DIGANGANA MADHUBALA

www.dailypioneer.com

RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN VIJAYAWADA

*LATE CITY VOL. 3 ISSUE 325*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:

MONEY 8MARKETS EKE OUT SLIM GAINS; NIFTY

CLOSES AT NEW HIGH

ANALYSIS 7CASTE IN UP POLLS:

A CASE OF BRAHMINS

SPORTS 12WTC FINAL: RAIN KEEPS

CRICKET OUT ON 4TH DAY

}DIGANGANAWANTS TO PLAY

MADHUBALA

1{

HYDERABAD, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2021; PAGES 12 `3

BCCI PLANS E-BIDDING FOR TWO NEW IPL TEAMS ON OCTOBER 17

The BCCI plans to have an e-bidding for the two new IPL teamson October 17. "The Board is planning to have the bidding on17th October and it will be an e-bidding," sources in the know

of things told PTI on Tuesday. The BCCI had on August 31 invitedbids to own an IPL franchise with "Invitation to Tender" available forpurchase till October 5. "The Governing Council of the IPL invitesbids to acquire the right to own and operate 1 (one) of the 2 (two)new teams proposed to be introduced to take part in the IndianPremier League from the IPL 2022 season, through a tenderprocess," the BCCI had said in a statement.

BJP CLAIMS MAMATA DIDN'T MENTIONCRIMINAL CASES; COMPLAINS TO EC

The BJP on Tuesday lodged a complaint with the ElectionCommission, alleging that West Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee did not make a mention about pending criminal cases

in her nomination papers for the Bhabanipur by-poll. Sajal Ghosh,the chief election agent of the saffron party's candidate for theconstituency, Priyanka Tibrewal, wrote to the EC, raising objectionsto Banerjee's declaration. "I beg to object to the nomination/declaration filed by Mamata Banerjee… on the ground that thecandidate has failed to disclose particulars of the pending criminalproceedings against her," he said.

SATURDAYS WORKING DAYS, SAYSKERALA GOVT AS COVID CASES DIP

After withdrawing the night curfew and stringent lockdownmeasures on Sundays, which were imposed in the wake ofrising COVID-19 cases in the state, the Kerala government on

Tuesday decided to restore Saturdays as working days, whereverapplicable."All employees are instructed to report for duty (onSaturdays) accordingly," an order issued by the DisasterManagement Department said. It said that on August 4, allgovernment offices, quasi government, public sector undertakings,companies, autonomous bodies and commissions were allowed towork from Monday to Friday with full attendance.

KANNADA ORGANISATIONS PROTESTAGAINST ‘IMPOSITION OF HINDI’

In protest against the "imposition of Hindi", Kannada organisationson Tuesday held a twitter campaign and picketing in front ofbanks in several parts of Karnataka, on the occasion of Hindi

Diwas. The Karnataka Rakshana Vedike organised a Twittercampaign with hashtag #StopHindiImposition" from 10 am to 10pm on Tuesday, while i ts activists staged picketing in front of banksin different parts of the State. KRV tweeted pictures of its activistsstaging picketing in Sedam, Chincholi, Ron, Hungund, Hiriyur,Pandavapura, Bengaluru, Vijayapura, Kalaburagi, Chikkaballapura,Thirthahalli, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Kolar, Mandya and Dharwad.

HHYYDDEERRAABBAADDWWEEAATTHHEERR

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated SEPTEMBER 14, 2021 5:00 PM

FFoorreeccaasstt:: Partly cloudyTTeemmpp:: 28/22HHuummiiddiittyy:: 83%SSuunnrriissee:: 6:02 amSSuunnsseett:: 06:19 pm

AALLMMAANNAACC

TTOODDAAYY

Month & Paksham:

Bhadrapada & Shukla Paksha

Panchangam

Tithi : Navami 11:16

Nakshatram : Purva Ashadha 28:56

Time to Avoid : Time to Avoid (Bad

time to start any important work)

Rahukalam : 12:11 pm - 1:42 pm

Yamagandam : 7:38 am - 9:09 am

Varjyam : 3:07 pm - 4:39 pm

Gulika : 10:40 am - 12:11 pm

Good Time : (to start any important work)

Amritakalam : 12:19 am - 1:51 am

Abhijit Muhurtham : Nil

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

TS IT and Municipal AdministrationMinister KT Rama Rao on Tuesdaycame down heavily on the Centre'sformula for tax devolution, suggest-ing it was tantamount to "ek rupayaliya, aur 50 paise diya".

Challenging BJP state unit chiefBandi Sanjay's claims over financesfrom the Centre, KTR said: "Overthe past 6.5 years, we have given Rs2.72 lakh crore in the form of taxesto the Centre. The Centre, throughthe Finance Commission, gave onlyRs 1.42 lakh crore. We gave 1?, theygave 50 paise." In the next breadth,KTR offered to resign from his posi-tion if Bandi Sanjay could prove himwrong.

In his poser to Bandi Sanjay, KTR,during his tour of Gadwal, observed:"I will resign from my minister postif what I am saying is wrong. Willyou resign from your MP post if youare wrong?"

KTR tore into Bandi Sanjay for

claiming that in every scheme of TSthere was Center's contribution. Hesaid, "UP is developing with moneyfrom Telangana's blood and sweat.If there is Centre's contribution inevery scheme, why is there is noRythu Bandhu in Karnataka? Withour blood and sweat, we are helpingother BJP-ruled states. The Modigovernment has been deceivingTelangana ever since it came topower". KTR asked BJP workers togo and check whether any of

Telangana's schemes were beingimplemented in neighbouringKarnataka. The IT Minister criti-cised the Centre for not sanctioningat least one medical college, IIM orNavodaya school for Telangana.

KTR challenged BJP state vice-president DK Aruna also to convincethe Centre to include Boya Valmikisin the list of STs - regarding whicha resolution was passed in the StateAssembly and which was awaitingapproval from the Centre. He said

Aruna should try to persuade Modito make reservations.

The Minister laid the foundationstone for the Jurala Park atRevulapalli. The park will be con-structed on both sides of the Juralaproject at a cost of Rs 15 crore. KTRopened the Chennakesava SangalaPark in Gadwala. KTR said, "Wehave shown in seven years thedevelopment that did not take placein 70 years". Pointing out that peo-ple wanted the government to speedup the distribution of houses, hesaid: "We will grant houses to thedeserving poor".

PNS n HYDERABAD

Responding to a writ petition filedby the AP Genco in the TelanganaHigh Court on Monday to recov-er dues from Telangana, TSTransco CMD Prabhakar Raoon Tuesday clarified that in factthe power utilities of AP owed Rs4,457 crore to the TelanganaGovernment. He said that AP hadremained silent on clearing thedues recoverable from it byTelangana.

The Telangana government hadbeen repaying loans availed by thecombined AP government, hepointed out. The Government ofTelangana was paying Rs 2,725crore towards repayment of loans.So, Telangana should get fundspertaining to AP Genco's share ofthis repayment. The Telanganagovernment had invested Rs 1,611crore in the Krishnapatnam plantand that amount had not yetbeen recovered. If the foregoingdues were totalled, in fact APowed money to Telangana, heexplained. AP should repay Rs4,457 crore to power agencies ofTelangana, he said. The CMD saidthat the Telangana power utilitieswould present their case before theHigh Court.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Panjagutta police, along withrevenue officials, on Tuesday,sealed three pubs located on thepremises of Country Club atBegumpet for allowing illegalactivities. The three pubs, Lisbonalias Club Tollywood, Hi5 andPurple, were ultimately sealedafter filing as many as 18 casesagainst the management, saidthe Panjagutta police.

"As many as18 cases were reg-istered against the management ofthe pubs till now. The pubs wereinvolved varied offences includ-ing performance of obscene actsin public places, running theplace against the permitted time,outraging the modesty of women,voluntarily causing hurt by man-agement of pubs.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Amid ongoing protests by politicalparties and public outcry over therape and murder of a six-year oldgirl here four days ago, TelanganaLabour Minister Ch Malla Reddyon Tuesday asserted that theaccused in the case would becaught, but hinted that he could beeliminated in an 'encounter'.

"It (incident) is terrible. Thereshould be an encounter against him(accused). He will definitely becaught. (We) will do encounter.There is no question of leavinghim," he told reporters.

Asked why he had not consoledthe family members of the victim,he said they would be helped in allpossible ways.

"We will console them. We willdefinitely give ex gratia. We willhelp (the family) in all possibleways," he said.

Reddy's comments came againstthe backdrop of the rape and mur-der of the six-year old girl, alleged-ly by her neighbour at Saidabadhere on the evening of September9 and protests by the oppositionBJP, Congress and others over theincident. The incident triggeredspontaneous protests late that nightby residents of the locality, whoraised slogans and demanded jus-tice and quick arrest of the culprit.

They staged a road roko onSeptember 10 morning, demand-ing justice and various kinds of helpto the girl's family. They wanted

higher-ups, including a minister, tovisit the place.

Hyderabad District Collector LSharman, who had visited thespot, assured them that a houseunder the government's two-bedroom housing scheme for the poor,besides education facility to theother children of the victim's par-ents, would be provided.

An immediate financial assis-tance of Rs 50,000 was given to thefamily by the government.

The protest by the residents wascalled off after the authoritiesspoke to them and following theassurances by the Collector.

State Women and Child WelfareMinister Satyavati Rathod, whospoke to police and other officialson September 10, urged them totake steps to bring the culprit tobook and to ensure tough punish-ment.

PNS n HYDERABAD

It appears that, like in the case ofJallikattu in Tamil Nadu, people inHyderabad will not let go offGanesh immersion in the HussainSagar lake.

The Bhagyanagar GaneshUtsava Samiti said that Ganeshidols would be immersed in the

Hussain Sagar lake. They said thatthere would be protests on theroads should the police preventimmersion of idols that are broughtto their destination.

The organisers of the annualimmersion procession called thecourt order "a violation of the rightto freedom of religion".

PNS n NEW DELHI

The GST Council might on Fridayconsider taxing petrol, diesel andother petroleum products under thesingle national GST regime, a movethat may require huge compromis-es by both the Union and State gov-ernments on the revenues theycollect from taxing these products.

The Council, which comprisesUnion and State Finance Ministers,in its meeting scheduled inLucknow on Friday, is also likely toconsider extending the time for dutyrelief on Covid-19 essentials,according to sources in the know ofthe development.

GST is being thought to be a solu-tion for the problem of near-recordhigh petrol and dieselrates in the coun-try, as itw o u l dend

the cascading effect of tax on tax(state VAT being levied not just onthe cost of production but also onthe excise duty charged by theCentre on such output).

In June, the Kerala High Court,based on a writ petition, had askedthe GST Council to decide onbringing petrol and diesel within thegoods and services tax (GST) ambit.

The sources said bringing petroland diesel within GST would beplaced before the Council for discus-sion in the light of thecourt asking theCouncil to do so.

MARTHI SUBRAHMANYAMn VIJAYAWADA

Letters sent by 20 Union Ministers,including a woman, recommend-ing people of their choice forappointment as the TTD Boardmembers, while keeping the BJPnational leadership in the dark, iscreating ripples in the party.

This was leaked to the BJPnational president JP Nadda who isbelieved to have ordered a probeinto the matter.

The Jaganmohan Reddy govern-ment has appointed the TTD chair-man, but has not named any boardmembers so far.

According to reliable informa-

tion, VIPs from various states,including Chief Ministers, havesuggested names of 75 prominentpersons for appointment as TTD

Board members.As the Board is in no position to

ignore even one name, the govern-ment is believed to be mulling the

option of constituting the Boardwith only 45-55 members andappoint the remaining recom-mended people as Special Invitees.

However, since selection of theBoard members is a tricky affair, thegovernment has been putting off adecision on the final list.

According to reliable informa-tion, leaders of several national andregional parties, in addition to theChief Ministers of Karnataka, TamilNadu, Telangana and Maharashtra,have sent their recommendations tothe AP government.

YSRCP sources say thatTelangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Ral and IT MinisterKT Rama Rao have sent separate

lists.Some of the Union Ministerssent their recommendations forappointment as TTD Board mem-bers without consulting the BJPnational leadership. As many as 20Union Ministers are believed tohave sent their recommendationletters.

Irrespective of the party in powerat the Centre, the tradition has beenthat the list of names for appoint-ment as TTD Board members issent to the State government.Besides this, some Union Ministerswho have a good rapport with theChief Minister too send their rec-ommendations.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Tuesdayfavoured framing of some guide-lines for regular bail after filing ofcharge sheet in criminal cases andasked the Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) to give somesuggestions.

The top court was hearing a pleaof an accused who was not arrest-ed during investigation of the caseand was charge sheeted by CBI ina corruption case. A bench ofJustices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M

M Sundresh said, “in view of thesubmission in Court, it is deemedappropriate that some guidelinesmay be laid down so that theCourts are better guided and nottroubled with the aspect of bail oncharge sheet being filed”.

Additional Solicitor General SVRaju, appearing for CBI, said thathe will submit certain suggestedguidelines after deliberations withsenior advocate Siddharth Luthra,appearing for one of the accusedSatender Kumar Antil in the case.

KTR ON TAX DEVOLUTION

Ek rupaya liya, aur 50 paise diyaIn the last six years, Rs 2.72

lakh crore has gone from

the state to the Center.

The Center has given only

Rs 1.42 lakh crore to the

state. I will resign if this is

not true. Will Bandi Sanjay

resign as MP?

State Cabinet tomeet on Sept 16PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will chair a meetingof the State Cabinet at thePragathi Bhavan here onSeptember 16. The Cabinet isexpected to finalise the dates ofthe monsoon session of theAssembly, considering that theLegislature has to meet beforeSeptember 25 -- as it will be sixmonths since the conclusion ofthe Budget session on March 26.Although there have been spec-ulations that the legislature ses-sions would commence fromSeptember 22, there is no indi-cation of that yet at theLegislature Secretariat.

The Cabinet, scheduled to meetat 2-00 pm, will also discuss anddecide on the Bills to be intro-duced during the session, partic-ularly the one relating to theDalit Bandhu scheme. The ChiefMinister, it is understood, is infavour of granting legal sanctity tothe scheme and therefore wants tobring out a piece of legislation.

Council may look atbringing fuel in GST

'AP power utilities

owe Rs 4,457 cr to TS'

WPI inflation rises to 11.39

pc in Aug on costlier mfg

goods; food prices soften

‘Ganesh immersion willcontinue at Tank Bund'

Attorney General K K Venugopal onTuesday accorded his consent toinitiate criminal contemptproceedings against YouTuber AjeetBharti for his alleged "scurrilous"remarks in one of his videos againstthe Supreme Court and its judges.

Minister says ‘no question’ of leaving accusedin rape, murder of minor; hints at ‘encounter’

Three pubs sealedby police andrevenue officials

SC favours framing of guidelines AG consents tocontempt case onYouTuber

TTD ‘letters’ create ripples in Union Cabinet and BJP

ML MELLY MAITREYI n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister K ChandrasekharRao has assured the L&T authori-ties that the State governmentwould explore ways to helpHyderabad Metro that has beenincurring huge losses due to fall inthe number of passengers due toCorona pandemic.

The Chief Minister respondedpositively to repeated representa-tions from L&T authorities to theState government for help to bring

the Hyderabad Metro back ontrack. He announced on Tuesdaythat a high-level committee wouldbe appointed with MA&UDMinister K T Rama Rao, R&BMinister Vemula Prashanth Reddy,Chief Advisor to Government RajivSharma, Chief Secretary SomeshKumar, CM Principal SecretaryNarsing Rao, Finance Special ChiefSecretary Ramakrishna Rao,MA&UD Special Chief SecretaryArvind Kumar, and IndustriesPrincipal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan.

KCR relief for Metro

Dares Bandi Sanjay to prove him wrong, offers to resign if proven wrong

IT and Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao during his tour of Gadwal on Tuesday

Fees for self-financing

courses inengineering

double instate

PNS n NEW DELHI

The wholesale price-based infla-tion rose marginally to 11.39 percent in August, mainly due tocostlier manufactured goods, evenas food prices softened.

Snapping the two-month eas-ing trend, WPI inflation rose inAugust and remained in double-digit for the fifth consecutivemonth. In July 2021, WPI infla-tion was 11.16 per cent, while inAugust 2020 it was 0.41 per cent.

2

2

2

2 2

2 2 2

2 2

3

Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Phone: 040-23322341, Hyderabad Office: F-502, Diamond Block, Lumbini Rockdale, Somajiguda, Hyderabad - 500 082. Telangana. Printed at Sree Seshasai Enterprises, Plot No.19, IDA Balanagar , Hyderbad-500037, Medchal -Malkajgiri District, Telangana. Executive Editor: Navin Upadhyay. Resident Editor: B Krishna Prasad, AIR SURCHARGE of Rs 2.00.

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

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

responding to any contents published in this newspaper. The printer, publisher, editor and any employee of the Pioneer Group's will not be held responsible for any kind of claim made by the advertisers of the products & services and shall not be made responsible for any kind of loss, consequences and further product-related damages on such advertisements.

hyderabad 02HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

EGG

RATES

HYDERABAD 413

VIJAYAWADA 425

VISAKHAPATNAM 425

RREETTAAIILL PPRRIICCEE `̀44..1133

`̀//110000

CHICKEN

RATES

Dressed/With Skin `248

Without Skin `268

Broiler at Farm `137

`̀//KKGG

(IN HYDERABAD

Domestic powerbi l ls , withenhanced 'true

up' charges, have deliv-ered high-voltage shockto the common man inAndhra Pradesh.

The addit ionalcharges are being collectedfrom people for their powerconsumption in previousyears.

The Electricity RegulatoryCommission (ERC) hascaused this 'storm' by allow-ing discoms to collect addi-tional charges from con-sumers to the tune of nearlyRs.4,000 crore in a continu-ous process that may lasteight months.

In fact, discoms had pro-posed the collection of addi-tional charges to the tune ofRs.19, 000 crore.

But ERC denounced thatproposal and gave its nod forcollecting Rs 3,700 crore.Consumers were aghastwhen they received theirdomestic power bills forAugust including a mini-mum of Rs 400 as addition-al charges on every connec-tion, even if the consumer

had consumed lessunits than in the previ-ous months.

This unexpectedadditional burden has

af fected eventhose sections which had

happily benefitted fromthe welfare schemes of stategovernment.

Tenants are clueless abouthow the authorities woulddeal with them due to theunusual enhancement ofdomestic power bills as thediscoms have decided to col-lect additional charges forpast consumption as well --for the period of 2014-19.

There are many tenantswho may be required to paytrue up charges even if theyhave not been tenants duringthe entire period of reckon-ing. Clashes are l ikelybetween owners and tenantsin some cases.

The ERC initially used toelicit the opinions of mem-bers of registered politicalparties in the state.

The parties used to sendmembers well-versed in thesubject.

Former chief minister of

undivided AP K. Rosaiah,CPI-M politburo memberwere among those who haveattended such meetings. Butthese leaders often corneredthe ERC on several issues,including revision of powertariff, on various occasions.Unable to digest such criti-cism, ERC has stopped theexercise, but is not averse toacting against the interests ofpower consumers in the state.

The state governmentdecided to stop ERC interac-tions with members of oppo-sition parties, mainly becauseof the fall-out of media cov-erage of those proceedings. Itis only a matter of timebefore opposition parties and

civil society organizationsbegin to make the most ofpublic anger over the true upcharges.

Twenty one years ago, thenChandrababu regime revisedpower tariff and put a hugeburden of additional chargeson people.

Then Opposition, led byCongress party, launched anagitation with the support ofLeft parties in the state. TheCongress Legislature Partywas then headed by Dr.YSRajasekhara Reddy, with astrong contingent of 91members -- the biggest everopposit ion in the stateAssembly since its inception.That fierce agitation culmi-

nated in an indefinite hungerstrike by 90+ MLAs of theentire Opposition in theAssembly. A flare-up of thatprotest resulted in police fir-ing at Basheer Bagh inHyderabad on 28 August,2000.

The police opened firewhen a rally organised by allopposition parties proceededto the venue of the MLAs'hunger strike. Three activistswere killed in the firing thatshook the entire state politi-cally. That was the beginningof the end of Chandrababu

Naidu's rule in the undivid-ed state.

The opposition acted inperfect unity and sustainedthe negative mood of peopletowards then TDP govern-ment in subsequent years.Finally in 2004, the TDP wasdecimated.

The TDP had to sit inOpposition benches for twoconsecutive terms of 2004 &2009. The TDP came topower in the residuary stateof AP only after spending 10agonising years in theOpposition.

However, in the presentcircumstances, the principalopposition party - TDP,under the leadership ofChandrababu Naidu, doesnot have enough strength inthe legislature to take on theYSRCP government headedby YS Jaganmohan Reddy.

He has to launch an effec-tive agitation against the trueup charges.

None of the YSRCP MLAscan afford to side with thepublic. The attempts beingmade by some ruling partyleaders to blame theChandrababu Naidu govern-

ment for the present hike inpower charges do not holdwater.

