2

www.dailypioneer.com

RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN VIJAYAWADA

*LATE CITY VOL. 3 ISSUE 274*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:

MONEY 8INDIA WITNESSING SIGNIFICANT

IMPROVEMENT IN UNESCAP SCORE

ANALYSIS 7CAIRN LOOKING FOR

ARBITRATION MONEY?

SPORTS 12LET THE

SHOW BEGIN

}RADHE SHYAM

INCHINGTOWARDS

COMPLETION

Page 11{

HYDERABAD,SATURDAY, JULY 24, 2021; PAGES 12 `3

HHYYDDEERRAABBAADDWWEEAATTHHEERR

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated JULY 22, 2021 5:00 PM

FFoorreeccaasstt:: Mostly cloudyTTeemmpp:: 28/22HHuummiiddiittyy:: 88%SSuunnrriissee:: 5:52 amSSuunnsseett:: 06:52 pm

AALLMMAANNAACC

TTOODDAAYY

Month & Paksham:

Ashadha & Shukla Paksha

Panchangam

Tithi : Purnima 08:05 Pratipada 29:49

Nakshatram : Uttara Ashadha 12:40

Time to Avoid : Time to Avoid (Bad

time to start any important work)

Rahukalam : 9:09 am - 10:46 am

Yamagandam : 1:59 pm - 3:35 pm

Varjyam : 4:26 pm - 5:57 pm

Gulika : 5:56 am - 7:33 am

Good Time : (to start any important work)

Amritakalam : 6:44 am - 8:13 am

Abhijit Muhurtham : 11:56 am - 12:48 pm

‘FASTER, HIGHER, STRONGER TOGETHER’

The magnificent opening ceremony of theTokyo Olympics 2020; (left) empty chairsinstead of spectators, courtesy Covid; and (right) entering 21st is the Indiancontingent at the Parade of Nations.

60.1% of TS populationhas antibodies: ICMR-NINNAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

About 60.1% of Telangana's popu-lation, including 55% of childrenaged 6-9 years, had a silent priorexposure to SARS-CoV-2.

These findings were disclosed bythe Indian Council of MedicalResearch- National Institute ofNutrition (ICMR-NIN) as part ofthe report on the 4th Covid serosurvey conducted in June 2021. TS'figure is less compared to theoverall sero-prevalence in thecountry put at 67.6%.

The sero-prevalence in Telanganawent up from 24.1 per cent in thefirst round to 60.1 per cent; while,at the national level, it went up from24 per cent in December 2020 to 67per cent in June 2021.

About 61 per cent of adolescents

had COVID-19 antibodies. Thesurvey was conducted in Nalgonda,Janagaon and Kamareddy districts.

Visit RLIS independent of AP govt,submit report: NGT to KRMBML MELLY MAITREYI n HYDERABAD

In what can be construed as a shotin the arm for the Telangana gov-ernment, the National GreenTribunal's southern zone bench atChennai on Friday directed theKrishna River Management Boardto visit the Rayalaseema LiftIrrigation Scheme (RLIS) projectsite "independent of the AP govern-ment" and submit a detailed reportupon inspection of the works takenup there.

Till date, there had been noprogress on the petitions filed inthe National Green Tribunal,including the contempt of courtpetition filed by the Telangana gov-ernment against the ongoing workon the RLIS taken up by theAndhra Pradesh government inviolation of Tribunal's orders.

The Contempt of Court petitioncame up for hearing in the NGT,Chennai on Friday.

The Tribunal, in its previous

order on July 12, directed theKrishna River Management Boardand the Central EnvironmentDepartment to visit RLIS projectsite and submit a report if indeedwork was going on without anyapprovals as complained initially bythe individual petitioner G Srinivasand subsequently by the Telanganagovernment.

On Friday, KRMB submitted anaffidavit stating that the AndhraPradesh government was notcooperating for their proposedvisit to the project site. TheCentral Environment

Department, however, did notfile its response on Friday.

However, the Andhra Pradeshgovernment on Friday submitted anaffidavit against the Contempt ofCourt petitions denying that it hadviolated the NGT orders and statedthat only works related to DetailProject Report had been taken up.

Telangana Additional AdvocateGeneral Ramachandra Rao thensubmitted to the NGT that itshould send its own team to thecontroversial work site,

PNS n HYDERABAD

Huzurabad will change the wayTRS campaigns for and faces theelection battle in what has becomea key constituency. Unlike in thepast, the pink party has put theresponsibility on two big leadersthis time. While on the one handtroubleshooter and FinanceMinister Harish Rao has alreadystarted working, recently ITMinister K T Rama Rao's teambegan getting involved.

After Eatala Rajender's exit,KTR went silent even on socialmedia and took enough timebefore responding to the contro-versies. Sources in the party saidthat this would be a different elec-tion as there would be two 'topguns' handling the scene.

While the Dubbak bypoll washandled by Harish Rao and theGHMC elections by K T RamaRao, very rarely both of them raninto each other's work area.

Sources indicated that fightingwith the Bharatiya Janata Partyimplied that the pink party had tocompete both offline and online.Sources pointed out that each ofthem had their own strengths andthis would be a big add-on forcracking a heavy weight like Eatala

Rajender. On the ground, Harishis doing poll management, whileKTR has reportedly been taskedwith assessing public mood.

KTR not to meetanyone on his birthday

PNS n HYDERABAD

TRS party working presi-dent K.T.Rama Rao has calledupon the party cadre, leadersand supporters not to come toHyderabad on Saturday,which happens to be hisbirthday, to wishhim at a timewhen the State isreeling underheavy rains andflood situa-tion.

To lay it onthick, KTR

said that he would not meet any-one on his birthday, and appealedto party workers to respect hisdecision and understand the situ-ation.

As heavy rains are likely tocontinue for two to three moredays, KTR directed all TRS people'srepresentatives to remain in thefield in their respective constituen-

cies and districts and be acces-sible to people to extend

them any help they mightrequire. He also said thatthey should join the reliefeffort wherever it wasrequired.

KTR also reminded themabout Chief Minister K

Chandrasekhar Rao'sdirective to all the

people's rep-resentatives,f r o mMinisters tosarpanches,

Mothkupally quits BJP; spits fire at Eatala PNS n HYDERABAD

As expected, former ministerMothkupally Narsimhulu resignedfrom the BJP on Friday andexpressed his willingness to join theTelangana Rashtra Samiti party.Mothkupally would join TRS in thepresence of TRS president and ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raovery soon, according to sources.

Immediately after announcing

his resignation from the BJP,Mothkupally targeted former min-ister Etela Rajender, while shower-ing praises on KCR for announcingthe Dalit Bandhu scheme for thesake of Dalits. He termed KCR as'Ekaika mogadu' for giving Rs.10lakh to Dalit families in the state.Mothkupally also described KCR as"a real heir to Dr BR Ambedkar". Hecalled upon Dalits of the state tostand by KCR.

Mothkupally questioned as towhat was the need to bring EatalaRajender to carry the BJP flag. Hecalled upon the people of Huzurabadconstituency to boycott "the corrupt"Eatala Rajender. He said that the BJPshould have inducted EatalaRajender into the party fold onlyafter making him give back land ofthe Dalits and the temple lands.

Bharat Bio endsMoU with Brazilafter graft claimsPNS n HYDERABAD

Bharat Biotech on Friday said itterminated the Memorandum ofUnderstanding entered withPrecisa Medicamentos andEnvixia Pharmaceuticals LL.Cfor its COVID-19 vaccineCovaxin for the Brazilian market.

The termination of the MoUcame after the deal with theBrazilian government for supplyof 20 million doses of the vac-cinelanded in controversy andattracted investigation by author-ities in that country.

Precisa Medicamentos is BharatBiotech's partner in Brazil, pro-viding assistance, guidance andsupport with regulatory submis-sions, licensure, distribution,insurance and conduct of phaseIII clinical trials, among others.

Tata Boeing delivers100th fuselage fromHyderabad facilityPNS n HYDERABAD

Tata Boeing Aerospace LimitedonFriday announced the delivery ofthe 100th fuselage for the AH-64Apache combat helicopter toBoeing from its state-of-the-artmanufacturing facility here.

PNS n NEW DELHI

There are two Telugu teachersamong 12 full-time VCs appoint-ed to 12 Central Universities byPresident Rama Nath Kovind onFriday. They were identified as ProfBattu Satyanarayana and DrBasootkar Jagadishwar Rao.

Prof Satyanarayana was appoint-

ed as Karnataka Central UniversityVice-Chancellor. He retired as thehead of the department of chem-istry in Osmania University. Heheld the post of President of OUTeachers' Association (OUTA) forabout 15 years. He was unanimous-ly elected to the post for three terms.

2 Telugu academicians among 12VCs appointed to central universities

Plastic sticks used in candies, ice-cream to be prohibited by Jan 1PNS n NEW DELHI

Candy sticks and ice-cream sticksmade of plastic may get phased outfrom January 1, 2022, the Centreinformed Parliament on Friday.

Responding to a query on thephasing out schedule of single-useplastic, Minister of State forEnvironment Ashwini Choubeysaid as per the draft notificationissued earlier this year, manufac-ture, import, stocking, distribution,sale and use of some of the identi-fied single-use plastic items are pro-posed to be prohibited by January1, 2022.

Earbuds with plastic sticks, plas-tic sticks for balloons, plastic flags,candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, poly-

styrene (thermocol) for decorationare proposed to be phased out byJanuary 1, while single-use plastic

(including polystyrene and expand-ed polystyrene) items – plates,cups, glasses, forks, spoons, knives,

straw, container and container lids,trays, plastic/PVC banners lessthan 100 microns and stirrers areexpected to be phased out by Julynext year.

Single-use plastic items expectedto be phased out by September 30this year include carry bags made ofvirgin or recycled plastic less than120 microns in thickness and non-woven plastic carry bag less than 60GSM (gram per square metre) or240 microns in thickness, the min-ister informed Lok Sabha in a writ-ten response, adding that the pro-visions shall not apply to commodi-ties (including carry bags) made ofcompostable plastic material.

Several low-lying areasface inundation in TSPNS n HYDERABAD

Several low-lying areas facedinundation and road links weredisrupted in Telangana onFriday following heavy rainsthat lashed the state during thelast two days.

Relief operations were taken upin Nirmal and other districts asseveral residential localities facedinundation, official sources said.

National Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF) personnel rescueda group of seven people whowere stuck at an ashram inNizamabad district.

Only 30% of therequired vax dosessupplied to TS

The Center has so far provided1.06 crore vaccine doses to

Telangana. As on 20th July 2021,a total of 1.59 crore doses ofCOVID-19 vaccines weresupplied to the State, including1.06 crore doses free of cost, bythe Government of India. Theremaining 9.25 lakh doses havebeen procured by the StateGovernment and 43.59 lakhdoses have been procured byprivate hospitals.

KTR and Harish Raocombo for Huzurabad?

While the Dubbakbypoll was handledby Harish Rao andthe GHMC electionsby K T Rama Rao,very rarely both ofthem ran into eachother's work area

o Appeals to party cadre,leaders to remain inconstituencies, helprain-hit people

o Plant trees, the TRSworking presidentreiterates

US SECRETARY OF STATE BLINKEN TOVISIT INDIA FOR TWO DAYS FROM JULY 27

CUMULATIVE VAX DOSES ADMINISTEREDIN INDIA EXCEED 42.75 CRORE: CENTRE

NO PLANS TO SUSPEND NEET, OTHERCOMMON ENTRANCE EXAMS: GOVT

CONG SAYS HUGE RISE IN NSC GRANT IN2017-18, ASKS IF IT WAS FOR ‘PEGASUS’

The cumulative Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in thecountry has exceeded 42.75 crore, the Union health ministry saidon Friday. Nearly 38,87,028 vaccine doses have been adminis-

tered on Friday, according to the 7 pm provisional report. Theministry said 18,09,954 vaccine doses wereadministered as first dose and 1,92,363vaccine doses given as second dose in theage group 18-44 years on Friday.Cumulatively, 13,52,21,119 persons in theage group 18-44 years across states andunion territories have received their firstdose and total 57,54,908 have received theirsecond dose since the start of phase-3 ofthe vaccination drive.

The Union government does not have any plans to suspend NEETand other common entrance examinations, Minister of State forHealth Bharati Pravin Pawar informed Lok Sabha on Friday. The

National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (PG) and NEET (Undergraduate)2021 examinations are scheduled to be heldthis year on September 11 and 12,respectively, she said in a written reply. Theexamination shall be conducted with all dueprecautions and following all protocols,including maintaining Covid-appropriatebehaviour, Pawar said. Further, the additionalprotective measures for candidates andexamination personnel are proposed towa-rds the safe conduct of the exam, she stated.

Amid the Pegasus snooping row, the Congress Friday claimed thegrant allocation to the National Security Council secretariat wentup to Rs 333 crore in 2017-18 from Rs 33 crore the year before,

and asked if this hike was related to "purchasing" the Israeli spyware.Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera saidthe UPA government in 2011-12 hadallocated Rs 17.43 crore to the NationalSecurity Council Secretariat in terms ofgrants. This amount was marginallyincreased to Rs 20.33 crore in 2012-13 andfurther to 26.06 crore in 2013-14, he said,noting that National Security CouncilSecretariat is largely concerned withadministration and co-ordination.

US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken will visit India onJuly 27 and 28 to discuss a range of issues including therecovery from the coronavirus pandemic and the situation

in Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific, the Ministry of ExternalAffairs announced on Friday. It will beBlinken's first visit to India after assum-ing charge as and the second by a high-ranking official of the Biden administr-ation since it came to power in January."US Secretary of State, Antony J Blinken,will visit India on July 27 and 28," theMEA said. A statement by the US StateDepartment said Blinken will also meetPrime Minister Narendra Modi.

2 2

22

2

2 2

222

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

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

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

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

hyderabad 02HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | JULY 24, 2021

EGG

RATES

HYDERABAD 485

VIJAYAWADA 524

VISAKHAPATNAM 557

RREETTAAIILL PPRRIICCEE `̀44..8855

`̀//110000

CHICKEN

RATES

Dressed/With Skin `255

Without Skin `275

Broiler at Farm `162

`̀//KKGG

(IN HYDERABAD)

Only 30% of the required vax doses...Continued from page 1

The Telangana governmentprocured 4,90,590 doses inMay and 4,34,630 doses inJune.

Vaccine allocations havenot improved for Telangana,considering that 12 states haveseen better allocations than it.From January to April -48,96,700 vials were supplied.In May 12,43,060 vials weresupplied, while in June29,56,710 vials were madeavailable. Up to 20 July,15,04,090 vials were given bythe Center to the state. Apartfrom vaccines, the Centerallocated 1,400 ventilators,2.93 lakh Remdesivir, 42.5lakh HCQ 1.06 lakh

Amphotericin B and 1,113Toclizumab to Telangana.

According to the Centralgovernment, the vaccinewastage is 1.99%.

Responding to a questionraised by BJP MP BandiSanjay, Minister of State Dr.Bharati Pravin Pawar said,"Between 1st May 2021 and13th July 2021, a total of 60.29

lakh doses of COVID-19 vac-cine were administered inTelangana, of which 1.20 lakhdoses were extra dosesextracted from the vials whichconstitute 1.99% of the totaldoses administered".

Dismissing claims of short-age of vaccine, the Centersaid it did not face any diffi-culty in procuring vaccines.

The Minister said, "Advancevisibility of these allocationsi.e. the total doses of vaccinethat would be available to aState/UT, is provided toStates/UTs 15 days in advanceso as to enable States/UTs toplan for acceleration of vacci-nation coverage while beingcognizant of the available vac-cines."

The Government of Indiaallocates vaccines toStates/UTs based on criteriasuch as pro-rata target popu-lation, the progress of vaccina-tion in the State/UT, and vac-cine wastage. As per the latestSupply Order, the Center ispurchasing Covishield at Rs.205 per dose and Covaxin atRs 215 per dose.

60.1% of TS population...Continued from page 1

The sero-positivity was as high as 82.4 per cent among healthcareworkers. This is attributed to early vaccination of the frontline workers.It may be mentioned here that in the first round of the sero-survey, thesero-prevalence was 0.33 per cent, while the second survey found12.5 per cent antibodies and 24.1 per cent sero-pervalence.

Dasoju appeals to CS toaudit Covid death reportsPNS n HYDERABAD

AICC official spokespersonDasoju Sravan has appealed tothe Chief Secretary SomeshKumar to constitute an apex-level committee to audit deathreports, including the hospitalmedical treatment records andarrive at the actual number ofdeaths in Telangana, whichwill provide a basis of receiv-ing the financial relief fromGovernment of India as per theSupreme Court directions. Heappealed to Somesh Kumar toprovide compensation to allthose needy spouses andorphaned children, who losttheir bread earners due toCovid-19. He also appealed tothe CS to issue formal docu-ment wherein the cause ofdeath of those, who succumbedto the Covid-19 virus is statedas "death due to Covid-19".

On Friday, Dasoju Sravanaddressed a letter to the ChiefSecretary alleging that the stategovernment indulged inunder-reporting of innumer-able deaths that occurred inTelangana due to Covid-19between April, 2020 and now,thereby violating the funda-mental right to die with digni-ty, ICMR guidelines for Covid

deaths registration and princi-ples of natural justice. Herequested the CS for the re-audit and rectification of deathrecords/ reports and providejustice by enabling thedeceased families to get com-pensation or compassionateappointment or any ex-gratiaby the Government of India inview of the orders of theSupreme Court.

He mentioned in his letterthat in the State of Telangana,a large number of people diedduring the first and secondwaves of the Covid-19 pan-demic. In every locality and inevery village, there were deathsdue to both the waves ofCovid-19, he said. It is a knownfact that during the secondwave of Covid-19, a greaternumber of deaths have hap-pened in rural Telangana. Inevery village and every ward,several people have died due toCovid-19. Thousands of chil-dren were orphaned as theirparents succumbed to the virusand several families severelysuffered due to the death oftheir sole bread earners, hesaid.

Particularly, during the sec-ond wave of Covid-19, count-less people died not only in the

hospitals, both public and pri-vate, but also at their homeswhile taking self-treatmentdue to lack of access to beds inhospitals, oxygen and otherlife-saving drugs.

However, ironically, the gov-ernment of Telangana in orderto create a camouflage andmislead people into believingthat "all is well" and further, tocover up their colossal failurein handling the Covid-19 pan-demic, seems to have com-pletely underreported thenumber of deaths in entireTelangana. The Government ofTelangana has falsely reported6,29,054 Covid-19 cases with3,710 deaths from March 14,2020 to June 30, 2021, he said.

If only the Government ofTelangana would have strictlyadhered to the above-men-tioned ICMR guidelines, mostof the deaths that occurredduring the pandemic wouldhave been reported as "deathsdue to Covid-19". However, forreasons better known to them,the government of Telanganawillfully made an unlawfulattempt to underreport thedeaths and kept the families ofthe deceased persons in thedark about the cause of theirdeath, he alleged.

TS clocks 643new Covidcases, 4 deathsPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana on Friday report-ed 643 fresh COVID-19cases, takingthe tally to over6.40 lakh while the death tollrose to 3,778 with four moredeaths.

The Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporationaccounted for the highestnumber of cases with 77 fol-lowed by Karimnagar at 68,a state government bulletinsaid.

Active cases stood at9,729.The infection caseload was

at6,40,012, whilewith767people beingcured,total recoveriesclimbed to 6,26,505.

Over 1.20 lakh sampleswere tested on Friday andcumulatively, over 2.11crore samples have beentested.

The samples tested permillion population were over5.67 lakh, the bulletin said.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Bharat Biotech on Friday said ithas committed to supply over500 million doses of itsCOVID-19 vaccine Covaxin tothe Centre under the country-wide immunisation pro-gramme.

