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Padma to headAP MahilaCommission

Muslims urgednot to sacrificeanimals in open

All set forinvestmentmeet todayVIJAYAWADA: DistrictCollector MohammedImtiaz on Thursday inspect-ed the arrangements for theinternational conference oninvestments to be held hereon Friday.

He visited the venue -Hotel Gateway - where del-egates from 35 countrieswould be participating in thediplomatic outreach confer-ence, which is organisedjointly by Union Ministry ofForeign Affairs and the StateGovernment.

Delegates from SouthKorea, Singapore, Austria,Poland, Bulgaria, UnitedKingdom, Netherlands,Canada, USA, Japan,Thailand, Indonesia, SriLanka and other countriesare participating in the con-ference.

VISAKHAPATNAM: TheAnimal Husbandr yDepartment has urged thepeople not to sacrifice ani-mals at the open places onBakrid to be celebrated onAugust 12.

Joint Director of AnimalHusbandry Department DrVA Narasimhulu appealedto officials of police, rev-enue, transport, endowmentand other departments totake preventive measures tocurb possible animal sacri-fice in open places or at reli-gious places. He also urgedthe Muslim community notto sacrifice animals and clickpictures to upload them onthe social media.

VIJAYAWADA: YSRCPOfficial SpokespersonVasireddy Padma has beenappointed as Chairperson ofAP Mahila Commission.She replaces NannapaneniRajakumari who resignedfrom the post onWednesday.

Vasireddy Padma played akey role as off icialspokesperson for the lasteight years. She is known forher strong arguments withthorough knowledge on anysubject.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy on Thursday announceda special aid of Rs 5,000 each tofamilies whose dwellings weresubmerged in the Godavarifloods.

He instructed the officials totake relief and rehabilitationmeasures on a war-footing.The Chief Minister, who under-took an aerial survey of affect-ed areas of East Godavari dis-trict, had a review meetingwith concerned ministers andofficials. He said officials will notbe spared if they showed laxityin helping out the needy.

The relief operations should

be taken up in equal vigour notonly in the submerged areas butalso in other flood-affectedareas, he said and announcedthat in areas where the standing

crops were washed away, seedswould be distributed free of costalong with the special aid.

Continued on Page 4

GODAVARI FLOODS; JAGAN MAKES AERIAL SURVEY

CM orders instantrelief measures

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Thursday strongly defendedhis government's decision torevoke Article 370 in Jammuand Kashmir, saying the provi-sion has not given anythingexcept separatism, corruptionand family rule to the state, andPakistan has used it as a tool tospread terrorism. In his televisedaddress to the nation, Modihailed his government's decisionto revoke the Article as "historic"and said a new era has begun inJammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

"The dream of ShyamaPrasad Mookerjee, Atal BihariVajpayee, Sardar Vallabhai Pateland crores of Indians has nowbeen fulfiled," he said.

Asserting that no one hasbeen able to justify how theArticle 370 and Article 35A wasbenefitting people of the state,the Prime Minister said theseprovisions did not give anythingexcept separatism, corruption,terrorism and family rule.Attacking Pakistan, which hastermed India's move as "unilat-

eral and illegal" and stronglyprotested by downgradingdiplomatic ties, Modi saidPakistan used Article 370 as a"tool to spread terrorism".

"In last three decades, over42,000 people lost their lives," hesaid, adding "we will rid J&K ofterrorism and separatism undernew measures."

He also said over 1.5 crorepeople of J&K were beingdenied benefits of legislationsmeant for the entire country.

Spelling out his government'sdevelopment plans for J&K, hesaid state government employ-ees including police will soon getbenefits on par with employeesof other Union Territories andall vacant posts in Jammu andKashmir, and Ladakh will befilled, creating employmentopportunities. He also assuredpeople of J&K that they will getopportunity to elect their rep-resentatives in a transparentway. "As J&K will see more and

more development. I do notthink it will remain UnionTerritory for long. Ladakh willremain the UT," Modi said.

Earlier this week, the Uniongovernment revoked Article370 to withdraw special status toJ&K and bifurcated the regioninto two UTs — Jammu andKashmir, Ladakh. They alsogot Parliament nod for it.

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday said thatkeeping Jammu and Kashmirunder central administrationfor "a brief period" was a "well-thought move".

l PM hails its revocation‘historic’

l Keeping J&K under Centralrule well-thought move

l Dream of Sardar, Mookerjee,Vajpayee fulfilled: Modi

l Each govt official in J&K toget LTC, HRA & otherallowances

Kia Motors rolls out Seltos at Anantapur plantPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Kia Motors, the world's eighth-largest automaker, onThursday has rolled out theproduction version of its firstcar for India, the Seltos, man-ufactured at its state-of-the-artfacility in Anantapur.

The company announcedthe commencement of massproduction of the Seltos inIndia after testing the vehicleover 20 lakh kilometres indifferent climatic conditionsand some of the most chal-lenging terrains in India.

The first Kia Seltos wasrolled off the assembly line byAmbassador of the Republic ofSouth Korea to India ShinBong-kil and Kookhyun Shim,Managing Director & CEO ofKia Motors India among otherdistinguished dignitaries fromthe State government and KiaMotors India.

Kookhyun Shim, ManagingDirector: "The roll-out of thefirst Seltos is an emotionalmoment for all of us, especiallyfor the people at the plant aswe worked together, relent-lessly to build the future of KiaMotors in India. The invalu-able contribution made by thegovernment of Andhra

Pradesh has enabled us toachieve our target of manu-facturing the Seltos in recordtime. The first Seltos is thesymbol of our promise andcommitment of Kia to theIndian market."

Now, Kia has initiated themass production of the Seltosin record time at its world-class

manufacturing facility inAnantapur and spread acrossthe enormous 536-acre facili-ty with an annual capacity of300,000 vehicles.

This plant will be capable ofproducing hybrid and electricvehicles. The plant inAnantapur is equipped withthe most advanced globaltechnologies such as Roboticsand Artificial Intelligence andis remarkably environment-friendly with capabilities like100% water recycling withinthe plant.

The plant also houses afive-acre training facility offer-ing a Basic Technical Course(BTC) in automobiles for skilldevelopment to provide allthe skills necessary for anentry-level job on the factoryfloor, in the plant.

The Seltos will be BSVIcompliant right from itslaunch. It will be available in

a highly efficient, brand newSmartstream engine that willcome in three variants: 1.5Petrol, 1.5 Diesel, first in seg-ment 1.4 Turbo Petrol, offer-ing the perfect balance of per-formance and efficiency. Themid-SUV offers 3 automatictransmission variants - 7DCT,IVT, and 6 AT along with 6speed Manual Transmissionthereby, giving a range ofengine and gearbox options toconsumers that suit their needsand driving style. The Seltoswill be launched on August 22,and bookings are being accept-ed across all Kia dealerships in160 cities along with the Kiaofficial website.

Since the commencement ofpre-booking on July 16 KiaSeltos has already gatheredrecord-breaking bookings of23,311 in a short span of just3 weeks, as per the latest reportissued by the company.

Shin Bong-kil and Kookhyun Shim, Managing Director & CEO of Kia Motors Indiaat the launch of the production version of Seltos in Anantapur district on Thursday

PROTESTS AGAINST NMC BILL

Healthcare services hitadversely across StatePNS n VIJAYAWADA

Healthcare services at govern-ment-run hospitals acrossAndhra Pradesh were para-lyzed on Thursday as the doc-tors went on strike to protestagainst the National MedicalCommission (NMC) Bill, 2019.

As many as 500 junior doc-tors and medicos participated ina protest rally on BRTS roadamidst tight security here.

They demanded the UnionGovernment to rollback theNMC Bill, which was a threat topublic life. Students raised slo-gans against the bill and blamedthe Union Government forpassing it without consultingexperts. They alleged that thecommittee had less number ofdoctors appointed by the gov-ernment while drafting theNMC bill.

The junior doctors allegedthat the NMC bill provided achance of six months training toprescribe allopathic medicine bythe unqualified allopathic doc-tors like AYUSH doctors.

They said that the otherunqualified doctors would pre-scribe with a shot-term trainingwhich would be a risk to thepatient.

They further informed that asa doctor they have to study fornearly six years and also attemptNEXT exam for obtainingMBBS certificate or to join inthe post-graduation.

However, other doctors com-plete their medical education injust 6 to 7 months of trainingand start prescribing allopath-

ic medicines. "This is an outra-geous decision of the UnionGovernment," they said in uni-son.

They condemned policehighhandedness in Vijayawadaand Tirupati on doctors staginga peaceful protest.

Patients at King GeorgeHospital in Visakhapatnam,Ruia Hospital in Tirupati andother hospitals in Vijayawada,Guntur, Kurnool and othertowns were also suffering due todoctors' strike.

PNS n HYDERABAD

While irrigation projects in theKrishna basin are brimmingwith inflows, those in theGodavari basin are yet toreceive any inflows and are infact not in a position to meetthe need of water for irrigationpurposes. In the case ofKrishna basin, the Jurala pro-ject is full and the SrisailamProject is expected to becomefull in the next two days andinflows have started into theNagarjuna Sagar Project. Ason Thursday evening, withwater at 874 ft (FRL 885) inSrisailam with live storage of162 TMC, officials let outabout 90 cusecs to NagarjunaSagar Project, bringing cheersto farmers under NSP ayacut.

However, irrigation pro-jects in Godavari basin presenta contrasting picture, withnone of the projects receivingany inflows, in spite of heavyrains in Maharashtra andother catchment areas.

The Sri Ram Sagar Project(SRSP) received just 12213cusecs inflows in the last 24hours.

Projects inGodavari basinyet to take off

President gives assent NEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind has given his assent tothe National Medical Commission Bill, 2019, which was passed byboth Houses of Parliament, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhansaid on Thursday. "It will be notified in the Gazette soon. After that,rules will framed and the NMC will be constituted subsequently. Allthese will be done within six months," Vardhan said. "It is a hugeand visionary reform in the medical education sector by the NDAgovernment under the leadership of our visionary Prime MinisterNarendra Modi-ji, and will prove to be a milestone in the years tocome," he said.

Pranab Mukherjeereceives Bharat RatnaPNS n NEW DELHI

Pranab Mukherjee - formerPresident and a life-longCongressman respected acrossparty lines -- has received thecountry's highest civilianaward, the Bharat Ratna, fromhis successor President RamNath Kovind. The award cer-emony at the RashtrapatiBhawan this evening wasattended by top leaders,including Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, who hailed

him as the "outstanding states-man of our times" when thenames of the recipients wereannounced in January.

Two others received theaward posthumously — icon-ic singer Bhupen Hazarikaand Nanaji Deshmukh, one ofthe founding members ofBharatiya Jan Sangh, whichlater evolved into the BJP.

Mr Mukerjee's term asPresident of India, a postenabled by the Congress,ended in 2017.

Thieves steal brandy truck, leave alcohol intactPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Kanchikacherla police recov-ered a truck carrying a liquorconsignment, which was stolenin the wee hours of Sunday onthe Hyderabad-Vijayawadahighway in Andhra Pradesh.

The truck was carryingbrandy bottles worth morethan Rs 56 lakh, and was on its

way from a bottling unit to aliquor depot. The theftoccurred near Kanchikacherla

village in Krishna district.Senior police officials said thatthe truck was recovered froma location a few kilometresaway from the spot where thetruck went missing.

"It was an area with manyempty plots. We received infor-mation about the truck.Through CCTV footage, wetraced the theft to a man called

Charan. On inquiring, weinferred that he had been plan-ning to sell the liquor with fourof his associates," the officialssaid.

Ironically, the thieves didnot seem to have consumedany of the liquor. The five menwere arrested and produced incourt, after which they weresent to remand.

Pakistan torelease APfishermenPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Despite the strained relationsbetween India and Pakistanover scrapping of Article 370,Islamabad has agreed torelease 20 fishermen fromnorth Andhra who have beenlanguishing in Karachi jailsince Janauary last year. Priorto their release in phases, thePakistan government agreedto allow the family membersto meet them first, saidVizianagaram MP BellanaCandrasekhar on Thursday.

He said Rajya Sabha mem-ber V Vijaysai Reddy influ-enced the Ministry of ExternalAffairs to get a breakthrough.He said before they wereleased in phases, they will beallowed to meet their familymembers very soon.

He said five fishermen fromBhoagapuram andPuysapatirega mandal and 15from Matyalesa village ofSrikakulam district wereworking in a mechanized fish-ing boat in Virawal in Gujarat.

During January last year,they strayed in Pakistanwaters accidentally while fish-ing and were arrested byPakistan Coast Guard. Theywere put in Karachi jail sincethen.

Gold likely to hit Rs 40K mark in a weekPNS n HYDERABAD

Given how aggressively goldhas gained quite in the pastfew days, people are cur-rently in wait and watchmode. Experts pre-dict that in about7-10days, theyellow metal islikely to hitRs40000 markfor 10gramsgold in India.The surge ongold prices isbecause the inter-national investors arecoming back to investing onmetal. With the trade ten-sions between US and China,investors no longer want tobet on stocks and depend onDollar value.

On Thursday, 24-carat goldsaw Rs39000 for 10gramwhich is highest ever for themetal in the country. Duringthe month of Ashadam the

sales were typically low,however, the sales

haven't picked upsince the onset ofSravanam. Varal a k s h m iVratham isbeing celebrat-ed with gold

coins of lessweight this year.

The sales is 25-30percent less in the

city. However a trend wit-nessed across the city is that,people are preferring toexchange old gold to avoidfeeling pinch of the pricerise.

Art 370 sparked separatism, aidedPak to stoke terrorism: Modi

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated August 8, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Shravana & Shukla PakshaPanchangamTithi : Navami 10:00 amNakshatram: Anuradha 09:59 pmTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 10:46 am – 12:21 pmYamagandam: 03:31 pm – 05:06 pm

Varjyam: 03:50 am - 05:31 am

Gulika: 07:36 am - 09:11 amGood Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 11:21 am - 12:59 pmAbhijit Muhurtham: 11:56 am - 12:46 pm

VIJAYAWADAWEATHERForecast: CloudyTemp: 34/26Humidity: 76%Sunrise: 05.57Sunset: 06.45

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CAPSULE

CLASS X RESULTS:GUNTUR SECURESFIRST PLACEVIJAYAWADA; Minister forEducation Dr AdimulapuSuresh on Thursdayannounced the Class X andIntermediate Open Schooladvance supplementaryresults. He informed that theadvance supplementary examwas held at 60 variousexamination centres acrossthe State and 14,676candidates attended for ClassX examination and 9,382candidates passed with apass percentage of 63. 93pass percentage. Theintermediate examination wasconducted at 47 examinationcentres and 14,077candidates attended theexamination and 7,478 werepassed with a passpercentage of 53.12 per cent. The minister said that inClass X students from GunturDistrict secured the firstposition with 80 per centpass percentage and KadapaDistrict secured the lastposition with 30 per centpass percentage in Class X.In intermediate examinationresults, Prakasam secured thefirst position with 71.96 passpercentage and WestGodavari secured the lastposition with 33.49 passpercentage.

KURNOOL,ANANTAPUR POSTWINSVIJAYAWADA: Kurnooldefeated Chittoor by fivewickets while Anantapurscored a 41-run victory overNellore in the ACA SouthZone Senior One Day CricketTournament at Anantapur onThursday.Anantapur made243 for six in the allotted 50overs and in reply, Nellorewas all out for 202 in the46th over. In the other match,Chittor made 306 for five inthe looted 50oves and inreply Kurnool reached thetarget with five wickets spare.Karan Shine (158) andKamruddin (119) slammedcenturies. The scores:Anantapur 243 for six in 50overs (M. Raju Kullayappa 78,G. Sampath Kumar 47, B.Vinay 37, Indu two for 66,Harikrishna two for 54) btNellore 202 in 45.1 overs(Farhad Khadri 42, Indu 33,TVS Sai Swaroop 36, ChandraMouli three for 12 , K. Nareshtwo for 52). Chittoor 306 forfive in 50 overs (HemadriNaidu 72, Sivaram 58,Manjunath 54, A.V Surya 47)lost to Kurnool 310 for five in48.3 overs (Karan Shinde158, Kamruddin 119, HariKrishna five for 46).

ANDHRA BLUEMAKE 313 VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Blue,powered by half-centuries by PSubrahmanyam, K Surya Kianand Harshavardhan, made 313in 90.5 overs against Himachalat stumps on the second dayin the Popular Cup tournamentat Mulapadu here on Thursday.No play was possible betweenBengal and Andhra Greenowing to rain. Scores: AndhraBlue 313 in 90.5 overs (PSubrahmanyam 74, K SuryaKiran 65, Harshavardhan 51,Lakshaya Raj 4/76) vsHimachal Pradesh 55 for onein 25 overs (Raghav Angra 32).

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | AUGUST 9, 2019 vijayawada 02

We want to give Jagan sixmonths time: BJPPNS n VIJAYAWADA

BJP’s National SpokespersonGVL Narasimha Rao onThursday said that it was tooearly to comment on the func-tioning of Jagan Governmentand added that BJP would liketo give him six months’ timeto judge his administration.

Speaking to media persons,he said the TDP was showndoors by the voters for hiswrong-doings and Jaganshould not repeat the mistakescommitted by his predecessor.“Jagan should realise that thereis no point in raking up issueswith Centre which it is notwilling to pursue. Presentingan old issue on a new letter-head is not going to helphim,” he added, indirectlyreferring to Jagan’s demand onSpecial Category Status.

He said Jagan should coop-erate with Centre and workalong with it for the overalldevelopment of AndhraPradesh.

He said the JaganGovernment should come outwith a proposal to build theport at Ramayapatnam, whichwill be beneficial to people ofPrakasam and NelloreDistricts. “TDP did not takeany initiative to help theCentre and Jagan should notfollow the TDP method. Itshould give all the necessaryinputs regardingRamayapatnam to the Centreand help build a major mod-ern port”.

He said as a Member ofParliament, he had brought tothe notice of the House (Rajya

Sabha) the travails of thetobacco farmers in AndhraPradesh and Ramayyapatnamport issue and met the con-cerned ministers.

He also said efforts will bemade to fulfil the remainingdemands of the APReorganisation Act 2014.

BJP leader said that bothHouses of the Parliament tooka historic decision by passingJ & K Reorganisation Bill thus

ending Article 370 concessionto the valley.

“For 70 year Congress wasnot interested in repealing thetemporary concession. Exceptfor corruption, no devilmenttook place in J & K underCongress rule, which was pur-suing vote bank politics”.

He said with the creation oftwo Union territories (UT),the people of J&K and Ladakhwill get more job opportuni-ties and development will takean upswing. “Even regionalparties like TDP, AAP andYSRCP, which deferred withBJP on policies, voted for thescrapping of Article 370. Theysupported BJP in the interestof the nation”.

He said as many as 32 billsof the proposed 35 werepassed at both the hoses ofParliament with an encourag-ing majority.

BJP’s National Spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao addressing a press meet inVijayawada on Thursday

Jagan shouldcooperate with Centreand work along with itfor the overalldevelopment of Andhra Pradesh— GVL Narasimha Rao

VMC plans to relocatepeople living in hillsG RAVI KIRANn VIJAYAWADA

Vijayawada MunicipalCorporation is trying to relo-cate residents living in hillareas in the city as frequent hillslides are endangering them. Aproposal has come forwardthat people on hill areas will bevacated and those areas will bedeveloped with greenery andclosed with fencing preventingfurther encroachments.

VMC has taken up an actionplan to execute a pilot projectin this regard.

They want to identify a placeof 100 residents and then startdiscussions with them of relo-cation. After convincing themthey will be allocated con-structed houses in theGovernment Projects likePMAY.’

Houses on the hills ofVijayawada have a history ofnine decades. The workerscame for the construction ofPrakasam Barrage started resid-ing on these hill areas.

Then onwards, peoplemigrating to Vijayawada foremployment purpose and thosewho had no home chose toclimb the hill and settle downwith a home. Later, subsequentGovernments have also recog-nized these areas and arrangedwater, power and other infra-structure.

There are five hill areas in theVijayawada. Indrakeeladri,Gollapalem Gattu,

Mogalrajapuram, Machavaram,and Gunadala are well-knownin the city. The hill area rangesfrom 10 meters to 250 meterscovering 8.5 square kilometres.Almost two lakh people areresiding in these areas.

K. Annapurna, a resident ofKreesturajapuram said: “Weare paying taxes. We are ques-tioned and blamed by theMLAs and MPs for construct-ing homes on a hill. We requestthe Government to protect usfrom hill slides”.

Municipal Commissioner V.Prasanna Venkatesh said:“Constructing retaining wallsfor the protection from hillslides is not possible because ofenvironmental issues. For thesafety of those people who areliving in hill areas relocation isthe only way possible. We aretrying to convince them andthe Government is ready toprovide alternative housing inthe city”.

But, the problem is that theresidents who are living fordecades don’t want to relocate.They are not interested to livein PMAY houses as they arecongested apartments.

G. Savitramma, a hill arearesident said: “Durga Templehad the problems of hill slides.The authorities constructed aretaining wall and arrangedfencing. Why don’t they do it inour areas?

Only political motivationcan only convince the people ofhill areas to relocate.

HILL SLIDE-PRONE AREAS IN VIJAYAWADAVMC CCircle Division Location

1 33 Ramarajyanagar, Aggipette vari veedhi1 29 Sitara Theatre (Church Road)1 30 Lambadipeta1 31 Tailorpet1 32 Kartika Mastan Veedhi1 34 Potula Aadeyya Veedhi, Dokkara

Papaiah VVeedhi1 25 Mallikarjunapet3 3 Vijayanagar, Arun Nagar3 6 Ramalaya Veedhi, Venkataswamy St3 19 Kasturibaipet, Khaja Yelamanda St

Houses on the hills of Vijayawadahave a history of nine decades. Theworkers came for the constructionof Prakasam Barrage startedresiding on these hill areas

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The consumer redressel forum-II in Vizag city rapped Air AsiaIndia Ltd for deficiency of ser-vice and asked to Pay Rs25,000as compensation for causingtrouble, mental agony and panicsituation along Rs2,500 as liti-gation cost to a woman pas-senger Aswathy Balakrishnan.The airlines has also beendirected to pay the air-ticketsamount of Rs17,944.

