uni-form in the school, nor in thehigher classes where morethan 70 per cent students weregirls. I fondly recall convertingone of the boys hostel to anadditional girls hostel as theirnumber was increasing fast. Tome, the hijab issue is a con-trived strategy of those inter-ested in destabilising thenation’s social fabric. To them,it hardly matters that becauseof them, young children whowere all along studying amica-bly with their peers, have sud-denly been thrust into a con-flict situation. Unfortunately,even certain political partiesthat are struggling for survivalhave plunged into the fray.Such elements try their best togive a communal colour toevery initiative that could helpenhance social cohesion andreligious amity.

Most of such disruptionsare launched in the name of“protecting the secular fabricof India, as enshrined in theConstitution”. One mustremember that secularism —equal respect for all religions— is an integral part of theancient Indian philosophical

comprehension and culturaltradition. The founding fathersof our Constitution did notfind it necessary to include anymention of this term, which isgrossly and regularly misinter-preted by vested interests. Itwas introduced in thePreamble by a Governmentwhich imposed Emergency,put the entire Oppositionbehind bars, suspended funda-mental rights and lost all legit-imacy. Changing the Preamblewas indeed a violation of thevery spirit of the Constitution.It was certainly disrespectful tothe illustrious luminaries whoframed our Constitution, con-vinced that equal respect for allreligions was deeply ingrainedin the psyche of every Indian.

India shall never give upits traditional belief that allreligions are equal; their finalaim is the same. Also, thatpeople have to be goodadherents of their faith andgood human beings.Problems arise when claimsare made that “my truth is theonly truth, and everyone elsemust agree to it”. It will notwork in the third decade ofthe 21st century; it’s notworking in any country.

(The author works in education, social cohesion andreligious amity. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

MAINTAIN AND KEEP BEACHES CLEANSir — The beaches in Mumbai may be afar cry from the ones in Chennai but theydo have a character of their own. Usually,Mumbai beaches rightfully conjure theimages of large, noisy rustic crowds.However, it is also true that quite a fewof these beaches remain delightfullysecluded. In short, some of the must-visitbeaches in Mumbai include Chowpatty,Aksa, Marve and Versova. Mumbai is notknown only as the financial capital ofIndia, it is home to some of the most pro-tected harbours in the country. This is oneplace where tourists and locals can wit-ness the magical sunset and sunrise.

The Arabian Sea, the sands and thesight of the horizon and a perfect sunsetmake the beaches of Mumbai truly mag-ical and a must-visit tourist destination.In the midst of our fast-paced lifestyle,Mumbai (the city that never sleeps) ishome to some of the most serene andbeautiful beaches that are worth visiting.Both the State and Union Governmentsshould maintain these beaches, besidesthe beaches in Goa and other places, astourist spots so that we can developtourism on a bigger scale.

MR Jayanthy | Mumbai

JOB ON COMPASSIONATE GROUNDSir — The Supreme Court has rightlyrejected a married woman’s claim for acompassionate ground appointment onthe death of her father who was inGovernment service because her moth-er did not sponsor her name; she hasfavoured the name of her son. Appearingfor the woman, her advocate averred thatthere should be no discriminationbetween a married and unmarrieddaughter. In case an appointment is to bemade on compassionate ground, a con-sent letter from all other family membersis obtained; otherwise, the appointmentis not made till a consensus is reached.

The argument that there should be nodiscrimination between a married andunmarried daughter is untenable becauseappointment is given to only one person.It is not an ancestral property to stake

claim by each family member. The peti-tioner had approached the SupremeCourt challenging the Madhya PradeshHigh Court’s order upholding the rejec-tion of her application for compassion-ate job on the ground that her mother hadobjected to it. The wife of the deceasedemployee is first among equals. Her wish-es cannot be ignored. If other familymembers give their consent to theappointment of a member on compas-sionate ground, the Government isbound to consider.

KV Seetharamaiah | Bengaluru

A BATTLE AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGESir —The recent IPCC Report, whichindicated the global rise of 3.2 degreesCelsius in temperatures, is alarming. Thereport mandated the Governments to actnow, or else face a global rise in temper-atures. For Governments all around theworld, it is the high time to wake up.They need to be alarmed about risingtemperatures and strictly move aheadwith using Carbon-Neutral

Technologies. On several counts, theconsequences for the world on accountof changing weather patterns as indicat-ed in the report are true. Especially dur-ing the war time between Ukraine andRussia, we have seen the way oil tankswere burnt, and the shelling, explosionsand firing on houses take place.

Massive amounts of heat radiationsare emanating from that area and spread-ing through regions, which will heat upthe global climate sooner and faster.Today, we not only need to stabilise andreduce carbon emissions, we need to dis-mantle the problem completely towardsthe target of net-zero. We must remem-ber that only ‘no talk, only walk’ withurgent action and seriousness can pavethe way for a healthy climate for ourfuture generations. Global consciousnessis urgently required to fulfil the deadlinesas addressed in the IPCC report.

Kirti Wadhawan | Kanpur

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

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In spite of our nation’s long history of religious and cultural tolerance,there are misguided elements that seek to damage its social fabric

INDIA SHALL NEVER GIVE UP

ITS TRADITIONALBELIEF THAT ALLRELIGIONS ARE

EQUAL; THEIRFINAL AIM IS

THE SAME. ALSO,THAT PEOPLE

HAVE TO BE GOODADHERENTS OF

THEIR FAITH ANDBECOME GOOD

HUMAN BEINGS

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

JS RAJPUT

Putting his oratorical skills to good use,Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressedthe 42nd foundation day of the BJP,

where he said the two kinds of politics in thecountry comprised ‘parivar bhakti’ (familydynasty) and ‘rashtra bhakti’ (patriotism).Belonging to a freedom fighter’s family, I wantto ask Modi what kind of ‘rashtra bhakti’ isthere in the BJP and its ‘parivar’? Does heforget that the BJP’s precursor RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS) sided with the

British against freedom fighters? Moreover,did not Nagpur (the RSS headquarters) refuseto hoist the Tricolour even on IndependenceDay and Republic Day, and it was just a monthbefore the Gujarat carnage that the nationalflag was finally hoisted in 2002?

It’s not a question of ‘parivar’ or‘rashtra’, but the simple fact is that one setof countries is standing for democracy, oth-ers are with autocracy. We are basically stand-ing in the middle due to self-interest. Whena country’s economic condition is like neigh-bouring Sri Lanka, and PM Modi has been inpower for almost eight years, it is pertinentto ask why should he not give Indians a sta-ble and secure future? We are tired of com-munalism, job losses, high inflation (slow poi-soning by increasing 84 paise per litre on fuelon a daily basis). The common man wantsto live with dignity, not like the poor brethrenwho depend on a five kg free ration.

Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee | Faridabad

PM is more talk, less action

Roadblocks to socialcohesion and amity

It stands well established thatthe trajectory of growth andprogress of any nation couldbe traversed successfully only

on the solid foundation of socialcohesion and religious amity —depending upon the religious,cultural and demographic com-position. Every conscious citizenrealises its criticality in the caseof India. It is globally acknowl-edged that India is confidentlymarching ahead; its pace, deter-mination and commitment oftensuffer avoidable impedimentscaused by misguided elementsthat attempt to exploit humansensitivities to create distrustand differences among commu-nities. It becomes more acutewhen disruptive tendencies over-take sensible ways meant toresolve these differences. A short-sighted approach to petty gainsovershadows national interests.There are umpteen instances inpost-Independence India thatled to the loss of human life, prop-erty and socio-cultural cohesiononly because of triggers pressedin by vested interests. It is indeedastonishing that it happens in anation that has taught freedomfighters of innumerable countrieshow to protest democratically.Luminaries like Martin LutherKing Jr and Nelson Mandela wereguided by Gandhian interpreta-tion of Satyagrah. And theyachieved their goals, discardingevery form of violence and ensur-ing that no inconvenience wasinflicted upon anyone.

One would like serious inde-pendent studies conducted byestablished and equipped institu-tions on, say, how much avoidableloss India — and common peo-ple, including children — sufferedon various counts in the ShaheenBagh and farmers’ protests. Andwhat did the agitators gain? Wasthis approach really necessary inan acculturated society? We, whoproudly claim to be heirs to thegreat dialogical tradition, have yetto learn how to take recourse todialogue and even Satyagrah, ifnecessary, and resolve issues ami-cably. How much unnecessaryburden was cast on nationalresources, and damage inflictedon mutual trust and social har-mony, consequent to the passageof the triple talaq Act? The prac-

There’s a hard lesson for several Indian States in the unravelling Sri Lanka story.The island nation, mentioned in Indian mythology as “Sone Ki Lanka”, today standson the brink of an unprecedented economic disaster which has been triggered

by its populist but reckless fiscal policies. Its 22 million population, roughly the sameas the number of Delhiites, has hit the streets to protest against the inept financial

handling by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa Government. Thesorry story started back in 2019 when the country’streasury started experiencing more outflow than inflowon account of various tax cuts and other pecuniarybenefits promised by Rajapaksa to Lankan citizens.With the passage of time, things have reached sucha pass that people have to cough up astronomicalamounts for even essential items such as milk, bread,rice, cooking oil, pulses and fuel. Prices have sky-rocketed from `350 late last month to `900 today;rice costs `600 a kg (if one can find it in the firstplace!). Lanka’s debt is mounting, as are inflation andpeople’s anger. Juxtaposing the situation with Indian

States throws up a startling scenario. Uttar Pradesh, where free laptops and gas werepromised as part of election freebies, has a debt of `6 lakh crore, Uttarakhand owes`84,000 crore, West Bengal has a debt of `5 lakh crore while Rajasthan and AndhraPradesh have run up a debt of `4 lakh crore each.

Punjab, where the AAP had promised free electricity for up to 300 units to everyhousehold and `1,000 to every woman every month, is staring at a similar situa-tion. Immediately after being sworn in as the CM, AAP’s Bhagwant Mann met PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and asked for a package of `1 lakh crore for the State.Meanwhile, the free power sop has been postponed till June. It’s time all parties whoplan to form Governments on the basis of doling out freebies realise that these willdirectly reflect in the fiscal health of the States. There’s also the very sound basiclogic: If you make freebies permanent, nobody will work. Why will people work ifthey get to eat and drink for free? That’s one of the major reasons that the pricesof everything from fuel to vegetables are spiralling up. The need of the hour is notto give away things for free, but to push citizens towards contributing towards theeconomy. There’s nothing like a free lunch; now, is there?

Has the COVID XE variant — the latest to be discovered — entered India? Wecannot really be sure. The Mumbai authorities say the first patient in the coun-try is a fully vaccinated, 50-year-old costume designer who returned from South

Africa recently. The Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation said she was the only oneto test positive for the XE variant among 230 samples sent for COVID genome sequenc-ing. The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG), however, deniedthat the genomic constitution of this variant correlates with the genomic picture ofthe XE variant. Scientists have educated estimates that it could be a bit more trans-missible than Omicron and possibly not as infectious as Delta. Given that India hasfully emerged out of the shadow of COVID restrictions and all activities, including inter-national travel, are back to normal, the possibility of the new variant entering Indiacannot be ruled out. It need not raise a scare because quite a substantial segment ofthe population is now fully vaccinated, even children are getting the doses and thoseabove 60, irrespective of co-morbidities, are allowed a booster. Theoretically, bothvaccinations and previous infections increase the immunity enough to withstand any

fresh infection. As a country, we have to learn to livewith COVID and also with the fact that new variantsmay routinely test our immunity. This means we needa post-COVID, long-term national policy or protocolon the use of vaccines as regular boosters.