Speaking at a virtual confer-ence organised by theConfederation of IndianIndustry, Suchitra Ella, jointManaging Director of the city-based vaccine maker, said thecompanys facilities in four cities- Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Puneand Ankaleshwar - are current-ly producing Covaxin. "In a nut-

shell if I have to tell you, this isthe journey of Covaxin fromApril 2020 until June 2021.

And it is still ongoing as wecontinue to manufacture, taking

a commitment of more than 50crore (500 million) of doses tobe submitted to the governmentof India for its immunisationprogramme," she said narrating

the journey of Covaxin.Minister of State for Health

Bharati Pravin Pawar had saidin Parliament on Tuesday thatfrom January to July 16, 5.45crore (54.5 million) doses ofCovaxin by Bharat Biotech and36.01 (360 million) crore dosesof Covishield have been sup-plied by the Serum Institute ofIndia to the Centre.

Suchitra Ella said the data ofPhase 3 trials has been submit-ted to the Drug ControllerGeneral of India for its perusaland efficacy of the vaccineagainst many of the coron-avirus variants was also tested.

Covaxin demonstrated 77.8

per cent effectiveness againstsymptomatic COVID-19and65.2per centprotectionagainst the B.1.617.2 Delta vari-ant, Bharat Biotech said recent-ly, while announcing the finalanalysis of the jab.

It had said the EfficacyA n a l y s i sdemonstratesCovaxinto be 93.4per cent effective against severesymptomatic COVID-19 cases.

The MD further said thatwhen it comes to vaccines notonly for COVID-19, India,when compared to some othercountries, has more capacity toproduce vaccines in large num-bers.

KTR not to...Continued from page 1

To participate in relief activi-ties and said that the partycadre should support the reliefoperations. KTR reiterated hiscall to party leaders and cadreto take up social service as pertheir choice and participate inthe plantation of saplings pro-gramme.

KTR's office stated that theproposed distribution of two-wheelers to physically chal-lenged persons by KTR underthe 'Gift a smile' programmescheduled for Saturday hadbeen postponed in view of therains. It would be organized oncethe inclement weather improvedin the State. A special pro-gramme would be organizedlater to distribute the two-wheel-ers to the beneficiaries, it said.

Tata Boeing delivers 100th

fuselage from Hyderabad...Continued from page 1

According to a press releaseissued by Tata AdvancedSystems Limited, the fuselagewill be transported to Boeing'sAH-64 Apache manufacturingfacility in Mesa, Arizona, USA,for integration into the finalassembly line.

Telangana Minister KTRama Rao, and senior officialsfrom Boeing and TASL werepresent to mark the deliverymilestone.

Salil Gupte, president,Boeing India, said, Tata BoeingAerospace Limited is an exam-ple of Boeing's commitmenttowards "Atma NirbharBharat" and the co-develop-ment of integrated systems inaerospace and defence not justfor India, but for the world.

"We have quadrupled oursourcing from India in the pasttwo years to more than USD 1billion. Skilled talent, robust

infrastructure, ease of doingbusiness, and a highly respon-sive government administra-tion make Telangana an idealdestination for the high-endmanufacturing work that theaerospace and defence indus-try demands," Gupte said.

Rama Rao, said, "This is aproud moment for Telangana,and a noteworthy step in thegrowth of Indias aerospaceand defence manufacturing.Our government is committedto providing all support neces-sary to make the state a pre-ferred destination for globalaviation and defence manufac-turers. I congratulate Boeingand Tata for this milestone."

Sukaran Singh,ManagingDirector and Chief ExecutiveOfficer, TASL said, "Theachievement of 100thfuselagedelivery for AH-64 withinthree years of the facility beingoperational reflects our strongability to industrialise and

ramp up complex aerospaceprograms and deliver withhighest levels of quality."

Tata Boeing Aerospace,Boeing's first equity joint ven-ture in India, is the result of a2015 partnership agreementwith TASL.

Spread over 14,000 squaremeters, the facility has beenproducing aero-structures forBoeing's AH-64 Apache heli-copter, including fuselages,secondary structures and ver-tical spar boxes for customersworldwide.

Recently, Boeing announcedthe addition of a new produc-tion line to manufacture com-plex vertical fin structures forthe 737 family of airplanes.

Customers globally operatemore than 1,200 Boeing-madeApache helicopters.

The helicopter has beenfielded or selected for acquisi-tion by the armed forces of 16countries, including India.

Mothkupally quits...Continued from page 1

He asked what would havegone wrong had he attended theDalit empowerment meeting asa representative of the BJPwhen Chief Minister KCR hadinvited him personally by mak-ing a phone call. He said thatthe BJP made a 'historic mis-take' by not attending the path-breaking Dalit empowermentmeeting.

Speaking to media personson Friday, Mothkupally madeit clear that he had quit the BJPas he failed to take the insultsheaped on him in the party. Noleader, who joined the BJPfrom other parties, was happyin the saffron party, he said. Hesaid that BJP leaders did notallow him to sit on the dais dur-ing party meetings, though hehad served as an MLA for 30years. The BJP was trying tomalign him though he hadjoined the BJP to help it, he said.

Thanking KCR for announc-ing the Dalit Bandhu scheme,Mothkupally said that he ten-dered his resignation from theBJP being confident of the factthat KCR would implement theDalit Bandhu scheme across the

state. He said that he had brave-ly joined BJP at a time whenthere were no Dalits in theparty. Time would tell whatfuture holds for him. He saidthat KCR was the leader whoprovided economic and socialsecurity to Dalits in the state.

Leaders in the BJP and polit-ical analysts expected thatMothkupally might quit the BJPany time when he attended theDalit empowerment meetingheld on June 27 at PragathiBhavan under the leadership ofKCR though the TelanganaBJP had officially announcedthat it was boycotting the meet-ing. The BJP had also expressedanger over Mothkupally's actionand had started to keepMothkupally away from partyactivities from then onwards.However, Mothkupally saidthat he informed the TelanganaBJP chief Bandi Sanjay beforeattending the meeting and alsosaid that he protected the BJPinterests in the state by attend-ing the Dalit empowermentmeeting.

It may be recalled thatMothkupally joined BJP lastNovember in the presence ofBJP national president JP

Continued from page 1

By stating that "Huzurabad isa fight among parties", KTRhas hinted that, irrespectiveof the candidate to be field-ed by TRS, the who's who ofthe party would be at thehelm of affairs in the con-stituency. Apart from ChiefMinister K ChandrashekarRao's public address, havingthese two ministers wouldboost the morale of partyleaders, sources said.

KTR andHarish Raocombo forHuzurabad?

Bharat Biotech to supply 500mn doses of Covaxin to Centre

In a nutshell ifI have to tellyou, this is thejourney ofCovaxin fromApril 2020 untilJune 2021

Visit RLIS independentof AP govt, submitreport: NGT to KRMBContinued from page 1

Considering that the AP gov-ernment had not been coop-erating with the KRMB. Hesaid that the Telangana gov-ernment was ready to providehelicopter and other facilitiesfor the NGT team to visit andinspect the project site.

However, the Tribunal againordered the KRMB to visit theproject site independent of theAP government and submit adetailed report, after carryingout an inspection of the RLIS.It postponed the next hearingto August 9.

Meanwhile, Telangana gov-ernment sources said thatthey had been requestingKRMB to complete theinspection and submit areport at the earliest. "Nodoubt it is an emotive issue

and activists and people willcome out to give their views.But it is the responsibility ofthe AP government to pro-vide protection to the KRMBteam for completing theirtask as directed by theTribunal. Only then the truthwill come out".

"We are hopeful of progressas the Tribunal on Fridaycategorically directed theKRMB again to inspect theRLIS site and give its report",they said. It may be mentionedthat Telangana has beenopposing AP's RayalaseemaLift Irrigation Scheme,designed to lift water for thePotireddipadu canal, on theground that it was being ille-gally constructed on theKrishna River without anyenvironmental clearance andwithout water allocation.

2 Telugu academicians among...Continued from page 1

He fought for finding a solu-tion to the problems of OUteachers. He has had a goodunderstanding of the prob-lems of university teachersand GOs. He became synony-mous with OUTA and viceversa. Under his supervision,

12 research scholars got PhD.During his college days, hewas ABVP president of OUArts College.

Similarly, Dr BasootkarJagadishwar Rao, who wasappointed VC of CentralUniversity of Hyderabad, iscurrently working as dean ofIISER. He did his B Sc in

Nizam College and complet-ed MSc from OU. He did hisPhD from the Indian Instituteof Science, Bengaluru. Hegot his post-doctoral degreefrom Yale University ofBiological Sciences in theUSA. He will hold the officeVC of Central University ofHyderabad for five years.

Continued from page 1

State Roads and BuildingsMinister Vemula Prashant Reddysupervised the operation andthose stranded at the ashram wererescued in the early hours ofFriday, they said.

Several rivulets and other waterbodies were in spate following theheavy rains leading to disruptionof road links in various villages inthe state. State Women and Child

Welfare Minister SatyavatiRathod, who held a meetingwith Mahabubabad district offi-cials on Friday, directed them totake measures to strengthenbunds of tanks and other waterbodies to prevent breaches.

Wankidi in Kumuram BheemAsifabad district received 39 cmsof rainfall, followed by Asifabad(30 cms), Sarangapur in Nirmaldistrict (21 cms), official sourcessaid.

Several low-lying areas...

Plastic sticks used in candies, ice-cream to be...Continued from page 1

The Ministry of Environmenthad issued a notification contain-ing draft provisions on March11, 2021 for amending PlasticWaste Management (PWM)Rules, 2016, inter alia prohibit-ing the use of identified single-

use plastic items by 2022 for pub-lic consultation.

Replying to another query onthe steps taken to strengthen theimplementation of Plastic WasteManagement Rules, 2016 andalso to reduce the use of identi-fied single-use plastic items, theminister said the states/UTs have

been requested to constitute aspecial task force under the chiefsecretary or the administrator.

"Already, 14 states/UTs haveconstituted the special task forcetill date. A national level taskforce has also been constitutedby the ministry for taking coor-dinated efforts to eliminate iden-

tified single-use plastic items andeffective implementation ofPlastic Waste ManagementRules, 2016," he said.

The state and UT govern-ments and the central min-istries and departments con-cerned have also been request-ed for the development of a com-

prehensive action plan for elim-ination of single-use plasticsand effective implementationof the rules in a time boundmanner, he said, adding that thegovernment has been takingmeasures for awareness genera-tion towards elimination of sin-gle-use plastics.

Bharat Bio ends...Continued from page 1

"The Company has terminatedthe said MOU with immediateeffect. Notwithstanding suchtermination, Bharat Biotechwill continue to work diligent-ly with ANVISA, the Braziliandrug regulatory body to com-plete the regulatory approvalprocess for Covaxin," it said.

Bharat Biotech is pursuingapprovals in various countriesas per legal requirementsapplicable in each country, itsaid.

Bharat Biotech signed aMoU with PrecisaMedicamentos and EnvixiaPharmaceuticals LL.C onNovember 20 for the purposeof introducing Covaxin in the

territory of Brazil.The global pricing of the

vaccine has been set betweenUSD 15-20 and accordingly,the jab was offered to theGovernment of Brazil at therate of USD 15 per dose, BharatBiotech said.

It is further stated that thecompany has not received anyadvance payments from, norhas it supplied any vaccines tothe Ministry of Health in Brazil,the company said.

The vaccine maker stressedthat all its actions, including itsglobal dealings, are done inaccordance with local laws andthe company employs and fol-lows the highest standards ofethics, integrity and complianceat all times.

CM conveys best wishesto Indian sports contingentat Tokyo OlympicsPNS n HYDERABAD

As the32nd edition of world'sgreatest sporting spectacle,Olympics -2020,geared upfor its opening ceremony atTokyo on Friday, ChiefMinister K.ChandrasekharRao has conveyed his goodwishes to the Indiansportspersons participatingon behalf of India.

Mr.KCR said thatOlympics in which all thenations would participatesymbolized the grand mes-sage of world peace, harmo-ny and brotherhood.

He wished that Indiansports persons would regis-ter successes and win sever-al gold and other medals atthe Olympics games. Hedesired that the Indian flagshould be hoisted on theworld stage to bring nameand fame to the nation onceagain.

Mr.K.T.Rama Rao,Minister for IT, Industry andMunicipal Administrationand Urban Development andalso President of TelanganaBadminton Association, con-

veyed his best wishes to the120-strong contingent ofIndia taking part in TokyoOlympics.

The sportspersons endeav-oured hard for the last fewyears to keep themselves fitto win medals for the coun-try though the pandemic hasdampened the spirits ofmany countrymen. "But Ibelieve you can make surethat Indian flag will contin-ue to f ly high.Congratulations, all the verybest and bring home somemedals," he said in his mes-sage shared on Twitter.

In rejig ofbureaucrats,spotlight on VizagPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The State government late onFriday affected transfers ofseveral IAS officers, the sig-nificant ones being thereshuffle of officials handlingcrucial posts at Vizag, thesoon-to-be executive capi-tal. Both the Vizag districtCollector and VMRDA chair-man have been changed.

The government swappedthe posts of V Vinay Chand,Collector, Visakhapatnamdistrict, with that ofMallikarjuna A, the ChiefExecutive officer of the DrYSR Aarogyasri Health CareTrust.

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | JULY 24, 2021hyderabad 03

PNS n HYDERABAD

After receiving heavy rain fortwo days, there was let up in thedownpour in Telangana onFriday and no major incident ofloss of human life or propertywas reported.

No report of casualty hadbeen received from the dis-tricts though an incident of aman being washed away in aswollen rivulet was reported inthe media, a senior official toldPTI here.

Three hundred people inNirmal town and another 100 inBhainsa town were evacuated onThursday night and they hadsince returnedto their homes, hesaid.

No relief camps had to be setup. National Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF) personnel res-cued a group of nine people whowere stranded at a temple in

Nizamabad district.In a separate incident, seven

persons who were stuck betweentwo streams in Asifabad werealso rescued, he said.

Water levels receded from theinundated localities in Nirmaland Bhainsa towns, he said.Roadnetworks suffered damage inNirmal, Asifabad, Jagtial,Vikarabad and other districts.

The state had a let up in theheavy rainfall on Friday exceptfor Asifabad, Mancherial andAdilabad districts, the officialsaid.

Kothapalli-Dharmaram inKarimnagar district received 40mm of rainfall, followed by 39mm of rain at Kolvai in Jagtialdistrict, official sources said,citing rainfall data during 0830AM to 4 PM on Friday.

The Met Centre of IMD herein its heavy rainfall warning(Red) issued at 1600 hours on

Friday, up to 0830 hours onSaturday, said heavy to veryheavy with extremely heavyrain is very likely to occur at iso-lated places in Adilabad,Kumram Bheem Asifabad andMancherial districts.

It said heavy to very heavyrain is very likely to occur at iso-lated places in Nirmal,Nizamabad, Jagtial, RajannaSircilla and other districts dur-ing the same period.

It also said heavy rain is verylikely to occur at isolated placesin Bhadradri Kothagudem,Nalgonda, Suryapet, Siddipetand other districts.

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao, who held ameeting with officials onThursday on the rain situation,directed them to be on alert andensure that people living in low-lying areas do not face any hard-ships following the heavy rains.

After two days of heavy rain,Telangana gets a let-up on Friday

PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao on Fridayissued a GO appointing theclose aide - Banda Srinivas - offormer health minister EatalaRajender as Chairman of theTelangana State scheduledcastes development corpora-tion.

He belonged to Huzurabadin Karimnagar district andbelongs to the Madiga com-munity. He as a student leadertook part in several socialactivities. He worked at a dif-ferent level when in Congressand was Karimnagar districtsecretary of the student wing.He was also a hockey player.He is working as HuzurabadHockey Club president and vie president of Karimnagardistrict hockey club.

Earlier, he held the posts ofHuzurabad agricultural mar-

ket committee director, districttelecom board member. Hewas elected MPTC fromHuzurabad twice. Respondingto a call given by KChandrasekhar Rao, he joinedthe TRS in 2001. He took anactive part in the movementfor Telangana.

He was the Huzurabadmandal president of the TRS.TRS district secretary, TRSstate joint secretary. He takesan active part in party andgovernment programmes.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Commissioner ofRachakonda MaheshBhagawat has invoked PD actagainst two human traffick-ing offenders on Friday, whowere arrested on June 15 atSaroornagar. Chandana NagaRavi Raja and his wifeChandana Sunitha were usedto procure girls from AndhraPradesh and ran a clandestinebusiness of brothel houses atSaroornagar.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana BJP may experienceshock after shock in nearfuture. Already, former TDPMLA and Mahabubnagar BJPpresident Erra Shekar joinedthe Congress meeting TPCCChief A Revanth Reddy byquitting the BJP. On Friday,former Minister from TDPMothkupally Narsimhulu alsoannounced his resignation tothe BJP. Mothkupally not onlyquit the BJP but also stated thatmany leaders joined BJP fromother political parties are nothappy in the BJP.

Already another formerTDP leader and formerMinister E Peddi Reddy hadopposed Eatala Rajender’sentry into BJP. He openlymade criticism against theBJP leadership for inductingformer Minister EatalaRajender into the party with-out informing him. Accordingto sources, the TRS andCongress are seriously tryingto attract E Peddi Reddy

towards them. Peddi Reddyhas not yet made his mind toquit the BJP, however, PeddiReddy has been lookingtowards the TRS party only.According to sources, Peddihas been waiting for the assur-ance from the TRS Chief andChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao. On theother hand, BJP leaders—fromTelangana BJP Chief BandiSanjay to former governorVidyasagar Rao, have beenconvincing Peddi Reddy to

stay in the party. However,Peddi Reddy may quit theparty if he gets an assurancefrom the TRS party.

Besides these developments,former TDP leaders, who werein the BJP now, are gettingready to follow suitMothkupally to quit the BJPand join their former col-league KCR’s party TRS. Theleaders like Boda Janardhanand Chada Suresh Reddy wereunhappy with the treatmentthey were getting in the BJP.

They were bemoaning to theirclose associates that the BJP isnot using their experience andnot giving due respect to them.According to sources, the for-mer Minister Mukhesh Goud’sson and former Congressleader Vikram Goud was alsonot happy with the BJP. Mostof the leaders joining BJPfrom other political parties arein a suffocating feeling in BJP.They were lamenting that theyhave to take permission fromthe small leaders in the partyto do any program.

It may be recalled that manyleaders from other parties par-ticularly from Congress andTDP joined BJP in a big way.BJP was in full swing after thevictory of Dubbak and GHMCelections and many leadershave shown interest to join BJPand some leaders joined withhuge enthusiasm. However,the same leaders were nowexpressing dissent now andthen against the party as theparty is not using their servicesseriously, it is learnt.

Ex-TDP leaders now in BJPmay follow Mothkupally

PNS n HYDERABAD

Renowned Persian scholarSyed Ainul Hasan has beenappointed as the new ViceChancellor of the MaulanaAzad National UrduUniversity (MANUU) inHyderabad. According to acommunication received fromthe Ministry of Education, thePresident of India, in hiscapacity as the visitor ofMANUU, is pleased toappoint Professor Hasan asthe VC, the varsity said in astatement. Hasan will be thefifth VC of the universitylocated in the heart ofHyderabad's IT district andwill serve for five years.

A Professor of Persian andCentral Asian Studies at theJawaharlal Nehru University,he was also the Dean for itsSchool of Language, Literatureand Culture Studies.

Hasan appointedas VC of UrduUniversity

PD Act invokedagainst humantrafficking offenders

Eatala's aide getspost as SC Corp chief

PNS n HYDERABAD

With incessant rains acrossTelangana and extensive rainsin Maharashtra and upperriparian States, the GodavariRiver is in spate with the waterlevel rising steadily atBhadrachalam.

Ministers in the districts inthe catchment areas of theGodavari and Krishna rivers areconstantly monitoring the sit-uation as directed by ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

State Transport MinisterPuvvada Ajay Kumar andWomen and Child WelfareMinister Satyavathi Rathodmonitored the situation inBhadrachalam and Mulugudistricts and coordinated withthe respective DistrictCollectors.