In her complaint, the 33-year-old woman AswathyBalakrishnan, working as assis-tant professor at DakshinaBharat Hindi Prachar Sabha, inErnakulam District of Kerala,said she often traveled to hernative place from Vizag.

She booked ticket with AirAsia Airlines to fly from Vizagto Bengaluru (Departure 11.05am and Arrive at 12.40 pm) andBengaluru to Cochin(Departure 2.30 pm and arrivalat 3.45 pm) on January 14, 2019.When she was on her way toVizag Airport, she received aSMS from Air Asia that theVizag-Bengaluru flight isdelayed by about 45 minutesand the schedule departurefrom Vizag Airport was at 12.45pm.

Aswathy Balakrishnanreached the Vizag Airport andexpressed her difficulty to theAir Asia ground staff person atthe Airport that she might notable to board the flight fromBengaluru to Cochin in timebecause of the delayed flight andrequested the staff to postpone

the ticket next day to avoid riskof missing the flight toBengaluru to Cochin.

However, the Air Asia staffrefused to postpone and assuredthat the flight from Vizag toBengaluru will reach at 2 pmand they also further informedthat they will inform to theirBengaluru counterpart aboutthe delay of the Vizag flight toBengaluru and also about thepassenger details and they willtake care about the luggage andboarding from Bengaluru toCochin. The staff also assured

that she will reach well beforethe time to board the flight fromBengaluru to Cochin and issuedboarding passes for Vizag-Bengaluru flight and also forBengaluru-Cochin flight

Aswathy reached BengaluruAirport, she came to know thather connecting flight(Bengaluru to Cochin) hadalready left. Though sherequested the Air Asia staff toticket to next flight to Cochin,they replied that the next flightto Cochin at 9.30 pm only.Citing that it was difficult toreach her hometown fromCochin during night, she decid-ed not to travel in the flight.Though Aswathy is a diabetic,the staff didn’t provide anyfood and water to her.

After repeated requested, thestaff arranged a ticket to Vizagfrom Bengaluru at 6.20 pm.Having no option, the womancame back to Vizag and she hadgiven written complaint to con-cern authorities and she alsoapproached the consumerforum seeking compensationfrom the Airlines.

Though the forum servednotices to the Airlines, there wasno representation from themaangement. The forum led byPresident CV Surya Bhaskaramand Lady Member K Sarojaopined that Air Asia staff inVizag misled the passenger andalso caused mental agony. Theyobserved that it was the defi-ciency in service of the Airlines.The forum asked the Airlines topay compensation along withthe flight charges.

Though the forumserved notices to theAirlines, there was norepresentation from themaangement. Theforum led by PresidentCV Surya Bhaskaramand Lady Member KSaroja opined that AirAsia staff in Vizagmisled the passengerand also causedmental agony

Consumer forum asks Air Asia to return fare

Complainant faked Rs 20 lakh robberyPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The police arrested a manwho complained of robbery ofRs 20 lakh from him byunknown persons while hewas carrying the cash to thecompany at Port road onWednesday. The policecracked the case within 24hours after the accusedfumbled to answer thequestions. The casewas personally han-dled by the commis-sioner of police RPMeena.

The accused SrinivasRao on Wednesdayevening claimed that while hewas carrying cash worth Rs 20lakh to his companysome unidentified per-sons waylaid andattacked him and

snatched the cash bag from hisscooty. He told the police in hiscomplaint that he resisted in

the robbery andin the process

s u f f e r e dinjuries to hishands.

Srinivas, a native of Nellore,has been working for SiriTransport Company. Recentlyhe went to Bangaluru and col-lected an amount of Rs 19 lakh.He withdrew another Rs 1 lakhfrom State Bank of India,Gajuwaka branch and was onhis way to deposit the moneyat the company’s head office in

city. He said while he reachedPort Road, he was attackedby two bike borne crimi-nals who took away thecash after attacking him.

The police who took thecase on priority basis sus-pected that he was telling lieswhich they could make out byhis incoherent answers. Laterthey found out that Srinivasfaked the robbery to take awaythe cash for himself. He wasproduced in the court andremanded to judicial custody.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Noted Telugu actress MadhuShalini unveiled theVaralakshmi collection -‘Mangala’ - a jewellery expo,for the fashion-consciouswomen of Vijayawada com-prising waist belts, harams,chotis and necklaces at theTBZ here on Thursday.

The outfit announced Rs 1per gram for making on goldjewellery which is an unbe-

lievable offer to the customers.Presenting the collection,Madhu Shalini said that TBZ-The Original- was launchingexclusive jewellery designs forits customers regularly. “It’s amoment of pride to be invit-ed by the iconic jewellerybrand to grace ‘VaralakshmiVratham’ at their store inVijayawada”.

This collection featuredexquisite designs inspired bythe rich culture, heritage of

India. Showcasing the mostintricate designs by the crafts-men at TBZ, the beauty andheritage were brought to life inthe collection.

The designs are embellishedwith precious and semi-pre-cious stones, which are visuallyheavy yet light and wearable.

The collection can be styledwith traditional Indian wearand also make an interestingfusion with contemporarywear.

Telugu actress Madhu Shalini unveilingVaralakshmi collection 'Mangala' inVijayawada on Thursday.

Actress Madhu Shalini unveils jewellery collections

A rich SCOPE haul for HPCL PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

In a remarkable feat, HPCLbagged six of the 12 categorieshonours for which were up forgrabs in the SCOPE CorporateCommunication ExcellenceAwards 2019. HPCL clinchedmaximum number of awardsamong all central public sectorenterprises (CPSEs) at a glit-tering function held in NewDelhi.

SCOPE CC ExcellenceAwards strive to recognizeexcellence and praise worthyefforts in the field of PublicRelations & CorporateCommunications in PSEs, witha special emphasis being placedon creativity and out-of-the-box ideas.

HPCL bagged first prizes inBest Annual Report andInnovative Stakeholder

Interface and second prize inBest House Journal (Hindi).And, it clinched third spot inBest House Journal (English)and Best CorporateCommunication Campaign &Program – InternalCommunication.

Rajeev Goel, CGM (PRCC)was adjudged as the PublicRelation & CorporateCommunication Person of theYear.

The awards were presentedby former Sikkim Governor DrBP Singh.

The awards were finalizedafter the evaluation of 183entries in record time in themost stakeholder-friendly andtransparent manner by TeamSCOPE. The Jury presided bythe InformationCommissioner consisted ofeminent personalities rangingfrom civil servants, academi-cians, communication & mediaprofessionals.

HPCL bagged firstprizes in Best AnnualReport and InnovativeStakeholder Interfaceand second prize inBest House Journal (Hindi)

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

A black stone sculpture of aBuddha seated in 'padmasana'was found in Meduru village inVuyyuru Mandal, Krishna dis-trict.

Based on the information vil-lagers Loya Srinivasa Rao andJonnalagadda Ramulu, BuddhistArchaeologist E. Sivanagi Reddyinspected the idol on Thursdayas part of ‘Preserve Heritage forPosterity’, a heritage awarenesscampaign launched by CulturalCenter of Vijayawada andAmaravati. He said that the idolwas recovered from below theground level during the con-struction of Rama temple.

It is also said that the Buddha,seated in full Padmasana inDhyana mudra (contemplatingmeditation) with representedAmitabha Buddha, datable to the12th – 13th centuries AD.

Reddy said that the upper partof the idol above the chest wasmissing and was restored withcement by the local masons. Hehas sensitised the villagers to shiftit to inside the Rama temple tosafeguard it from sun and rain.

“Similar Amitabha Buddhasculptures of the same periodwere reported from Amaravati inGuntur District Motupalli inPrakasam, Kantheru andKollapattu in Nellore, addedReddy.

A black stone sculpture of a Buddha was found in Meduru village in VuyyuruMandal, Krishna district on Thursday

Black stone sculpture ofBuddha found in Meduru

Plastic ban: DC conductssurprise checksPNS n VIJAYAWADA

District Collector Imtiaz con-ducted surprise checks on afew hotels at Krishnalanka asa part of the 'ManaVijayawada' programmemeant to execute the ban onplastic carry bags.

He visited Satya Sai Teaand Tiffin Centre andSrinivasa Tiffin Centre atNalla Gate centre.

The Collector appreciatedboth of them for not usingplastic cover and providingcloth bags instead of plastic.He appreciated them formaintaining the bananaleaves instead of plasticpapers for serving tiffins.

He appealed the publicand the owners of otherhotels to take them as aninspiration to avoid plastic forthe better future.

EGGRATES

` 37,270 (10 gm)

` 620

GOLD

` 43, 600 (1kg)

` 700

HYDERABAD 315VIJAYAWADA 339VISAKHAPATNAM 352RETAIL PPRICE `3.39

SILVER

VIJAYAWADABULLION RATES

`/100

CHICKENRATES

Dressed/With Skin `136

Without Skin `155

Broiler at Farm `94

`/KG

(IN VIJAYAWADA)

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | AUGUST 9, 2019 vijayawada 03

CAPSULE

VIJAYASAI ELECTED TO OFFICE OF PROFIT PANELNew Delhi: Five Rajya Sabhamembers were electedunopposed to the parliamentaryjoint committee on office ofprofit, sources said on Thursday.According to sources, the MPselected unopposed to the jointcommittee are Mahesh Poddar(BJP), K Keshava Rao (TRS), YVijayasai Reddy (YSRCP), DolaSen (TMC) and Sasmit Patra(BJD). The committee has 15members -- 10 from Lok Sabhaand five from Rajya Sabha. It islearnt that the members fromLok Sabha have been elected aswell. The chairman of thecommittee is still to benominated. Meanwhile, RajyaSabha Chairman M VenkaiahNaidu nominated BJP MPRakesh Sinha as a member ofthe Press Council of India.

Youth ends lifeafter losing bet Hyderabad: A 21-year-old stu-dent, studying in a privatedegree college committed sui-cide by hanging himself at hishome on Wednesday. Officialssaid he took the extreme stepafter losing Rs 40,000 in a crick-et bet. The deceased, RaviKumar, a resident of VengalraoNagar in Borabanda was pursu-ing his first year in BSC atPrathiba degree college,Kukatpally.According to thepolice, Ravi owed a personnamed Rajashekar, Rs 40,000after losing a cricket bet.Rajashekar kept on harassinghim to pay the money. Ravi'sfather then sold property to paythe gambling debt. However,Rajashekar continued to harasshim for another Rs 40,000.Unable to bear the constantharassment, he hanged himselfto a ceiling fan. The SR Nagarpolice have registered a case andlaunched an investigation.

Depressed womancommits suicideHyderabad: A 35-year-oldwoman who was depressedafter not being able to con-ceive committed suicide byhanging herself at Kismathpurin Rajendranagar on Thursday.The deceased, P Aruna wasmarried to Ramgopal and wereresiding at Kismatpur.According to the police offi-cials, the couple were marriedfor 12 years and have nochild. Aruna was undergoingtreatment at a private hospital,but her condition remained thesame. She then slipped intodepression. In the wee hoursof Thursday, her husbandfound her hanging to the ceil-ing fan in their bedroom. TheRajendranagar Police said thatno suicide note was found.Officials registered a case andare investigating the incident.

V Vijaysai Reddy

Minister to bring down school for a complexPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister for EndowmentVelampalli Srinivas surprisedthe locals of Division 41 withhis proposal to turn a deteri-orating Municipal HighSchool to a swanky commer-cial complex.

The Minister came outwith the suggestion aftercounting the number of stu-dents in the school.

He suggested to theCommissioner to shift thestudents to Kowta Subba RaoMunicipal School and studythe feasibility of constructinga commercial complex onthe school premises.

Ironical ly, the YSJaganmohan Reddy StateGovernment has taken a pol-icy of encouragingGovernment schools andconducting drives to increasestudents in the GovernmentSchools. Amma Vodi schemeis meant for that purpose.

But, the Minister came upwith a proposal which is

against the policy. Instead ofrenovating the school he pro-

posed a commercial solu-tion, which did not go down

well with many.He instructed officials to

identify the beneficiaries andallocate housing to all. Thelocals approached theMinister and sought housingallocations. They said theywere making wooden boxeson the roads and they don'thave a shelter.

The Minister responded totheir appeal and asked theofficials to collect detailsfrom them and list out thebeneficiaries.

He asked engineering offi-cials to prepare estimationsfor CC roads in Katt iRamaiah Street, Ponnuru VariStreet, Lakshman Rao Street,Saibaba Gudi Street, andGantivari Street.

Former Floor Leader ofYSRC in VMC, Punya Seela,EE Koteswara Rao, AssistantMedical Off icer IqbalHussain, Assistant City Planner Jagadish, andDeputy Executive EngineerRanga Rao participated in theevent.

Ironically, the YS Jaganmohan ReddyState Government has taken a policy ofencouraging Government schools andconducting drives to increase students inthe Government Schools. Amma Vodischeme is meant for that purpose

Minister for Endowment Velampalli Srinivas inspecting Division 41 in Vijayawadaon Thursday.

Don't test people'spatience, Naiduwarns JaganPNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP Chief N ChandrababuNaidu lashed out at YSRCGovernment alleging thatsince two months, attacks byYSRCP leaders have increasedand police has been reduced tobeing mute spectators. Hewarned that if there is no endto it, there will be trouble fromall quarters. He told the rulingparty not to test the patienceof the people, any longer.

He was speaking to theparty cadre from Jaggaiahpetaconstituency, who came andmet Naidu. They spoke to theformer chief minister about afamily from Vatsavi area,which lost their house in analleged attack by local YSRCPleaders. After explaining theproblem, the cadre brokedown. Naidu responded byasking party leaders to imme-diately provide the family witha sum Rs 50,000.

He said, "The YSRCP lead-ers have been constructingwalls on the roads, warningpeople to vacate villages,obstructing agriculture worksin the fields and demolishinghouses. Jaganmohan Reddy

should answer to the situa-tion."

Lending support to Naidu,Sri Charan from Melbourne,stated that he is in Australiawith a good job thanks toNaidu's vision.

He said, "There is no needfor getting demoralised afterthe electoral defeat. The ballwill rise after hitting on theground. Likewise, TDP willrise again. KIA cars are run-ning in drought-hit areas likeAnantapur, only thanks to theinitiatives taken up by Naidu,"he said.

TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu giving a cheque to family members of a victim,who was allegedly attacked by YSRCP workers in Jaggaiahpeta constituency

He was speaking to theparty cadre fromJaggaiahpetaconstituency, who cameand met Naidu. Theyspoke to the former chiefminister about a familyfrom Vatsavi area, whichlost their house in analleged attack by localYSRCP leaders

Be sincere, Minister tells Village VolunteersPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister of Transport PR PerniVenkataramaiah on Thursdayasked village volunteers toperform their duties with aview to serve the people. Hewas participating in a trainingprogramme for them.

He said the announcementof village volunteer postsshowed the far-sightedness ofChief Minister JaganmohanReddy.

He directed the selected vil-lage volunteers to coordinatewith village secretariat employ-ees.

He further said that byimplementing all his promis-es made by Chief Minister YSJagan, the party would formthe government again in 2024.

The Minister directed thevolunteers to perform dutiesethically without any pressureor temptation. He also said thatthere were 1.3 crore ration

cards in the State and the gov-ernment was spending nearlyRs 9,000 crore to distributerice.

"YSRC Government has pre-pared to supply quality rice topeople in 5,10,15 and20 kgspacks and the volunteers haveto distribute them to the card-holders," he said.

The Minister directed thevolunteers to performduties ethically without anypressure or temptation. He also said that therewere 1.3 crore ration cards in the State

‘Polavaram was Babu's ATM’VIJAYAWADA: YSRCongress Party NationalGeneral Secretary and RajyaSabha member, V VijaysaiReddy on Thursday recalledon Twitter that during late DrYS Rajasekhar Reddy's tenureAndhra Pradesh had bounti-ful rains.

Farmers saw an era of pros-perity for the five years duringhis regime. "Now RajannaRajyam has returned under theleadership of YS Jagan MohanReddy and reservoirs are over-flowing with abundant water.Farmers are overjoyed with theprospects of a good harvest,"Vijaysai Reddy tweeted.

He alleged that TDP ChiefN Chandrababu Naidu offeredBJP to merge the party for thesake of escaping from corrup-tion cases. He tweeted that itwas surprising that still, Naidudoesn't know why TDP gotdefeated. In an earlier tweet,Vijaysai Reddy recollected thatit was YSR who secured therequired permissions forPolavaram project and initiat-ed it with a view to irrigating7 lakh acres and providing 960MW of power. He further saidthat Chandrababu Naidu treat-ed Polavaram project only asan ATM.

Yanamala questions Jagan on his meetingt with PMPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Former minister YanamalaRamakrishnudu lambastedChief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy, question-ing whether the meeting withPrime Minister NarendraModi was his personnel ben-efits or would it in any waybenefit the people of the State.

The Chief Minister hadreleased a press note onThursday regarding his meet-ing with Modi.

Yanamala questioned theCMO on why a copy of thedocument presented to thePrime Minister was notreleased. He further asked thegovernment why they did notreveal the response of thePrime Minister and otherministers, instead of listingtheir requests.

Yanamala said, "Will youstart the Polavaram projectonly after the Centre releasesfunds? If that is your policy,then how do you expect tocomplete the project? We haveutilised State budget and com-pleted 70 percent of the work."

He also referred to the CM'sdelay in developing Amaravatias the capital. "Why is theresuch dilly-dallying when itcomes to Amaravati? Youdon't want to construct

Amaravati it seems."He wanted to know why

Jagan did not ask for compen-sating the deficit amount fromthe Centre. He said, "You haveblamed us for incurring somany debts. We have taken Rs22,000 crore per year.However, you have mentionedRs 48,000 crore in your firstyear. Why such double stan-dards?"

He said Jagan did notachieve anything during threeNew Delhi tours.

Yanamalaquestioned the CMOon why a copy of thedocument presentedto the Prime Ministerwas not released. Hefurther asked thegovernment whythey did not revealthe response of thePrime Minister andother ministers,instead of listing theirrequests

Take up leveling work, Collector tells officialsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

District Collector Md Imtiazon Thursday ordered officialsto take up leveling work at theZilla Parishad High School atRamavarappadu, which is cre-ating inconvenience to stu-dents and teachers during therainy season.

He visited the ZP highschool personally andobserved the problems facedby the children. He was accom-panied by Sarva SikshaAbhiyan Project Director,Prasad Babu and Deputy DEOChandrakala.

The Collector said that a

total amount of Rs15 lakh wasneeded for leveling the groundat the school and asked theSSA authorities to submit areport to him.

He chided the Panchayati

Secretary for diverting theflow of sewage water into theschool, which caused healthproblems to school children.

He said that the administra-tion will take measures todevelop the infrastructures inschools to fulfill the vision ofthe Chief Minister.

He visited the ZP highschool personally and observed theproblems faced by the children

CPI-M flays YSRCP, TDP standPNS n VIJAYAWADA

CPI-M politburo memberNilotpal Das on Thursdayblamed YSRCP and TDP forgoing with BJP to ensuresmooth passing of the J &KReorganisation Bill 2019 inParliament.

Speaking to media persons,he said it was unfortunate thatboth these regional partieswhile demanding special cat-egory status to their State,were keen on helping BJPscrap the status of anotherState. He said the Centre didnot take into account thosewho pledged their allegiance to

India while pursuing the act. He said that BJP made a

mockery of the IndianConstitution, federalism andwent against the will of thepeople of Kashmir while pass-ing the J &K ReorganisationBill 2019.

He said it was sad the Centrepurposefully did not conductthe assembly election in J&Ksoon after the parliamentary.

He questioned how theCentre can assume the role ofthe assembly when it was not

functioning.He said the crucial and sen-

sitive decision was taken whenthe country was facing an eco-nomic crisis. "The country'seconomy is in shambles. Ten outof 17 auto companies are in red.Unemployment is more in thelast 45 years. The recent govern-ment data confirmed the real-ity of unemployment. Evenwhile the country is facing asevere agrarian crisis the Modi-Shah combine is only botheredabout national security".

CPI-M politburo member Nilotpal Das addressing a press meet in Vijayawada onThursday

It wasunfortunate that

both theseregional parties whiledemanding specialcategory status to theirState, were keen onhelping BJP scrap thestatus of another State

— Nilotpal Da

Device for stroke victims launchedPNS n HYDERABAD

The Indian Inst itute ofTechnology Hyderabad'sCenter for HealthcareEntrepreneurship(CfHE)-Incubated Startup BeAbleHealth on Thursdaylaunched 'Arm Able', aninteractive arm training reha-bilitative device offering asolution for arm rehabilita-tion.

The product is aimedtowards neuro-rehabilitationof stroke victims and motorrehabilitation of victims withupper limb motor deficit dueto conditions such as cerebralpalsy, multiple sclerosis, trau-matic brain injury, fracture orfrozen.

BeABle, founded by CfHEfellow Habib Ali, a biomed-ical engineer and roboticist,launched the product duringthe graduation of third batchof CfHE fellows. As many aseight fellows have graduatedin the third batch. A total of16 fellows have graduatedfrom all the three batches.

CfHE offers a prestigiousFel lowship program inHealthcare Entrepreneurshipfocused on biodesign innova-

tion through a structuredand fast-paced one year cur-

riculum.The fellows enrolled in

this program undergo a thor-ough immersion in clinicalenvironment to identify theunmet needs. This is fol-lowed by training in needsanalysis, solutions and busi-ness plan development.

"This is not a traditionalprogram that awards adegree. We want to under-stand and address the ques-tion of what it takes to bringa medical product from anunmet need in the clinic tothe people who wants to useit," said Prof Renu John, Co-Head, CfHE, IIT Hyderabad,and Head, Department ofBiomedical Engineering, IITHyderabad.

BeABle Founder and CfHEFellow Habib Ali said BeAbleHealth was committed toenabling health and livethrough design and technol-ogy.