It is time to think about a booster for all above12. Age and comorbidities cannot be conditions inthe case of adults. It is well established that the immu-nity levels reduce up to half six months after the sec-ond vaccine dose. A process should be in place forpeople to regularly check their immunity levels and,if needed, go in for boosters. The issue is no longer

about new variants; they will keep surfacing. The issue is whether your immunity isstrong enough to combat them. The Indian scientists do have a valid point about theadvanced countries going in for the fourth or even the fifth booster. It is important tonote that the booster is a vaccine, not a medicine, and should be treated that way.These protocols can come into effect immediately. We need not wait for the entirepopulation to be fully vaccinated. This is a cycle, not a one-time affair. Secondly, theGovernment has to decide on reducing the gap between the first and second dosesof the Covishield vaccine. It was increased to 12-16 weeks last May from six-eightweeks. There are still many people who need to get vaccinated and they should notget caught in a fresh COVID wave because of the extended dose gap. Thirdly, boost-er doses must be available to immuno-compromised people of any age, especiallypatients suffering from cancer or those who have undergone organ transplants or areon extended hospitalisation.

Staying safe

Sop storyWe must learn from Lanka's experience

and stop doling out freebies to voters

PICTALK

Asia’s largest tulip garden on the foothills of Zabarwan mountains overlooking Dal Lake, in Srinagar PTI

Amid reports of the presence of XE variant in India, it’s time to seriously go for booster shots

The (MCD) Bill isconstitutionallysuspect, legallyuntenable andpolitically hypocritical.

Congress MP— Abhishek Singhvi

We missed him(T Natarajan) in the WC. He’dhave been a certainty had he been fit.

Former cricket coach— Ravi Shastri

SOUNDBITE

The Russian military must be brought tojustice. Actimmediately or dissolve your-

self (UN) altogether.

Ukraine President— Volodymyr Zelenskiy

These (22YouTube) channelswere involved inmisinformationagainst India.

Union I&B Minister— Anurag Thakur

out such decisions is often availablefrom an external expert.

About a century ago, the pre-vailing impression was that suchexperts were a type of advancedscholar or a senior academic or aveteran bureaucrat. But books oncreativity from prolific writers suchas Roger Von Oech and Edward deBono have brought the importanceof flexibility and imagination intofocus. Since then, the processes ofsituation definition, idea generation,and idea evaluation have been dis-cussed in considerable detail overtime in many articles and books.

These publications and instruc-tional videos that discuss brain-storming, effective collaborativemethods, and planned innovationhave helped create a clearer under-standing about what Bono terms‘serious creativity’, namely bringingnew approaches to solve problemswhether in industry or society. Theterm also suggests that it is some-what different from artistic creativ-ity, as it often involves more team-work, more use of concepts, andbecause it aims directly at a mater-ial gain of some kind. It aims at alarger practical benefit than anyartistic or abstract ideal.

In the arts, we often hear aboutthe importance of innate talent andearly training. And it is a fact thatoften, exceptional musicians ordancers or actors have drawn a lotfrom family traditions and lineage.Even fifty years ago, there were veryfew academies of drama and film-making skills. Today however, a lotmore coaching is available to pro-vide an orientation towards creativ-ity. A given team can indeed behelped to improve the number

and quality of solutions it comes upwith to solve its design or businessproblems.

An ordinary individual mightnot transform into a JagdishChandra Bose or a Tesla through afew weekend workshops or a shortcourse. Teams can, however, discov-er methods and traits that help themgenerate and evaluate ideas better,and learn to attentively pave the pathfrom an initial proposal to a fullimplementation.

There’s a whole book on nurtur-ing ideas and harvesting repeated-ly from them. It’s by songwriter andadvertising entrepreneur Bill Backer,who had produced some hit cam-paigns for leading beverage brands.Saying that he had found poor par-enting when it comes to ideas, hesuggested that companies shouldhave small groups of personnel whowill ‘adopt and foster’ an idea or two.He called them ‘Idea Families’ - peo-ple who would protect and devel-op an idea so it could grow andmake a difference.

The entertainment industryregularly processes a very largevolume of fresh proposals - scripts,projects, topics, format adaptations- and usually applies the sole crite-rion of how large a paying audiencecan be expected. In businesses,labs, product design, governmentdepartments and other profession-al teams however, more than novelty, it’s the aspects of utility and improved efficiency that are valued more.

A famous artist was once askedhow he came up with such strikingideas. He said the secret was to bor-row in a way that no one couldimmediately say where he had got

it from. This means that painters getinspired by musical works, notcontemporary canvases. Shapes andsounds, structures and survivalprinciples that we observe in Natureare an inexhaustible source of ideas.

Originality and innovation areto be respected for what they indeedare. In several practical situationshowever, an organisation may onlyneed a suitable adaptation of an ideathat is already around us in our envi-ronment.

Through sensitisation and train-ing, people can understand andattend to creative processes better.They can develop insights by look-ing at how orchestras, despite thevariety of instruments, producemusic rather than cacophony. Theycan appreciate how heeding a con-ductor can give everyone their say,and yet keep the brainstormingprocess moving forward, andtowards a successful finale.

In all of this, it isn’t only ideationand flair that matter. There’s littleroom for passivity and pessimism.It calls for a powerful faith thatthings can be constantly bettered.That a greater benefit for the manycan be pursued and obtained. Thatmore individuals can participate andcontribute to bringing about desiredchange. A strong sense of valuesdoes inspire creativity.

Greater success in reaping fromideas comes from a type of exper-tise. Diversity enables - look wide-ly across industries or domains. Itis a learnable activity - mapping anexisting scheme of things, identify-ing possible or necessary points forimprovement, and attending totheir implementation. Creativity isa force for good.

Plant your concepts;solutions will sprout

NAME THIS BILL THE KEJRIWAL-PHOBIA BILL. THIS

BILL WRITES THE STORY OF YOUR COWARDICE…

OF YOU CRUSHING THE CONSTITUTION.

— AAM AADMI PARTY MP

SANJAY SINGH

WE NEED BETTER COORDINATION AND FOR

THAT WE NEED TO UNIFY THE NATIONAL

CAPITAL… FOR OVERALL DEVELOPMENT.

— UNION HOME MINISTER

AMIT SHAH

‘Serious creativity’, which means bringing new approaches to solve problems,aims at a larger practical benefit than any artistic or abstract ideal

India and Australia signed on the Economic Cooperation and TradeAgreement (ECTA) last week, as a precursor to a wider compre-hensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) later. This arrange-

ment brings two large market economies in the Indian ocean geog-raphy closer by bringing more access for each other’s goods, ser-vices and human capital. The stated objective of ECTA is to enhancethe economic, commercial ties between these two countries to reach$50billion annually in next couple of years. This marks a new chap-ter in India’s outlook towards creation of wealth for citizens. Indiahas distanced from global trading agreements and multi-countryregional trading blocs almost since independence. The reasons varyfrom domestic pressures from powerful lobbies, an exceptionally poorrecord of binding onerous labyrinth of regulations and compliances

and of course geopolitics. It is refreshing to see that the current gov-ernment in the seventh year of its rule has begun to show a deter-mined intent of playing in the competitive league of trading nations.India signed a CEPA with UAE a few days before the Australian ECTAwas solemnised. The former gives Indian goods and services an excit-ing market access to the middle eastern state that can later be expand-ed into a similar agreement with the Gulf cooperation council (GCC).Some analysts have pointed that to begin with the CEPA will provideIndian goods an access for a market worth $10 billion, which hasso far been underutilised. The agreement provides a glimpse in thecoming-of-age comprehension for trade-agreement-related policy-making inIndia.Thereis a chapter dedicated to digital trade which hasbeen touched upon for the first time in the text leading to India-UAECEPA. Digital trade policies are a new emerging field of negotiationswhich goes beyond the common customs and tariffsapproaches totrade between two partner countries or blocks. In many ways it cov-ers an entire gamut of tangible and intangible barriers to trade thatis shifting to a digitalmode. It may be premature to comment whichway the multilateral WTO dialogue on digital trade policies is head-ed. However, India by agreeing to a chapter on this field in its agree-ment with UAE has opened up potential for similar approach in futuredeals. Australia with whom India has signed ECTA may be next inline, and it would be good to see if India follows thesame approachas UAE. The other developed countries in the pipeline with whomIndia has stated its desire to quickly negotiate some kind of an eco-nomic and commercial partnership agreement include the UK,Canadaand EU. All of these are powerful regional blocs and home to someof the top digital enterprises.They have digital governing principlesin place unlike India which is is yet to have a comprehensive feder-al architecture for the digital aspects. This could be a significant dis-advantage for India as it would mean future agreements on digitaltrade policies could take a back seat. This calls for India to start over-hauling its entire legal framework on digital policies and laws. It requiresa whole of government approach along with a significant amount ofstakeholder consultation. The government could also look at creat-ing a relativelysimple deliverable from bureaucrats drawn from acrossministries to decide on security, privacy, economic and commercialviability, transparencypractices and overall humanitarian aspects ofdigital policies. It may be too late if the horses of global trade boltfrom the stables before a comprehensiveframework for domestic regulations evolve.

(The writer is a policy analyst. The views expressed are personal.)

FRIDAY | APRIL 8, 2022

07

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FIRSTCOLUMNTHE FUTURE OF

INDIAN TRADE DEALS

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

BALAKRISHNAN

SATYAM

India needs to overhaul its domestic regulations

IT CALLS FOR APOWERFULFAITH THAT

THINGS CAN BECONSTANTLY

BETTERED; THAT A GREATER

BENEFIT FOR THE MANY CAN

BE PURSUEDAND OBTAINED.

THAT MOREINDIVIDUALS

CAN PARTICIPATEAND

CONTRIBUTE TO BRINGING

ABOUT DESIREDCHANGE. A

STRONG SENSEOF VALUES

DOES INSPIRECREATIVITY

(The writer is a creativedirector, advertising

faculty, and an amateurepistemologist.The viewsexpressed are personal.)

The minerals sector isshackled in multiple reg-ulations and that has

crafted an artificial shortageand inflated the price of miner-als, and coal in particular. Highroyalty and auction premiumand high logistics cost hascom-poundedthe problem. Indiamust boost production andreduce import dependency ofminerals and coal.

Surplus production andcheaper cost will promote newcapacities in the core sectorand reduce the price of power,steel, metal and cement. Insequel, cheaper inputs willbeavailable to economy giving a bigpush to manufacturing sector.That will softenWPI and boostexport. As a multiplier effect,several direct and indirect jobsshall be generated.

In the recent past, after

2001, India had witnessed indus-trial growth of 12-15 per cent.But it could not sustain duetoshortage of Mineral and Coal.By that time, excess regulatorycontrols superseded the facilita-tion leading tothe closure ofmines and causing further short-age of minerals and coal. Itsimpact travelled to the entireeconomy and invited inflationand trade deficit. The mininggrowth entered in to a negativeterritory and the manufacturinggrowth was plummeted. Insequel, the Bank NPAs increasedfrom 2013 onwards.

The regulatory phobia waseven extended to the minorminerals such as sand and stoneaggregates. Production wascurbed andthe artificial shortagewas crafted leading to abnormalprice hike. In sequel, the con-struction cost was inflated affect-

ing the infrastructure projectsand the construction sector. Jobgrowth was affected due toslowdown in manufacturingand construction.