An alert was sounded forGodavari basin as the IMD haspredicted heavy rainfall overthe next two days.

Meanwhile, the intensity offlood inflows into the Sri RamSagar Project continued at 2.15lakh cusecs and the outflow at2 lakh cusecs, while the presentstorage capacity is at 84.29tmc ft as against full storagecapacity of 90.31 tmc ft.

On Thursday, 35 gates ofSRSP were opened as the waterlevel in it reached almost itscapacity and on Friday 33 gateswere lifted to let water flowdownstream.

Sripada Yellampally receivedinflows at 4.78 lakh cusecsand the outflow was at 4.78lakh cusecs, with the water levelreaching 480.32 ft as againstFRL of 485.56 ft. The presentstorage level is at 15.88 tmc, asagainst the full capacity of20.18 tmc.

Singur project in SangaReddy continued to get inflowson Friday at 4,385 cusecs andthe outflow was at 386 cusecs.The present storage capacity isat 20 tmc, as against the fullstorage capacity of 29.91 tmc atFRL of 1717. The present waterlevel at the project is 1,711 feet.

In the Krishna basin, Juralacontinued to get heavy inflowsat 1.5 lakh cusecs and the out-flow was at 1.59 lakh cusecs.The storage level on Friday wasat 6.46 tmc, as against fullcapacity of 9.66 tmc.

Water level at Tungabhadratouched 1,623 ft as against1,633 ft and the present storagecapacity is at 67.18 tmc (fullcapacity 100.86 tmc).

Srisailam reservoir receivedinflows at 1.57 lakh cusecsand the outflow was at 31,783.The water level reached 848.6ft as against FRL of 885 ft. Thewater storage is at 77 tmc,against the full capacity of215.81 tmc.

Pulichintala is almost filledto the brim with the storagecapacity at 43.6 tmc, as against45.77 tmc.

Projects on Godavari andKrishna get good inflows

ML MELLY MAITREYI

n HYDERABAD

Organisers of Green IndiaChallenge who gave a call forplanting over three croresaplings in one hour in variousdistricts on the occasion of TRSWorking President and IT andIndustry and MA&UD MinisterK.T.Rama Rao on Saturday hasrelaxed the stipulation in view ofheavy rains across the State.

MP Joginapalli SantoshKumar has given a call to thepeople to plant the saplingswhenever there is a respite fromthe rain in different districts andas per their convenience duringthe day and make the unique'MukkotiVriksharchana' pro-gramme a grand success.Planting saplings will be a spe-cial gift to KTR on his birthday,he said.

Santosh Kumar urged publicrepresentatives from all the lev-els, TRS cadre and people tobecome part of the programmeto plant as many saplings as pos-sible in their respective areas and

take the responsibility of protect-ing the plants thereby becomingpartners in the TelanganaHaritha haram programme. Theaim of the programme is tospread the spirit of the GreenIndia Challenge all over thecountry and people's support forthis cause will be valuable.

Meanwhile, the organiserssaid all arrangements have beenmade to plant 3.30 Crore plantsall over the state on Saturday.Sarpanches across the State willensure planting of 2.5 Croresaplings, GHMC Mayor andCorporators in Hyderabad willplant 10 Lakh saplings,Chairmen and Councillors in allthe municipalities lant 25 Lakhsaplings.

All resident colony associa-tions and others have come for-ward to plant 20 Lakh saplings,while 50 lakh saplings will beplanted by people's representa-tives in the vacant lands underthe Forest department andanother 20 lakh saplings will beplanted the jurisdiction ofHMDA.

They said Panchayat Raj

nurseries in the villages; forestand Municipal nurseries wereall integrated for the supply ofthe saplings for the pro-gramme. They requestedeveryone who participated in

the programme and plantedthe saplings send their photoswith the sapling they planted toWhatsApp number9000365000.

Green India Challenge plans unique gift to KTR on his birthday

PNS n HYDERABAD

Governor Dr TamilisaiSoundararajan has directedthe functionaries and volun-teers of the Indian Red CrossSociety (IRCS) to be on highalert and help the flood-affected people in the State.

Interacting with the RajBhavan officials and the IRCSdistrict units through a videoconference from Puducherryon Friday, the Governorexpressed concern over theloss of property and crops andinundation of low lying areasdue to heavy rains in differ-ent districts.

She has also instructed theRaj Bhavan officials to coor-dinate with the StateGovernment in extendingrelief activities to the needythrough IRCS. Dr TamilisaiSoundararajan suggested thatall the district units of theIRCS establish control roomsand coordinate the reliefactivities in the rain-affectedareas. The Governor empha-sized the need to distributemedicines, food, blankets,utensils and other essentialmaterial to the needy.

Be on vigil tohelp flood-hitpeople: Guv

PNS n HYDERABAD

Seven people were killedwhentwo cars collided inNagarkurnool district ofTelangana on Friday, policesaid.The seven died on thespot, they said. One person,who was seriously injured, was

taken to a nearby hospital.The accident occurred near

Achampet in the districtFriday evening. Some bodieslay scattered, while otherscould be brought out from thecars with great effort andboth vehicles suffered heavydamage.

Seven killed in road accident

hyderabad 04HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | JULY 24, 2021

PNS n HUZURABAD

Civil Supplies MinisterGangula Kamalakar has soughtto know from the BJP whostopped it from implementingthe scheme prevalent inTelangana in the rest of the 28states.

He distributed KalyanaLakshmi cheques worth morethan Rs 68 lakh among 68 ben-eficiaries at the HuzurabadCity Centre hall.

Addressing the gatheringthere, Gangula sought to knowthe reason for not implement-ing the schemes like KalyanaLakshmi, Rytu Bandhu, resi-dential schools for minorities,round the clock power to theagriculture sector, Aasara pen-sions, Mission Bhagiradhascheme supplying tap water toall households, development ofhospitals, Rs 13000 worth KCRkit and so on.

Like a maternal uncle, KCRgives over Rs 1 lakh underKalyana Lakshmi and providesall amenities in governmenthospitals for institutional deliv-eries besides giving KCR kits topregnant women. As the childgrows, the government pro-vides residential schools on apar with corporate schools.Even casual workers getting

their wards admitted to gov-ernment schools instead oftaking them to their workplace.In Telangana, Telangana isdeveloping in all respects underthe leadership of KCR.

He appealed to people tosupport KCR who is standingby them through thick and thin.

Excise Minister SrinivasGoud said that the ChiefMinister does not want thepoor to become debt-ridden.Therefore, he takes care of thepoor providing drinking waterto KCR kits to lactating moth-ers. He provided residentialschools for the children's edu-cation and offering benefitsunder Kalyana Lakshmi to thegirl child. He said the govern-ment has increased employ-ment opportunities manifold

and hunger has been drivenout from the soil of Telangana.Therefore, he appealed to peo-ple to lend support to KCR.

Welfare Minister KoppulaEswar observed that KCR isunparalleled in providing wel-fare-oriented administration tothe people of the state. The wel-fare and development schemesbeing implemented in the statehave set an example for thewhole country to emulate.

The people taking part in theprogramme responded hailingwhenever government schemes'names were uttered by the min-isters. MLA Rasamayi Balkishan,MLCs Naradasu Lakshman Rao,Baswaraj Saraiah, ZP ChairmanKanamalla Vijaya and a largenumber of people took part in themeeting.

BJP dared to implement TSschemes in BJP-ruled states

PNS n JAYASHANKARBHUPALAPALLY

The farmers organized a sit-indharna in front of theSaraswati barrage irrigationoffice on Friday, demandingcompensation for the loss dueto submersion of their cropshere on Friday.

The farmers alleged that cot-ton and paddy fields in thou-sands of acres in Kaleswaram,Ippalapalli, Palugula, Kuntlam,Maddulapalli, Chnudrupalli,Nagepalli and Annaram inMahadevpur mandal ofJayashankar Bhupalapalli dis-trict and Gundrathpalli,Vilasagar, Lakshmipur andother villages in Kataram man-dal have been inundated withKaleswaram project backwatersdue to the heavy rains thatlashed over the past three days.

They demanded the gov-ernment should take up the

land acquisition of submergedlands after a thorough investi-gation and pay compensation tothe farmers. The farmers andCongress leaders squatted onthe road in front of the irriga-tion office to express theirprotest over the submersion oftheir standing crops. AdditionalCollector Rizwan Basha andrevenue officials spoke to theagitators and convinced them.The farmers submitted a mem-orandum to the Additional

Collector. Rizwan Bashapromised them that a reportwill be submitted to theGovernment, if they can fur-nish details of crop loss.

Bhupalapally districtCongress president AyithaPrakash Reddy, ZPTC GundalaAruna, mandal Congress pres-ident Akbar Khan, blockCongress party mandal presi-dent Kota Rajababu and farm-ers from Annaram participat-ed in the agitation.

Farmers stage protest, seekex gratia over submersion

PNS n MULUG

District Collector S KrishnaA d i t y aF r i d a yinspectedthe over-f lowingwaters atGodavariMullakattaBridge in EturuNagaram. He also visitedflood-hit villages in the dis-trict following the torrentialrains that battered the districtfor the last two days.

The Collector said thatheavy rains lashed the districtunder the influence of lowpressure and hence peopleshould be on high alert. Hedirected the officials todepute special teams foremergency duties in advanceto rescue the people.

The Collector said a con-trol room has been set up atthe collectorate and the staffhas been deputed round theclock to monitor the flood sit-uation. A toll-free No: 1008-4250 -520 has been set up toreceive grievances.

Revenue officials, tehsil-dars and concerned officialswill be available 24 hours aday, he said.

Special teamsdeployed inflood-hit areas

MALLEPALLI GOVERDHAN

n NAGARKURNOOL

The Sangameshwara templenear Kollapur in the districtfully went under Krishna waterdue to heavy inflows into theriver due to heavy rains in theupper riparian states.

Heavy rains were experi-enced on Wednesday andThursday under the influence ofa low-pressure area. Heavyinflows into Almatti,Narayanpur in Karnataka forcedto discharge of floodwater lead-ing to water level rising in theJurala project, Srisailam project

and Nagarjuna Sagar project. The Sangameshwara temple

will remain open for darshan todevotees while remainingunderwater for over eight

months. To catch a glimpse ofthe temple deity, devoteesturned out in large numbers asthe temple will remain under thewater for the greater part of the

year.The water level in Somasilais rising by every minute.Therefore, the temple priestsgave an opportunity to witnessthe deity specially and per-

formed special pujas. Theytook steps to relocate the tem-ple deities and performed thepujas for the last time standingin neck-deep water.

Sangameshwara temple goes under Krishna waters

PNS n NAGARKURNOOL

District Collector L Sarmanhas warned of taking actionagainst anyone found drivingtractors on roads with cagewheels causing damage to theroads. He was addressing offi-cials of the police, R and B,Panchayat Raj and other gov-ernment departments at hiscamp office here on Friday.

The government prohibiteddriving tractors with cagewheels causing damage toblacktop and CC roads. Heordered officials to impose afine of Rs 10,000 if anyone wasfound driving tractors withiron wheels on. If the same per-son was found violating theorders for the second time, acase would be registered againstthe tractor owners and thetractor would be confiscated.

He asked panchayat secre-taries, MPOs to supervise sothat none drives tractors withiron wheels on. The panchayatsecretary should furnish tractorsin the village and their registra-

tion numbers to the districtpanchayat officer. The pan-chayat secretary is saddled withthe responsibilities of imposingfines and booking cases againstthe tractor owners.

If tractors were noticed onroads with iron wheels on,photos and videos should becaptured and were to be dug,the permission from the rele-vant government departmentshould be obtained. Otherwise,a case would be booked againstsuch persons. He asked thepeople to cooperate with thegovernment in this regard.The people should furnishinformation and help the

police register complaints. The police, district pan-

chayat raj, transport, R and B,RWS, municipalities and otherrelevant government depart-ments should take responsibil-ity in this regard. He asked theofficials to give wide publicityin villages, mandals, munici-palities to sensitise peopleabout it by getting the news bybeating drums.

District Panchayat OfficerRajeshwar, DSP Mohan Reddy,district transport officer Swamy,RWS executive engineerDamodar Rao, R and B execu-tive engineer Bhaskar and oth-ers took part in the meeting.

DC warns of imposing fine iftractor driven with cage wheels

PNS n PEDDAPELLY

Ramagundam MLAKorukantiChander along withthe rescue teams managed tobring those who weremarooned in floodwaters andbring them to the bank. Thepeople have been hailingthe MLA as their hero.

Later addressing thegathering, the MLAappealed to people toremain on the alertand declared that hisrescue team is readyto solve the people'sproblems. He appealedto the people to give himinformation if flood reliefand rehabilitation measures areneeded.

As the government authoritieslifted Yellampalli project crestgates, floodwater enteredMalkapur outskirts. The MLA'srescue team, police authoritiesand others took relief measures.

The MLAand the res-cue teamsaved the

lives ofmarooned 30

workers. Also, the MLA res-

cued the people who gatherednear the elevated platformswhere the idols of Sammakkaand Sarakka are placed, with thehelp of a boat.

On the directions of the CM,the MLA said that he is review-

ing the flood situation in theregion. The police, municipaland revenue authorities havebeen put on a high state of alert.On learning about 30 maroonedworkers, he along with the res-cue team saved them at 5 am onFriday.

Besides the MLA, citymayor DrBangi Anil Kumar,ACP Umender, RG-1 generalmines KalwalaNarayana, CIsLakshmi Narayana, RameshBabu, Srinivas Rao and otherswere present.

Tiger spotted on Srisailam roadPNS n NAGARKURNOOL

Some pilgrims have reported-ly spotted a tiger in thesurrounding areas ofthe Rajiv Gandhitiger project on theSrisailam -Hyderabad high-way on Friday. Thepilgrims said theyheard the roars of atiger from the bushes atVatavarlapalle village. Thepassengers who spotted thetiger feared and rushed intotheir vehicles.

The number of leopards and

tigers has been increased in therecent past in the Nallamala for-est area under the limits of the

Rajiv Gandhi tiger projectarea. The local people

said the wanderingof wild animals ison the rise of late.However, there areno instances of

attacking humansin the vicinity of the

area. The villagers said it

became a common sight for themto have tigers, leopards, bears andother wild animals and no one willharm them. They also go silently

even if they observe people. The forest officials admitted that

the presence of wild animals liketigers, leopards and bears hasbeen found and there are someinstances where they attackedcattle in some areas. But, they neverattacked humans. Usually, tigersdrive other animals away fromtheir territory for safety. Moreover,they wander miles together.

The tiger project is extendedto thousands of kilometres fromMannanuru ghat road toSrisailam surrounding areas inthe Nallamala forest. It becameroutine for the wild animals toenter villages and roads.

PNS n MEDAK

Medak district CongressCommittee presidentKanthareddy Tirupati Reddysaid the Congress party willcertainly come to power soonas there is a new wave ofenthusiasm among the youthafter Revanth Reddy took overas PCC chief.

He participated at a meetingwhere a number of youthjoined Congress under theleadership of Youth Congressleaders Padma Manoj andSiva at GKR Gardens inMedak on Friday. Speaking onthe occasion, the DCC presi-dent said party cadre is a keystrength for the Congressparty and the future of theparty relied on the youth. The

ruling TRS party is shiveringafter Revanth Reddy has takenthe reins of the party in thestate. He said youth and lead-ers from other parties areready to join the Congress ina massive way in Medak con-stituency and priority will beaccorded to youth in the party.He will be always with theyouth if they spearhead an agi-tation for development.

Recalling that 10 per cent ofparty seats had been given toyouth in the municipal elections,Tirupati Reddy said youth willbe given top priority in the daysto come in the Congress party.

He came down heavily on theTRS government for the poormaintenance of roads in Medakand the road dividers are gettingdamaged even for the rains.

‘Revanth brings newenthusiasm in Cong’

PNS n JAYASHANKARBHUPALAPALLY

The heavy downpour across thestate caused flash floods to RiverGodavari, pushing the people liv-ing in the catchment areas of theriver into a danger zone.

The normal life in Adilabad,Jagityal, Mancherial, Asifabad,Peddapalli, Jayashankar,Bhupalapalli, Mulug,Khammam, BhadradriKothagudem district has beenparalysed.

Villages have been floodedand crops submerged. Thestreams and minor water bod-ies are overflowing their banks.Authorities are releasing flood-water through the crest gates asinflows into various irrigationprojects increase.

The water level in theKaleswaram reservoir reached121.5 meters mark, leading toauthorities hoisting the firstcautionary signal.

The water level in theAnnaram Saraswati barragehas increased as the authoritieslifted the gates of Sundillareservoir and Pravati barragegates. Out of the 66 gates, 60gates of Annaram Saraswati

Barrage have been lifted onFriday. Inflow into the barrageis put at 8,02,300 cusecs and theoutflow was put at 9,02,300cusecs. The capacity of thebarrage is put at 10.87 tmc. Thewater quantity in the barragewas put at 4.29 tmc.

The irrigation departmentofficials have also lifted 85gates of the Medigedda barrage.The capacity of the barrage isput at 16.17 tmc. But the waterlevel in the barrage is put at 8tmc. The officials predict morefloodwater entering theMedigedda barrage as theauthorities lifted SRSP projectgates.

If the inflows into the Kademproject increase, other gates of

the Yellampalli project are alsolikely to be lifted. During thepast three days, the districtreceived 512.2 mm (July 21),330 mm (July 22) and 658 mmon July 23 were recorded.

The officials lifted Saraswatibarrage's 60 gates simultane-ously flooding Pranahita river,

whose backwaters are affectingVilasagar, Damera Kunta,Gundaratpalli, Mahadevpur,Annaram, Chandurupalli,Maddulapalli villages inMahadevpur mandal. Standingcrops in hundreds of acreshave been inundated. Floodwater is entering the villages.The people living there are inthe grip of fear. Tahsildar whoset out to reach the villages inhis car was caught in the flood-waters. Authorities have man-aged to pull the car out of thefloodwaters with the help ofropes. The Medigedda projectis full of water up to the brim.

The floodwaters have inun-dated crops in Yedapalli,Kudurpalli, Mahadevpur,Brahmanapalli, Begulur,Suraram, Ambatpalli limits.

District Collector KrishnaAditya on Thursday night vis-ited the Medigedda projectand inspected the flood level.He asked the authorities to takeall precautions to rule out anyuntoward incidents.

The rain threat to the statecontinues for the next 48 hours.Therefore, the officials shouldnot show any slackness, the col-lector said.

Godavari river in spate,normal life badly affected

PNS n KARIMNAGAR

Three town police ofKarimnagar on Friday regis-tered a case against IPS officer DrRS Praveen Kumar, following acomplaint by a lawyer BethiMahender Reddy over his pledgeinsulting the Hindu Gods.

Mahender Reddy said he hadcomplained against PraveenKumar and another person in theKarimnagar district court andbased on the court directives, thepolice filed a case against him.

A case has been registered witha crime No 144/2021, 153A,295A, 298 read with 343 IPC sec-tions. The complainant allegedthat at a Sweroes pledge pro-gramme, Praveen Kumar and itsmember Nyathari Sankar Babuadministered a pledge insultingthe Hindu Gods. As the video hasgone viral, the lawyer filed a peti-tion alleging that his sentimentshave been hurt with the pledgeinsulting the Hindu deities in thePrinciple Judicial Magistratecourt on March 22. He said in hiscomplaint that he lodged com-plaints at the three town police

stating on March 16 and PoliceCommissioner on March 20. Asthey failed to take action againstthe IPS officer, he filed a petitionin the court, he said.

As the court declared holidaysin view of the corona pandem-ic, Justice Saisudha issued direc-tives to the police on Thursdayto probe into the matter.Following the court order, thepolice filed a case against PraveenKumar and Sankar babu onThursday. Lawyer MahenderReddy urged the police to con-duct a thorough investigationagainst them.