"We are solving the needfor an intensive and engag-ing, rehabilitation therapyfor individuals with upperextremity motor deficit atclinic and home, which canminimize the burden on thetherapists, without compro-mising on the quality of ther-apy," he said.

The product is aimed towards neuro-rehabilitation of stroke victims and motorrehabilitation of victims with upper limb motordeficit due to conditions such as cerebralpalsy, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury,fracture or frozen

Propertyoffender arrestedhyderabad: A 53-year-oldman involved in 26 prop-erty offences was arrestedby Nacharam police onThursday. Gold ornamentsworth Rs 1.80 lakh werealso seized from his pos-session. The accused wasidentified as Shaik AbdulJaffar alias Md Safiuddinalias Jaffar, an auto driverliving at Mini BrindavanColony in Tolichowki. Thearrest was made after Jaffarstole 5.9 tola gold orna-ments from Uppal. Theinvestigation of the caseled to his arrest onThursday. He has a crim-inal history and wasinvolved in as many as 26property offences in thelimits of Malakpet,Madhapur, Kukatpally,Amberpet, Meerpet,Miyapur, Uppal, Dundigal,Saroornagar, KPHB, AsifNagar, Neredmet, LangerHouse police station lim-its, said Nacharam policeinspector M Mahesh.. Hewas booked under relevantSections and sent in judi-cial remand.

PD Actagainst drugtraffickerHyderabad: Rachakondapolice detained a drug ped-dler from the Visakhapatnamagency area under PD act onThursday. In an ongoingdrive against offenders,Rachakonda police commis-sioner detained a drug ped-dler identified as KamojiKondal.

He was involved in threeganja trafficking cases inRachakonda and AP since2017, said commissionerMahesh Bhagwat. Policearrested the man and hisgang members on June 11and recovered 185 kg ganjafrom their possession.

Uttam claimsShah ‘insulted'TS people Hyderabad: TPCC chief NUttam Kumar Reddy hasalleged that Union HomeMinister Amit Shah had"insulted" the people ofTelangana by stating that theBill granting separate state-hood for Telangana was passedbehind closed doors inParliament. Mentioning thatShah made the questionablestatement during the discus-sion on Article 370, UttamKumar questioned the"silence" of TRS MPs in thisregard and asked them tospecify whether Shah wasright in commenting on thecreation of Telangana state.

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | AUGUST 9, 2019 region 04

Hamriyah Free Zone invites AP entrepreneursPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The time is ripe for Indianbusinesses, which is growing ata fast and steady pace led by itsentrepreneurs, to benefit fromthe advantages provided byHamriyah Free Zone (HFZ)and expand globally intonewer markets, MuhamedBasheer, Head of InternationalPromotions Hamriyah FreeZone Authority, Sharjah, UAEhas said while interacting withthe members of the APChambers of Commerce andIndustry Federation here onThursday.

In a bid to attract moreinvestments from Indian busi-nesses in existing and new sec-tors, a delegation fromHamriyah Free Zone met theAP Chamber members toshare the details of benefitsbeing offered, inviting themfor investments while under-standing the requirement ofIndian businessmen.

While emphasising the need

for more investment in HFZ,Muhamed Basheer, remarkedIndia is one of UAE's primarytrade partner accounts forthirty per cent of the totalinvestment received by HZFand is their largest market, fol-lowed by Europe and UK.With 6,500 companies fromacross 157 countries, of which1500 are from India, theHamriyah Free Zone not onlyoffers fully convertible curren-cy and a multi-access toEurope, Africa, US and theLatin American countriesthrough land, sea and air, butalso provides investmentincentives like total exemption

of - import and export tax,commercial levies and corpo-rate profit tax, personalincome tax and 15-year renew-able leases. It also allows for100 % repatriation of capitaland profits and hundred per-cent company ownership.

While welcoming the dele-gates, Federation President, GSambasiva Rao, saidInternational trade withMiddle East countries formsan important aspect in ourglobal trade. The facilities andthe attractive incentivesoffered in the free zone in theregion is extremely helpfulfor our entrepreneurs in fur-

thering their business activi-ties. He underscored the needto develop free trade zones onsimilar lines of Hamriyah FreeZone (HFZ) in AndhraPradesh especially inVisakhapatnam which will begive much needed boost forthe exporters thereby pro-pelling the region's economy.

The idea of the free zone isto raise FDI investments inexisting as well as new seg-ments that were not developedpreviously.

Jayesh Bahadur--IndiaRepresentative, CRIF GulfDun & Bradstreet, Dubai saidIn the past, HFZA organizedroad shows across all Indiancities to enlighten the poten-tial Indian firms the advan-tages offered by the freezone.More than 60 participantsincluding K.Kumar Raja, VicePresident of AP Chambers, ONaresh Kumar, Director, APChambers and other corecommittee members were pre-sent.

Workshop on Water &Waste Mgmt Policy PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

As a part of EPLC fellowship(Eco Peace LeadershipCentre), a voluntary organi-zation, India Youth ForSociety, crusading the wasterecycling campaigns, willorganize a three-day work-shop on Water & WasteManagement Policy fromSaturday.

Interested youth and stu-dents can turn up at theGandhi Centre, Dr LBCollege by 10am on all thethree days.

Prof. V Balamohandas,Former Vice-Chancellor,Achar ya NagarjunaUniversity will inaugurate theworkshop.

The theme for workshopon first day is- Water Act-andit will be presented by ProfPVV Prasada Rao, Head ofthe Dept of EnvironmentalSciences, Andhra University.

Waste Act & Management,Municipal Solid Waste, PlasticWaste Rules and E-WasteManagement Rules would be

covered in the sessions, saidAppala Reddy Yendreddi,President, IYFS. Interested

people can contact NakkaHarsha Vardhan on 77994-32464.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Union Minister of State forSteel, Faggan Singh Kulastesaid the Steel Ministry isinteracting with other min-istries to increase the con-sumption of steel and reachthe target of 300 MT by 2030-31 as envisaged in theNational Steel Policy 2017.

He was on a visit to VizagSteel Plant here on Thursday.

RINL management, led byPK Rath, CMD, RINL, wel-comed him on arrival at HillTop Guest House.

The Union Minister inau-gurated an ultra-modernBlood Component SeparatorEquipment at Blood Bank inVisakha Steel GeneralHospital. The advantage ofthe equipment is that one unitof whole blood can be givento four different recipients fordifferent requirements ofcomponents of blood likepacked cells, platelets, FFTand cryoprecipitate.

He also visited Vizag SteelPlant 's Model Room &Awards Gallery, Coke OvenBattery, Blast Furnace-3, Steel

Melt Shop-2 and Wire RodMill-2.

Rath explained about thelatest know-how and the facil-ities incorporated in the plantoperations. The Minister washighly impressed with thegreen and clean environmentprevailed inside the plant and

termed Vizag Steel as "Mosteco-friendly Steel Plant inthe country".

Later, the Minister wasshown a corporate presenta-tion by the management.

Speaking to senior manage-ment personnel, he said thatthe Union Government wasfocusing on infra develop-ment, housing projects, roadprojects among others in thecountry, which largely helpthe steel industry to come outwith present challenging sit-uation. He emphasized tofocus on safety, quality andproductivity to succeed inthe competitive market andadded that MOS wouldextend all necessary supportto RINL in its endeavortowards excellence.

KC Das, Director(Personnel), VV VenugopalRao, Director (Finance), DKMohanty, Director(Commercial) and seniorofficials were present on theoccasion. He also interactedwith the representatives ofSteel Executives Association,unions, WIPS, OBC andST&ST association.

Police to collaborate with Andhra UniversityPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Director General of Police.Gautham Sawang has saidthat the police departmentwould collaborate with theAndhra University in takingup new initiatives to bring inradical changes and reformingthe policing system.

The DGP was speaking atan interaction meeting withthe Vice-ChancellorProf.PVGD Prasada Reddyand other officials of AndhraUniversity here on Thursday.

Describing policing as ser-vice oriented, the DGP saidthat the new governmentunder the leadership of ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanaReddy was taking measuresto revamp the policing byinvolving public participa-tion.

He appreciated the sugges-tion made by Vice-ChancellorProf PVGD Prasad Reddy onintroduction of virtual polic-ing in universities and otheracademic institutions. Hewelcomed the idea of virtualpolicing and said that hewould take inputs from the

Vice-Chancellor to introducethis novel model of virtualpolicing.

Prof Prasad Reddy said thatthe University would extendits expertise and would like tocollaborate with the policedepartment in all its activities.He said that emphasis hasbeen given to discipline and

quality of teaching andresearch in the University.The Vice-Chancellor felici-tated the DGP on the occa-sion.

The Rector, Registrar,Principals and other officerswere present on the occasion.

PK Rath, CMD,RINL explaining the Model of the plant to Faggan Singh Kulaste, Union Minister of State for Steel

The Union Minister inaugurated anultra-modern Blood ComponentSeparator Equipment at Blood Bank inVisakha Steel General Hospital

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Home Minister M Sucharitha,along with Women and ChildWelfare Minister T Vanitha,visited Andhra University hereon Thursday.

The ministers paid floraltributes to Dr BR Ambedkhar,first vice-chancellor of AndhraUniversity CR Reddy,Mahatma Gandhi and YSRajasekhara Reddy statues inthe varsity campus. Both theministers were received by

university Rector Professor MPrasada Rao and RegistrarProfessor V Krishna Mohan.

Speaking on the occasion,Sucharitha said that AndhraUniversity was one of the bestin India and has excellentprofessional teachers and thestudents are succeeding intheir respective professions.AU Prinicpal J Ravi, SC, ST,BC Employees WelfareAssociation President Prof PArjun and students were pre-sent.

HM VISITS AU CAMPUS

DGP Gautam Sawang talking to media in Andhra University in Visakhapatnam onThursday. Vice-Chancellor Prof PVGD Prasad Reddy is also seen

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

In a unique bid to prevent girlsfrom falling prey to cyber crim-inals, Andhra Pradesh policeadministration on Thursdaysensitized them about their safeuse and how they can registercyber complaints with police,which will keep their identity asecret. The initiation comesafter observing that youngwomen and girls were becom-ing soft targets for cyber crim-inals.

The police administrationhas opened a Facebook page -AP Police Women Safety CyberSpace - to update the youngwomen with the emergingtrends in technology. The vic-tims can also inform their griev-ances on this Facebook page.

Without disclosing theiridentity, women can file com-plaints against the cyber crim-inals. They can also dial 100(police emergency service), andother two additional toll-freehelpline numbers - 112 and 181to seek help. WhatsApp num-ber 9121211100 was also pro-vided to get in touch withpolice.

The experts have warnednot to upload original pictures

on any web platform. They askgirls to search their photo onGoogle Images to knowwhether their pictures werebeing misused online.

Hyderabad-based cyber intel-ligence firm eSF Labs founderA Anil suggested the gatheringto "turn on" Windows Defenderon their computer as it "acts asa free antivirus" on any deviceusing Windows version. Healso advised them not click onsuspicious links that come in themessage alerts and turn off themobile data/Wifi while notusing the phone and cover thefront camera with a sticker.

Mentioning different casestudies, he explained how fraud-sters hack the smartphones, e-mails and social media profilesto do internet-enabled crimes.

CM orders instantrelief measuresContinued from Page 1

In the low lying areas ofPolavaram special aid alongwith a free supply of seeds,will be providedThe Chief Minister enquiredabout the s ituat ion inDevipatnam and other areaslying on the upper side ofDowaleswaram.He said that the water levelat the construction site atPolavaram should be takeninto consideration instead ofthe water level atDowaleswaram and stepsshould be taken to rehabili-tate those evacuated fromthe submerged villages and

low lying areas. He said rehabilitation ofPolavaram displaced per-sons should be taken up ona war footing.

Those who attended thereview meeting includedDeputy Chief Ministers PilliSubashchandra Bose, AllaNani, State Ministers KKanna Babu, Viswaroop,Ani l Kumar Yadav,Ranganadha Raju and MPMargani Bharath.

MLAs Jakkampudi R aja , DhanalakshmiBalaraju, KarumuriNageswaraa Rao and KSatyanarayana and con-cerned officials.

Federation President, G Sambasiva Rao, saidInternational trade with Middle East countries formsan important aspect in our global trade. The facilitiesand the attractive incentives offered in the free zonein the region is extremely helpful for ourentrepreneurs in furthering their business activities

He welcomed the ideaof virtual policing andsaid that he wouldtake inputs from theVice-Chancellor tointroduce this novel model of virtual policing

Cops give tips to young women using smartphones

Union Minister visits Vizag Steel

Jagga welcomesCentre's decisionon J&KHyderabad: Congress MLAfrom Sangareddy T JaggaReddy has stated that theleaders in Congress have thefreedom to express their per-sonal opinions on anything,unlike any other party. Statingthat Shyam PrasadMukherjee and Sardar Patel,whom BJP praises, wereworked as Ministers inCongress government, hesaid and added that there wasnothing wrong in speakingagainst abrogation of Article370 by the Congress leaders.He exhorted that leaders inCongress have full freedom toexpress their personal opin-ions.

"Some Congress leadersspoke against abrogation ofArticle 370.

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | AUGUST 9, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

Sushma Swaraj'sashes immersed inriver Gangamroha (Uttar Pradesh): Ashesof former External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj wereimmersed in river Ganga atBrajghat, Hapur in UttarPradesh on Thursday amidchanting of mantras. The ritualswere performed by SushmaSwaraj's daughter Bansuri. Thedeceased minister's husbandSwaraj Kaushal, Meerut-HapurMP Rajendra Aggrawal,Bharatiya Janata Party leaderSudhanshu Mittal and otherswere also present. A specialprayer was performed at thePublic Works Department guesthouse at Garh in Hapur beforeSushma Swaraj's ashes weretaken for immersion in a boat.Sushma Swaraj, who touchedmillions of lives by turningTwitter into a helpline, died ofcardiac arrest on Tuesday at theage of 67. She was crematedwith full state honours onWednesday.

Eight students hurt asclassroom roof caves in

NEW DELHI: The Governors ofTripura, Gujarat and Nagalandon Thursday called on PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.Ramesh Bais, Acharya Devvratand R N Ravi were recentlyappointed as Governors ofTripura, Gujarat and Nagalandrespectively. Devvrat wasearlier the Governor ofHimachal Pradesh The PrimeMinister's Office posted onTwitter pictures of the threemeeting Modi separately.

Nagaland, Tripura,Guj Governors meet Modi

GONDA (UP): Eightschoolchildren in the age groupof 5 to 8 were injured onThursday when part of the roofof their classroom collapsed onthem in Uttar Pradesh's Gondadistrict, police said.The incident occurred in theafternoon at the DariyapurPrimary school, run by thestate Basic Educationdepartment, SP Raj KaranNayyar said. They were rushedto the local community healthcentre from where they weretaken to the district hospital forbetter medical care, the SPsaid, adding the students aresaid to be out of danger. Senioradministrative and policeofficials visited the school andalso met the injured, he added.

Governor of Tripura Ramesh Baiscalling on Prime Minister NarendraModi in New Delhi on Today

PNS n AGRA

A record number of fatalaccidents on the YamunaExpressway has neitheralarmed nor proved a deter-rent to speed crazy car dri-vers.

The Agra RTO has a sentan E-challan to the owner ofa Mercedes which zoomedpast at 214 km per hour lateon Monday night. CCTVcameras recorded the move-ment of the car at the 108thmilestone.

Corridor in-charge ManishSingh sent the speed data tothe Agra RTO Anil Kumarwho sent a Rs 2,000 E-chal-lan to the owner and recom-mended cancellation of thedriving licence.

The Mercedes has aPuducherry-registered num-ber plate.

After the tragic death of 29people in an early morningaccident on the Expresswayin July, the state governmenthas stepped up vigil andtaken a series of steps to con-trol speed driving.

State Roadways drivers arebeing tested for alcohol con-sumption periodically and aconstant watch is being kepton speeding vehicles.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Land is already under growinghuman pressure and climatechange is adding to these pres-sures. At the same time, keep-ing global warming to wellbelow 2 degrees Celsius can beachieved only by reducinggreenhouse gas emissions fromall sectors, including land andfood, the IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change(IPCC) said in its latest reporton Thursday.

The IPCC, the world bodyfor assessing the state of scien-tific knowledge related to cli-mate change, its impacts andpotential future risks and pos-sible response options, saw theSummary for Policymakers ofthe Special Report on ClimateChange and Land approved bythe world's governments onWednesday in Geneva,Switzerland.

It will be a key scientificinput into forthcoming cli-mate and environment negoti-ations such as the Conference

of the Parties of the UNConvention to CombatDesertification (COP14) inNew Delhi in September andthe UN FrameworkConvention on ClimateChange Conference (COP25)in Santiago in Chile inDecember.

"Governments challengedthe IPCC to take the first evercomprehensive look at thewhole land-climate system. Wedid this through many contri-butions from experts and gov-ernments worldwide," saidIPCC Chair Hoesung Lee.

"This is the first time inIPCC report history that amajority of authors -- 53 percent -- are from developingcountries."

This report shows that bet-ter land management can con-tribute to tackling climatechange, but it is not the onlysolution.

Reducing greenhouse gasemissions from all sectors isessential if global warming is tobe kept to well below 2 degrees

Celsius, if not 1.5 degrees.In 2015, governments

backed the Paris Agreementgoal of strengthening the glob-al response to climate changeby holding the increase in theglobal average temperature towell below 2 degrees Celsiusabove pre-industrial levels andto pursue efforts to limit theincrease to 1.5 degrees.

Land must remain produc-tive to maintain food securityas the population increasesand the negative impacts of cli-mate change on vegetationincrease. This means there are

limits to the contribution ofland to addressing climatechange, for instance throughthe cultivation of energy cropsand afforestation.

It also takes time for treesand soils to store carbon effec-tively. Land is a criticalresource, says the IPCC report.

"Land plays an importantrole in the climate system," saidJim Skea, Co-Chair of IPCCWorking Group III.

"Agriculture, forestry andother types of land use accountfor 23 per cent of humangreenhouse gas emissions. At

the same time, natural landprocesses absorb carbon diox-ide equivalent to almost a thirdof carbon dioxide emissionsfrom fossil fuels and industry,"he said.

"Land already in use couldfeed the world in a changingclimate and provide biomassfor renewable energy, but early,far-reaching action across sev-eral areas is required," saidHans-Otto Portner, Co-Chairof IPCC Working Group II.

The report shows how man-aging land resources sustain-ably can help address climate

change, and is beneficial for theconservation and restoration ofecosystems and biodiversity, hesaid.

According to the report,when land is degraded, itbecomes less productive,restricting what can be grownand reducing the soil's ability toabsorb carbon. This exacer-bates climate change, whileclimate change in turn exacer-bates land degradation in manydifferent ways.

"The choices we make aboutsustainable land managementcan help reduce and in somecases reverse these adverseimpacts," said Kiyoto Tanabe,Co-Chair of the Task Force onNational Greenhouse GasInventories.

The report also says thatcoordinated action to addressclimate change can simultane-ously improve land, food secu-rity and nutrition, and help toend hunger.

It highlights that climatechange is affecting all four pil-lars of food security: availabil-

ity (yield and production),access (prices and ability toobtain food), utilization (nutri-tion and cooking), and stabil-ity (disruptions to availability).

"Food security will beincreasingly affected by futureclimate change through yielddeclines, especially in the trop-ics, increased prices, reducednutrient quality, and supplychain disruptions," saidPriyadarshi Shukla, Co-Chairof IPCC Working Group III.

Responding to the IPCCreport, Britain-based ChristianAid's Global Climate LeadKatherine Kramer told IANS:"The global food system con-tributes up to a third of ourtotal greenhouse gas emissionsand needs to change."

"It is crazy that malnourish-ment is a problem even forover-consumers in rich coun-tries, often through lack of fruitand vegetables and over con-sumption of meat, while peo-ple in poor countries continueto suffer from a lack of avail-able food."

Farming, eating, trends affecting climate change: IPCC report

PNS n NEW DELHI

In what could spell some badnews for the Railway passen-gers, booking e-ticket onIndian Railway Catering andTourism Corporation(IRCTC) may cost more as thefor Railways ticketing arm ismulling to bring back servicecharges levied on e-tickets.

Sources told Zee Mediathat the Finance Ministry haswritten a letter to the Railwaysdepartment asking it to use itsdiscretion on levying servicecharge on booking onlinetickets.

This was reportedly neces-siated after the FinanceMinistry expressed its inabil-ity to provide Rs 88 crore thatthe ticketing arm had to bearafter withdrawal of servicecharges on booking e-tickets.Notably IRCTC had to incurhuge losses post demonetiza-tion when it decided to pro-mote digital India by with-

drawing service charges ononline tickets. The FinanceMinistry had assured Railwaysthat it will compensate for thelosses that the ticketing armhad to bear owing to the deci-sion, sources further said.

Sources said that IRCTCmay again impose a servicecharge of Rs 20 on bookingonline tickets for sleeper classand Rs 40 for booking ticketsfor Air Conditioned class.

The IRCTC board meetingwill soon be held where thedecision on bringing back ser-vice charge may be taken,sources added.In order toincentivise cashless transac-tions through online booking,IRCTC had withdrawn servicecharge on booking online tick-ets during several intervals,and extending the deadlinemultiple times. This to a pointthat from November 2016uptill now, no service chargeon booking e-tickets are beinglevied.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Wing CommanderAbhinandan Varthaman, whohad shot down a Pakistani F-16 near the Line of Control(LoC) in February resulting inhis capture and subsequentrelease by Islamabad, is likelyto be decorated with the VirChakra, one of India's top mil-itary honours, defence sourcessaid on Thursday.

Along with Abhinandan,pilots of the five Mirage-2000fighter jets, who had droppedbombs on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorlaunch-pad in Balakot area inPakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunhkwa province, arealso likely to be decorated withVayu Sena medals.

"The final list of gallantryawardees will get the nodfrom President Ram NathKovind on August 14. Onlyafter the list has been formal-ly approved by the Presidentcan we disclose the names ofawardees to the general pub-lic," a senior Indian Air Forceofficial said.