During 2014-20, India tookfew corrective measures. Thelease period of existing mineswas extended. This could avoiddisruption of the mineral pro-duction up to 2020 for merchantmines and up to 2030 for cap-tive mines.The system of auctionwas introduced for the grant of

new mining lease which expe-dited the process with transparency.

But aforesaid reforms could-n’t give any major push to themineral production. With theincrease in size of economy, nowthe shortage of mineral and coalhasagain aggravated. In sequel,the pithead sale price of miner-als (including royalty and premi-um) is too high compared to thepeer Nations. The logistics costis also too high due to trans-porter’s cartel at mines andinadequate railway infrastruc-ture. Hence, the minerals sectorneeds major reforms for avert-ing future crisis. Few key reformsare mentioned below; those arenot exhaustive.

While auctioning mines,the approvals and surface rightson the entire lease area shouldbe provided so that the mines

can be quickly started. For exist-ing mines, the land acquisition,surface rights and otherapprovals may be facilitatedenabling to boost production.

Upon consecutive failures ofachieving minimum produc-tion target for three years, thepenalties may be imposed. Uponrepeated failures, the lease maybe cancelled subject to few suchexemptions, which are beyondcontrol of the lease holder.

All existing and future "cap-tive mines" may be converted to"merchant mines" enabling toincrease supply of minerals andcoal to small and medium con-sumers who can’t afford to owncaptive mines. Recentannouncement to this affectmay be reviewed and be applic-able to all mines.

The royalty and premiummay be levied on the actual sale

price, similar to excise and GST,instead of IBM price list whichdoesn’t consider mines loca-tion, logistic cost and the min-eral grade, size and mineralogy.More so, the IBM prices (exclud-ing royalty) for the same gradeare highly distorted due to dif-ferential premium on each mine,particularly PSU mines.

Particularly, in case of sub-grade minerals, the royaltyex-ceeds the economic value of theminerals, makingthe beneficia-tion activities unviable. Hence,huge stocks of subgrade miner-als are accumulated in the minescausing wastage of mineralwealth; that must be resolved.

For reducing logistics cost,transporter’s cartel at minesmust be abolished. Railway mustdevelop new goods terminals inthe mineral belt. Land andapprovals for installation of

pipelines and conveyors must befacilitated. Localized beneficia-tion plants must be promoted toreduce transportation burden.

The modification of miningplan may be quickly granted.Higher production up to 25 percent in consecutive two yearsmay be permitted without seek-ing any fresh approval.Environmental approval normsmay also be eased since; there isno emission of green-housegases. Yes, pollution normsshould continue unchanged.

Minor minerals’ (sand andstone aggregates) allocationsand regulations may be simpli-fied to resolve artificial shortageand high price. Non removal ofsand from the rivers has reducedwater storage capacity of riverscausing long term damage towater storage capacity; that mustbe resolved.

Existing and future ‘captive mines’ may be converted to ‘merchant mines’ to boost supply of minerals & coal to small and medium consumers

Mineral sector reforms shall push up GDP, cut inflation

(The writer is an economics analyst and

author. The views expressed are personal.)

RP GUPTA

KUMARDEEP BANERJEE Jugglers, magicians, acrobats and comicacts…. there’s hardly anyone who isn’tfascinated by it. Creativity is more oftenassociated with music, the visual arts,

theatre and dance than with anything else.The novelty, symbolism, and clevernessaspects of such creativity naturally appealto us. And yet, these days, we speak of cre-ativity in the workplace - the factory floor,the conference room, the office cubicle, thedesign department, and in our veryapproach to the work we take up or are assigned.

Sometimes though it seems as if intoa sombre world of revenue and responsi-bility, a word or concept from another, morecolourful, world has been imported! To helpin getting over the barriers in this improb-able sounding process, organisations engageconsultants. In a matter of days or withina few weeks, these consultants enableinsights, innovation, attitudinal shifts, astronger team focus and a better coordi-nation. How are they able to do this?

One reason is expertise. Another isbreadth of experience. A third is a delib-erate cultivation of skill and flair throughstudy and practice. A fourth is a firm holdover a values orientation. It’s not hard todiscover more when this framework is oncein place.

Expertise usually means a specialisedkind of knowledge, and it’ll help to elabo-rate on what this knowledge could compriseof. There is a type of expert who can advisewhether someone’s process is aligned wellenough with the objective. They can sug-gest adjustments that bring about a betteralignment. The new alignment will enableeither a superior result from the activity ormake it an easier or more efficient perfor-mance for the doer. Often, it’ll achieve both- as you’d have noticed maestros performvery complex feats in music with great easewhile beginners struggle over initial mate-rial. There is greater speed, pleasure and ful-fillment in doing something where anexpert alignment has been achievedbetween mind and body, user and imple-ment, technique and goal.

This is why there’s much benefit in fol-lowing the occasional video/podcast/ textinterviews given by classical and other pro-ficient musicians and composers - with theright questioner, they share their observa-tions about subtle processes, and how theyhave picked up nuances from their men-tors and predecessors. The attentivenessand dedication of these artistes is a readyinspiration for anyone in any line of work.

Idea Advocacy specialists can bring inlearnings from a wide variety of situations,organisational size and cultures, acrossindustry sectors, locations, functions andskill sets. This is what enables any personto take a wider perspective of a role or task,and to be able to redefine it in more cur-rent and relevant ways. It isn’t possible toignore that products, team roles, and cus-tomer policies need updates from time totime to retain their appeal, or to establishan edge. The objectivity to make and carry

FRIDAY | APRIL 8, 2022 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

AI-enabled contentplatform Instoried onThursday said the US-

based investment groupGEM has committed USD200 million (about Rs 1,500crore) investment in thecompany. GEM willsubscribe to the shares of

Instoried whenever it goes public within a period of three years,Instoried founder and CEO Sharmin Ali said in a statement. "GEM willinvest USD 200 million in Instoried at the valuation the company willgo public," Ali said. Instoried plans to use the capital to expand itsglobal marketing efforts, primarily in the US, and invest in itstechnology to add a Google Chrome extension, a WordPress plug-in,and other elements to its product portfolio. The company providestechnology tools to help content writers improve their content.Instoried said it has plans to grow its executive team and presence todouble down its business to help writers, marketing agencies,students and professionals. "For the India market, Instoried will focuson hiring for leadership and technology roles, develop the tech stackto launch their own content generation tool and invest in marketingin India and Asia markets," the statement said. The capitalcommitment from GEM comes around six months after the companyraised Series A funding round which was led by Pritt InvestmentPartners and 9 Unicorns, with participation from Mumbai Angels,SOSV, Venture Catalysts Angel Fund, and others.

Instoried secures US $ 200 mninvestment commitment from GEM

Public sector lenderBank ofMaharashtra on

Thursday said it willdivest its entire stake of4 per cent in India SMEAsset ReconstructionCompany for nearly Rs4 crore. Bank ofMaharashtra (BoM) hasexecuted a share

purchase agreement dated April 6, 2022 for sale of entire equity stakeof 4 per cent in India SME Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd(ISARC), the bank said in a regulatory filing. The bank's 4 per centstake, equivalent to 40,00,000 equity shares, will be sold at Rs 9.80per share for a cash consideration for Rs 3.92 crore, it said. The stakesale is subject to RBI approval for change in sponsor shareholder ofISARC. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end ofDecember, 2022. ISARC's total income stood at Rs 11.09 crore in thefiscal ended March 2021, and net profit was Rs 0.36 crore. It hadreported losses of Rs 8.39 crore in FY20 and Rs 9.21 crore inFY19.ISARC is the country's first Asset Reconstruction Company(ARC), supported by a large number of public sector banks andundertakings, focussed on NPA resolution of the MSME sector.

Bank of Maharashtra to divestentire 4 pc stake in ISARC

The Central PowerResearch Institute(CPRI) has received

accreditation from theNational AccreditationBoard for CertificationBodies (NABCB) to certifycertain electricalequipment. With theaccreditation,manufacturers who obtaintest certificates from CPRIwould be able to exporttheir products without therequirement of retesting or

authentication by any other body outside the country, the powerministry said in a release on Thursday. CPRI comes under the powerministry. "The export footprint for electrical equipment manufacturedin India is set to rise, with an important bottleneck being addressed.CPRI has been granted the prestigious accreditation from NationalAccreditation Board for Certifying Bodies (NABCB) - for certificationof electrical equipment as per ISO/IEC 17065," the ministry said. Themove would provide a significant boost to development andmanufacturing of electrical products in India and strengthen'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' initiative."Electrical products manufactured inIndia are exported to several countries. An issue which exporters hadflagged with the power ministry... was regarding some countries notaccepting the test report issued by CPRI due to lack of ISO/IEC 17065accreditation."Accordingly, the power ministry directed CPRI to obtainthis accreditation urgently," it said.

CPRI gets NABCB accreditation to

certify certain electrical equipment

PNS n SYDNEY

Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal onThursday said the trade pactbetween India and Australiawould help expand theeconomies of both countries,thus providing huge opportu-nities for students.

He said education is animportant element both in thecurrent and future engage-ments with Australia.

So as trade and economyexpand, the opportunities forstudents also naturally expandand that's what we have aimedfor, he said while interactingwith students here at theUniversity of New SouthWales.

He called for taking India-Australia partnership in edu-cation to greater heights andinvited the university toexpand its footprints in India.

As we expand our servicesofferings to each other. As weexpand trade in goods, in star-tups, obviously there is goingto be a need for all of you(Indian students in Australia)in a bigger way, Goyal added.

Australia has over one lakhstudents from India.

Speaking at the event,

Australian Trade Minister DanTehan said whether Indianstudents studying in Australiashould also get opportunities towork here, is a very popularissue and they are working toaddress it. So as part of theagreement, what we havereached is that if a student isfrom STEM (science, technol-

ogy, engineering and mathe-matics) or working in IT aspart of their degree and if youget a first class honours, thenyou will get extra post studywork (visa). So you will be ableto stay here, work and work forlonger . We have to make surethat our education leads toemployment outcome We hopethat in the coming 6 months,you will have much moreopportunity than what youhave at the moment, he added.

Both the ministers werere-plying to a question from anIndian student namedMushkan, studying financeand financial technology here.

Whenever I apply for a job(here), there is always a clausethat you need to be anAustralian citizen or AustralianTR (temporary resident). It isreally disheartening because Icannot apply for those jobs, sherued.

PNS n NEW DELHI

State-owned EnergyEfficiency Services Ltd (EESL)is looking to tie up with cen-tral and state agencies acrossthe country with an aim tomaximise the adoption ofenergy efficient products andservices in India.

The company has openedregistrations for the empanel-ment of demand aggregatorsfor Channel PartnersProgramme Phase II underwhich it will collaborate withcentral and state agencies indesigning, implementing, andmaintaining their energy effi-ciency projects.

The registration processwill be open till May 31, 2022and the successful empan-elled parties will beannounced on July 1, 2022.\With Channel PartnersProgramme Phase II, EESL islooking to increase the uptakeof its energy efficient appli-ances like LED tubelights,bulbs, BLDC fans, super-effi-

cient ACs and chillers, amongothers.

The programme will pro-vide various growth opportu-nities to both EESL and itschannel partners.