Mahender Reddy alsodemanded that the governmentshould prohibit the Sweroesinstitute which is spreadinghatred against the Hindu religionamong the gurukul students.

Case filed against IPSofficer Praveen Kumar

MLA rescues 30 workersstranded in floodwater

Man swindlesRs 5 lakh RythuBeema claim PNS n HYDERABAD

A Rythu BandhuCoordinator of Puttapahadvillage of Kulkacharla mandalof Vikarabad District hasmanipulated the records andgrabbed Rs.5 lakhs. He hasshown Chandramma (58) asdead and drawn RythuBeema (Insurance). Afterreceiving the complaint fromthe son of Chandramma, theOfficials have found themanipulation.

The Accused RaghavendraReddy, working as a RythuBandhu coordinator, hascheated Chandramma andher son. He has taken docu-ments for Rytu Beema andsignatures of Chandramma'sson in the name of someother purpose. He hasprocessed everything by cre-ating the death record ofChandramma and with-drawn Rs.5 lakhs withoutthe victim's knowledge.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Vikarabad District CollectorPousumi Basu on Friday trav-elled on a tractor to inspectworks of a graveyard beingconstructed at SangamKurdhu village in Yalala man-dal in Vikarabad district. Asthere is another mode oftransport not available toreach the village as her car isnot suitable due to bad con-dition of the road, theCollector asked the local offi-cials to arrange a tractor toreach the village.

According to reports,Pousumi Basu came to knowthat the construction of thegraveyard at SangamKurdhu village in Yalalamandal is not yet complet-ed.

Then she decided to visitthe under-constructiongraveyard. However, theroad is not conducive totravel in her car to the spot.

Collectortravels ontractor for siteinspection

PNS n HYDERABAD

Delhi University studentsfrom Telangana state havestaged a dharna in front ofthe Ambedkar statue locatedin the Telangana Bhavan inNew Delhi on Fridaydemanding the authoritiesto give Telangana Bhavanjobs to only Telanganites.They alleged that theTelangana Bhavan residentCommissioner has beenbehaving unilaterally andexpressed anger over therecruitments in TelanganaBhavan during their protest.They raised slogans saying'Our jobs will be given to usonly'. They alleged that offi-cials are transforming theTelangana Bhavan into aNorth India Bhavan. Theydemanded the government toremove the present TelanganaBhavan resident commis-sioner immediately.

Students'protest at TSBhavan in Delhi

nation 05HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | JULY 24, 2021

Ajit Pawar speaks with RajnathSingh over Maha flood situation

Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday spoke to Defense Minister RajnathSingh on the worsening flood situation in the state. Singh assured the help of defense

forces in the rescue and relief operations, a statement by Pawar's office said. Army and Navyteams have already been deployed in the state. Maharashtra Relief and Rehabilitation Secretary

Aseem Gupta has been appointed as the nodal officerfor coordination with the Defense Ministry, the state-ment added. District guardian ministers and local elect-ed representatives have been asked to stay put in theflood-hit districts till the situation is normal. Raigadguardian minister Aditi Tatkare, Ratnagiri guardian min-ister Anil Parab, Sindhudurg guardian minister UdaySamant, Satara guardian minister Balasaheb Patil andall MLAs from these areas have been asked to remainavailable to participate in and oversee the rescue andrelief operations, the release said. Heavy rains are bat-tering the coastal Konkan and parts of WesternMaharashtra for the last two days.

Any attempt of booth-capturing, bogusvoting should be dealt with iron hands: SC

Any attempt of booth capturing or bogus voting should be dealt with iron hands because it ulti-mately affects the rule of law and democracy, the Supreme Court said on Friday while dismiss-

ing an appeal of a man convicted for rioting at a poll booth in Jharkhand. Referring to its earlierverdicts, a bench of Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice M R Shah said freedom of voting is part

of freedom of expression. "The essence of the elec-toral system should be to ensure freedom of votersto exercise their free choice. Therefore, any attemptof booth capturing or bogus voting should be dealtwith iron hands because it ultimately affects rule oflaw and democracy," the bench said. The apex courtsaid the secrecy of casting votes is necessary forstrengthening the democracy. Observing that in elec-tions to the Lok Sabha and state legislatures mainte-nance of secrecy is a must, the bench said indemocracies where direct elections take place it isimportant to ensure that voter casts his vote withoutfear and being victimised if his vote is disclosed.

3 cases registered for violation of HCorder on animal sacrifice for Bakri Eid

At least three cases have been registered so far against people who violated the BombayHigh Court's order by offering animal sacrifice at temporary slaughterhouses for Bakri Eid

in Bhiwandi of Maharashtra's Thane district, an official said on Friday.The three offenceshave been registered under sections 188 (disobeying order issued by a public servant), 429(mischief by killing, maiming cattle) among other provisions of the IPC, Cruelty to AnimalsAct, Maharashtra Police Act and Disaster Management Rules, at Shanti Nagar and Narpolipolice stations, the official said. The Bombay High Court had earlier set aside an order

issued by the commissioner of the BhiwandiNizampur Municipal Corporation (BNMC) permitting the setting up of 38 temporaryslaughterhouses for offering animal sacrificefor Bakri Eid. The court had stated that thesetemporary spaces were not licensed slaugh-terhouses and hence, could not be allowed tooperate, as the ritual can take place only atdesignated, pre-licensed slaughterhouses, inaccordance with law.

INDIA

CORNER

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Health Minister MansukhMandaviya on Friday appealed toOpposition parties not to play pol-itics on the issue of COVID-19vaccines and asserted that every-one should work together toensure people are vaccinatedagainst coronavirus.

Responding to supplementariesduring Question Hour in LokSabha, the minister said the gov-ernment is still in talks with UScompany Pfizer with respect tomaking its vaccine available inIndia.

"There should be no politics onthe issue of COVID and vaccina-tion. The prime minister has saidthis several times," Mandaviyasaid in response to a questionasked by Shiv Sena MP RahulShewale.

"I will also not want to indulgein politics on this issue but I wantto present the facts," he said,adding that the prime minister tilldate has held over 20 meetings anddiscussions with the state govern-ments and chief ministers.

He said some opposition-ruledstates raised the issue that healthis a state subject and they should

be taken into confidence. "Many said Health is a state sub-

ject, states said we also need per-mission to buy vaccines. We saidthat we have no problem with this.The states said that we want to goout for tender to buy the vaccine.Modi ji said that we are ready todo whatever help is needed," theHealth minister said.

He said accordingly, the stateswere allowed to buy 25 per centand 25 per cent by the private (sec-tor). The Centre was to procure 50per cent for the people.

"For the 25 per cent, states

issued tenders and we said we willprovide all possible help. The sup-pliers were limited and the Indiangovernment too was holdingtalks," he said.

Many issued global tenders.But there were only two Indiancompanies which had started vac-cine manufacturing, the SerumInstitute of India (Covishield) andBharat Biotech (Covaxin),Mandaviya said.

He added that Moderna hasregistered in India and taken per-mission. Johnson and Johnson hastied up with Biological E and work

on technology transfer has begun. "With Pfizer, the Indian govern-

ment was holding talks with it. Butthe company said it will not dealwith the states and the Indian gov-ernment is holding talks with us.Even today, an experts group isholding talks with the company,"Mandaviya said.

In a meeting with the states, thechief ministers said they were notgetting adequate supply of vaccinesand the Centre should procure 25per cent, which the states were toearlier acquire, of the vaccines.

So a new policy came into beingfrom June 21 under which theCentre deciced to vaccinate all thecitizens, he said.

"The issue is about politics.There should be no politics on thisissue. Our goal is to vaccinate 100per cent people above the age of18 years. We all need to work onit together. It is not the time toindulge in politics," Mandaviya,who assumed charge of the Healthministry earlier this month follow-ing a Cabinet reshuffle, said.

He said those spreading confu-sion should be stopped fromdoing so and and the publicshould be connected with thefree vaccination campaign.

Don't indulge in politicsover Covid vax: Mandaviya

PNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP on Friday dared RahulGandhi to submit his phone forinvestigation if he believes it wastapped, and asserted that noone's phone has been tappedillegally by the Modi govern-ment.

BJP spokespersonRajyavardhan Rathore toldreporters that the Congress isdetermined to stall Parliamentfor one reason or another afterbeing rejected twice by peoplein Lok Sabha polls of 2014 and2019.

Amid a row over the suspect-ed Pegasus snooping, Gandhihad said earlier that all hisphones were tapped.

Prime Minister NarendraModi and Home Minister AmitShah allegedly used the Pegasusspyware against India and itsinstitutions, and "the only wordfor this is treason", Gandhicharged. Rathore said every-body has the right to what theywant in a democracy.

Gandhi should submit hisphone to probe agency, andinvestigation will take place asper the Indian Penal Code(IPC), he said.

Rahul Gandhishould submithis phone forprobe: BJP

PNS n NEW DELHI

Several Opposition MPs,including Congress' RahulGandhi, on Friday protestedagainst the government insideParliament complex over thePegasus snooping issue anddemanded a Supreme Court-monitored judicial probe intothe matter.

Besides Gandhi, a host ofsenior Congress MPs likeLeader of Opposition in RajyaSabha Mallikarjun Kharge,party's leader in Lok SabhaAdhir Ranjan Chowdhury, K CVenugopal and ShashiTharoor, DMK's Kanimozhiand Shiv Sena's PriyankaChaturvedi, were present dur-

ing the protest in front ofMahatma Gandhi's statueinside Parliament complex.

Carrying a banner whichread "#PegasusSnoopGate Wedemand Supreme CourtMonitored Judicial Probe", theMPs raised slogans like "yejasoosi bandh karo (stop thisspying)".

Opposition parties havestalled proceedings inParliament alleging the uniongovernment's involvement inthe alleged snooping followingreports that nearly 300 mobilephone numbers including ofjournalists, activists, opposi-tion leaders from India andeven of union ministers fig-ured in a list of potential

snooping targets by Israel'sNSO group which sells itsPegasus spyware only to "vet-ted" governments and gov-ernment agencies.

The government and theruling BJP have dismissed thePegasus Project reports as con-cocted and evidence-less.

The media reports havebeen published by The Wire incollaboration with 16 otherinternational publicationsincluding the Washington Post,The Guardian and Le Monde,as media partners to an inves-tigation conducted by Paris-based media non-profit organ-isation Forbidden Stories andrights group AmnestyInternational.

Oppn MPs protest in Parliament;demand SC-monitored probe

PEGASUS SNOOPING ROW

Covid-19 patientdies after hospitalcollects his sperm PNS n AHMEDABAD

A day after a Vadodara-basedprivate hospital collected thesperm of a COVID-19 patient asper the Gujarat High Court'sdirections following a plea filedby his wife, the man died. Thelawyer of the man's wife gavethis information on Friday. The32-year-old man was on lifesupport at Sterling Hospital as hewas suffering from multi-organfailure following coronavirusinfection.

Porn films case:Court extends RajKundra's custody PNS n MUMBAI

A court in Mumbai on Fridayextended till July 27 the policecustody of businessman RajKundra in a case related to allegedcreation of pornographic filmsand publishing them throughsome apps. Kundra, husband ofactor Shilpa Shetty, was arrestedon the night of July 19 by the citypolice's crime branch after beingbooked under relevant sections ofthe Indian Penal Code and theInformation Technology Act.

Rlys lost 2,903employees due toCovid-19: MinisterPNS n NEW DELHI

The Railways has lost 2,903 employees due to COVID-19, minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informedParliament on Friday. In a written replyin the Rajya Sabha, he said settlementof dues has been made with familiesof deceased Railway employees in2,782 cases. "Indian Railways has apolicy for giving appointment on compassionate ground to dependentsof Railway servants who lose theirlives in the course of duty or die inharness or are medically incapacitated.

11 rescued frombus before it wasswept away in riverPNS n PUNE

Eleven people on board a bus had anarrow escape as they were rescuedjust before the vehicle got washedaway into a river in Kolhapur districtof Maharashtra early on Friday, policesaid. The incident occurred around2.30 am at Pangire village inBhudargad tehsil when the bus driver,despite being asked by the police andthe PWD personnel not to go ahead,drove the vehicle over a bridge evenas the water of the Chikodi river wasflowing above it, they said.

Top LeT commanderamong two gunned downPNS n SRINAGAR

Two Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terror-ists, including a top commander ofthe outfit, were killed in anovernight encounter with securityforces in the Sopore area of Jammuand Kashmir's Baramulla district,police said on Friday. A policespokesperson said the securityforces launched a cordon-and-search operation in the Warporaarea of Sopore on Thursday, follow-ing specific information about thepresence of ultras there.

Heavy rains likelyover west coast in 2-3 days: IMDPNS n NEW DELHI

As heavy rains batter severalparts of west and south India,the meteorological departmenton Friday said isolated extremelyheavy falls are very likely overKonkan, Goa and centralMaharashtra in the next twodays. Scattered to fairly wide-spread rainfall with isolatedheavy falls are likely to continueover Gujarat till July 23, but itsintensity will increase from July 24, it said.

EAM Jaishankarmeets top Afghanpeace negotiator PNS n NEW DELHI

External Affairs Minister SJaishankar on Friday held talks withtop Afghan peace negotiatorAbdullah Abdullah on the overallsituation in Afghanistan amid a risein violence there in the wake ofquick withdrawal of the US troops. Abdullah, the chairman of thepowerful High Council for NationalReconciliation, has been playing akey role in negotiating with all thestakeholders to bring lasting peaceand stability in Afghanistan.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Only 22 heritage trees had to berelocated because of the CentralVista Avenue redevelopment pro-ject, the government informedParliament on Friday.

The redevelopment project ofthe Central Vista -- the power cor-ridor of the country -- includesthe revamping of the three-km-long Rajpath from the RashtrapatiBhavan to India Gate. It alsoenvisages a new triangularParliament building, a CommonCentral Secretariat and new res-idences for the prime ministerand the vice president.

Responding to a question inLok Sabha on the relocation of

trees to the Badarpur Eco-Park,Union Environment MinisterBhupender Yadav said accordingto information received from theCentral Public WorksDepartment, "only 22 number oftrees have been relocated from theCentral Vista Avenue to the eco-park, Badarpur, and there is noother proposal to relocate trees

from the Central Vista Avenue toBadarpur".

He said there is a proposal toplant 10 saplings for every treeuprooted or removed, and thecompensatory plantation will bedone at the Badarpur Eco-Park,Badarpur.

On another query on census oftrees, Yadav said, "As per availableinformation, no tree census hasbeen conducted in the recentpast."

"However, the Forest Survey ofIndia (FSI) carries out sample plotbased regular inventory of treesin forests and outside forests inthe country under its NationalForest Inventory Programme," hesaid.

‘Only 22 heritage trees relocated’ Venkaiah flaystearing of copyof Minister'sstatement PNS n NEW DELHI

Rajya Sabha Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu on Fridaydescribed the snatching andtearing of the copy of the ITMinister's statement in theHouse as an assault on thecountry's parliamentary democ-racy.

Expressing anguish over thefrequent disruptions in theHouse after the laying of papers,Naidu made a passionate appealto members to allow the smoothfunctioning of the House so thatmore meaningful discussionslike the one on COVID-19 issuecould be held.

He also posed several ques-tions to the members to ponderover the developments that havetaken place in the House.

Referring to the statement ofIT Minister Ashwini Vaishnawon the Pegasus spyware issue,Naidu said he had made it clearin the business advisory commit-tee meeting that members mayseek clarifications which wouldhave enabled them address theirconcerns in the matter. "Butunfortunately, the proceedings ofthe House hit a new low with thepapers being snatched from theMinister and torn into pieces andthrown in the air. Such actionsare a clear assault on our parlia-mentary democracy," he said inthe House.

PNS n MUMBAI

The city-based nuclear researchinstitute BARC on Friday said ithas developed a cotton-basedsuperabsorbent which will helptackle oil spills on water.

The cotton is highly efficientsuper-hydrophobic or water dis-liking and also super-oleophilicor oil liking, and has been devel-oped using radiation technology,an official statement said.

“There is no absorbent cur-rently available that can removefloating oil from water surfaceand sediment oil (underwater)simultaneously,” A K Mohanty,

the director of Bhabha AtomicResearch Centre, said.

He added that the 'superab-sorbent cotton' was developed bySudhendu Ray Chowdhury, ascientist working BARC's Isotopeand Radiation Application divi-sion. The innovation has alreadyreceived a national award fromthe Union Ministry of Chemicalsand Fertilisers in 2019.

One gram of the material canpick up a minimum of 1.5 kg ofoil from water media which canbe collected by simple squeezingor compression from the super-absorbent cotton, it said.

The cotton is biodegradable

and can be used up to 50-100times, it added.

The statement said the mate-rial was developed by bio-inspired molecular-scale surfaceengineering through tuning of

surface roughness or topographyand surface energy with the helpof radiation assisted covalentintegration.

The cotton can be deployed toremove toxic organic liquidssuch as benzene, toluene, ethyl-benzene, chloroform,dichloromethane, tributyl phos-phate (TBP), triphenyl phos-phate (TPP) from industrial ormunicipal waste water, the state-ment said.

It can also be used for separa-tion of various oily solvents inindustry or laboratory setupsand cleaning of solid surfaces inoil stations and spillage on road.

Bhabha Atomic centre scientist developssuperabsorbent cotton to tackle oil spills

CENTRAL VISTA AVENUE REDEVELOPMENT

PNS n MADHURA

Representation of the AkhilBhartiya Tirth PurohitMahasabha in the management oftemples and religious placesshould be made mandatory, thepriests' body urged PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onFriday.

“Instructions may be given forthe representation of AkhilBhartiya Tirth PurohitMahasabha in the management oftemples and religious places,”Mahesh Pathak, NationalPresident of the body said in a let-ter to the prime minister.

Twelve smart cities with cultur-al, religious and ancient back-grounds are currently being devel-oped in the country. Since the offi-cials are not familiar with the tra-ditions, culture and ancient back-

ground of the cities, the basic pur-pose of the renovation is defeat-ed, Pathak said.

To overcome the problem,constitutional representation ofthe mahasabha would not onlyprove to be a boon but the localadministration too would get ashot in the arm by getting expertopinions, he said.

It is expected that the primeminister would consider the sug-gestions given in the letter andgive an order for the representa-tion of the body in the mattersrelated to tirth, temples, cultureand religion to retain the basiccharacter of religious places that

would inspire the next generation.At present, the tirth purohits

are facing harassment from theadministration, Pathak said as hehighlighted the alleged neglect oftirth purohits of Uttarakhandwho are deprived of their ances-tral rights.

However, the priests' bodychief thanked Uttarakhand ChiefMinister Pushkar Singh Dhamifor taking prompt action on hisletter and appointing a highpower committee to decide thefuture of Devasthanam board.

The body of priests had on July19 wrote to Dhami, demandingdecommission of the board.

Priests body demands representation inmanagement of temples, writes to Modi

The tirth purohits arefacing harassment fromthe administration,Pathak said as hehighlighted the allegedneglect of tirth purohitsof Uttarakhand

J&K police shoots down drone carrying IEDmaterial in Jammu, uncovers terror plotPNS n JAMMU

The Jammu and Kashmir policeaverted a cross-border terror plotby shooting down a drone carry-ing improvised explosive device(IED) material weighing five kgin the border belt of Jammu dis-trict on Friday, officials said.

Following information about adrone flying over the border beltof Kanachak along theInternational Border (IB), a quickreaction team (QRT) of the policeswung into action and shot itdown using anti-drone strategy inthe early hours, they added.

"At about 1 am, the drone

made a low flight to release thepayload (IED), when it was shotdown," Additional DirectorGeneral of police (ADGP)Mukesh Singh told reporters here.

He said the drone was carryinga payload of five-kg IED materi-al in a semi-assembled state andonly wires had to be connected toit to trigger a blast.