Abhinandan had strayedinto Pakistan territory aftershooting down the F-16 dur-ing a dogfight that had takenplace on February 27. His

own aircraft, a MiG-21 Bison,had been hit by a missile forc-ing him to eject from thefighter jet before it crashland-ed in Pakistan.

Pakistani security forceshad captured Abhinandan,but released him to Indiaaround 60 hours later at theWagah border.

The bombing of the JeMterror facility in Balakot wascarried out by India in retali-ation of a terror strike inJammu and Kashmir'sPulwama on February 14 inwhich 40 Central ReservePolice Force personnel werekilled.

The Vir Chakra is the thirdhighest wartime militaryaward in India.

PNS n AGRA

The Uttar Pradesh Police hasregistered a case against 200people after a man wasallegedly thrashed in Agra onsuspicion of being a childlifter.

The incident comes lessthan 48 hours after MadhyaPradesh Police arrested ninepersons in Khargone district inconnection with a similar inci-dent.

The case in Agra took placeon Tuesday but came to lighton Wednesday when videofootage of the assault wasbrought to the attention of thepolice.

Circle Officer Sadar, Agra,Vikas Jaiswal, told reportersthat a case has been registeredagainst 200 people. He addedthat city police was in theprocess of identifying theaccused with the help of videofootage of the incident.

Pak closes 3 air routesfor Indian carriersPNS n NEW DELHI

Amid rising tension betweenIndia and Pakistan over therevocation of Article 370 of theConstitution ending specialstatus to Jammu and Kashmir,Islamabad has closed downthree out of nine air routes forIndian carriers.

The move, second this year,would affect national carrierAir India's flights going toEurope, the US, and MiddleEast among others.

Flying time of around 50flights will increase by about10-15 minutes.

"The major route which weuse for our long haul flights arestill open and hence the impactis not much right now but wehave got initial inputs that theremaining air routes will beshut.

"The impact will be huge asflying time for our ultra longhaul flights using Pakistaniairspace would increase by 2-

3 hours," a senior Air Indiaofficial told IANS.

The flag carrier had suffereda massive loss of Rs 430 croredue to another air space clo-sure by Pakistan following theBalakot airstrike by the IndianAir Force in February.

The current closure of airspace is being seen as retalia-tion by Pakistan to India'sdecision ending the autonomy

given to the state of Jammu &Kashmir.

On Wednesday, Pakistandowngraded diplomatic tieswith India and also suspend-ed trade. It has also told Indiato withdraw its HighCommissioner to Pakistan.

While the air space closurewould affect Indian carriers,Pakistan is also expected totake massive financial hit.

Kolkata to get world's 1st museumon Chaitanya MahaprabhuPNS n KOLKATA

The world's first museum ded-icated to the life and teachingsof 16th-century saint and socialreformer, ChaitanyaMahaprabhu is ready to beinaugurated at the city'sBaghbazar Gaudiya Math onAugust 13, an official said.

Chief Minister MamataBanerjee will inaugurate thetechnically-enabled 'SriChaitanya MahaprabhuMuseum' built to preserveinformation related to thegreat saint.

"The museum is the dreamproject of Gaudiya Missionwhich will be a reality after it'sinauguration on August 13.Amidst the prevalent cruelty,clashes or say intolerant situa-tions in our society, we wish toshowcase Mahaprabhu's teach-ings and vision and serve thesociety," Bhakti NishthaMadhusudan Maharaj, the mis-sion's assistant secretary andmuseum in-charge told IANS.

The Gaudiya Mission, a spir-itual and philanthropic organ-isation established in 1935,propagates the teachings ofSri Chaitanya and theVaishnava faith. It has manycentres in India and temples inLondon and New York.

He said that they aimed atspreading the message acrosssociety and not just keep itrestricted to the devotees. Theywant researchers, intellectualand scholars to avail of thelibrary facilities and experiencea detailed life of Mahaprabhu

by visiting the museum.The museum is a three-

storey structure built on anarea of approximately 1,350square metres and includesgalleries, public utility areasand a library.

Each floor is dedicated todifferent phases of the saint'slife starting from his birth, hismarriage with Vishupria, jour-ney throughout the country upto the period after he attained'Sanyasa' (sainthood).

Life-size models, 3D films,audio tracks and animatronics

will ensure maximum engage-ment of the visitors. The muse-um has been designed by theNational Council of ScienceMuseums (NCSM).

While the museum seeks toplay a key role in creatingawareness among the presentgenerations, its primary objec-tive is to preserve all the evi-dence of Vaishnava heritage,living traditions as well as theintangible heritage which aredisappearing very fast," theofficial page of the museumsaid. A rich collection ofresources such as the saint'smemorabilia, artefacts, manu-scripts, rare books, pictures andother valuable exhibits are ondisplay. People can even get aglimpse of hsi original hand-writing. Also, there is an audi-torium, archive, meditationroom, Library, space theatreand a canteen.

Multimedia display, lightand sound illustrations havebeen used for an immersiveexperience.

PNS n NEW DELHI

NHRC Chairperson Justice H LDattu has said that protection ofthe rights of prisoners withmental health issues is an oblig-ation of state governments.

The rights panel chief raisedthe issue during a day-longnational level review meeting onmental health, hosted by theNHRC at India InternationalCentre here on Wednesday.

The protection of the rightsof prisoners having mentalhealth issues is an obligation ofstate governments underSection 103 of the MentalHealthcare Act, 2017, as alsoemphasised by the SupremeCourt in one of its recent judg-ments, Dattu said.

In his address, the NationalHuman Rights Commissionchairperson also said theefforts to improve mentalhealth care in the countryhave been made but a "hugegap" still remains between therequirements and availabilityof facilities in the sector.

Flagging it as a matter of seri-ous concern for the commis-sion, he said consistent with itspolicy to monitor the mentalhealth sector, it felt necessary toevaluate the ground realitiespost implementation of theMental Healthcare Act, 2017.

"There is a requirement of13,500 psychiatrists but only

3,827 are available. Against therequirement of 20,250 clinicalpsychologists only 898 are avail-able. Similarly, there is an acuteshortage of paramedical staffalso," Dattu was quoted as say-ing in a statement by theNHRC.

Sanjeeva Kumar, special sec-

retary in the Ministry of Health,emphasised the need for moreactive participation of all stake-holders and highlighted theefforts made by the Centretowards improvement in themental healthcare sector.

Only 19 states have imple-mented the Mental HealthcareAct so far, he said, adding that10.6 per cent of the adult pop-ulation in the country suffersfrom mental health issues,which is a "huge number"requiring holistic concept ofsafety nets, legal frameworksand medical care facilities.

He appreciated the NHRCfor its efforts in bringing dif-ferent stakeholders to discussthe subject and improve the sit-uation through collaborativeapproach.

Earlier, Jaideep Govind, sec-retary general of the NHRC,gave an overview of the com-mission's several engagementswith reference to the mentalhealth.

He said that some stateshave introduced good practiceswhich need to be replicated byothers.

Union Health SecretaryPreeti Sudan and representativesof the various Union ministries,state governments, state humanrights commissions, the MedicalCouncil of India and NursingCouncil of India, among otherswere present in the meeting.

In his address, theNHRC chairpersonalso said the effortsto improve mentalhealth care in thecountry have beenmade but a "hugegap" still remainsbetween therequirements andavailability of facilitiesin the sector

H L Dattu

State govts' obligation to protectrights of mentally ill prisoners

PNS n NEW DELHI

Four men have allegedlyassaulted Steel Authority ofIndia Ltd (SAIL) ChairmanAnil Kumar Chaudhary andhis driver after their carbumped into another vehicle insouth Delhi, police said onThursday.

Two of the assaulters in theincident on Wednesday nighthave been arrested by police,whereas the other two areabsconding.

"At around 10.50 p.m. onWednesday, two bikes of thehighway patrolling staff of

Defence Colony saw a manbeing beaten up by four mennear Hudco Place, AugustKranti Road. The staff imme-diately rescued him and caughttwo of the accused," said VijayKumar, Deputy Commissionerof Police (South).

"The two injured were iden-tified as Chairman of SAIL,Anil Kumar Chaudhary, andhis driver N.K. Pathak, whowere going towards Siri Fort,"police said.

Chaudhury and his driverwere rushed to a trauma cen-tre where they were dischargedafter necessary treatment.

"During investigation, it wasfound that his car was hit bythe car of the four accused. Asthey both came out of their car,

one of the accused caught thedriver while the other threeassaulted Chaudhary," saidKumar.

A case under section 307and section 34 has been regis-tered at the Hauz Khas PoliceStation.

"We are investigating thecase from all possible angles.The two arrested accused havebeen identified as Lalit fromDwarka and Amardeep fromUttam Nagar. Teams have beenformed to nab the other twoaccused," said Kumar.

Police have seized the carinvolved in the accident.

Mercedesspeeds at 214kmph onYamuna

Booking e-ticket onIRCTC may cost more

Abhinandan Varthaman

Wing Com.Abhinandan likelyto get Vir Chakra

2 held for assaulting SAIL chairman, his driver

Anil Kumar Chaudhary

It also takestime for treesand soils tostore carboneffectively. Landis a criticalresource, saysthe IPCC report.

Case registered against200 for mob lynching

It was indeed revealing to observe thedefenders of triple talaq making patho-logical attempts to overcome the embar-rassment they now face all around afterthe passage of a Bill, which makes it a

criminal offence. Not that they have totallylost on logic and reason, certain elementsamong them stand decimated even in basicpolitical acumen and comprehension. It is notthat only Muslim women are happy andrelieved, their sisters from other religions areequally happy for them. Celebrations weremulti-religious and this is indeed a encour-aging sign. What should have really happenedafter the Shah Bano judgement of 1985 wasdelayed because of short-sighted politicalvision of vested interests. The damage to theMuslim community was indeed immense andimmeasurable. Never before were the much-hyped secular credentials so openly exposedbefore the people of India.

It will be needless to recall the numerousinstances and efforts to misuse the conceptand practice of “secularism” as these are wide-ly known to the people. It is, however, worth-while to recall that the makers of the IndianConstitution probably had the premonitionof the shape of things to come. Because of itspossible misuse, they did not feel the need toput the term “secularism” anywhere in the textof the Constitution. They knew that the Indianculture was secular; people lived all the yearswith full respect for diversity of varied kinds,including religious diversity. After 1967,political morality in the country underwenta sea-change, culminating in the impositionof Emergency in June 1975. The term “sec-ularism” was introduced in the Preamble tothe Constitution only in 1976, duringEmergency, and approved by Parliament.

Even then, one must concede, the Hinditerm panthnirpeksh was approved and not —repeat not — dharamnirpeksh, as is being fre-quently used by politicians, who had and stillhave, all the intentions to use “secularism”politically. There is a huge distinction betweenthe two terms. The major blame to engineerand create entrenched divisions betweenHindus and Muslims and also within differ-ent communities in each of these religionsmust be shared by leaders, who touted fordecades together that they were the onlydefenders of “secularism” (read Muslims).They knowingly created distrust and appre-hensions between the two communities. Thenation, including a vast majority of Muslims,now understands the politics behind the con-voluted interpretation of “secularism” andbased upon that, its sustained and unscrupu-lous use to widen the divide between the twomajor religions. As they say, the cat is out ofthe bag and the mischievous strategy hasbackfired.

In the political firmament of the day,those who believe in change and are willingto grow up and grasp public mood haveshown in the Rajya Sabha that India is chang-ing for the better. The machination to use “sec-ularism” as a tool to keep Muslims of Indiaaway from the mainstream is no longer

acceptable to the community. Ithas learnt from experience andmore so from the fate of hollowpromises made to it, which neverfructified. Muslims have nowgeared up to embrace the newworld of education and knowl-edge, of social reforms and cul-tural dynamism. They are readyto eliminate practices lie tripletalaq and Halala and would suc-ceed in doing so in spite of cer-tain elements within the commu-nity trying their best to subvertthe process of inevitable change.The majority community — theHindus — too underwent a sim-ilar transitional phase.

Such a change is invariablytedious, slow and even painful. Apersonal recollection would bepertinent to illustrate the point.Some five decades ago, when thepolice intervened in a case ofchild marriages and dowry in avillage in Central Uttar Pradesh,animated discussions on theissue followed for months togeth-er among villagers — of bothcommunities. They were nothighly educated intellectuals butsimple village folks, who had“learnt to live together.” Thegeneral refrain there was “whyshould there be any interferencefrom the Government in mattersthat are purely personal, of mutu-al concern and interactionbetween two families?” Therewere many, who waxed eloquent

and misled their fellow men andwomen that these are matters ofreligion. It is worth a millionexperiences how at this stage,those very people are thankful tothe legal provisions banningdowry and child marriage. Socialtransitions are indeed dauntingand not easy to undertake.

Then there are always ele-ments, who relate every practice,ritual or an ill-conceived belief toreligion. They mislead people toserve vested interests. These dayssuch elements are overshadowedby politicians. Every Indianknows how leaders of all hues arealways on the lookout to triggercommunal conflicts that inflictunfathomable misery on familiesand dent the fabric of social cohe-sion and religious amity.

While a lot is being discussedabout how the triple talaq Bill willimpact Muslims, one would liketo give some thought on how thepassage of the Bill is an occasionthat offers great opportunity tostrengthen our social cohesionand religious amity among allIndians. This has been of consid-erable concern to one and all —Hindus and Muslims. How longshall the two communitiesdepend on Government andlocal police and not think of creating strong and impregnablesocial interactive frameworksthat would not permit the cun-ning politician to exploit any one

of them? Dowry, child marriageand divorce are unacceptableamong civilised people and therecan be no exceptions. Legal pro-visions are necessary and can beof great support to social initia-tives. These can certainly beminimised. Legal provisions arenecessary — though not suffi-cient — they are useful deterrentsthat can be of support and assis-tance in extreme cases. These areparticularly necessary to dealwith anti-social elements thatresist positive change.

The passage of the tripletalaq Bill is a great opportunityto think of education that wouldnourish and nurture mutualunderstanding among the peo-ple, religions and communities.The debate on the Bill offered arare chance to certain well-known self-proclaimed secularpolitical outfits to make mid-term correction in their approachand attitude towards real “secu-larism.” They must realise thattheir political survival is linked topublic assessment and the sameis no more in their favour. Theythemselves are responsible fortheir decimation.

What must worry them themost is the fact that Muslims haveshown how hollow their procla-mations were as they proclaimedto be the only well-wishers of thecommunity. The party in powerhas done its homework, has cer-

tainly created a niche for its sincerity among Muslim menand practically the entire womenpopulation of India, irrespectiveof religious affiliation.

Everyone is happy for theirMuslim sisters. While the spreadof education among the Muslimcommunity has been slow andscattered, it has created anenlightened group of young peo-ple, who think of future in a glob-alised world. They are consciousof their responsibility to thecommunity and are aware howthe acts and activities of certaininternal elements lead to avoid-able apprehensions about reli-gion. They know how urgent itis to project the right picture ofIslam. They know that it wouldbe feasible only when the educat-ed and devoted within the com-munity initiate all-out efforts tospread education.

People across religions nowwant to educate their children —both boys and girls — withoutgender distinction. Not onlyeducation, they all want “goodquality education, useful skills ina good school”. This is a greatchange from the 1950s and 1960sof the last century. People per-ceive education as an agent ofsocial and economic change andtransformation. Education inIndia has to confront innumer-able problems and supportiveinadequacies but it is the respon-sibly of the nation to offer edu-cation that empowers, preparesyoung men and women, who arecommitted, competent andimbued with values to servetheir fellow men and women.

The content and process ofeducation is to be so designedthat right from the sensitive ini-tial years in school, it nurtures thevalues of respect for diversity ofevery conceivable variety. InIndia, practically every class-room is a multi-religious interac-tive opportunity. Further, everyteacher has studied in a multi-religious environment and nowteaches in a similar environment.

Why should every childnot know about the basics ofthe religion of his/her neigh-bour? Why should they notknow how that every religionrespects women and that asthey grow up, they muststrengthen it. The triple talaqBill reiterates the determina-tion of the nation that womenmust be respected, given theirdue by one and all, and indoing so, there can be no dis-crimination of any kind. Indiais in the process of finalising itsNational Education Policy.This is the best opportunity toensure that due emphasis isgiven both in content andpedagogy on gender justice.

(The writer is the IndianRepresentative on the ExecutiveBoard of UNESCO)

The 35 odd-basis point cut in inter-bankinterest rates by the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) was seen as an indication that a

quarter per cent cut was too little and a halfper cent cut may be a bit too much. Whateverit was, it is seemingly unlikely that this will bethe booster shot the Indian economy needsbecause banks are still hesitant to lend moneyto customers and even if they do, few are pass-ing on the benefits of lower rates to customers.Almost all our banks, particularly public sec-tor ones, are still suffering from the profliga-

cy with which they forwarded loans a decade ago. So when the Chairman ofIndia’s largest bank, the State Bank of India, says that he looks to the heavensto pray when speaking about top insolvent accounts, it becomes evident thateven the reforms on the insolvency code haven’t really helped matters. And nowthe dramatic collapse in non-banking financial companies has only made thesituation worse. But is it just about a switch, as some are commenting, that couldturn 18 months of gloom overnight? Is India just in a vicious cycle of negativi-ty that is making consumers and companies hold on to the purse strings tight?Could an injection of positivity be the change that India needs, one that will makebanks lend again and consumers buy again? But where will that injection of pos-itivity come from is the question. Quite clearly, it is not going to be from ratecuts, unless thanks to the reduction of interest rates, it becomes apparent thatthe best way to deploy one’s financial assets is to spend because the moneywill not earn much interest in the bank. May be the positivity that India needswill be a good monsoon, which will lead to a positive festive season comeSeptember with Onam kicking off the upbeat sentiment. Indeed, the Onam floodsof 2018 in Kerala were the ignition source for the dramatic slowdown in salesfor the Indian automotive industry.

The events surrounding Kashmir notwithstanding, the government really needsto ramp up its efforts on the economy. Because not only are behemoths dra-matically scaling back new hires, the class of 2019 is finding it impossible toget jobs as companies have begun layoffs. This, and not the reactions in Kashmir,should be keeping Narendra Modi up at night. The cycle of negativity has to bebroken and a rate slash frankly does not cut the mustard.

There is no doubt that after the Balakotstrikes, which showed how Pakistan’sjihadi adventurism could be curbed while

staying well under the nuclear threshold, andnow the reorganisation of Jammu andKashmir, which removes Kashmir as a pre-condition for diplomatic engagement, our west-ern neighbour has to have a new script. Tillthen, it has to keep up the noise and blusterof aggression, hemmed in as it is by interna-tional pressure advising restraint againstescalation and the US making its strategic rel-

evance conditional upon helping it swing the Taliban in Afghanistan. It is alsotrue that while both Balakot and the revocation of Article 370 may have seem-ingly shocked Pakistan, it was implicitly prepared for the boldness of Modi 2.0,its Prime Minister Imran Khan grudgingly admitting that at least he could get Kashmirmoving. And now that Modi has indeed moved the cheese in Kashmir, Pakistanhas no option but to wipe off the spilt milk. Since there cannot be naked aggres-sion, it has done the next best thing — squeezing diplomatic ties with India, recall-ing its envoy and sending back ours, shutting down airspace and SamjhautaExpress and suspending trade.

And contrary to perception, Pakistan isn’t imploding. Yes, its economy is ina bad shape and to that end it has taken steps, no matter how cosmetic, to crackdown on terror factories and convince the Financial Action Task Force (FATF),which blacklists IMF and World Bank loans and grants to terror-funding States,that it is making progress. It may have lost its diplomatic edge but not been blunt-ed completely as it has negotiating power with the Taliban. So it would be wrongto assume that it would come around to India’s terms or change tack on Jammuand Kashmir. Yes, India’s latest moves have clearly removed the possibility oftalks as a continuing weapon of stalling under the garb of good intention. It hasalso reclassified the Kashmir issue as not one of aspiration but a creation ofPakistan-exported terror. Yet, robbed of its favourite pitches, Pakistan did counterBalakot robustly, shooting down our aircraft, denying its own F 16 loss and throughan aerial dogfight at least showed that it was capable of reciprocal hitback, nomatter what the diplomatic consequence. Similarly, even though it knows thatraising the UNSC resolution bogey is fruitless, considering it has violated it withits own intrusions, it will make big announcements to take care of domestic imper-atives. It is using the same logic to internationalise Kashmir, using its changedstatus as the raison-d-etre of renewed neighbourly hostilities, challenging India’s“internalisation” with “externalisation” of alarmist impacts.

Truth be told, the cessation of bilateral trade ties will hit it more as India hasbeen downgrading volumes consistently, particularly after Balakot, consideringtrade was being used as a conduit for funding terror operations inside Kashmir.Our export bouquet to Pakistan is really limited considering it has never givenus “most favoured nation” status though we had done so in the past. Most ofwhat we sell to Pakistan are agri-products, which can easily be diverted to mar-kets in Southeast Asia. Cross-border volumes shrank as India imposed 200 percent customs duty on imports after Pulwama. While India’s exports to Pakistanstood at $2 billion, imports were about $500 million per year. Imports from Pakistandeclined by 92 per cent to $2.84 million in March this year compared to $34.61million in March 2018, according to commerce ministry data. Mutual trade makesup for really minuscule proportions for both in world markets. Of course, in ahealthy scenario, both countries could have a significant volume of transforma-tive trade in the region, some estimating a $37 billion potential, but that in anycase has never been pursued. So there isn’t much to rue either. But yes, a diplo-matic freeze doesn’t work any which way. A stalemate does give Pakistan timeto recalibrate and reconfigure a new “bleeding cuts” policy. Meanwhile, theGovernment must take care of engaging with the mature civil society, as alsolegitimately elected political leaders of the Valley, who have so far invested them-selves in our democratic processes, and not leave them out in the cold. Pakistanis precisely looking for this alienated space to occupy and justify its interven-tion. Given the brutality of the lockdown, with news trickling in of food short-ages and pellet gun attacks, the Government shouldn’t compound the local’ssense of being let down. A flashpoint could then become a volcano.