In fact, the severity of theburden on people in thename of true up charges ismuch more than that whichthe TDP regime had imposedon people in those days.Some say the 'sin' committedby the TDP regime in thecombined state of AndhraPradesh is still haunting theparty in the residuary state.Chandrababu then tried hardto crush the agitation againstthe hike in power charges.

In those days,Chandrababu, with his 29members in the Lok Sabha,was the darling of media,particularly after he extend-ed crucial support to theNDA government headed byAB Vajpayee.

Chandrababu did not tol-erate democratic voicesagainst him, particularly afterhe retained power in thestate by forging an alliancewith BJP. In the backdrop ofthe Kargil war, Vajpayee'simage helped Chandrababuretain power in combinedAP.

These days Chandrababuprefers to send his sonLokesh to those places wherehis presence is not warrant-ed. He made a vain bid to goto Guntur district to visit thehome of a rape victim, butthe police foiled his efforts.This brought some politicalmileage to TDP.

Aside from TDP's presentcapability to lead an agitationagainst the hike in powercharges, it appears that thewidespread resentmentamong the people could workagainst the state government.

The manifold increase inpower bills caused by the trueup charges would be tooheavy a burden on the com-mon man.

It is different matter if hegets welfare benefits worththousands of rupees fromthe government. The feelingof gratitude towards the gov-ernment for its freebies maynot last long.

People may respond to thecalls of the principal opposi-tion party if they feel thatthere is need for an agitationto ensure the rollback of trueup charges.

M D RATNA KUMAR

Senior Journalist

Aside from TDP's capability to lead an

agitation against the hike in power

charges, it appears that the widespr-

ead resentment among the people

could work against the government.

The increase in power bills caused by

the true up charges would be too

heavy a burden on the common man.

PIN

POINT

Will power bills become a political weapon for opposition?

K VENKATESHWARLU

n HYDERABAD

The ruling TRS party is in fullswing and it has been contin-uing its by-election campaignin the Huzurabad assemblyconstituency though theElection Commission of India(ECI) has kept the election inabeyance. The party leadersincluding Ministers have beencontinuing their campaign inHuzurabad, conducting meet-ings with various sections andgroups of people.

The Ministers - T HarishRao and Gangula Kamalakar -have been almost staying in theconstituency and have beengiving special focus to meetingwith the caste organizations.

They are conducting meet-ings with the heads of casteassociations besides variousunions like contract employeesetc. The party has alreadycompleted the meetings withalmost all caste organizations.

The TRS party leaders heldmeetings with ReddyCommunity, Munnurukapu,Padmashali, Mudiraj, Yadava,Goud, Rajaka, Kummari,Muslim, Nayi Brahmins, andremaining castes. The govern-ment already conducted ahuge meeting with the SCs todraw attention to newly intro-duced Dalit Bandhu scheme.The party showered sops onall the communities whichincluded construction of com-munity halls, caste bhavans etc

allocating lands and funds forthe construction of the same.

The ruling party leadershave been continuing theircampaign with the party can-didate Gellu Srinivas Yadavalong with local leadersincluding Padi Kaushik Reddy,who recently joined TRS fromCongress party, BCCommission chairmanVakulabaranam KrishnaMohan Rao, SC Commissionchairman and SCCommission chairman BSrinivas.

However, the BJP hasslowed down its campaignwhen compared with the TRSfor the past few days. Thoughthe BJP has not yet announcedits candidate officially, former

Minister Etela Rajender,whose resignation caused theby-poll, has started his cam-paign. He slowed down hiscampaign when comparedwith the beginning days afterthe announcement of ECIdecision. Meanwhile, BJP isbusy with arrangements tomake the Union HomeMinister Amit Shah'sSeptember 17 meeting atNirmal a big success.

The Congress is yet toplunge into action and yet toannounce its candidate forthe election. According to theparty sources, the party lead-ers may enter the constituen-cy after September 17 bywhich time its candidatewould be announced.

TRS focusing on caste equations in Huz'bad

Continued from page 1

When a national GST sub-sumed central taxes such asexcise duty and state levies likeVAT on July 1, 2017, fivepetroleum goods petrol, diesel,ATF, natural gas and crude oilwere kept out of its purview forthe time being.

This is because both theUnion and State Governmentfinances relied heavily on taxeson these products.

Since GST is a consump-tion-based tax, bringing petroproducts under the regimewould have mean States wherethese products are sold get therevenue and not ones thatcurrently derive the most ben-efit out of them because of theybeing the production centre.

Simply put, Uttar Pradeshand Bihar with their hugepopulation and a resultanthigh consumption would getmore revenues at the cost ofStates like Gujarat. WithCentral Excise and State VAT

making up for almost half ofthe retail selling price of petroland diesel currently, levyingGST on them would meancharging a peak rate of 28 per-cent plus a fixed surchargegoing by the principal of thenew levy being equal to the oldtaxes. Tax experts said bring-ing petro products under GSTwill be a tough call for both theCentre and States as both willstand to lose. BJP-ruled stateslike Gujarat will be a loser evenif a product like natural gas isbrought under GST as it getsa lot of revenue from taxing thelocal production and import ofthe fuel (LNG).

The Centre will also lose asthe majority of the Rs 32.80 perlitre excise duty on petrol andRs 31.80 on diesel is made upof cesses, which it does notshare with the States.

Under GST, all revenueswill be split 50:50 between theCentre and the States.

The GST Council, chairedby Finance Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman, in its September17 meeting could also discussthe modalities of continuationof compensation cess beyondJune 2022.

This is the first time in 20months that the GST Councilwill have a physical meeting.The last such meeting was onDecember 18, 2019, beforethe Covid-19-induced lock-downs.

When the GST was intro-duced on July 1, 2017, amalga-mating over a dozen Centraland State levies, five com-modities – crude oil, naturalgas, petrol, diesel, and aviationturbine fuel (ATF) – were keptout of its purview given therevenue dependence of theUnion and State governmentson this sector. This meant thatthe Union government contin-ued to levy excise duty onthem while State governmentscharged value-added tax(VAT). These taxes, with exciseduty, in particular, have beenraised periodically.


Bagvanth Rao of BGUS, point-ing to the instances of jallikat-tu being held in Tamil Nadudespite court order, infructu-ous ban on entry of women inAyyappa temple and IndiraGandhi continuing as PrimeMinister despite the 1975Allahabad High Court judg-ment, said that, irrespective ofcourt orders, the customs willcontinue and idols will beimmersed in Vinayak Sagar. Itmay be mentioned here thatjallikattu was banned by theSupreme Court in 2014, butthe Tamil Nadu and the cen-tral governments stepped in toreverse the ban amid wide-spread protests in the state.The ban, many fans argued,was an assault on Tamil pride.BGUS leaders have threat-ened that should the authori-ties stop them from immers-ing the idols in Hussain Sagar,they would leave the truckswith idols on roads.


The tradition was followedwhen the UPA was in powerand when the TDP-BJPalliance was in power in AP,the BJP national leadershipfurnished some names. Thethen chief minister NChandrababu Naidu acceptedthe appointment of BhanuPrakash, a BJP leader ofTirupati who was recom-mended by Amit Shah and MVenkaiah Naidu.

The BJP national leadershiprecommending some names isquite natural, but some Union

Ministers bypassing their partyleadership to send their rec-ommendations has left theparty aghast.

The BJP national presidentsoon got the gist of the matterand when he questioned aUnion Minister about it, thelatter denied having issued aletter to anyone.

Sources said that Naddathen asked a top BJP leader togo deep into the whole affairand unearth the facts.

Till the matter is resolved, itis unlikely the AP governmentwould make public the finallist of the TTD Board mem-

bers.9 Union ministers recom-

mend same name VijayawadaThe BJP national leadership isbelieved to set in motion cor-rective measures after itemerged that as many as 20Union Ministers have senttheir recommendations forappointment to the TTDBoard.

According to reliablesources, the BJP national lead-ership has asked the AP gov-ernment not to take the rec-ommendation letters sent byUnion Ministers into consid-eration for appointment as

TTD Board members.Radhakrishnan, a BJP leader

from Guntur who has shiftedto Chennai, is said to be closeto those in power at the Centreand also those who are close tothe centres of power.

During the tenure ofBhumana Karunakar Reddy asthe TTD Chairman, he was theTTD Local AdvisoryCommittee (LAC) Chairmanin Chennai.

Now, it has emerged that atleast nine Union Ministershave recommendedRadhakrishnan’s name for theTTD member’s post.


The state government hasdecided to implement DalitBandhu additionally in fourmore mandals drawn from asmany districts situated infour directions, along withHuzurabad and Vasalamarri.The Cabinet will have to for-mally approve it.

The Cabinet will haveother important items agen-da, particularly in view of therecent decision of the FoodCorporation of India that itwould be able to procureonly 60 lakh tonnes of paddy.The decision of FCI wouldhave an impact on paddyprocurement in the State,where the output is going tobe over one crore tonnes.

The State government hadurged farmers to switch toother crops, saying it wouldbe difficult to procure theentire quantity of paddybeing presently cultivated;yet, most farmers are reluc-tant to bring down theirpaddy cultivation. TheCabinet is also expected totake a decision on issuingnotification for recruitmentto fill over 60,000 posts, con-sidering the mounting pres-sure on the government toissue the notification withoutfurther delay.


"The high rate of inflation inAugust 2021 is primarilydue to rise in prices of non-food articles, mineral oils;crude petroleum and natur-al gas; manufactured prod-ucts like basic metals; foodproducts; textiles; chemi-cals and chemical productsetc as compared the corre-sponding month of the pre-vious year," the Commerceand Industry Ministry saidin a statement.

Inflation in food articleseased for the fourth straightmonth, recording (-) 1.29per cent in August, againstzero per cent in July, even asonion and pulses pricesspiked.

Inflation in onions washigh at 62.78 per cent, whilethat in pulses was 9.41 percent. In vegetables it was (-) 13.30 per cent in August.

Inflation in crude petro-leum and natural gas was40.03 per cent in August.

In manufactured prod-ucts, inflation stood at 11.39per cent in August, against11.20 per cent in July.

Ganesh...Council may look at bringing fuel in GST

State Cabinetto meet on...

TTD ‘letters’ create ripples in Union...

WPI inflation risesto 11.39 pc in...


The top court also made aninterim direction passed onJuly 28 granting anticipatorybail as absolute after CBI coun-sel did not oppose it.

It listed the matter for fur-ther hearing on October 5and refused a third party inter-vention in the present proceed-ings saying that the court is set-ting some legal principles andit would be appreciated if theintervenors give suggestions tothe Additional SolicitorGeneral on the issue.

On July 28, while grantinginterim protection from arrestto Antil, the top court had said,“Prima facie, we cannot appre-ciate why in such a scenario isthere a requirement for thepetitioner being sent to cus-tody. Be that as it may, it willbe appropriate to lay downsome principles in this behalf ”.

It had said that a person'scustody may not be necessaryafter filing of charge sheet if hehas remained out on bail dur-ing the investigation.

Antil's counsel had earliercontended that his client wasnot in office when the incident

took place but he had joinedthe investigation and a chargesheet has been.

He had said that Antil wasnot arrested and then there wasno need to arrest him now.

The counsel had said thatafter the Court took cog-nizance of the charge sheet onJanuary 20, 2021, he did notappear before the court andsought anticipatory bail.

“On his non-appearance,non-bailable warrants wereissued on February 17, and the

anticipatory bail applicationwas dismissed,” he said.

The top court had asked thecounsel as to why the peti-tioner did not appear aftersummons were sent in pur-suance to cognizance beingtaken as logically, Antil oughtto have appeared and appliedfor regular bail and thereshould have been no case foranticipatory bail at that stage.

The counsel repliedthat the system which issought to be followed espe-

cially in the Uttar Pradesh isthat even if a person is notarrested during investigation,on charge sheet being filed,more so, in such cases of CBIa person is sent to custodyand thus, his appearance andapplying for bail would haveresulted in his being sent tocustody.

The top court had thendirected that the accused benot arrested and stayed execu-tion of non-bailable warrantsbut had directed him toappear before the Court onthe next date.

Antil was working as anassistant provident fund com-missioner when he wasaccused last year of being abeneficiary of Rs 9 lakh bribepaid to an officer workingunder him.

The CBI filed the chargesheet in the case in Octoberlast year, which was takencognizance this year inJanuary.

Antil did not appear beforethe court and instead filed ananticipatory bail plea, whichwas rejected by the trial court.A non-bailable arrest warrantwas issued against him.

KCR relief for MetroContinued from page 1

He wanted the committee toexamine all aspects and submita report at the earliest to pullHyderabad Metro Rail from itscurrent financial crisis.

Earlier, L&T officials - CEOand MD Subramanyam,Director D K Sen, ProjectsCEO Ajit, N V S Reddy,Hyderabad Metro CEO K V BReddy met KCR at PragathiBhavan on Tuesday. Theyexplained in detail the lossesincurred by the Metro during

the pandemic, bank loans,increasing interest burden, andsought immediate help.

KCR said that HyderabadMetro had earned a goodname for itself as a safe publictransport system in a shortspan of time, but it was alsoimpacted by the Covid-19pandemic like other sectors.

Hyderabad, which wasdeveloping at a fast pace,would require Metro servicesand it would have to beexpanded further in future. Itwas unfortunate that the pan-

demic had pushed theHyderabad Metro Rail intodebts. The State government,which had helped other sec-tors, would also do its best tobring the prestigious Metro outits financial crisis.

KCR said they wouldanalyse what kind of policieswould help the Metro andarrive at some possibilities.One should think innovative-ly and take decisions and thegovernment would seriouslyalso think about extendingthe Metro services, he said.

SC favours framing of guidelines


"I find that the contents of thevideo which has beenwatched by about 1.7 lakhviewers are vituperative, grossand highly derogatory to theSupreme Court of India andthe judiciary as a whole beingclearly intended to denigratethe courts.

“The allegations made byMr Ajeet Bharti against theSupreme Court are, amongother things, of bribery,favouritism and abuse of

power," the top law officersaid in his letter of consent.Kritika Singh, a lawyer, hadwritten to Venugopal seek-ing grant of consent underSection 15 of the Contemptof Courts Act, a conditionprecedent for initiating thecriminal contempt by a per-son, other than the court.

She had referred to somealleged objectionable com-ments of Bharti against thetop court and its judges inhis video of June 24 thisyear.

AG consents to contempt case on YouTuber


She had also said the gov-ernment would stand bythe deceased girl's family.

State Congress presidentand MP A Revanth Reddy,BJP ' s Nat iona l VicePresident D K Aruna andothers, who visited the girl'sfami ly memb ers onMonday, s l amme d t heTelangana Rashtra Samithigovernment over the inci-dent.

Meanwhile, HyderabadPol ice C ommiss ionerAnjani Kumar on Tuesdaydeclared a reward of Rs 10lakh to any person givinginformation or clue leadingto the arrest of the abscond-ing accused.

Police in a release saidthat despite serious efforts,the accused was still atl arge . The y s a id t heaccused, aged about 30years, was a drunkard. Heoften slept on pavementsand at bus stands.

Minister says ‘noquestion’ of...

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Munic ipa lAdminis t rat ion andUrb an D e ve lopmentMinister KT Rama Raolike many others was mis-informed that the accusedin rape-murder of the 6-year-old girl was arrested.

Whi le the Minis terregretted the erroneousstatement, he noted thatthe perpetrator is absco-nding and HyderabadPolice have launched amassive manhunt to nabthe accused. TheMunicipal AdministrationMinister urged the policeofficials to put best effortsto ensure that the accusedwas nabbed and broughtto justice quickly.

Minister misled by cops about culprit?

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 hyderabad 03

PNS n HYDERABAD

The government colleges aregoing to collect tuition fees for1,160 seats in self-financingcourses on a par with thetuition fee in private engineer-ing colleges. Hereafter, theannual fees for BE courseswould be doubled to Rs 70,000from this academic yearonwards. The students admit-ted to self-financing courses arenot eligible to derive benefitunder tuition fees reimburse-ment.

However, the self-financingseats would be filled underEngineering Agricultural andMedical Common EntranceTest (EAMCET) convenerquota. Those who secured arank below 1000 are eligible toget admission in these seats.

The universities offeringself-financing courses haveannounced that they will col-lect tuition fees on a par withprivate engineering colleges.

In fact, the self-financingseats were not a new develop-

ment. In fact, the practice isprevalent for the past 10 years.However, the government col-leges charging tuition fees ona par with private colleges issomewhat new.

The tuition fees is almostequal to the tuition fees beingcharged in top ten privateengineering colleges. Thesecolleges increase fees once inevery three years. This year, thetuition fee is hiked rather clan-

destinely. Under the jurisdiction of the

Jawaharlal NehruTechnological UniversityHyderabad, Hyderabad(JNTU-H), OsmaniaUniversity (OU), KakatiyaUniversity (KU), MahatmaGandhi University (MGU),Professor JayashankarTelangana State AgriculturalUniversity (PJTSAU), PVNarasimha Rao Telangana

State Veterinary University(PVNR TSVU) and JawaharlalNehru Architecture and FineArts University (JNAFAU),there are 15 colleges with totalintake of 3645 seats. Of them,1,160 are treated as self-financ-ing seats. Those who get a rankbelow 1000 in EAMCET areeligible to apply for the seats.However, the students wouldhave to pay the same fees thatis applicable to the private col-leges.

Candidates who got a rankbelow 10,000 are gettingadmission in private collegesunder the EAMCET convenerquota. But some of the studentswould have to pay an annualfee of Rs 1.2 lakh. In govern-ment engineering colleges, theannual fees prescribed for BEartificial intelligence is Rs 1.3lakh. Private colleges whoadmit students under conven-er quota are charging the sameamount from students. Thevarsities say that the higher feeswould mean improving thefinances of government col-

leges. But the academicians cryfowl as it would render injus-tice to the poor students.

Availability of self-financingseats have been announcedofficially in chemical, civil,computer science, electrical,mechanical, metallurgical sci-ences this year.

There are six self-financecourses in the college campusstarted this year in Siricilla butaffiliated to the JNTU-H. Thecampus at Jagityal offers fivesuch courses, while the Schoolof Planning and Architecture inMasab Tank offers three cours-es, the JNTU-H at Kukatpallyoffers seven courses, six cours-es are there in five-year inte-grated colleges and four inJNTU-affiliated college startedin Sultanpur in 2012.

The BE college under KU inKothagudem offers threecourses, while the universitycampus colleges offer fourcourses. There are three cours-es in Mahatma GandhiUniversity, while there are sixsuch courses in OU colleges.

Fees for self-financing coursesin engineering doubles in state

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana is on the develop-ment track under the visionaryleadership of Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao. The cap-ital city of Telangana -Hyderabad has been a firstpreference for IT companiesand developed far better thanany other cosmopolitan citiesin the country, said Ministerfor Labour and EmploymentCh Malla Reddy.

Hyderabad is the first choicefor all the sections of societyand people from different stateflock here to thrive, theMinister said adding that thepeople of the other state desireto be in Telangana, under therule of KCR.

Malla Reddy was speakingto media after finalising the vil-lage committees of Shamirpet,MC Pally and Medchal here onTuesday. The selected mem-bers of the committee werehanded over the membershipcards on this occasion. Theevent was held at TRS Partyoffice in Medchal.

Earlier in the day, theMinister inaugurated severaldevelopmental works in theJawaharnagar area of Medchal-

Malkajigiri district. Speakingon the occasion, Malla Reddysaid that the Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao was com-mitted for the development ofthe Jawaharnagar area andsanctioned sufficient funds forthe development works here.

The Minister performedBhumi Puja for the CC Roadworks of worth Rs 4 crore inthe Jawaharnagar on the occa-sion.

He said that Rs 53 croreswere sanctioned for differentworks in the region includingCC Roads, Nala Development,Electricity and others. He said

that tenders will be ready forother pending works very soonand this area would be devel-oped on par with other cos-mopolitan regions of twincities.

Several developmentalworks were delayed orremained stagnated for pasttwo years owing to the coron-avirus crisis and these will besoon completed now on warfooting, said the Minister.Jawaharmagar MunicipalCorporation Mayor MekalaKavya, municipal officials,local TRS leaders and othersparticipated in the programme.

‘Hyderabad is far better than othercosmopolitan cities in the country’

THRILLS AMIDST BEASTSKawal Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the important wildlife sanctuaries inTelangana. The Kawal sanctuary houses various animals and several varieties offlora and fauna are seen here. If you want to get a glimpse of wild animals in theirnatural habitat, then, the Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary is a must see place. ThisWildlife Sanctuary gives you a picturesque view of retreat. Every corner of thissanctuary is filled with adventure and thrill. Thousands of tourists visit thissecluded animal kingdom to experience the thrills amidst wild beasts of theregion. This sanctuary is located in the Adilabad district which is 50 kilometersfrom Mancherial and 250 kilometers from Hyderabad.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Kanchanbagh Police onTuesday arrested a 26-year-oldwoman for kidnapping a six-year-old girl on Monday.

The arrested person wasidentified as Asia Bee, 26, aresident of Shadnagar, said thepolice who rescued the kid-napped girl safely.