According to a preliminaryanalysis, the flying object was ahexa m-copter with six wings andhad a GPS device and a flight con-troller, the officer said. "A possi-ble IED blast has been prevented,"he added. There is a one-digit dif-ference in the serial number ofthis drone and the drone shotdown in Kathua last year, whichpoints towards the fact that ter-rorist organisations across theborder such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) have acquiredflight controllers and are sendingdrones with arms and IEDs to theIndian side, the ADGP said.

been carried out. However,since the crop damage causedby wild boar is increasing, thewild boar is estimated to beoverpopulated.”

Further, experienceshows that once killing is per-mitted, villagers or designat-ed hunters have frequentlynot followed the methodsprescribed. An example isthe case in Kerala where apregnant cow elephant diedfollowing several days ofintense agony after she hadbitten on a pineapple filledwith explosives. Enquiriesrevealed that the pineapplewas intended to kill a wildboar which, as a species, hadbeen declared “vermin”. Also,such a barbaric way of killingwas not permitted even in thecase of wild boars.

State Governments havedoubtless laid down restric-tions on the methods andguidelines governing killings— such as only rifles and pis-tols to be used and no killingof injured animals runningaway to forests, and huntingonly after receiving permis-sion from the forest depart-ment concerned and the vil-lage pradhan. But who is toensure compliance? The factis, methods that are not per-mitted are often used. Theseinclude laying out live wires

for animals to be electrocut-ed, trapping them for murderand poisoning them. There isno guarantee that animalsother than those declared as“vermin” would not comeinto contact with such wiresor consume the poison.

The argument that Stateforest department personnelshould watch out for thetransgressors and deal harsh-ly with them hardly holdswater. It would take a verylarge number of people andvehicles for doing that. Giventhat most forest departmentshave to make do with numer-ically inadequate staff,deployment on such anerrand would leave themwith very few people to carryout essential functions likecurbing poaching and pre-venting illegal felling of trees.The result may be a seriousdiminution of protectedspecies like elephants (fortusks), rhinos (for theirhorns) and tigers for theirbody parts which are soughtfor the manufacture of so-called aphrodisiacs.

Apart from the fact thatdeclaring an entire species ofwildlife as vermin is contraryto the spirit and content ofArticle 51 A (g) of theConstitution which enjoinsupon both the Government

and all citizens to show com-passion to all living crea-tures, animals can hardly beblamed for damaging stand-ing crops and attacking peo-ple. The loss of the vegetationthey feed on following thedestruction of their habitatsthrough encroachment byexpanding human settle-ments, roads and industries,as well as droughts and for-est fires, has driven them toagricultural fields for food.

Humans do not realisethat their own predatoryexploitation of nature isincreasing areas of human-animal conflict and makingnon-human species extinct atthe rate of 3,000 a year. In thisprocess, they are also destroy-ing the environment and theconditions that have madehuman life possible. Theyneed to realise that they arenot the lords of the universeand must live in harmonywith the world around them,including plants and animals.The Greek sophistProtagoras’ famous aphorism“Man is the measure of allthings” needs to be amendedto read, “Humans are thepreservers and protectors ofall things.”

(The author is ConsultingEditor, The Pioneer. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

OPPN MUST PLAY ITS CARDS WELLSir — This has reference to your edito-rial on ‘Rallying forces’ (July 23). “I willwin Bengal with one leg and Delhi withtwo legs,” claimed Didi. NCP leaderSharad Pawar has ruled out to be the con-sensus presidential candidate with an eyeon the Prime Minister’s post in case of afractured mandate in the 2024 generalelection. The coming together of theOpposition leaders is a mirage. Thoughthey have different ideologies, everyState’s prominent Opposition leader hasan eye on the Prime Minister’s chair. Itwas a failed attempt for them earlier in2019 too. They have to really unite, sink-ing their differences, to fight the BJP.

Furthermore, the coalition form ofGovernment is a failure in our country.Corruption always compromises strict andhonest adherence to the coalition dharma.To be fair to it, the BJP has no serious cor-ruption charges against it in the past sevenyears of its rule. But the ruling party hasfailed to arrest the fuel price hike, spurtin the prices of essential commodities,handling of the COVID-19 pandemic andthe Pegasus expose is embarrassing it now.The Opposition does not put in a strongeffort to highlight the Government’sshortcomings and misses. But it disruptsParliament, thus wasting the taxpayers’money, which won’t help these leaders.Moreover, even a united Opposition lacksa leader of mass appeal at the national level.

Sravana Ramachandran | Chennai

LESSONS FROM BHAGEERATHI AMMA’S LIFESir — At the age of 107 years and India’sone of the first recipients of the presti-gious Nari Shakti Puraskar by the UnionGovernment for her exceptional contri-bution towards women’s empowerment,Kerala’s “oldest learner” BhageerathiAmma is no more. Famous as AksharaMuthashi, or Literacy Grandmother,Bhageerathi Amma inspired many bypassing the Level Four equivalencyexaminations at the age of 105, conduct-ed by the State-run Kerala State LiteracyMission (KSLM) in 2019.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had

also spoken about her during his 62ndepisode of his Mann Ki Baat programme.In her examination at Kollam, she cameout with flying colours with 205 out of atotal of 275 marks and full marks inmathematics. As she went on till 107 yearsof age, she had recently began preparingfor her Level Seven exam through digi-tal classes, but one sorrow remains thatAmma left without fulfilling the dreamof passing the 10th standard equivalen-cy exam. Bhageerathi Amma was one ofthe few learners in the world who taughtothers that age is no bar in education.Amma, you are still living in our hearts.May your soul rest in peace and may yourmovement find success!

Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee | Faridabad

PINARAYI MUST CLEAN UP HIS CABINETSir — It refers to the editorial, ‘A stitch intime’. When Kerala Chief Minister

Pinarayi Vijayan can take the toughdecision of not inducting former HealthMinister KK Shailja in his Government(while it is to be noted that she was oneof the best performing Minister in the lastfive years) after creating history of sortsin the last 45 years by winning back-to-back elections and retaining power, thenhe should not have had any issue in oust-ing Forest Minister AK Saseendran.

Ultimately, Pinarayi Vijayan is in theearly days of his second term in succes-sion and he should not allow theOpposition parties any issue on a platterthat the latter could use to criticise him.Moreover, when he is not at the mercy ofother parties for his Government’s survival,then there is no reason for him to not actstrictly and set a strong precedent.

Bal Govind | Noida

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

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

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | JULY 24, 2021

06

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

There’s an urgent need to stop designating animals as ‘vermin’ as it takes the protective shield of the wildlife Act away from animals

THE LOSS OF THEVEGETATION THEY

FEED ONFOLLOWING THE

DESTRUCTION OFTHEIR HABITATS

THROUGHENCROACHMENT BYEXPANDING HUMAN

SETTLEMENTS,ROADS AND

INDUSTRIES, AS WELL AS

DROUGHTS ANDFOREST FIRES, HAS

DRIVEN THEM TOAGRICULTURAL

FIELDS FOR FOOD

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

HIRANMAY KARLEKAR

More than 4,15,000 people died owing toCOVID-19 (thereby leaving at least16,00,000 family members in incon-

solable grief, many of them turned orphans orlost the sole bread-earner), hundreds succumbedto the “Long March” and millions found them-selves jobless with many of them compelled tokill themselves. But how disgracefully do thewho’s who of the BJP and the Union Governmentboast about their “impeccable fight” againstCOVID and “glorious victory” over the pandem-ic! So when the party’s top leadership assertsthat the Pegasus expose is nothing but an “inter-national design” to “defame” the countrybecause of the “success” it had against COVID,it is extremely hard to resist bouts of laughter.

Equally shocking is their magnitude of shame-lessness, insensitivity, falsehood and rhetoric.

The displacement of millions of starved,malnourished, poorest of poor migrants nego-tiating highways for months amid harsh condi-tions, serpentine queues for procuring the elu-sive oxygen cylinders, burning of mass pyresin parking lots and mass burials; no other coun-try witnessed such horrors. And all these werethe direct result of a series of callous decisions— Trump show, instant lockdown without notice,“Occupy Bengal”, Kumbh Mela, and so on.

Instead of coming up with concrete,sober answers based on logic, facts and truth,it’s easier for the Government to just charac-ter-assassinate the questioner and invokefatuous sentiments in the name of the nation.In the same vein, any query regarding theCentre’s involvement in the Pegasus scandalis obviously nothing but a “direct attack uponIndia’s integrity”. And, unfortunately, these tac-tics of jingoism regularly fetch rich electoral div-idends for the ruling party in our country. Whata tragic state of affairs!

Kajal Chatterjee | Kolkata

The Govt has only bombastic claims

The human-animalconflict on the rise

Apractice that continuesdespite strong and rea-soned opposition is thatof proclaiming species

of wild animals as “vermin” andthus putting them out of theambit of the protective umbrel-la of the Wildlife (Protection)Act, 1972, the principal instru-ment for protecting wild animalsin India. The wild boar and nil-gai have been proclaimed as“vermin” in Uttarakhand, thenilgai and boar in some districtsof Bihar, and the rhesus macaquein parts of Himachal Pradesh.

The Act does not define theterm “vermin” in terms of whatit connotes. It just states inSection 62: “The CentralGovernment may by notificationdeclare any wild animal otherthan those specified in ScheduleI and Part II of Schedule II to bevermin for any area and for suchperiod as may be specified there-in and so long as such notifica-tion is in force, such wild animalshall be deemed to have beenincluded in Schedule V.” Animalsincluded in Schedule V can befreely hunted.

The Central Governmentdeclares an animal as vermin fol-lowing requests from StateGovernments and the groundwhich has been invariably citedis that it causes damage to cropsand poses a danger to humanlife. There have no doubt beencases in which the Centre haswithheld permission. The funda-mental question, however, iswhether there should at all be aprovision for designating ananimal as “vermin”.

There are several reasons forasking this. For one thing, anarticle by Anupam Chakravartty,Rajeshwari Ganesan and RajitSengupta, published under theheading ‘Enemies of the state?’ inthe DownToEarth on June 15,2016, cites animal rights groupsas saying that the drive forkilling then underway was basedon popular perception ratherthan data. The country had nodata both on the populations ofanimals proposed to be killedand the extent of crop damagethey were supposed to be caus-ing. The article stated that, infact, Uttarakhand’s proposal onthe basis of which the Centrepermitted the killing of wildboars, clearly said, “There is noscientific survey or census of thewild boar population that has

SOUNDBITEI am anOpposition leaderand I raise issuesof public. This isan attack on that.This is an attackon the voice of the people.

Congress leader— Rahul Gandhi

I denounce that the (US) StateDepartment isexercising offen-sive and humiliat-ing pressures on

European countries.

Cuba’s Foreign Affairs Minister— Bruno Rodriguez

Kishore Kumar isnot just a legendand an icon, he isan institution. Hehas always been a beacon of inspi-ration for me.

Actor-singer— Ayushmann Khurrana

Today every

(Punjab) Congress

worker has

become the presi-

dent; no difference

between leader and workers.

Punjab Congress’ new president— Navjot Singh Sidhu

During our playingdays, both foreignand Indian coach-es were givenequal opportuni-ties. The same

can be followed now.

Former Indian football striker— IM Vijayan

The greatest sporting spectacle in the world has begun in Japan, even though underthe scary shadow of the pernicious SARS-Cov-2 virus. Over the next two weeks,the best athletes from around the world will compete in 33 sports and 46 disci-

plines. As always in the 125-year modern history of the Olympics, the global audiencewill be wowed by the superhuman performances of the athletes, wondering how some

people — with the same number of limbs, developedmore or less in the same proportion and living on thesame planet as us — can achieve the seemingly unat-tainable or near-impossible. But, put in a nutshell, that’swhat the Games are about. However, never before inthe history of the modern Olympics have the Gamesever been organised in an odd-numbered year eventhough these have survived boycotts, natural calami-ties and man-made wars. Another first is that no spec-tators would be present inside stadia, thanks to the rag-ing COVID-19 pandemic. Think about it, the world’sbiggest sporting stage, and not a single soul to cheer

the athletes, say, the fastest woman and man on Earth? In a way, it’s poignant.Focusing on India, a total of only 20 Indian athletes from seven sports (besides

six officials) participated in the opening parade on Friday evening. India is being rep-resented by more than 125 athletes in this instalment of the Olympics, with the over-all contingent size being 128 members. The parade number was deliberately thinnedowing to COVID-19 concerns and the deputy chef de mission had already made itclear that the athletes who have competitions lined up on Saturday — primarily, archery,hockey, shooting and badminton — would stay away from the opening ceremonyfestivities. From the men’s hockey team, only captain Manpreet Singh participated inthe event as he was India’s flag-bearer along with pugilist MC Mary Kom when TeamIndia proudly walked out into the stadium at number 21st as per the Japanese alpha-betical order. The expectations of 130 crore Indians must be weighing heavy on theIndian contingent as it tries for the first time ever to take its medals tally into doubledigits. So far, our best showing was in the 2012 London Olympics, where Indian ath-letes managed to scoop up six medals, though none of them was gold. Hopefully,things will turn better this time around. Meanwhile, let the Games begin!

It took 89 pages of a Delhi High Court judgment to tell politicians holding high posi-tions in Governments that they cannot go on making promises to people and not hon-our these. The judgment, in a case relating to a promise made by Delhi Chief Minister

Arvind Kejriwal, sends the message that it is important to bridge the gap between lawand morality and let the authorities, who are either elected to public positions or whohold positions of power, realise that they “are answerable to the people, especially oncethey undertake or agree to do or not to do a particular thing” and that the citizens wouldexpect that the Government would implement the promises made. The judgment, byJustice Prathiba M Singh, opens with a telling comment that reflects the mood of thesociety: “The saying ‘Promises are meant to be broken’ is well known in the social con-text.” The judgment unambiguously says that promises made by the Government or its

officials are “judicially enforceable” if these are bro-ken. The judgment reminds the political leaders of thingsenshrined in the business of governance but forgot-ten in the melee of politics. One is that good gover-nance requires the said trust to be maintained betweenthose who govern and those who are governed. Two,the sustenance of this trust coupled with the legal cer-tainty of an assurance given, cements the relationshipbetween the citizen and the Government.

Three, citizens repose a lot of trust in a promisemade by those who hold Government positions andan assurance given is like an undertaking that is com-

patible with public duty. One powerful conclusion is derived from the judgment: Oncea representation is made by a high-ranking official, it comes within the scope of itsauthority. It will have a far-reaching impact on the Indian polity which is used to mostpoliticians in power resorting to populism as forethought and governance as an after-thought. A cursory glance through a day’s newspapers will throw up scores of promis-es made by elected representatives of the people that are meant to remain unfulfilled.The present case relates to some poor labourers petitioning the court that Kejriwalshould be asked to fulfil his promise of paying the house rent on their behalf if theywere unable to pay it because of COVID-19 exigencies. Kejriwal did make that promisein March 2020 but did not pursue the matter further. The court correctly observes,in the context of the case, “that ‘puffing’ which may be permissible in commercialadvertising, ought not to be recognisable and permissible in governance”. The judg-ment is a serious caution to politicians for whom people are merely voters, not citi-zens. There are millions of political and electoral promises that remain ignored becausethere is no law to punish politicians, in power or seeking to be in power, who rou-tinely evade accountability. The judgment should prod those in power to desist fromplaying with people’s legitimate expectations.

Castle in the air

Glitz and gutsThe Tokyo Olympics have started. Only blood, sweat and tears will lead to glory

PICTALK

Jab-seekers wait in a queue to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, at a district hospital in Noida PTI

The Delhi High Court has told political leadersthat they must honour the promises they make

Cairn looking forarbitration money?

NARENDRA MODI AND AMIT SHAH USED THE PEGASUS

SPYWARE AGAINST INDIA AND ITS INSTITUTIONS, AND

THE ONLY WORD FOR IT IS TREASON.

— FORMER CONGRESS PRESIDENT

RAHUL GANDHI

THE CONGRESS IS DETERMINED TO STALL THE HOUSE

FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER AFTER BEING

REJECTED TWICE BY PEOPLE IN 2014 AND 2019.

— BJP SPOKESPERSON

RAJYAVARDHAN RATHORE

On the very same day that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi effect-ed a massive reconstitution ofhis council of ministers, India

got in the shock in the form of a Frenchcourt freezing residential propertiesbelonging to the Indian government inParis following a retrospective tax disputewith British power and energy giant CairnEnergy.

The decision will impact 20 proper-ties valued at Euro 20 million (`177crore), as part of a guarantee of the debtowed to Cairn that exited India a fewyears ago. The company with a marketcapitalisation of £755 million (about`7,800 crore) - has filed cases in severalcountries to pursue the unpaid interna-tional arbitration award of $1.7 billion(`12,750 crore). The company also filedcases in New York, seeking judicial con-firmation that Air India can be classed asthe alter ego of the Indian state and there-by jointly liable for the arbitral award.

The French court decision is unfor-tunate as it is feared it can start a newdiplomatic conflict and it also impingeson the sovereignty of the country. It mightcreate an image that India can be takenlightly by MNCs and other private play-ers.

And that is what exactly happened. Acase similar to Cairn is that of DevasMultimedia, floated by ex-ISRO execu-tives. It had entered into a deal withISRO's Antrix Corp. and the NationalCompany Law Tribunal said the 2005spectrum lease deal was fraudulent.Deutsche Telekom later picked up itsstake.

Devas moved an arbitration tribunalsaying that its multi-million-dollar invest-ments lost value because of the annul-ment. In 2020 the tribunal awardedDevas $1.2 billion. It is now seeking pay-ment from India (now stayed by SupremeCourt) in a New York court, asking AirIndia to pay the amount or forfeit its prop-erty, including planes, cargo handling,equipment, and artwork.

In both cases, the authorities in Indiabungled in pursuing the case. In the caseof Cairn and Devas, they moved thecourts in Germany and The Hague evenas the Indian arguments on jurisdictionand criminality in two arbitrations underBilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) underIndia-Mauritius and India-Germanyagreements were lost.

Cairn and Devas have chosen flagshipAir India planes and its prime propertyas a pressure tactic to force India into pay-ment negotiations. Trying to seize planesor property to realise unpaid dues may bean extreme tactic but there are precedents.Aircraft are valuable, mobile, and relative-ly easy to sell. A few years ago, US hedgefund Elliott Capital Management seizedan Argentine naval vessel to collect onbonds on which the country defaulted in2001.

The Cairn matter is one of the irra-tional tax system. The company is in dis-

Cairn Energy has submitted a detailed series of proposals to the IndianGovernment for settlement of the case

THE FRENCHCOURT'S

DECISION ISUNFORTUNATE AS

IT IS FEARED ITCAN START A NEW

DIPLOMATICCONFLICT AND ITALSO IMPINGES

ON THESOVEREIGNTY OFTHE COUNTRY. IT

MIGHT CREATE ANIMAGE THAT INDIA

CAN BE TAKENLIGHTLY BY MNCS

AND OTHERPRIVATE PLAYERS

After a gap of nearly six months, Abakash Nayak, 54, a sea-soned Pattachitra ar tist of Raghurajpur, the nationallyacclaimed heritage village in Odisha’s Puri district has picked

up his brush, but this time to paint on the walls of his house. Heis painting Lord Ganesh on one wall and Ardhanariswara (a tradi-tional form of Lord Shiva and Parbati) on another. “I am happy likethe rest of the artists of Raghurajpur village that we are being askedto paint murals to decorate the walls of our houses. Once the lock-down will ease and tourists will star t returning to our village, theywill witness the fresh look of the village,” he said. The ar tists ofthis village have been sitting idle with no work at hand since Marchlast year after the nationwide lockdown was announced.Recently,the State government declared financial assistance of `10,000 toeach of the 150-odd families to decorate the walls of their hous-es with Patta paintings, bringing smilesto their faces. In Raghurajpur

crafts village, almost all family members are involved in Patta paint-ing, sculpture work, and paper masks. Patta paintings are madeon a piece of cloth known as Patta, or on a dried palm leaf whichis first covered with a mixture of gum and chalk. Over the preparedsurface, colourful and intricate pictures of gods and goddesses,and scenes from mythological scriptures are painted. The villagesaw no tourists after March 2020. In November, some tourists start-ed visiting, but the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic inFebruary spread among the ar tists. Banamali Maharana, aShilpiguru awardee, recalls the times when visitors could see allthe family members doing artwork, sitting on the porch of their hous-es. “We are ar tists…How are we supposed to pick up spade leav-ing paint and brush?”