Pakistan hits back

Meddling with India

Sir — Close on the heels of thebifurcation of Jammu & Kashmirinto two Union Territories, Chinacame out with a weird and pro-voking statement that convertingLadakh into a Union Territorywas “unacceptable” to it andurged New Delhi to avoid “uni-lateral actions” in Jammu &Kashmir. The Chinese hypocrisy,however, is well evident in thesimmering protests in Hong Kongthat have entered the ninth week.

As the Global Times said,“China opposes #India puttingChinese territory in the westernsection of the border under itsadministration, which affectsChina’s territorial integrity andsovereignty.” However, India wasspot on in making a quickresponse, saying Jammu &Kashmir’s reorganisation waspurely an internal matter concern-ing the territory of India. It maybe noted that China has kept theborder with Ladakh “live”, partic-ularly in recent years, resulting inon-and-off needling along thissector of the 4,057 km Line ofActual control that stretches fromLadakh to Arunachal Pradesh.

In an apparent retaliation to

the Indian Government’s move tobifurcate J&K, China has refusedto grant visas to a group ofIndian pilgrims, who were to pro-ceed to Tibet for the KailashManasarovar yatra. It is clear thatChina is stoking anger and hatredagainst India in collusion withPakistan. India must handle thissituation strategically.

TK NandananChennai

People’s Minister

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Swaraj of spirit” (August 8).Sushma Swaraj was one of themost loved politicians of India,who was regarded as the people’sMinister. Her contributions to theBJP and its predecessor, the JanataParty, are noteworthy. She madehistory twice. First, by becoming

the youngest ever CabinetMinister at the age of 25 in 1977.Second, by becoming the firstfemale Chief Minister of Delhi. Asa former External Affairs Minister,she was always reachable on socialmedia and came to help Indians,who faced issues abroad. Aboveall, her down-to-earth personal-ity won many hearts.

Adrian David Chennai

All-rounder leader

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Swaraj of spirit” (August 8). Theuntimely demise of Sushma Swarajwas shocking. She became theyoungest Cabinet Minister inHaryana at the age of 25; the firstwoman Chief Minister of Delhi;first woman spokesperson for anynational party; and the first womanleader of the Opposition — she hasmany firsts to her credit.

She was the one, who as theinformation and broadcastingMinister declared the Hindu filmindustry as an industry. Duringher stint as the External AffairsMinister, she rescued more Indiansfrom various parts of the worldthan before. No matter who thevisitor, she welcomed all withfolded hands. She even helpedPakistani nationals in getting visasfor medical treatment in India.

Besides she was instrumen-tal in resolving the Doklam cri-sis. Indeed, she was the mosthumane Minister. Truly, she wasan all-rounder.

Bal GovindNoida

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

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op nionVIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | AUGUST 9, 2019

06

Triple talaq turnaround

JS RAJPUT

The new legislation is a great opportunity to think of education that can nourishand nurture mutual understanding among people, religions and communities

In America they used to tellactresses they expired at 30.That's why I was scared.Now I don't care about getting older.

Actor—Salma Hayek

Seeking to interfere in the jurisdiction of the Constitutionof India by invoking an alarmist vision of the region will never succeed.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson —Raveesh Kumar

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O TT H E E D I T O R

Leaders like Sushma will never be born again

This refers to the editorial, “Swaraj of spirit” (August 8).Cherubic, smiling, motherly — many people would fitthis description. But if the name is Sushma Swaraj, the

head would bow in reverence and affection. She was a politi-cian par excellence, outstanding parliamentarian, greathumanist and global diplomat. There would be a unanimousconcurrence of opinion on the above qualities of her. Duringher stint with the Modi 1.0 Government as the External AffairsMinister, her Twitter handle became so popular that millionsof followers were all praises for the soft-hearted Minister.Her out-of-the-way outreach to the Indian diaspora was rev-olutionary. It was as if sympathy and empathy were embed-ded in her heart. Swaraj stood straight, there was no arro-gant tinge in her demeanour.

An eloquent and persuasive orator, she was alwayson point. But for her deteriorating health, she could havehad many more superlative years as a parliamentarian andminister. She was a fighter. At the swearing-in ceremo-ny of Narendra Modi 2.0 Government, Swaraj's appear-ance at the venue sparked an energy among the audience.

The noble leader was respected across party lines. On herlast day, too, Swaraj breathed politics as she compliment-ed the Prime Minister, saying she was waiting for the dayArticle 370 would be scrapped. The respect and love thehumanist, accessible and amiable politician command-ed were unique and unmatchable.

Ganapathi BhatAkola

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

A rate cut to nowhereThe problem is you canchange our friends but it is notin your hands to change yourneighbour. I pray that no onegets a neighbour like we have.

Defence Minister—Rajnath Singh

Freezing economic ties won’t have much consequence butthe cessation of diplomatic ties is not good for both nations

The RBI has cut interest rates to the lowest levels in nineyears but can that jumpstart the Indian economy?

Some people say they willcomplete the task leftunfinished by Afzal Guru.Such thinking is shamefuland foolish.

Vice President —Venkaiah Naidu

Don’t forget the tribal day

PAISE DEKAR AAP KISIKO BHI SAATH LE SAKTE HO.THE VISIT OF AJIT DOVAL TO JAMMU AND KASHMIR

WAS ORCHESTRATED WITH MONEY.—CONGRESS LEADER

GHULAM NABI AZAD

HIS (AZAD’S) STATEMENT WILL BE USED BYPAKISTAN ON GLOBAL FORUMS. HE SHOULDIMMEDIATELY APOLOGISE FOR THE COMMENTS.—BJP NATIONAL SPOKESPERSONSHAHNAWAZ HUSSAIN

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

At first glance, 21-year-old Jeetha looks likejust another student at the prestigiousMangalore University in Karnataka. But

with one difference — she belongs to the Koragacommunity, an aboriginal tribe teetering on thebrink of extinction and considered untouchable.

As India commemorates World Adivasi Dayor the International Day of World’s IndigenousPeoples on August 9, have things really changedfor the Koragas? Have they been given equalopportunities or does the stigma of untoucha-bility still singe them?

Perhaps the answer lies in the location of theKoragas in the caste and tribal hierarchy. A lookat the latest Census data shows that the propor-tion of tribes in India to the total population is8.6 per cent. There are 705 Scheduled Tribes(STs) notified in the country. Among them arethe Koragas living in Kasargod district innorth Kerala and four districts in Karnataka —Dakshin Kannada, Udupi, Shimoga and UttaraKannada. In 1986, their declining population ledthe Government to categorise them as partic-ularly vulnerable tribal group. According to the2011 Census, the population of the Koragas isjust 14, 974. This is down from 15,146 enumer-ated in the 1981 Census.

Historically, like most other tribes, theKoragas have faced considerable social and eco-nomic deprivations. Various legislations like theKarnataka Forest Act, 1963, which divided theforests into reserve and village forest as also theWildlife Protection Act, 1972, alienated the tribefrom their sources of livelihoods. Ousted fromthe forest lands their ancestors had occupied forgenerations, the primitive tribal group eked theirliving from weaving baskets made from bam-boo and forest creepers and manual scavenging.

Exacerbating their condition was theinhuman traditional practice called anjal, par-ticular only to the Koragas. Under this custom,the upper castes handed out food leftovers andold clothes when they wished to transfer theirmisfortune to the Koragas. This included mix-ing hair, nails and other inedible substancesin the food and forcing them to eat it in thebelief that their troubles would thus be passedon. This practice flourished because survivalfor many Koragas depended on this dole.Afflicted by malnutrition, anaemia and fatalillnesses, mortality was high among the com-munity. Literacy levels were abysmally low,especially among women.

Although the community has progressedover the last 15 years, after realising many of itsrights, Jeetha, whose parents work as sanitationworkers, had to work hard to overcome econom-ic and social barriers to continue her education.So, getting admission into the university was likea dream come true for her. But much of this wasalso possible because of the doors that wereopened by Sabitha Koraga, the first girl from theendangered Koraga tribal community to beappointed Assistant Professor in the universitysix years ago.

Sabitha, who was the first to break the glassceiling, encouraged and motivated Jeetha to pur-sue her dreams besides helping her with books.It was fortuitous that Sabitha also held the addi-tional responsibility as administrative officer ofthe university’s Scheduled Caste (SC) and ST cell.

This gave her the chance to support needy, mer-itorious students like Jeetha.

Currently a student of sociology underSabitha’s tutelage, Jeetha has much to learn fromher professor. While she, too, has had to face eco-nomic hardships, Jeetha’s problems have beenfar less than those faced by Sabhitha.

Only five when her father died, Sabitha stillmanaged to pursue studies, juggling her timebetween household tasks, looking after heryounger brother and school. But in 2002,tragedy struck again. Her mother died in an acci-dent and Sabitha, then in Class X, had no choicebut to drop out of school. Her first priority wasto find a job so that she could take care of heryounger brother. Around this time, the SamagraGrameena Ashrama (SGA), a community-based organisation working for tribals, was map-ping children from the Koraga community, whohad dropped out of school. It was trying to per-suade them to return to education with the sup-port of ActionAid India, a not-for-profit organ-isation. During one such meeting with the com-munity in Gundmi (Sabitha’s village), SGA coor-dinator Ashok Shetty heard about Sabitha andwent to meet her. This meeting was to be a turn-ing point in her life.

Shetty asked her to work as a paid fieldworker with SGA to help in their campaign toempower the Koragas. He also offered assistanceshould she wish to restart her education.

For the next 20 months, Sabitha worked withSGA, helping to organise and inform self-helpgroups (SHG) of women in the community.However, even during this time, she yearned toresume studies. When this became known toSGA, Shetty ensured she got a room in the SGAoffice to study and the required tuition.

And Sabitha, who had dropped out of Class

X, didn’t disappoint. She passed school with fly-ing colours, obtaining first class. Thereafter, therewas no looking back.

After graduating from the Besant Women’sCollege in Mangalore, Sabitha did her post-grad-uation in sociology from Mangalore Universityin 2010. Not only did she stand second in theuniversity, she passed the National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test (NEET) when she was in thethird semester of her masters. Conducted by theUniversity Grants Commission (UGC) for eli-gibility to appointments as university lecturers,the NEET is considered to be a tough hurdle tocross. But Sabitha showed her academic brillianceby first clearing NEET with ease and then theState eligibility test conducted by the MysoreUniversity in 2011. In December 2013, she wasappointed assistant professor in the departmentof sociology in Mangalore University.

Sabitha credits education for helping herovercome the inferiority complex she sufferedfrom belonging to an untouchable caste. “I faceddiscrimination because of my caste in school. Ihad to pick up the teacher’s shoes. Many timesI was made to stand outside the classroom. Manyof my classmates were not allowed to sit withother children and made to sit on the floor.Several schools have earmarked the last benchfor Koraga students. But after I worked with SGAand became more aware of my rights, I becameconfident enough to sit on the first bench whenI returned to school,” she recounted.

This was not the only tradition she over-turned. She stopped the practice of anjal com-pletely in her village with the help of the KoragaFederation. But the stigma is yet to end. “I stillremember the humiliation while accompanyingmy mother to collect food leftovers. So Iworked hard to persuade the community in my

village to stop the practice. Although they havestopped it, they are still considered untouchablesby the upper castes, who do not allow them toenter their houses even today,” she said.

Although Sabitha has not been able to alterthis as yet, she is trying to change mindsets ofchildren from the community not to allow dis-crimination force them to drop out of school.She gives motivational speeches and guidesthem as she did with Jeetha. “Educationchanged my life and I want others from mycommunity to understand its value. It is apower that can change destinies, just as it hasmine,” said Sabitha.

Sabitha is keen to influence State policies toimprove prospects of her community and iscompleting her doctoral thesis on the evalua-tion of policies and programmes in tribaldevelopment and education as a means of socialmobility for the primitive tribes of Karnataka.She wants her research to further women’sempowerment in the Koraga community sincemany are still unable to access their Governmententitlements primarily because of ignorance andan overwhelming feeling of inferiority.

“I don’t want my daughter, who has justturned one, to suffer from any complex. Thelady, who I wanted to hire to look after her,refused the job after she heard I was a Koraga.So, the stigma still continues. But being a Koragais a matter of pride for me. If more women areeducated, they will overcome the entrenchedcaste discrimination with their merit,” Sabithacontended.

Hopefully, a documentary on her achieve-ments commissioned by the State Government’sdepartment for tribal development will help fur-ther Sabitha’s cause.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Have things really changed for the Koraga community? Sabitha’s story reveals impressivestrides have been made but there’s a long way to go to end the stigma around untouchability

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

New India fromthe outside

KUMARDEEP BANERJEE

With a slew of decisions taken in Jammu & Kashmir,the Government and corporates must ensure

economic growth with the well-being of people

SWAPNA MAJUMDAR

Chandrayaan-2 completed an important “space mark” this weekas it manoeuvres to break free from mother earth’s gravita-tional pull. It is this “gravitational pull” that helped it click some

Instagram-worthy “green and blue” images of the beautiful plan-et we inhabit as seen from outside. In some days, perhaps, it mayeven send detailed images of its earthy origin country, India. Butever since its departure from the homeland, the latter’s historyand geography would have changed for those on “New India”, terrafirma. What many term as one of the most “bold and historic deci-sions” taken since independence, the Narendra Modi Governmenthas reorganised the special status accredited to Jammu & Kashmirby abrogating Article 370 and scrapping 35(A) through aPresidential Order. What changes on ground would be a histori-an’s delight and a social scientist’s lab in motion.

For most citizens outside Kashmir, beyond an initial barrageof hyper jingoistic social media messages, life is likely to go onas before. However, when the iron curtain of communication banlifts from the Valley, the youth in Kashmir will have a question:What is our future? Will outsiders take away our land and job?Finding an answer to this question will be the biggest task forIndia as well as the Modi Government in many months to come.How should Kashmir be handled? How can faith be restored?And what gestures and acts will lead to the full integration ofheart and soil?

One of the early signs to improve the State’s economic well-being has emerged in the proposed Investor Summit in Srinagarand Jammu in the coming months. After all, the Valley has beena destination of choice for honeymooners. But apart from thehospitality and tourism industry, as also being a rich treasurehouse of mineral products, it has relatively not touched agro/for-est produce, too. Many key companies such as Dabur, PepsiCoand Coca Cola, among others, have manufacturing facilities inthe Jammu region. Jammu & Kashmir is also home to some ofthe finest traditions in the MSME sector such as shawls and otherhandicrafts. As per available data, Jammu & Kashmir has oneof the highest levels of unemployment rate in India and it hasso far also been almost shut to the world as far as the Ease ofDoing Business Index is concerned. This situation may wellchange with a clever mix of humanitarian economic policy forthe new territory, which absorbs cultural intelligence before sink-ing into pie charts and data.

Realising its potential, major trade bodies, including theConfederation of Indian Industries (CII), have recommended a pol-icy agenda to kickstart reforms-based growth for sustainable indus-trial growth and improved investment climate in Jammu & Kashmir.The region’s per capita income, as per the CII’s data, is nearly55 per cent of the national average. There is a fresh Valley of thou-sands of jobs and millions in investments waiting to happen. Itis here that reiteration needs to be done on some of the key chal-lenges to this socio-economic transformational opportunity. Allfirms, which participate in the proposed Investor Summit, besidesmaking big ticket high-value announcements at the dais, shouldfollow it up quickly with action and money sunk in the Valley. Theblueprint for this must be drawn up now in the company board-rooms as this will be a new territory.

The Valley may not have the most skilled talent available formodern manufacturing and services sector. Therefore, theGovernment’s Skills Development Ministry must take up the jobof upskilling youths in the Valley in various facets of Industry4.0 urgently. This will be a game-changer if done in the right man-ner, in partnership with the private sector and with sufficient mon-etary incentives. It will allay fears of losing access to resourcesand jobs for the local youth, prevent any uncalled migration andprevent them from falling prey to the mischievous ploy of “not-so-friendly-neighbours.” This will create a fresh talent pool ofeligible local youth, ready to be absorbed in new factories/plantsand investment grounds coming in.

Third, with new investments coming in and, of course, hordesof tourists, the fragile biodiversity of the region must be kept inmind. The region may, perhaps, be one of the last few preservedeco-sensitive oasis on planet earth. Tourism should go hand-in-hand with environment protection and preservation of the richecological diversity that is unique to this territory should be pri-ority. So any unplanned move should be scrutinised. Not every-thing can be about more money and jobs — some will have tohave a green lens to it. Baby steps in the right direction now willhelp Chandrayaan-2 send more “green” patches amid tranquil“blue” when it lands on the moon and gets back with fond mem-ories of “Naya Bharat.” (The writer is a policy analyst)

In a recent interview, Minister ofState for Power and RenewableEnergy RK Singh informed about

a scheme viz the Kisan Urja Surakshaevam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM),which the Government proposes toimplement over a period of three years.

Intended to promote the use ofsolar energy in rural areas, KUSUMallows a farmer to use his barren land— currently lying fallow — to set up asolar plant on it for 1 MW or so (in casethe land is cultivable, he can set it upon stilts and grow crop below).Whereas, during the crop season(spanning over three to four months),the farmer can use the power for cul-tivation, for the remaining part of theyear, units generated at the plant willbe purchased by the Centre.

The Union Government will givecapital subsidy to cover 30 per cent ofthe cost while the State will bearanother 30 per cent. Of the balance 40per cent, the farmer will get 30 per centas loan at a concessional interest rateand will have to pay 10 per cent fromhis pocket. The total cost of implement-ing the scheme is estimated to be about`146,000 crore, of which the Centre’scontribution will be `34,000 crore.

The scheme has the potential tobring about a fundamental transforma-tion in not just the way farming is doneto augment farmers’ income but alsohelp in giving a new lease of life evento power distribution companies(DISCOMs), which at present are lit-erally on a ventilator, gasping for life.

For the farmer, the solar plant willnot only supply all his electricityrequirement (for running pump setsand other needs, including domesticconsumption) but also generate sur-plus, particularly during the non-cropping period, which can be sold togenerate cash. Besides, this will dras-tically reduce spends on diesel (irriga-tion bill can go down by as much as 90per cent) and help reduce the load on

the environment. Saving on oil importbill will be an added bonus.

At present, there is overexploitationof ground water, courtesy unrestrict-ed availability of electricity at heavilysubsidised rates (even free in someStates). However, in a scenario of hav-ing their own power source juxtaposedwith an incentive that they can increasetheir income by selling surplus power,the farmers will be motivated to shunthe current unhealthy practice, there-by conserve and prevent depletion ofground water.

For the DISCOMs, this could bea blessing in disguise. Currently, a majorreason for their incurring loss year-after-year is the supply of power to

farmers and households at heavily sub-sidised rates or even free (under direc-tion from their owner viz, the States).Even after charging exorbitant ratesfrom industries, they are unable tomake up for the shortfall in realisationfrom sale to these preferred con-sumers. Their woes are exacerbated bylarge-scale power theft.

Now, if farmers can meet theirpower requirement from the captivesource (solar plant), this will obviate theneed for supply from DISCOMs.When the latter does not have to sup-ply electricity to the former, the lossesassociated with such supplies (albeit atsubsidised/below cost tariff) will auto-matically disappear.

In short, the scheme could be agateway to a wonderland whereinfarmers will be better off, DISCOMsfinancially healthy and environmentwill bear less pain. But this scenarioappears too good to be true.

Given the State of Union’s precar-ious finances, garnering the requiredresources of `34,000 crore for capitalsubsidy will be a big challenge. For thesame reason, getting the States to con-tribute another 30 per cent will be adaunting task. Even more worrying isthe balance 40 per cent, which has tobe arranged by the farmer. Apart fromthe 10 per cent, which he has to giveupfront, the responsibility of amortis-ing the loan component, 30 per cent,falls entirely on him.

Today, the Government perceivesthe farmers’ economic situation to beso precarious that it was prompted togive `6,000 annually to the farmersunder the Pradhan Mantri KisanSamman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) so thatthey can buy agricultural inputs suchas fertilisers, seeds and pesticidesamong other things. How then are theyexpected to pay a huge sum of ̀ 4.5 mil-lion @10 per cent (cost of 1 MW solar

plant: `45 million) being their contri-bution upfront? Servicing the loan of`13.5 million (30 per cent of `45 mil-lion) will be even more excruciating asinterest alone at subsidised @7 per centwill come to `945,000 annually.Moreover, till such time the solarplant is commissioned and becomesoperational, it will be double-whammyfor the farmers, who will continue tospend money on diesel for running thepump set in addition to servicing theloan. They may not survive for the daywhen the gains from captive sourcestart accruing.

Given the impending challenges inparticular, a huge financial liability onthem, the big question is whether thefarmers will really be willing to join thescheme. This is most unlikely all themore when for decades, they are usedto free/heavily subsidised powerarranged by power-hungry politicians,who thrive on populist measures suchas this. When the present is easy going,why would they transit to an effort-based, self-driven system san sops?KUSUM may be a non-starter!

(The writer is a New Delhi-basedpolicy analyst)

Latest solar scheme is a non-starterThe Government’s launch of the KUSUM programme to promote solar power bodes well for farmers, DISCOMs and the environment. But there

are impending challenges, including a huge financial liability on farmers themselves. Moreover, will they really be willing to join the scheme?

UTTAM GUPTA

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | AUGUST 9, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

Hong Kong’s fabric isunravelling. Thirteen of the18 districts have seenprotests. On Monday, HongKong’s first general strike inhalf a century brought outteachers and constructionworkers alike, halted metrolines and cancelledhundreds of flights. Manywho were largely apatheticabout the original issues arefurious at the behaviour ofpoliticians and police, butviews are polarising: Othersare angered by or fearful of the disruption.(The Guardian editorial)

NO END IN SIGHT

PTI n NEW DELHI

To achieve India's solar ener-gy target of 100 GW by 2022,India should take up full valuechain of solar manufacturingfrom polysilicon to modulesin a phased manner, says areport.

In the first phase, about 15GW capacity could be target-ed over a period of two to threeyears for manufacturing ofcells and modules with fullvalue addition and with anoverlapping backward inte-gration plan, the report by TheEnergy and Resources Institute(TERI) said.

TERI Director General AjayMathur said the challenge is tomatch demand and indigenousmanufacturing capacity withinternational manufacturingcapacity.