The police officials said thatthey received a complaintfrom the Muskan Ali Mirza,41, a footpath dweller, onMonday afternoon at 1 pmthat a 6-year-old girl was kid-napped from Kanchanbagh.

Mirza, the mother of thekidnapped girl, said that whileshe was asking for alms nearChanchalguda Central Prison

along with her daughterAlfiya, 6, an unknown ladyclaiming to be one Fatimaapproached her and informedthat she can donate money(Zakat) through a known per-son at Hafeez Baba Nagar.

"She then took Muskan andher daughter in an auto follow-ing which the lady showed ahouse with black gate to themother and told her to go andmeet the house owner.Meanwhile, she left along withthe girl in an auto," said thepolice, adding that the moth-er tried to stop the auto but invain.

The cops then formed 6teams and checked the CCcameras to track her move-ments. "During the probe, it

was noticed that the ladychanged two autos to reachShamshabad from HafeezBaba Nagar and fromShamshabad, she went toShadnagar by-pass road in anRTC bus. From there, shewent to Farooq Nagar inanother auto. She was nabbedfrom there and officials res-cued the girl from her clutch-es," added the police.

It was revealed during theinvestigation that Asia Beewas previously involved in aPDS rice transportation case ofKothur Police. The complici-ty of the accused in the otherkidnapping cases will be ver-ified. She was then booked andplaced under arrest beforebeing sent for judicial remand.

Woman arrested for kidnap of6-year-old girl at Kanchanbagh

PNS n HYDERABAD

To equip government school-children with the latest learn-ing tools, Telangana Inform-ation Technology Associationhas launched coding pro-gramme - Telangana Early Co-ders - to impart coding skillsfor students of state schools.

Narayanpet Collector DasariHari Chandana and TITAGlobal President SundeepKumar Makthala launched thecoding program in Narayanpeton Tuesday.

As part of the programme,2013 students and teacherswill be trained in coding skillswhich will be imparted byTITA in association withTelangana State TechnologyServices and the University ofTexas at Dallas (UTD).

Speaking on the occasionCollector Hari Chandanapraised TITA chief SundeepMakthala saying that the cod-ing programme will help chil-

dren in government schoolslearn new-age skills. She urgedschools to make the best use ofthe programme.

Hailing Sundeep for his var-ious initiatives in the field ofeducation and health, the dis-trict Collector said that codingprogramme that is taught atprivate institutes for a fee rang-ing Rs 25,000 to 30,000 will betaught for free. She said thattechies have made it possible to

impart such training to school-children despite there was nosuch facility in rural areas.

Speaking on the occasion,TITA chief Sundeep Makthalaexpressed happiness sayingthat US variety Univerity ofTexas at Dallas and TSTS hascome forward for such a novelinitiative. Sundeep said that thecoding programme will helprural students hone their tech-nical skills.

TITA to equip government schoolkids with the latest learning tools

PNS n HYDERABAD

Unknown fraudsters cheateda bank employee to the tuneof Rs 1.5 lakh in the guise ofoffering loans on Tuesday.

According to police offi-cials, the victim, a resident ofSaidabad working in the mar-keting wing of a private bank,had applied for a loan of Rs 3lakh on an online loan app.Next day, he received a callfrom an unidentified personclaiming to be an executive ofa finance firm, assuring therequired loan. Police said,after convincing the victim,the person collected Rs 1.5lakh on the pretext of fees andswitched off his phone.

Realising that he wascheated, the victim approa-ched the police.

PNS n HYDERABAD

An unidentified woman kid-napped a 5-day-old boy afterluring his mother atChandanagar on Tuesday.

According to the Police,Vadde Jyothi, a native ofDomalguda in Hyderabad,went to a tiffin centre to havebreakfast near the railway sta-tion road in Gangaram, along

with her 5 day old child. Anunidentified woman came toher and gave her idli to eat andthen took her baby by claim-ing that she would buy clothesand chappal for the kid.

Believing her, Jyothi handedover her baby to the lady.However, after eating, shenoticed that the lady disap-peared along with her kid.Based on her complaint, the

Chandanagar Police registereda kidnapping case and areinvestigating. Officials said thesearch parties have beendeployed to trace out the kid-napper and kid.

In another incident, an 11-year-old boy was reportedmissing from Chandrayanguttaon Tuesday. The boy, ShaikHidayat, stayed with his par-ents at Ghousenagar in the

Chandrayangutta police stationlimits. According to the police,he had gone out of the houseon Sunday evening saying hewas going to a nearby shop butdid not return.

After searching everywhereincluding neighbours and rel-ative's houses, the familyapproached the police whobooked a case and formedteams to trace the boy.

Five-day-old boy, minor abducted

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Cyber Crime Station Policeof Hyderabad on Tuesdayarrested one person on chargesof cheating the AmericanExpress Banking Corporationof nearly Rs 7 crore.

The accused, MohanKottilingam Uddanda, 39, aresident of Chandanagar, anda native of Guntur district inAndhra Pradesh, earlierworked as assistant manager ofInvesco (India) Pvt. Ltd.

As per the agreement

between the Invesco Pvt. Ltdcompany and AmericanExpress Banking Corporation,the latter had provided corpo-rate cards to Mohan for per-sonnel and official use with Rs5 lakh limit, along with otherdocuments when he joined inthe office in 2011.

In January 2021, Mohanresigned but did not return thecard. With an intention to dofraud he changed the mobilenumber linked with the card toanother number.

Later, the accused along

with his friends used the cardwhile on a trip to Goa and latermisappropriated an amount ofRs 7 crore withdrawn by pre-senting 14 cheques of differentbanks at Kolkata towards with-drawals for using the card, saidAssistant Commissioner ofPolice, CCS, B Srinivasa Rao.

The American ExpressBanking Corporation has filedthe complaint with the police,who registered an FIR againstMohan and arrested him.

Mohan was produced beforea court and remanded.

Man from Odisha gets life term for killing coworker PNS n HYDERABAD

A man from Odisha wasawarded life term imprison-ment sentence on Tuesday,after he was found guilty ofkilling his coworker.

The arrested person,Mukunda Randhari, 33, is acentring worker from Binjilliin Nabarangpur of Odishastate.

On 8 May, 2020, Mukundabeat up his coworker,Jayaram, after a quarrelbetween the two turnedaggressive. The centering con-tractor of the constructionsite, P Sudhakar employedJayaram and Mukund and theduo were staying in the sameunder construction house.After work had stopped,Sudhakar gave Rs 14,000 toJayaram and asked him togive half of it to Mukunda.However, Jayaram did notdo so and an argument brokeout between the two, duringwhich, Jayaram used deroga-tory words and abusedMukunda.

Mukunda then bore agrudge against him and in themidnight, began attackinghim with an iron rod. Otherworkers intervened and sentJayaram to the hospital whodied while undergoing treat-ment. Based on a complaint,a case was registered atMedipally police station.During the course of investi-gation, the accused was arrest-ed and remanded to judicialcustody. During the trail onTuesday, the Judge awardedhim a lifetime sentence and afine of Rs 1,000.

CCS police arrest man for cheating Amex of Rs 7 cr

3 held for burglary in separate casesPNS n HYDERABAD

The Mailardevpally Policeon Tuesday, arrested threepersons involved in differentburglary cases.

In the f irst case, theaccused, Gudeti Shiva RamaKrishna, 23, stole mobilephone and Rs 10,000 cashfrom the complainant 'shouse. He then returned andtried to threaten and take thebike keys of the complainantbefore fleeing the scene.

Based on the houseowner's complaint, theMailardevpally police regis-tered a case and apprehend-ed him.

In another case, a man'shouse at King's colony in

Mailardevpally, was burgledwhen he was away at his shopon 10th September. The bur-glars broke open the lock andstole six wrist watches worthRs 30,000 from his almirah.

Based on his complaint,the Police apprehended twopersons, Shaik Abbu Taleeband Mohammed Sameer,both 20-year-olds. WhileTaleeb is an electrician byprofession, Sameer is intothe real estate business.

Police apprehended theaccused persons with thehelp of technical evidenceand produced them before acourt for judicial remandand the stolen property wasrecovered from their posses-sion.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad Police on Tuesdayannounced a Rs 10 lakhreward for any informationleading to arrest of the accusedin rape and murder of a six-year-old girl.

Hyderabad City PoliceCommissioner Anjani Kumarannounced the reward asPallakonda Raju remainedabsconding.

He declared a reward to anyperson who gives informa-tion/clue leading to arrest ofthe absconding accused. Theinformation can be passed toDeputy Commissioner ofPolice, East Zone on number9490616366 or DeputyCommissioner of Police, TaskForce on 9490616627.

The police also released aphotograph of the accused,aged about 30 years.

According to a statementreleased by the police, Raju isapproximately 5.9 feet tall andhas long hair, tied with a rub-ber band. He is wearing a capand red scarf around his neck.

The accused has tattoos onhis both hands reading'Mounika'. According to police,he has a beard on his chin and

is in formal trousers and ashirt. He is used to taking alco-hol and sleeping at pavementsand bus stands.

The child was sexuallyassaulted and murdered onSeptember 9 by Raju who hap-pens to be her neighbour inSaidabad. The body of thegirl, who was missing since 5p.m. Thursday, was found inthe house of her neighborafter midnight.

The horrific incident hadtriggered angry protest fromresidents on Friday. Theystaged sit-in for seven hours onChampapet-Sagar Road,demanding immediate andharshest punishment to theguilty. Some of the protestorsalso demanded that the guiltybe killed in an ‘encounter’.

Bank employee cheated of Rs 2L

PNS n HYDERABAD

A newly-wed woman com-mitted suicide by hangingherself at her residence inNarsingi late on Mondaynight.

The deceased woman wasidentified as Revathi, 23.Revathi married a mannamed Rahul seven monthsago and the two had movedto Mirchiguda in Narsingifrom their native place ofParigi in Vikarabad district,one month ago. Police saidthat Revathi married Rahulagainst the wishes of her par-ents. Based on his complaint,the Narsingi Police registereda case and shifted the body tothe hospital for an autopsy.However, according tosources, Revathi was upset asRahul did not allow her tovisit her parent's house andtook the extreme step, upsetover this. The police are inves-tigating the incident.

Newly marriedwoman hangs self at house

Rs 10L reward for info on accused in six-year-old’s rape, murder case

PNS n HYDERABAD

A construction worker work-ing on a construction siteaccidentally fell to his deathon Tuesday.

The deceased person wasidentified as Husenappa, 28,a native of Gulbarga inKarnataka residing at BabaNagar in Nacharam.

According to the policeofficials, Husenappa wasworking on the PrasadHospital building extensionworks with other workerswhen he accidentally felldown from the 4th floor. Hesustained severe bleedinginjuries in the mishap andwas shifted to a hospital.However, he succumbed tohis injuries, said the police.

Construction worker falls todeath at site

Man killed as bike hits truck PNS n HYDERABAD

A motorist died on the spotafter the bike he was ridingwas hit by a concrete mixertruck at Gachibowli, late onMonday night.

The victim was identifiedas M Krishna, 55, a centeringworker from Gulmohar Parkin Netaji Nagar Colony.According to the Police,Krishna was proceeding fromNetaji Nagar Colony towardsKondapur when the mishaptook place.

"When he reached theMasjid banda junction, thetruck which was allegedlybeing driven rashly, hit hisbike from behind. Krishnafell on the road and cameunder the rear left tyre of thetruck and died on the spot"said a police official.

hyderabad 04HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

K VENKATESHWARLU

n HYDERABAD

After achieving a record pro-duction of paddy over the lastfew seasons, lakhs of farmers inTelangana are now set to facea challenge in the upcomingrabi season, with the FoodCorporation of India's (FCI)making it clear that it's notgoing buy parboiled rice grownin rabi season.

This situation has given achance for the political partiesincluding TRS, BJP, Congressand Left parties to begin theirblame game criticising otherparties and yield political gains.

The Telangana Civil SuppliesMinister Gangula Kamalakaron Tuesday alleged that theBJP-led Central Government isshowing step-motherly atti-tude towards Telangana.Pointing out at the Centre

willing to purchase only 60lakh metric tonnes of paddyagainst the total production of1.45 crore metric tonnes ofpaddy in Telangana, he saidthat there would be no place tostore paddy in the next Rabi

season, if the Centre does notto procure the rice stored in thegodowns now.

Stating that there are sever-al BJP activists in Telangana,who produce paddy, Gangulaasked the BJP state president

Bandi Sanjay Kumar andUnion Minister G KishanReddy to mount pressure onthe Centre to procure paddy ofTelangana farmers in Rabi sea-son too.

While on the other hand, theBJP state president BandiSanjay Kumar alleged that fivefarmers had committed sui-cides after Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao's state-ments that "cultivation ofpaddy is similar to hangingself ". He demanded KCR toapologise to farmers ofTelangana, who are commit-ting suicides after KCR's state-ments. He alleged that thecrop yield increased with goodrains in Telangana. However,KCR, who is not able to pur-chase the crop, is trying tothrow the blame on the Centre.

Meanwhile, the Congressleaders have started blaming

both the TRS-led State govern-ment and BJP-led Central gov-ernment over procurement ofpaddy. CLP leader Mallu BhattiVikramarka criticised the ChiefMinister for stating that theState government will not pur-chase paddy as the Centre isnot willing to purchase thepaddy. KCR has to procure thepaddy similar to the Congress,which has purchased paddybefore the bifurcation of statethen during the Congressregime.

CPM state committee mem-ber Sarampally Malla Reddystated that providing waterand free power to the farmersin the state would be of no useif the State government has notpurchased paddy.However,political analysts opine that theissue of paddy procurementmay show impact on theHuzurabad by-poll too.

PNS n JAYASHANKERBHULAPALAPALLY

Telangana State PowerGeneration CorporationLimited (TSGenco) andTransmission Corporation ofTelangana Limited (TSTransco)chairman and managing direc-tor D Prabhakar Rao hasadvised the officials of KakatiyaThermal Power Project (KTPP)to produce power in tune withthe demand in the state andtake all steps to avoid powershortage.

Prabhakar Rao was declar-ing open 382 residential quar-ters for the 1100-MW KTPPemployees at a cost of Rs 125crore, ACHP and ChemicalLab Buildings at Bhupalapallyhere on Tuesday. He alsoswitched on the second con-veyor belt in the 600-MWplant of the KTPP. Local MLAGandra Venkata RamanaReddy also took part in theinauguration ceremony.

Later, the CMD went roundthe power plant and inquiredabout the progress of variousworks going on in the plant.Later, he reviewed the progressof the KTPP works with powerplant authorities. He inquired

them about the coal stocksavailable with the power pplant.

Addressing gathering in thisconnection, the CMD askedthe authorities to prepareaction plans to produce powercontinuously keeping in mindthe demand for the power inthe state. First and foremost,he asked the authorities tofocus on maintaining enoughcoal stocks.

He assured the employeesthat the TS Genco is commit-ted to the welfare of theemployees and assured to pro-vide all amenities to them.

Addressing the gathering,Gandra Venkata Ramana saidthat he was thrilled as the

CMD inspected the KTPPafter a long time. The state gov-ernment of Telangana has setan example in the country byproviding round the clockpower supply to the people.The Genco employees work intune with the demand forpower and should strive toreduce the cost of productionof power and achieve higherpower generation.

The media was kept darkabout the CMD's visit to theKTPP. The secrecy attractedcriticism from the media estab-lishments. The media was notallowed even to cover the tourof the CMD casting shadowson the transparency of bureau-cracy.

Parties in Telangana begin blame game over procurement of paddy

PNS n SANGAREDDY

Launching a scathing attackagainst the Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao, Telanganastate BJP president and MPBandi Sanjay Kumar onTuesday said KCR is responsi-ble for the suicide of five farm-ers, who took extreme step infear when they were asked togo for an alternative cropinstead of paddy.

Addressing a public meetingat Ramdas chowrasta in Medaktown on his 18th day of PrajaSangram Yatra, Sanjaydemanded KCR to apologise tofarmers and questioned theTRS government for the reasonfor delay in implementingPradhan Mantri Fasal Bima

Yojana, which was introducedSto help distressed farmers, inTelangana.

Expressing concern over theprevailing situation in Medak,Sanjay said that the aim of his

yatra is to know problems ofpeople and to question the TRSgovernment for failing toaddress the problems of thepeople. The success of hisyatra which is getting tremen-

dous support from peoplesending shivers down the spineto KCR, the BJP state presidentsaid adding that false informa-tion is being spread to confusepeople that BJP and TRS par-ties have alliance. Sanjay clar-ified that BJP never had anyalliance with TRS where asTRS had tie-up with TDP,Congress, MIM and Left par-ties.

Later, addressing a pressconference, Bandi SanjayKumar alleged that KCR hasforgotten the contribution ofSakala Janula Samme and henever dwell a single wordabout this mass strike. Whatyou have done to employeeswho have joined in this strike,he questioned.

Apologise to farmers: BJP to KCR

PNS n JAYASHANKERBHULAPALAPALLY

District Collector KrishnaAditya on Tuesday ordered theofficials of the NationalHighways Authority of India(NHAI), R&B and municipalauthorities to take immediatesteps to repair highways so asto prevent fatal road mishaps.

The Collector reprimandedthe officials for not carryingout the orders issued in thepast road safety committeefor repairing the potholes andfor setting up cautionary signposts at accident prone spots inthe district.

Krishna Aditya held a meet-ing of the District Road SafetyCommittee with the officials ofthe NHAI, R&B, PanchayatRaj, Transport, Police andMunicipal authorities. Hepulled up the officials for nottaking preventive measureseven though frequent mishapswere taking place due to badroads. Over 6,000 vehicleswere passing through the dis-trict everyday. There was agreater need for the officialsconcerned to remain on highalert and prevent mishaps dur-ing the rainy season, which was

reporting high incidence.The Collector said that there

were over 200 potholes on thenational highway betweenParakala and Kaleswaram. Itwas unfortunate that no repairworks were taken up. Manysustained injuries and 20 per-sons died in road mishaps inthe past 2 months in thisstretch. He ordered the NHAIexecutive engineer Vidya Sagarto take up repair works imme-diately and fill the potholes inone day. The signboardsshould be set up immediately.All steps should be taken toensure that no fatal mishapswould take place any longer.

Krishna Aditya further said

that the highways betweenBhupalapally and Chelpur andbetween Kaleswaram andChelpur were very bad. Heordered the municipal com-missioner Srinivas to arrangefor signposts as early as possi-ble.

R&B and PR officials wereordered to take up repairworks on highways and bridgesin Palimela, Mahamuttaram,Tekumatla, Mogullapalli andother mandals where rainscaused heavy damage. Allroads leading to Medaramshould be kept in good condi-tion ahead of the 'jatara'.

The Collector ordered theNHAI officials to arrange forparking of vehicles at Mylaramand Kataram so that the vehi-cles could be prevented fromparking wherever they wouldlike in Bhupalapally town.District Transport OfficerVenu was instructed to checkthe irregular parking of vehi-cles.

The road laying worksbetween Kataram andManthani should be complet-ed swiftly. RTC DM DharamSingh was ordered to run busservices to the nook and cor-ner of the district.

Collector raps NHAI, R&B officials over fatal accidents

PNS n WARANGAL

The Kakatiya Institute ofTechnology and Science(KITS) has conducted a one-day workshop on machinelearning to groom its studentsindustry ready, according toKITS principal Prof KAshoka Reddy.

Vijayawada-based firmCodegnan IT SolutionsPrivate Limited's ChiefOperating Officer KallepuSaketh Reddy graced theoccasion as the chief guest.

The chief guest dwelt atlength on the creative aspectsof machine learning. Hehighlighted various jobopportunities in the sphere ofmachine learning.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Bharatiya Janata Party statevice president and formerMLA NVSS Prabhakar andparty's senior leader GudurNarayana Reddy on Tuesdayhave visited the site whereUnion Home Minister AmitShah would address a hugepublic meeting on September17, on the occasion ofTelangana Liberation Day.

Prabhakar and NarayanaReddy have been appointed asin-charges of the public meet-ing of Amit Shah. They havebeen entrusted the responsibil-ity of overseeing the arrange-ments for the public meeting.

The state BJP senior lead-ers visited the ground wherethe public meeting would beheld along with Revenue, Rand B, Panchayat Raj andpolice officials and inspectedthe arrangements. Nirmal dis-trict BJP president Rama Devi

and leaders of Nirmal districtBJP have accompanied them.

The Union Home Ministerwould address the publicmeeting at Veyyi UudalaMarri near Nirmal. VeyyiUudala Marri is a place whereabout 1000 TelanganaLiberation fighters have beenexecuted by the Razakars oferstwhile Nizam Government

of Hyderabad State beforethe liberation of Telangana onSeptember 17, 1948.

The state BJP has taken thepublic meeting as a presti-gious one and making all outefforts to make it a grand suc-cess. It has been gatheringlakhs of people for the pub-lic meeting of the UnionHome Minister.

Improve sanitation in schools, PHCs,DC directs officials PNS n PEDDAPALLY

District Collector DrSangeeta has directed officialsconcerned to pay specialattention to sanitation inSultanpur village.