Through this initiative,EESL will benefit from anextensive sales network, whichwill enhance the reach andproliferation of energy effi-cient products and services.

The partners, on the otherhand, will be able to leverageEESL's credible market pres-ence and high-quality solu-tions. With the phase II of thisprogramme, EESL aims toincrease its turnover fromenergy efficient appliances toRs 100 crore in next one year.

"Through the improvisedsecond phase of our ChannelPartners Programme, we seekto further stimulate our vari-ous initiatives, by involvingthe private players in ourenergy efficiency journey,"

Animesh Mishra, Head -Sales and PR, EESL said in thestatement.

EESL to tie up with central, stateagencies to increase adoption

PNS n NEW DELHI

THIP Media, informationmedia division of The HealthyIndian Project, has launchedhealth-information and fact-checking chatbot onWhatsApp, according to astatement on Thursday.

Health information and factchecking platform THIPMedia has announced the newchatbot 'Ask RAKSHA' onWhatsApp, coinciding withthe World Health Day.

An acronym for ReadilyAccessible Knowledge andSupport for Health Action,RAKSHA is built onWhatsApp's BusinessPlatform.

The intuitive chatbot willhelp Indian citizens findanswers to their health ques-tion and fact check any healthinformation for free.

The chatbot is currently inEnglish, while Hindi andBengali versions will belaunched soon.

Shivnath Thukral, PublicPolicy Director of WhatsAppIndia, said "Over the last two

years, we have partnered withmultiple NGOs and govern-ment ministries, including theIndian Government to launchthe MyGov Corona Helpdeskon WhatsApp to help peoplewith easy access to accurateand verified Covid relatedinformation."

Ask RAKSHA is yet anoth-er partnership to ensure citi-zens have access to reliableinformation around health-related queries, Thukral said.

"At WhatsApp, the safety ofour users is at the core of

everything we do and we havedevoted efforts to empowerusers with resources and toolsthat equip them to fact-checkand receive authentic informa-tion," Thukral added.

THIP Media, a signatory ofInternational Fact CheckingNetwork (IFCN) works withverified medical professionalsto fact-check misleading newsand claims about health, med-icine, diet and treatment.

The platform publishes inEnglish, Hindi, Bengali,Punjabi, Gujarati, and Nepali.

Expansion of trade, economy in India,Aus to provide huge opportunities

PNS n NEW DELHI

Power Minister RK Singh onThursday said India will sooninvite bids for 2,000 MW off-shore wind energy projects."Our journey is incompletewithout offshore wind energy.We will bring bids for 1,000MW in Gujarat and after that1,000 MW in Tamil Nadu,"Singh said at Clean Energy

Ministerial Meeting here.The minister urged interna-

tional investors to come for-ward and invest in offshorewind tenders.

He also informed aboutIndia's plan to invite bids fora nine-gigawatt electrolyzermanufacturing capacity toboost green hydrogen in thecountry.The minister urgedthe international community

to create a fund to financestorage and clean energy pro-jects.India's present cleanenergy capacity is at 160 GW,and it could have been 10 to15 GW more if there had notbeen the pandemic, the min-ister stated.

About the coal shortage atpower plants, he stated thatIndia is capable of handlingthe coal stock situation.

India to invite bids for 2GWoffshore wind energy projects

THIP Media launches WhatsAppchatbot for health info, fact check

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian economy is in goodshape as the country's GDPgrowth rate and foreignexchange reserve are high, for-mer RBI Governor Bimal Jalansaid on Thursday.

Notwithstanding economicuncertainties triggered by theRussia-Ukraine war that is alsoimpacting the global supplychain, Jalan said it is not goingto affect India's economic per-formance.

"India's current macroeco-nomic situation is quite posi-tive in the sense that the rate ofgrowth is high. India's foreignexchange reserve is also veryhigh," he told PTI in an inter-view.

"India (Indian economy) isin good shape," Jalan added.

Asia's third-largest economyis projected to grow 8.9 per

cent in 2021-22, according torecent government data. TheReserve Bank of India (RBI)has pegged the economicgrowth rate for 2022-23 at 7.8per cent.

The former RBI governor,however, stressed that unem-ployment is high, which is amatter of concern.

As the Russia-Ukraine crisisis concerned, Jalan said obvi-

ously, it will have an impact allover the world.

"But so far India is con-cerned, its relationship withRussia was quite good butexports-imports was not very

much," he said, adding that itwas less than 2 per cent.

While observing that devel-opment in Ukraine is a matterof concern, Jalan said it is notgoing to affect India's eco-nomic performance.

Russia started its militaryoffensive against Ukraine onFebruary 24. Western nations,including the US, haveimposed major economic andvarious other sanctions onRussia following the offensive.

Jalan noted that high infla-tion is a problem.

Retail inflation hit an eight-month high of 6.07 per cent inFebruary, remaining above theRBI's comfort level for thesecond month in a row, whilewholesale price-based infla-tion soared to 13.11 per cent onaccount of the hardening ofcrude oil and non-food itemprices.

Asked should India use itsforeign reserves for infrastruc-ture as proposed by Unionminister Nitin Gadkari, he saidas far as infrastructure devel-opment is concerned, it has tobe done in rupees.

"Foreign exchange reserveshave to be used for doingsomething in foreignexchange...if there is a shortageof money, then foreignexchange reserves can also beliquified," he suggested.

Regarding high petrol anddiesel prices, Jalan said the gov-ernment has already cut sometaxes on petrol and diesel.

"And some more taxes ifthey can reduce, (then) that isdesirable," the former RBI gov-ernor said.

Rates of petrol and diesel arerising and vary from state tostate depending upon the inci-dence of local taxation.

Indian economy in good shape on high GDP growth, forex reserves

PNS n MUMBAI

The rupee declined 11 paise toclose at 75.95 (provisional) againstthe US dollar on Thursday as thehawkish stance of the US FederalReserve affected investor senti-

ments in global markets and bol-stered the American currency.

At the interbank foreignexchange, the rupee opened lowerat 75.88 against the US dollar, thenslipped further to quote 75.99. Itfinally settled at 75.95, down 11

paise over its previous close. OnWednesday, the rupee tanked 55paise, its steepest single-day fall ina month, to close at a one-weeklow of 75.84 against the US dol-lar.Meanwhile, the dollar index,which gauges the greenback's

strength against a basket of sixcurrencies, was trading 0.04 percent higher at 99.64.

Global oil benchmark Brentcrude futures jumped 1.52 percent to USD 102.61 per barrel.

"Rupee drifted towards psycho-

logical 76 as dollar heads towardsa century after Fed officials areshifting from ultra-loose mone-tary policy to an aggressive tight-ening policy," said Dilip Parmar,Research Analyst, HDFCSecurities.

Rupee falls 11 paise to settle at 75.95 against US dollar

PNS n NEW DELHI

Drug maker Lupin OnThursday said it has launchedMerzee capsules, a medica-tion used to prevent pregnan-cy, in the US market.

The Mumbai-based drugmaker has launched theproduct in the US marketunder exclusive license, mar-keting and distribution agree-ment with Slayback PharmaLLC, Lupin Ltd said in astatement.

Slayback had earlierlaunched this product in theUS in February 2021.

Merzee (norethindroneacetate and ethinyl estradiolcapsules and ferrous fumaratecapsules), 1 mg/20 mcg is ageneric equivalent of AllerganPharmaceuticals' Taytullacapsules. As per IQVIA MATFebruary 2022 data,Norethindrone acetate andethinyl estradiol capsules andferrous fumarate capsules, 1mg/20 mcg had estimatedannual sales of USD 90 mil-lion in the US.

Lupin launchesgenericcontraceptive drugin US

PNS n MUMBAI

Declining for the third straightsession, equity benchmarkSensex tumbled over 575points on Thursday, trackingheavy losses in index-heavy-weights HDFC twins, TCS,and Reliance Industries amida selloff in global equity mar-kets.

US Fed meeting minutesindication to a faster thanexpected policy rate hike tofight elevated inflation andsurging oil prices amid uncer-tainties on the geopoliticalfront further weighed on sen-timent, traders said.

Investors also await cuesfrom the RBI policy meetingoutcome, which will beannounced on April 8.

The 30-share gauge slumped

575.46 points or 0.97 per centto settle at 59,034.95. Duringthe day, it plunged 633.06points or 1.06 per cent to58,977.35.

The broader Nifty-50 alsodeclined 168.10 points or 0.94

per cent to close at 17,639.55.HDFC twins remained

among the biggest drags for thesecond consecutive session onThursday, slipping nearly 3 percent.

Titan was the biggest loserin the Sensex pack, falling3.24 per cent, followed byHDFC, HDFC Bank, Wipro,TCS, Reliance IndustriesLimited, and Power Grid.

On other hand, Axis Bank,Hindustan Unilever, ICICIBank, M&M, and Dr Reddy'swere among the gainers, risingup to 2.38 per cent.

In the broader market, theBSE smallcap gauge declined0.75 per cent and the midcapindex dipped 0.42 per cent.

As many as 1,714 stocksdeclined, while 1,694 advancedand 106 rmained unchanged.

Sensex, Nifty join global selloff on US Fed rate hike

PNS n NEW DELHI

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) onThursday said its construc-tion arm has bagged signifi-cant orders for its variousbusinesses.

The water and effluenttreatment business of L&TConstruction has secured acontract from Rural DrinkingWater and SanitationDivision, Karnataka to con-struct drinking water supplyfacilities, the company said ina statement.

The power transmissionand distribution business hassecured a transmission lineproject in the Philippines, tobe executed along with anonshore partner, that willform part of the transmissionbackbone to meet the grow-ing demand for electricity inthe western parts of Luzon,the Philippines.

L&T arm bagssignificant ordersfor variousbusinesses

PNS n CHENNAI,

German car majorVolkswagen has set up a newfacility in Tamil Nadu takingthe overall presence to 22sales and 16 service outlets inthe state and in neighbouringPuducherry, the company saidon Thursday.

The service touchpoint atArcot Road, Saligramam, isspread across 36,980 sq ftland and houses 21 servicebays and has over 54 servicepersonnel."With the introduc-tion of the new service touch-point, we have furtherstrengthened our presence inthe Southern market, which isan important region for the

brand in India," VolkswagenPassenger Cars India, branddirector, Ashish Gupta said ina company statement.The newstate-of-the-art facility isdesigned to ensure conve-nient and hassle-free serviceexperience and a host of ser-vice products that offer peaceof mind to customers in theregion, Gupta said.

Volkswagen strengthens servicepresence in southern region

PNS n NEW DELHI

NLC India Ltd on Thursday saidit has registered an 18.64 percent rise in power generation at2,920 crore units in FY22."Thisis the highest ever generation ina financial year since inceptionof the company, and is 18.64 percent higher than the generationmade during the previous year2020-21. (2461.30 crore units),"the navratna public sector unitsaid in a BSE filing.A newrecord has been created interms of electricity generation,with the power stations of NLCIndia Ltd and its subsidiariestogether generating 2,920 croreunits of electricity (29.20 billionunits) during 2021-22, it said.

NLC India's powergeneration rises 19pc to 2,920 cr units

ENERGY-EFFICIENT PRODUCTS

9

Friday April 8, 2022 what’s brewing?

aregama’sYoodlee Filmshave joinedhands withSouth actor

Tovino Thomas to pro-duce original content.

Saregama’s YoodleeFilms and the actor’scompany Tovino ThomasProductions would pro-duce films and webshows in Malayalam andHindi, a press releasefrom the company stated.

