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AGENDA 9POLITICS IN THE

WORKPLACE

MONEY 6TEMPORARY RETENTION OF GST CESSIS NOT DIVERSION DEFENDS NIRMALA

NATION 5MODI DISCUSSESWITH LANKAN PM

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Rahukalam: 04:35 pm – 06:04 pm

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ED SEEKS DETAILS OF KERALA CPI(M)LEADER'S SON PROPERTY DEALS

The government said on Saturday it was capping the price of liquid oxygen usedto treat victims of novel coronavirus and other respiratory diseases after

complaints of hoarding and shortages, as totalcovid infections hit 5.9 million countrywide. Toensure that the oxygen is available at reasonablerates, the government has capped manufacturers'prices at ? 15.22 per cubic metre (CUM), thestatement said. Prices of a cubic metre of medicaloxygen delivered by cylinder to end-users hasbeen fixed at ? 25.71 , higher than the previousceiling price of 17.49/CUM.

SHRADDHA KAPOOR, SARA ALI KHANATTEND BEFORE NCB IN DRUGS CASE

Bollywood actors Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan left the NarcoticsControl Bureau (NCB) office here on Saturday evening after recording

statements in the drugs probe linked to the Sushant Singh Rajput deathcase. The two were questioned at the NCB's zonal officeat Ballard Estate in South Mumbai. Earlier, actor DeepikaPadukone who was questioned by the NCB at a guesthouse in south Mumbai also left after recording herstatement. Shraddha Kapoor reached the NCB officearound 12 pm and Sara Ali Khan reached an hour later,an NCB official said.Sara's statement was recorded foraround four and half hours.

Nine policemen have been named in a chargesheet filed by the CBI in acase of alleged custodial death in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin. In the case that

was widely condemned for alleged police brutality, Jeyaraj and his sonBeniks were allegedly tortured by the Sattankulampolice on the night of 19 June, before they died ina hospital. Jeyaraj, 59, and his son Beniks, 31,were arrested on June 19 for keeping their mobilephone shop open 15 minutes beyond permittedhours. The police claimed the two had fought,showered verbal abuses and rolled around on thestreet while resisting arrest.

9 COPS IN CBI CHARGESHEET ON CUSTODIALDEATHS OF FATHER-SON IN TAMIL NADU

CENTRE CAPS PRICE OF MEDICALOXYGEN AMID RISING COVID CASES

The Enforcement Directorate probing the money trail in the gold smuggling case hasdirected the state registration department to provide details of transactions of properties

belonging to Bineesh Kodiyeri, son of Kerala CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. TheED, which interrogated Bineesh Kodiyeri for over 11 hours on September 9 in connectionwith the case, has sent a notice to the department, requesting it to sendthe certified copies of the Sale Deeds and Encumbrance Certificates ofBineesh Kodiyeri's properties available in its records. In its notice datedSeptember 11, the ED has said all properties related to Bineesh Kodiyeriwere under its investigation and directed the registration departmentthat any transaction on his immovable assets must not be done withoutprior information to the ED Assistant director in Kochi.

5

Contentious incidents rise, but Jagan and BJPget closer

2

Govt firm on developing moretourism sites:Srinivas Goud

HYDERABAD, SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

OBTUSE ANGLE

12

CONNECTEDTO THEROOTS

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Telangana has reasons to cheeras Covid-19 cases are comingdown in the State. The state hasbucked trends across thenation.

Telangana has been report-ing nearly equal number ofCovid-19 cases and recoveriesin September. The number ofsymptomatic cases too is dip-ping. During the entire monthof September, the active caseshave been stablising around30,000.

As on September 1, 7,070persons were hospitalised dueto Covid-19, while onSeptember 25, there were only5,651 persons in hospital.Significantly, the number of

patients seeking admission inprivate hospitals has reducedby 25 percent.

On September 1, there were4,363 patients admitted to pri-

vate hospitals. This figure camedown to 3,372 patients as onSeptember 25.

The stabilization in activecases is reflected in usage ofbeds available in the state. Onthis front, finding beds inhospitals is no longer a her-culean task. For, going by thefigures above, there has beena continuous dip in hospitaladmissions in the state somuch so that only those inneed of ICU are approachinghospitals. Since the beginningof this month, the number ofICU patients has increasedfrom 1,501 to 1,724. On theflip side, there has been a sig-nificant reduction in thenumber of persons needingoxygen.

Continued on Page 2

Hurray! Covid casesdipping in Telangana

State gets heavyrainfall; Collectorstold to be on alertPNS n HYDERABAD

Heavy rains lashed the cityand several parts of the stateof Telangana on Saturdayprompting the state ChiefSecretary Somesh Kumar toissue an alert to all districtCollectors to take necessarymeasures.

Water stagnation was wit-nessed at several low-lyingareas across the state due tooverflowing of tanks andcanals, according to reports.

"In light of the forecast ofheavy rains, the entire districtadministration should be onhigh alert. All officers (are) tomaintain headquarters andtake measures to ensure noloss of life and properties. Noleave and permission for pub-lic holidays. Special vigilshould be maintained in low-lying and vulnerable areas,"the Chief Secretary told theCollectors.

Heavy to very heavy rainsare likely at isolated places

across several districts onSaturday resulting in massiveflooding and water-logging inlow-lying areas.

How much longer will India be keptout of UN Security Council: PM ModiPNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday eveningmade a strong pitch for a moreprominent role in the UNSecurity Council - the globalbody's highest decision-mak-ing forum, for India, asking"Till when do we have to wait?Till when will India be keptaway from the UN's decision-making process?"

"When we were weak, wedidn't trouble the world.When we became strong, wedidn't become a bojh (bur-den) on the world. Till whendo we have to wait? India hassent soldiers to UN peace-keeping missions and has lostthe most number of soldiers,"the Prime Minister said inpowerful opening remarks.

"The ideals of the United

Nations and India's mainprinciples are s imilar.Vasudev Kutumbakam (theworld is one family) hasechoed in UN halls manytimes. India has alwaysthought about the welfare ofthe world," he said.

PM Modi, who was address-

ing the General Assembly vir-tually via a pre-recordedspeech, reminded the UN that130 crore Indians still believedin its ideals, but said the glob-al body needed to adapt andchange to stay relevant in cur-rent times.

Continued on Page 2

Prime Minister NarendraModi today asked where is

the United Nations in thecoronavirus fight as hedelivered a virtual address atthe annual UN GeneralAssembly today. The PrimeMinister spoke on a widerange of issues including thecoronavirus pandemic andIndia's role in the UnitedNations. He stressed thatIndia has been looking at anextended role in the UN. "Tillwhen will India be kept awayfrom the UN's decision-making process?" the PrimeMinister asked.

Where is UNin COVID fight

The Indian MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) center

here on Saturday warned thatthunderstorms accompaniedwith lightning likely to occurat isolated places of the Stateon Saturday with similarconditions continuing for fourmore days. The rains are aresult of a low pressure areaover east Bihar andneighbourhood andassociated cyclonic circulationextending up to 3.1 km abovemean sea level from southChhattisgarh to South interiorKarnataka across Telanganaand Rayalaseema.

Rains for 5more days

Will clear property issues in city: KTR‘No more land and asset transaction disputes'PNS n HYDERABAD

MA&UD and IT Minister KT Rama Rao said on Saturdaythat the Telangana govern-ment was focused onaddressing issues related toland and other asset owner-ship rights in such a mannerthat there would be no finan-cial burden on people.

Ministers KTR andTalasani Srinivas Yadav helda video conference on rev-enue issues in GHMC limitswith elected public repre-sentatives, MLAs, represen-tatives of colonies' welfareassociations, and officials inHyderabad.

KTR pointed out that mostof the land- and ownership-related issues in rural areashad been resolved. The gov-

ernment would be issuingdifferently coloured pass-books to agricultural andnon-agricultural properties.

On account of politicalstabil ity, administrative

reforms, and in view ofinvestors making a beeline tothe city, Hyderabad wasexpanding far and wide. Thecity had become the targetdestination for lakhs of peo-ple during the last six years,KTR said.

It is estimated that thereare around 24.5 lakh proper-ties in Hyderabad. Some ofthese are entangled in own-ership and other disputes.

“The government does nothave any intention to collectany fee from people. Theidea is to facilitate andaddress all ownership rights”,the Minister emphasized.

KTR stated that hence-forth all registrations in theState would take place onlythrough Dharani portal.

Continued on Page 2

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Bharatiya Janata Party, fol-lowing a reshuffle of its officebearers on Saturday,

announced the replacementof senior leaders and generalsecretaries, including RamMadhav, P Muralidhar Rao,Anil Jain and Saroj Pandey,with new faces. Prominentamong the changes was theappointment of Tejasvi Surya,an MP from Karnataka, as pres-ident of the youth wing -- Yuva

Morcha -- in place of PoonamMahajan.

In what looks like rewardingof those who had switched to

the saffron party from other par-ties, the BJP appointed MukulRoy and D Purandeswari (for-merly of Trinamool Congress

and Congress respectively) asvice president and general sec-retary respectively.

Continued on Page 2

Aruna and Laxman get national slotsRam Madhav,Muralidhar,GVL lose posts

TRS MLAs would join BJP: ArunaN

ewly appointed BJP national vice-president DK Aruna has assertedthat several TRS MLAs would join BJP as they were against Chief

Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s dictatorial rule. Exuding confidencethat the BJP would come to power in the next Assembly elections,Aruna said that the new team would strive to bring BJP to power inTelangana State. Expressing happiness over her new position, Arunasaid that BJP would 'expose' the TRS government's 'campaign offalsehood'. “When I joined BJP, I asked the BJP’s central leadershipwhether BJP would wage a fight against TRS or not. The BJP nationalleadership assured me that they would wage a fight against TRS party.Giving position to me is an indication that the BJP will certainly wage afight against TRS party. My focus is only on the state, though the partyhas assigned me national party responsibilities,” she observed.

SPB laid to restwith state honoursPNS n CHENNAI

Versatile singer, actor andmusic composer S PBalasubrahmanyam hailedas "singing moon" and"music cloud" by his millionsof fans was laid to rest at hisfarm house near here onSaturday with a 24-gun salute

by Tamil Nadu police.After the singer's son S P

Charan performed the funer-al rites amid Vedic chants bypriests, the last post wasplayed by a police band and24 personnel in ceremonialattire gave a gun salute.

Continued on Page 2

Nellore likelyto get SPBmemorialPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Irrigation Minister AnilKumar Yadav, who attendedthe funeral of legendarysinger SP Balasubrahmanyamon behalf of AP State gov-ernment, said that not onlyAndhra Pradesh, but theentire country and legions ofmusic lovers from across theworld were shattered by thedemise of the celebratedsinger. Consoling SP Charan,son of the legendary singer,Yadav said: “We are proud tobe from Nellore from whereSPB too hailed from.

Continued on Page 2

Manickam alleges KCR playing double game K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

Telangana Congress Affairs in-charge Manickam Tagore hasalleged that Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao is playinga game intelligently with regardto the Centre’s farm Bills.

Participating in the party'sCore Committee meeting,Tagore, in Hyderabad for thefirst time after taking overparty TS affairs incharge,claimed that KCR had extend-ed his full support to BJP and

Prime Minister NarendraModi with regard to all Billsmuch before all other parties.Still, KCR was opposing thefarm Bills now.

The Core Committee meet-ing discussed party membershipenrollment, Dubbaka bye-elec-tions, Graduates' constituencyMLC elections GHMC,

Warangal and Khammam cor-poration elections, besidesmovements against the threefarm Bills introduced by theCentre, it is learnt.

Stressing the need for huge amovement on behalf of farmers,Tagore said that leaders had tobe with people, taking up theirissues at the field level. TheCongress party had accordedseparate Telangana State and itwas possible only because ofAICC chief Sonia Gandhi’s sac-rifice.