On Tuesday, the Collectorvisited Sultanpur village inYeligedu mandal of the dis-trict. She visited the govern-ment schools there, later shevisited the Primary HealthCentre in the village. She alsovisited the village panchayatoffice and inspected therecords.

She went round the gov-ernment schools inspectingthe classrooms, kitchen,drinking water storage tankand the school surroundings.She expressed satisfaction atthe cleanliness in and aroundthe school. The districtCollector asked the authori-ties to take steps to ensure thatthere would be no water stag-nation in the school.

PNS n PATANCHERU

Patancheru MLA GudemMahipal Reddy on Tuesdaysaid that all steps were beingtaken to release lakhs of fishseedlings in water bodies inthe Patancheru divisiontowards achieving the goals setby Chief Minister KChandrasekhara Rao for ush-ering in the blue revolution inthe State.

Mahipal Reddy said thatefforts were on to release over35 lakh fish seedlings worth Rs70 lakh in the water tanks inPatancheru assembly con-stituency limits. This wasbeing done by involving over42 fishermen societies. Thefishermen and their familiesshould avail themselves of

this opportunity to increasetheir incomes and enhancetheir living conditions.

The MLA took part as chiefguest at a programme held bythe fisheries department torelease 3.5 lakh fish seedlingsworth Rs. 7 lakh in the limitsof Patancheru town today.These seedlings were releasedinto Saki Cheruvu, TimmakkaCheruvu, Teegala NagaramCheruvu and DoshamCheruvu.

Speaking on the occasion,Mahipal Reddy said this wasall part of the State govern-ment's drive to contribute tothe flourishing of fisheries inthe State. All cooperationwould be extended for theoverall development of thefishermen.

PNS n MEDAK

MLA Madan Reddy has saidthat the Bruhat Palle PrakrutiVanam would be developedmagnificently in SakruThanda on the outskirts ofPeddachintakunta village.

Speaking after perform-ing the bhumi puja for theVanam in Sakru Thanda onTuesday, he said that thepark would come on a 10-acre site. He said that hewould bring special fund todevelop the Bruhat PallePrakruti Vanam and groom itas a model for other villagesto emulate.

All amenities would beprovided in the park for thetourists and for the amuse-ment of the children, he said.

Zilla Grandhalaya SamstaChairman Chandra Goud,MPP Jyoti Suresh Nayaka,Peddachintakunta sarpanchSiva Kumar, upa sarpanchNagaraju, leaders, villagersand others were present onthe occasion.

PNS n SIDDIPET

CPI state committee secretaryChada Venkat Reddy hasexpressed anger over the ruleby doras, erstwhileDeshmukhs or land lords inTelangana, replacing theNizam rule in the state.

Chada Venkat Reddy wasleading a bus yatra of the CPIto heroic village of Bairanpallyin Dhoolmitta mandal ofSiddipet district as part of theTelangana Armed StruggleWeek festivities on Tuesday.

Addressing the gathering atthe mud fort in the village,Chada Venkat Reddy said the

credit of sacrificing 4,500 livesof Communist party workersto liberate the poor from vettiof zamindars by planting redflags in the lands of the zamin-dars. After the bloodbath inthe village, the Razakarsparaded women naked andmade them play Bathukammain nude and tortured them, hesaid demanding the state gov-ernment to develop theBaironpally as a famous touristattraction going by its histor-ical antecedents.

The state and central gov-ernments have been ignoringthe Telangana ArmedStruggle, he said.

PNS n DUBBAK

Dubbaka constituencyCongress in-charge CherukuSrinivas Reddy on Tuesdaydemanded that the StateGovernment give the benefitsunder Dalit Bandhu to everyDalit family in the State with-out fail.

Srinivas Reddy submitted amemorandum to this effect tothe officials of the deputy tah-sildar office. Later, he made avisit to the Dalit colony inVenkatraopeta village inDubbaka mandal. He enquiredabout the problems of theDalit families there.

Speaking on the occasion,Srinivas Reddy slammed theKCR Government for betray-ing the people by announcingnew programmes and makingfalse promises wherever therewas a by-election in the State.In Huzurabad bypolls, theState government promised tocover all Dalit families underDalit Bandhu benefits. Buteventually, just 17 Dalits weregiven the benefits in the entireassembly constituency.

Srinivas Reddy asserted thathe would wage a relentlessstruggle for a better deal to theDalits under the leadership ofPCC President Revanth Reddy.

Every Congress activist shouldwork hard in order to bringIndiramma Rajyam inTelangana by throwing theTRS out of power. The partyleaders and cadre shouldactively take part and make thecoming Dalita Dandora inGazwel on September 17 agrand success.

The Congress leader saidthat he would make all effortsfor the strengthening of theparty in the constituency.Congress leaders GandhariNarender Reddy, RepakaTirupati, B. Anil, NiranjanReddy, Ch. Swamy and otherswere present.

Efforts on for blue revolution in state

MLA performs bhumi puja for Bruhat Vanam

Give Dalit Bandhu to every Dalit family, says Congress

CPI dares KCR toadopt Bairanpally

NVSS, Gudur Narayanavisit public meeting site

‘Only TS not able tocelebrate liberation’PNS n KARIMNAGAR

Former Minister and BJPleader Eatala Rajender assert-ed that the ruling TRS wouldpay a heavy price for contin-uing its autocratic rule with-out respecting the sentimentsand feelings of the Telanganapeople.

Rajender deplored that theTelangana people were theonly race who were not able tocelebrate the 'liberation day' inthe world. KCR should explainwhy he was afraid to officiallycelebrate September 17 as theliberation day. The people ofthe Huzurabad assembly seg-ments were unhappy with thepresent regime.

Addressing the meeting ofJammikunta mandal partymain activists, the formerMinister asserted that a fittinglesson would be taught to theTRS for trying to suppresseven the BJP which had got303 MPs and which was rul-

ing in 18 States in the country.CM KCR should explain whyhe fell silent now when he hadraised his voice in favour of theliberation day in the past.Maharashtra and Karnatakawere celebrating their libera-tion days after separating fromthe Hyderabad State that wasunder the Nizam rule. Whynot hold similar celebrationsin Telangana? Of whom KCRwas afraid of?

Etela Rajender said thatthough the Government didnot hold the official celebra-tions, Nayini NarasimhaReddy used to hoist the flag onthe Telangana Bhavan to markthe liberation day celebra-tions. As such, the BJP shouldorganise these celebrationseverywhere on September 17every year. The BJP culturewas not to betray the peoplewith lies and betrayals. Theparty would continue its strug-gles to give solutions to thepeople's problems.

Workshop held onmachine learning

Transco CMD asks KTPP officials to produce power in tune with demand

In a bid to hammer home the message that the pandemic is far fromover, the organisers of a Ganapati festival in Begum Bazaar havemodelled their pandal on the theme of Covid and tried to raise

awareness about the importance of vaccination.

nation 05HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

Goods train carrying wheat derails,falls into river in OdishaAt least nine wagons of a goods train running on the Angul-Talcher Road route of EastCoast Railways derailed in the early hours of Tuesday and fell into a river, officials said. Thewagons carrying wheat plunged into the river around 2.30 am, but the loco pilot and otherstaff were reported to be safe as the engine remained on the track, they said. Heavy rain inthe wake of a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal is likely to have caused the accident on abridge over river Nandira when the goods train was on its way from Firozpur to Khurda

Road, the officials said. Talcher recorded 394 mmof rainfall in the last two days. Following theincident, the ECoR has cancelled 12 trains, divertedroutes of eight others and short terminated another,they added. Accident relief trains from Sambalpurand Khurda Road have been rushed to the spot,where senior officials are reviewing the restorationwork. “Prima facie, the cause of the derailmentappears to be… flash flood. Retaining walls onboth sides have been damaged and washout oftracks on approach to the bridge from the Angulside is also noticed,” an ECoR official said.

Venkaiah Naidu expresses delight over Indiaadministering 75 crore Covid vaccine dosesVice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday expressed delight over India administering 75crore doses of coronavirus vaccine and urged people to shed hesitancy and get inoculated.The country crossed the landmark of administering 75 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses onMonday. More than 71 lakh doses were administered on Monday till 7 pm, according to the

provisional data available on Co-WIN portal."Delighted to know that we have crossed themilestone of administering 75 crore doses of theCOVID-19 vaccine as the nation celebrates the75th year of our Independence. My appreciationto the health workers, government officials andall others for their extraordinary efforts," the VicePresident Secretariat tweeted, quoting Naidu assaying. The vice president appealed to those"harbouring doubts" to shed vaccine hesitancyand get themselves vaccinated as the countrymoves ahead to achieve the goal of inoculating alleligible people.

4 drown, 7 missing after boatcapsizes in river in Amravati

Four people drowned and at least seven others were missing after their boat capsized inthe Wardha river in Maharashtra's Amravati district on Tuesday, police said. Two other

boat occupants swam to safety, they said. The incident took place around 10.30 am inWarud tehsil under the jurisdiction of Benoda police station, when 12 members of some

families from Gadegaon village along with the boatman were on way to a temple aftervisiting a waterfall nearby, a police official said. Prima facie, it appears that the boat was

unable to sustain the weight of its occupants, he said. The victims had come to Zunj inWarud tehsil for the post-death rituals of a relative on Monday. On Tuesday morning,

they all got on to the boat to visit a temple. However, thevessel capsized in the middle of the river, the official said. Two

of its male occupants, aged 27 and 35, swam to safety, hesaid. Teams of the police and district disaster management

authority have so far been fished out four bodies, and three ofthem were identified as boatman Narayan Matare (45),

Wanshika Shivankar (2) and Kiran Khandale (25), the policesaid. Efforts were on to trace the other seven missing people,

they said.

INDIA

CORNER

PM to attend Quad summitin Washington on Sept 24PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi will participate in thefirst in-person summit of theQuad leaders in Washingtonon September 24 that is expect-ed to broadly focus on contem-porary global challengesincluding ways to ensure a free,open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.

Announcing the prime min-ister's visit to the US, theMinistry of External Affairs(MEA) said he is also sched-uled to address the 'GeneralDebate' of the high-level seg-ment of the 76th session of theUnited Nations GeneralAssembly (UNGA) onSeptember 25 in New York.

In Washington, Modi isexpected to hold separate bilat-eral talks with US President JoeBiden and Australian PrimeMinister Scott Morrison andthe Afghan crisis is likely to fig-ure in the meetings.

The last time Modi visitedthe US was in September 2019when he and then US PresidentDonald Trump addressed theHowdy-Modi event in

Houston. "Prime Minister Narendra

Modi would be participating,along with Prime MinisterScott Morrison of Australia,Prime Minister Yoshihide Sugaof Japan and President JosephR Biden of USA, in the Leaders'Summit of the QuadrilateralFramework in WashingtonDC, USA, on September 24,"the MEA said in a statement.

It said the leaders will reviewprogress made since their firstvirtual summit on March 12and discuss regional issues ofshared interest.

"As part of their ongoingefforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, they will review

the Quad Vaccine initiativewhich was announced inMarch this year," the MEAsaid.

The Quad grouping com-prises the US, India, Australiaand Japan.

The US is hosting the in-person summit of the leadersof Quad to boost practicalcooperation in the Indo-Pacificregion as well as to send astrong signal aboutWashington's commitment tothe grouping.

In March, President Bidenhosted the first-ever summit ofthe Quad leaders in the virtu-al format that vowed to strivefor an Indo-Pacific region that

is free, open, inclusive,anchored by democratic values,and unconstrained by coer-cion, sending an apparent mes-sage to China.

The MEA said the leaderswill also exchange views oncontemporary global issuessuch as critical and emergingtechnologies, connectivity andinfrastructure, cyber security,maritime security, humanitar-ian assistance, disaster relief,climate change and education.

"The summit would providea valuable opportunity for dia-logue and interactions amongthe Leaders, anchored in theirshared vision of ensuring a free,open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region," the MEA said.

Modi will travel to NewYork to attend the UN GeneralAssembly after concluding hisengagements in Washington.

"The theme for this year'sGeneral Debate is 'BuildingResilience through hope torecover from COVID-19,rebuild sustainably, respondto the needs of the planet,respect the rights of people,and revitalise the UnitedNations'," the MEA said.

UP was run bygangsters before2017, Yogi jailedthem, says Modi PNS n ALIGARH

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday said UttarPradesh was run by gangstersand mafias before 2017, butnow things have changedunder Chief Minister YogiAdityanath and such ele-ments are behind the bars.

He also said that earlier ro-adblocks were created in theimplementation of welfareschemes meant for the poor,but now there are no such hu-rdles and benefits of these sc-hemes are reaching the needy.

Modi was addressing afunction after laying thefoundation stone of RajaMahendra Pratap Singh StateUniversity here.

The university is beingestablished by the UP govern-ment in the memory andhonour of Raja MahendraPratap Singh, the great free-dom fighter, educationist andsocial reformer. It is being setup in a total area of over 92acres at Lodha village andMusepur Kareem Jarouli vil-lage of Aligarh's Kol tehsil.

The university will provideaffiliation to 395 colleges ofthe Aligarh division.

SC not to reopen decision ongrant of quota in promotionsPNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court Tuesdaysaid it would not reopen itsdecision on granting reserva-tion in promotions toScheduled Castes (SCs) andScheduled Tribes (STs) as itwas for the states to decide howthey implement it.

Taking up various pleas per-taining to alleged hurdles ingranting reservation in promo-tions to SCs and STs in variousstates, a three-judge benchheaded by Justice NageswaraRao directed the Advocate onRecords of state governmentsto identify issues peculiar tothem and submit those with-in two weeks.

"We are making it very clearthat we are not going to reopenNagraj or Jarnail Singh (cases)because the idea was only todecide these cases in accor-dance with the law laid downby the court," said the bench,also comprising Justices SanjivKhannna and B R Gavai.

The top court noted that inits earlier order, the state gov-ernments were directed tofinalise the issues which arepeculiar to them so that courtcan proceed in the matter.

The issues framed by theAttorney General K KVenugopal and the ones circu-lated by others are enhancingthe scope of cases, it said.

"We are not willing to dothat. There are certain issueswhich are already decided inNagraj that also we are notgoing to take up. We are veryclear that we are not going topermit any arguments forreopening of cases or arguingthat law laid down from indi-ra sahney is wrong because thevery scope of these cases is toapply the law as laid down bythis court." the court said.

Venugopal submitted beforethe apex court that nearly allthese issues have been coveredby judgements of the top courtand he would give a back-ground of all the cases on issueof reservation since the IndiraSawhney case.

Senior advocate IndiraJaising contended that theissue which remains open isbenchmarks for adequacy on

how a state will decide onwhich groups are backwards.

"It is not a question of dis-puted facts any more. In somecases HCs have struck downon the ground that backward-ness has not been shown. Howany state will establish that rep-resentation is adequate and inthat sense there will have to bebenchmarks for adequacywhich will require detailedconsideration," she said.

Responding to the submis-sion, the bench said, "We arenot here to advise the govern-ment what they should do. It'snot for us to tell the governmenthow to implement policy. It hasbeen specifically held as tohow the states have to imple-ment it and consider backward-ness and representation. Stateshave to decide what to do sub-ject to judicial review."

Amit Shah for all regional languages PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Tuesday said Hindi isa friend of India's regionallanguages and all of themshould be promoted andencouraged.

Addressing a function on theoccasion of Hindi Diwas, Shahalso appealed to parents tocommunicate with their chil-dren at home in their mothertongue even if they study inEnglish medium schools.

Otherwise, the children willbe cut off from their roots, hesaid.

“Hindi has no differencewith any regional language.Hindi is the 'Sakhi' (friend) ofall Indian regional languages,”he said.

Shah said all Indian region-al languages complement and

complete Hindi and all region-al languages must be promot-ed and encouraged.

Since 2014, more MPs arespeaking in their own region-al language in Parliament andthey are being translated ver-batim to English and Hindi, hesaid and added that this hashelped people's representatives

to highlight the problems oftheir respective areas in thehighest forum.

The home minister said peo-ple should not only be 'AtmaNirbhar' (self-reliant) in produc-ing goods but also for languages.

He cited Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's example ofspeaking only in Hindi at all

international forums to conveyhis thoughts.

“Hesitation over Hindi is apasse,” he said.

Referring to the NewEducation Policy (NEP) envis-aged by Modi, Shah said it hasprovisions for promotion ofregional and Hindi languages.

On dealing with the pan-demic situation, he said Indiahas been successful in handlingCOVID-19 with minimumdamage due to joint efforts ofthe central and state govern-ments and with the activecooperation of 130 crore pop-ulation.

The prime minister, when-ever he addressed the nation,talked with all stakeholders —doctors, experts and others —in Hindi which resulted in themessage reaching the grass-roots level, he said.

Assam govt bypassing crucialclause of Accord for CAA: AJPPNS n GUWAHATI

The Assam Jatiya Parishad(AJP) on Tuesday accused theAssam government of side-lin-ing the "crucial" clause 5 of theAssam Accord, which dealswith cut-off date for identifica-tion of illegal foreigners bybriniging in the Citizenship(Amendment) Act (CAA).

AJP president LurinjyotiGogoi and general secre-tary Jagdish Bhuyan, in apress statement, allegedthat the BJP party-ledgovernment was workingto reduce the Assamesepeople to a minority status intheir own state in order toappease "foreigners" who willbe turned into voters throughprovisions of the Citizenship(Amendment) Act.

“Clause 5 of the Accordspecifies the cut-off date foridentifying foreigners. But itwill become irrelevant whenthe CAA is implemented. It willtantamount to killing theAssam Accord and its spirit,”they said.

This vital clause has beenignored by the governmentwhen it recently formed acommittee to implement theAccord, they added.

The state government had

on September 7 announced acommittee with its ministersand representatives of the AllAssam Students' Union(AASU), which was a signato-ry of the Accord as member toprepare a roadmap within threemonths to implement theAssam Accord.

The Chief Minister's Officein a statement the same

day had said that themeeting decided toprepare an“implementationframework toimplement the pro-

visions of AssamAccord with special re-

ference to Clause 6,7, 9 and 10”.Clause 5 of the Accord sets

March 25, 1971, as the cut-offdate for detecting and deport-ing illegal aliens from Assam.

The AJP alleges that thecontentious CAA violates theAssam Accord as it seeks toprovide Indian citizenship toHindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs,Buddhists and Parsis who cameto India on or before December31, 2014 from Bangladesh,Pakistan and Afghanistan afterfive years of residence here.

The AJP leaders also allegedthe percentage of Assamese-speaking population willdecreased by 10 per cent over

a 20 year period. “The percentage of Assam-

ese-speaking population inAssam was 47 per cent as per2011 Census. It is predicted tocome down to 37 per cent by2031. Once the Assamese-speaking population becomesa minority, it will be no goodtrying to protect their identity,”they said.

They demanded action fromthe government in the form ofproper implementation ofclause 6, which deals withConstitutional, legislative andadministrative safeguards toprotect, preserve and promotethe culture, social, linguisticidentity and heritage of theAssamese people, before it istoo late.

The AJP leaders also said therecommendations of the JusticeBiplab Kumar Sarma-ledCommittee on implementa-tion of clause 6 are beingignored by the government.

On February 25 last year, theJustice Sarma-led High-LevelCommittee of the Ministry ofHome Affairs had submitted itsreport to the then ChiefMinister Sarbananda Sonowalfor handing it over to theUnion Home Minister AmitShah, but no action has beentaken on it yet.

After blast,BJP MP saysTMC trying to kill him PNS n KOLKATA

Less than a week after miscre-ants hurled bombs at BJP MPArjun Singh's residence inWest Bengal's North 24Parganas, similar explosionswere reported outside hishome on Tuesday morning,with the saffron party leaderclaiming that members ofthe ruling TMC were tryingto take his life.

Around 9.10 am, bombsexploded on a vacant patch ofland, which is just about 200metres away from Singh'sBhatpara residence, a policeofficer said.

"We are investigating thematter. Our officers arethere," he added.

The NIA on Monday tookover the probe into the inci-dent on September 8, whichleft the gate at the BJP MP'sresidence partially damaged.

Singh alleged that it was anattack planned by theTrinamool Congress to killhim, his family members andpeople close to him.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The country belongs to every-body, be it Hindus, Muslims,Christians or any other commu-nity, and political parties shouldmaintain restraint in their com-ments, JD(U) president LalanSingh said on Tuesday as UttarPradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath's 'abba jaan' remark ina public speech stoked a row.

"Terms like 'unity in diversity'are used for our country. Thecountry belongs to all. Noremarks should be made thatharm the country," Singh, a co-nfidant of Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar, told reporterswhen asked for his reaction to theBJP leader's comments.

In this context, he also took aswipe at JMM leader and Jha-rkhand Chief Minister HemantSoren for his remarks allegedlyaimed at Bhojpuri and Magahi-speaking people of the state.Everybody has a right to settle inwhatever part of the country theylike, he said.

Addressing a programme inKushinagar on Sunday,Adityanath had alleged that peo-ple did not get rations before 2017like they do now.

"Because then, people who say

'abba jaan' used to digest therations. The rations of Kushinagarused to go to Nepal andBangladesh. Today, if anybodytries to swallow the rations meantfor poor people, he will land injail," the chief minister had said.