In the past, YoodleeFilms has also collaborat-ed with two Malayalamstars Prithviraj Sukumaranand Nivin Pauly for one-offprojects.

But this is the first time, aMalayalam production houseand a media giant with aglobal reach have cometogether on a multiple slatedeal across languages, therelease said.

Thomas, who garneredwidespread acclaim for hissuperhero film MinnalMurali, said he is looking for-ward to exploring stories thatreach audiences across theworld.

“This collaboration signi-fies a huge shift in the Indiancontent space where allindustries are willing to col-laborate and reach out to notjust one regional demograph-ic but the global audience. Icannot wait to begin this newjourney with Saregama India

and explore our shared lovefor timeless stories,” the 33-year-old-actor said in a state-ment.

Siddharth Anand Kumar,Vice President of Films atSaregama India, said they arethrilled to collaborate withThomas, calling him a “pan-Indian success story”.

“Be it his amazing actingprowess in a cultural phe-nomenon like Minnal Murali,or his sharp instincts as aproducer, he is someone whois creating content for poster-ity and we share that visionas well.”

“Our goal is not just tosucceed but to define genres,set standards and break newground and he is the perfectcollaborator we would like toco-create content with, be itfor OTT platforms or the bigscreen,” Kumar said.

s opular Korean superstar LeeByung-hun, who is returning onNetflix after Squid Game withnew drama Our Blues, says themulti-starrer series is about the

scars that people carry with themselves andhow they overcome these wounds.

A collaboration between popular writerNoh Hee-kyung and director Kim Kyu-taeof It’s Okay, That’s Love fame, Our Bluesbrings together an exciting cast of some ofthe biggest names in the Korean entertain-ment world.

Lee, who has had an illustrious careerwith shows such as A Bittersweet Life, I Sawthe Devil and Mr Sunshine as well asHollywood productions G.I. Joe: The Rise ofCobra and Red 2, will star as a Jeju Island-based truck maker in the omnibus styledrama about heartache and healing.

“People say every soul has a scar. Thisdrama shows those scars and those scarredpeople. Living life means trying to forgetthose scars, trying to overcome them.People with wounds and how they over-come those scars will be manifested in thedrama in a touching way and impart hopeto the viewers,” Lee told reporters during apress conference in Seoul on Wednesday.

In the press conference that was livestreamed on Netflix Korea’s website, theactor also spoke about working withHometown Cha Cha Cha star Shin Min-afor the third time.

Both the actors are paired together in thedrama, which also stars Shin Min-a's reallife boyfriend Kim Woo-bin.

“I first worked with Min-a in her debutpiece. She was my younger sister and was it'Beautiful Days? Yes, it was. Then weworked on A Bittersweet Life together where

my character had unrequited love for her.Being in a romantic relationship or havingour characters both like each other in adrama is the first this time. It was amazingto work with her, we had great chemistry,”the actor, who played the frontman onNetflix hit Squid Game, said.

Shin Min-a, best known to Korean dramalovers for her role in shows such MyGirlfriend Is a Nine-Tailed Fox, My Love, MyBride, Oh My Venus, Tomorrow, With You,Chief of Staff and Hometown-Cha-Cha-Cha,said her chemistry with Lee is better thistime.

Asked about taking on the role of a moth-er for the first time in her career, the 38-year-old actor said that was one of the mainreasons for her to feature in the series.

“Min Seon-a (her character) is someone

who is still dwelling in her pain. This wasmy first role as a mother of a child. Therewas more pressure on me to depict heremotional changes and how she overcomesher pain rather than the fact that she is amother. Weirdly, I had an understanding ofher character and mindset and I felt herpain and her will to overcome that.

“Seon-a’s character was the biggest reasonwhy I took on this piece. Her emotions andpersonality were relatable,” Shin said.

Writer Noh, who is best known for pen-ning shows such as Live, Dear My Friends,It’s Okay, That’s Love, That Winter, the WindBlows and Worlds Within, said she decidedto work on a omnibus format because shewas tired to see stories revolve only aroundmale and female pair in dramas.

“Omnibus style is something that I want-ed to try on a drama series for over 10years. I kind of got sick and tired of just see-ing a male lead and a female lead. We’re allthe lead characters in our lives. But why is itthat everything revolves around two peoplein a drama. Those questions led me to thisstyle,” the writer said.

Noh said she chose Jeju Island becausethere the Korean and local sentiments stillremain intact and it has a closely knit cul-ture. Director Kim said the show felt like ahybrid between a drama series and a filmand he decided to stick to the basics ratherthan go overboard.

“I got back to the basics and I wanted togo about it in the classic and sophisticatedway. Nowadays we tend to see a lot of fancyvideo techniques or sometimes we just gofor instant thrills and stimulus, but I wantedto focus more on characters, their storiesand their emotions.”

Actor Cha Seung-won, best known for hit

shows such as City Hall, The Greatest Loveand Hwayugi, plays the role of Choi Han-soo, who returns to his hometown of Jeju asa perfect urban man.

His first love is played by Parasite star LeeJung-eun and her character owns a fish stallin the show.

The actor said there was no reason forhim to say no to the drama that starredsuch great actors.

“Director Kim told me that everyone herewould be in it. I really couldn’t believe thatall of these actors would gather together tobe in one drama... I feel happy and satisfiedfor the first time in a really long time.”

Lee Jung-eun said she got a lot of helpfrom senior actors whenever she felt stuckin a scene. She also learned the Jeju Islanddialect as her character was born there.

Han Ji-min, who plays a newbie haenyeo,a term used to describe the female divers ofthe island whose livelihood depends on har-vesting mollusks and seaweed, said it feltgreat to collaborate with writer Noh’s againafter Padam Padam.

“Also this is my foray into an omnibusdrama so the pressure is not just on mesolely as I had a great cast to rely on,” theactor, best known for romantic showsFamiliar Wife, Hyde, Jekyll, Me and OneSpring Night, said. Han said the best thingabout writer Noh’s shows is that her charac-ters revolve around ordinary people andtheir lives.

A Witch’s Love star Uhm Jung-hwa said itwas in her bucket list to star in a show writ-ten by Noh and that became possible withOur Blues. Her character in the series is aloyal friend to Lee’s character.

The tvN drama will start streaming onNetflix India from April 9.

Our Blues is about healing and hope: Koreansuperstar Lee Byung-hun on new Netflix drama

p

Saregama announces multipleproject deal with Malayalamstar Tovino Thomas

ctors PriyankaChopra Jonasand AnthonyMackie’s upcom-ing action film

Ending Things has beenbagged by AmazonStudios.

According to Deadline,the movie was acquired bythe Hollywood studioafter a round of competi-tive bidding.

To be written anddirected by KevinSullivan, Ending Things is

said to be similar to JamesCameron’s 1994 action-

comedy True Lies . Thefilm will revolve around a

hit-woman who wants outof the assassin businessand tells her businesspartner that she’s endingtheir personal relationshipas well. But she comes torealise she doesn’t want toend that part of theirbond. In order to survivethe breakup and their lastjob together they mustjoin forces for one lastnight out, read the officialsynopsis.

Davis Entertainmentand Lit Entertainment will

produce Ending Thingswith InspireEntertainment andMackie’s Make It WithGravy Productions.

Mackie, the star ofDisney Plus series TheFalcon and the WinterSoldier, made his director-ial debut with dramamovie Spark, featuringKing Richard actorSaniyya Sidney asClaudette Colvin, anunsung pioneer of theCivil Rights era.

Amazon Studios acquires Priyanka ChopraJonas, Anthony Mackie's Ending Things

awedish star NoomiRapace will featurewith actor JonathanBanks in theupcoming Apple

series Constellation.The psychological thriller

series comes from PeterHarness, who will serve aswriter and executive produceron the project, Apple said in astatement. Constellation will starRapace as Jo, a woman whoreturns to Earth after a disaster inspace only to discover that keypieces of her life seem to be miss-

ing.“The action-packed space

adventure is an exploration of thedark edges of human psychology,one woman’s desperate quest to

expose the truth about thehidden history of space traveland recover all that she haslost,” the official logline read.The show will have nineepisodes with the two set tobe directed by Emmy Awardwinner Michelle MacLaren.

Constellation will be co-produced by Turbine Studiosand Haut et Court TV.

David Tanner, Tracey Scoffield,Caroline Benjo, Simon Arnal,Carole Scotta and JustinThomson will serve as executiveproducers.

Noomi Rapace, Jonathan Banks tolead Apple show Constellation

s

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

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

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SPEED BUMP

FUN

Actorandcele

brity RanaDaggubati

and creator-ledlive entertain-

ment commerceplatform Roposo

on Thursdayannounced the

launch of their co-created men’s

grooming brandDCRAF.

Thislaunch is

the latest inthe line of

celebrity-ledoriginal labels

to be launchedby Roposo

through GlanceCollective — a

joint venturebetween Roposo’s

parent companyGlance and talent

management firmCollective Artists

Network. In November2021, they had jointly

launched their first co-created brand ‘EK’ with

Ekta Kapoor, in the homeand wellness category.

Roposo is looking at co-cre-ating around 100 such celebri-

ty and creator-led brandsacross multiple segments, with

an aim of fueling the creatoreconomy through multiple entre-

preneurial opportunities. DCRAF is derived from ‘D’ for

Daggubati, and ‘craf ’ — a colloquialshort form of the English expression

‘Hair Craft’ — popularly associatedwith men’s grooming in Telangana and

Andhra Pradesh. It will cater to millen-nial and Gen-Z men in tier-I and tier-II

markets. The brand has grooming prod-ucts for face, beard, and skincare cate-

gories. DCRAF believes that grooming andtaking care of oneself should not be tedious.

By overly complicating grooming rituals,most brands tend to alienate consumers and

deter men from experiencing the joy that comeswith looking and feeling good. DCRAF aims tosimplify grooming through well-designed prod-ucts and communication that “keep things sim-ple”.

“I have been conceptualising a simplified men’sgrooming brand for quite some time now. WithRoposo enabling the co-creation of celebrity-ledbrands, it became possible to take this concept tothe market at such a large scale, very quickly,”said Rana Daggubati. “I believe that men neglectskincare and grooming because it seems overlycomplex to them. With DCRAF, my aim is tomake ‘looking good’ simple for men throughtrustworthy, effective products. I’m happy to havefound a partner like Roposo to make DCRAF areality,” he added.

Vijay Subramaniam, Founder and Group CEO,Collective Artists Network said, “Co-creatingthis brand with Rana has been exciting and wecan’t wait for this vision to come to life. Thebrand exemplifies the aura and philosophy ofRana Daggubati in every way. We believeDCRAF’s ethos of simplicity will connect deeplywith consumers and create impact.”

he underprivileged and the disadvantagedsections of the society deserve justice asmuch as any other privileged section ofthe society does. How do we ensure equalmeans to justice for the society at large?

One very important step towards ensuring equi-table justice could be the legal aid!

Legal Aid is the act of ensuring assistance andrepresentation before the court of law. It is free ofcost and ensures that each person, whether awrong-doer or a victim is not deprived of the dueprocess of law and ultimately a fair trial.