Continued on Page 2

AICC Telangana Incharge Manickam Tagore addressing media along with TPCCpresident N Uttam Kumar Reddy at Gandhi Bhavan on Saturday

Need Rs 80k cr for Covidvaccines: PoonawallaPNS n HYDERABAD

Adar Poonawalla, the CEO ofthe Serum Institute of India -the world's largest manufacturerof vaccines by volume andwhich is conducting trials ofCovid vaccine candidates aheadof mass production - took toTwitter today to highlight chal-lenges in vaccine productionand distribution in the country.

"Quick question: will the

Government of India have80,000 crores available over thenext one year?

Continued on Page 2

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HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 hyderabad 02

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Fierce battle on the cardsas Dubbaka by-poll nearsPNS n HYDERABAD

The TDP is also keen to test itsluck by throwing its hand inthe Dubbaka by-election ringalong with ruling TRS and theOpposition Congress and BJP.Independents are also prepar-ing the ground to contest theby poll. While some run thepolls with an eye on victory,some others want to demon-strate their mettle in the elec-tions, caused by the death ofsitting MLA SolipetaRamalinga Reddy of the TRS.

All major political outfitshave set their sights on winningthe seat. The TRS desperatelywants to retain the seat.Finance Minister Harish Raohas been holding meetingswith party rank and file andtaking part in foundation stonelaying ceremonies and inau-gural functions. He has beenappealing to voters to teach theBJP, which is keen to fix motorsto agricultural pump sets, a bit-ter lesson. He has been devis-

ing strategies to encourageleaders along with their follow-ers crossing over to the TRSfrom other parties.

BJP leader RaghunandanRao has also kicked off his pollcampaign. He is going fromvillage to village in the con-stituency and hoisting theparty flags. On one hand he istrying to take the CentralGovernment schemes to themasses and on the other, he ispointing out that the develop-ment of Dubbaka, compared to

Siddipet and Gajwel, has takena backseat.

The Congress is still dither-ing on its candidate forDubbaka seat. The delay isgoing to be a big minus for theparty. The party seniorsKarnam Srinivas, NarasimhaReddy and other others havebeen aspiring to contest fromDubbaka seat in the by-pollsand making rounds to GandhiBhavan seeking the party nom-ination.

The TDP, which received a

severe drubbing in AP andTelangana, is readying itself tocontest the by-polls. TDP'sIllendula Ramesh has beenholding meetings with theparty activists. He is likely tocontest from Dubbaka by polls.Anchor Katti Karthika hasbegun her campaign to contestas independent candidate. Sheis going from village to villagemeeting people. She is appeal-ing to people to give their votejust for a change.

The criticism that Dubbakadid not develop, compared toneighbouring constituencies, isputting the ruling TRS in aninconvenient spot. Paying lesscompensation to projects' dis-placed persons, compared tocompensation paid to DPs inother constituencies,in Dub-baka constituency is likely todent the vote bank of the rul-ing TRS. The electoral battle inDubbaka is going to be verycurious if political develop-ments taking place in the con-stituency are any indication.

TS reports 2,239 cases, 11 deathsPNS n HYDERABAD

The Covid-19 cases inTelangana continued to surgeas the state reported 2,239new infections on Saturday.This has pushed the state's tallyto 1,83,866 cases. Eleven morepeople succumbed to the virusduring the last 24 hours, tak-ing the death toll to 1,091. Thefatality rate in the state remainsat 0.59 per cent against thenational average of 1.58 percent.

The daily count shows aspike in both GreaterHyderabad and the districts.The state again reported morerecoveries than new cases in aday. With 2,281 recoveries,the cumulative number hasgone up to 1, 52,441. Therecovery rate has gone up fur-ther to 82.90 per cent againstthe national average of 81.98per cent. The number of activecases in the state stands at30,334 including 24,683 inhome/institutional isolation.

According to a media bul-letin released from the office ofthe director of public healthand family welfare, 58,925tests were conducted duringthe last 24 hours ending 8 pmFriday. These include 25,927

primary contacts. With this,the state has so far tested 28,00,925 samples. Samples test-ed per million populationimproved further to 75,438.Officials say the daily testingtarget for the state is 5,600 perday as per the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) bench-mark of 140 per million perday.

A total of 17 government-run laboratories, 43 private lab-oratories and 1,076 rapid anti-gen test centres are conductingthe tests. The district wisedaily count of cases show thatstate capital Hyderabad contin-ues to top the list. It reported316 new cases, a drop from 386the previous day.

The spike in districts contin-ued. Rangareddy districtrecorded second highest num-ber of cases at 192, followed by

Medchal Malkajgiri (164),Nalgonda (141), Karimnagar(106), Bhadradri Kothagudem(91), Warangal Urban (91)and Siddipet (79). The bed sta-tus in 62 government hospitalstreating Covid-19 patientsshows that 6,564 out of 8,841beds are vacant.A total of 225private hospitals treatingCovid-19 patients have 9,469beds, of which 6,097 arevacant. The data also showsthat 65.23 per cent of thosetested positive were in the agegroup of 21-50 years while21.82 were above 51 years ofage. The positive cases include12.95 per cent who were below20 years. Officials said 64.83per cent of those tested posi-tive were male while theremaining 38.17 per cent werefemale.

Astring of incidents oftemple desecration cou-pled with Chief

Minister Y. S. Jagan MohanReddy's controversial visittothe Sri Venkateswara Swamytemple at Tirumala has kickedup a huge political storm inAndhra Pradesh. This has leftthe government open to crit-icism of insensitivity towardsHindu sentiments by notdoing enough to stop theattacks.

Hindu activists have count-ed 18 incidents of desecrationof temples across the Statesince Jagan came to power lastMay. The burning of a 62-year-old wooden chariot outside the

famous LakshmiNarasimhaswamy temple atAntarvedi, close on the heelsof a similar incident in Nelloredistrict, sent tempers soaring.

It is anybody's guess whothese culprits are - enemies ofYSR Congress out to tarnish itsimage, anti-Hindu elements,orpetty criminals.The ChiefMinister is trying shrug off theresponsibility of nabbing themto the Centre by seeking a CBIprobe. The YSRC regimehasallowed exacerbation of thecontroversy by giving a freerun to motormouth andMinister Alla Nani to makeprovocative remarks about thedesecration. He wasunsparingof even Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for not takingalong his wife to the bhoomipuja for the Ram temple inAyodhya.

This was in response toBJP's barb that Jagan's wife had

not accompanied him for theBrahmotsavams at Tirumala.

There is no requirementthat the Chief Minister has topresent vastrams, more so heif is a non-believer. TheEndowments Minister can dis-charge this role. Herein lies therub. The decades-old Rules136 and 137 of the TTDrequire non-Hindus to volun-tarily inform the templeadministration about theirfaith and seek permission for

entering the temple. A fewdays before his visit, theTTD,headed by Jagan's uncle,revoked the faith declarationform.

Jagan Mohan Reddy is afourth generation ProtestantChristian. His great-grandfa-ther, a railway employee,tookto Christianity, while hisfather, Rajasekhara Reddy wasa churchgoer and motherVijayamma finds solace inthe Bible. His supporters say

Jagan had no need to sign adeclaration as he visitedTirumala on the TTD's invi-tation. Moreover, he had'thirunamam' applied to hisforehead.

Hindu seers like SwamiParipoornanandacite recordsto say that entry intotemple for

non-Hindus was made condi-tional in the 19th centuryitself. Christians and Muslimshad to seek prior permissionof the Collector of eitherTirupati or then North Arcotdistrict.

After relinquishing officeof President, A.P.J. AbdulKalam signed the declarationwhen he visited thetemple.Some argue that it wasJagan's bounden duty as headof the government to abide bythe rule book.

A declaration is not neededto enter the Golden Temple atAmritsar, but everyone mustcover his/her head. Women arefreely allowed to enter theShaik Zayed Grand Mosque inAbu Dhabibut it is mandato-ry to wear a burqa.

Jagan is able to have hisway in the absence of a strongopposition. On top of elec-toral setback in 2019, TDP's

fortunes suffered further ero-sion through defections.Naidu himself is unable totake the fight to the streetsdue to the pandemic, advanc-ing age, and absence of a sec-ond line of leadership.

The BJP, in public percep-tion, is engaged in fauxfightwith the YSRC.Jagan hasestablished a direct connec-tion with the BJP high com-mand. Last week when StateBJP leaders were criticisinghim, Jagan met Union HomeMinister Amit Shah in NewDelhi twice in two daysostensibly with a politicalagenda.

In finalising its politicalpositions in Andhra, the saf-fron party is blinded by itshatred for ChandrababuNaidu. Whenever its leaderscriticise Jagan, they parallel-ly flay Naidu for committingsimilar mistakes. The demo-

lit ion of 30 temples inVijayawada by the TDP gov-ernment in 2016is one suchinstance,though theEndowments portfolio washeld by the BJP then.

Jagan has stopped talkingabout his promise of gettingSpecial Category Status forAndhra -- an issue that led toschism between the TDP andthe BJP. He supported thethree farm Bills in Parliamentand earlier the CitizenshipAmendment and RTIAmendment Bil ls .TheCentre, in a quid pro quo, isbacking his three-capital for-mula to the hilt.

All these moves are thepolitical prerogative of thetwo parties. But, in theirembrace ofone other, theyshould ensure AndhraPradesh, a hotbed of casteconflicts earlier, remainscommunally peaceful.

S NAGESH KUMARFormer Resident Editor,

The Hindu

Jagan Mohan Reddy is a fourth generation

Protestant Christian. His great-grandfather, a

railway employee,took to Christianity, while

his father, Rajasekhara Reddy was a

churchgoer and mother Vijayamma finds

solace in the Bible. His supporters say

Jagan had no need to sign a declaration as

he visited Tirumala on the TTD's invitation

‘ALL ANDSUNDRY’

Contentious incidents increase, but Jagan and BJP get closer

KCR to launchDharani onDasara dayPNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao willlaunch the much-awaitedDharani portal on the auspi-cious occasion of Dasaranext month. He directed theofficials concerned to com-plete all the preparationsincluding software, hardwareand also internet bandwidthbefore launching the portalas per schedule. Immediatelyafter the website is launched,the government will alsoopen the doors for registra-tion of lands and other prop-erties as per the new RevenueAct.

During a preparatorymeeting with the officialsconcerned at PragathiBhavan on Saturday, ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao asked them to conductnecessary training to theTahsildars, Deputy Tahsildarsand Sub-Registrars on themodalities of registration,immediate mutation, updata-tion of details to the Dharaniportal and other procedures.

Nellore likelyto get SPB

Continued from Page 1

We will ask Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy toset up a memorial in mem-ory of SPB.” He said thatSPB has left a void thatwould be impossible to fill.“No singer alive today hassung this many songs in somany languages,” Yadavsaid. Ongolu MP MaguntaSrinivasu Reddy andTirupati MLA BhumanaKarunakar Reddy also paidtributes to SPB.

At about 12.30 pm SPB'sbody was lowered into adug-up pit bringing to enda great musical era. Thelegendary singer who hasrecorded over 40,000 songsin 16 languages over a peri-od of five decades, died onFriday afternoon due to car-dio-respiratory arrest at theMGH Healthcare hospital.

Continued from Page 1

There was need for theCongress leaders and cadre totake that ‘sacrifice’ to people ofthe state. Thus, party leadersshould bring Congress party topower in the state and give thesame as gift to Sonia Gandhi.

Tagore asserted that theCongress would win in thecoming elections if it did teamwork with discipline and unity.He said he would be availableat any time for both leadersand cadre to discuss partyissues. Two Core Committeemeetings would be conductedevery month, he said. He calledupon party leaders to takewage field-level movementsalong with him by being withpeople continuously.

Tagore said that theCongress would submit a

memorandum to GovernorTamilisai Soundararajan onSeptember 28 opposing thefarm Bills introduced by theCentre. He asked party leadersand cadre at all levels toobserve 'Kisan Day' and'Mazdoor Bachao Day' onOctober 2 and make the pro-grammes a big success. Theparty would take up a signa-ture campaign from October 2to October 31, as part of anationwide to collect 2 crore

signatures. Signatures wouldbe obtained from farmers andagricultural laborers acrossthe state. He wanted leaders tomake it a big success.