'Abba jaan' is the Urdu term forfather.

In his press conference, theJD(U) president, a Lok Sabha MPfrom Munger, also played downthe decision of his party, thebiggest BJP ally, to send its seniorleader K C Tyagi to a rally beingorganised in Jind on September25 by INLD chief Om PrakashChautala, seen as part of effortsfor forming a non-BJP, non-Congress front.

"We are strongly part of theNDA (BJP-led alliance)," he said,and dismissed talks about a thirdfront, saying his party will attendthe rally as it is being organisedto mark the birth anniversary ofDevi Lal.

India belongs toall: JD(U) to Yogi BJYM plans 20-day

campaign to markPM Modi's birthdayPNS n NEW DELHI

The youth wing of the BJP willundertake various welfare andawareness programmes andhost 'Nava Bharat Mela' acrossthe country to mark PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'sbirthday and his two decadesin public service.

The 20-day 'Seva aurSamarpan Abhiyaan' will starton Modi's birthday onSeptember 17 and conclude onOctober 7, according to aBharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha(BJYM) statement.

As part of the campaign,every district unit of the BJYMwill organize a unique 'NavaBharat Mela', publicising thework of the Narendra Modigovernment over the last sevenyears. It will also comprisecleanliness drives, organisingblood donation camps andquiz contests.

"The BJYM has been mark-ing the birthday of PM Modias Seva Diwas, hosting exten-

sive service programmesacross the country. It has alsobeen organizing manifold wel-fare activities across the coun-try for a week in the form ofSeva Saptah," said BJYM pres-ident Tejasvi Surya.

This time around, the cele-brations will be extended to 20days to mark Narendra Modicompleting two decades asthe head of public office -- 13years as chief minister ofGujarat and 7 years as theprime minister of India, hesaid.

"The PM's birthday, whichfalls on September 17, is a daywe spend in rendering service.October 7, the day he assumedoffice as chief minister,reminds us of his completededication to the service of ournation and its people, a qual-ity that has been a feature ofthese 20-years of NarendraModi's life," he said.

The 'Seva aur Samarpan Ab-hiyaan' will be carried out in alldistricts of the country.

Bench to hear Deshmukh’s pleaon ED summons in PMLA case PNS n MUMBAI

The Bombay High Court onTuesday said its division bench(comprising two judges),instead of a single-judge bench,would hear the petition filed byMaharashtra former home mi-nister Anil Deshmukh againstthe summons issued to him bythe Enforcement Directorate ina money laundering case.

A single bench of Justice SK Shinde said the objection ra-ised by the HC registry depart-ment that the issues raised inthe plea ought to be heard bya division bench is “correct”.

Justice Shinde directed theregistry department to placeDeshmukh's petition for hear-

ing before the appropriate divi-sion bench.

Deshmukh filed the petitionearlier this month, seeking toquash the five summons issuedto him by the ED.

Last week, when the pleacame up for hearing before Jus-tice Shinde, Solicitor Generalof India Tushar Mehta, appear-ing for the ED, brought to theHC's attention a note addre-ssed by the registry departmentsaying the plea has to be heardby a division bench.

Counsel appearing forDeshmukh said the singlebench had the jurisdiction tohear the plea. The court saidit would consider the issue andpass orders.

The ED had initiated a pro-be against Deshmukh and hisassociates after the CBI filed itsFIR against him on April 21 oncharges of corruption and mis-use of official position.

Deshmukh in his pleaclaimed the ED's action was aresult of political vendetta.

The petition also said theagency's whole case was basedon “malicious statements”made by dismissed police offi-cer Sachin Waze, who ispresently in jail in connectionthe case of an explosives-ladenvehicle found near the resi-dence of industrialist MukeshAmbani in February this yearand the subsequent killing ofbusinessman Mansukh Hiran.

Sansad TVlaunch todayby Venkaiah,PM, Speaker PNS n NEW DELHI

Rajya Sabha Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andLok Sabha Speaker Om Birlawill jointly launch SansadTV on Wednesday, the PrimeMinister's Office said.

The launch date coincideswith the International Day ofDemocracy, the PMO noted.

The decision to merge LokSabha TV and Rajya SabhaTV was taken in February,and the CEO of Sansad TVwas appointed in March.

The PMO said Sansad TVprogramming will primarilybe in four categories.

ABBA JAAN ROW

guffaws and derelictions.Today, over eight months as

the POTUS, Biden has takenone substantial decision in themilitaristic realm, ie, withdraw-al of US troops fromAfghanistan and his conse-quential approval ratings haveplummeted. While ending the20-year war in Afghanistanwas much sought after, theunheroically defeated and hur-ried manner (with the casual-ty from the ISIL-K attack) inwhich they withdrew hasdiminished the image and per-ceptions of the US military,externally and internally.Comparisons of a Vietnamredux are inevitable and odious,and it is only the Veteran whowill pay that ignominious priceand humiliation over time.Despair is magnified by theunfiltered reality of havingamateurly underestimated thespeed of collapse, the obviouslack of an operational plan andthe embarrassment of having totake permission from the‘enemy’, ie, Taliban, to ‘evict safe-ly’. Unlike the militarily unini-tiated and unconcerned politi-cos, the US soldier will sufferthe additional and unimagin-able moral injury in the knowof what it has left behind interms of allies (interpreters,drivers and support staff), andthe sure fate that awaits them.The chaotic and mismanageddeparture has left the uni-

formed fraternity pained, frus-trated and shamed, and theblame is coming understand-ably on the POTUS.

Seemingly, Biden cannotseem to get much right with the‘uniformed’ sentiments as hewas seen disrespectfully check-ing his watch as casket after cas-ket appeared during the somber“dignified transfer” ceremonyfor the 13 fallen US troops whowere killed at the Kabul airport.

Many also commented onthe inappropriateness of thePresident repeatedly invokinghis late son’s name, instead ofthat of those who had actuallyfallen under his watch. Manyfamily members of the fallensoldiers refused to meet thePresident, while some otherswho did so, did some plain-speaking to his face. The moth-er of one called Biden “adementia-ridden piece of crapwho doesn’t even know he’s inthe White House”. Importantly,it is not a partisan divide asmany of these families haveequally slammed DonaldTrump’s ill-timed opportunismin politicising the soldiers’deaths, with many calling it“without honour”, “disgusting”and “gross”.

Trump with his patent cat-tiness has sought to spin griev-ing families predatorially intodangerous territory — insin-cere and qualified as his sup-port always is, only to those

who back him politically, andsmearing those who don’t, likethe Gold Star family of CaptainHumayun Khan. The politicaltooling of the military isincreasingly irresistible indemocracies across the worldwith unwarranted usurpationof the narrative, parading andmilking of raw emotionstowards electoral harvest —even mature democracies likethe US are prone to it.

In an unavoidably compar-ative sense, most Veteransknow that the Commander-in-Chief requires selfless devotionto constitutionality, restraint,depth of character and princi-pled leadership — and, there-fore, they may still back Bidenover Trump, but the recenthandling of Afghanistan has ledto the rightful questioning ofBiden beyond partisanship. Inthe world of professional ‘uni-form’, winning a “just war” isimportant and, if not that,then going down fighting withvalour and dignity is the onlyother option — in Afghanistan,neither of the two was achieved,and the slip is clearly showingfor Biden amongst the frater-nity. He must be put to ques-tion, beyond partisan prefer-ences.

(The writer, a military vet-eran, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islandsand Puducherry. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

BOOK LAUNCH PROVED COSTLYSir — During a pandemic, a certainamount of restraint is expected of every-one. Indian cricket team coach RaviShastri, along with the batting coach,fielding coach and physio contractedCoronavirus in England when the teamwas in the midst of a Test series and onthe cusp of creating history. Shastri’sbook — Stargazing: The Players in MyLife — has been hitting the headlineswith its extracts being published in themedia. But was it so important torelease a book at a function where out-siders were allowed, and most of themdid not adhere to personal protection, isthe moot question?

It is said that no prior permission wassought from the BCCI by Shastri. Theentire Indian team, too, was present atthe book release in London on August31, two days before the fifth Test atManchester. The hugely anticipated fifthTest was called off. Obviously, Shastriknows he is not answerable to anybody,let alone the board. After all this, theIndian team’s image has taken a beating.This comes at a time when the teamseemed to have hit a purple patch.

Ganapathi Bhat | Nagpur

UNREASONABLY NEETSir — The Tamil Nadu Government haspassed the Anti-NEET Bill, 2021, in theAssembly to ban NEET exams in theState. The decision to pass the Bill wastaken in the wake of the suicide by deathof a medical aspirant. With the passingof the Bill, students would get admissionto UG medical degree courses based onthe qualifying HSC or class 12 marks. TNhas been in strong opposition to NEETsince its recommendation in 2013. TheTN Government’s move to ban theexam raises questions about its suitabil-ity for admission to medical courses.

Strong arguments have been put for-ward against the need of conducting theexam. NEET is an assault on the auton-omy of private, unaided institutions. Itis an example of over-centralisation ofeducation and violates the rights of

unaided, private and minority institu-tions. As most of the institutions are incities and the fees are very high, poor stu-dents from rural areas face disadvantage.Considering all these facts, it is of greatimportance to arrive at a decisionwhether the imposition of NEET is fair.If all State Governments conduct admis-sion to medical courses in fair and trans-parent ways, the imposition of NEETwould be unreasonable.

Venu GS | Kollam

INUNDATED BY HEAVY RAINSSir — The schools in Odisha are closedfor two days amid downpour; there isrecord rainfall in Puri and Bhubaneswar.The Odisha Government has shut downschools in 12 districts for two days as raincontinues to lash the State for the thirdday due to a deep depression over the Bayof Bengal. The deep depression aftercrossing the coast has moved west-northwest and is now lying as a depres-

sion over north coastal parts of Odishaand adjoining BoB. The system will con-tinue to move west-northwest towardsChhattisgarh in the next 24 hours andover southern parts of Madhya Pradeshand adjoining Maharashtra in the subse-quent 24 hours.

Heavy rainfall is expected during thisperiod over these States till September 15.Slight breather is foreseen betweenSeptember 16 and 19 as of now. The rain-fall deficiency for Odisha will drop backto normal range from a whopping 30 percent or even more till August. Some ofthe districts will possibly shift to surplusfor the season. Heavy rainfall over theState will continue for 24 hours andreduce thereafter. It is indeed good newsbut the damage caused by rains has giventhe State Government sleepless nights.

CK Subramaniam | Mumbai

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

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

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

06

Send yyour ffeedback tto:[email protected]

The POTUS, who managed five draft deferments from going to Vietnam,is again found wanting in his treatment of the US soldier in Afghanistan

WHILE ENDING THE 20-YEAR WAR

IN AFGHANISTANWAS MUCH

SOUGHT AFTER,THE UNHEROICALLY

DEFEATED ANDHURRIED MANNER

IN WHICH THEYWITHDREW HAS

DIMINISHED THE IMAGE AND

PERCEPTIONS OFTHE US MILITARY

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

BHOPINDER SINGH

With the passing away of OscarFernandes, the nation has lost ahighly respected politician, a veter-

an parliamentarian and a Congress stalwartwho made significant contributions toIndian politics over the last few decades.Fernandes became a close confidant ofSonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi after thedemise of Rajiv Gandhi and remained a dis-ciplined party man throughout his politicallife. The veteran leader was a five-termmember of the Lok Sabha and four served

four terms in the Rajya Sabha. From beinga municipal councillor in the early days toserving as Union Minister from 2004 to2009, holding a number of portfolios suchas Statistics and ProgrammeImplementation, NRI Affairs, Youth andSports Affairs and Labour and Employment,he climbed up in the Congress hierarchy.

After the late Ananth Kumar, if aleader from Karnataka could make a namein Delhi, it was Oscar Fernandes. He wasa multi-talented personality with variedinterests, he was a yoga enthusiast sincechildhood who had a penchant for playingmouth organ, harmonium, keyboard andtabla. People in all coastal districts ofKarnataka had always seen him with greatesteem and addressed him as ‘OscarAnna'. He has left an indelible mark in Indianpolitics and will be fondly remembered forhis contribution. When such committedpoliticians depart, national polity becomespoorer. Rest in peace, Oscar Anna.

Ramesh G Jethwani | Bengaluru

‘Oscar Anna’ bids final adieu

Joe Biden slipswith his soldiers

Joe Biden is the 46th Presidentof the United States, but notone of the 29 who served inthe military, in some capaci-

ty. He had managed five draftdeferments from going to Vietnamand equivocated on the VietnamWar per se, whilst politicallyopposing Richard Nixon’s conductof war. This flip-flop of positionswas visible in Biden assertingthat he was against authorising theIraq War in 2002 as he was sup-posedly “against it from themoment it started”, whilst contra-dicting himself with his vote forthe Authorisation for Use ofMilitary Force (AUMF) for theinvasion, as the Chair of theSenate Relations Committee.Later, a chance duel against adecidedly racist, sexist and xeno-phobic Donald Trump (whoclownishly and dangerouslysought to usurp the imagery of theUS military) ensured that Bidenwas sworn in as POTUS and,therefore, Commander-in-Chiefof its Armed Forces. Clearly formany Veterans who traditionallysupported the more rightwingRepublican Party, Biden was thebetter of the two bad choices.

For a persistently combat-engaged nation with approxi-mately 19 million Veterans as perthe Department of Veteran Affairs,representing nearly 10 per cent ofthe total US adult population —the opinion of the ‘Uniformed’ fra-ternity matters. Biden frequentlyinvoked the memory of his lateson in his presidential campaign,Beau Biden, who served and roseto the rank of Major in the JudgeAdvocate General’s Corps. Beautenanted Iraq from 2008 to 2009and received a Bronze Star for hisservices. Biden’s “sacred obliga-tion” campaign towards militaryfamilies entreated that sentiment,“As parents of a service memberwho was deployed to Iraq, Vice-President Joe Biden and (Dr) JillBiden understand that it’s not justmilitary members who sign up toserve our nation, their families dotoo.” Meanwhile the ham-handedapproach of Trump, includingupsetting the Chairman of theJoint Chiefs of Staff, GeneralMark Milley, as also respectedVeterans like Generals JamesMattis and HR McMaster, swungthe mood in favour of Biden —aided immeasurably by Trump’s

SOUNDBITEThe ED interrogatedAbhishek Banerjeefor nine hours. Wecannot be threat-ened. We are not theCongress or Akhilesh Yadav or Sharad Pawar.

West Bengal CM— Mamata Banerjee

The people ofAfghanistan need a lifeline. Afterdecades of war,suffering and

insecurity, they face perhapstheir most perilous hour.

UN Secretary-General — Antonio Guterres

My love for horrorfilms was one of themain reasons that gotme excited to playthe part in BhootPolice, where I get ‘possessed’.

Actor — Yami Gautam

By making TelanganaDalit Bandhu schemea success, we willbecome the oneswho laid new tracksfor the development of Dalits.

Telangana Chief Minister — K Chandrasekhar Rao

India did notrespect this seriesand they did notrespect Test cricketeither in flouting

COVID guidelines ahead of thefourth Test.

Former England cricketer

— Paul Newman

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) was formed with an aim to contain China’sgrowing influence in Asia and ensure territorial integrity in the Indo-Pacific region.After US President Joe Biden quit the unresolved Afghan war in order to “shift focus

to China”, the dialogue becomes way more important to him than ever. Hence, he is allset to host the first ever in-person Quad Summit at the White House in Washington on

September 24 which shall be attended by the leadersof all four member countries — the US, India, Japanand Australia. The dialogue shall focus on areas suchas combating COVID-19, addressing the climate cri-sis, partnering on emerging technologies and cyber-space, and promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific.Biden has received multiple setbacks because of hissoft stance lately, and this Summit could actually helprescue his lost relevance. A virtual meeting of the Quadleaders was also held in March this year, and the mem-bers pledged to work closely on COVID-19 vaccinesand ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific. Quad is, by

all means, the need of the hour for the US, the Quad and the Asean countries, and it ishigh time that Biden realises what Trump had learned back in 2017. Trump helped revi-talise Quad and had called Nato “obsolete” because of its little relevance now. At theinaugural two-plus-two ministerial dialogue with Australia held on Saturday, External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar said that Nato was a “cold war term” while Quad looks to the future.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s primary objective was to deal with the USSRand its main constituent Russia, which is economically in a battered state today, whileChina is economically as well as militarily the toughest rival. On the other side, Beijing’saggressive behaviour towards Taiwan and other surrounding countries and its dominancein international waters is a grave concern. The Taiwan issue is likely to be on the agen-da, and it should be. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian lashed out at theupcoming Quad Summit and said, “The relevant countries should abandon the obso-lete Cold War mentality and narrow-minded geopolitical rivalry and view correctly andrespect people’s aspiration in the region.” Biden needs to show that he means busi-ness. The rising instances of global terror after the developments in Afghanistan andmaritime security in the Indo-Pacific must be discussed by the leaders.

Continuing to keep a watchful eye on the rehabilitation of those devastated by COVID-19, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to consider suicides by COVID-19 patients as COVID-19 deaths so that their families can get compensation. Only

extreme suffering from the infection could have led to the patients dying by suicide, thecourt reasoned. The Bench of Justices MR Shah and AS Bopanna made the remarks whileexamining the Centre’s guidelines for issuing COVID-19 death certificates and paymentof compensation. The guidelines do not consider deaths due to poisoning, suicide, mur-der and accident as COVID-19 deaths even if the infection was an accompanying condi-tion. The court was satisfied when the Government said it would re-examine the matter.The court’s proposal is certainly a humane gesture but both the Government and the judi-ciary should first consider the issue in its totality because of the implications involved. To

cut to the chase, any suicide is the result of the victimbeing forced into taking the step due to extremely frus-trating and depressing circumstances. The suicide leavesthe family members without a bread winner if the vic-tim was the only person employed and, in dire straits,if they were poor and disadvantaged. Technically speak-ing, it will be a challenge for the Government to provethat the suicide of a COVID-19 positive patient was owingto the infection and not any other reason. Secondly, sev-eral frustrating and compelling factors, as dangerousas COVID-19, force people to commit suicide.

Any Government policy to compensate only fam-ilies of COVID-19 positive patients committing suicide may be seen to be discriminat-ing against suicides for other, equally terrible reasons. Thirdly, the Government and thecourts will need to sensitise the people who continue to think that suicide is merely acrime and which colours their attitude towards the victims. Suicide is a crime under thearchaic Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code. The section was not repealed even thoughits scope was reduced by the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, that said anyone who attemptssuicide is presumed “to have severe stress and shall not be tried and punished” andcalls on the Government to “provide care, treatment and rehabilitation” of the person inorder “to reduce the risk of recurrence” of such an attempt. The humanitarian aspectof the law needs to be popularised to blunt indifference to circumstances that lead tosuicides and encourage rehabilitation of survivors or families of victims. Thousands offarmers commit suicide in India because of bankruptcy, indebtedness and crop failure.There is a compensation plan in place for them though farmers who do not hold title totheir land, like women farmers in most cases, are not yet eligible for compensation. Arational approach to the matter is perhaps hidden in the question of whether a healthyfarmer who committed suicide because he became indebted after failing to save hiscrop during the COVID-19 lockdown would be eligible for compensation as well.

Humane touch

Quad unityBiden’s ‘shift of focus to China’ must show at the Quad Summit if he means business at all

PICTALK

A man on a rickshaw wades through a waterlogged street during heavy rain in Nadia, West Bengal PTI

The SC correctly favours suicide by COVID-19patients to be treated as medical deaths

Caste in UP polls:A case of Brahmins

WITH THE BLESSINGS OF SHRI RAMCHANDRA JI,

WE WILL RAISE THE TRICOLOUR AND

TEACH REAL NATIONALISM.

— DELHI DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER

MANISH SISODIA

THERE ARE LEADERS WHO EARLIER SPOKE

AGAINST THE RAM TEMPLE AND ARE NOW SEEKING

REFUGE IN THE LORD.

— UP DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER

KESHAV MAURYA

Political parties, gearing up for theAssembly elections in UttarPradesh, are looking for new polit-ical strategies that could bring

them back to power. Caste and religion arethe two basic fundamentals on which thiselection would be contested and the par-ties are planning their strategies aroundthese planks. In this melee, the biggestcasualty is development as no politicalparty is talking about it. “Sadak, pani, bijli”is no longer an issue for them, but casteand religion are.

Just a few months back the oppositionparties were tearing apart the YogiGovernment for its failure to preventdeaths of people in the second wave ofCOVID-19. Then there were issues of poorlaw and order and lack of governancewhich the opposition claimed will provedetrimental for the ruling BJP. We wereexpecting protests across the state, almostevery day, highlighting people's issues. Wewere expecting the opposition wouldcome up with a vision and project itself asan alternative to the BJP; nothing of thatsort has happened so far.

For the last one month, dengue andviral fever have been raging in westernUttar Pradesh where over 100 childrenhave died so far. Senior leaders have crit-icized the government by issuing state-ments through tweets but none of the topopposition leaders has visited the affect-ed region. Opposition leaders of substancemerely shared their agonies throughpress notes.