"It is possible to have indige-nous solar manufacturingfacility that delivers on thethree points of reliable energyaccess, cost of supply, andlocal manufacturing that canmeet demand," he said.

The report's main recom-mendations are that the gov-ernment should consider pri-oritising PV manufacturingvalue chain as a strategic indus-try, and local manufacturingcapacity of 15 GW of ‘fullvalue chain Silicon Ingot tosolar modules' should be oper-ational at competitive prices by2024.

For this, it suggests initiat-

ing a Phased ManufacturingProgramme (PMP), under theMake in India plan.

Stressing that India shouldmake every effort to developindigenous manufacturing,Ajay Shankar, DistinguishedFellow, TERI, said, the gov-ernment should invite bidsfor manufacturing of solarpanels with full value additionin India, along with ensuredsales for four years.

"It should also provide land,power supply and environmen-

tal clearance and develop solarmanufacturing plants along thelines of SEZ," Shankar said.

Shekhar Dutt, DirectorGeneral, Solar Power DevelopersAssociation (SPDA), said, thesize of the solar market across theworld is very big. India shoulddevelop manufacturing capaci-ty not just for the domestic mar-ket, but also for terawatt market.

He added that this will leadto enormous possibility of gen-erating employment in India.

“The rationale for the deci-sion to go for manufacturing isself-reliance with an aim to sus-tain our own national solar pro-gramme without any hiccupsunder circumstances of inter-national issues,” said AshviniKumar, Senior Director,Renewable Energy, TERI.

Asserting that it is a goodstarting point, Mathur added,further steps of inviting agroup of financial experts toassess the costs and incentives(for solar manufacturing) needto be carried out.

TERI is an independent,multi-dimensional organisa-tion, with capabilities inresearch, policy, consultancyand implementation. It haspioneered conversations andaction in the energy, environ-ment, climate change, and sus-tainability space for over fourdecades.

The report by TERI wastitled ‘Solar PV Manufacturingin India: Silicon Ingot & Wafer- PV Cell - PV Module'.

VIJYAWADA | FRIDAY | AUGUST 9, 2019 money 08

It is possible to haveindigenous solarmanufacturing facility

that delivers on the threepoints of reliable energyaccess, cost of supply, andlocal manufacturing that canmeet demand

AJAY MATHURTERI Director General

CAPSULE

JK Tyre launchessensors to monitortyre pressureNEW DELHI: JK Tyre &Industries on Thursdaylaunched sensors formonitoring and maintenanceof tyres. Treel sensors (fromthe recently-acquired TreelMobility Solutions)strengthens the company'sposition in the domesticmarket, JK Tyre said in astatement. “The introductionof Treel sensors is the firstsuch high-tech move towardscreating a smart tyre in Indianmarkets. It provides anenhanced value proposition tovehicle owners, particularlyfleets, by reducing theiroperational costs,” JK Tyre &Industries Chairman andManaging Director RaghupatiSinghania said. The companyhas introduced tyre pressuremonitoring systems (TPMS)via Treel sensors that help inmonitoring the tyres' vitalstatistics, including pressureand temperature.

Tenure of SBI MDDinesh Kumarextended by 2 yearsNEW DELHI: TheAppointments Committee ofthe Cabinet led by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hasextended the tenure of StateBank of India ManagingDirector Dinesh Kumar Kharaby two years. "TheAppointments Committee ofthe Cabinet has approved theproposal of the Department ofFinancial Services forextension in the term of officeof Dinesh Kumar Khana,Managing Director, State Bankof India for a further period oftwo years with effect fromAugust 9, 2019, or untilfurther orders, whichever isearlier...," according to agovernment order.

City Union Bank Q1net profits up 14.8%to Rs 185.64 croreCHENNAI: Private sector CityUnion Bank has recorded a14.8 per cent rise in its netprofits for the April-Junequarter to Rs 185.64 crore.The Tamil Nadu-based bankhad recorded net profits atRs 161.64 crore during yearago period. Net profits for theyear ending March 31, 2019were at Rs 682.85 crore.Total income for the April-June quarter grew to Rs1,192.53 crore from Rs1,018.61 crore registeredsame period last fiscal. Forthe year ending March 31,2019 total income was at Rs4,281.55 crore.The bank's shares weretrading at Rs 192.65apiece,down by 2.11 per centover previous close in BSE.

Sensex soars 637 pts on tax relief buzz; Nifty at 11,000-markPTI n MUMBAI

The BSE Sensex soared 637points while the NSE Niftyreclaimed the 11,000 level onThursday amid reports thatthe government is likely towithdraw higher surchargeon foreign portfol ioinvestors.

The rally in the fag end ofthe session was led by energy,oil and gas, auto and IT stocks.

After gyrating 750 pointsduring the day, the 30-shareSensex settled 636.86 points or1.74 per cent higher at

37,327.36. It hit an intra-dayhigh of 37,405.48 and a low of36,655.41.

The broader NSE Nifty alsojumped 176.95 points or 1.63per cent to 11,032.45. Duringthe day, it hit a high of11,058.05 and a low of10,842.95.

Top gainers in the Sensexpack included HCL Tech, TataMotors, M&M, Bajaj Auto,RIL, Hero MotoCorp, YesBank, Maruti, HDFC Bankand Bajaj Finance, whichsurged up to 6.43 per cent.

On the other hand, Tata

Steel, IndusInd Bank and AxisBank lost up to 3.77 per cent.

According to traders,investor sentiment got a boostfollowing reports that thegovernment is likely to with-draw higher surcharge on

foreign portfolio investors(FPIs).

Reports also said theFinance Ministry is workingon a confidence booster pack-age for the capital markets,including taking a relook at the

long-term capital gains tax.Elsewhere in Asia, Shanghai

Composite Index, Hang Seng,Kospi and Nikkei ended in thegreen.

Equities in Europe werealso trading on a positive notein their respective early ses-sions.

Meanwhile, the Indianrupee appreciated 23 paise to70.66 against the US dollarintra-day.

Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, rose1.58 per cent to USD 57.12 perbarrel.

After gyrating 750 points during theday, the 30-share Sensex settled636.86 points or 1.74 per cent higherat 37,327.36. It hit an intra-day highof 37,405.48 and a low of 36,655.41

China’s imports from US fall 19% in July amid trade warPTI n BEIJING

Chinese imports of Americangoods plunged in July as a tar-iff war with Washington inten-sified.

Imports of US goods fell 19per cent from a year earlier toUSD 10.9 billion, customs datashowed Thursday, though thatwas an improvement overJune's 31.4 per cent fall. Exports to the United Statesdeclined 6.5 per cent to USD38.8 billion.

Beijing has retaliated for UStariff hikes in a dispute overtrade and technology byimposing its own punitiveduties and suspending pur-chases of American soybeansand other goods.

The latest data followPresident Donald Trump'sthreat last week to extend puni-tive duties to an additionalUSD 300 billion of Chineseimports.

China's total exports rose 3.3per cent over a year earlier toUSD 221.5 billion, reboundingfrom June's 1.3 per cent con-traction amid weakening glob-al consumer demand. Importsshrank 5.6 per cent to USD176.4 billion, an improvementover the previous month's 7.3per cent decline.

"Shipments in and out ofChina held up better thanexpected last month, but asustained turnaround still looksunlikely in the near-term," saidJulian Evans-Pritchard ofCapital Economics in a report.

China's central bank rattledglobal financial markets thisweek by allowing its yuan toweaken to an 11-year lowagainst the US dollar.

That would make Chinesegoods less expensive abroad butthe currency's 5 per centdecline this year against thedollar is too small to completelyoffset US tariffs of 25 per cent.

China's global trade surpluswidened by 60 per cent over ayear ago to USD 45.1 billion.

The surplus with the UnitedStates was little changed butstood at USD 28 billion, a levelthat might fuel American pres-sure for Chinese concessions intrade talks.

Imports of US goods weredown 28.3 per cent in the firstseven months of 2019 com-pared with a year earlier,according to the GeneralAdministration of Customs ofChina.

Washington and Beijing arelocked in an increasingly cost-ly tariff war over US complaintsChina steals or pressures com-panies to hand over technolo-gy.

The United States and otherChinese trading partners com-plain Beijing's plans for gov-ernment-led development ofglobal competitors in roboticsand other fields violates itsmarket-opening commitments.

Trade has weakened sinceTrump started hiking tariffs onChinese goods last June.

Beijing retaliated with its ownpenalties and orderedimporters to find non-US sup-pliers.

The fight has batteredexporters on both sides anddisrupted trade in goods fromsoybeans to medical equip-ment.

Trump and President XiJinping agreed in June toresume negotiations but talks

last week in Shanghai endedwith no sign of agreement.Envoys are due to meet againnext month.

Economists warn the truce isfragile because the two sidesstill are separated by the dis-agreements that caused talks tobreak down in May.

Trade weakness has added topressure on Xi's government toshore up economic growthand avoid politically dangerousjob losses.

Beijing agreed last year tonarrow its trade surplus withthe United States by buyingmore American natural gasand other exports but scrappedthat plan after one of Trump'stariff hikes.

The Chinese governmentsaid in June that any purchas-es must be at a reasonable level,suggested Beijing was becom-ing more cautious about mak-ing big commitments before itsees what Washington offers in

exchange.Chinese leaders express con-

fidence their economy can sur-vive the tariff fight.

Importers of American soy-beans and other goods are try-ing to switch to Brazilian,Russian and other sources, butsupplies are limited and costsare higher.

Farmers who use soybeansas animal feed have been toldto switch to other grains.

While American exportershave been hit hardest, Chineseindustries including electron-ics that Beijing sees as its eco-nomic future have suffereddouble-digit declines in sales tothe United States, their biggestmarket.

Economists say even if a set-tlement with the US is reached,China's exports this year will belackluster due to weak globaldemand, putting pressure onmanufacturers that supportmillions of jobs.

The latest datafollow PresidentDonald Trump'sthreat last weekto extendpunitive dutiesto an additionalUSD 300 billionof Chineseimports

Commerce min to assessRCEP impact on revenues: FMPTI n NEW DELHI

The finance ministry has askedits commerce counterpart toassess the revenue implicationof the proposed mega free-trade agreement RCEP, sourcessaid.

In a letter to the commercedepartment, the revenuedepartment also suggested it toform a joint team of officials tounderstand the revenue (cus-toms duty foregone) implica-tion of RCEP.

"The revenue secretary haswritten a letter to the com-merce secretary to calculate therevenue impact of the pro-posed agreement," they said.

The RegionalComprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP) is anagreement being negotiatedby 16 countries since 2013. Sofar, 27 rounds of talks at thechief negotiators level havebeen conducted.

Several challenges in bothgoods and services sectors stillpersist and need to be resolvedbefore reaching the conclusionof negotiations RCEP.

The 16-member RCEP blochas targeted to conclude thenegotiations by November thisyear. The major challenges infront of India include widen-ing trade deficit with member

countries, such as China, anddisproportionate loss in cus-toms revenue due to elimina-tion or significant reduction inimport duties.

India registered trade deficitin 2018-19 with as many as 11RCEP member countries,including China, South Koreaand Australia, out of the group-ing of 16 nations.

Further, in a comprehensivestakeholder consultation on

the pact, several sectors includ-ing dairy, metals, marine prod-ucts, electronics, chemicals,pharmaceutical, plastics andtextiles have registered reser-vation on the proposed agree-ment.

RCEP bloc includes the 10ASEAN members (Brunei,Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,Malaysia, Myanmar, thePhilippines, Singapore,Thailand, and Vietnam) and

Australia, China, India, Japan,South Korea and New Zealand.

The agreement aims to coverissues related to goods, ser-vices, investments, economicand technical cooperation,competition and intellectualproperty rights.

In the merchandise sector, allthe countries want India toeliminate customs duties onmaximum number of goods asthe country's huge domesticmarket provides immenseopportunity for exports. But,the domestic industry has raisedserious concerns over presenceof China in the grouping.

India trades in over 11,500products. Certain sensitive sec-tors such as agriculture aremostly kept out of the purviewof such agreements to protectthe interest of farmers.

Experts have mixed viewsover the impact of this pact onIndia. Biswajit Dhar, professorof economics at JawaharlalNehru University, is of theopinion that free trade pactsare not about only giving mar-ket access, but also gettingthat access in other countries.

India is looking for a bal-anced trade agreement, as itwould cover 40 per cent of theglobal gross domestic productand over 42 per cent of theworld's population.

In a letter to the commerce department,the revenue department also suggestedit to form a joint team of officials tounderstand the revenue (customs dutyforegone) implication of RCEP

TERI for focus on full value chain SOLAR MANUFACTURING

Maruti Suzukilaunches BS-VI- compliantErtigaPTI n NEW DELHI

Maruti Suzuki India onThursday said its popularmulti-purpose vehicle Ertigapetrol version has becomeBS-VI emission norm com-pliant and will be available ata starting price of Rs7,54,689 (ex-showroomDelhi).

This is the sixth modelfrom the company's portfolioafter Alto, WagonR, Swift,Baleno and Dzire to be BS-VIcompliant, Maruti SuzukiIndia (MSI) said in a state-ment.

Commenting on thedevelopment, MSIExecutive Director,Market ing and SalesShashank Srivastava said,"With the new BS-VI com-pliant petrol engines, muchahead of the governmentdeadline, we reinforce ourcommitment towards clean-er environment."

BS-VI petrol vehicles willhave substantial reductionin emissions, thus con-tributing to a safer andcleaner environment, headded.

"We are committed toensure that our full productrange will progressively beBS-VI compliant during theyear, ahead of regulationscoming into the effect,"Srivastava said.

The availability of BS-VIvariants on these large vol-ume mo dels severa lmonths ahead of the man-dated date reflects MarutiSuzuki ' s commitmenttowards environmentfriendly vehicles, the com-pany said.

Over 70,000 units of NextGen Ertiga have been soldsince its launch in November2018.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Iconic American jewellerTiffany & Co said it will enterthe Indian market in partner-ship with billionaire MukeshAmbani's Reliance Industriesand plans to open its first storein Delhi this year and one inMumbai next year.

Tiffany, which is known for itsdiamond engagement rings androbin's egg blue boxes, will beanother marquee name to jointhe ever-growing portfolio ofReliance. In May, it had boughtBritish toy-store chain Hamleys.

In a statement, Tiffany saidit will enter the Indian marketthrough a joint venture withReliance Brands Ltd.

"Through a joint venture,Tiffany plans to open newstores in Delhi in fiscal 2H2019 and Mumbai in 2H 2020,capitalising on its alreadystrong image and brandawareness in this emergingand style-conscious luxurymarket," the statement said.

Tiffany, which operates

more than 320 stores in over 25countries with over 80 in Asia-Pacific, as well as e-commercewebsites in 14 markets, is tar-geting the world's second-biggest gold jewellery market.

"As a global luxury jewellerwith stores in many of theworld's most important cities,Tiffany's emergence in theseIndian commerce centres withtheir growing luxury con-sumer base presents a uniqueopportunity," said Philippe

Galtié, executive vice-presi-dent of global sales, Tiffany &Co. "We are proud to workwith India's leader in luxuryretail, RBL, to develop a mean-ingful presence and furtherexpand our brand equity inthis important market."

Reliance Brands ChiefExecutive Officer DarshanMehta said Tiffany needs nointroduction in India -- it is icon-ic and timeless."We look forwardto bringing Tiffany's renownedjewellery collections and superla-tive diamonds to India," he said.

Reliance Brands Ltd (RBL),which began operations in2007, is part of the oil-to-tele-com group Reliance IndustriesLtd (RIL).

RBL's portfolio of brandpartnerships includes ArmaniExchange, Bottega Veneta,Brooks Brothers, Bullfrog,Burberry, Canali, Coach, DC,Diesel, Dune, EmporioArmani, Ermenegildo Zegna,G-Star Raw, Gas, GiorgioArmani, Hamleys, Hugo Boss,Hunkemoller, and Iconix.

Tiffany to enter India; openstores in Delhi, Mumbai

In a statement,Tiffany said it willenter the Indianmarket through ajoint venture withReliance Brands Ltd

Goldman betsanother 25 bpsrepo rate cutbefore DecPTI n MUMBAI

After an unconventional 35basis points reduction in therepo rate, the Reserve Bank islikely to go in for another 25basis points rate reduction inthe December quarter amidgrowing concerns over growth,says a report. In the third bi-monthly monetary policyreview, the central bank cutthe repo rate for the fourthtime in a row to 5.40 percent-- a nine-year low, and retainedneutral stance going forward.

The central bank alsorevised downwards the pro-jection of GDP growth to 6.9percent for FY20 from 7 per-cent in its June estimate.

"We now see a high prob-ability of another cut by 25basis points rate cu in Q4 of2019," Goldman Sachs said ina research report Thursday.

The RBI also said the CPIinflation is projected at3.1percent for second quarter ofFY20 and 3.5-3.7 per cent forthe second half.

Nearly half of Indiansopen to taking loan forimproving lifestyle: SurveyPTI n NEW DELHI

Around half of Indians surveyedare open to taking loans espe-cially for fulfilling family needsand upgrading their lifestyle, areport said on Thursday.

The survey commissionedby Home Credit India, a con-sumer finance provider,revealed that nearly one-thirdof respondents are willing totake a loan for a consumerdurable item such as mobilephone, television and refrig-erator etc.

The other popular loan cate-gories are two-wheelers (23.3 percent) and personal expenses(20.3 per cent), the survey said.

This is followed by car pur-chase (12.5 per cent), house(12 per cent) and gold (10.5per cent), it said.

When asked about thefuture, 33 per cent of respon-dents are likely to take it forconsumer durables while per-sonal loans are the next highinterest segment at 28 percent followed by two wheelersat 22.8 per cent.

Agriculture loans (0.7 percent), credit card EMI (1.1 percent), travel loans (1.5 percent) and medical loans (3.7per cent) are the lowest rankedcategories of loans, it added.

The survey was conductedacross 12 cities and 2,571respondents were evaluated toprovide a near to accurate pat-tern of savings, spending andborrowing behaviour in thecountry.

Around 34 per cent respon-dents said they rely on friendsfor advice while taking loans,followed by family at 31.8 percent and colleagues at 25.4 percent, Home Credit India ChiefMarketing Officer MarkoCarevic said citing findings ofthe survey.

uperstar Mahesh Babu who is quite busy with his films has been expanding hishorizon by successfully venturing into new businesses. Recently, he opened theplush and luxurious AMB Cinemas at Gachibowli in Hyderabad. Now, the actoris taking us into a world of clothing by launch-ing his clothing brand, ‘The Humbl Co’ in col-laboration with SPOYL. On the occasion of

National Handloom Day, Mahesh unveiled his clothingline. The brand features easy-to-wear styles for men ofall age groups with over 160 styles that start at a pock-et-friendly price of `599. Some of the designs wereexhibited by models on stage during the launch.

Speaking at the launch, the actor said, “The cloth-ing line is an expression of my personal style and wayof life. The values of simplicity and humanity that Ibelieve in, forms the core of the brand’s mis-sion statement. Through The HumblCo., I want to cement my relation-ship with my fans by inspiringthem to live real and stay humble.”

Bhargav Errangi, Spoyl CEOsaid, “We are very happy toassociate with SuperstarMahesh Babu to build a prod-uct that’s truly reflective of hisstar-power and his down-to-earth off-screen personality.I am looking forward to theexciting direction that TheHumbl Co will take theSpoyl. We believe thatHumbl will emerge as amajor celebrity brand insocial commerce.”

After Vijay Deverakonda,Mahesh Babu is the second Telugu actorto be launching his own clothingbrand. Last year, Vijay had unveiled hisown clothing line called Rowdy.Soon after the announcement ofhis launch, congratulatorymessages started to pour infrom fans all over. Someeven started a count-down to his birth-day today.

ational HandloomDay was celebratedpompously onWednesday at theState Gallery of Art,Madhapur. The

event was inaugurated byTelangana Home Minister MdMahmood Ali. The event washosted by the Department ofHandlooms and Textiles underJayesh Ranjan, PrincipalSecretary of Industries; andShailaja Ramaiyer, Director ofHandlooms and Textiles. Theevent witnessed the revival ofTelia Rumal Ikat and the recre-ation of Mahadevpur Tussar silksarees in natural dyes.

Mahmood Ali, during theinaugural ceremony, observedthe need to promote handloomsand the measures taken by thestate government for its promo-tion. “Handloom products havea history of being part of theswadesi movement, an integralpart of our freedom struggle.However, during the later years,we saw a fall in the consumptionof these products. At present,owing to an increase in the bud-get given for the revival of hand-loom products and other effortsby the state government, bigcompanies have come forth tobuy these products,” says theminister, adding that their soleaim is to showcase the quality ofhandloom products and create a sustainable market.

Mahmood Ali also highlightedthe efforts taken by Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao and formerIT Minister KT Rama Rao whenhe was in charge of the ministry.The Home Minister also receiveda memorandum from ChintakindiMallesham, the Padma Shriawardee and the man behind Asuweaving machine. The memoran-dum suggests a sharing of the costof a machine between the govern-ment and the beneficiary.

The event also witnessed aunique fashion show featuringtraditional and contemporarygarments designed by Rina Singhand seven other emergingdesigners from the state. Rina isthe Founder and Designer of Eka— a renowned fashion labelwith a huge clientele includingmany celebrities. Speaking to ThePioneer, she said, “I work with

Indian textiles on a contempo-rary format. I feel very happy tobe working on such a venturethat is both challenging andinteresting.”

Rina has also worked with var-ious weavers from West Bengal,Benaras, etc. and developed aspecific style from there. Talkingabout her unique experiencesfrom Telangana, she said,“Nobody else in the countryworks on double Ikats otherthan Pati Patola, which is limit-ed to sarees. However, they workneither with cotton nor with thekind of dexterity like that of TeliaRumal. They don’t work on pat-terns either. I am very sure thatthere are endless possibilitiesfrom the weaves made inTelangana.” When asked abouther takeaway, she mentionedthat it’s been an enriching expe-rience working with the weavers.“I came here not only for fash-ion but also to explore differentdimensions in this format.”