TPCC chief N UttamKumar Reddy opined thatthere was a need to wagemovements at the field levelwith regard to the three farmBills, following the call given bythe AICC. The Centre had pre-pared farm Bills which willbenefit corporate entities in abig way and harm farmersseverely. Even common peo-ple would experience severelosses as the farm Bills, ifimplemented, would encour-age black marketing and sub-sequently result in hikes inprices of essential goods. TheBJP government had broughtthe bill only for the sake of cor-porate businessmen.

SPB laid to rest...Continued from Page 1

Later, the body with SPB'sglasses on and smeared with'Thiruneeru' (sacred ashes)on the forehead and draped inzari dhoti was lowered into adeep pit and buried.

With policemen, their riflestucked under their armsmarching along, the body wasbrought on a traditional haylined bier to the final restingplace on the verdant premis-es from a 'pandal' earmarkedfor people to pay homage andperform rituals.

The farmhouse atTamaraipakkam in nearbyTiruvallur district teemed withhis fans, well-wishers andcelebrities for the funeral and500 police personnel weredeployed to regulate thecrowd.

Tamil Nadu CultureMinister K Pandiarajan,Andhra Pradesh IrrigationMinister Anil Kumar Yadav,

Tiruvallur District CollectorMageswari Ravikumar, SPAravindan, top actor Vijay,film director Bharathiraja,music composer Devi SriPrasad, singer Mano wereamong the celebrities whoturned up to pay their lastrespects.

Though police had initial-ly said only about 150 peoplewould be allowed to payhomage, more and more menand women trooped to thesinger's idyllic house to payhomage.

Several people could beseen without masks and theyjostled to catch a glimpse ofthe dead star singer and indi-vidual distancing went for atoss. The 74-year old singer,praised as "Padum Nila"(singing moon) and "IsaiMegam" (music cloud) by hisfans for his mellifluous voicetested positive for coronavirusand he was admitted to MGMHealthcare here on August 5.

Will clearproperty issues...Continued from Page 1

The Minister asked the pub-lic representatives to active-ly participate in the exerciseof uploading details of assetsand prop er t ies in theDharani portal over the next15 days. He urged peoplenot to approach any agentsfor uploading the details oftheir assets and properties.“The entire exercise will bedone for free and people donot have to pay a singlerupee”, he said.

After discussing thread-bare all issues in the videoconference, the Ministerassured the participantsthat, should there be need,the government would takeadditional decisions in thecabinet to mend matters.

The Minister stated thatthere won't be any land andasset transaction issues infuture. Studied efforts wereon to work out a permanentsolution, he added.

Minis ters Ta lasaniSr inivas Yadav, MayorBonthu Rammohan, princi-pal secretary municipaladminis trat ion Ar vindKumar, Greater HyderabadMunicipal C orporat ion( G H M C ) c o m m i s s i o n e rLokesh kumar, MLAs ofvar ious const ituencies ,MLCs, representatives ofvarious residential colonies'wel fare asso caitons ,Hyderabad and R angaReddy district collectors –Sweta Mohanti and AmeyKumar – and others tookpart in the meeting.

Aruna and Laxmanget national slots

Hurray! Covid casesdipping in TelanganaContinued from Page 1

Doctors pointed out that, atthis point of pandemic, thenumber of patients in hospi-tal is a better indication thanthose getting infected.

Dr A Nirupama, whoworks in a private hospital,said, “Getting bed in hospitalis not as difficult as it used tobe a couple of months ago.Moreover, fewer symptomaticcases means less stress on thehealth system. This meansmore bed availability in theprivate hospitals”.

A doctor in a government

hospital confirmed that thenumber of patients hasreduced, though ICU caseshave increased ICU.

A doctor at a governmenthospital said, “The reductionin symptomatic cases is agood indicator as there willbe only few who will actual-ly become critical, resultingin death. Regular beds werenever an issue, but now oxy-gen beds are also available.The issue is with the criticalcases the ICU infrastructurestill needs to be strength-ened.”

Need Rs 80kcr for Covidvaccines...Continued from Page 1

Because that is what theMinistry of Health needs tobuy and distribute the vac-cine to everyone in India.This is the next concerningchallenge we need to tack-le," Poonawalla said.

"I ask this question,because we need to planand guide, vaccine manu-facturers both in India andoverseas to service theneeds of our country interms of procurement anddistribution," the UNionMInister added. Covishield- the vaccine developed bythe University of Oxfordand pharma g iantAstraZeneca and beingtested by the SII in India -is currently in Phase 2 andPhase 3 human trials.

How much longer will India...Continued from Page 1

"Reform is needed at theUnited Nations and India iswaiting for that reform tohappen," the Prime Ministersaid.

The Security Council(UNSC) is the UN's highest-decision making forum andthe only one that can makelegally-binding decisions like

imposing sanctions. There arefive permanent members -the US, the UK, China, Russiaand France, each of whom hasveto powers. India, which haspreviously served seven termsas a non-permanent and elect-ed member was re-elected fora two-year term in June (theterm starts January 1, 2021)along with Ireland, Mexicoand Norway.

Continued from Page 1

Another state leader SathyaKumar has been retained asparty national secretary. Seniorleader from Telangana D KAruna and Dr K Laxman havegot national party positions.

Muralidhar Rao (TS) andRam Madhav (AP) have losttheir positions, along withAnil Jain.

Similarly, BJP national offi-cial spokesperson GVLNarasimha Rao has lost hisposition. GVL Narasimha Rao,however, continues to be aRajya Sabha member.Rumours are rife that RamMadhav and Muralidhar Rao

may be given berths in theUnion Cabinet as there is talkthat Prime Minister NarendraModi may remove some min-isters from their positions.

Apart from Mukul Roy,Radha Mohan Singh, RekhaVerma, Annapurna Devi,Bharti Shiyal, DK Aruna, MChuba Ao, AP Abdullakuttyhave been appointed nationalvice presidents in the reshuf-fle. The others among thenew general secretaries areDalit leader Dushyant KumarGautam, CT Ravi and TarunChugh. Former Telangana BJPchief Dr K Laxman has beenappointed as BJP OBCMorcha national president.

Manickam alleges KCR...

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 hyderabad 03

IN BRIEFIN BRIEF

Shilparamam Artsand Crafts Society

units at Madhapur andUppal, will be openedto visitors fromOctober 2 onwards.They will remain openfrom 2 pm to 8.30 pm.Both the arts and craftsvillages have remained closed since March-end due to coronapandemic. The society management is taking all necessarymeasures, including spraying of disinfectants and ensuring socialdistancing norms. Every day about 2,000 to 3,000 visitors used tovisit Uppal village and about 5,000 to 8,000 at Madhapur village. Onweekends, the number of visitors used to increase considerably,said officials. It may be recalled that the government on Fridaypassed the orders permitting the parks to re-open adhering toCOVID-19 norms.

The final session of thesix-week long

‘Sanghamitra’ trainingprogramme of theRachakonda police was heldhere on Saturday.Rachakonda CommissionerMahesh M Bhagwataddressed the 120

Sanghamitra volunteers and asked them to reach out to the societyand spread awareness on the law. The volunteers were told aboutthe concepts of zero FIR, laws related to sexual harassment,importance of upbringing children with mutual respect and genderequality among others. “The training programme is aimed at theresidential communities to reach out within the society as a guidetowards identifying, listening and directing them towards channelswhere help can be accessed,” Bhagwat said.

City-based startup, 360Online Courses, an edutech

Vertical of Brand ‘N’ Digital(OPC) Pvt Ltd, has signed aMemorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) with asocial enterprise, ICT Acad-emy of Kerala, supported byGovernment of India andpartnered by Government of Kerala. The MoU, which is a PPP modelis entered to conduct skill development courses on a hybrid model,both off and online. The content will be developed by ICT AcademyKerala. The formal MoU was signed by Brand N Digital CEO Col AnilKumar NR and ICT Academy of Kerala CEO Santhosh Kurup. Underthe agreement, eight courses will be offered including data science,artificial intelligence, machine lear-ning, augmented and virtualreality, cybersecurity, robotic process automation, digital marketing,and full-stack development. The duration varies from 6 to 18months. The online courses are affordable and beneficial to thosewho cannot afford private training centres due to exorbitant feescharged. Brand N Digital is set by Col Anil Kumar NR who voluntarilyretired Commissioned Officer from Indian Army.

Shilparamam to be reopenedfrom October 2

‘Sanghamitras’ told to spreadawareness on law

Hyd startup signs MoU with ICT Academy of Kerala

PNS n HYDERABAD

The last rites of 28-year-oldHemanth Kumar, who was mur-dered allegedly by his wife's rela-tives, were carried out on Sunday.Hemanth's father Murali Krishnaperformed his last rites as perHindu customs. The deceased'sbrother, who came from abroad,demanded the police to punish theculprits. Meanwhile, GachibowliPolice are trying to nab the otherfour accused who are still abscond-ing.

Hemanth belonged to the Vaishyacaste and Avanti is from the Reddycaste. They lived in the same local-ity in Chandanagar and knew eachother for over a decade. They fell inlove and were in a relationship forfour years till they got married onJune 11 at the Sub-Registrar's Officein Quthbullapur. Soon after, theywent into hiding and once theyreceived their marriage registrationcertificate, the couple approachedCyberabad Police CommissionerVC Sajjanar seeking protection.

Speaking to Media Hemanth'sbrother, Sumanth Kumar said thathis brother's murder proves thatpeople can do anything if they havemoney. "We need justice and thatwould only be if they got punishedfor their crime. On the day whenmy brother was abducted, theychallenged my father that they willcome out within two months and

kill him. From tomorrow, I will besitting at the same police stationwhere they are present every day tillthe punishment is announced," hesaid. Sumanth also alleged that themurder was premeditated and wasexecuted after a month's planning."They also tried to bribe the policebut they did their duty. I am verythankful for their work and requestthem to ensure that the accused getpunished," Kumar added.

"They betrayed us. Initially, in thepresence of Chandanagar Police, theissue was compromised. However,behind our back, they pre-plannedthe murder," he said. Meanwhile,the probe revealed that familymembers were planning to murderHemanth since a month. The primeaccused, Guduru Yugender Reddy,maternal uncle of Avanthi, with theconnivance of Avanthi's parentsLaxma Reddy and Archana Reddyconspired to eliminate Hemanth.He did the ground work and bro-kered a deal with the contractkillers E Krishna, Bichu Yadav andPasha for Rs 10 lakh and gave one

lakh in advance.Meanwhile, some of them were

constantly in touch with Avanthiunder the pretext of asking abouther marriage status. "They wereconstantly getting information fromher.

Four days before the incident,Vijender (maternal uncle) tailed thecouple from Chandanagar to theirresidence in Gachibowli TNGO'scolony. Avanthi noticed him nearher residence and thought that hewas confirming whether she washappy or not. Subsequently sheapproached him and told that shewas very happy with Hemanth andthere is nothing to worry. ButVijender had other plans it was arecce to trace their location andabduct and kill them.

During the interrogation,Yugender reportedly confessed thathe couldn't see the sufferings of hissister Archana and his brother inlaw Donthireddy Laxma Reddy."They felt insulted and couldn'tcome out of their house. To pacifytheir agony, I also with othershatched a plan to eliminateHemanth." The accused werebooked under 302 IPC ( murder),365IPC( kidnapping) , 452 IPC(House trespass),509 IPC (insultingmodesty of woman) , 506 IPC(crim-inal intimidation) and other rele-vant Sections of IPC. Subsequently,the local court sent all the 14arrested accused to 14 days judicialcustody.

Last rites of Hemanth performed

Harassed fordowry, womanends lifePNS n HYDERABAD

A 21-year-old womanallegedly committed suicideafter being harassed by herhusband and in-laws fordowry. The victim was iden-tified as Ukanti Prathyusha.Pratyusha was married toRamesh two years ago.