The shades of what we can expect inthe elections have started emanating whenAam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed that itwill start its Tiranga Yatra after "darshanof Ram Lalla" in Ayodhya. Samajwadi Partynational president Akhilesh Yadav hasstarted hopping from one temple toanother while in an attempt to invigorateMuslims, Asaduddin Owaisi, President ofthe All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen(AIMIM), has raised the issue of the raz-ing of a mosque in Barabanki. He even tar-geted the Samajwadi Party saying why itdid not protest.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, on theother hand, is silently working on itsHindutva agenda. Chief Minister YogiAdityanath has declared a 10 sq. km.-areaaround the Krishna Janmashtami aroundMathura-Vrindavan as pilgrimage areathus prohibiting sale of liquor and meat in22 wards of Mathura city. The Deepotsavain Ayodhya would be a grand affair thisyear. Prime Minister Narendra Modi islikely to attend the program when the gov-ernment will attempt to break the Guinnessrecord by lighting over seven lakh diyas.

Then there is caste which is the ful-crum of elections in Uttar Pradesh sincethe Mandal days. The emergence ofsmaller caste parties that have influencein small pockets has changed poll dynam-ics. The big parties are too eager to alignwith them realizing that all small gains cancatapult them into power. This is evident

Reported persecution of Brahmins is believed to be the new mantra of UPpolitics with all major parties out to woo this small but influential section

WHY ARE THEPOLITICAL

PARTIES GIVINGSO MUCH

ATTENTION TOTHIS VOTE BANK

IN UP? FIRST, THE BRAHMINS

MAKE UP A SIGNIFICANT

SIZE OF THEELECTORATE,

AND, SECONDLY,THEIR STRONG

SOCIO-POLITICALHISTORY HELPSIN INFLUENCING

OPINION DURINGELECTIONS.

THIRDLY, THOUGHBRAHMINS

LARGELY REMAINWITH THE BJP,THEY DO NOTHESITATE TO

SWITCH SIDES

States are still dilly dallying on opening educational institutions in thecountry. Non-vaccination of students or vaccine unavailability forchildren are the given reasons. Institutions are, therefore, seen as

“super spreaders”. And there is fear of the third wave of COVID-19. Yet,life seems to be otherwise normal all around us. Political parties are hold-ing rallies, farmers are organizing protests, election commission is hold-ing elections, market places and malls are open, recreational activitiesare going on full-swing. There is no restriction on domestic air and sur-face travel. Then why restrictions only for students and educational insti-tutions? Across the world, India is among five countries where educa-tional institutions have remained closed for long. Millions of students aredeprived of active learning at pre-school level and break in education forolder students. States are registering a high dropout of students from theschool system, especially girl students. They may never get an oppor-tunity to go back to school again. The gains made through enrollment of

through Right to Education may be lost. A group of 56 renowned aca-demicians, doctors including epidemiologists and other experts have urgedstate chief ministersto reopen schools and colleges. The signatories includeDr Chandrakant Lahariya, epidemiologist and public health expert, ProfessorSuneela Garg of the Lancet Covid-19 Commission, Dr Naveen Thackerof the International Paediatric Association, and Shaneen Mistri, Teach ForIndia CEO Shaheen Mistri. The letter says, “There is an urgent need tobring children back to school. Since younger children are least at risk,we urge you to permit primary schools to open first, in line with IndianCouncil of medical Research (ICMR) recommendations, and then high-er classes. Vaccination is not a prerequisite for reopening schools.”

The purpose of vaccination is to prevent severe illness and death,and children are at relatively low risk of severe or fatal COVID-19. It iswell known that the lack of education for students, particularly girls,affects the health and livelihood of next generation. These are extremecosts. Government and task forces must strike a balance of risksandsuch balance is overwhelmingly in favour of opening schools. NK Arora,senior member of the National COVID-19 task force said in a recentinterview, “There are 44 crore children in India, out of which 12 croreare in the 12-17 age group…Based on Indian and global data, the riskof severe disease and death are rare in children. However, children canspread infection. Adults have almost 15 times higher risk of death andsevere disease compared with children below 18 years. So, if adultsaround them at home or at school are vaccinated, it will form a pro-tective ring around them. There will be limited virus and disease trans-mission in that condition. I strongly feel that parents should send theirkids to school without waiting for Covid-19 vaccine for two reasons;one, their risk of developing a severe disease is rare; second going toschool is important for their cognitive, physical and mental develop-ment.” The Ministry of Home Affairs says the pandemic situation is sta-ble. Experts justify arguing that if earlier prediction of India witnessinga rise of four-five lakh cases daily in a third wave was true, it wouldhave happened by now. But it has not happened. On the contrary, ourbig cities are witnessing normal life with no substantial increase in cases,the reason being that on an average, over 67 per cent of our popula-tion have antibodies against the virus and the pace of vaccination isincreasing every passing day. That is a good enough reason to con-sider reopening schools even if in a phased manner.

(The writer is a senior journalist and Chairman, Panwar Group of Institutions, Solan, Himachal Pradesh.

The views expressed are personal.)

Who does not want abirthday bash, par-ticularly politicians?

It has been in vogue for manyyears, particularly among thefamous and populist leaders.There are dedicated birthdayfunctions for JawaharlalNehru, Mahatma Gandhi,Indira Gandhi, B RAmbedkar, and so on.

It is normal practice forsupporters to greet their lead-ers with flowers and cakes.The bigger the cake they get,the better the leader is pleasedwith his courtiers. RJD chiefLalu Prasad Yadav celebrateshis birthday with secular cakes.On his 55th birthday, the cakewas shaped like a church,masjid, and temple. LateTamil Nadu Chief MinisterJayalalithaa once cut a cake inthe shape of parliament, reveal-

ing her ambition for a nation-al role.

Mayawati uses her birth-day for crowdfunding andgets enormous amounts forher party on January 16.Samajwadi Party patriarchMulayam Singh Yadav waspresented an 81-kilo "laddoo"when he turned 80 inNovember 2019. On NarendraModi's birthday in 2019, aSurat bakery baked a 700-foot-long cake. In Delhi, BJP MPscut a 370 kg cake to celebratethe revocation of Article 370.

The BJP too has foundnovel ways of celebrating birth-day events. For instance, thesilver jubilee function of theparty held in Mumbai in 2005had BJP leader Atal BihariVajpayee emerging from avast lotus built for the occasionat the Shivaji stadium.

The BJP plans to celebratePrime Minister NarendraModi's 71st birthday as amega event. A flurry of eventsis scheduled from September17 (his birthday) till October7 (when he became GujaratChief Minister 20 years ago).Last year, there were no grandbirthday celebrations whenModi turned 70 because of thepandemic.

In the past, his birthdaywas marked as "Seva Saptah".

The drive this year has beenwidened as "Seva ourSamarpan Abhiyan"in tributeto his service and dedication.This period will also includethe birth anniversaries ofMahatma Gandhi (October 2)and Deen Dayal Upadhyay(September 25).

The campaign will focuson how Modi had handled theaftermath of the Bhuj earth-quake and how he managedto create brands such as theGujarat Model and VibrantGujarat. Five crore'Thank YouModiji' postcards will bemailed directly to him as atoken of gratitude. Fourteenration bags with Modi's pic-ture will be distributed. Videosand documentaries will beshown projecting Modi asthe messiah of the poor.

The Covid-19pandemic

is not yet over. Then whythese gala functions?

Internationally, Modi hasmuch to be pleased about.Morning Consult, a USresearch firm has recentlygiven Modi the highestapproval rating of 70 per centamong global leaders. He ledthe chart that tracked 12other leaders. Japan'sYoshihide Suga was at the bot-tom.

No doubt the opposition,which is looking for an issue,has criticised this mega pro-gramme when people stillsuffer from Covid-19. Theypoint out that mishandlingthe pandemic is one of the sig-nificant failures of the Modigovernment, particularly thesecond wave, which tookeveryone unawares. The econ-omy is down, and there is

massive unemployment, infla-tion and price rise. So, whatis there to rejoice, they ask.

Modi is aware of howimportant image-building isfor a politician. Elections arescheduled in half a dozenstates, including UP, earlynext year. The party's electionmachinery has already beenactivated. The birthday cele-brations will give a boost tothe party cadres and preparethem to face the elections.

Further, they are intend-ed to make Modi a cult figure,through BJP's parent organi-sation, RSS, is against suchculture. Many regional lead-ers practice personality cults,including Mamata Banerjee,Mayawati, Kejriwal, LaluPrasad Yadav, and others whohave their own fiefdoms.These little tinpot dictators

coexist in a democracy withtheir personality cults, whichis indeed a paradox.

Modi is presently in themid-term of his second stint.Despite fulfilling most of theRSS-BJP core agenda likerevoking Article 370 andbuilding of Ram Mandir atAyodhya, Covid-19 has unex-pectedly ruined the BJP'splans for the 2024 Lok Sabhapolls. His courtiers arguewhat is wrong with using thebirthday as an occasion toproject Modi as pro-poor.They contend that one shouldnot grudge Modi his birthdaybashes. After all, it is now clearthat Modi is BJP and BJP isModi and damage to one willdamage the other. Birthdaybashes are indeed a show ofstrength.

Narendra Modi is aware of how important image-building is for a politician

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

07

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

FIRSTCOLUMNSUPER-SPREADERS OFEDUCATION, NOT VIRUS

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

(The writer is PoliticalEditor, Lucknow edition

of The Pioneer.)

Birthday bashes and the personality cult of leaders

KALYANI SHANKAR

(The writer is a retired Indian Railways

professional and consultant. The views

expressed are personal.)

BRIJENDER SINGH PANWAR

the way Bharatiya Janata Party istrying to woo Apna Dal, a Kurmibased party and Nishad party, thathas influence among Nishads - theboating community.

Akhilesh Yadav too has shownhis willingness to align with small-er parties as he has publiclyclaimed that Samajwadi Party willnot forge an alliance with big par-ties but his party's doors are alwaysopen for smaller parties. He hasalready declared an alliance withMahan Dal and is also in touchwith Om Prakash Rajbhar, anOBC leader whoseSuheldevBharatiya Samaj Party,is an alliance with AIMIM but heis looking for greener pasture.

Castes like Sahus, Kashyaps,Sainis, Kushwahas, Mauryas,Shakyas, Pals, Dhangars, Gaderiyas,Kumhars, Nishads, and Mallas aremuch in "demand". The BJP in 2017had also expanded its reach amongOther Backward Castes (OBCs), byallying with Om Prakash Rajbhar'sSuheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party(SBSP) and the Nishad Party in 2019.The SBSP, however, broke off tiesafter the 2019 Lok Sabha electionsdespite Rajbhar being made a cab-inet minister in the YogiGovernment and his son and othersupporters given chairmanships ofstate-run corporations.

On the other hand, SamajwadiParty is focussing on Kurmis,Mauryas, Sainis, Sahus, Kashyaps,and other such. There is a feeling inSamajwadi Party that it might givemore tickets to non-Yadav OBCs inthe coming elections.

The search for caste alliance isnot limited to backward or OtherBackward Caste (OBC) only eventhe upper caste, particularlyBrahmins are now much in demand.Persecution of Brahmins is believedto be the new mantra of UP politicsas Bahujan Samaj Party and theSamajwadi Parry have declared thatif their parties return to power, theywill order a probe into the atrocitiesbeing committed against Brahminsduring the Yogi Raj.

At the concluding session of theBSP's Prabudh Sammelan,Mayawati declared that if she wasvoted to power, a Commissionwould be set up to enquire intoatrocities and injustice done toBrahmins by the BJP government.She even claimed that injustice wasalso done during Akhilesh Yadav'sregime and her the party will workto restore the "samman" of theBrahmins.

Remember, this is the sameMayawati whose party had coinedthe slogan "Tilak tarazu aur talwar,inkomaarojutteychaar" (BeatBrahmins, Vaishyas, and Thakurswith slippers). Such is her compul-sion to appease Brahmins that shedid not hesitate to go for identitypolitics when she accepted a trishul,conch shell, and a silver elephant,the election symbol of the party, asgifts during a Prabudh Sammelanfrom party leaders.

The Brahmins, who constitutearound 10 percent of the voteshare in Uttar Pradesh, have sud-denly become very important inUttar Pradesh. Not only opposition,

even the ruling BJP has startedlooking for Brahmin icons toappease this politically importantcommunity. This was probably thefirst time when a ruling party cel-ebrated the birth anniversary ofGovind Ballabh Pant, a ChiefMinister of an opposition party.Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathhimself laid a wreath on the statueof the former Chief Minister.

Why are the political partiesgiving so much attention to thisvote bank in UP? First, theBrahmins make up a significant sizeof the electorate, and secondly,theirstrong socio-political history helpsin influencing opinions duringelections. Thirdly, though Brahminslargely remain with BJP, they do nothesitate to switch sides.

The Brahmins can influence104 assembly seats out of 403 seats.According to the Lokniti-CSDS sur-vey data, more than half of theBrahmin electorate always voted forthe BJP till 2004. However, the com-munity's support for the BJP fellbelow 40 percent in the 2007assembly elections when Mayawati'sBSP won the majority. It stayed thatway till equations changed in the2014 Lok Sabha elections when theBJP got almost 72 percent of theBrahmins votes.The trend wasrepeated in the 2017 assembly andthe 2019 Lok Sabha elections whenthe party got 80 percent and 82 per-cent of Brahmin votes, respective-ly. After these three elections,Brahmin votes are to the BJP whatYadav votes are for the SP and Jatavvotes are for the BSP.

BISWAJEET BANERJEE

Life seems to be otherwise going normal buteducational institutions still face restrictions

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 Money 08

The country's largest carmakerMaruti Suzuki India (MSI) onTuesday said its premium

hatchback Swift has crossed 25lakh cumulative sales milestonein over 16 years of its launch inthe country.The model, which was the country's leadingmodel in terms of sales in the last fiscal, has transcendedits records by clocking cumulative sales of 2.5 millionunits, MSI said in a statement.Swift had created thepremium hatchback segment in the country with itslaunch in 2005. "With its launch in 2005, Swift heraldedthe start of the premium hatchback segment in India...million Swift lovers. The No. 1 selling car of FY20-21, thesporty Swift has created a glorious legacy with itsscintillating looks and power-packed performance," MSISenior Executive Director (Marketing & Sales) ShashankSrivastava noted.Swift is not a car, it is a feeling, anemotion and a refreshing new thought process thatchallenged many notions around hatchbacks, he added.

Maruti Swift crosses 25 lakhcumulative sales milestone

PNS n MUMBAI

Equity indices resumed theirclimb on Tuesday after a day'spause following gains in IT,bank and engineering stocksamid a muted trend overseas.

The 30-share BSE Sensexended 69.33 points or 0.12 percent higher at 58,247.09. Thebroader NSE Nifty advanced24.70 points or 0.14 per cent toits fresh closing record of17,380.

IndusInd Bank topped theSensex gainers chart with ajump of 4.07 per cent, followedby HCL Tech, Kotak Bank,Bajaj Auto, Tech Mahindra,L&T, Titan and TCS.

In contrast, HDFC, NestleIndia, UltraTech Cement,HUL, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finservand Bajaj Finance were amongthe prominent laggards, shed-ding up to 1.07 per cent.

"Despite a bullish opening,domestic indices closed flatwith a positive bias amid mixedsentiments among global peers.India's retail inflation soft-

ened to 5.3 per cent in August,staying within RBI's comfortzone, which was led by lowerfood inflation.

"However, the wholesaleprice inflation accelerated to11.39 per cent, snapping thetwo-month easing trend owingto non-food articles. Globalmarkets traded cautiouslyahead of the US consumerprice index to be releasedtoday," said Vinod Nair, Headof Research at Geojit Financial

Services.Ajit Mishra, VP - Research,

Religare Broking Ltd, said themarkets remained in consoli-dation mode.

"Though the index has beenholding at higher levels, itwould be difficult to regainmomentum without the bank-ing pack, which is still sig-nalling a mixed trend. Amidall, we reiterate our view tocontinue with a positive yetcautious approach until we

see any sign of trend reversal,"he added.

Sectorally, BSE utilities, con-sumer discretionary goods,auto, teck and consumerdurables rose as much as 1.64per cent, while metal, FMCG,energy and basic materials fin-ished lower.

In the broader markets, theBSE midcap and smallcapindices outperformed thebenchmarks, spurting up to1.09 per cent. Global equitieswere steady ahead of US infla-tion data, which would provideclues on the Fed's taperingtimeline.

Elsewhere in Asia, boursesin Seoul and Tokyo closed inthe positive territory, whileHong Kong and Shanghaiended in the red. Equities inEurope were trading mixed inthe afternoon session.Meanwhile, international oilbenchmark Brent crudeclimbed 0.80 per cent to USD74.10 per barrel.

The rupee settled flat at73.68 against the US dollar.

Markets eke out slim gains;Nifty closes at new high

PNS n NEW DELHI

India ranks 54th out of 55countries globally in the hous-ing prices index as rates of res-idential properties fell mar-ginally by 0.5 per cent year-on-year during the quarter endedJune, according to KnightFrank.

India was at 55th position inthe previous global housingprice index report for the firstquarter of this calendar year.

Turkey, with 29.2 per centappreciation of housing prices,continues to lead the annualrankings. New Zealand is atsecond position with a 25.9 percent price rise while the USranks third with 18.6 per centappreciation.

The Global House PriceIndex report tracks the move-

ment of mainstream residentialprices across 55 countries andterritories worldwide. Theindex tracks nominal prices inlocal currency.

Overall, 18 countries in Q22021 have reported double-

digit growth, while India andSpain were the only countriesto register an annual decline inhome prices.

Australia at 16.4 per centrecorded its highest rate ofannual price growth since 2003.

"India's mainstream residen-t ia l pr ices have largelyremained stable with negativebias despite recovery beingimpacted due to the secondwave. Moving forward withthe downward trajectory inCOVID-19 cases and massinoculation drive, the sector isexpected to make a healthyrecovery with demand forhomes only expected toincrease in the coming quarter,”said Shishir Baijal, Chairmanand Managing Director atKnight Frank India.

The report cited that theindex is rising at its fastest ratesince Q1 2005. The pandemic-induced housing boom contin-ues with prices rising by 9.2 percent on average across 55 coun-tries and territories in the yearto June 2021.

India ranks 54th out of 55 nations in housing prices appreciation

PNS n NEW DELHI

Majority of Indian profession-als believe that hybrid work isessential for work-life balance,as this model would allowthem to strike the right balancebetween their personal andprofessional lives, according toa LinkedIn survey.

According to LinkedIn's"Future of Work" Study 2021,nearly 9 in 10 (86 per cent)respondents think that hybridwork will positively impacttheir work-life balance.

Moreover, professionals areprioritising their well-beingso much so that half of India'sworkforce believes that work-life balance is just as importantas their salary, the survey thatcovered 1,108 respondents inthe age group of 16 to 68,noted.

The survey further said witha majority of professionalscontinuing to work remotely,1 in 3 professionals in India isburnt out due to increasedworkload (35 per cent) andstress (34 per cent) while work-ing remotely in India, thestudy said.

"To shelter from such dis-tressing times, professionals areprioritising their well-beingand finding ways to strike theright balance. In fact, half ofIndia's workforce believes thatwork-life balance (52 per cent)is just as important as theirsalary (52 per cent) today," itnoted.

The Future of Work percep-tion study was conducted byresearch firm Censuswide, andsurveyed 1,108 respondentsin India, who worked in anoffice before the pandemicand who had to work fromhome at some point during thepandemic due to COVID-19restrictions/guidelines. Therespondents were surveyed

between July 27 and July 29,2021."Long-term remote workhas left professionals fatiguedin India. This has caused a shiftin the idea of what is importantin our lives and has led to whatwe call 'The Great TalentReshuffle'. Organisations arerethinking their entire workmodels, culture, and values,while employees are rethinkingnot just how they work, butwhy they work.

"At this time, we encouragecompanies to explore strongerflexible offerings and moremental health time off, as pro-fessionals are now seeking agreater balance and more ful-fillment in their lives," saysAshutosh Gupta.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Festive season this year is like-ly to see fewer launches bysmartphone companies andprices of existing devices couldrise by 7-10 per cent as playersare grappling with severe short-age of components, includingsemiconductor chips, accord-ing to industry experts.

Trends like remote workand study-from-home duringthe COVID pandemic have ledto an explosive growth in semi-conductor demand that hasplaced a huge strain on globalsupply chains around theworld. Freight costs in Chinahave also gone up significant-ly, putting greater stress ondevice makers.

China accounts fora major chunk of the compo-nents supplied for use in elec-tronic goods in the country.

According toCounterpoint ResearchDirector Tarun Pathak, the

shortage situation will contin-ue to impact the mobile phoneindustry for the next couple ofquarters.

"The all-important festiveseason will be impacted inmultiple ways like delayed orfewer new launches, anincrease in pricing by 7-10 percent for existing devices, andfewer offers. However, demand

is likely to stay strong this fes-tive season. Amongst the chipshortage, the 4G chipsets areimpacted and this is likely tostay till H2 2021," he added.