The male members mainly do the painting work, while womenprepare traditional colours, the base of the paper mask, and otheradditional work. Some women have also star ted Patta paintings.Earlier, they would earn between `15,000 and `20,000 per month.With overseas buyers, they would earn a little more. Now incomeshave drastically dropped. Initially, they managed to make ends meetthrough loans but money lenders have now stopped giving themmoney. A few “kind-hearted” ar t lovers help them out financially.In 2019, Cyclone Fani devastated this ar tisans’ village. All the ar t-work were damaged. When they began to restart their art, the coro-navirus struck. Some started selling vegetables, some opened “paan”shops, or star ted working as daily wage labourers.But the secondwave put paid to these effor ts too. Villagers are at present gettingvaccinated to fight the virus. “Once unlock happens, the touristswill star t coming to our village again. Our vaccination will send amessage of reassurance to these tourists,” said villager Jitendrawho believes that the government should also arrange a vaccina-tion drive for the ar tists. Raghurajpur is now preparing to welcometourists with murals on walls. The Department of Language, Literatureand Culture in association with Odisha Lalit Kala Akademi has comeup with an innovative idea to encourage and support the ar tists.Each family will receive `10,000 as financial assistance while thebest five will be awarded after being selected by a special com-mittee. Meanwhile, the younger generation is exploring selling theartwork online. Many have also shifted to the vir tual mode to teachPattachitra-making online. They want the government to train themand arrange for a platform to sell their products to e-commercecompanies.

(The writer is an independent journalist from Odisha. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

Agricultural and alliedactivities continue tobe the backbone of the

Indian economysupport-ingthe livelihood of 60 percent of the population and-contributing 1/6th of GDP. Itused to account formore thanhalf of GDP in 1951.

Half of the arable area con-tinues to depend on the mon-soon for irrigation. The propor-tion of gross irrigated area tototal cropped area couldincrease from 31 per cent in1984-85 to only 45 per cent, asper the agriculture census of2010-11.The total operatedarea under agriculturedecreased from 16 crorehectares in 2010-11 to 15.8crore hectares in 2015-16.

With succession not basedon primogeniture, populationexplosion has resulted in frag-

mentation of landholdings.Total operational holdingsincreased from 13.8 crore in2010-11 to 14.6 crore in 2015-16. The average size of anoperational holding declined to1.08 hectares in 2015-16 from1.15 hectares in 2010-11.

Small and marginal farm-ers suffer from the absence ofeconomies of scale, access toinformation, and their inabil-ity to participate in the pricediscovery mechanism. Theirparticipation is restricted bypoor vertical and horizontallinkages, limited access to themarket, and poor informationflow along the value chain.The challenge now is to opti-mize benefits through effec-tive and efficient means ofaggregation models.

Farmer aggregationassumes significance due to

the shift of Indian agriculturetowards high-value com-modities as a result of thegrowing importance of theagri-food market caused byliberalization, globalization,improved purchasing power,demand for safe and qualityfood, and expansion of nichemarkets.

Integrating small farmerswith agricultural markets is abig challenge. Many forms offarmer producer organizationshave been experimented withlike cooperatives, self-help

groups, Farmer ProducerCompanies, and commodityinterest groups to aggregatefarmers to help them benefitfrom economies of scale and tolink them to the markets.

Contract farming anddirect marketing are other insti-tutional interventions that canbe undertaken by organisedgroups of farmers. I have comeacross even Whatsapp groupsbeing used to connect farmersand consumers, bypassing mid-dlemen and getting betterpricesfor farmers. A FarmerProducer Company (FPC)seems to be the most useful forthe aggregation of small farm-ers. The FPCs offer more ben-efits compared to other formatsof aggregation. Its members areable to leverage their collectivestrength and bargaining powerto access financial and non-

financial inputs and servicesand appropriate technologiesleading to a reduction in trans-action costs. They can tap high-value markets and enter intopartnerships with private enti-ties on equitable terms.

The performance of coop-eratives has been generallypoor with the exception ofcooperative sugar factoriesand dairy cooperatives inMaharashtra and Gujarat.Amalsad cooperative Societyfor sapota and farming coop-erative Gambhira in Gujarat,MAHAGRAPES inMaharashtra, HOPCOMSand CAMPCO in Karnataka,Mulkanoor womens’ cooper-ative groups in combinedAndhra Pradesh, etc., haveperformed well. These suc-cessful models could not beemulated else where in the

country. In Budget 2019-20,the governmentannounced new central sectorschemes to facilitate the for-mation and promotion of10,000 new Farmer ProducerOrganisations (FPOs) andhandholding of each FPO forfive years from its aggregationand formation.

Rainfall deficit, unsea-sonal rains, floods are natur-al and continuing risks.Agricultural production hasincreased but productivity isgenerally lower than interna-tional benchmarks. Water-use efficiency is particularlylow. Some progressive farm-ers are de-risking themselvesby diversifying their produce.However, many relativelywell-off farmers continue withwater-guzzling crops like riceand sugarcane in water-defi-

cient regions. How to incen-tivize farmers to move awayfrom the over-production ofcereals (particularly rice andwheat)? How to go aboutagricultural diversification toboost oilseeds, protein, andfruits/vegetable production?These are policy challenges.

Rejuvenation of our agri-cultural sector needs appro-priate diversification andvalue-addition and looseningof outdated controls on agri-cultural markets. It is hopedthat protests against the farmlaws -misguided or mischie-vous or partly both - abatesoon and a sensible farmerleadership works on connect-ing farmers with FPOs.Farmers' apprehensions aboutthe entry of big corporates canbe addressed if they becomemembers of the FPOs.

Farmer aggregation is necessary to organise them, reduce transaction costs and enable members to share information & take collective decisions

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | JULY 24, 2021

07

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

FIRSTCOLUMNRAGHURAJPURPATTACHITRA

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

(The writer is a seniorjournalist. The views

expressed are personal.)

Rejuvenating agricultural marketing through cooperatives

SUBHASH C PANDEY

(The writer is former SpecialSecretary, Ministry of Commerce

and Industry, GOI. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

RAKHI GHOSH

pute with the government over a2014 retrospective tax demand.The income-tax department seizeda 10 per cent stake in Indian oper-ations that Cairn was trying to sell.After a long dispute, it went forinternational arbitration and Cairnwon the $ 1.7 billion award.

The issue of high taxation, asrecently mentioned by PresidentRamnath Kovind, retrospectivetax, and confusion on predatingtaxes is an unresolved quagmire.There is an OECD move to havea global minimum tax on corpo-rates at 15 per cent or higher. TheUPA government introduced thecontroversial retrospective tax inMarch 2012. The NDA II wasexpected to correct it after 2014 butthe bureaucratic system continuedwith the supposed oddity.

The Supreme Court of Indiaon January 20, 2012 ruled infavour of Vodafone overturning a2010 decision of the Bombay HighCourt which ruled that Vodafonewas liable to retrospectively pay $2billion income-tax because Indiancapital gains taxes (CGT) appliedon the share transfers between twonon-resident entities.

But the smitten tax officialstook a different route to circum-vent the SC ruling with the intro-duction of the retrospective tax inMarch 2012, allowing the govern-ment to levy CGT — a move thatwas piloted by former financeminister Pranab Mukherjee in2012.

In March 2018 the thenfinance minister, the late ArunJaitley, said that the decision to taxVodafone retrospectively by UPAwas erroneous and also that the“present government will not begoing down that path”. On July 18,

2014, he had said that India wouldnot levy any tax with a retrospec-tive effect that creates an addition-al burden. But Jaitley made nomove to repeal the 2011 law.

The statements of Jaitley andPrime Minister Narendra Modipledging not to use retrospectivetaxation to overturn on CairnEnergy were used by a three-member tribunal at the PermanentCourt of Arbitration in The Hagueon December 20, 2020, to rule thatthe 2006 reorganisation of CairnEnergy’s India business beforelisting on local bourses was not“unlawful tax avoidance” andordered the tax authorities to dropthe tax demand. This did not hap-pen due to bureaucratic audacity.

Cairn has moved for imple-mentation of the arbitration awardin several jurisdictions on differ-ent continents, including the US,the UK, Canada, Singapore,Mauritius, France, and theNetherlands as the companyintends to focus on high-valueassets. Cairn has submitteddetailed series of proposals to theIndian government for settlementof the case. The NDA governmentis now opposing its stand appar-ently under pressure of officials.

It rattles India. Would thecountry lose its flagship aircraftcarrier and other prime assets?Technically it maya be so butauthorities say that they are yet toreceive a notice or communicationfrom the French court and the gov-ernment would vigorously defendits case. It translates into more lit-igations as well as negotiations.Director of Cairn’s corporate com-munication David Nisbet says thatthe company is keen on an agreedsettlement with India and keep the

trust of its shareholders. So, it has identified $70-billion

worth of Indian assets to retrievethe $1.7 billion award. However, aninternational company knows thatwhile it is important to contestgovernments, it also needs theirgoodwill to be in business.

The government is also innegotiations since January 2021,even before the present Frenchorder was flashed. It may giveCairn Energy one of the surren-dered oilfields — Ratna R-series —in the Arabian Sea that was takenaway from Essar-Premier Oil in2016 instead of an arbitrationpayment. Cairn had spudded thebiggest inland oil wells in Barmer,indicated in a survey by NGRI. Itexited the country after it wasgiven `10247 crore retro-taxdemand. Apparently, the govern-ment wants that the biggest oilcompany with one of the lowestoperational costs come back toIndia to shore up its image as alsocreate a show window for the inter-national investors.

It is also looking at the otheroption of giving it the Barmer oil-field. Vedanta, which now operatesthe field, has so far has not agreedto the government conditions forextending its contract. UnderVedanta, Rajasthan oilfields haveseen a steady decline in output.Cairn has protested against thehigh $9 cess per barrel on the oilproduced.

The bureaucrats had the issuesmired in a web. A political decisionto annul retro-tax under PrimeMinister Narendra Modi canensure that a Cairn, Vodafone,Devas, or Vedanta is not repeatedand bureaucrats do not muddy thewaters.

SHIVAJI SARKAR

Painting murals to welcome tourists back to their village

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | JULY 24, 2021 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI)on Friday said itspremium sales network

Nexa has crossed 14 lakhsales milestone in six years ofcoming into existence. Withthe first showroom in 2015,Nexa has touched theimagination of young andaspirational customers and thetestimony to this is that nearly half of the customers are under 35years of age, the auto major said. Nexa has attracted first timebuyers, which makes up to nearly 70 per cent of its total sales, itadded. MSI currently has over 380 Nexa outlets spread across about234 cities in the country. "Driven by innovation, Nexa marks the firstinitiative by an automobile company to go beyond selling cars andcreate new formats of car buying experiences," MSI Senior ExecutiveDirector (Marketing and Sales) Shashank Srivastava said in astatement. With over 380 showrooms across the country, the premiumsales network has helped the company attract a new set of customerswho were earlier not considering a Maruti Suzuki vehicle, he added.

As many as 792 projects out of818 have been approved forsetting up food processing

industries by the private sector,with approved grants-in-aid of Rs5,792 crore so far, the governmentinformed Parliament on Friday."Government has beenconsistently encouraging and incentivising increased private sectorinvestment for the overall development of the food processingsector of the country to promote value addition in agricultural andallied sectors and reduce wastage," Minister of the State for FoodProcessing Industries Prahlad Singh Patel said. The minister in awritten reply to the Rajya Sabha also said the government hasrecently taken three major initiatives in order to further increaseprivate sector participation in the sector. Firstly, the government hasapproved a Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the foodprocessing sector with an outlay of Rs 10,900 crore to support thecreation of global food manufacturing champions and supportIndian brands of food products in international markets.

Govt approves 792 privatefood processing projects

The country's exportsgrew 45.13 per cent toUSD 22.48 billion during

July 1-21 on account ofhealthy growth in sectorssuch as gems and jewellery,petroleum and engineering,according to the provisionalcommerce ministrydata.Imports also rose 64.82per cent to USD 31.77 billion in the said period, leaving a tradedeficit of USD 9.29 billion.Exports of gems and jewellery, petroleumand engineering during July 1-21 stood at USD 424.5 million, USD923.33 million and USD 551. 4 million, respectively, the datashowed.Imports of petroleum, crude and products rose by about77.5 per cent to USD 1.16 billion.During the period, exports to theUS, UAE and Brazil increased by 51 per cent to USD 493.24 million;127 per cent to USD 373.36 million; and 212 per cent to USD 144.5million, respectively.

Exports rise 45 pc duringJuly 1-21: Comm Min data

The Supreme Court Fridayheld that the consent of themarket regulator Sebi is not

mandatory for the compoundingof offences under section 24A ofthe Sebi Act but taking views ofthe expert body is necessary. Abench of Justices D Y Chandrachudand M R Shah said though Sebi isnot conferred with any authority to veto a decision for proceeding in trialoffences, it is a regulatory and prosecuting agency and the SecuritiesAppellate Tribunal (SAT) and the courts must obtain its views since it is anexpert body.The apex court said eliciting of views of Sebi is necessary inthe interest of the stability of the securities market and protection ofinvestors. "Before taking any decision to compound an offence punishableunder section 24 A,T or the court must obtain views of Sebi for furnishingguidance to its decision. These views unless manifestly mala fide must beaccorded high degree of deference. The court must be wary ofsubstituting its own wisdom on the gravity of the offence or the impact onthe markets while discarding the expert opinion," the bench said.

Sebi consent not mandatoryfor compounding of offences

Maruti Nexa completes 6 yrs with

cumulative sales of 14 lakh units

PNS n NEW DELHI

As Zomato made a stellar debuton Dalal Street, its Founder andCEO Deepinder Goyal saidthis was a big day Shares of thefirm listed at nearly 53 per centpremium in its debut tradeagainst its issue price of Rs 76.With this rally, its market val-uation went past the Rs 1-lakh-crore mark on BSE.

Earlier in the day, he alsosaid in a blog post, "Today is abig day for us. A new Day Zero.But we couldn't have gottenhere without the incredibleefforts of India's entire internetecosystem."

In the blog titled, "Letterfrom Deepi”, he said he was afirm believer in India, andwhere the country will be in thefuture, adding that “India is atough market to operate in, but

if you are building to succeedin India, you are already anexception”.

He believes Zomato andSwiggy are two of the best fooddelivery apps in the worldtoday. “We have a long way to

go before we can call ourselvesworld class by our customers'standards, but we are deter-mined to get there."

Zomato's over 10 -yearjourney has not always beensmooth. It has lived through

many ups and downs – some-thing not every company hasthe privilege of living longenough to do, he added.

"...We have found ourselvesmanaging times of crisis on dif-ferent occasions in much the

same way – impatiently stayingfocused on the long term, exe-cuting relentlessly, and com-mitting ourselves to doing thevery best we can do today,"Goyal said.

Even in its hardest times, thecompany has had half of itstech/engineering team workon long-term initiatives, headded.

"We are going to relentlesslyfocus on 10 years out and beyond,and are not going to alter ourcourse for short term profits at thecost of long term success of thecompany," Goyal said.

The tremendous response tothe company's IPO, "gives usthe confidence that the worldis full of investors who appre-ciate the magnitude of invest-ments we are making, andtake a long term view of ourbusiness," he added.

They say it takes a village toraise a child, and Zomato is noexception, he said, noting thathundreds of people have self-lessly played a part in makingZomato what it is today.

He also thanked theinvestors who have stood bythe company through thickand thin.

"Jio's prolific growth has setall of us up for unprecedentedscale. Flipkart, Amazon, Ola,Uber, Paytm – have also overthe years, collectively laid therailroads that are enabling com-panies like ours to build theIndia of the future," Goyal said.

Zomato stands proudly andhumbly on the shoulders ofgiants, and thanks everyone forgiving it, and so many otherstartups, the opportunity tolook ahead into the future, headded.

Today is a big day for us, a new ‘Day Zero': Zomato CEO

PNS n NEW DELHI

India has seen a "significantimprovement" in theUNESCAP's Global Survey onDigital & Sustainable TradeFacilitation with a 90.32 percent score.

After evaluation of 143economies, the Survey 2021 hashighlighted India's significantimprovement in the scores onall five key indicators -- trans-parency, formalities, institu-tional arrangement and coop-eration, paperless trade andcross-border paperless trade.

India has scored 90.32 percent in the global survey onDigital and Sustainable TradeFacilitation. This is a remark-able jump from 78.49 per centin 2019.

Under the transparencyindicator, the country scored100 per cent in 2021, up from93.33 per cent in 2019. Thescore for 'paperless trade'

improved to 96.3 per cent in2021, from 81.48 per cent in2019. The score in the institu-tional arrangement and coop-eration indicator improved to88.89 per cent, from 66.67 percent in 2019.

In a statement, the FinanceMinistry said that India hasseen "significant improvement"

in the score in United Nations'Global Survey on Digital andSustainable Trade Facilitation.

The Central Board of IndirectTaxes and Customs (CBIC) hasbeen at forefront of path break-ing reforms under the umbrel-la of 'Turant' Customs to usherin a Faceless, Paperless andContactless Customs by way of

a series of reforms, it said."This has had a direct

impact in terms of theimprovement in theUNESCAP rankings on digitaland sustainable trade facilita-tion," the ministry added.

The Economic and SocialCommission for Asia and thePacific (ESCAP) serves as the

United Nations' regional hubpromoting cooperation amongcountries to achieve inclusiveand sustainable development.

Further, during the Covid19pandemic, Customs forma-tions have made all efforts toexpedite Covid-related importssuch as Oxygen related equip-ment, life-saving medicines,vaccines etc. A dedicated sin-gle window COVID-19 24*7helpdesk for EXIM trade wascreated on the CBIC website tofacilitate quick resolution ofissue(s) faced by importers, thefinance ministry said.

The Global Survey on Digitaland Sustainable TradeFacilitation is conducted everytwo years by UNESCAP. The2021 Survey includes an assess-ment of 58 trade facilitationmeasures covered by theWTO's Trade FacilitationAgreement. A higher score fora country also helps business-es in their investment decisions.

PNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensex rose139 points on Friday followinggains in ICICI Bank, ITC andSBI amid a largely positivetrend in global markets.

The 30-share BSE indexended 138.59 points or 0.26per cent higher at 52,975.80,while the broader NSE Niftyadvanced 32 points or 0.20 percent to 15,856.05.

ICICI Bank was the topgainer in the Sensex pack, ris-ing over 3 per cent, followedby ITC, SBI, HCL Tech, AxisBank, Bajaj Finserv and TechMahindra.

On the other hand, L&T,HUL, Reliance Industries andNTPC were among the lag-gards. Domestic market trad-ed range-bound but extended

gains moderately on sustainedrebound in financials, saidBinod Modi, Head-Strategy atReliance Securities.

"Improved prospects ofcredit growth rebound withvisible pickup in economyand comfortable valuationsbode well for financials.However, it was not a broad-based rally as midcap andsmallcap indices lagged asprofit booking was visible inmany counters," he noted.

A sharp recovery in globalmarkets along with buyingon dips propelled domesticequities to see sharp reboundin the last two days, Modiadded.

Elsewhere in Asia, boursesin Shanghai and Hong Kongwere in the red, while Seoulended with gains.

Sensex ends 139 pts higher

PNS n NEW DELHI

Gold in the national capitalon Friday rose Rs 256 to Rs46,698 per 10 gram amid sup-portive global trends, accord-ing to HDFC Securities.

The precious metal had inthe previous trade closed at Rs46,442 per 10 grams.