At the time of marriage,Pratyusha's parents gave Rs 5lakh, 10 tulas gold, and 1 acreland as dowry in the presenceof elders. After few months,Rameshm along with hismother Laxmi and fatherRajender and sister Lavanyastarted harassing her to bringadditional dowry by sellingthe 1 acre land.

"On Friday night she com-mitted suicide by hanging toa ceiling fan after an argu-ment with her husband," thepolice said. Victim's fatherapproached Malkajgiri Policeand lodged a complaint stat-ing that due to the harass-ment for additional dowryshe committed suicide.

With intermittent rainslashing the city andsuburbs since the last fewdays, the water level inHussain Sagar almostreached the Full Tank Level.With steady inflows, excesswater is being drained outdownstream through thesluice gates at HotelMarriott end.

BBRRIIMMMMIINNGG WWIITTHH IINNFFLLOOWWSS

TSEMRS openfor onlineadmissionsPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana State EkalavyaModel Residential SchoolsSociety, Hyderabad, onSaturday issued admissionnotification inviting onlineapplications from eligibleboys and girls for admis-sions into Classes VI andVII. The applications canbe submitted f romSeptember 30 to October 9and an entrance exam willbe conducted on October25. For application formsand other details, candi-dates can visit the websitewww.tgtwgurukulam.telan-gana.gov.in

Parks reopen across cityPNS n HYDERABAD

Bringing much relief to walk-ers and children, all the parksin the city that were closed dueto the Covid-19 pandemichave been re-opened onSaturday, following relax-ations on lung spacesas part of the Centre'sUnlock 4 guidelines.

The usual weekendrush in theme parks,play parks, colonyparks, lake parks and walk-way gardens was missing,partly due to the rains, andalso due to the fear of the pan-demic. The city has severalparks that are maintained byGreater Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation (GHMC),Hyderabad Metropolitan

Development Authority(HMDA) and Forest depart-ment. Most of the GHMCparks are used for exercisesand as hangout spots whilethose belonging to HMDAand Forest Departments offer

amusement to childrenand families.

Apart from GHMCparks, popular parksmaintained by HMDAsuch as Sanjeevaiah

Park, NTR Gardens andthe Priyadarshini Park along

with the Forest Department'sKBR Park in Jubilee Hills havealso been reopened onSaturday. Forest MinisterIndrakaran Reddy asked visi-tors to utilise the reopening ofparks by taking necessary pre-cautions.

Precautions in place for EAMCETPNS n HYDERABAD

The TS EAMCET-2020 forAgriculture and Medical (AM)stream is scheduled to be held dur-ing September 28 and 29, in morn-ing and evening session. Keepingin mind the present Covid-19 sce-nario and also the heavy rains, theJNTUH authorities are planning togo the extra mile to help out stu-dents and their parents.

Giving an insight, Dr AGovardhan, Rector of JNTUHsaid, "We will follow the usualCorona precautions like we did forall the previous exams. We havealready asked the students to weara mask, carry sanitisers and main-tain distance. Also they will haveto submit a self-declaration form

claiming they have no Covid-19symptoms. For the heavy rains,now that TSRTC has started its ser-vices, we have requested them toprovide special exam buses, espe-

cially on busy routes. We under-stand that parents sometimes waitfor three hours as the studentswrite their exam. Hence, to collegeswhich have bigger campuses, we

have requested to see if a make shiftarrangement can be made for theparents to protect them fromrains."3

JNTUH will be conducting theexamination through online mode(Computer Based Test) on behalfof Telangana State Council ofHigher Education. The examina-tion will be conducted in 84 testcenters - 67 in Telangana and 17Andhra Pradesh. A total of 78,970students have registered for theexamination, and can downloadtheir hall tickets from the EAM-CET official website betweenSeptember 21 and 25. The studentscan practice of the tests from themock tests available on the EAM-CET website.

JNTU-H yet to completeprocess for affiliation NAMRATA SRIVASTAVA n HYDERABAD

As per the UGC guidelines, allthe first year classes are sched-uled to commence fromNovember 1. However,Jawaharlal NehruTechnological University(JNTUH) is yet to complete theaffiliation process.

Talking about the matter,Dr M Manzoor Hussain,Registrar of JNTUH, said,"We will complete the processwell in time. We have askedall the managements to makeall the staff and other detailsof the college available ontheir websites. We will alsodo a thorough staff verifica-tion online, so as to makesure that there are enoughstaffs available in each col-lege."

From the academic year2020-21, JNTUH had

planned to offer six newcourses to the students. Asper the official guidelines, theauthorities will have to do aphysical inspection of thecollege premises for the man-agements to be granted per-mission to offer the newcourses. Dr M Manzoor

Hussain said, "Most coursesare for Computer Sciencesstream, and colleges alreadyhave a computer lab avail-able. Also, at least for firstyear, the courses won't be dif-ferent from others much. So,we can provide provisionalaffiliation to the colleges for

now. And later review themas and when the time per-mits."

The educational associa-tions are not very happy withthis delay however. DSrinivas Varma, GeneralSecretar y, TelanganaTechnical Inst itut ionsEmployees Associat ion(TTIEA), shares, "Affiliationprocess takes a lot of time.JNTUH has around 146 engi-neering colleges, excludingstand-alone Managementand Pharmacy colleges. I amnot sure how they plan tocomplete the process in justa month. Also, I would like toshare that we have beenrequesting the University toinspect the colleges sinceJune this year. They couldhave utilised the lock downtime to check the colleges,but they chose to do noth-ing."

Court awards 2-yrRI for 22-yr-old

PNS n HYDERABAD

A local court here onSaturday awarded two yearsrigorous imprisonment to a22-year-old for allegedlymisbehaving with a minorgirl . According to thepolice, in August 2015, thevictim’s father lodged acomplaint at Miyapurpolice station in which hestated that B Krishna (22)has been harassing his 17-year-old daughter.

Although victim’s fatherwarned Krishna, he didn'tmend his ways and creatednuisance by holding herhands and threatened herto love him. Upset overthe same, the v ic t imattempted suicide and wasshifted to the hospital fortreatment. The Miyapur Police bookeda case and investigated itand arrestedKrishna.During the trail,local court at LB Nagarjudge, R Raghunath Reddyconvicted Krishna with 2years Rigorous Impris-onment and fined Rs1,000.

Antibody tests to be conducted at IPMPNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana governmentis gearing up to conductantibody tests inHyderabad. An IgGmachine has been installed

at Institute of PreventiveMedicine (IPM). As per thehospital authorities, thetrail run was conductedearlier this week where aCovid-19 survivour wasfound to have antibodies

and no antibodies werefound in negative patients.

According to the official,"There are about 30,000-45,000 kits that are avail-able in the state. IPM canconduct about 10,000 anti-

body tests per day. Theproposals have been sent tothe Director of health anda response is awaited".

The hospital is givingpriority for antibody testsin containment areas. As

part of sero-survey, sam-ples will be collected fromcontainment areas and besent to IPM. In IPMthrough ELSIA, the anti-bodies will be detectedand reported.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The PhD scholars of University ofHyderabad, working in the sciencefield, are going to restart theirresearch work from October.

The University has requested thescholars to come back in the campusfor their research work. Prof VinodPavarla said, "We already have ourday scholars coming to campusevery day to work on their research.We have asked approximately 90-95students to come to the University,but only after getting the RapidAntigen Test done from an acclaimed

testing centre. Once the scholarscome to the University, we willaccommodate them in a new hostelfacility that has around 200 rooms.After seven days of staying in isola-tion, the scholars can shift to their

room in the hostel - previouslyassigned to them."

The Students Union of UoH,however, is not very happy with thisdecision. Gopi Swamy, GeneralSecretary of the Union shares, "Formany students these tests are notfinancially feasible. Hence, we arerequesting the University to get thetest then and not force the studentsto get it done." Meanwhile, theentrance examinations for variouscourses offered by UoH completedon September 26. As per informationby the University, only 61% of stu-dents have appeared for the exams.

61% of students take UoH exams

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 hyderabad 04

Mission to help Punganur cow back on its kneesPNS n AMARAVATI

Aimed at arresting the dwin-dling numbers of Punganurcow, a dwarf bovine offeringA2 milk rich in medicinal val-ues and endemic to southernAndhra Pradesh, the state gov-ernment has launched 'MissionPunganuru' recently.

"It is about a local breedwhich is almost dwindling.With modern technology, weare planning to improve thenumbers of the breed so thatwe are able to get the multipli-cation rate over and above thenormal rate," AnimalHusbandry Department specialchief secretary PoonamMalakondaiah said.

As part of the project,Malakondaiah said the depart-ment is working on breedingtechnology to produce morefemale Punganuru cows. Witha budget of Rs 73 crore for the

mission, the senior IAS officersaid the state governmentwants to reverse the neglectinflicted on this indigenousbovine breed all these years.Even the National Bureau ofAnimal Genetic Resources,which deals with the geneticsof different breeds in India hasalso categorised Punganuru asan endangered species as it

numbers dwindled below 2,000at one time.

She said Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy is verykeen on promoting indige-nous breeds.

"When we were promotingcows under any scheme, itwas mostly about Jersey cowsand others renown for maxi-mum yield and being eco-

nomical. But then, our ownlocal breeds with good medi-cinal properties and dung bestfor organic farming were get-ting ignored and eroded," sheobserved.

Malakondaiah asserted thatthe state cannot allow genetic

material to be eroded with thatkind of negligence. On achiev-ing multiplication rates inPunganuru numbers, theAnimal HusbandryDepartment will set upPunganuru cow farms in eachdistrict, where the cow's milkwill be collected and sold withdepartmental certification."Once this multiplication takesplace, we are going to have ineach district Punganuru cowfarms, where milk collectioncentres would be created," shesaid. Priced higher than regu-lar milk with many takers,Punganuru cow milk is expect-ed to compensate the farmers.

However, it will take time asthe project stretches for a peri-od of three years. AP hasalready started 25,000 farmertraining schools called 'PolamBadi', in which farmers will betaught about organic farmingand best practices.

As part of Pattana Pragathi programme, public toilets get a facelift in Mancherial Municipality

NEW LLOOK

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Centre has increased fer-tilizer allocations and agreed tosupply 10 lakh tonnes of ureafor the upcoming Yasangi sea-son. The decision comes in thewake of requests from theState to increase the urea allo-cations from 8 lakh tonnes dur-ing the previous Yasangi seasonto 11 lakh tonnes for theYasangi season this year.

In addition to 10 lakh tonnesurea, the Centre agreed tosupply total 18.3 lakh tonnes offertilizer including 1.2 lakhtonnes of DAP, 1.1 lakh tonnespotash, 50,000 tonnes of superphosphate, and 5.5 lakh tonnesof complex fertilisers for theupcoming Yasangi.

In a statement on Saturday,

Agriculture Minister SNiranjan Reddy thanked theCentre and urged the UnionMinistry of Chemicals andFertilisers to supply the allot-ted fertilisers as per schedulestipulated. He also requested

the Centre to consider therequests for additional alloca-tions considering an estimated30 per cent increase in cultiva-tion area against 53.82 lakhacres cultivated in Yasangi2019-20 due to increased irri-

gation sources.It may be recalled that ear-

lier Agriculture MinisterSingireddy Niranjan Reddytook potshots at Central gov-ernment for not supplyingurea as per the quota allottedto Telangana. He said there isa shortage of 4.64 lakh tonnesof urea as of September but theState has enough stock of otherfertilisers for Vanakalam(kharif). From April 1 toAugust 31, the Centre allotted8.69 lakh tonnes of urea, whileit actually supplied only 6.15lakh tonnes, the Minister said.The shortage till August 31 was2.54 lakh tonnes. The quota forSeptember was 2.10 lakhtonnes, he said, adding that themonth's quota was yet to bereceived.

Centre allocates 10 lakhtonnes of urea to Telangana

PNS n HYDERABAD

Tourism Minister V SrinivasGoud on Saturday said that thetourism has been affectedworld wide on account ofCoronavirus and ruled outIndians going abroad fortourism purpose because of thepandemic.