Priyadarshi Pulikonda, theactor from Mallesham, playingthe titular character, says, “It feelsgood to share the stage with theBabai of handlooms(Mallesham). I wish we will beable to educate people on thegreatness and speciality of hand-looms.”

The notable showstoppers of theevents include Director-General,Telangana State Special ProtectionForce Tejdeep Kaur Menon; andactress Anasuya Bharadwaj. Sadly,ace badminton player SainaNehwal who was supposed tohave been the guest of honour was-n’t present.

Jayesh Ranjan on a conclud-ing note stated that he felthappy to see Gen-Next design-ers contributing towards thehandloom industry. “All I cansay is that the future looksbright. I wish all of us to go backwith a message to support thehandlooms of our state and ourcountry. This is a heritage ourcountry inherited and we musttry and enable ourselves to gethandloom products so that theweavers of our country, who aresustaining this heritage canbenefit from it.”

A unique addition this year isGen-Next Designer Section,promoting upcoming designers

to use handlooms of the stateand work with weavers. A show-case of Handloom weavers’ stallsfrom across Telangana and a fewother states will also be on dis-play and sale until August 12 atthe People’s Plaza arena onNecklace Road. Design collegesfrom across the state wouldalso be participating in thestalls and an intercollegiatedesign competition with hand-loom fabrics will be held as well.

Nobody else in the country works on doubleikats other than Pati Patola, which is limited tosarees. However, they work neither with cottonnor with the kind of dexterity like that of TeliaRumal. They don’t work on patterns either. I amvery sure that there are endless possibilitiesfrom the weaves made in Telangana

RINA SINGH

N

Humbl designedaround my lifestyle:Mahesh BabuS

COMFORT TRUMPS STYLEHow conscious are you when it comes

to choosing your clothes on a daily basis?— My style has always been very

simple and classic. I always wear what Iam comfortable in. I like to be in achecks shirt and jeans.

BACK TO THE ROOTSWhat will be the choice from your

own brand if you have to wear it?— It’s the Roots collections which is

very special from our brand. It givesemployment opportunities to our ruralweavers in both Telugu states. That’smy favourite collection along withchecks shirts.

#STAY HUMBLEWhat does Humbl mean to you?— Live real, stay humble. A lot of my

personality reflects on the brand. It’snot something which we did overnight.This was something that was going onin my mind for a long time. WhenBhargav approached us, his vision andclarity excited me and I started this. Itwouldn’t have been possible withouthim. A big thanks to him and Spoyl.

REFLECTION OF PERSONALITYWhy did you choose the name

‘Humbl’ for your brand?— I always had this idea to come

up with a clothing line. WhenBhargav gave me the presentation,they came up with this name and Iinstantly connected to it. I felt it isclose to my belief and personality. Iobserved that the letters ‘M’ and ‘B’were side by side in Humbl. Thegraphics team have now under-lined it.

REVIVAL OFHANDLOOMS

Attended bybureaucrats and

ministers,alongside ardent

supporters ofhandlooms, the

NationalHandloom Daywas celebratedin Hyderabad

with a bang,reports

SREENATH SKURUP

Minister Md Mahmood Ali and Jayesh Ranjan inaugurating the event

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Kaur

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eave, weave, weaveyour thread, gentlydown the loom’seems to be theaim of designersoff late as they pro-

mote eco-friendly fabric.Samana College of Design

Studies celebrated NationalHandloom Day with peoplewalking the ramp wearing eco-friendly fabric.

The aesthetic value of eco-friendly fabric was pompous-ly displayed through a fashionshow, which displayed a com-

bination of Indian and Indo-Western style.

The show was presented inthree phases with an array offabric from simple cottonsarees to sarees woven withrich, gold borders. Participantsof all age groups took part inthe event to drive home themessage that handlooms canbe worn by people of all ages.

People supported weavers bywearing only handloom dress-es. The event flagged off withthe lighting of a lamp by thedignitaries present, followed by

the national anthem, speechesand vote of thanks.

Samana Hussaini, chair-per-son of the college said, “Wewant to work for sustainablebusinesses with weaving clus-ters and designers to encour-age people in urban areas toshowcase handlooms at theinternational level.”

She also said that every pro-ject executed by students ofSCDS was displayed at NABAUniversity (Italy) as the collegehas partnered with the Milan-based university.

People walk the ramp with ECO-FRIENDLY FABRIC

FridayAugust 9, 2019

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Md Mahmood Ali (centre) felicitating Chintakindi Mallesham (right), while Shailaja Ramaiyer observes

T-seriesdirector

Bhushan Kumartells SAKSHI SHARMAthat the penetration of

music through social media,is so huge that it makes waveseven if the film doesn’t appeal

10

Blazers

could see how dis-tracted BhushanKumar was with hisphone which keptbuzzing withnumerous calls. He

said, signalling towards thephone calls, “See, we are every-body’s priority not only interms of music but also films.We have got a great bouquet offilms now.”

The one thing he alwayswanted to achieve was hisfather Gulshan Kumar’s dreamof spreading the wings of musicworldwide and making T-seriesa music company whichBhushan proudly feels he has“accomplished.” He is proud ofthe fact that he has achievedgood value for his brand, evenafter taking over the companyin tragic circumstances after hisfather’s demise in 1997.

The brand has recently co-produced, Batla House, anaction and thriller film starringJohn Abraham and MrunalThakur. Bhushan feels that it isnot easy to put songs that gowith the narrative of the filmespecially in a thriller like thisone. It is important for thecompany to insert songs thattake the story of the film for-ward and not put in merely forthe sake of it. Bhushan said,“We shot five songs butremoved two because it washolding the story back.” Givingexamples about the hit songs ofthe film, Rula Diya and O SakiSaki, he said, “I am happywith the way these songs syncwith the script.” But peopledon’t enjoy such songs at aparty or at home so he feels thatas a music company, “we haveto keep that too in mind.”

The concept of musicalremakes have always been apoint of debate and controver-sy. In Batla house, the song, OSaki Saki, performed by NoraFatehi, is a remake from thefilm Musafir (2004). ThoughNora is getting praises from allover for her moves and per-formance but Koena Mitra,the actress who featured in theoriginal version of the song didnot find it good and tweetedthat “it’s a mess”. Bhushan said,“People have the freedom to

voice their thoughts but I amnot bothered because I ammaking songs for the peopleand majority of them are lov-ing it. The day they will stopgiving me revenue, I’ll stopmaking them. Moreover, theyare my songs and I have the lib-erty to do whatever I want towith them.”

Good music is somethingthat can be rejoiced upon evenafter ages. Bhushan believedthat old songs, from the ‘80sand ‘90s, have a different charmaltogether and it’s becausenobody could have come upwith a sound back then, whichwould have worked todayexcept for romantic tracks. Hesaid, “With the changing pref-erences, you have to reinventthe tracks because people wantto listen to the song in a newbeat with new singers today.Everyone has their wishlistand I cater to a majority ofthem.” That is the reason all his30 re-creations have worked tilldate and have been major hits.

The way Indian musicindustry has functioned haschanged over the time. It hasevolved gradually from cas-settes and CDs to the digitalmeans, which has conqueredthe markets. The digital spacehas paved a way not only forthe mainstream languages butfor the regional ones as well.Bhushan said, “We need tocater to all our languages. Thatis why we produce songs inTamil, Telugu, Punjabi,Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Bengali,etc. All of this matters a lot inbringing us to where we aretoday.” The music companygrabbed the opportunity dur-ing the transformation stagesof music and catered to all thespaces where people looked forentertainment. He said, “It is agood platform that we are wit-nessing today. It is so conve-nient that music can travelacross within minutes. I knowso many actors, composers,lyricist who are getting theopportunity to showcase theirtalent on the web and aregaining appreciation. Manyproducers are into web seriesinstead of films now. I hopedigital stays forever and peo-

ple continue to make a liveli-hood from it.”

There are hits like KalaChashma and Tukur Tukur,which have compelled one togroove to their beats but thefilms, Baar Baar Dekho andDilwaale did not do that well.What is it about the films thatdon’t perform well onscreenbut their music makes waves?“Because of social media, thepenetration of music is so hugethat even if the film doesn’tappeal to the consumer, itsmusic does. One of the exam-ples is my own film, Roy,which flopped big time but Igot all the awards for its music,”explained he.

Going back into the time heset up his business, he said hislove for music is an inheritancefrom his father. “Initially, I didnot realise it but the way I wasrunning the business at a youngage made it evident.”

eeling good in yourlingerie is imperative,regardless of whetheranyone else will sneaka peek of you in it ornot. It has always been

a very personal and practical item.In 1913, Mary Phelps Jacob gotcrafty with some handkerchiefs andribbons to create the first modern-day bra. It was more for utilisationand as a protecting garment forbreasts. However, today, lingerie isdefined by a sales pitch dependenton the male gaze — something thatis only meant to be seen by yourpartner; something that is to beworn for someone else. But it is asusual as other clothes and a healthguard.

In a black bralette paired with anall-beige blazer and trousers, actressSwara Bhasker celebrates the firstanniversary of Clovia, a luxury lin-gerie brand. She feels that lingerieis as normal and regular as any-thing else. We have been alwayshush-hush about it because we are“shy.” But it’s been around since thebeginning. “We have been watch-ing it in advertisements sincechildhood — ‘yeh andar ki baathai,’ ‘yeh toh bada toing hai,’ ‘craft-ed for fantasy’ and what not. If wecan celebrate the comfort of men’sinnerwear as we have been doingfor so many decades, why can’t wedo the same for women’s? What isthe big deal there? Why do we haveto shy away from it? Why do wehave to cover it in a black polybagwhile selling it?” she questions.

Well, indeed, lingerie should beconsidered as a means of upliftingwomen themselves. “Innerwear issomething that should be for thewomen to feel bold and beautiful,”says the Veere Di Wedding actress.

Swara is known for how she putsforth her strong opinions. Shesays, “It’s important to be confidentin everything that you do. And it’sokay to be noisier about the thingsthat you want and you know areright.”

It’s a commonly-knownfact that women havemultiple personalitiesand disparate emo-tions. And,S w a r abelieves,

“Lingerie lets us express all of thatwhen we don’t want to project themto the outside world.” She goes onto add about the new trends thatbrands are keeping in mind whilecreating them. “The most satisfy-ing thing about lingerie brandstoday is that they have becomequite aware that there is no onebody type. The perfect type forwomen hasn’t always been a sizezero. The model that you see on thecover of magazines is not the onlybody type or colour. Now brandsare catering to everyone,” says she.

The actress feels that to have abrand which caters to women’sneeds is so important. She says, “Tohave a comfortable innerwear andclothes that can actually enable youto get going is so vital. Innerwearis something that we don’t valueenough. But lingerie brands aredoing a great job. It feels good tosee that women now have the lib-erty to make a choice of what willlook best on them. I love to wearsomething that is comfortable yetfull of colours and something thatcan enhance what you alreadyhave. It’s nice to see more lin-gerie brands not gettingscared by an opinionatedwoman.”

Ask Swara whyso many brandsare associat-ing theirp r o -

motional strategies with campaignsbased on women empowerment,the most recent example being FireWithin Me by Levis, and she says,“Brands have realised that it isimportant for them to be in touchwith the aspirations and emotionsof their consumers, especiallywomen, who, in our country, arenow becoming more vocal. Theyare much more aware about theirrights now. The brands are justcatching on to that. And becausemedia has become so sensitive togender issues, being feminist is thenew cool. Everyone is on board thefeminist bandwagon because itsells and brands have begun torealise that. It’s wonderful to seebrands putting their namebehind a good cause. Sowhy not supportthem?”

The actressbelieves thatfreedomi s

s o m e -thing thathas to beearned, pro-tected andsort of re-earned con-s t a n t l y .W o m e nemp ower-ment for heris the free-dom tomake hero w n

choices and to have theopportunity for self

growth. “Empowermentcomes in many forms,we must recogniseand appreciate it con-stantly,” says she.

Is a backgroundcheck important for

Swara before associating herselfwith any brand? She says, “As apublic figure, I can do a back-ground check on the informationthat is available in the publicrealm. But I don’t have access toany greater information than therest of the people. One definitelydoes a basic check of what is avail-able and what people know aboutthe brand. However, I don’t thinkthat you can hold celebritiesresponsible for the things that arenot in public.”

She feels that if you are wearingsomething and constantlytwitching it, “don’t wear it”just for the sake of wear-ing it because life islived out ofI n s t a g r a mthese days.“A f t e rt h e

post, you still have to be in that out-fit and move around. You have tofeel good to look good. It hasbeen proven that when youfeel your best is whenyou are at your best,”says she as shewalks out instyle.

Actress Swara Bhasker tells AYUSHISHARMA that most brands are on

board the feminist bandwagon for theirpromotion campaigns because it sells

and they have begun to realise that

F

BOLD ANDBEAUTIFUL

‘IF YOU ARE WEARING SOMETHING ANDCONSTANTLY TWITCHING IT, DON’T WEAR ITBECAUSE LIFE IS LIVED OUT OF INSTAGRAMTHESE DAYS. YOU STILL HAVE TO BE INTHAT OUTFIT AND MOVE AROUND’

melangeVijayawada Friday August 9, 2019

I

WINGSOF MUSIC

Twist, curl and teaseur hair is certainly likea crown that can neverbe taken off our heads.And it is very much apart of our identitiesand self-image. With

the growing focus on sustainabili-ty in our lifestyles today, people areincreasingly heading towards amore organic approach when itcomes to hair management. They donot merely wash and style their hairanymore but also hydrate, protectand put efforts to strengthen it. Andmany of them are looking to do sowith healthy and wholesome ingre-dients and products with a few orno chemicals.

In a bid to promote sustainabil-ity and create space for an eco-friendly business model for allglobal beauty brands and salonsacross the country, a luxury and pre-mium beauty brand has introduced‘Project Green Salon’ which useshair colours extracted from “bam-boo” sticks.

So how can we make salonspaces greener? Just alter the use ofalmost everything — from plastic,hair colours with chemical, andmetal cans — to biodegradableoptions and natural ingredients.

The question of what the new,futuristic hair would be like in Indiais a deliberative one. Especially forinternational hairstylist MarceloPedrozo, who looks at the Indianhair type as bouncy and wavy. Hepoints out that its future is just tak-ing rounds like a merry-go-wheel.And this year, it went back to theEastern way of experimenting withhair in the 80s. “Everything is goingback and also getting accepted.The trends in those decades werequite ahead of their time. I believe,in every season, some of the decadebecomes a trend. Previously, therewas fluffiness in hair and so manyfinger waves in the 40s. Today, it hasagain become the top trend.”

Wavy, curly and straight hairtypes are the most common ones inthe country. However, straight hasbeen commonly looked at as the

‘ideal’ one. Women with curly hairhad often been looked at as rebel-lious and wild. Even men with curlsare seen as felonious and undisci-plined. However, Pedrozo points outtowards how “curly, voluminous andtexture” hair have also been takingthe lead today. “The West has a widemarket for curly hair. The globalcurly girl (CG) community has beenvery much appreciative of the curlytrend. However, much to the sur-prise of Indians, there is an activeCG community in the country aswell, which is only growing,” he says.

For him, it was only in India thathe realised what the “beauty of hair”is. He tells us, “I started my hair sty-ling journey 12 years ago. But I had-n’t understood what the beauty ofhair was until I came to India. I obs-erved how they take care of theirhair here. Indian hair has huge wav-

es and are shiny, healthy and boun-cy. The material of their hair is soperfect, smooth and strong. It’s gr-eat as a stylist to experiment withtheir hair and with more techniques.Now with no chemicals, their stuffwould be even greater than ever.”

When advertisements go like, ‘Insearch of one of the most trusted,

natural solutions foryour hair?’ Pedrozo’sanswer would be,“Keratin.” It is certainlyone of the most soughtafter treatments for thehair. And it’s the reasonwhy it’s becoming agrowing trend here.“Keratin is very goodand healthy for hair. Itkeeps their shine ele-ment intact. It worksgreat even in differentkinds of weather likeIndia.

However, one of themost evergreen trends that havebeen followed, since hair experi-mentation first begun, is hair colour-ing, irrespective of the place it hap-pens in. Pedrozo believes that haircolour has more to do with a per-son’s identity and self perceptionthan just style. He points out, “It hasa lot to do about our personal image.

People colour their hair to feel newabout themselves. It’s fun to keepcolouring. Though you could alsobe harsh on your hair if you keepusing colours regularly withoutmoisturising it often.” And this iswhy, he says, there is a need for moreherbal and organic products for hairto be introduced in India.

There would also be a specialfocus on “waste management” tech-niques at salons. “We are creatingfume extractors in which we take allthe toxic gases, harmful chemicalsand fumes out of the salon infra-structure. We are also installingsalon bins, which will have five-binstructure inside salons. Each onewould be dedicated to differentmaterials — metal, paper, hair,plastic things and cans. We will alsobe working closely working NGOsto educate more people about thisto create a new future of hair inIndia,” says Arpit Jain, CEO of thebeauty brand.

O Texture and voluminous hair is here tostay as India changes its outlook on

how to treat the mane organically,says CHAHAK MITTAL

PARINEETI ADMITS TOBEING DEPRESSED

Actress Parineeti Chopra'sconfessions of a depressive phasein her life have gone viral. The

actress recently described the phaseas the ‘worst time of her life,’ and

said she went into a shell.“The end of 2014 and the year2015, those one-and-a-half yearswere the worst time of my life.Two of my films, Daawat-e-Ishq and Kill Dil were releasedback-to-back and didn't

work,” she said. She talkedabout this in an interview

while promoting herforthcoming film,Jabariya Jodi. “I justtook life into my ownhands because Ithought if I go intothis pit I will nevercome out again,” said she.

‘The first Bollywoodfilm I watched wasAsoka (SantoshSivan's 2001directorial). I sawKareena (Kapoor)dancing in it and shewas looking stunning.It was like watchingThe Last Of TheMohicans orBraveheart. After thatI watched Devdas,and then Black.Sanjay Leela Bhansalihas been a huge partof me wanting to doHindi films.’

— JacquelineFernandez

Actor Ayushmann Khurrana has

the mostenviable line up of content

cinema under his belt. Riding onfive back to back hits, the poster

boy of quality cinema has fourbrilliant projects under his beltwhich he hopes would deliver

maximum entertainment toaudiences.

“These four films will presentme in four absolutely different

avatars that no one has everseen me play. I’m relishing the

challenge they have posed and Iam actually very excited about

doing such different filmsbecause they push me indifferent directions,” says

Ayushmann.

ctor-turned-direc-tor RahulRavindran who hasdirected superstarNagarjuna forManmadhudu 2

understands that comparisonswith 2002 hit Manmadhudu isinevitable despite his offeringnot being a proper sequel.“Manmadhudu holds a specialplace in many people’s hearts.I like it a lot as well and when-ever I’m under stress, I watchit. The comic portions of thefilm bring a smile to my face,”he states, adding, “We don’twant the audience to compareour film with Manmadhudusince both are different regard-less of belonging to the samegenre. We are sure that, 15 min-utes into the film, the audiencewill watch it as a first film.”

The idea of naming the filmManmadhudu 2 was proposedby Annapurna Studios’ think-tank. The reputed Tollywoodproduction house has pro-duced the film along withViacom 18 and Anandi Arts.“There’s nostalgia value to thetitle, which we felt would fur-ther enhance our film’s appeal.A long discussion ensued

between me and Nag sir but itwas his call at the end of theday,” he shares.

Manmadhudu 2 is an officialremake of a 2016 French com-edy Prête-moi ta main. Afteragreeing to tailor the film tosuit Telugu sensibilities, Rahultook almost seven months topen the final draft. He believesin meticulous pre-production,a reason why he completed hismaiden film Chi La Sow in lessthan 35 days. “One and a halfmonths before Manmadhudu 2script was locked, I began thepre-production. Before theprincipal shoot began, I narrat-ed the story to the unit andsought their feedback. Doubtstoo, if any, were cleared beforegoing to sets. That way therewon’t be any differences ofopinion on shoot day. Nag siralso believes in investing a lotof time on pre-production andthe whole exercise helped uswith the efficient shooting. Wewent to floors in May first weekand wrapped up proceedingsby July first week.”

While Nag made a career outof commercial films, Rahul’sChi La Sow was raved for beingreal, classy and catering to a

limited section of the audi-ence. On how did he fit intoNag’s larger than life personaon screen and yet retain hissensibilities, Rahul adds, “Iwrote the first draft in 25 daysand sir liked it. However, hefelt it was too classy, lackingin universal elements. Iunderstood where it wascoming from and I got intohis zone thereafter. The finalscript was locked after ninedrafts; with writer Kittuentering the film in the third

draft.”As far as casting goes, he

mentions a democratic processwas followed with both himand Nag tossing relevant namesaround. He, however, was par-ticular on veteran Lakshmi toportray Nag’s mother. “I wasadamant on her and if she was-n’t available I didn’t mind thefilm getting delayed. Luckily,we managed to get her. She hasdelivered a tremendous perfor-mance. It was an honour towork with her,” he exults,excitement evident on his face.

Acting has taken a backseatfor the actor after he made theswitch to direction but he iskeen to don the greasepaintagain. Rahul, who was lastseen in Samantha-starrer U-Turn, says, “I have stories wait-ing to be narrated to me butone thing’s for sure is that Idon’t want to associate withnormal cinema; I want to dogood experimental cinema. Ifit’s a small one, if I feel I canimprove as an actor, I wouldwant to do it.”

In fact, his assistant directorsasked him to do a small role inManmadhudu 2 but fearingthat his sudden appearance

might distract the audiencefrom concentrating on the film,he rejected the idea. “Moreover,I’m not a star who can bringvalue to the film. I also didn’tsee the need to do a guestappearance in a Nagarjuna-starrer. It was not worth a sin-gle paisa,” he declares, addingthat he hasn’t made up hismind on his next script yet,though he admits to being indiscussions with productionhouse SitharaEntertainments forhis third directorial.