Silver also jumped Rs 662 toRs 66,111 per kg, from Rs65,449 per kg in the previoustrade.

In the international market,gold was trading in the green atUSD 1,808 per ounce and silverwas flat at USD 25.33 per ounce.

HDFC Securities SeniorAnalyst (Commodities) TapanPatel said, "Gold prices contin-ued its upside on Friday aftergaining above USD 1,800 onThursday evening session withfall in US treasury yields."

Gold climbsRs 256; silverjumps Rs 662

PNS n NEW DELHI

Rationalising obligations inline with activities of relevantentities, and limiting fallbackliability of online retailers toensuring timely refund to con-sumers are among the recom-mendations suggested byNasscom to the proposed e-commerce rules.

The IT industry body onFriday said its recommenda-tions on the proposed e-com-merce rules "focus on strength-ening consumer protection,ensuring that the obligationsare proportionate to the under-lying risks and are unambigu-ous".

The draft e-commerce rulesreleased by the government onJune 21 propose to ban fraud-ulent flash sales and mis-sell-ing of goods and services on e-commerce platforms.Appointments of chief compli-ance officer/grievance redres-sal officer are among the keyamendments proposed underthe Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020.

Nasscom said some of the

proposed amendments "appearto be beyond the scope of theConsumer Protection Act 2019(COPA19) and are instead asubject matter of either theCompetition Act, 2002 or theInformation Technology Act,2000...in our submission, weundertook a clause-by-clausereview of the proposed amend-ments and suggested the wayforward".

The government on Mondayextended till August 5 the dead-line for public comments on pro-

posed amendments to theConsumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020. Earlier,the last date for public commentson the draft e-commerce ruleswas July 6.

Some of the recommenda-tions include removal of theword 'own' from the definition ofan e-commerce entity.

"This is with the aim ofexcluding from the scope thosetechnology entities that own thedigital platform and license/pro-vide it to e-commerce companies.

Timely refund by online retailersmust be a criterion: Nasscom

PNS n MUMBAI

The Indian rupee pared earlylosses to close 6 paise higherat 74.40 against the US dol-lar on Friday following gainsin the domestic equities.

At the interbank forexmarket, the domestic curren-cy witnessed heavy volatility.The local unit opened weakat 74.55 a dollar and toucheda low of 74.58 in morningtrade.

The local unit recoveredlater and touched a high of74.37 during the day.It final-ly closed at 74.40 against theAmerican currency, regis-tering a rise of 6 paise overits previous close. OnThursday, the rupee had set-tled at 74.46.

Rupee pares early

losses, settles 6

paise higher at

74.40/USDPNS n MUMBAI

Mid-sized IT player PersistentSystems is looking to hire2,000 freshers in 2021-22 andwill recruit lateral entries as perbusiness growth, a senior offi-cial said on Friday.

The company also flaggedconcerns about pressures onattrition returning back in theinformation technology indus-try as the business sees an over-all improvement due to greaterfocus on digitalization.

The Pune-based companyhad reported a 68 per centgrowth in its June quarter net atRs 151.2 crore late on Thursday.

"We will be hiring 2,000freshers in FY22 and will hirelaterals as per the businessgrowth," the company's chieffinancial officer Sunil Sapre

told PTI over a call.Its chief executive Sandeep

Kalra said typically a fresher istrained for six months beforebeing put on a project.

Sapre said in the last threequarters, it has hired 4,200 peo-ple, which included 3,500 later-al hires, and added that the

fresher to lateral hires ratio willnot be the same any more.

Kalra said sequential pres-sures are being observed on theattrition front as it happenswhenever the business environ-ment is good in the sector.“There will be pressure on thetalent side,” he said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Biotechnology major Bioconhas reported a 35.39 per centdecline in its consolidated netprofit at Rs 108.4 crore for thequarter ended June 30, 2021mainly on account of its shareof loss in associate startup enti-ty Bicara Therapeutics Inc.

The company had posted

a net profit of Rs 167.8 crorefor the corresponding periodof the previous fiscal, Bioconsaid in a late night filing onThursday.

Consolidated revenue ofthe company stood at Rs1,807.8 crore for the quarterunder consideration. It was Rs1,712.1 crore for the sameperiod a year ago, it added.

Biocon Q1 net profitdeclines 35 pc

Persistent to hire 2,000freshers in FY-2022

DIGITAL & SUSTAINABLE TRADE FACILITATION

India witnessing significantimprovement in UNESCAP score

PNS n NEW DELHI

The textile ministry is in theprocess of obtaining approvalof the Union Cabinet for theproposed Mega InvestmentTextiles Parks (MITRA)scheme, under which sevensuch parks will be set up in thecountry over the next threeyears, Parliament wasinformed on Friday.

Minister of State for TextilesDarshana Jardosh said thescheme was announced inUnion Budget 2021-22.

"Ministry of Textiles is inthe process of obtainingapproval of the Cabinet for theproposed scheme. Once, theproposed scheme is approvedand modalities are finalized,the details of location, govern-ment funding structure etc.will be decided," she said in awritten reply to the Lok Sabha.

In a separate reply, the min-ister said during the pandem-ic, CCI (Cotton Corporation ofIndia) procured 20.72 lakhbales valuing Rs 5,615 crorefrom 4 lakh cotton farmers.

However, during the entirecotton season 2019-20, CCI

made a record procurement of105.15 lakh bales (equivalentto around 546.80 lakh quintalkapas) and an amount of Rs28,500 crore was disbursed toaround 21.50 lakh cotton farm-ers directly into their bankaccounts, she said.

"During current cotton sea-son 2020-21 (October 1, 2020to September 30, 2021), CCIopened more than 450 pro-curement centres in all cotton

growing state. CCI continuedits procurement of cottonunder MSP operations sincebeginning of season to avoidthe eventuality of distress saleby farmers and has procured91.89 lakh bales so far (equiv-alent to around 482 lakh quin-tal kapas)," Jardosh said.

CCI disbursed an amountof Rs 26,700 crore to around19 lakh cotton farmers, sheadded.

Textile Ministry likely to getCabinet nod for MITRA scheme

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

SaturdayJuly 24, 2021

SHIKHA DUGGAL

n individual withinnovative solutionsto society’s mostpressing social, cul-tural, and environ-mental challenges,

Nayonika Roy hailing fromRanchi, has worked for women’srights and safety under theMinistry of Women and ChildDevelopment, Delhi and MVFoundation, Hyderabad.Ambitious and persistent, she’stackling major issues and offer-ing new ideas for systems-levelchange in our city through‘Soch for Change’.

She who moved to the city ofHyderabad to pursue her higherstudies in the year 2016, barelyknew would impact the lives ofso many people across the city.Simultaneously, the instant lurethat the city was offering hermade her decide to stay here fora lifetime thereafter. “I loveHyderabad, I have always hatedhuge cities because of their lackof culture. But Hyderabad isthat one city that makes me feellike a small-town girl while alsogiving me the comfort of a met-ropolitan city. Moving to a newhome here was very exciting!Many who have never lived in abig city have had the desire toeventually succumb to the lureof city life, and find themselvesliving in a much more concen-trated area than they experiencein the suburbs. I, for one, feelthe big city life is not for every-one, nonetheless, Hyderabadmade me feel like one of itsown,” says the outspoken youngwoman.

Even though city living has itsinconveniences, it makes up forthese inconveniences with allthat it has to offer. Hyderabadhaving a major cultural centerthat has vibrant art and musicscenes, a wider variety of food,several places of interest such asmuseums, events like concerts,and a diverse population with ashared experience of living —all this made the changemakerstay back! “My ideas about the

city were mostly positive. WhenI was moving here, I was toldabout its famous Biryani, therich street food that actuallymade my inner foodie screamits lungs out, and of course thepearl stores. My heart goes withthe food, and in no way do I feelthat the city could have everoffered me more. Biryani is notthe only delicacy that thisancient city has to offer. Theland of Nizams doesn’t let itsfood lovers down, it stands outfor its unique creations andbeloved contributions to the

culinary world,” sheadds.

Nayonika encountered manynew faces every day. Meetingand talking to new people whohave had very different lifeexperiences than hers, gave hera refreshing and new perspec-tive. Going back to her remem-brance of where she’s from, shetells, “I was born and broughtup in Ranchi. I have spent eigh-teen years of my life there. Forthe last eight years, I have livedin Cuttack, Hyderabad, andDelhi, but Hyderabad is mymost favourite city to livein. I consider this to bemy home! It is a citythat makes me feel

safe, I got my first job in thiscity and it is the place where Idecided to stay independent andmake a living. Every city ismade by the people who livethere. Hyderabad is differentbecause of this exact reason.People are friendly here andthey go beyond their capacity tohelp each other out.” There isalways something to do in thiscity which keeps people of alldifferent interests from gettingbored. A lively nightlife, differ-ent types of food to try, showsof all types, landmarks, parks,festivals, games, and so muchmore. If you’re a visual or per-

formance artist or a musician,opportunities are aplenty!

Whenever she thinks aboutHyderabad, Shilparamam iswhat fills her thoughts. Sherecalls, “I was in my tenth gradewhen I first visited the city. Iwas on a government scholar-ship for dance, and we had ourseven days’ workshop atShilparamam. This placeremains very close to my heart.In the last couple of years, Ihave performed at Shilparamamseveral times and the stage andthe place hold too many memo-ries. In 2018, when I startedworking with Voice 4 Girls atHyderabad, I applied for theDay of Girl Challenge conduct-ed by the British Deputy HighCommission. That year I waschosen as the winner fromTelangana! It definitely wouldnot have happened if I was notin Hyderabad!”

Nayonika feels the city ismore welcoming than manypeople believe it to be, and ifyou go to the same places anddo the same activities, you willquickly meet new people whohave similar interests and cameto live in the city for the samereasons as you. “One of themost important people that Imet here in Hyderabad is theAnusha Bharadwaj, ExecutiveDirector of the Soch for ChangeNGO, who has not just been astrong mentor to me but hasalso always lend me a friendlyear through all the times I wasfeeling low and was away fromhome. At times, working in thesocial sector can turn out to beimmensely difficult, as it’s notjust about the work that you dobut also about how your workimpacts other people in thecommunity.”

She who routinely works insuch a big city knows that com-muting is a hassle. Because ithas more people and neighbour-hoods, traffic is likely to occurwhich makes navigatingthrough the city more difficultfor her. But ultimately, she con-siders this city to be a pot full ofemotions that have always ledher on to a beautiful path!

CHANGEMAKER, TRENDSETTER HYDERABAD IS A

A

hen we watch a filmor a show, while oureyes are focussed onthe screen, there is alot more to processthan what meets the

eye. We are sure you noticedhow, with the rise of OTT plat-forms, elaborate song and dancesequences have taken a backseatto make room for intricate story-lines, among other things.However, can you imagine afilm/series which does not fea-ture a catchy tune?

Currently, NarenChandavarkar and BenedictTaylor — the Indian-Britishcomposer duo behindenthralling background scoresfor hits such as Udta Punjab,Paatal Lok, Newton, Ship OfTheseus and That Girl In TheYellow Boots — seem to be hit-ting all the right notes in theindustry. London-basedBenedict, trained in the violaand the violin, performs andproduces classical, contempo-rary, and improvised music,while Naren, who resides inMumbai, has his base rooted in

another stringed instrument, theguitar.

Recently, they made headlinesfor their work on AmitMasurkar’s Sherni, headlined byVidya Balan, which won acco-lades not just for its hard-hittingperformances and gripping nar-rative but also for its hauntingbackground score. Just a fort-night after the release of the film,the pair were in the news fortheir work on the score forHungama Hai Kyon Barpa fromRay, an anthology based on theworks of Satyajit Ray. Goingthrough their itinerary, we knewwe had to talk to them beforethey get any bigger than theyalready are.

Not much is known abouthow their collaboration came tobe and when we ask themBenedict shares that ever sincethey were introduced to eachother by another musician,Salome Rebello, they got alongreally well. “It wasn’t one definitemoment that initiated ouralliance. We both floated the idea

in different contexts... about try-ing different things we wereinterested in that had come up inconversation. The first instance Iremember was Benedict comingin to join the rehearsal for a playwe were developing. We work-shopped viola and acting improvtogether and it went incrediblywell. This led to more conversa-tions and here we are today,”adds Naren, with a smile.

Indeed, the conversations ledto an official collaboration in2010 for Anurag Kashyap’s ThatGirl In Yellow Boots, but how didthat happen?

Naren reveals, “I had workedon the music for a theatre pieceAnurag had produced, TheSkeleton Woman by KalkiKoechlin and Prashant Prakash.He heard the music and askedme to score the film. As soon ashe did, I asked Benedict if he’dlike to work on it with me.”

While most of us have adapted(more or less) to the WFH cul-ture over the past year in light ofthe pandemic, the two have been

working remotely all along. Andthey have been doing it splendid-ly.

Known for stitching theirgenre-bending music accordingto the director’s vision, Benedictsays that it is just how they work.“We embark on a voyage of dis-covering new sounds, playingwith different elements, witheach project. However, it has tobe said that we enter the realmsof the unknown with our work-ing styles in place — which we’vespent time refining — and withthose foundations, we can thenwork individually with eachdirector to realise his/her visionof what the music should belike,” he reveals. Naren goes onto add, “With each project, ourprocess changes slightly with thedirector we work with. However,our journey always starts bygaining clarity on what rolemusic needs to play in the filmand what we instinctively feelusually works. It is always aboutfinding musical solutions to theright questions. There is trial anderror but it’s directed in a specif-ic direction with the hope of

finding what we’re looking for.”When we ask them if they

have any favourites that theyregard as the cream of the lotfrom their growing repertoire ofcomposition, Benedict has a veryfitting response, “Impossible topick one, as you take a great dealfrom each project. In any pro-ject, there are always elementsyou’re thrilled with and thingsyou’d like to change, but that’sthe nature of the work. Plus,importantly, every project is sodifferent. If I listen to Paatal Lokone day, Ray the next, and Trystthe day after, I’ll be enteringdrastically different worlds, all ofwhich serve a certain purpose.”

As we wrap up our conversa-tion, Naren shares that both ofthem spend time making theirown music. “While Benedictproduces a lot of singles andalbums, we are currently work-ing on a body of work as a duofor release outside of the scoringarena,” he tells us.

We don’t press for more infor-mation since there is no doubtthey have a nice surprise in storefor us.

The Pioneer

strikes up aconversationwith thecomposingduo, NarenChandavarkarand BenedictTaylor, againstthe backdropof their risingstar.

The sound of music

n the heels of therelease of her latest sin-gle Aise Na They, artistand producer SonaMohapatra made herdebut appearance on

the Times Square Billboard in NewYork!

The track Aise Na They has beencomposed by Ram Sampath withlyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharyaand distributed by Paris-basedmusic distribution and marketingservice Believe. The song’s narra-tive revolves around a relationshipthat has lost its fizz, but a sense ofoptimism is infused in the trackthrough the lovely sound of thehills with pop-rock blended withethereal flutes and tingling man-dolins.

As part of this feat, she has beenhandpicked for the Spotify Equalcampaign and will lead the Indianleg of the global campaign for theentire month of July. Her singlewill feature all this month on theEqual playlist as she joins otherglobal artists such as are Meryl(France), Bowklylion (Thailand),Nadin Amizah (Indonesia), andAnikv (Russia) from the roster ofParis-based leading independentdigital music distribution andartist services company, Believe.

Artist and producer SonaMohapatra said, “To be woken upin the middle of the night to seephotographs of my face on a bill-board covering a skyscraper in oneof my favourite cities New Yorkwas a surreal feeling. To be one ofthe first independent musicians tobe given this place is a pop-culturemilestone because it paves the wayfor artistic expression of varioushues and colours free from cookie-cutter formulas in musical main-stream success. I have been consis-

tently releasing original music formany years, have fought many bat-tles for IP and residuals for artistsand it has been exhilarating,exhausting too but now, with myindie label Omgrown Music part-nering with a global name likeBelieve, I truly feel optimisticabout the future of the music scenein India and more so for otherindependent voices like mine. Tocelebrate this achievement, I amdropping a single Ek Din —Manhattan Memories, a diltod,heartbreak love song which wouldbe a perfect companion for a longhighway drive or a dance party!We are slowly coming out of a verytough time together as a societybut this phase in India has beenthe very best for independentmusic releases without the bigbanyan tree of Bollywood takingaway all the media and audienceattention with its big promotionalbudgets! This billboard is a valida-tion of that constant hustle ofnever giving up on the power ofmusic and self-belief. My allieshave stood by me through thickand thin and I am grateful for theirbelief.”

Launched globally earlier thisyear to celebrate female talentacross the world, the Spotify Equalcampaign aims to put the spotlighton women in music across theworld. The initiative features spe-cially curated playlists across 50countries while the Spotify Equalglobal playlist features music fromselected artists from across theworld.

Every month, the streamingplatform announces new artists forthe campaign, all of whom are fea-tured in this playlist, and on thecover of their respective, localplaylists.

SONA MOHAPATRA MAKES

O

HER TIMES SQUARE

BILLBOARD DEBUT

W

10

Hyderabad Saturday July 24, 2021what’s brewing?

l Akankshal Kavita Rathod l Sunitha

l Neetu Jain

l Sangeetha Varma

l Meenakshil Sashi Nahatal Radhikal Kavita Reddyl Deepika

The All Women Lions Club,Hyderabad Petals held its 14thInstallation Night and 13th Charter

Night in the city at Hotel Taj Deccanthis week. Many independent womenturned up and spoke about theformidable force that is lionism, andassured the audience that many morebetterment projects were in the worksfor the coming year.

PPRRIIDDEE AANNDD PPHHIILLAANNTTHHRROOPPYY

Photos by SV CharyPA

RT

Y

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SPEED BUMP

FUN

11

Hyderabad Saturday July 24, 2021

ctress Pooja Hegde, whowill soon be seen in themultilingual love storyRadhe Shyam, alongsideactor Prabhas, says thatthe film has almost fin-

ished shootng.The film, which is directed by

Radha Krishna Kumar has treatedfans with only a teaser so far.

Sharing details on Radhe Shyam,the actress said: “We are almosttowards the end. We have around aweek or 10 days’ worth of shootleft, and then we will wrap. Onceshutters open and things are goodto go, the producers will decidewhen they want to release it.”

This is the first time Pooja hasbeen paired opposite Prabhas.While the actress is tight-lippedabout her role, she is excited tobe part of a love story.

“I don’t know if I can talkabout the role right now. Maybecloser to the release, I can. Thefilm is a very mature love story,I would say. It’s quite interestingto see Prabhas do a romanticfilm after so many films filledwith action. I myself don’t thinkI have done a proper love storyin a long time. So, it’s excitingfor me,” she says.

Pooja has been doing her bitfor society through

her

chari-

table organisation AllAbout Love, for almost a

year now.Talking about launching the

organisation, Pooja says: “It hasbeen in the making for a long time.I have always been giving back on apersonal front, in whatever way Icould. I wanted to create a culture,where you donate a percentage ofincome and give back to societywith love. I have set aside a certainpercentage for charity. It’s some-thing I want to push people to doin whatever they can. I think anyact done out of love can reallychange someone’s life and that iswhat the name All About Love, isabout.”

Pooja has projects in Hindi,Telugu, and Tamil film industries.

In Bollywood, she will be seenalongside Salman Khan in KabhiEid Kabhi Diwali and Ranveer

Singh’s Cirkus. In Telugu, she will be seen in

Radhe Shyam, and will be seensharing screen space with Vijay inthe much-awaited Tamil film Beast.

tollywoodRADHE SHYAM

INCHINGTOWARDS

COMPLETION

tylishStar AlluArjunhas sur-prisedthe team

of Ghani starringVarunTej. In the filmdirected byKorrapati Kiran,Varun Tej will beseen as a boxer,whose shoot hasalready begun.

On Friday, theIcon star made asurprise visit to thesets of Ghani tocheer his cousin,actor Varun Tej andhis elder brotherAllu Bobby, who isone of the producersfor the film.