Pathak emphasised thatdemand is likely to stay strongthis festive season despite thesechallenges.

While the 5G chipsets situ-ation is relatively better with

the premium 5G chipsetscrunch easing in the secondhalf of this year, the main-stream (mass market) 5Gchipsets will be in short supply.

Kanishka Chauhan,Principal Analyst at Gartner,explained that India has aheavy dependence on interna-tional foundries in the absenceof fabrication facilities (forchip manufacturing) in thecountry. While orders from thesmartphone industry are pri-oritised over other segments byfabrication facilities given thehigh volume, that prioritisationhas also not protected theindustry completely, he said.

"While on one side, the ris-ing chip prices because of theshortage has significantlyimpacted the bill of materialsfor smartphone manufacturers,which is now trickling down tothe consumers. On the otherend, it is also impacting newproduct introduction plans," hetold.

Supply constraints may push up phone prices

PNS n NEW DELHI

India remains an attractivedestination for foreign directinvestments (FDI) on accountof healthy prospects of eco-nomic growth and its skilledworkforce, according to a sur-vey by Deloitte.

A large proportion of inter-national business leadersremain confident in India'sshort- and long-termprospects and are readyingplans to make additional andfirst-time investments in thecountry, it said on Tuesday."The survey, which questioned1,200 business leaders ofmultinational corporations inthe US, UK, Japan andSingapore, found that Indiaremains an attractive destina-tion for investments, scoringhighly for its skilled workforceand prospects for economicgrowth," the survey - India'sFDI Opportunity - said.

India can target attractinggreater FDI into seven capital-intensive sectors - textile andapparel, food processing, elec-tronics, pharmaceuticals, vehi-cles and parts, chemicals andcapital goods - that have con-tributed USD 181 billion of

merchandise exports in 2020-21, it added.

These seven sectors have thenecessary potential, opportu-nity, and capability to showquick results and set a globalprecedent, the report noted.

It also said that more busi-ness leaders, especially inJapan, are making investmentsin India for access to thedomestic market rather thanusing India as a springboardfor exports. "India has thestrongest positive perception inthe US when compared tomarkets such as China, Brazil,Mexico, and Vietnam...The USand UK business leadersexpressed greater confidence inIndia's stability," it said. Therespondents from Japan andSingapore currently viewVietnam as their preferredinvestment destination, as perthe report.

India remains an attractivedestination for investmentsPNS n MUMBAI

Demand for talent with digitalniche and super niche skills haswitnessed a surge since theApril-June quarter followinggrowth in the digital economy,mainly fuelled by the banking,financial services and insur-ance (BFSI) industry, accordingto a report.

According to data from busi-ness solutions provider Quess,demand for talent with digital

niche and super niche skillsincluding Full Stack, React JS,Android, Angular JS, and CloudInfrastructure Technologies,Cyber Security, among others,has seen a surge since last quar-ter, as technology transforma-tions have become a key prior-ity for organisations.

Further, Gaming (UnityDevelopers), DevOps (Bamboo,Jira) and Platforms (Salesforce,SAP HANA) have also wit-nessed an increase in skill

demand, it added.The data for the report is derivedfrom the algorithm built into thecompany's application trackingsystem, which maps and match-es candidates to positions in thetime period of October-March2020-2021 compared withMarch-August 2021. Whileanalysing the overall demand forthe top 5 skills among tier Icities, the report further revealedthat Bengaluru witnessed thehighest demand (40 per cent),

followed by Hyderabad (18 percent) and Pune (18 per cent).

For Full Stack Developers,nearly equal demand was wit-nessed across Bangalore (42 percent) and Hyderabad (37 percent), while demand forAngular JS Developers wasevenly distributed acrossHyderabad (25 per cent),Bengaluru (21 per cent),Gurugram (21 per cent),Chennai (16 per cent) and Pune(13 per cent), it added.

Digital niche, super niche skills demand surge

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Union Cabinet is likelyto approve on Wednesday therevised production-linkedincentive (PLI) scheme forthe automobile sector, whichaims at promoting domesticmanufacturing and createjobs, according to sources.

The government isbelieved to have slashed theoutlay for this PLI scheme toabout Rs 26,000 crore, theysaid.

Last year, the governmenthad announced the schemefor the automobile and autocomponents sector with anoutlay of Rs 57,043 crore, ear-marked for five years.

"The Cabinet may take upthe proposal in the meetingtomorrow (on Wednesday),"one of the sources said.

The sources did not dis-close the reason for revisingthe scheme to Rs 25,938crore, but stated that thefocus is now more on batteryelectric and hydrogen fuel cellvehicles.

Cabinet mayapprove revisedPLI scheme forauto sector today

Professionals believe hybrid workis essential for work-life balance

Kia Sonet crosses 1L sales markin less than one year

PNS n NEW DELHI

India's job market looks bullish with 44per cent of companies planning to addmore staff in the next three months ascorporates gear up to bring workersback after the pandemic, a survey saidon Tuesday. According to the latestManpowerGroup EmploymentOutlook Survey released byManpowerGroup India, employersreport a Net Employment Outlook of44 per cent - the most optimistic out-look in seven years.

The Net Employment Outlook isderived by subtracting

the percentage of employers expect-ing a decrease in hiring activity fromthe percentage of employers anticipat-ing an increase in hiring activity.

The survey of 3,046 employersindicates many companies are planningto increase their headcounts before theend of the year, expecting pandemicrestrictions to ease and demand forproducts and services to rise.

"Corporate India is showing healthy

signs of recovery and an overall posi-tive sentiment is gripping the market.Many of the deep-rooted structural fac-tors that have sustained the Indianeconomy over the years like geopolit-ical stability, diversified economy,demography, etc, are likely to play a piv-otal role in the new normal," saidSandeep Gulati, Group ManagingDirector of ManpowerGroup India.

Hiring intentions improved in all sec-tors quarter-over-quarter with ser-vices, manufacturing and finance,insurance and real estate sectors report-ing some of the most optimistic out-looks. "Vaccine rollouts gaining tremen-dous momentum with most of corpo-rate India due for the second vaccinecoupled with the onset of the festive sea-son may be the probable cause of thespike in optimism.

"The intent into action, however,needs to be observed considering thefear of the third wave and the contin-ued talent shortage that most industriesare finding difficult to bridge," Gulatisaid.

India Inc hiring outlook for Oct-Dec ‘most optimistic’

DRDO contracts Godrej, 9 cos tomanufacture O2 generatorsPNS n MUMBAI

The Defence Research andDevelopment Organisation(DRDO) has contracted 10 privatesector players, including city-basedGodrej & Boyce (G&B), to manu-facture oxygen generators.GPE, aunit of G&B, has received the orderfrom the Defence Bio-engineeringand Electromechanical Laboratory(DEBEL), a DRDO laboratory inBengaluru, to manufacture oxygengenerators, G&B said in a state-ment.The second wave of the pan-demic exposed the severe shortfallof oxygen across the country,which forced the state agencies to

source it from all the availableresources across the country to savelives. Oxygen, which is generallyused in industrial plants, was fer-ried through tankers on the road,through railway and also by air.Thefirst batch of medical oxygen gen-erators have been deployed inhospitals across Uttar Pradesh,Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh,it added. The system utilises an aircompressor to provide compressedair to the oxygen plant which is fil-tered and dried by a refrigerant airdryer and further filtered before theair is admitted to the oxygen gen-erator through adsorption towers,it added.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Kia India on Tuesday said its compact SUV Sonet has crossed onelakh cumulative sales mark in less than one year of its launch inthe market.During the same period, the vehicle has also becomethe fourth highest-selling SUV in the country, the automaker saidin a statement.Introduced in September 2020, Sonet has emergedas a breakthrough product in its segment, contributing almost 17per cent to the segment and 32 per cent to Kia's overall sales, itadded. “The Sonet was launched when the auto industry was fac-ing its worst slump in history with the advent of COVID-19 pan-demic. The market was battling rock-bottom customer sentimentamidst manufacturing and supply chain setbacks.

YAMINIKRISHNABANDLAMUDI

reams are not whatwe see when we’reasleep; they arerather what makeus forgo our sleep.These lines were

well lived by the ‘CarromQueen’ whose name enteredthe prestigious Guinness Bookof World Records, and washonoured with a doctorate atthe very young age of 16. Shealso has to her credit morethan 40 awards, includingsome prestigious Nationalawards. In conversation withThe Pioneer, Dr Shaik HusnaSameera, a native of Gunturdistrict, shares about the hardwork and journey behind hersuccess.

During her early days, shewas as normal as any otherchild her age. She was 5 whenshe was enrolled in school,where she played carroms atleisure. When the opportunityto participate in the Juniorunder-12 sports competitioncame her way, she jumped andtasted success for the firsttime. “It was then that I start-ed playing carroms whole-heartedly. I was almost addict-ed to success. That was the

moment I decided to dosomething unique from win-ning regular awards. The car-rom board turned into mybest friend and I had no timefor friends except for educa-tion and carroms. My parentsstood by me and I neverlooked back. In 2014, I playedcarroms for 18 hours, 18 min-utes, and 18 seconds withnational players in Vizag forthe first time. It was then thatI started creating an identity ofmy own,” says Sameera. Shethen went ahead to have aseries of victories. In 2015, sheplayed carroms for 20 hours,20 minutes, and 20 seconds inHyderabad with 20 nationalplayers. She then broke herown record by playing for 34hours, 45 minutes, and 56 sec-onds continuously with onenational player at Dandamudi

Rajagopalam stadium inVijayawada in 2016!

Dr Sajida, a proud mom toSameera, speaks of her daugh-ter, “Being a minor, it was verydifficult to play for that long,at a stretch. This was thebiggest marathon she has everplayed. That was when shehad her name enter theGuinness Book of WorldRecord. My daughter was theyoungest to receive a doctorateat the age of 16 from theBerkeley University ofCalifornia, USA in 2016.”

Apart from internationalrecognition, the CarromQueen has played over 30national games till now. In2019, she played on behalf ofthe Airport Authority of Indiaand qualified for the semifi-nals as well. In 2020, sheplayed for the Senior

Nationals and emerged a run-ner-up.

“I am now determined tobecome the World Championin carroms. It demands extra-ordinary ability, for which Iam striving hard. I have a spe-cial coach for the purpose andI maintain a tight schedule, asof now. I must thank my fami-ly and college management,who have always supportedme in scheduling my examsand coaching classes accord-ing to my convenience. As faras education is concerned, Iwould like to do my Mastersin EIFEL, which will fetch meextremely good communica-tion skills, that would help me

in travelling the world in thefuture,” Sameera tells us.

Apart from sports, Sameerais brilliant in science. Sheestablished her identity insinging, dancing, and secureda gold medal twice in calligra-phy too. Though an all-rounder, she chose carrom asher career and to promote thegame by adopting governmentschools and train children incarroms — for the same, she islooking forward to the gov-ernment’s support. She alsourges the Sports RecruitingManagements to include car-roms in the list of sports.

Here’s hoping all herdreams come true!

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

WednesdaySeptember 15, 2021

RULING THE CARROM

BOARD SINCE 5

SHIKHA DUGGAL

he new webseries Cartel isstill doing so well aroundtown with all the gangstabuzz it has created. Afterbeing a part of Shah RukhKhan-starrer

Zero, Sushrii Mishra, whois also known to be thebeauty queen fromOdisha, essays the role ofVaidehi Kapoor, a centralcharacter in ALTBalaji’saction drama Cartel andspeaks at length about hercharacter and how sheactually learnt to checkblood pressure and per-form stitches for her char-acter. That’s how cav-ernously she went for therole!

“I play the character ofVaidehi Kapoor in theshow. She is a junior doc-tor by profession in theseries. She is a powerful,intelligent woman whohas a lot going on at herend. However, no one everknows about her strugglesdue to the balanced, calmand kind person that sheis. Vaidehi and Arjun(played by Tanuj Virwani,another brilliant actorhimself), were eachother’s first love, andthe love has onlygrown over time.Suddenly theypart ways, theynow meet afteryears and as thestory progress-es, my charac-ter’s arc growsvery interesting-ly from being anabsolute outsiderwho hails fromthe medical fra-ternity to be avery integral partof the ‘Angre’family developinga unique equationwith each charac-ter,” shares the model turned actresswho also represented our country atMiss India Continents 2015!

There were a lot of exciting bits for

Sushrii to join this bandwagon ofCartel alongside some really reflectivefaces from the industry. She loves tokeep things accurate. Since she plays ajunior doctor, while prepping for thecharacter, she revealed that she metdoctors and nurses. She spoke tothem to get a more vivid understand-

ingof

theirpsyche.She alsolearnt

how tocheckbloodpres-sure,

massage coma patients, do stitches,etc!

Being on the set with establishedactors like Supriya Pathak, TanujVirwani, Jitendra Joshi, Rithvik,Girija, and others was such a phe-nomenal experience for Sushrii. “Thecharacter, the story and the star cast -

I was sold! The strengthand intelligence whichVaidehi Kapoor has, res-onated so much with methat I was just ready todive deep into the worldof Cartel. Despite theweb-show being in themaking for a really longtime, it still wasn’texhaustive for me. But,all good things in lifetake time and when ateam of hardworkingand talented peoplecome together, youknow that no matterhow long it takes; theend product will hitmilestones,” adds the‘Miss Diva’ title holder.

With a mixed bag ofemotions, the actressdove right into theshooting mode. Therewere many such memo-ries that she holds onto.For instance, she narrat-ed that she loved theoutdoor schedule; therewere days when all ofthem would sit forlunch together. But thefondest ones have to bethe times she spentspeaking to SupriyaPathak and watchingher perform.

Sushrii says she is aluminous actor, even thememory of it fills herheart with warmth andgives her goosebumps,she says!

“I have worked hard and have givenmy best. The entire team has investedso much love, energy and time in cre-ating this brilliant piece of work. Theshow has been receiving rave reviewssince its launch and I am so happy toknow that it has been received well bythe audience and the critics. If youhaven’t watched the show as yet,please do watch the show and you will be hooked I promise,” she signsoff!

Sushrii learnt how to sutureHER WOUND FOR HER ROLE!

T

D

ctor Iqbal Khan, who is busy jugglingbetween his Punjabi film and Hindi filmschedules, has a jet-setting schedule andhas finished shooting for two web seriesshot in Mussoorie and Rajasthan, both ofwhich are in post-production and will

release by this year-end. He is shooting for Jalsahelmed by Suresh Triveni starring Vidya Balan,Shefali Shah, and Rohini Hattangadi. The actor whois currently shooting for his first-ever Punjabi film,titled Rabb Di Mehar, is quite upbeat about making adebut in Pollywood. “Shooting for Rabb Di Meher hasbeen an incredible experience and I’ve gotten to meetand work with so many happy, positive and amazingpeople. Yes, I am missing both Sneha and Ammara,but like they say; the show must go on,” says Iqbal. He is so busy that he missed twin birthdays thismonth of wife Sneha Chhabra and daughterAmmara.

Talking about the same, Iqbal Khan shares, “I amgrateful to be shooting this whole pandemic.However, this is the first time in all these years that Iwas not with my wife and daughter on their birth-days. We are currently shooting on the outskirts ofJalandhar and even mobile connectivity is an issuehere. However I could manage to connect with thefamily over a video call and will make up for all themoments I missed upon returning home. I haven’tplanned yet what to do due to a hectic schedule, butwill do it on the flight back home.” — PNS

All work andno play for Iqbal Khan

n an effort to braidtogether craft, cul-ture, and textiles,‘Baise Gaba’ intro-duces ‘Hireath’ —some easy-flowing

and fluid garments thatimbibe a sense of effortlesselegance through uniquedesign detailing. With thislatest collection, the curatoraims to bring forth pieces ofclothing that people relatewith, that evoke the feeling ofnostalgia and connect peoplefrom across the globe!

Taking inspiration fromwildflowers that symbolisethe joy of being reminded,the collection is a beautifulmix of royal hues and a pastelcolour palette of yellow,peach, orange, and powderblue. The colour palette andmotifs are inspired byMughal and Persian paint-ings, influences that are com-monly found in the palaces

of Rajasthan. Championingthe craft and techniques ofthe region they are alreadyknown in, this collection alsofinds a versatile expression ofthis, for the coming festiveseason.

The silhouettes range fromflowing anarkalis to A-linekurtas, lehengas to shararas,extravagant dresses, andsarees that are apt for womenacross the globe. Curatingcultures that stand at theforeground of their ethos,this time they have focusedon the minutest detailsthrough the nuances of sil-houettes, fabrics, detailing,and so on. The endeavor is tocreate seasonally agnosticgarments that are en vogueand are timeless additions toyour wardrobe! It also hasthe richness of chanderi cot-ton and modal silk; one ofthe most ornate fabrics andextremely lightweight and

soft. The lustrous and sheerfabrics of chiffon and organ-za collectively enhance theintricate details of everypiece.

Enhancing the intricatedetailing that brings forth a

sense of regal finery, thisamalgamation gives the col-lection a fresh, contempo-rary, and global spin. Let‘hiraeth’ take you on a nostal-gic journey to where yourheart belongs!

Wildflower symbolismon breezy, easywear

I

A

10

Hyderabad Wednesday September 15, 2021what’s brewing?

PAR

TY

l Regina Cassandra

Ph

oto

s b

y S

V C

ha

ry

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

The fifth branch of Sim & Sam —a recreational theme play andgame chain — was inaugurated

by Deputy Mayor Mothe SrilathaShoban Reddy at the Sports Squarein Tarnaka. The new branch is aCircus-themed play area, and iswinning the hearts of children as wellas parents who want their children tohave a healthy, fun playtime.

CHILD'S PLAY

Actress Regina Cassandra inaugurated ZingMode, a lifestyle designing studio at RoadNo 36, Jubilee Hills, founded by Dr Tripura

Rani, Mr Karthik Rachapudi and Dr SmrithiGuruvula. Miss Tripura Rani, left her lucrative joband forayed into salon and spa services,conjured up Zing Mode, which is a place wherepeople can completely “transform their lifestyle”.

LIVING LIFE IN STYLE

l Vennila

l Samyuktha

l Sumit and Neha l Mothe Srilatha and Shoban Reddy

l Sravya

l Shrutha Reddyl Tripura l Anusha

lYa

shvi

l Karthik, Sree Vishnu and Koushik

11

Hyderabad Wednesday September 15, 2021 tollywood

hat GaneshBellamkonda, the sonof producerBellamkonda Sureshis making hisTollywood debut, is

known news. Celebrating theactor’s birthday on Tuesday,the makers of the filmunveiled the title and first lookposter of the movie. TitledSwathi Muthyam, in the firstlook poster, Ganesh is seen ina formal look with a bag on hisshoulders.

Sithara Entertainments, whoare on a roll with multiplemovies in production, arebankrolling this project beingdirected by debutantLakshman K Krishna. VarshaBollamma of Middle ClassMelodies fame will be playingthe female lead in the movie.

Speaking on the occasion,director Lakshman K Kumarsaid, “This story is about a guy

who has an innocent characterlike in Swathi Muthyam. Thefilm is about life, love andthoughts about marriage andhow the opinions change andhow life goes on betweenthem. Family relations andemotions are the main assetsof this film. This movie willentertain every movie-goer forsure.” Presently, the film isunder production with a majorportion of the shoot alreadyfinished. More details will beannounced soon.

Naresh, Rao Ramesh,Subbaraju, Vennela Kishore,Harshavardhan, Pammi Sai,Goparaju Ramana, SivaNarayana, Pragathi, andSurekha Vani, will be seenessaying prominent roles inthe film, which is touted to bea fun entertainer.

The film has music MahathiSwara Sagar and cinematogra-phy by Suryaa.

Ganesh Bellamkondaplays Swathi Muthyam

ctor Rana Daggubati says his filmAranya is very close to his heartbecause he has always supportedthe cause to conserve wildlife andadded that the movie gave him achance to rekindle his love for

nature.“Prabu Solomon (director) insisted we

shoot the film at real locations with the bestpossible natural setting. The movie is veryclose to my heart because I have always sup-ported the cause to save our wildlife,” Ranasays. The actor took a brief 15-day trainingwith Kumki elephant trainers to be able toget into his character Bandev’s shoes.

“The film gave me a chance to connectwith the mighty elephants, adapt to their sur-roundings, and see why they are called theprotectors of the wild. I still remember wehad some shots where all the elephantswalked together, and we could feel theground shake,” he recalls.

Rana adds, “That was the moment I actu-ally felt their mighty presence. Aranya

gave me a chance to rekindle my love fornature.”

The film will premiere on Zee Cinemaon September 18.

ijayDevarakondaand PuriJagannadhcombo is some-thing fans across

the nation cannot wait for.The shooting of their filmLiger, a pan-India film, isunderway. We hear that theteam is heading to Goa toshoot a few high-octanescenes.

Vijay Devarakonda ismaking his Bollywooddebut withthis filmthatstars

Bollywood belle AnanyaPandey as the female lead.