Given the seriousness and gravity of access to afair trial, the Constitution of India provides for freelegal aid services to all - the destitute, the indigentand the defenseless. Article 21 of the Constitutionlays down that no person shall be deprived of theirlife or personal liberty except according to proce-dure established by law. In furtherance of Article21, it has been held that access to a fair trial andtimely justice is one of the many ways to ensureequality amongst one and all and hence, free legalaid becomes a fundamental right of all the citizensof the country.

While one has access to legal aid, there are manywho are uninformed of this crucial fundamentalright and hence are often found running from pillarto post. It is essential to increase the awareness offree legal aid amongst the masses. Knowledge ofthis essential right will ensure correct legal advice

and justice in a time-bound manner. In the endeavour to ensure a fair judicial system,

legal aid awareness, and educating the citizensabout their rights and duties — it becomes impor-tant pillars. It is only through education that peoplewill get enlightened about the legal system of thecountry. The vulnerable and helpless sections ofsociety can then raise their voices against thewrongs that are committed against them and seektimely help and intervention.

With free legal aid as a right, it is a step towardsensuring the inclusion of the weaker sections of thesociety in the judicial system. The modes via whichone can avail the access to free legal aids are anadvocate registered with a free legal aid society, uti-lizing the modes of alternate dispute resolution orLok Adalat. There are various advocates who dopro-bono work also for the upliftment of the weak-er sections of the society. Legal aid is not charitywork but it is the responsibility of every advocate.Lawyers who have the requisite capacity and where-withal should register and empanel themselves withthe legal aid societies to take up matters solely forthe cause of justice and fairness and to contributeto the growth of the society as a whole.

The objective of the state should be equal justicefor everyone. Even though free legal aid has beenheld to be a crucial adjunct of the rule of law, thelegal aid movement has not attained the desiredmomentum. There is a wide gap between the objec-

tives that have been set and those that have beenmet. People are still unaware of their basic rightsdue to which the legal aid movement has notachieved its goal yet.

Given the huge population of our country itis crucial that we all must chip in to con-tribute to help reduce the pendency of casesbefore the court and in turn ensure that allcitizens have the basic legal knowledge thatis required. It is therefore incumbent uponthe legal fraternity to join hands andensure seamless synergy between thoseseeking justice and those delivering it.

Keeping in mind the above, lawyerhas set out to achieve the goal of legalempowerment for all. Using technol-ogy we are able to penetrate a wideaudience and that helps us in con-necting people in need of legal ser-vices with lawyers and advocatesacross the country. We as a legal-tech platform are committedtowards educating the peopleabout the various legal aspectsthat they come across in theirday-to-day life to ensure thatthey have the power ofknowledge to keep them farfrom any legal troublesthat any person wouldface due to their lack ofawareness. It is ourvision to build aware-ness about legal and itsvarious aspects, facili-tate, connect with theright support andenable solutions togive peopleavenues to gettheir legal con-cerns and issuesaddressed. Wecall thisLawyered’sACE effect!

(The writer,Himanshu

Gupta ,is theFounder and

CEO ofLawyered)

SHIKHA DUGGAL

aurav Arora, the direc-tor of Ek Extra Mileon Voot, hits the roadin an unplanned fash-ion with his cast, and

the journey is as invigorating asit should be. With people call-ing it the most relatable roadtrip ever, we can now say thatthis series arrived at a timewhen Indian OTT shows are nolonger in their infancy and arebreaking down barriers withtheir content. Gaurav Aroraseemed so pleased with theoutput while in conversationwith us! “I wasn’t just the direc-tor for this OTT project; onecould figure out the impressionof a creative developer in metoo. During a hectic lifewith work from homepressure, we wereable toexplorethe hillsofDehradunand createthis enrichingshow. Our film-making processcaptured the beau-ty of Uttarakhandin a way as if we werethere for commercialadvertising purposes.”

He, as the showrunnerof Ek Extra Mile, was alsobusy conceptualising thewhole series. What could bethe key insights? To whomshould he speak? How can hedistinguish this road tripfrom all the others?These were theinitial thoughtsin his mind. Hecontinued, “I wasworking with thewriters and had tolook into every realmof it. We had to make itfamily-oriented too.Having said that, I am abeliever in somethingcalled anti-casting too! Mymale actor has this goodie-good image in the industry. Iwanted to see him try a flawedaspect too. You see, I know hisacting chops too well.Moreover, the thought ofexploring comic-timing withAnuj is always an unidentifiedarea, and we did it with him

this time. And, in fact, theactress is also more than just“glamour” to us.” Now, thedirector knows every nook andcorner of Uttrakhand so wellthat he says, “Put your cameraanywhere and there you have abeautiful frame!”

He also mentioned that thewaterfalls over there are a visu-al treat for everyone. It’s thespiritual life there that seals agreat deal of visual imagery.There is a demand for dark,gritty shows, but we wanted tomove away from thisstereotype. Crimedramas are thenew OTTbuild-upthese

days!“With Ek

Extra Mile, wewanted to go light

on the sensory organsand bring a wide smile to

the audience’s faces,” he added.Since we are talking about roadtrips, Gaurav has always beenthe family man. “The 2000sculture shows road-trips assomething like being a coolioand can only be taken withfriends. I disagree. I havealways been on road-trips withmy family and siblings.Another myth (he laughed):

a dysfunctional or dramaticangle is not always necessaryon a road trip. I am lucky, andon every road trip we onlyfocus on cherishing moments!In India, you won’t see beauti-ful horses running aroundyour car. Rather, you’llsee a chai ki tapriand Maggieadda,” heceased.

It's time for legalempowerment for allt

Caring ismore

stylish

g

In these chal-lenging times,addressing

healthcare isindeed a verytough task due tostigmas and socialbarriers attached toeach and everystep, it is in thislight that AswiniGroup, a nationalleader in PersonalCare & Wellnessproducts, partneredwith HealthMobis— a Healthtechstartup, to conductcomprehensive andpersonalised healthbenefit programsfor all the employ-ees focusing onproductivityenhancement andbuilding a healthierworkforce. On theoccasion of WorldHealth Day, theylaunched#CaringIsMoreStylish campaign.

Dr. K. V. RamanaChary, Chairman,

HealthMobis, said,“Our mission is tosupport companiesin providing quali-ty healthcare to allthe employeeswithout burningthe pockets of thecompany.Therefore, we focuson identifying theright diagnosticparameters and uti-lize technology toimprove the effica-cy and efficiency ofthe healthcaredelivery. We arethrilled to haveAswini on boardwith us as they arealready synony-mous with personalcare and wellness.Furthermore, theyunderstand thatbeing healthymakes a personmore stylish. Wehope our#CaringIsMoreStylish campaign inassociation withthem can truly cre-

ate an impact inpaving the way forfuturistic employeehealth benefit pro-grams.” Expressinghis views on theassociation, AswiniSubba Rao,Chairman, Aswini,said, “As a personalcare and wellnessorganization, weare in a right posi-tion to be a torch-bearer in incorpo-rating employee-centric preventivehealthcare policiesfor propagatingemphasis onemployee healthand wellbeing. Weare launching this#CaringIsMoreStylish campaign onWorld Health Dayto convey a mes-sage that employeesare our immediatefamily membersand taking goodcare of their healthis an organisation’ssole responsibility.”

One extra

mile with

Gaurav Arora

RA

NA

DA

GG

UB

ATI G

IVES

MEN

’S

GR

OO

MIN

G IN

DU

STRY

A M

AK

EOV

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10

Friday April 8, 2022

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

PTI n MUMBAI

Gujarat Titans' lethal paceattack is all set to ask some

probing questions to the dynam-ic Punjab Kings top-order when the two teamslock horns in an IPL match on Friday.

In terms of composition and balance, bothGujarat and Punjab are very different and thatmakes for an enticing contest on a BrabourneStadium track where runs are always on offer.

Punjab in their three games have shown thatthe approach this year would be to go hammerand tongs during the Powerplay overs and setthe tempo for the rest of the innings.

In IPL however, there are some intriguingsub-plots that make it an engaging Friday. Itwill be a battle between Punjab's costliestbuy (apart from skipper MayankAgarwal's retention) Liam Livingstoneand New Zealand's speed merchantLockie Ferguson.

Having literally terrorised DelhiCapitals' Mandeep Singh with his paceand steep bounce in the earliergame, expect Ferguson to unleashhis thunderbolts onLivingstone, who hadtaken the CSK attack tocleaners in the previousgame with his 32-ball-60.

Ferguson andMohammed Shamimake for the most potentnew ball pair after the first twoweeks. With head coach AnilKumble they would like todevise a strategy to keep PunjabKings under check during thePowerplay overs.

Hardik Pandya again bowl-ing full tilt and touching 140clicks also adds to the potencyof the Gujarat attack but theirbatting still looks a bit question-

able save Shubman Gill and skip-per Pandya.

While senior openersShikhar Dhawan and skipperAgarwal are yet to make signif-

icant contributions, it would be an onerous jobagainst the Titans attack.

It is the middle-order of Bhanuka Rajapaksa,Livingstone and newcomer Jitesh Sharma thatis expected to provide fireworks with MShahrukh Khan and Odean Smith at the rear.

They would like to target the weak Indianbowlers like Rahul Tewatia and Varun Aaron,who is known for leaking runs in all these yearsof IPL. However where Gujarat might face prob-lems is in the batting front. Shubhman Gill is the

only assured batter they have till now.In the first match against Lucknow,

they didn't have to chase much and thesecond game saw them defend 170 oddpurely because of their opening bowl-ing depth. Vijay Shankar as a top-orderbatter has looked far from convincing

and Matthew Wadehasn't yet hit ther h y t h malthough he iscapable of big

hits.A b h i n a v

Manohar is very new atthis stage while Tewatia

and David Miller aren'texactly known for their

consistency.In case of Punjab, they

have two match-winningbowlers in Kagiso Rabadaand leg-spinner RahulChahar but Arshdeep Singh,debutant Vaibhav Arora andLivingstione himself did acommendable job againstChennai.

FRIDAY | APRIL 8, 2022

We hhad tthe ggame uuntil tthe 115th oover, bbut tthe wway CCummins pplayed... WWe tthought wwe ccould hhave tthem. BBut tthis wwill bbe hhard tto ddigest —— the wway iit tturned oout tto bbe iin tthe llast ffew oovers — ROHIT SHARMA

Punjab vvss GujaratLive from 7:30 pm ISTSTAR SPORTS 1 NETWORK

PTI n SUNCHEON

Ace Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu andKidambi Srikanth progressed to the

quarterfinals but Lakshya Sen was oustedafter losing his second round match at theKorea Open Super 500 badminton tour-nament here on Thursday.

World number seven Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, got the better ofworld number 26 Japan's Aya Ohori 21-15, 21-10 in a lop-sided contest to take herhead-to-head count against the Japaneseto an overwhelming 12-0.

The third seeded Indian will next facefamiliar foe in Thailand's BusananOngbamrungphan, whom she had defeat-ed in the final of the Swiss Open lastmonth.

World championship Silver medallistSrikanth saw off Israel's Misha Zilberman21-18, 21-6 to set up a clash with local hopeand former world No 1 Son Wan ho.

Commonwealth Games Silver medal-lists and world No seven pairing ofSatwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty

defeated Singapore's Hee Yong Kai Terryand Loh Kean Hean 21-15, 21-19 in 36minutes to also advance to the quarterfi-nals.

World championship Bronze medal-list Sen, ranked ninth in the world, wentdown 20-22, 9-21 to world number 24Shesar Hiren Rhustavito in 33 minutes.