— NG

The actor-director is excited about therelease of his second directorial project,

and talks about the various processeshe had to go through to make sure

that his work will make an impact on alarger audience

fter her feisty act asRangammatha in last year’sblockbuster Rangasthalam,Anasuya Bharadwaj admitsto having been narrated closeto 13 scripts, but none caught

her fancy like Kathanam, which marksthe directorial debut of Nadendla Rajesh.In the making for a long time, the mur-der mystery will open in cinemas thisFriday and she believes it will be a litmustest for her box-office standing. “I playan assistant director Anu who is keen onmaking her film. It’s a role with multi-ple variations, allowing me to discovermore as an actor. She is an orphan andprepares a bunch of stories to get a break-through. After going through her bit ofstruggle just like every other aspiringfilmmaker, she finally gets the nod ofproducers for a murder mystery. Turnsout, what she has written on paper tran-spires for real and she immediatelyapproaches cops and briefs them about

it. However, she is taken into custody asa prime suspect. How she comes out ofthis complex situation and the measuresshe takes to thwart the next set of mur-ders unfold like a thriller,” Anasuyashares.

The makers approached her to head-line the film believing in her crowd-pulling abilities, while she has a differenttake on it. “I don’t think I’m a crowdpuller but they felt otherwise. I’ve cate-gorically told them that my image is dif-ferent and the role they offered me is dif-ferent. However, I had a tiny bit of con-fidence that since I’ve featured in the film,people might think it has something init, prompting them to visit cinema halls,”she hopes, pointing out that she neverimagined coming across a day where afilm will be promoted with her postersall over the city. “I’ve never dreamt ofbecoming a heroine. I was doing a jobwhen I took a break for my marriage. Isaw an opening for a programme on TV

and thus started my journey. My careeris better than it was yesterday and I’mhappy in the space I’m in right now.”

Continuing in the same breath, shegoes on, “When I was working with aVFX company, many directors whodropped by the office on work offeredme their next films, including some bigones. I was young and naïve to decide atthat time. Besides, my family had reser-vations about the industry. After mar-riage, my husband supported me in myefforts. Slowly, I gained the trust of myin-laws and they left it to me to make mychoices. After TV, films happened.Kshanam not only helped me connectwith audiences but also choose anddecline roles. Films are satisfying theartiste in me, which, I must say, I’ve dis-covered very late in the day.”

Recently, Anasuya was in the runningto be a contestant on Bigg Boss 3 but shehad to overlook the offer. “I’m addictedto my family. I can’t help but video call

my kids every fivehours. I couldn’t pictureleaving them for twomonths and lock myselfin a house,” explainsAnasuya who wrappedup shooting for VijayDeverakonda’s maidenproduction venture,featuring TharunBhascker. AHyderabad-set tragiccomedy, it is direct-ed by debutantShammir. Sheadmits to havingsigned a coupleof new projectsas well, thedetails ofwhich will bemade by therespective pro-duction houses.

Vijayawada Friday August 9, 2019

A

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11

ctor Manchu Vishnu, who announced thathe is going to become dad for the fourth timeearlier this May, plans to do an Instagram liveof his wife giving birth to their new baby.

Earlier, posting a picture with his wifeViranica flaunting the baby bump from atop

the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, the actor had writ-ten on Twitter, “A special announcement from a spe-cial location. From Vini’s home town and favourite place,we are delighted to announce that Ari, Vivi, and Avramare now going to be joined by a fourth little angel! (sic).”

On Thursday, the actor took to Twitter to announcehis plan of doing an Instagram live of his wife givingbirth to their new baby. It seems Kajal Aggarwal, whois now cast alongside him in a Hollywood film direct-ed by Jeffrey Chin, has something to do with this idea.“After lots of discussions/ deliberations with the beau-tiful @MsKajalAggarwal; I am planning to do an insta-gram LIVE of @vinimanchu giving birth to our newbaby!!!! Thanks @MsKajalAggarwal Just love your idea(sic),” he wrote on Twitter. Viranica’s due date is aroundthe corner.

Vishnu got married to Viranica, niece of the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy, who was the Chief Minister ofunited Andhra Pradesh, in 2008. In 2011, the couplewas blessed with twins Ariaana and Viviana, whiletheir son Avram joined the family last year.

i r e c t o rR amakanth’sE d a i n aJ a r a g o c c h ustarring VijayRaja, son of

actor Sivaji Raja is allready to hit theatres onAugust 23.

The action-comedyand horror-thriller filmwritten and directed by K Ramakanth and pro-

duced under Wet BrainEntertainment banner,stars Pooja Solanki andSasha Singh in femaleleads roles, while VennelaKishore and Naga Babuwill be seen in support-ing roles.

The f i lm’s trai lerreleased by VV Vinayankin April this year hasreceived huge responsefrom the audience.

I DON'T FEEL I'M A CROWD PULLER YET: ANASUYA

The actress talksto NAGARAJ

GOUD about herentry and growth

in the industry,the support she

gets from herfamily, her

upcoming releaseKathanam, and

the reason forrefusing Bigg

Boss 3 offer

tollywood

As an actor, Rahulwants to associate with

experimental cinema

ctress Priya Prakash Varrier, who becamean overnight star, after a clipping of herMalayalam debut Oru Adaar Love wentviral, hogged the lime light again after sheposted a picture with actor VijayDevarakonda on her Instagram feed.

The actress wrote, “Nuvvante naku chala ishtam.(I like you a lot)”

Soon after uploading the picture, the post went viralon social media platforms. Many rumours surfacedon the internet as to why the wink queen met Vijay.The diva is soon going to hit screens across the globewith her Hindi flick Sridevi Bunglow.

A

PRIYA VARRIER’SLOVE TO VIJAY

4th ttime hhappy:Manchu Vishnuto go live whenwife gives birth

A

ctor ArvindSwami, whowas last seenin ManiR a t n a m ’sC h e k k a

Chivantha Vaanam, issaid to have been ropedin to play former TamilNadu chief minister andlegendary actor MG Ramachandran in the upcoming

J Jayalalithaa biopic,Thalaivi. With the pro-ject due to go on floorsfrom October, the mak-ers are busy finalisingrest of the cast.According to reports, itis believed that ArvindSwami has been signed,but an official confirma-tion is still awaited.

Thalaivi, which will bedirected by Vijay, stars

Kangana Ranaut asJayalalithaa and thebiopic will be made inmultiple languages.

MGR played animportant role in thelife and career ofJayalalithaa. It was aftergreat contemplation themakers zeroed in onArvind Swami.

The project wasannounced along with its

title and first-look posteron February 25, on the71st anniversary ofJayalalithaa.

To be shot andreleased in Tamil, Teluguand Hindi, the film isbeing bankrolled byVishnu Induri. WhileGV Prakash has beenroped in to composemusic, Nirav Shah willcrank the camera.

Arvind Swami to play MGR in Thalaivi?

A

Vijay Raja's debut film to hitscreens on Aug 23

D

Arvind Swamy

Vijay RajaPooja Solanki

Sivaji Raja

Manchu Vishnu withhis family

Priya

Pra

kash

Var

rier

Vijay

Dev

erak

onda

AFP n LONDONManchester City signed

Portuguese international right-back Joao Cancelo fromJuventus with Brazilian full-back Danilo heading in theother direction to join the Italianchampions.

City will pay a net fee of28 million euros ($31 mil-lion) with Cancelo’s movevalued at 65 million eurosand Danilo costing 37 mil-lion euros.

“City are a fantastic club,with a brilliant manager and Iam delighted to be here,” saidCancelo, who signed a six-yearcontract on Wednesday.

“Everything about them

has impressed me, from thefacilities, to their style of play.

“I am always looking todevelop my game and win tro-phies and I believe I can do thathere, so now I’m really lookingforward to the new season andtesting myself in the PremierLeague.”

Cancelo won one Serie Atitle with Juventus after a 40 mil-lion euro move from Valencialast year.

“Joao is a fine player and anexcellent attacking full-backwho will provide us with a realthreat on the right-hand side,”said City director of footballTxiki Begiristain.

“He fits the profile of play-er we want here at Manchester

City. His best years are ahead ofhim, he’s technically proficientand has the physical attributeswe desire.”

Danilo was part of the Citysquad that has won five domes-tic trophies in the past two sea-sons, but has played second fid-dle to Kyle Walker at right-back.

“It’s been a pleasure to bepart of the success City haveenjoyed in my time here,” saidDanilo, who has signed a five-year contract with Juventus.

“The club have been fantas-tic with me from day one and Iwill always be grateful.

“The Premier League titlewins will stay with me foreverand I will always have City in myheart.”

sport 12VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY I AUGUST 9, 2019

AFP n LIVERPOOL

Missing out on the Premier Leaguetitle despite a record-breakingcampaign was eased by winning

a sixth European Cup for Liverpool lastseason, but ending a 30-year wait to becrowned English champions is nowmore important than ever on Merseyside.

Jurgen Klopp’s men are expected tostrike first blood in the title race whenthey kick off the Premier League seasonagainst newly-promoted Norwich underthe Friday night lights of Anfield.

However, unlike most of their com-petitors who have delved into the armsrace for talent in another transfer win-dow where Premier League clubs havespent over £1 billion ($1.2 billion), theEuropean champions have been conspic-uously quiet in the transfer market.

Teenage talents Sepp van den Bergand Harvey Elliott have been snapped upwith an eye to the future, while Spanishgoalkeeper Adrian will replace SimonMignolet as back-up to Alisson Beckerin three low-key arrivals.

Klopp, though, believes the founda-tions are already in place for another tiltat the title after spending over £230 mil-lion in the past two years on thelikes of Alisson, Virgil van Dijkand Mohamed Salah.

“You should never do trans-fers because other clubs aredoing transfers,” Klopp told SkySports.

“That makes no sense, it’s notabout that. And if you sit back fora second and have a look at the squad,do we need more players?”

On the evidence of last season,there is precious little for Liverpool toimprove on.

CITY SET THE BARA Premier League points tally of 97

would have won the title in any seasonbar the last two as Manchester City have

set a new bar under Pep Guardiola.City have further strengthened the

squad that won a first ever domestic tre-ble of trophies in England last season withthe club record signing of Spanish mid-fielder Rodri and will be the benchmarkfor Liverpool to beat.

A 1-1 draw between the sides, withCity edging a penalty shootout 5-4, in the Community Shield lastweekend again highlighted how lit-tle there is to separate the Englishand European champions.

Yet, in contrast to last seasonwhen Liverpool were the leastaffected of England’s big six by thelate return to pre-season of play-

ers at the World Cup, Klopp has a toughertime in ensuring his side hit the groundrunning.

The prolific front three of Salah,Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane wereall involved in international tourna-ments again this summer.

Liverpool have decided againstinvesting heavily in back-up for that trioand their presence was missed in a

bumpy pre-season that saw an under-strength side beaten by BorussiaDortmund, Sevilla and Napoli.

But Klopp believes the squad he hasassembled will be bolstered by AlexOxlade-Chamberlain, Adam Lallana andRhian Brewster’s return to fitness, whileNaby Keita can have a bigger impact inhis second season in English football.

“People think that players fromother clubs, other countries, are betterthan the players we have here but with-out really having the proof, because thoseplayers haven’t played here,” he said.

“It means whoever wants to start hasto be at his top level. We have propercompetition and that’s exactly what youneed.”

Winning the Champions Leaguealso booked Liverpool’s place in nextweek’s UEFA Super Cup and Club WorldCup in December, meaning they have fivetrophies to play for this season.

However, it is ending 30 years of hurtby winning a 19th league title come Maythat will determine whether Liverpool’sseason has been a success or failure.

AFP nMIAMI

Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverdeclaimed on Wednesday that Philippe

Coutinho is set to stay at Camp Nou despitestrong interest in the unsettled Brazilianfrom the Premier League.

The latest status update came afterCroatian Ivan Rakitic score a 79th-minutewinner to see off Napoli 2-1 at the HardRock Stadium in Miami.

Former Liverpool forward Coutinhohas distanced himself from a move toTottenham — he was also linked withArsenal — and with the transfer windowin England closing Thursday, the chancesof the 27 year-old returning to Englandappear slim.

Former Barca forward Neymar, cur-

rently at Paris St Germain, has also beentouted to make a sensational return to theLa Liga champions, although it has nowbeen suggested that arch rivals Real Madridare also weighing up a move.

“The plan is to count on Coutinho,”Valverde stressed. “The transfer windowsare open but we expect him to stay ofcourse.

“And as for Neymar, the last time I cameto this stadium I had to answer a load ofquestions about him. Two years later andit’s the same again. It’s like it’s following me.I don’t know what is going to happen.”

Croatian midfielder Rakitic struckwith a crisply driven effort after an own-goal from Samuel Umtiti had cancelled outSergio Busquet’s opener for the Spaniards.

This was the first leg of two matches

between these European giants with the sec-ond encounter taking place in Michigan onSaturday.

“It was a pretty open game and we wereable to give many of the squad some min-utes so it was a positive outcome for us,”added Valverde, who is without the injuredLionel Messi for this US mini-tour.

Antoine Griezmann, Barcelona’s $134million signing from Atletico Madrid, waslively from the start, linking up well withstrike partner Luis Suarez.

Coutinho has traveled to the UnitedStates but wasn’t in the match day squadhaving been granted extra time off follow-ing his exertions at the Copa America lastmonth.

CROWD BACKS BARCAIt was the Italians, managed by former

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti, whocreated the more clear cut openings.

A superb move on 18 minutes sawLorenzo Insigne denied by a brilliant pointblank save from Marc-Andre ter Stegenbefore Belgian Dries Mertens fired just wide.

Barcelona were struggling to find anyrhythm but seven minutes before thebreak, captain Busquets superbly curledhome, much to the delight of the pro Barcacrowd of 57,062.

Three minutes later, however, Napolideservedly drew level, ex-Real Madridmidfielder Jose Callejon’s effort was turnedpast Ter Stegen by Umtiti who endured adifficult half in defence, as did new sign-ing Junior, the full-back who was makinghis debut.

Suarez and Griezmann were bothreplaced at half-time but the game lackedthe intensity of the opening exchanges witha succession of substitutions from bothmanagers.

With 23 minutes remaining, OusmaneDembele hit the post with a curling effortbut only Napoli’s Arkadiusz Milik will knowhow he missed from close range a few min-utes later, the Polish forward somehowputting the ball over the bar with his chest.

And the excellent Rakitic made Napolipay by drilling in from the edge of the areato secure the win for Barcelona.

AFP n LONDON

Tottenham made the head-lines on a busy final day of

the Premier League transferwindow with deals in thepipeline for Giovani lo Celsoand Ryan Sessegnon, but theirhopes of signing Paulo Dybalaare fading.

Across north London,Arsenal are expected to com-plete moves for Celtic left-backKieran Tierney and centre-back David Luiz from Chelsea.

Manchester United strikerRomelu Lukaku's prolongedtransfer to Inter Milan is alsoclose to completion after theclubs reportedly agreed on adeal that could rise to 80 mil-lion euros (?74 million, $90 mil-lion).

Lukaku arrived in Milanearly on Thursday, leavingUnited facing a race againsttime to find a replacementdespite interest in Juventus for-ward Mario Mandzukic.

Spurs chairman DanielLevy has been under pressurefrom manager MauricioPochettino to build on theprogress made on and off thefield as Tottenham moved intoa new 62,000-capacity stadiumand reached the ChampionsLeague final last season.

They have made just onesummer signing so far, withFrench international midfield-er Tanguy Ndombele joiningfor a club-record fee from Lyon,but all that is set to change inthe final hours of the window.

Argentine internationalmidfielder Lo Celso is expect-ed to complete a season-longloan deal that will contain anobligation on Tottenham's partto make the transfer permanentnext summer.

And Spurs' long-runninginterest in England under-21international Sessegnon willbe realised in a reported 25 mil-lion deal that could rise to 30million including add-ons.

DYBALA NO-GOHowever, a sensational

swoop for Dybala has reported-ly broken down, with Juventusunwilling to let the Argentine

leave without an adequatereplacement, having missedout on Lukaku.

Arsenal are badly in need ofdefensive recruits to shore up abackline that conceded 51Premier League goals last sea-son to miss out on ChampionsLeague football for a thirdstraight year.

Tierney travelled toLondon on Wednesday afterthe payment structure of a ?25-million move from Celtic wasfinally agreed between theclubs.

Luiz is also set for a switchacross London to replacedeparted Arsenal captainLaurent Koscielny, who joinedBordeaux earlier this week, ina ?8 million transfer fromChelsea.

No more business isexpected at Premier Leaguechampions Manchester Cityafter they secured right-backJoao Cancelo from Juventus onWednesday.

Liverpool manager JurgenKlopp confirmed the Europeanchampions would not delveinto the market at the lastminute after making just threelow-key additions in teenagersSepp van den Berg and HarveyElliott and back-up goalkeeperAdrian.

By contrast, Merseysideneighbours Everton are hopingto complete a host of last-minute deals to add to sixarrivals already at GoodisonPark during the window.

Everton are hopeful of tak-ing Manchester United defend-er Marcos Rojo on loan andcould still land Crystal Palace'sWilfried Zaha after the Ivoriansubmitted a transfer request anddid not train with the Eagles onThursday.

Leicester are also set to usesome of the 80 million theyreceived from ManchesterUnited for Harry Maguire onSampdoria midfielder DennisPraet for 20 million euros.

AFP n BEIJING

They play on a football pitch with plasticwickets and most Chinese people have never

even heard of cricket. The Ashes it is not.But a devoted band of followers says the

sport is gradually growing in China, where thereis thought to be only one grass cricket pitch fora population of 1.4 billion.

They are up against it with scant domesticmedia coverage and limited facilities, andChinese cricket making worldwide headlines forpaltry scores.

In 2017 the men’s national side was bowledout for a humiliating 28 runs against SaudiArabia in a World Cricket League regional qual-ifier.

And this January the women’s team wereskittled out for just 14 runs against the UnitedArab Emirates, then the lowest women’s totalin T20 International cricket.

Undeterred, a handful of spectators recent-ly turned out to watch Shanghai’s women’s team,and saw them thrash a Hong Kong outfit in a20-overs-a-side game reduced to 15 oversbecause of the heat.

In the absence of a grass cricket pitch —there is one in China, but it is 1,500 kilometres(1,000 miles) south in Guangzhou — thewomen played on an artificial football pitch.

“The first question (I get asked is), ‘What’scricket?’” said Ma Fei, an umpire who with hiswhites and sun hat certainly looks the part.

Ma, who also goes by the Pakistani-sound-ing name Malik, then tells the frequent inquisi-tors that it is a bit like baseball.

“And then they understand,” he said,adding that he was attracted to the game by its“ceremonial procedures... the tea breaks, forexample”.

Reliable figures are hard to come by, but theInternational Cricket Council (ICC), the sport’sgoverning body, said in 2017 that about 80,000people played in China. Half of those arewomen and girls.

The ICC has made growing the game in theworld’s second-biggest economy a priority, butthe current number is measly consideringChina’s population.

Shanghai’s Huang Zhuo, a pioneer of thesport in China, is among those who believe thatChinese cricket can flourish.

A swashbuckling batter, she representedChina at the Asian Games in Guangzhou in2010 and at Incheon in 2014. There was nocricket at the 2018 Games.

China’s women came fourth in 2010, whencricket made its Asian Games debut, and it isset to return to the Games in 2022 in China’sHangzhou — where the country’s second grasspitch is under construction.

Huang was introduced to the game in 2006by the visiting Asian Cricket Council, whichwants to get the world’s most populous coun-try and its growing middle class into the sport.

“We were in university when cricket firstentered China,” she said.

“To be honest, we didn’t really know whatit was.”

The 33-year-old Huang, who teaches crick-et at school, warned that if success comes, itcould be a way off.

“I think China is now paving the road forgrowth because we all hope to start (fosteringtalent) young,” she said.

“So what we have been doing is youth train-ing, and specifically, making cricket morepopular and laying the foundations inShanghai.”

Shanghai, because of its large number ofexpatriates, is one of the main cities in Chinafor cricket.

The first recorded cricket match in Chinawas played in 1858 between officers from theBritish Navy and a Shanghai side.

But while the British Empire spread thegame to Australia, South Asia, the Caribbeanand Hong Kong, among others, mainlandChina resisted colonisation and the sportnever caught on.

PTI n KOLKATA

Former champions MohunBagan inched closer to secur-

ing a semifinal berth with a sec-ond successive win, whileGokulam Kerala and FC Goawon their respective group open-ers in the 129th Durand Cup,here on Thursday.

Smarting from a 0-3 reversalagainst Peerless in the CalcuttaFootball League at their samehome venue three days ago, theMariners had no trouble againstATK, as Joseba Beitia set up onefor Fran Morante in a 34thminute corner kick and struckanother in the 53rd minute toearn a 2-1 win.

Ashish Pradhan struck thesolitary goal for ATK from aBoris Singh pass in the 78thminute but that was not enoughas Mohun Bagan goalkeeperSankar Roy executed a couple ofbrilliant saves under the bar todeny the former Indian SuperLeague champions a draw.

Mohun Bagan, who hadbeaten Mohammedan Sporting2-0 in the Durand Cup opener onAugust 2, lead the Group B tablewith six points from two match-es, and a draw against IndianNavy on August 17 would beenough to seal a last-four berth.

The Kolkata ISL franchise,who had drawn Indian Navy 1-1 in their first match, have onepoint from two matches to suf-fer an early exit with one matchto go, versus MohammedanSporting, on August 16.

Marcus Joseph struck a hat-trick as Gokulam Kerala FCbegan their campaign on aresounding note with a 4-0thrashing of Chennaiyin FC inthe Group D opening fixture atthe Sailen Manna Stadium inHowrah.

The Trinidad and Tobagostriker gave them a 39th minutelead and the Kerala outfit had aquiet start only to pump inthree more goals in an action-packed 10 minutes after thechangeover.

The third ISL outfit inaction, FC Goa, who were play-ing with their developmentalside, scored through ListonColaco’s 26th minute strike,which proved decisive againstArmy Green in the Group C fix-ture at Kalyani Stadium.

Liston first missed a chanceto score from the penalty as theball bounced back to him fromLalawmpuia and then an Armydefender slotted it home to givethe Gaurs an early lead.

Real Kashmir and FC Goanow both have three points eachas it's a two-head race for thesemifinal in Group C.

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