In a statement here onSaturday on the eve of WorldTourism Day, the Ministersaid that Chief Minister hasbeen initiating steps to devel-op tourism in Telangana. TheChief Minister has been initi-ating plans to develop touristattractions in the state such asreservoirs at Kaleswaram,

Medigedda, Mid-Maneru, KoilSagar and Karivena,Uddandapur and the lake atLaknavaram.

He said that the TourismDepartment took steps todevelop tourism at Somsilaand Pakala and took steps todevelop Budhdhist tourism by

developing Budhdhavanamproject in Nagarjunasagar andat Phanigiri and Kotilingala.The Chief Minister has drawnplans to develop the largesteco-tourism park titled KCRurban eco tourism project inMahbubnagar district, touristamenities at various water-falls - Bogota, Kuntala andPochchera and natural eco-parks formed from Anantagiriin Vikarabad to Nallamalaforests, he said.

As part of promoting tem-ple tourism development, tem-ples are being given face lift atYadadri, Basra, Vemulavada,Manyam Konda and so on, theMInister said.

Govt firm on developingmore tourism sites: Srinivas

Himayath Sagargates to be openedPNS n HYDERABAD

HMWSSB has decided toopen the flood gates ofHimayath Sagar after the risein water level on Saturday.According to HMWSSB offi-cial, "The FTL (full tank level)of Himayath Sagar is 1763.50with the capacity of 2.97 TMC.Due to heavy rain fall in thecatchment area the presentlevel of reservoir reached to1754.90fts. As there is heavyrain fall the catchment area,there is chance of openingflood gates of Himayath Sagardepending upon inflows to thereservoir". According to offi-

cials flood gates will be oper-ated at 1760 feet. HMWSSBrequested the revenue author-ities in the downstream ofHimayath Sagar and all alongMusi River and to take neces-sary actions.

11 IPSprobationersposted as AssaultCommandersPNS n HYDERABAD

Director-General of PoliceM Mahendar Reddy hasposted 11 IPS probationers asAssault Commanders in theelite Greyhounds wing thatdeals with anti-Maoist oper-ations in the State.

The 11 probationers of2017 and 2018 batches will beposted as AssaultCommanders after comple-tion of their phase-II trainingat the Sardar VallabhbhaiPatel National PoliceAcademy here. The proba-tioners who have been post-ed were Akhil Mahajan,Khare Kiran Prabhakar,Chennuri Rupesh, NitikaPant, Yogesh Goutam, SnehaMehra, Harshavardhan,Gaikwad Vaibhav Raghunath,Ritiraj, Birudaraju Rohit Rajuand B Balaswamy.

No stopping BJP inby-poll: Raja SinghPNS n HYDERABAD

BJP MLA Raja Singh onSaturday launched a scathingattack on Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao over LRSScheme. "KCR is looting peo-ple similar to Nizam in theform of taxes and deceiveddaliths by assuring them thatthree acre land will be given tothem," he alleged.

The MLA called upon theparty activists to ensure thevictory of BJP in Dubbaka by-elections. He said that BJP'svictory in Dubbaka is certainif the people think about thevictory of BJP. He asked thepeople to take money if anyparty offers, however, the voteshould be cast to BJP. "The BJPhas no money but has peoples'strength," he said.

During his visit to Cheguntamandal along with BJP lead-ers -- Raghunandan Rao and

former MP Vivek, the BJPMLA said that the party wouldregister victory wherever heparticipates in the electioncampaign. Raja Singh saidthat the BJP candidates won inNizamabad and KarimnagarLok Sabha elections. He saidthat he is alone in theAssembly from BJP andspeaks Telugu hardly.

"Things will be different ifRaghunandan Rao comes toAssembly", he said. Raja Singhsaid that the nation is movingahead under the rule of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi. TheCentre is giving crores ofrupees to Telangana state,however, the Chief Minister isstating that nothing is comingfrom the Centre." He allegedthat the Chief Minister, whostated that the state would betransformed as GoldenTelangana, is transforming thestate as 'alcoholic Telangana.'

Wakf Board chief praisingCM to get MLC seat: CongPNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad City CongressCommittee (HCCC)Minorities Department chair-man Sameer Waliullah onSaturday slammed Wakf Boardchairman Mohammed Saleemfor showering praise on ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao for issuing GO No 15 thatpromises protection of Wakfproperties.

"There is nothing new inGO No 15 as the sale or trans-fer of Wakf properties isalready banned as per theCentral Wakf Act," he saidwhile pointing out that theSection 104-A of Central WakfAct, 1995 says, "Prohibition of

sale, gift, exchange, mortgageor transfer of Waqf property.(1) Notwithstanding anythingcontained in this Act or anyother law of the time being inforce or any Waqf deed, noperson shall sell, gift, exchange,mortgage or transfer any mov-able or immovable propertywhich is a Waqf property toany other person."

Sameer Waliullah said thatthe latest GO was nothing butan attempt by KCR to divertpeople's attention from thedemolition of two mosques inthe State Secretariat. He saidboth the mosques in theSecretariat were Wakf proper-ties and the State Governmenthas illegally encroached upon

them. "It would have beenideal if the Chief Ministerwould've issued orders return-ing the possession of landbelonging to the Secretariatmosques to the Wakf Board.Instead, he issued orders toimplement something which isalready in implementation,"he said.

He said that the Wakf Boardchairman has crossed all thelimits of sycophancy in prais-ing the Chief Minister. "In his5:26 minutes long video, theWakf Board chairman praisedCM and Minister KT RamaRao almost 26 times. He hasbeaten Home MinisterMahmood Ali in sycophancyin praising the CM" he said.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Dr K Laxman on Saturdaythanked Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, Union HomeMinister Amith Shah and BJPnational president JP Naddafor appointing him as OBCMorcha national president.

"The party gave me lot ofopportunities. I will strivehard to make the BackwardClass people close to the BJPfurther. I will strive hard tostrengthen the party alongwith national party leaders," hesaid.

Exuding confidence thatthe Telangana BJP would grabthe GHMC under the leader-ship of Bandi Sanjay Kumar,

Laxman said that the feeling ofthe people that the BJP isagainst the BCs is wrong.More public representativesfrom SC, ST, OBC andWomen are from BJP only, headded.

Will win big in GHMCpolls, says Laxman

In botch up, pvt hospital handsover wrong body to familyPNS n HYDERABAD

Relative of a man who died ofCoronavirus in a private hos-pital in Hyderabad, were in fora shock of their life, when theyfound that the hospital hadsent the body of another per-son, just before the pyre was tobe lit. This bizarre incident wasreported from Gannaram vil-lage of Indalwai mandal inNizamabad district.

According to reports,Ankam Hanumanthu (58), aresident of Gannaram villagein Indalvai mandal ofNizamabad district died whileundergoing treatment forCovid-19 in a private hospitalin Hyderabad. The relativespaid Rs 10 lakh and later, thehospital promised to send thebody to their village in anambulance. Accordingly theambulance carrying the bodyreached their village onSaturday and the grief-strick-en relatives were ready for the

cremation. When the relativeswanted to have a last look atthe body, the ambulance staffadvised against opening thepacking of the body statingthat it was a case ofCoronavirus death. Just as therelatives were about to beginthe process of lighting thepyre, the hospital staff inHyderabad realised that awrong body was sent to

Indalvai and called the ambu-lance staff. The ambulancestaff, which was around luck-ily, rushed to the funeralground and told the relatives tostop lighting the pyre. The hos-pital staff, it was said, was try-ing to send the body ofHanumanthu and take theother body back to Hyderabad.Hanumanthu's relatives lodgeda complaint with the police.

Heavy rains damage poultry farmsPNS n HYDERABAD

The heavy rains that are lash-ing the state have been wreak-ing havoc with the poultryindustry causing death to manypoultry birds. Besides uproot-ing trees and paralysing nor-mal life due to rains, the floodwater is entering poultry farmsleading to en masse death ofbirds and causing loss to poul-try farmers.

Water logged fields and flat-tened standing crops in the

fields have become commonsight in many areas of the state.In Nandigama of Ranga Reddy,9,500 poultry birds perished ina poultry farm belonging to

farmer Yadireddy. The lossdue to death of the birds wasput at Rs 6 lakh.

He said that the flood waterentered his poultry farm onaccount of the heavy rain. Asa result, in a short span of time,many poultry birds perished.He appealed to the governmentto come to the rescue of thepoultry farmers.

When the Coronavirusbroke out in the state, peoplehad a myth of eating chickenwould lead to they testing pos-

itive for the virus. Therefore,the sale of chicken was affect-ed inflicting severe loss topoultry sector. However, itregained the lost ground.

As the message of eatingchicken would increase theimmunity power penetrateddeep into the masses, peoplestarted eating chicken again.The chicken sales wereimproved. But the heavy rainshave been causing death to thepoultry birds causing concernto chicken traders.

Water logged fieldsand damaged standingcrops have becomecommon sight in manyareas across the state

HC to continuevirtual, physicalhearing till Oct 2PNS n HYDERABAD

The High Court issued ordersextending the present practiceof virtual and physical hearingof the matters in all its courtsand Courts from the judicialdistricts of Karimnagar,Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda,Nizamabad and Warangal, tillOctober 2 by following Covid-19 guidelines.

TSRTC to resumeInter-state servicesPNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana State RoadTransport Corporation willresume its services toKarnataka and Maharashtrafrom September 28. Busesfrom the two states will runtrips to Telangana. TheKarnataka state governmentdid not give permission toTSRTC to run buses to

Bangalore. However, theTSRTC will run its services toRaichur, Bidar, Gulbarga,Nanded, Mumbai, Pune,Nagpur, Chandrapur andother routes.

The TSRTC, havingresumed the district and citybuses services, is resuming itsinter-state services to neigh-bouring Maharashtra andKarnataka from Monday.

Four held forrobberyPNS n HYDERABAD

Tappachabutra Police arrest-ed four persons, including ajuvenile for indulging in rob-bery. The accused were iden-tified as Syed Shahnawaz,Kallam Chinna and TakurShankar Singh. The accusedtargeted a victim while he wason his way to his friends'house. As he reachedRamsinghpura at around 11PM, the accused roundedhim up and bet him and

AP has alreadystarted 25,000farmer trainingschools called'Polam Badi', in whichfarmers will betaught aboutorganic farmingand bestpractices

Segregation of waste must: PuvvadaPNS n KHAMMAM

For the protection of environ-ment, importance should begiven to segregation of waste inurban areas in the district, sug-gested Transport MinisterPuvvada Ajay Kumar.

He advised the municipalofficials to educate the publicabout the necessity of segrega-tion of household waste intodry and wet waste. Steps haveto be initiated for hundred percent recycling of waste, hesaid.

The Minister along withDistrict Collector RV Karnanand Mayor G Papalal launchedas many as 30 Swachhautorickshaws procured byKMC at a programme atPavilion Grounds here onSaturday. The vehicles, eachworth Rs 5.24 lakh, were pro-cured with an expenditure ofRs 1.57 crore as part of SwachhTelangana initiative. AjayKumar suggested officials totake steps to motivate the cit-izens to adopt new systemswith the changing times.

Baskets have to be distrib-uted to residents for collectingdry and wet waste separatelyand each municipal divisionhas to be allotted a Swachhauto. The members of self-helpgroups have to be involved inwaste segregation and recy-cling in coordination with thestaff of MEPMA, he noted.

Later on the day, Ajay Kumarinaugurated modern public toi-lets constructed at station road,RDO office and Nayabazaar inmunicipal divisions 30, 47 and31 in Khammam city.

KCR, a saviourof farmers,says MinisterPNS n HYDERABAD

Endowments MinisterAllola Indrakaran Reddysaid the new Revenue Actwas a model for the country.He flagged off a massivetractor rally taken out byfarmers from Kanakapurvillage in Laxmanachandamandal to Nirmal onSaturday.