Allu Arjun tookinterest in inquiringabout the progressof the film. Director

Korrapati Kiran hasshown him a fewvideos and Bunnywas extremelyimpressed by them.Earlier, the motionpicture was released,and fans felt it waslike a ‘feast.’

Jagapathi Babu,Upendra, SunielShetty, and NaveenChandra are playingkey roles in the film.Saiee Manjrekar isplaying the femalelead role oppositeVarun Tej. She hasplayed lead roles inSalman’s Dabaang 3and Adivi Sesh’sMajor. She is betterknown as thedaughter ofBollywood direc-tor and actorMaheshManjrekar.

khanda,Balakrishna, andBoyapati Srinu’scrazy combo’sthird movie is onshooting mode.

The latest schedule of thefilm is said to be shot at atemple in Tamilnadu.Currently, the actor isshooting for the climaxfight at the temple itself.Stunt master Shiva hasdesigned the climax fightand the unit opined that itwould be a highlightepisode for the film like hisprevious stunts in Simhaand Legend, which weremassive hits.

Fans of Balakrishna

Nandamuri are eagerlywaiting for Akhanda. Theteasers released so far havereceived tremendousresponses from fans.Expecting a hattrick of hits,Boyapati and Balakrishnaare working hard for thismovie. Balakrishna himselfdidn’t have a big hit afterLegend, so fans are can’twait for Akhanda to breakthat.

Srikanth, Pragya Jaiswal,and Poorna will be seenplaying key roles in thefilm. S.Thaman has com-posed music for the filmthat is being bankrolled byMiriyala Ravindar Reddy ofJaya Janaki Nayaka fame.

Akhanda climaxset in a templein Tamil Nadu

harath Marar,entrepreneurand producerin the Telugufilm industry,who has pro-

duced movies like SardarGabbar Singh, Badri, andmany others, and also theowner of South Parade,which mostly dealt withcommercials on the smallscreen, is now all set to

work with Akkineni NagaChaitanya, according tothe latest buzz.

We have already report-ed that Naga Chaitanya issoon going to make hisdigital debut. Sources saythat Naga Chaitanya’sOTT project will be anoriginal film and it will bebankrolled by SharathMarar.

Reports have been

coming in that both havebeen discussing severalscripts for the actor’s OTTdebut. They finally zeroedin on a script and it is saidto be a sensitive one. Onthe other side, currently,Naga Chaitanya is busyshooting for his Hindifilm Laal Singh Chadda,which has Aamir Khanand Kareena Kapoor inthe lead roles.

Sharath Marar to produce

Naga Chaithanya's OTT debut

atural star Nani-starrer TuckJagadish, whoserelease had beenpostponedowing to the

Covid induced lockdown,is said to hit the bigscreens on August 13.Though there is no officialannouncement yet, thebuzz is that Amazon PrimeVideo has locked the dealfor Rs 40 crores. The dis-cussion about whether themovie can be released intheatres and OTT at thesame time is currently on.

Distributors are in twominds, given pulling thecrowds to theatres tocrowds amid the pandemicnot being a small thing.

But inthe

view of the producers,releasing both will be aprofitable one. Within afew days, we are told, anofficial statement willbe made by the produc-ers.

Along with Nani,Jagapati Babu, RituVarma, andAishwarya Rajeshconstitute the leadcast in the film.S.Thaman has giventhe music for thefilm.

After super hitmovies like NinnuKori, and Majili,director ShivaNirvana is eager-ly waiting for histhird film TuckJagadish to hitscreens.

reative directorKrishna Vamsi,we hear, is com-ing up with anemotional andfamily drama

with his next project.Rangamarthanda is going to

resume shooting in a few days.The makers are planning torelease the film in August itself.We’re told that Amazon PrimeVideo is already in talks with theproducer. This movie is aremake of Nata Samrat, aMarathi movie, that had NanaPatekar play the lead role. Thefilm has got received huge

applause in Marathi. Butthe story is an emotionaldrama, just like K.

Viswanath’s movie,and wasfocused on astage artist’s

life. NanaPatekar is anartist, whoplays

Shakespeare’s dramas in the film.The question now is, how will

Krishna Vamsi deal with this sub-ject, for he is known to makeaction entertainers. Will he beable to change his orientation toViswanath’s mode? A confidentfilm unit say that though it is afamily drama, it will have Vamsi’stouch.

Prakash Raj is reprising NanaPatekar’s role, while RamyaKrishna plays his wife. ComedianBrahmmanandam, DrRajasekhar’s daughter Sivatmika,Anasuya, Rahul Sipligunj, andothers will be seen essaying keyroles in the film. Moreover,Maestro Ilayaraja gave music tothis film! As we know, the songsof Krishna Vamsi’s films weremusical hits despite the fate ofthose movies. After Chandamama(2007), Krishna Vamsi hasn’t beenable to get his perfect hit, onlyGovindudu Andarivadele was ableto make some mark after that. SoRangamarthanda will be a test forKrishna Vamsi for sure!

N

C

Rangamarthanda, a testfor Krishna Vamsi

Allu Arjun surprises

Ghani team

S

S

A

A

Tuck Jagadish likely torelease on August 13

sport 12HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | JULY 24, 2021

Tokyo: Former world champi-on Mirabai Chanu will be infocus for her high medal-win-ning chances at the TokyoOlympics as the Indian hopesto exorcise the ghosts of a dis-appointing Rio Games andwrite a new chapter in thecountry’s weightlifting history.

Competing in the 49kgcategory, Chanu is being con-sidered a sure shot medalprospect for India as her per-sonal best of 205kg is only sec-ond to China’s Hou Zhihui’seffort of 213kg in the eight-woman field.

The hype is similar to theone five years ago in Rio, whereChanu could manage only onelift from her six attempts and

thus could not getan overall

total in

women’s 48kg event.The diminutive Manipuri

will desperately hope for a dif-ferent script this time round,one that involves a podium.

While Chanu will haveone eye on her competitors’barbells, the 26-year-old’s mainbattle will be with herself. Inrecent times, her performancein the snatch section has oftenproved to be her downfall inimportant competitions.

Chanu has managed tomatch Zhihui, the favourite towin the Gold, in the clean andjerk category, but her person-al best of 88kg in snatch palesin comparison to the Chineselifter’s world record effort of96kg.

Even USA’s DelacruzJourdan Elizabeth has a betterpersonal best — 89kg — thanthe Indian’s, while Aisah WindyCantika of Indonesia had man-aged to pip Chanu to win aBronze in the snatch section atthe Asian championship in

April.It is expected that

Chanu will try to bet-ter her world recordlift of 119kg in theclean and jerk cat-egory, should thec o m p e t i t i o ndemand it.

Interestingly,Chanu has set the

highest entry weight of210kg, which is five kilo-

grams more than her person-al best, followed by Zhihui(205kg), who had lifted 213kg

(96g+117kg) at the Asianchampionship. PTI

Tokyo: World No 1 DeepikaKumari was inconsistent but themale archers’ performance wassimply underwhelming in theOlympics’ ranking rounds,prompting a rejig of India’smixed pair combination on atopsy-turvy day at theYumenoshima Park on Friday.

The Koreans, who stayedaway from all Internationalcompetitions in the build-up tothe Olympics since 2019,reigned supreme, including atop-three finish in the women’ssection where young sensationAn San shattered a 25-year-oldOlympic record.

The Indian men’s team ofAtanu Das, Pravin Jadhav andTarundeep Rai, however, did notpost particularly impressivescores and just about managedto sneak into top 10 in the teamrankings.

Deepika slipped from fourthat the halfway mark to finishninth with 663 points which wasway below her best Internationalranking score of 686. “I feel myperformance was good as well asbad...It was in between I wouldsay,” Deepika said.

Deepika’s biggest challengeis likely to be in the last-eightwhere she might run into Sanwho is making her Olympicdebut. “I want to show my bestperformance here and I willshow that in my next rounds,”Deepika vowed to come backstrong.

In fact, there will be Koreain waiting for the Indians in thequarterfinals of both men’s teamand mixed pair competition.

The mixed team, is the country’sbest bet to win an elusiveOlympic medal in archery.

India had identical rankingsof ninth in both men’s team andmixed pair competitions.

Deepika will not partner herhusband Das after the top Indianmale archer slipped behindOlympic debutant Jadhav.

Jadhav was the best amongthe Indian trio with 656 pointsfor a 31st place finish, threepoints ahead of Das, while Rai,in his third Olympics appear-ance, took the 37th spot among64 archers.

India had the option tosend entries of Das and Deepika,who recently won a Gold medaltogether at the Paris WorldCup, but the federation wentahead with Jadhav based on hiscurrent form.

“Simply put, we pickedJadhav based on his currentform, it’s no rocket science,”Archery Association of Indiaofficial Virendra Sachdeva, who

is accompanying the team said.In all likelihood, the Indian

mixed pair team would run intotop seed Korea in the quartersafter overcoming eighth-rankedChinese Taipei.

Placed in the same half asIndia, top seed Korea will opentheir main event against 16thranked Bangladesh.

The men’s trio’s combinedperformance was just enough tofinish inside top-10 as theytotalled 1961 for a ninth placefinish in their first Olympicappearance since London 2012.

The Indian men’s teammight run into top seed Korea,who got a bye into the quarters,should they beat eighth-rankedKazakhstan in the openinground.

In individual section, Jadhavwill face 34th ranked GalsanBazarzhapov of Russia, Das willtake on Deng Yu-Cheng ofChinese Taipei, while Rai's open-ing challenge will be againstUkranian Oleksii Hunbin. PTI

Indian archers brace upfor Korean challenge

PTI n TOKYO

The men would be seeking toreclaim a glorious past,

while the women would beaiming to script some history oftheir own when the two Indianhockey teams begin theirOlympic campaign on Saturdaywith expectations from both ata high.

Men will be up againsteighth-ranked New Zealand,followed by the women’s clashwith the Netherlands.

With a current world rank-ing of four, the Indian men’s areconsidered a bright medalprospect this time around inTokyo.

ALL EYES ON VIKASThe seasoned Vikas

Krishan (69kg) will open India’sboxing campaign on Saturdayagainst local favouriteSewonrets Quincy MensahOkazawa.

He will be the lone Indianboxer in action on the openingday of boxing competitions atthe Ryogoku Kokugikan arena.

Tokyo: The Indian table tenniscontingent produced anunthinkable performance at theAsian Games, considered as‘mini-Olympics’ by the players.Three years down the line, canthey pull off another miracle atthe Tokyo Games?

Asian Games may have thepresence of continental power-houses like China, Korea andJapan but the Olympics are a dif-ferent ball game altogether.

Nevertheless, India exceed-ed all expectations to win a men’steam Bronze and mixed doublesBronze in Jakarta, ending thecountry’s medal drought at theAsian Games, but getting close

to even one medal here wouldbe a gargantuan task.

Before the paddlers arrivedin Tokyo, the only little hope wasin the mixed doubles categorybut an opener against the worldnumber one duo from ChineseTaipei has made the challenge alot tougher for A Sharath Kamaland Manika Batra.

Sharath along with GSathiyan has also been handeda tough draw in the men’s sin-gles competition.

The 20th seed is drawn tomeet reigning champion MaLong in round three provided heclears the second round (firstround bye) in his fourth

Olympics.If Sathiyan, who will make

his Olympics debut, clears thesecond round hurdle, he willface Japanese sensation andthird seed Harimoto Tomokazu.

Manika and debutantSutirtha Mukherjee will repre-sent India in women’s singles.

The unseeded Manika isexpected to beat Britain’s Tin-Tin Ho in the first round and isdrawn to meet 20th seedMargaryta Pestoska in the sec-ond. Sutirtha, world number 98,plays 78th-ranked LindaBergstroem from Sweden inthe opening round. PTI

Tokyo: Entering the TokyoOlympics on the back of anunprecedented run that begansometime after the inexplicablemeltdown in the Rio de JaneiroGames, Indian shooters bagginga medal or two, or, even three tofour, is a tangible reality.

All of the 15 shooters arecapable of winning medals, butfew are seen as sure shot tosecure podium finishes in theevents that start on Saturday.

One among them is thehighly-skilled SaurabhChaudhary, who will have a fewOlympic and world championsstanding in his way to glory atsport’s biggest showpiece.

Alongside Abhishek Verma,Chaudhary will be part of thefirst competition day action inthe men’s 10m air pistol event.

But before that, the fate ofApurvi Chandela and ElavenilValarivan — in the women’s 10mair rifle event — will be decid-ed. A good outing for either ofthem means India will have wontheir first medal in these Games.

Both Chandela and Elavenilwill enter the competition withplenty to look forward to, despitethe occasional blips here andthere. The 21-year-old Elavenil,world number 1 and consideredone of the country’s finest rifleshooters after some fine perfor-mances since breaking into thesenior team, will certainly fancyher chances.

On the second competi-tion day, India will have the sen-sational Manu Baker and thehard-working Yashaswini SinghDeswal representing the coun-try in the women’s 10m air pis-

tol competition.The women’s 10m pistol

event has attracted maximumnumber of entries but thatshould not worry the two Indianshooters given their skills andconsistency over the years.

In the men’s 10m air rifleevent, India will have theteenaged Divyansh SinghPanwar and the experiencedDeepak Kumar, with the formerespecially seen as a strong con-tender after his superb run ofform since breaking into the

senior team in 2019.If these eight participants

fire on the first two days, Indiacan expect a handful of medalsat the Games, which will makeup for returning empty-handedfrom the 2016 Rio Games.

In the middle andtowards the end of theshooting events too,India have in itsranks strong con-tenders in the formof Rahi Sarnobat,Aishwary PratapSingh Tomar,Anjum Moudgil,Tejaswini Sawant andthe seasoned SanjeevRajput, besides the twoskeet shooters in MairajAhmad Khan and Angad VirSingh Bajwa.

The likes of Sarnobat, whohas won a Silver and Gold in theISSF World Cups in New Delhiand Oisjek, Croatia respective-ly, world number one in 10m airrifle Divyansh Singh Panwar andAishwary Pratap Singh Tomarare all gunning for medals. PTI

After struggles, sacrifices & success,Indian shooters eye Olympic glory

Mirabai favourite toopen India’s account

Can paddlers do the unthinkable again?

Tokyo: Indian tennis playersneed no less than a miraculousperformance to get close to themedal rounds as an under-pre-pared team of Sania Mirza anddebutant Ankita Raina faces atough Ukrainian challenge inthe opener while Sumit Nagalhas got a tough draw in the sin-gles competition.

Mirza, who is making arecord fourth Olympic appear-ance, and debutant Raina aregoing into the Olympics with-out playing a single competitivematch together this year, whichis far from ideal preparation.

They will open their cam-

paign against Ukraine’s twinsisters Nadiia and LyudmylaKichenok.

In the men’s singles, Nagalis extremely lucky to get anentry into the Olympics but hisrecent performances do notinspire confidence and he facesAsian Games champion DenisIstomin in his first round.There is a possibility of himgetting past the 34-year-oldUzbek but the Indian maynext face world number twoand Australian Open runner-up Danill Medvedev fromRussia and that could be end ofthe road for him. PTI

Tennis players needmiracle to go deep

05:00 AM IST Shooting: 10m Air Rifle Women's Qualification Apurvi Chandela & Elavenil Valarivan

06:00 AM IST Archery: Mixed Team 1/8 Eliminations Deepika Kumari & Pravin Jadhav

06:30 AM IST Hockey: Men's Pool A New Zealand vs India

07:15 AM IST Shooting: 10m Air Rifle Women's Final

07:30 AM IST Rowing: Lightweight Men's Double Sculls Heat Arjun Jat Lal & Arvind Singh

Judo: Women 48 kg Elimination Round of 32 Shushila Devi Likmabam

08:30 AM IST Table Tennis: Mixed Doubles Round of 16 Sharath Kamal & Manika Batra

08:50 AM IST Badminton: Men's Doubles Group Stage Satwiksairaj & Chirag Shetty

09:00 AM IST Tennis: Men's Singles First Round Sumit Nagal

09:30 AM IST Badminton: Men's Singles Group Stage B Sai Praneeth

Shooting: 10m Air Pistol Men's Qualification Abhishek Verma & Saurabh Chaudhary

10:20 AM IST Weightlifting: Women's 49kg Final Saikhom Mirabai Chanu

12:00 PM IST Shooting: 10m Air Pistol Men's Final

12:15 PM IST Table Tennis: Women's Singles Round 1 Manika Batra

01:00 PM IST Table Tennis: Women's Singles Round 1 Sutirtha Mukherjee

03:54 PM IST Boxing: Men's 69kg - Round of 32 Vikas Krishan

05:15 PM IST Hockey: Women's Pool A Netherlands vs India

LIVE ON SONY TEN & SIX NETWORK

Colombo: India’s young bats-men paid for their profligacyand inexperience as SriLanka’s spinners made bestuse of a rain break to dismissthe visitors for a lowly 225 in43.1 overs in the third andfinal ODI here on Friday.

With the series pocketed,India coach Rahul Dravidrejigged the bowling line-upalong with a couple ofchanges in the batting order,but it was evident that thelack of game awarenessbecame their undoing on theday.

The rain-break at the endof the 23rd over, whichreduced the game to 47-oversper side, helped the hometeam. The pitch suddenlyhad a bit of freshness and theball would both grip andskid, making life easier for thespinners, who rocked themiddle-order.

The latest trend of youngbatters not being able to copeup with slow bowlers was onshow as the middle-orderlooked clueless against left-arm spinner Praveen

Jayawickrama (3/59 in 10overs) and off-spinner AkilaDananjaya (3/44 in 10 overs),who, in his second spell, blewaway the lower middle orderwith turn and bounce.

However, Prithvi Shaw(49 off 49 balls) dazzled withhis breathtaking array ofstrokes, while Sanju Samsonagain made batting look easyin his run-a-ball 46.

They added 74 runs in13.2 overs and one can’t faultanyone who was dreaming ofsomething big as the duoinjected life in a dead rubber.

However, after skipperDasun Shanaka got one toskid and trapped Shaw,Manish Pandey’s (11 off 19balls) inclusion brought abouta break in momentum.

Samson was in no moodto relent but an uppish inside-out check drive was pluckedby Avishka Fernando atextra-cover, like a fruit fromthe tree.

Post the break, when Indiaresumed at 147 for three, thespinners suddenly started get-ting more turn and the rainhad spiced up the pitch. PTI

Hockey teamsstart campaign

The TokyoOlympics weredeclared open inan eerily empty

stadium on Friday afterdefying a year’s pandemicdelay and lingering coron-avirus threats that willmake them perhaps themost unusual Games inhistory.

Japan’s EmperorNaruhito made theannouncement against thebackdrop of thousands ofvacant seats at Tokyo’s68,000-capacity OlympicStadium, after Covid-19forced organisers to banspectators at all but a hand-ful of venues.

“I declare open theGames of Tokyo,” said themonarch, wearing a whitesurgical mask.

The stripped-downceremony, simplified toreduce coronavirus risks,unfolded in front of fewerthan 1,000 VIPs and sever-al thousand athletes.

A reduced parade ofabout 5,700 athletes, farlower than the usual num-bers, filed into the stadium,not all of them socially dis-tanced but all wearingmasks.

International OlympicCommittee presidentThomas Bach acknowl-edged the Games would be“very different from whatall of us had imagined.”

But “today is amoment of hope”, he saidin an address.

The 16-day Games,with 339 Gold medalsacross 33 sports, have asurreal air after the pan-demic compelled organis-ers to make this the firstGames with virtually nospectators.

Rain break does the trick for SL

LETTHE

SHOW

BEGIN

LETTHE

SHOW

BEGIN

INDIA'S SCHEDULE ON JULY 24 (ALL TIMES IST)TIME EVENTS ATHLETES

US’ First Lady Jill Biden speaks with French President Emmanuel Macron; WHODirector-General TA Ghebreyesus arrives at the opening ceremony AP