Reports are that themakers erected extrava-gant sets for the scenes.Liger, a highly commer-cial entertainer, has asports backdrop andrevolves around mixed

martial arts tournaments.Actress Ramya Krishna

also has a weighty role inthe film that is being pro-duced by Puri Jagannath,

Charmee, KaranJohar, and ApoorvaMehta.

elping a family near Srirangapatna, Mysore,Prakash Raj gifted a JCB to the family in need,through his foundation Prakash Raj Foundation.

“Empowering a family with a JCB near srirangapatna..Mysore. a #prakashrajfoundation initiative.. The joy ofgiving back to life .. bliss (sic),” tweeted the actor.

H

Tea

m L

iger

hea

ds

to G

oa

T

V

A

AMITHA GHATTI

iganganaSuryavanshi, whowas recently seen inGopichand andTammanaah-starrerSeetimarr is basking

in the success of the film. Theactor-singer, who made herTollywood debut with Hippy, ispresently shooting for a filmwith Sundeep Kishan and isdelighted that she has herhands full for the comingmonths. In an exclusive con-versation with The Pioneer, theactress, a former Bigg Bosscontestant, shares that thescript of Seetimarr underwentmany changes after the castcame on board.

When asked what attractedher to say yes to Seetimarr, theactress says, “It is a typicalcommercial role and is verynative, which was very attrac-tive. Whatever you shoot andsee in the final cut are com-pletely different but for me, itwas the role and intensity ofmy character and the screentime I share has what got meto join the film.”

For Digangana, the entireprocess of Seetimarr has beena journey of its own as theystarted filming for the filmbefore the onset of Covid.

She says, “Although wefaced a rough journeywith Covid, the theatri-cal release of the film issomething I loved. Itwas nice to see peoplego out and watchour film in thetheatres.”

Adding further, she says,“This film is a memorable onefor me because of the amountof time taken in terms of notjust me being a part of the filmbut making the whole film. Itstarted off in a situation wherewe didn’t expect Covid.Anything becoming successfulafter rising through the roughroad is always nice and veryprecious. I am glad that peoplehave the time to come to the-aters and watch the film.”

Seetimarr is an out-and-outcommercial film and is a waveof fresh air for the actress.

Taking through her charac-ter in the film, she explains,“I play Aakrithi in the film.She is a village sarpanch’sdaughter (Rao Ramesh’sdaughter). I play a bubblyquirky role. I found thecharacter to be very stun-ning as she is some-body who is bothsmart and innocentand that’s a goodone to play.”Diganganatells us shelikes play-ing bad-mintonand

inline skating. She even triedher hands (or legs, rather) onfootball and basketball inschool, but she was not thatgreat at those.

Sharing her experience onworking with Rao Ramesh, theactress says, “My first timebeing on sets with RaoRamesh sir was while shootingfor my introduction scene.That whole day was somethingthat I distinctly remember.”

Digangana is extremely fondof biopics and she can’t wait towatch Thalaivi. When asked

whom

would she portray if given achance to work in a biopic, shewas quick enough to nameMadhubala. “Ithink shehas an

interesting life journey.Mughal-e-Azam has been oneof the very iconic films evermade. If I get a chance, Iwould love to work on a biopic

about her,” says she.On a concluding note,

the actress, who is shoot-ing with Sundeep Kishanfor her next, says, “Allthe roles I am going toplay now are complete-

ly different from eachother. It’s quiteinteresting that Ihave got to playdifferent rolesand characters,

and that isvery excit-

ing.”

PLAY MADHUBALADIGANGANA WANTS TO

D

Aranya is very close to my heart: Rana

PTI n DUBAI

Kolkata Knight Riders headcoach Brendon McCullum

says they were “paralysed a lit-tle bit by fear” when coronavirusstruck the first half of the IPL inIndia.

It was KKR spinner VarunChakravarthy and seamerSandeep Warrier, who first test-ed positive for COVID-19 inMay in the middle of the League,which was eventually post-poned.The Purple and Goldbrigade led by England white-ball skipper Eoin Morgan had anunderwhelming first half. Theyare languishing at the seventhspot but McCullum is hopefulfor a strong showing whenaction resumes from September19 in the UAE.

“In regards to the tourna-ment which is upcoming (sec-ond half of the IPL phase), wecan end it right. We can take thegame on and we’re in a situationwhere we need things to go ourway,” McCullum was quoted assaying by the KKR website.

“We need to hit the groundrunning, challenge one anotherprivately, support one anotherpublicly and try and get the bestout of one another in the next 4-5 weeks. Who knows where wecan go with this.

“There were sometimesthroughout the season when Ijust felt we were being paralyseda little bit by fear,” he added.

The virus had wreakedhavoc in India at that time,claiming thousands of lives.

The 39-year-old formerNew Zealand skipper, who start-ed his IPL journey as a playerwith KKR, is hopeful the teamwill be able to get rid of the angstthat had been built in the firstphase of the league.

“I wasn't able to free theguys up enough to understand

that and that's sort of a challengefor me. But it is also a good chal-lenge for the guys as well thatthey need to push the envelopeof their own thinking as well.

“Hopefully we will be able tostrip away a bit of the angstwhich had built up in the firstpart of the season, just go outthere and try and enjoy our-selves.

“That's the ambition that Ihave got for the franchise andhence why I am unapologeticand unrelenting in my belief thatwe need to play a braver style ofplay," he said. Talking about hiscoaching style, McCullum said,“When we left India (after IPLwas called off due to Covid), Ithink everyone understood meas a coach on how I want ourteam to play.”

sport 12HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

AP n SEOUL

Japan and South Korea mayhave wobbled in World Cup

qualification earlier this monthbut their clubs are dominant inAsian competition. Betweenthem, the two two countrieshave won 10 of the last 15 AsianChampions League titles andalso provide seven teams in theRound of 16 of the 2021 tour-nament.

The eastern zone of thecompetition starts the knockoutstage Tuesday with a clashbetween two of the titlefavorites: defending championUlsan Horang-i and Japanesechampion Kawasaki Frontale.

“I came to Ulsan because Iwant to win titles,” Ulsan mid-fielder Valeri Qazaishvili toldthe Asian FootballConfederation’s website.

“I’ve heard a lot aboutKawasaki and I know they’re avery good team who play goodfootball,” Qazaishvili said.

“It's a huge advantage for usto have this match at home inKorea with our fans behind us;to play at home is always spe-cial.”

Both teams are top of theirdomestic leagues. When theAsian Champions League groupstage finished in May, Kawasakiwas way out in front at the topof the J League but one winfrom the last five games has leftthe club just one point clear and

out of the Levain Cup.“We really wanted to win in

the cup game and progress tothe next stage so it is a painfulfeeling,” coach Toru Oniki said.

“We have no time to thinkabout that as we have to lookforward to a tough game in Asiaagainst the champion Ulsanand that gives us a chance to putthe cup exit behind us.”

The other two meetingsbetween clubs from Japan andSouth Korea feature NagoyaGrampus hosting Daegu FCand Pohang Steelers, three-timeAsian champion, traveling toCerezo Osaka. Korea’s Jeonbukwill host BG Pathum United ofThailand.

In the western zone, Tractorof Iran asked the Asian FootballConfederation for its game withAl-Nassr of Riyadh to be post-poned.

The team is struggling toput together the required 18-man roster as it has been hit byinjuries and an outbreak ofCOVID-19.

PTI n BRISBANE

Indian women's cricket teamopener Smriti Mandhana says

her side has improved "massive-ly" since the World T20 finaldefeat to Australia last year andwill be "extra competitive" dur-ing the upcoming series herewhich also features its first day-night Test outing.

India and Australia areset to lock horns in amulti-format series com-prising three ODIs, theday-night Test and threeT20s, starting onSeptember 21. The Testwill be played fromSeptember 30 toOctober 3 inCanberra.

The last timethe two sides metwas at thewomen's T20World Cup finalat the MCG lastyear where thehosts had ham-mered India by 85

runs to lift the trophy."The team has grown mas-

sively (since the T20 WorldCup)," Mandhana told 'TheScoop podcast'.

The Indian squad finishedits 14-day hard hotel quarantineon Monday.

"COVID was a big breakafter the T20 World Cup and a

lot of girls had achance to go backand understand

more about theirgames, where theylack as an individualand come backstronger."

The stylish south-paw said that after the

C O V I D - 1 9enforced break,

the Indian teamis slowly get-ting back intothe rhythm of

playing cricket. "The whole

team has workedon their fitnessand skills...We are

still getting into a rhythm of play-ing matches continuously but thelast five, six months we have beenplaying cricket and now we aregetting back into the match

mindset. Hopefully the seriesgoes well for the whole team"India have reached Australiaafter a multi-format series againstEngland in June and July, while

a few players like white-ballskipper Harmanpreet Kaur, teenbatting sensation Shafali Vermaand Mandhana also featured inThe Hundred tournament.

AP n CAPE TOWN

South Africa is interested inhosting FIFA's Club World

Cup in December after Japanwithdrew because of COVID-19, South African FootballAssociation president DannyJordaan.

Jordaan told The AssociatedPress he would meet with FIFAsecretary general FatmaSamoura in Lagos, Nigeria thisweek to get more details on whatkind of bid South Africa mustpresent to the world body to hostthe seven-team men's tourna-ment. The Club World Cup willfeature European champion

Chelsea and the other five con-tinental club competition win-ners. The league champion fromthe host country also gets aplace.

Japan withdrew last weekamid fears the tournamentwould cause a rise in infectionsin a country that has just stagedthe Summer Olympics andParalympics.

FIFA has yet to comment onthe alternative host, with SaudiArabia also keen to step in. Anextended 24-team Club WorldCup was due to debut this yearin China but it was shelvedbecause the pandemic requiredthe rescheduling of nationalteam competitions in June andFIFA was unable to raise thenecessary funding for theplanned quadrennial event. Sothe seven-team format wasextended for another year.

The South African FootballAssociation must get govern-ment approval to hold the tour-nament and meetings with thesports minister were alsoplanned, Jordaan said.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Forward Shamsher Singh onMonday said winning the

Olympic bronze medal wasjust ticking off one box in thenew beginning for the Indianmen's hockey team, whichaspires to be the world numberone side.

The men’s hockey teamproduced an inspiring per-formance at the TokyoGames, where it edged outGermany 5-4 to claim abronze medal, the country'sfirst in the sport in 41 years.

“We still have a lot of tar-gets to achieve as a team.We have ticked offthe target of win-ning an Olympicmedal but we havebeen striving tobe the best sidein the world inthe last fewyears,” Shamsher wasquoted as saying in aHockey india release.

“We are going to

give everything we have inevery match we play in thefuture, especially in big tourna-ments such as the FIH HockeyPro League. We are confidentthat if we keep improvingmatch by match, then one daywe will surely be the worldnumber 1 team,” he added.

Shamsher said theTokyo Olympics will always

hold a special place “in myheart”.

“I am so lucky to bepart of an Olympicbronze medal-winningteam at such an earlystage of my career. I also

know that this is justthe beginning forus as a team.

“We havethe belief that we

can do even better inthe future and we are

going to work towardsour goals in theupcoming years.”

Askedwhat is that one thingthat helped the Indian

PTI n COLOMBO

Sri Lanka pace veteran LasithMalinga on Tuesdayannounced his retirement

from all forms of cricket after ter-rorising the world’s best batsmenfor over a decade and a half d withhis toe-crushing yorkers deliveredfrom a low and distinct sling-armaction.

A white ball legend in his ownright and one of the greatest T20bowlers, the 38-year-old was cap-tain of Sri Lanka’s 2014 T20 WorldCup winning team. He posted amessage on his social mediaaccount announcing his decision.

“Hanging up my T20 shoes andretiring from all forms of cricket!

Thankful to all those who sup-ported me in my journey, and look-ing forward to sharing my experi-ence with young cricketers in theyears to come,” Malinga tweeted.

“I want to give 100 per cent restto my T20 bowling shoes. While myshoes will rest, my love for the gamewill never ask for rest,” a smilingMalinga added in the video.

Malinga last played a T20Imatch for Sri Lanka in March2020 against West Indies inPallekele.

Malinga, who took a total of546 wickets across all formats forSri Lanka, had already retired fromTest cricket in 2011 and after thatfrom ODIs as well but continued to

play T20Is for the national side.He wasn’t named in Sri Lanka’s

squad for upcoming World Cup.Last year, he had expressed his

desire to lead Sri Lanka in the T20 World Cup, which was

originally scheduled to be held inAustralia in October-November2020 but will be held next monthafter a COVID-forced postpone-ment.

“I am looking forward to helpyoungsters and guide them in thecoming years,” he said as hethanked his national team and allthe franchises that he has played for,including IPL team MumbaiIndians.

Malinga, who has played astaggering 122 IPL matches, has 170wickets to his credit, the highest inthe cash-rich league, with the bestbowling figures of 5/13.

He picked up 107 wickets in 84T20 Internationals, 338 scalps in226 ODIs and 101 wickets in 30Tests.

He was the first bowler to bag100 T20I wickets and finishesfourth in the highest wicket-takercategory in the list behind DwayneBravo, Imran Tahir and SunilNarine.

The Sri Lanka pacer had alsoannounced his retirement fromfranchise cricket in January thisyear after being released byMumbai Indians.

Malinga, one of the best T20

bowlers of all time, was akey figure in the teams heplayed for in the IndianPremier League, the BigBash League, theCaribbean PremierLeague and other fran-chise tournaments.

During his 12-yearstint at Mumbai Indians,he was part of MI's four ofthe five IPL title triumphs buthad opted out of the 2020 tour-nament due to personal reasons ata time when his father was not keep-ing well.

“The experience that I havegained through the past 17 years willno longer be needed in the field sinceI have decided to retire from T20Icricket marking my retirement fromall formats of cricket,” said Malingain a video on his YouTube channel.

He added, “But I will be con-tinuously supporting the youngergenerations who strive to uplift thespirit of the game and I will alwaysbe there with all who love thegame.”

A fearsome pacer known forhis menacing yorkers, the leadingwicket-taker in T20I also has twoT20I hat-tricks to his name.

Malinga also picked up threehat-tricks in ODI cricket, with hisperformance against South Africain the 2007 World Cup in WestIndies etched in history.

“Today is a very special day for

me,” he said.“I want to thank

each and everyonewho supported methroughout my T20journey. I want tothank the Sri Lankancricket board and

team members.And Mumbai Indianscricket team, especial-ly the team ownersand officials.

“I would also liketo thank the teammembers and staff atMelbourne Stars,Kent, Rangpur Riders,Kayana Warriors,Maratha Arabians andMontero Tigers. WhenI played with you all, Igot many experiencesthrough my cricketingjourney.”

AP n MOSCOW

Yuriy Sedykh, a two-time Olympicchampion in the hammer throw

whose world record from 1986 stillstands, has died. He was 66.

The Russian track and field federa-tion said Sedykh died early Tuesday fol-lowing a heart attack. “Deeply mourn theloss of Yuriy Sedykh,” World Athletics

senior vice president and pole vault greatSergei Bubka wrote on Twitter. “For me,Yuriy was a friend, a wise mentor.” Sedykh won gold at the 1976 and 1980Olympics, but missed the 1984 LosAngeles Games because of a Soviet boy-cott. He returned to win a silver medalat the 1988 Seoul Olympics and won aworld title in 1991.

Sedykh threw a world record 86.74

meters at the European Championshipsin Stuttgart, Germany, a mark which stillstands. At this year’s Tokyo Olympics, all12 finalists in the men’s hammer wereborn after Sedykh set the record.

Sedykh made his huge throw at atime when track and field was starting torealize the scale of performance-enhanc-ing drug use.

Former Moscow anti-doping labora-tory director Grigory Rodchenkov wrotein a book last year that Sedykh was “ahuge steroid abuser” who benefited froma Soviet cover-up. Rodchenkov said oneof Sedykh’s samples contained such largetraces of the steroid stanozolol that it con-taminated laboratory equipment.

Sedykh denied doping. In a 2015interview with Russian newspaper SportExpress, Sedykh said athletes' big throwsin the 1980s were because of bettercoaching and the Soviet Union's inten-sive talent scouting program.

After retiring, Sedykh worked inFrance as a physical education teacher.He was married to another Soviet worldrecord holder, shot putter NatalyaLisovskaya. Their daughter Alexia wonhammer gold for France at the 2010Youth Olympics.

Ulsan - Kawasaki rivalryheadlines AsianChampions League

Indian women’s team has improved since T20 WC defeat: Mandhana

PTI n DUBAI

India skipper Mithali Rajwas on Tuesday joined at

the top by South Africa open-er Lizelle Lee, whose unbeat-en 91 in the opening matchagainst the West Indies helpedher take joint-first position inthe latest ICC women's ODIrankings.

While Mithali, whoretains her number one spot,is now tied in first place withLee at 762 rating points, withAustralia's Alyssa Healy inthird place, India openerSmiriti Mandhana also heldon to her ninth spot.

Lee, who first seized thetop position in June 2018 andagain reached the summit in

March this year, scored 18runs in the second match,which also counted towardsthis week's rankings update.

Veteran Indian pacerJhulan Goswami and seniorspinner Poonam Yadavremained static on fifth andninth respectively amongbowlers, while Deepti Sharmamaintained her fifth spot inthe all-rounders' list.

Indian teen star ShafaliVerma held on to her top rankin the T20 rankings with 759points, ahead of AustralianBeth Mooney (744) and

India T20 vice-captainMandhana (716).

There was no movementfor Sharma (sixth) and Yadav(eighth) in the T20 bowlingrankings with the former alsoretaining her fourth spot in theall rounders' list.

In T20 rankings forbowlers, England's SarahGlenn has moved up a slot tosecond position while NewZealand off-spinner LeighKasperek (up seven places to15th) and all-rounder JessKerr (up eight places to 58th)have also moved up the table.

Lee takes joint first position with Mithali

Covid situation had uspetrified: McCullum

E-bidding for new IPL teamsplanned on October 17PTI nMUMBAI

The BCCI is planning to havean e-bidding for the two

new IPL teams on October 17and the bids to buy the sidescan be made till October 5.“The Board is planning to havethe bidding on 17th Octoberand it will be an e-bidding,”sources in the know of thingstold PTI on Tuesday. The BCCIhad on August 31 invited bidsto own an IPL franchise with“Invitation to Tender” availablefor purchase till October 5.

“The Governing Council ofthe IPL invites bids to acquirethe right to own and operate 1

(one) of the 2 (two) new teamsproposed to be introduced totake part in the Indian PremierLeague from the IPL 2022 sea-son, through a tender process,”the BCCI had said in a state-ment.

“Any interested party wish-ing to submit a bid is requiredto purchase the ITT.

“However, only those sat-isfying the eligibility criteria setout in the ITT and subject tothe other terms and conditionsset out therein, shall be eligibleto bid. It is clarified that mere-ly purchasing this ITT does notentitle any person to bid," thecricket body had said.

Olympic bronze medal is justthe beginning: Shamsher

Yuriy Sedykh, hammer throw

world record holder, dies at 66

South Africa interested in

hosting FIFA's Club World Cup

IANS n NEW DELHI

Former Indian cricketerMadan Lal on Tuesday

came out in support of splitcaptaincy theory in India, say-ing it will “ease the pressure onVirat Kohli”. “I guess this couldbe a nice option. We are in avery good position right now.We are lucky that we haveRohit Sharma in the team andwhenever Virat Kohli feels thathe wants to concentrate on oneor two formats then Rohit can

step in, and he has a lot of expe-rience,” Madan told IANS.“So,in a way, I feel it will benefitIndia. I read that Virat is like-ly to step down from captain-cy (of ODI and T20) as hewants to concentrate on his bat-ting, which is a good idea Iguess. India as a team is doinga great job, we have seen thatin England (Test series) recent-ly. So, let's see what happens.”

There are reports thatTeam India limited-over sidecould see a change of leader-

ship after the T20 World Cupnext month with Kohli set totake a big call soon. If Kohlidecides to give up on the cap-taincy, then opener Rohit willtake over the reins in ODI andT20 cricket.

It was also reported thatVirat is planning to take thisdecision since he wants to con-centrate on his batting formwhich has dipped considerablyover the last year. And meet-ings were also held within theBCCI in this regard.

Split captaincy is a good idea,Rohit can lead well: Madan Lal

IANS n RIO DE JANEIRO

The eldest daughter ofBrazilian football legend Pele

has said that her father is expect-ed to move out of intensive carethis week as he recovers fromsurgery to remove a tumour fromhis colon. The 80-year-old under-went the procedure at Sao Paulo'sAlbert Einstein hospital onSeptember 4 after the tumourwas found during routine tests."He is doing well post-surgery, heis not in pain and is in a goodmood (annoyed that he can only

eat jello but will persevere!). Hewill move into a regular room inthe next day or two and then gohome,” Kely said in a post onTuesday morning (IST). Kely saidthe three-time World Cup win-ner has been buoyed by the sup-port of fans from around theworld and praised the work ofdoctors. “He is strong and stub-born and with the support andcare of the brilliant team atEinstein and all of the love,energy and light that the worldis sending, he will get throughthis,” she added.

Pele recovering, set to leaveintensive care: Daughter

Malinga retires fromall forms of cricket

DIGANGANA MADHUBALA

Documents

Transcript of DIGANGANA MADHUBALA