Addressing the farmers,Indrakaran observed thatChief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao hadbecome the saviour of farm-ers by abolishing the age-oldsystem of Village RevenueOfficers (VROs) and bybringing about change in theRevenue Department. Raowas committed to rescuethe agrarian communityfrom the greedy revenueofficials, he remarked.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday held wide-ranging talks with his SriLankan counterpart MahindaRajapaksa, covering the entireexpanse of bilateral ties andwith a focus on furtherexpanding cooperation in keyareas. In his opening remarksat a virtual bilateral summit,Modi said he was confidentthat the massive electoral vic-tory of the ruling party in SriLanka backed by the Rajapaksagovernment's policies will facil-itate deeper cooperationbetween the two countries.

"An opportunity has cometo begin a new chapter inIndia-Sri Lanka ties after yourparty's electoral victory. Peoplefrom both the countries arelooking at us with new hopeand expectations," Modi said.

Rajapaksa was sworn in asSri Lankan prime minister fora fresh term on August 9 afterhis party, the Sri Lanka People'sFront, secured a two-thirdmajority in the parliamentarypolls. Modi said India gives pri-ority to its relations with Sri

Lanka as he mentioned hisgovernment's neighbourhood-first policy as well as SAGARdoctrine.It was Prime MinisterModi's first such virtual bilat-eral engagement with a leader

of a neighbouring country.For Rajapaksa, it was the firstdiplomatic engagement with aleader of a foreign country afterhe was sworn in as primeminister. It was learnt that the

two leaders deliberated on ahost of issues like ways to fur-ther deepen overall defenceand trade ties as well as expan-sion of existing cooperation inseveral key areas.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government's eSanjeevaniOPD platform has completedfour lakh tele-consultationssince its launch in April thisyear amid the coronavirus pan-demic, the health ministry saidon Saturday.

The top performing states,

Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh,have logged in 1,33,167 and1,00,124 sessions, respectively.

The other states that haveregistered highest consulta-tions through eSanjeevani andeSanjeevani OPD platformsare Himachal Pradesh (36,527),Kerala (33,340), AndhraPradesh (31,034), Uttarakhand

(11,526), Gujarat (8,914),Madhya Pradesh (8,904),Karnataka (7,684), andMaharashtra (7,103).

The usage trend shows thatthere has been a quick uptakeof this service in smaller dis-tricts like Villupuram in TamilNadu, the ministry said.

Over 16,000 consultations

have been recorded fromVillupuram, which is the top-most district in terms of tele-consultation services availed ofby the beneficiaries, the min-istry said. The last 1,00,000consultations have come up in18 days, whereas the first1,00,000 consultations hadtaken around three months.

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 nation 05

SHORT READS

Govt official bookedfor raping woman Muzaffarnagar: An official ofthe Uttar Pradesh PowerCorporation was booked forallegedly raping a woman inShamli district, police said onSaturday.According to acomplaint lodged by thewoman, the official allegedlyraped her when she had cometo his office on Fridaydemanding restoration ofpower supply. A case wasregistered against the officialon the basis of the complaintand a probe was underway,police added.

Six arrested forcapturing blackbuckin Hingoli districtAurangabad: Six persons werearrested for allegedly capturinga blackbuck in the forests ofHingoli district in Maharashtra,a forest official said on Saturday. The arrests were madebased on a video of the incidentthat surfaced on social mediaearlier this week, in which theaccused were seen trapping ablackbuck with the help of anet, the forest official said.Forest personnel nabbed KisanGhangale, Rustum Dhakre,Vitthal Pachpute, Gajanan Dhanve, Manohar Dhakre, Siddhanth Pachpute, he said. An offence has been registered againstthe accused under relevantsections of Wildlife ProtectionAct 1972, the official added.

Kolkata: West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onSaturday paid tribute to IshwarChandra Vidyasagar on hisbicentenary birth anniversary,and seized the occasion to hitout at "certain outsiders", who,according to her, haddesecrated a bust of thepolymath last year.She also saidthat the social refor mer will beremembered for his crusadeagainst child marriage andpolygamy, and his teachingswill continue to inspire all."Remembering great socialreformer & educationistIshwar Chandra Vidyasagar onhis 200th birth anniversary. Hewas a pioneer for Banglalanguage & drafted primerBarnaparichay. Also known as'Dayar Sagar', he fought forwidow remarriage, banningchild marriage & polygamy,"Banerjee tweeted.A bust of Vidyasagar was vandalised at a college here in May2019, when clashes broke outduring a road show led bythe then BJP president AmitShah, ahead of the last phaseof Lok Sabha elections.Both theTMC and the saffron party hadblamed each other for theincident."Vidyasagar trulyrepresents the pride of Bengal& serves as an inspiration to ustill date. His bust wasunfortunately desecrated in2019 by certain outsiders,which only shows theirdisregard for Bengal's legacy.

PNS n LUCKNOW

The Uttar Pradesh policereceived hate messagesagainst Chief Minister YogiAdityanath on its 112 emer-gency helpline number, offi-cials said on Saturday.

A case was registered at theHazratganj Police Stationafter the threatening textmessages were received onWednesday, DCP (Central)Somen Barma said. A truckdriver, Amarpal, hailing fromEtawah was arrested fromBara Birwa area here in thisconnection, the officer said.

The accused is being ques-tioned and further investigationis on in the matter, he added.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The scientific community hasrisen to every challenge facingthe country and converted itinto an opportunity, Scienceand Technology MinisterHarsh Vardhan said onSaturday.

Addressing the 79th CSIRFoundation Day, Vardhan saidthat during the coronaviruspandemic, scientists of theCouncil of Scientific andIndustrial Research (CSIR)contributed towards makingventilators and personal pro-tection (Personal Protection

Equipment) kits to genomesequencing. The CSIR also ini-tiated projects like repurposing of drugs for COVID-19.

He also asked the CSIR toorganise a brainstorming ses-sion of young scientists toassess how the country canachieve 'Aatmanirbharta' (self-reliance). "Whenever there has

been a challenge of any formbefore the country, we havealways been able to convert itinto an opportunity and they(scientists) ultimately delivergood for the society and helpin alleviating hardships inmany ways," Vardhan said."Whenever any responsibilityis given to CSIR, they go ahead

in a very dynamic way,"Vardhan said, citing aninstance where he had pro-posed use of green crackers onDiwali as an alternative to tra-ditional firecrackers to addressthe problem of pollution. Hesaid until Friday, India con-ducted 15 lakh tests in a day.

Mamata pays richtributes to ChandraVidyasagar

‘Scientific community equal to challenges’

PNS n NEW DELHI

Congress president SoniaGandhi has condoled thedemise of celebrated playbacksinger S P Balasubrahmanyamand hailed him as the "singingmoon" who shed his specialradiance over the country.

The versatile singer, actorand music composer was laidto rest at his farm house nearChennai on Saturday with a24-gun salute by the TamilNadu Police.

In a letter to his son S P BCharan, Gandhi said she wasdeeply saddened by the deathof Balasubrahmanyam, "whoso bravely fought the cruel

COVID-19 virus for over sixweeks before succumbing to it".

Gandhi said Balasubrahmanyam was a shining sym-bol of India's rich musical andlinguistic culture, singing withequal melodious and emo-tional power in Tamil, Telugu,Kannada, Malayalam andHindi. He brought joy and

solace to millions of his fans,and the artistic and culturalworld is much poorer anddarker for his loss, theCongress chief said.

"He was indeed the PaadumNila-the Singing Moon whoshed his special radiance overour country," Gandhi said inthe letter.

Balasubrahmanyam, whoheld sway over millions offans with his golden voice ren-dering a record 40,000 plussongs over five decades, diedon Friday at a hospital inChennai, plunging musiclovers in grief. After waging 52days of grim battle for life fol-lowing COVID-19 infection,the 74-year old singer suf-fered a cardio-respiratoryarrest and the end came in theafternoon, a day after his con-dition turned extremely criti-cal. A six-time national awardwinner, Balasubrahmanyamwas honoured with PadmaShri in 2001 and PadmaBhushan in 2011.

SPB was indeed ‘singing moon': Sonia Trader shot with his own pistolAICC chief SoniaGandhi saidBalasubrahmanyamwas a shining symbolof India's rich musicaland linguistic culture

PNS n MUMBAI

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut onSaturday sought to know howelections would be conductedin Bihar amid the coronaviruspandemic.

Assembly elections will beheld in Bihar in three phases -- October 28, November 3 and7. Speaking to reporters here,Raut said though the poll dateswere duly announced as theterm of the Bihar assembly is

about to end, "the questionis, has COVID-19 ended".

"How will elections be heldin such atmosphere? The

country must know. How willthe election campaign and ral-lies be held? Voting can not beonline. You have to stand ina

queue," the Rajya Sabhamember said.

As people are not venturing

out due to the fear of the pan-demic, voting percentageshould not come down, headded. To the questionwhether the newly passed farmbills would be a poll issue, Rautsaid Bihar is important in

national politics, and elec-tions should be fought on the

issues of development, lawand order, and governance.

"If these issues are exhaust-ed, some can be shipped fromMumbai," he said, in an appar-ent dig at parties in the north-ern state making actor SushantSingh Rajput's alleged suicidea political issue.

How will polls be held in Biharamid pandemic, Raut asks

PNS n NEW DELHI

Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Saturday said theAAP government will makewater supply in Delhi as goodas in developed countries andhire a consultant for betterwater management ensuringnot a drop goes to waste in thecity. He said the governmentwill ensure round-the-clockwater supply in the next fiveyears and refuted allegationsthat water supply in the nation-al capital was being priva-tised. "Water supply cannot beprivatised. It can never happen.

I assure you this," the chiefminister said during a digitalpress conference.

Kejriwal said in the capitalcities of developed nations,water is available round-the-clock with proper pressureand there is no need for a sub-mersible pump.

"We will make it happen inDelhi. The city's water supplywill be as good as in developednations," Kejriwal said.

Accountability should befixed for every drop of water.There should not be anywastage, Kejriwal asserted.

Will make water supply as goodas in developed countries: Kejriwal

Covid protocol: Tejashwi, TejPratap, Pappu Yadav booked

In capital cities ofdeveloped nations,water is availableround-the-clock withproper pressure: CM

Minister Harsh Vardhan asked CSIR to organisea brainstorming session of young scientists toassess how the country can achieve'Aatmanirbharta' (self-reliance).

PNS n NEW DELHI

A PIL has been filed in theSupreme Court for equal pro-tection of law to peoplebelonging to the third gender,alleging that there was nopenal provision which protectsthem from offences of sexualassault. The plea, which hasmade the ministries of law andjustice, and social justice andempowerment as parties,referred to the provisions ofthe IPC of 1860 and recentamendments into the statuteand other laws on sexualoffences and alleged that none

of them talked about the"transgender, transsexuals,kinnar and eunuchs". "In spiteof declaring transgender peo-ple to be a 'third gender' by thiscourt, there is no provision /section in the Indian PenalCode which may protect thethird gender from the sexualassault by male/ female oranother transgender," it said.

PIL seeks equalprotection of law

PNS n PANAJI

Union minister Arjun RamMeghwal on Saturday said thefarm bills passed by theParliament were in the inter-est of farmers, but the opposi-tion parties were trying tostall them as they were "wor-ried" about the rising popular-ity of Prime Minister NarendraModi.

He also said that althoughthe opposition parties werecrying foul over theParliament's monsoon sessiongetting curtailed, they them-selves had demanded it.

The minister of state for par-liamentary affairs was address-ing the BJP's state-level exec-utive meeting in Goa virtual-ly. "The opposition is trying tostall the farm bills drafted inthe interest of country's farm-ers, because they are worriedabout the increasing popular-ity of PM Modi," he said.

"The opposition is criticising

the government on the farmbills saying that they werepassed in a hurried manner

during the short session ofthe Parliament. But they are

indulging in false propogan-da," Meghwal added. "Wewanted to have an 18-day longsession of Parliament, but dueto COVID-19 outbreak therewas a demand by the opposi-tion to curtail it," he said. LokSabha and Rajya Sabha were

adjourned sine die onWednesday, bringing theMonsoon Session ofParliament to an end eight daysahead of schedule.