The country's other fast-rising shut-tler Malvika Bansod also failed to advanceto the quarterfinals as she was brushedaside by Thailand's PornpaweeChochuwong 8-21, 14-21 in a secondround women's singles clash that lasted 39minutes. It was curtains for the mixed dou-bles pair of Sumeeth Reddy and AshwiniPonnappa as well. The duo fought hard buteventually went down 20-22, 21-18, 14-21to the fifth seed Chinese combine of OuXuan Yi and Huang Ya Qiong in a gruellingbattle that lasted close to an hour.

Men's pairing of MR Arjun andDhruv Kapila, however, retired while lag-ging 5-8 in the first game against secondseeded Indonesian pair of MohammadAhsan and Hendra Setiawan.

PTI n POTCHEFSTROOM

Unbeaten so far in the tour-nament, a confident India

team is expected to steamrolllower-ranked Korea and sealthe semifinal spot in the JuniorWomen Hockey World Cup,here on Friday.

The Indians finished on topof Pool D with maximum ninepoints from three victories.After humbling Wales (5-1),Germany (2-1) and Malaysia(4-0), India go into the quarter-finals with a superior 11-2record.

On the contrary, with justthree points in their kitty, Koreafinished second in Pool C onaccount of a better goal differ-ence. Korea's pool was headedby Argentina with maximumnine points while Uruguay andAustria lost out on a quarterfi-

nal berth on goal differenceafter finishing with same pointsas their Asian rival.

With three Olympians inthe squad in skipper SalimaTete and strikers Sharmila Deviand Lalremsiami, the Indians

looked a completely dominantside, rich with big match expe-rience.

Salima has led the sidefrom the front with her superla-tive runs from the flanks, cre-ating chances for the forward

line, while Sharmila andLalremsiami too lived up totheir expectations with theirattacking game upfront.

But the star of India's per-formance so far in the tourna-ment has been young strikerMumtaz Khan, who has scoredfive goals so far, including a hat-trick against Malaysia onWednesday.

Besides Mumtaz,Lalremsiami and Lalrindikiscored two goals each in threematches, while Sangita Kumariand dragflicker Deepika scoredonce each.

India captain Salima Tete,however, is no mood to takeKorea lightly.

"We have speedy players.We want to beat them butKorea is a good team and weneed to fight as a team," Tetesaid.

PTI n MUMBAI

Kolkata Knight Riders bat-ter Nitish Rana has been

reprimanded and fined 10 percent of his match fees for a level1 offence during his team's IPLmatch against MumbaiIndians.

Senior MI pacer JaspritBumrah has been let off witha reprimand for breaching thecode of conduct during thesame game, which KKR wonby five wickets here onWednesday.

The IPL press release,however, doesn't exactly spec-ify the breach.

"Nitish Rana from KolkataKnight Riders has been repri-manded and fined 10 percentof his match-fee for breachingthe IPL's Code of Conduct dur-ing his team's match againstMumbai Indians at Pune," themedia release stated.

"Rana admitted to theLevel 1 offence of the IPLCode of Conduct and accepted the sanction," it fur-ther stated.

In case of Bumrah, therewas no financial penalty andonly a warning.

"Jasprit Bumrah fromMumbai Indians has been rep-rimanded for breaching theIPL' Code of Conduct duringhis team's match againstKolkata Knight Riders at Pune.Bumrah admitted to the Level1 offence of the IPL Code ofConduct and accepted thesanction," the BCCI stated.

PTI n PUNE

He wanted to hit every delivery outof the park but even by his own big-

hitting standards, Australian Test cap-tain Pat Cummins is "more surprised"than anyone else after his 15-ball-56 notout blitzkrieg for KKR in an IPL matchagainst Mumbai Indians.

Regarded as one of the world's bestin contemporary cricket, Cumminssmashed a record-equalling fastest fiftyto power Kolkata Knight Riders' to acomfortable five-wicket win over MIhere on Wednesday.

Cummins reached his half-centu-ry in just 14 balls, to equal KL Rahul,to help KKR chase down MI's total of161 with 24 balls to spare.

"I probably think I'm most sur-prised by that innings. I'm glad that it

came off. I was thinking of having aswing if it was in my area. Wasn't try-ing to overthink it," Cummins said.

"When I come into bat, it is at theend of the game. So I have a clear think-ing to just clear the ropes. Whenever Iam facing him (Jasprit Bumrah), I justtry to hit as hard as possible and fortu-nately it came off few times."

He is the world's finest fast bowlerbut Cummins is no mug with the batand he proved his worth on Wednesdaynight, as KKR, needing 35 from 30 balls,got them all in just six deliveries withthe Australian Test captain hitting sixsixes and four boundaries during hisexplosive knock.

"I was just trying to be the shot play-er. Venky was out there and he was bat-ting well. I though if I could get a fewshots and make his job easy at the other

end. For the shorter side of the bound-ary, I just try to get across and just tar-get that area specifically. All I was try-ing to do was basically hit every ball forfour or a six," the Australian Test cap-tain said.

Cummins' innings came on theback of a below-par bowling effort byhis own standards as the Australian wasclobbered for three sixes by KieronPollard in the final over that yielded 23runs.

"It's welcome to T20 cricket. It hap-pens, you try and take it away from his(Pollard) strengths but he got away, thathappens in T20.

"I thought 160 odd was a goodscore, we would have taken that at thestart of the game., more so I am pleasedwith how I bowled in the first 10 oversto keep us to that score."

PTI n KARACHI

Pakistan Cricket Boardchairman Ramiz Raja is

hopeful of holding positivetalks with his counterpart inthe BCCI on the sidelines ofthe ICC meetings in Dubaifrom April 7 to 10. Ramiz andPCB's chief executive FaisalHasnain left for Dubai onWednesday night, aiming topush for a discussion on theproposal to hold a four-nationT20 tournament every yearfeaturing India, Pakistan,England and Australia.

While Australia hasresponded positively toRamiz's proposal, he is await-ing a response from India andEngland.

"The coming meetings areimportant because Ramiz isplanning to meet with theBCCI officials on the sidelinesof the ICC meetings and dis-cuss matters of mutual inter-est including the four-nationproposal, the Asia Cup andother matters," a source in thePCB said.

Ramiz said in a recentinterview that he felt it wasunfair to keep fans away fromIndia-Pakistan contests.

"India-Pakistan (2022 T20World Cup) tickets were soldin one day, we don't have apolitical perspective on thingsand if a fellow cricketer is lead-ing the BCCI, we should beapproachable to each othersince we don't know politics."

He would also talk toBCCI chief Saurav Ganguly on

Indo-Pakistan cricket and theproposed four-nation event.

"I ' l l talk to Gangulyregarding a four-nation tour-nament. The future of cricketis in triangular and four-nation competitions. T20leagues are taking away eye-balls from bilateral cricket, ofwhich the novelty factor isdecreasing."

The source said thatRamiz will share a specialreport with the ICC executiveboard on hosting the Pakistan-Australia series which con-cluded on Tuesday in Lahore.

He said Pakistan had kepta window open in their FTPfor a bilateral series againstIndia in 2024-25.

The source said thatRamiz was not very hopefulthat the four-nation T20 tour-nament proposal would beaccepted at the meeting but heis confident it will at least starta discussion on the proposal.

SHAW SIZZLES BUT LSG LIMIT DC TO 149/3

PTI n PUNE

Mumbai Indians haveendured a torrid start to

the season, losing three games ina row and the team's head coachMahela Jayawardene feels thefive-time IPL champions need toadopt a ruthless attitude to fin-ish off games.

A lacklustre MI lost by fivewickets to Kolkata Knight Ridershere on Wednesday night toslump to their third consecutivedefeat of the season. The RohitSharma-led side had lost toDelhi Capitals and Rajasthan

Royals in its opening two games."We were in the game pret-

ty much all the way but then inthe last few games we have notbeen ruthless enough to close

games off," Jayawardene said atthe virtual press conference.

"It's always tough when youhave a start like this but we needto look at the positives. We areplaying some good cricket butit's just that we are not closinggames off. All three games wewere in it but we were not ableto finish it off.

"So these are concerns, espe-cially with the ball we are notexecuting at the back end underpressure. Our execution hasbeen poor so we need to makesure we brush up on that," headded.

AP nMELBOURNE

Fast bowler Jhye Richardsonhas been cut from Cricket

Australia's contracted list afterthe surprising rise of fellowpaceman Scott Boland.

Richardson was the mostsurprising omission from CA's20-player list for the 2022-23season announced Thursday.

Richardson claimed a vitalsecond-innings five-wicket haulin the Test victory over Englandin Adelaide in December, buthas only played two T20s forAustralia since.

The 25-year-old Richardson

was overlooked for the nextAshes Test at the MCG andreplaced by Boland, who wenton to claim player-of-the-matchhonors on debut.

Unbeaten Titanstake on Punjab Kings

PCB chairman hopeful of holding positive talks with BCCI

Nitish Rana fined10% of match feesfor Level 1 offence

I think I’m most surprised by this innings: Cummins

India start favourite against Koreain Women WC quarterfinal

Sindhu, Srikanth storm into quarters

Richardson out of CA'scontracted player list

Australian list: Ashton Agar,Scott Boland, Alex Carey, PatCummins, Aaron Finch,Cameron Green, JoshHazlewood, Travis Head, JoshInglis, Usman Khawaja,Marnus Labuschagne, NathanLyon, Mitchell Marsh, GlennMaxwell, Steve Smith,Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis,Mitchell Swepson, DavidWarner, Adam Zampa.

We need to be ruthless in finishingoff games: Mahela Jayawardene

PTI n NAVI MUMBAI

Delhi Capitals lost theirway after a sizzlingknock from Prithvi

Shaw to end at 149 for 3 in theirIndian Premier League matchagainst Lucknow Super Giantshere on Thursday.

Shaw's 61 off 34 balls was allclass before Lucknow SuperGiants bounced back in thegame with an impressive bowl-ing performance. Young leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi (2/22)was the standout performer forthe new IPL entrants.

David Warner (4 off 12),returning to the franchise wherehe made his IPL debut back in2009, struggled in his firstinnings of the season.

The southpaw was a merespectator at the other end, wit-nessing Shaw's brutal assault onthe opposition.

Off-spinner K Gowtham(1/23) was given the ball in thesecond over and Shaw did notlet him settle, dispatching a fullball over cover for his first fourof the innings.

Jason Holder was at thereceiving end in the followingover when Shaw pulled him fora six over mid-wicket. Thencame the turn of pacer AveshKhan who was hammered forthree consecutive fours in thefourth over.

It seemed Shaw was battingon a different surface while theothers struggled around him.He used his quick hands to cutthe ball and was equally quickto drive anything full over cover.

It was a promising power-play for Capitals who reached 52

for no loss in six overs. However,Lucknow fought back after thepowerplay with wickets of Shaw,Warner and Rovman Powell (3

off 10) in a space of 18 balls.Shaw was caught behind

off Gowtham after he hit himfor a straight six. Warner fell to

a poor shot off Bishnoi andPowell saw his stumps dis-turbed as he went for the slog-sweep off a googly from the

young leg-spinner, leavingCapitals at 74 for three in the11th over.

The onus was on skipperRishabh Pant (39 not out off36) to take the team to arespectable total and he did thatin the company of SarfarazKhan (36 not out off 28) whowas playing his debut game forthe franchise.