The minister also said thatthe farm bills were long- pend-ing, which the Modi govern-ment brought.

"You cannot say that theywere passed hurriedly. Theywere pending for decades,"Meghwal said.

Oppn worried over PM'spopularity: Meghwal

PNS n MAHOBA

The Uttar Pradesh Police'sSpecial Investigation Team,which was set up to probe thedeath of Mahoba-based trad-er Indrakant Tripathi, has saidthe bullet which killed him wasfired from his own licensedpistol.

The probe found that thebullet was fired from the frontwhich had pierced through hisneck and got entangled in theseat behind, Allahabad ADGPrem Prakash said on Fridaynight, citing the SIT's investi-gation report.

Indrakant, 44, who had lev-elled allegations of corruption

against former Mahoba SPManilal Patidar, now undersuspension, was shot at undermysterious circumstances andsuccumbed to injuries at a hos-pital in Kanpur on September13. The two men -- Arjun andSatyam -- who had rushedIndrakant to hospital also saidin their statements that the pis-

tol was found lying near hisknees which was later handedover to the deceased's brother-in-law Brijesh Shukla by hisbusiness partner BalluMaharaj's brother Asharam.

The pistol was given to theSIT by Indrakant's elder broth-er Ravikant, the ADG said.

On September 8, Indrakanthad a meeting with his busi-ness partners Ballu Maharajand Purshottam Soni at a hotelafter which he left for home.Later, he was found in his carwith a bullet injury, the officialsaid.The ADG said investiga-tions are on and clean chit hasnot been given either to thesuspended SP or anyone else.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The condition of DelhiDeputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia, who is suf-fering from Covid anddengue, has further improved, a day after he was administered convalescent plasmatherapy, and he is likely to beshifted from the ICU to anormal ward, officials said.Heis currently undergoing treat-ment at Max hospital wherehe was admitted on Thursdayafter a "falling" blood plateletcount and low oxygen level.

Sisodia'sconditionimproves

PNS n PATNA

RJD leader Tejashwi PrasadYadav, his elder brother TejPratap Yadav, Jan AdhikarParty (JAP) leader RajeshRanjan alias Pappu Yadav havebeen booked inpoll-boundBihar for taking out rallies hereto protest against the con-tentious farm bills withoutpermission andviolating theCOVID-19 protocol.

The three were booked onFriday along with 150 others

and an FIR was lodged atthe Kotwali police station onthe basis of a complaint by themagistrate deputed to overseethe situation, the police said.

Several farmers organisa-

tions and opposition partiesincluding RJD had held

protests against the farm billshere on Friday.

RJD heir apparent TejashwiPrasad Yadav rode a tractor tolead the protest against thepassage of the three farm billson Friday. His elder brotherTej Pratap Yadav sat atop itshood.

PNS n MAHASAMUND

An elephant died of elec-trocution in Mahasamunddistrict of Chhattisgarhafter it came in contactwith a live wire laid on theground by poachers to trapother wild animals, a for-e s t of f i c i a l s a i donSaturday.

The incident took placeon Friday night on theoutskirts of Kishanpur vil-lage under Pithora forestrange when a herd of fourjumbos was passing fromthere, Divisional

Forest Officer (DFO)Ma h a s amu n d d iv i s i onMayank Pandey said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

To ensure availability of med-ical oxygen in the country ata reasonable price amidstthe COVID-19 pandemic,the national drug pricingregulator NPPA has cappedthe price of medical oxygencylinders and liquid medicaloxygen for six months, thegovernment said on Saturday.

The present situation ofCOVID-19 has resulted inincreased demand of medicaloxygen up to almost fourtimes from 750 MT per dayto around 2,800 MT per day,the Ministry of Chemicalsand Fertilizers said in a state-ment.

The issue related toavailability, including pric-ing of oxygen, has beenunder the continued con-sideration of EmpoweredGroup 2, Government ofIndia.

It recommended theNational PharmaceuticalPricing Authority (NPPA)to consider capping the ex-factory price of liquid med-ical oxygen in order toensure its supply to fillers atreasonable prices, it added.

The Empowered Group 2also requested NPPA toconsider a cap for ex-facto-ry price of oxygen in cylin-ders in order to ensure sup-ply of oxygen cylindersfrom fillers at reasonableprices, the Ministry said.

Health Ministry's ‘eSanjeevani' records 4 lakh doctor-to-patient tele-consultations

Elephant diesof electrocution

NPPA capsprice of liquidmedical oxygen

TRANSGENDERS

Modi discusses bilateralties with Sri Lankan PM

PNS n BENGALURU

Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Saturday allegedthat the illegal transfer of Rs47,272 crore of GSP compen-sation cess to ConsolidatedFund of India was an attemptby the Centre to 'cover up' theshortfall in other collections.

Citing the Comptroller andAuditor General's recentreport, Siddaramaiah in atweet charged the central gov-ernment with betraying thestates' trust on federalism andasked Karnataka ChiefMinister B S Yediyurappa toinitiate legal proceedings forthe violation.

"The CAG report revealsthat @BJP4India govt hastransferred 47,272 Cr of theGST compensation cess col-lected to Consolidated Fund ofIndia, instead of retaining inthe dedicated account to repaythe compensation gap.

The Centre has betrayedStates' trust on federalism," he

said in the tweet. Pointing outthat the cess collected wasnon-lapsable, which means itshould be carried over to thenext financial year, the formerchief minister said it cannot betransferred to purposes otherthan the notified purpose.

According to Siddaramaiah,GST cess that was transferredto CFI, could have been usednow to transfer to the states.

Centre betrayedstates, says Siddu

Siddaramaiah in atweet charged thecentre with betrayingthe states' trust onfederalism

Truck driverheld for hatemessages

PTI n NEW DELHI

Telecom regulator Trai hasdecided to drop proceedingsagainst Vodafone Idea Ltd(VIL) in priority plan matterafter the telco withdrew con-tentious claims on faster speedand modified its offering.

The move brings down cur-tains on the controversial pri-ority plan issue, which saw theTelecom Regulatory Authorityof India (Trai) initiating aprobe into telco's claims of pri-ority network and faster dataspeeds for premium cus-tomers. Last month, the reg-ulator had slapped a show-cause notice on VIL over itspriority mobile plan, sayingthe tariff offer lacked trans-parency and was "mislead-

ing" and not in compliancewith regulatory framework.

Faced with regulatory heat,VIL recently dropped thefaster data speed claims whichformed a prominent part of itspay-more-for-priority-treat-ment offering and filed arevised plan with Trai.

The regulator has nowinformed VIL that "theauthority has decided not toproceed with the investigation/further inquiry".

Trai letter, seen by PTI,noted that the operator hasinformed that the earlier RedXplan has been discontinuedand that a new tariff plan ofRedX, without the claim ofpriority 4G network featurewith faster speed, has beenfiled.

I lead disciplined,not lavish lifestyle:Anil Ambani

London:Reliance Groupchairman Anil Ambanihas told a UK court thatsuggestions of his lavishtastes are speculativebecause his lifestyle is"very disciplined" as hegave evidence in a disputeinvolving a loan greementwith three Chinese banks.The 61-year-old formerbillionaire appeared viavideolink from Mumbaibefore the High Court onFriday for compulsorycross-examination in aidof an asset disclosureorder obtained by the Industrial and ommercialBank of China Ltd Mumbai Branch, China Development Bank and EximBank of China. The orderrequired Ambani to givefull disclosure of all of hisassets worldwide exceeding USD 100,000.

MSP procurementof kharif paddybegins New Delhi: The Centre onSaturday announced commencement of paddy procurementat the minimum support price(MSP) with immediate effectin Punjab and Haryana in thewake of early arrival of thekharif crop in these twostates. Other wise, paddyprocurement for the 2020-21kharif (summer) marketingseason is scheduled to beginfrom October 1 in all the keygrowing states, it said."However, in view of earlyarrival of paddy in the'mandies' of Haryana andPunjab, Government of Indiahas approved the commencement of procurementoperations for paddy /riceimmediately in both thesestates from today i.e. witheffect from September 26,2020," the Union Food Ministry said. This is to ensurethat farmers are facilitated inselling their produce at MSP.

RIL's retail armreceives Rs 7,500cr from Silver Lake

New Delhi: Billionaire MukeshAmbani's Reliance IndustriesLtd (RIL) on Saturday said ithas received Rs 7,500 crorefrom US private equity firmSilver Lake Partners, whichhas picked up 1.75 per centstake in its retail arm. Earlier,on September 9, RIL hadannoun ced that Silver Lakewould invest Rs 7,500 croreinto its arm Reliance RetailVentures Ltd (RRVL). RRVLhas received "the subscriptionamount of Rs 7,500 crorefrom SLP Rainbow HoldingsPte Ltd (Silver Lake)", RIL saidin a regulatory filing onSaturday. Following theallotment of equity stake, "SLPRainbow Holdings holds 1.75per cent of the fully dilutedequity share capital" of RRVL,it said.

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 money 06

PTI n NEW DELHI

Finance ministry sources havecountered CAG audit findingof central government wrong-ly retaining Rs 47,272 crore ofGST compensation cess meantfor states, saying temporaryretention cannot be termed asdiversion.

Days after the Comptrollerand Auditor General (CAG)flagged that the Centre in firsttwo years of the GST imple-mentation wrongly retainedGST compensation cess thatwas meant to be used specifi-cally to compensate states forloss of revenue, ministrysources said compensation duefor the year 2017-18 and 2018-19 was fully paid to states.

Time taken in reconciliationof compensation receipts can'tbe termed as diversion of GSTcess fund when the dues tostates were fully released by thecentral government, they said.

Sources said that in 2017-18,Rs 62,611 crore was collected,

out of which the governmentreleased full compensationdues of Rs 41,146 crore to thestates and union territories(UTs).

In 2018-19, an amount of Rs95,081 crore was collected, outof which Rs 69,275 crore waspaid as full compensation duesto states and UTs.

They said an amount of Rs47,271 crore collected in the2017-18 and 2018-19 hadremained unutilised for recon-ciliation post full payment of

GST compensation dues.For the year 2019-20, the

central government released Rs1,65,302 crore as GST compen-sation against a cess collectionof Rs 95,444 crore which itcould do so with the unutilisedcess of Rs 47,271 crore.

The GST (Compensation toStates) Act guarantees all statesan annual growth rate of 14 percent in their GST revenue inthe first five years of implemen-tation of GST beginning July2017. It was introduced as a

relief for states for the loss ofrevenues arising from theimplementation of GST.

If a state's revenue growsslower than 14 per cent, it issupposed to be compensatedby the Centre using the fundsspecifically collected as com-pensation cess. To providethese grants, a GST compensa-tion cess is levied on certainluxury and sin goods.

The collected compensationcess flows into the consolidat-ed fund of India (CFI), and isthen transferred to the PublicAccount of India, where a GSTcompensation cess account hasbeen created. States are com-pensated bi-monthly from theaccumulated funds in this

account.However, instead of transfer-

ring the entire GST cessamount to the GST compensa-tion fund during 2017-18 and2018-19, the CAG found thatthe Centre retained these fundsin the CFI and used it for otherpurposes.

The finance ministry sourcessaid the compensation receiptin the CFI was subject to rec-onciliation in the comingmonths, as usual, in the forth-coming financial year.

If for that reason the amountremained in the CFI, how canthat be treated as diversion,they asked adding even theCAG in its report has not saidso.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Amazon.in on Saturday said itwill host a virtual 'HandicraftsMela' from September 26-October 10, showcasing morethan 270 art and craft formsfrom various parts of the coun-try.

Over eight lakh artisans andweavers associated with 1,500Amazon Karigar sellers and 17government emporiumsincluding Tantuja, Harit Khadi,Tribes India and national-levelartisan organisations likeCraftmark and Dastkari HaatSamiti will benefit from thismela, Amazon India said in astatement. Amazon'sHandicrafts Mela - which willshowcasing over 55,000 uniqueproducts - will help customers

discover and purchase prod-ucts from artisans and weaversfrom different parts of thecountry by visiting specificsections like handloom zone,handicrafts home décor,kitchen items, handmade toys,handcrafted festive collectionand others, the statement said.