Pant mainly targeted thestraight boundaries andSarfaraz, without taking muchrisks, showed skills that hasfetched him a bagful of runs indomestic cricket.

Capitals could not finishstrong enough as LSG did wellto concede only 13 runs in thelast 12 balls.

Po. TEAM M W L NR Pts NRR

1. KKR 4 3 1 0 6 1.102

2. RR 3 2 1 0 4 1.218

3. GT 2 2 0 0 4 0.495

4. PBKS 3 2 1 0 4 0.238

5. LSG 3 2 1 0 4 0.193

6. RCB 3 2 1 0 4 0.159

7. DC 2 1 1 0 2 0.065

8. CSK 3 0 3 0 0 -1.251

9. MI 3 0 3 0 0 -1.362

10. SRH 2 0 2 0 0 -1.825

pointstable

4s 402

6s 218

boundarymeter

11

-SHIKHA DUGGAL

ollywooddiva SeeratKapoor hasturned 29and hercountless

fans and fellowactors have beenshowering MaaVintha Gadha actresswith birthday wisheson her special day. Inan exclusive conver-sation with ThePioneer, she illustrat-ed, “If you are reflec-tive of your life, orknow how to payattention to thedetails. There’s nochance, you’ll age!Me growing oldercan never cause hin-drance to me or mycareer here in Telugufilms, it’s insteadpaving way for

greater opportuni-ties. There’s moreinnocence in menow, which I feel isso attractive aboutme as an actress.How I think shouldbe my mere focus atthe moment, isn’t it?”No matter how oldshe grows, or howsuccessful shebecomes, the Teluguactress is only look-ing for meaningfulyear ahead. She con-tinued to express,“There is no lavish-ness in my life, mynear and dear onesbrings sumptuous inmy life. My relation-ships are also neverso fragile, they goback in time becauseI pretty well knowhow to cherish those.An intimate conver-sation at a lush din-ner table with them

is the way to go forany celebrations forme, that’s what I didthis year too. As anactress, I hardly getany me-time and mybirthday is one occa-sion I get to catch-upwith everyone.”Celebrating life, ageand friendship —Seerat’s parents arethe ones who neverstepped back fromloving her and mak-ing her feel thewarmest. She men-tioned, “It’s alwaysfun around them.Aside from gettingwiser, they indulgeme with some goodfood and company.Nobody can replacethem! Their teach-ings maneuvered meto a fruitful individ-ual, despite being inshowbiz you’ll noticea spiritual side to me

too.” Livening up herbig day recently, she’struer than true in theway she thinks nowand instead gettingolder she’s turningnewer. “I would liketo let my fans know,I check every DM.We’ll soon be havingmeet-ups in differentcities. Public is mysource of energy,they continue toembrace me in incinema. I’ll con-tinue the grind!Moreover, Iwould love toclasp to thosefans evenmore whoare open-minded anddon’t judgeor trollactresses. Myfans shouldbe inspira-tional.”

Seerat Kapoorstarting new!

t

12

Vijayawada | Friday April 8, 2022 tollywood

Naga Chaitanya, Venkat Prabhujoin hands for a bilingual film

aga Chaitanya,who scoredback-to-backsuperhits withMajili, VenkyMama, Love

Story and Bangarraju, has afantastic line-up ahead.

Now that he is on boardfor a bilingual movie withdirector Venkat Prabhu, thisupcoming movie marks his22nd film.

Venkat Prabhu, whodelivered a blockbuster withhis last directorialMaanaadu, has readied agood script for NagaChaitanya, is to make thismovie in Telugu and Tamillanguages.

Bankrolled under the pro-duction house SrinivasaaSilver Screen, SrinivasaaChitturi will be producingthe movie, while Pavan

Kumar presents it.While this yet to be titled

film marks Naga Chaitanya’sfirst Tamil movie, VenkatPrabhu is making his debutin Telugu with this bilingualto be made with rich pro-duction values and first-class technical standards.

Billed as a commercialentertainer, the film willhave many noted actors inthe movie.

head of the releaseof his latest movie,Dangerous, direc-tor Ram GopalVarma took to hissocial media

accounts seeking the supportof the LGBT community asmultiplexes like PVR andInox have refused to screenthe film as it showcases thelove of a lesbian couple.Katra, starring Apsara Raniand Naina Ganguly, was sup-posed to open on April 8 onbig screens. It received an ‘A’certificate from the CensorBoard of Film Certification.

Danerous is said to be“India’s first lesbian crimedrama,” and was made in fivelanguages — Hindi, Tamil,Telugu, Kannada, andMalayalam. While the Hindititle of the film is Khatra, theTelugu version is titled MaaIshtam.

Venting his ire on socialmedia, Ram Gopal, in aseries of tweets, accused PVRand INOX of refusing to

screen his film. He tweeted,“PVR cinemas and INOXcinemas are refusing toscreen my film Khatra(Dangerous) because itstheme is LESBIAN, and thisafter the Supreme Courtrepealed section 377 and thecensor board already passed.It is a clear-cut anti-stand of

their management against theLGBT community.”

“I request not only theLGBT community but alsoeveryone to stand up againstthe management of PVR cin-emas and INOX cinemas fortheir anti-LGBT stand. Thisis an insult to human rights,”he further added in the tweet.

n

a

Tollywood heroPawan Kalyan,

who wasbuoyed by the suc-cess of his recentmovie Bheemla

Nayak, had taken abrief break post its

release.Now that the

Badri actor haswrapped uphis politicalmeetings, he

has joinedthe sets of

his upcom-ing movieHari Hara

Veera Mallu.Ahead of his shooting, Pawan

Kalyan has been rehearsing ahigh-voltage action sequence

under the supervision of stuntdirector Todor Lazarov, who

earlier worked for RRR.Pawan, who is a trained mar-tial arts performer, is seen

brushing his skills for the actionsequence for the movie. The

pictures from the training spothave gone viral on social media.

Hari Hara Veera Mallu,directed by the talented film-maker Krish Jagarlamudi, willhave actress Nidhhi Agerwal,who will appear as the female

lead.Produced by Mega Surya

Production, the pan-India moviehas MM Keeravani's music.

Jr NTR on RRR sequel: There needs

to be a conclusion to this story tooouth star Jr NTR has saidthere should be a sequelto SS Rajamouli’s block-buster RRR, much on thelines of the filmmaker’shit franchise Baahubali.

Rajamouli’s latest period actiondrama, featuring Jr NTR and RamCharan, has so far reportedlyminted Rs 1,000 crore at the globalbox office.

This is the filmmaker’s thirdconsecutive blockbuster afterBaahubali: The Beginning and itssequel, Baahubali: The Conclusion.

During a special event to cele-brate the film’s success onWednesday, Jr NTR said fans’demand for a sequel is fair.

“I’m pretty sure that if he doesn’tmake (a sequel), you’re going tokill him for sure. He needs to makeRRR 2, there needs to be a conclu-sion to this also! I was speaking toa journalist and I don’t know howbut I said RRR franchise. So,hopefully it becomes true. Heshould make RRR 2,” the actortold reporters.

Charan said that for now hefeels content and is glad thatthe film could release after aseries of delays due tothe coron-avirus pan-demic.

“Ofcourse, weall will bedelightedagain ifRajamoulisir thinksof RRR 2,”he added.

Rajamouli said both his leadingstars got out of the RRR headspacepretty quickly, while he is still try-ing to “cool off from the heatwhich the movie generated”.

“Let it cool down. Of course, forme it would be a great pleasure,not because of what it'll do at thebox office, but because I will havemore time to spend with mybrothers. That’ll be more excitingfor me. But let time unravel whatwe have,” the filmmaker added.

The success press event wasorganised by Jayantilal Gada of PenStudios, which acquired the northIndia theatrical rights and all lan-guages digital and satellite rightsfor RRR.

It was also attended by superstarAamir Khan, filmmaker KaranJohar and veteran lyricist-screen-

writer Javed Akhtar.Produced by DV VEntertainment,the film released

on March 25 inTelugu, Tamil,Malayalam,

Kannada, andHindi.

RRR is a fic-tional tale oftwo Indian

free-

dom fighters from the early 20thcentury - Alluri Sitarama (Charan)and Kumaram Bheem, played by JrNTR.

Rajamouli said there is a lot ofappreciation from the audience forRRR but what has been “signifi-cantly different” was the number ofwestern audiences liking the film.

“This is the kind of thing I note,that these many people are likingmy film, so next time when I makea film, I should keep this in mind.I shouldn’t let it bother me, weighme down but think that there is awider audience listening to yourstory. Not the numbers, but thelove and appreciation from differ-ent audiences matters,” the directoradded.

The film’s Hindi version alonehas reportedly collected close to Rs200 cr at the box office.

Many trade critics have applaud-ed the team of the film for revivingthe post-pandemic box office in amajor way.

Rajamouli said when the filmwas getting postponed multipletimes, the team was “unsure aboutthe occupancy of theatres”.

“From the audience’s side, Inever had a doubt, I alwaysbelieved that once the film is out,they will come to the theatres. Butfrom the health department side,we didn’t know what was comingwhen. Those were anxiousmoments for all the films. Oncethe theatres opened, RRRbrought the audiences back tothe theatres, that’s the biggestachievement for me,” Rajamoulisaid. RRR also featuresBollywood stars Alia Bhatt andAjay Devgn in key roles.

s

atural star Nani’s rom-comentertainer AnteSundaraniki is one ofthe most awaitedfilms, as everypromotional

content of the moviestruck a chord with themovie buffs.Furthermore, the uniquepromotional strategy ofthe makers garneredmore inquisitiveness onthe film being directed byVivek Athreya under theleading production houseMythri Movie.

The makers kickstarted themusical promotions, as they releasedfirst single Panchakattu tuned by VivekSagar. The composer came up with agroovy and funny number. LegendaryCarnatic singer Aruna Sairam who isthe recipient of Padma Shri Award sungthe song remarkably with high pitchvocals, while Hasith Goli penned lyrics.

The team is now celebrating the

chartbuster success ofPanchakattu song. It’s a

Panchakattu-themed party

with the entireteam attend-ing it inPanchakattu.It’s clearly

evident that, the team is choosingunique promotions for the film.

Nazriya Nazim is playing leading ladyopposite Nani and Ante Sundaranikimarks her Tollywood debut. NikethBommi handled the cinematography,while Raviteja Girijala is the editor forthe film. Ante Sundaraniki is gettingready for release on June 10.

n

ctor MaheshBabu, whowill next beseen inSarkaru

Vaari Paata, waspresent at a publicevent inHyderabad onThursday.

On beingquizzed aboutMahesh’sBollywood entry,he expressed that

he has no intention todo a movie, at least inthe near future.

Mahesh Babu said,“There is no need todo direct Hindimovies. Because,Telugu movies arebeing watched by peo-ple across the country,there is no need that Iact in Hindi movies inspecific.”

Mahesh says that heis committed to doing

films in Telugu and hisfilm with Rajamouliwill be his first pan-India release. Despitebeing chased byBollywood for years,Mahesh has nevermade a Hindi film.

Mahesh-starrerSarkaru Vaari Paatawill release on May 12.Directed by ParasuramPetla, the movie isbilled to be a commer-cial drama.

Mahesh Babu believes heneed not act in Hindi movies

Pawan Kalyanrehearses high-voltage

action sequence forHari Hara Veera Mallu

Ante

Sundaraniki

team celebratespanchakattu-themed party

RGV fires on PVR and Inox

a