"Exhibitions and melas havebeen the primary avenues

through which karigars havebeen able to reach their cus-tomers. However, as these onground events have beenbrought to a grinding halt, theonline marketplace hasemerged as an avenue thatthese sellers can leverage toreach customers across thecountry during the festive sea-son," Amazon India Director -

MSME and Seller ExperiencePranav Bhasin said.

Through a virtualHandicrafts Mela, AmazonIndia aims to generate con-sumer demand for arts andcrafts that reflect the culturalheritage of the country, headded.

The e-commerce giant hadalso organised a 10-week 'Standfor Handmade' initiative in

July this year to aid the revivalof the businesses of these arti-sans and weavers.

"Considering the successwitnessed by sellers throughprevious sale events and initia-tives we rolled out, we're opti-mistic about the positiveimpact that Handicrafts Melawill have in the lives of lakhs ofartisans and weavers fromacross the country," he said.

Amazon’s Handicrafts Mela to support weaversOver eight lakh artisans and weaversassociated with 1,500 Amazon Karigar sellersand 17 government emporiums includingTantuja, Harit Khadi, Tribes India and other willbenefit from this mela

Sources said that in 2017-18, Rs 62,611 crorewas collected, out of which the governmentreleased full compensation dues of Rs 41,146crore to the states and union territories (UTs).

Temporary retention of GST cess isnot diversion defends Nirmala

PTI n NEW DELHI

Union Minister of AgricultureNarendra Singh Tomar hasinaugurated the IndianAgricultural Research Institute's (IARI) Assam campus andsaid the setting up of thisinstitute will boost farm edu-cation and research activities inthe North East.

The minister dedicated tothe nation the campus of thenew IARI at Gogamukh in

Assam. The Union Cabinet inMay 2017 had approved settingup of Indian AgriculturalResearch Institute (IARI) inAssam at a cost of over Rs 155

crore to promote agri-educa-tion and realise second greenrevolution in the north easternregion. Speaking on the occa-sion, Tomar announced thatthe IARI, Assam will be namedafter Deen Dayal Upadhyaya.

He said the setting up of thisinstitute will give an impetus todevelopment of agriculturaleducation and research in thestates of Arunachal Pradesh,Meghalaya, Manipur,Mizoram, Nagaland.

PTI n BEIJING

Ford, Nissan and BMWunveiled new electric modelswith more range for theChinese market on Saturday asthe Beijing auto show openedunder anti-virus controls thatincluded holding news confer-ences by international videolink.

Automakers are looking toChina, the first major econo-my to start recovering from thecoronavirus pandemic, to drivesales growth and reverse multi-billion-dollar losses.

Auto China 2020, postponed

from March, is the first majortrade show for any industrysince the pandemic began.The ruling Communist Party'sdecision to go ahead with itreflects official confidenceChina, where the pandemicbegan in December, has thedisease under control.

“The 2020 Beijing motor

show is a symbol of hope,”BMW AG's China CEO,Jochen Goller, told reporterswho wore masks but stoodshoulder-to-shoulder at theevent. He paid tribute toChinese medical workerswho “made it possible for us

to enjoy this large-scale eventtoday.”

Authorities ordered limitson crowds at the event, whichattracted 820,000 visitors atits last installment in 2018.Employees walked throughthe cavernous exhibition cen-ter carrying signs that said,“Be Sure to Wear Masks.”

China's auto market, theworld's biggest, already hasrebounded to sales abovepre-pandemic levels .Purchases rose 6% in Augustcompared with a year earli-er, while U.S. sales were down9.5%.

PTI n KOLKATA

The country's second-largestpaint maker Berger Paints saidthat despite the pandemic itscapital expenditure for thisfiscal remain unaffected andwill be the same as last year.

The major investment will bein its upcoming Sandila plantnear Lucknow of around Rs 260crore and the plant was expect-ed to be operational from 2022onwards, a company officialsaid on Friday. The companywas implementing a few strate-gies to narrow the gap with themarket leader Asian Paints thatcommands about 50 per cent

share in the paints industry."Yes, we love to gain furthermarket share and close the gapbetween us and Asian Paints,and that is our endeavour. Wehave taken a lot of measures,"Abhijit Roy, MD & CEO, saidwhile replying to shareholders'questions during the 96th AGMof Berger Paints. "They (AsianPaints) are about three timesour size and we are about 18-

20 per cent and are quite hope-ful that some of our strategiesmight work," Roy toldreporters. He said the compa-ny has taken some strategies tofurther scale up its distributionnetwork to gain market share.

On business performanceduring the COVID period, hesaid upcountry was doing farbetter than the cities. The com-pany had recently roped infilmstar Akshay Kumar asbrand ambassador to boostsales. "This quarter (secondquarter) itself you will see pos-itive results and going forwardwe want to do even better,"Roytold shareholders.

PTI n JAMMU

The CAG's performance auditof power purchase agreementsand electric revenue collectionfor 2012-13 to 2016-17 havebrought out deficiencies inJammu and Kashmir PowerDevelopment Department(JKPDD).

The CAG in its report hasflagged short comings inpower purchase planning,signing and operationalisa-tion of power purchase agree-ments, and collection of rev-enue. Besides, it also pointedout financial mismanagementand weakness in internal con-trol.

J&K suffered a power pur-chase deficit of Rs 14,871 crore

during 2012-17. As against anexpenditure of Rs 24,299 croreincurred on power purchaseduring 2012-17, revenue real-isation from sale of powerwas only Rs 9,428 crore, theComptroller and AuditorGeneral of India (CAG) said inits report on 'Social, General,

Economic (Non-PSUs) Sectors'for the year ended 31 March2017. "The department (PDD)failed to meet its powerrequirement and the gapbetween unrestricted demandand self-generation available tothe state ranged between 77per cent and 84 per cent.

PTI n KOLKATA

The UK India BusinessCouncil has signed an MoUwith West Bengal IndustrialDevelo pment Corporation(WBIDC), to focus on accel-erating industrial develop-ment in the state.

This collaborative partner-ship between the UKIBC andWest Bengal government willhelp to boost business andindustrial development in thestate by proactively developingthe business environment andstrengthening collaborationwith British businesses in thestate, a senior official said.

The MoU was signed onFriday at a virtual roundtablebetween WBIDC managing

director, Vandana Yadav andUKIBC managing director,Kevin McCole in the presenceof Nick Low, British DeputyHigh Commissioner inKolkata. "I am delighted tobe signing this MoU today,

deepening the UKIBC part-nership..... I have to say that Ihave never been moreimpressed by the dynamismand determination of politicaland bureaucratic leadership.

UK India BusinessCouncil signs MoU

J&K's power purchase deficit atRs 14,871 cr in 2012-17: CAG

Berger capex on track amidCovid, aims higher market share

PTI n NEW DELHI

Mindtree co-founder Krishnakumar Natarajan and his fami-ly have sold over 4.66 lakhshares of the company, reduc-ing their combined sharehold-ing to 2.01 per cent.

The transactions were car-ried out by Krishnakumar N,wife Akila Krishnakumar andson Siddarth in multipletranches between September15-23, Mindtree said in aregulatory filing on Saturday.

This reduced their com-

bined shareholding from 2.29per cent to 2.01 per cent, itadded. Earlier this month,another regulatory filing hadstated that Natarajan and hisfamily had sold over 42 lakh

shares of the company inmultiple tranches betweenApril 30 and September 14that had reduced their com-bined shareholding to 2.29per cent.

PTI n JAMMU

The Jammu and KashmirProjects ConstructionCorporation (JKPCC) Limitedcame up for sharp criticismfrom the Comptroller andAuditor General (CAG) for itspoor performance and failureto finalise its accounts amidsharp decline in the value ofworks from Rs 364.19 crore in2012-13 to Rs 250.65 croreduring 2016-17.

The public sector undertak-ing (PSU) firm was dependenton the state governmentdepartments or agencies forworks on nomination basisand had failed to secure anywork on competitive tenderbasis, the CAG said in itsreport on revenue sector andPSU (social, general and eco-nomic sectors) on the govern-ment of J&K for the year end-ing March 31, 2017, which wastabled in Parliament this week.

JKPCC was incorporatedwith the objective of executionof construction works for thestate and central governmentsand PSUs, carry on the busi-ness of builders, contractors,engineers, architects, survey-ors, estimators and designersin J&K and curb monopoly ofprivate contractors and pro-vide healthy competitionbetween private and publicsectors.

"The company had finalisedits accounts up to 2010-11only. The value of works donedecreased from Rs 364.19crore during 2012-13 to Rs

250.65 crore during 2016-17.It suffered loss of Rs 3.95crore and Rs 11.69 crore dur-ing 2014-15 and 2015-16,respectively,” the report said.

It said the shortfall inachievement of targets of valueof works done remainedbetween 29 and 50 per cent."Funds ranging between 58.52per cent and 75.55 per centonly were utilised on worksduring 2012-17".

The report said the servicetax of Rs 5.14 crore paid inexcess had neither been recon-ciled nor refund thereofreceived.

"The company had not sub-mitted revised cost offers, tothe extent of Rs 22.66 crore, toreflect enhanced rate of servicetax and made payment of ser-vice tax at the enhanced ratewithout actual recovery of Rs3.45 crore from the projectauthorities," the report said.

It said the company wasdependent on the state depart-ments and agencies for workson nomination basis and hadfailed to secure any work oncompetitive tender basis.

PTI n NEW DELHI

India and Denmark onSaturday inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)to increase cooperation in thearea of intellectual propertyrights (IPRs) by exchangingbest practices and collaborat-ing in training programmes.

The two sides will draw upa biennial work plan to imple-ment the MoU which willinclude detailed planning forcarrying out cooperationactivities, including scope ofaction, the Commerce andIndustry Ministry said in a

statement. The MoU aims toincrease IP cooperationbetween the two countries byway of exchange of best prac-tices, experiences and knowl-edge on IP awareness amongauthorities, businesses andresearch and educational insti-tutions, and collaboration intraining programmes.

CAG pulls up JKPCCfor poor performance

Tomar launches Indian AgriculturalResearch Institute's Assam campus

China opens auto show under anti-virus controlsAutomakers are lookingto China to drive salesgrowth and reversemultibillion-dollar losses

Natarajan and his familyhad sold over 42 lakhshares in multipletranches between April30 and September 14

India, Denmark ink pact to work on on intellectual property rights

Krishnakumar Natarajan, familysell 4.66 lakh Mindtree shares

Trai drops probe against VodaIdea on priority plan issue

SHORT READS

The IPL Season 13 is back after braving pandemic propelled cancellation fears. Thefans tell SHALINI SAKSENA that while watching the match at home is not a patchon populating the stands in the stadiums, the love for cricket is keeping them gluedto their TV screens

special 07HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2020

PRATHAMESH AVACHARENashikFavourite IPL team: Royal Challengers Bangalore

His love for the game beganwhen he was in Class III.From there on there was noturning back. While heplayed cricket at district

level, he didn’t pursue it further becausehis parents wanted him to have a prop-er job that was steady. Meet PrathameshAvachare, the co-founder of theViratGang fan community that has sevenlakh followers since its inception in2012.

“I was a good player and maybe man-aged to play at the State level as well. Butdestiny had other things in mind. I wasalways good with numbers and comput-ers hence, did my computer engineeringand today I have my own digital market-ing agency in Nashik. What keeps megoing is the ViratGang — a fan club thata friend, Dileep MK, and I started backin 2012. It was a chance meeting that ledme to Dileep. When I was 17, I had wona competition run by Cinthol to challengeVirat Kohli to an unusual game. I wasamong the top five winners. I had playedwith Kohli using a baseball bat; neitherwon. We were tied. It was fun. He is sucha good player. I love the way he plays. Icame to Delhi and came to know ofDileep. We instantly connected and keptin touch,” the 25-year-old tells you.

Both Avachare and MK are Kohlifans and wanted to do something. Hence,ViratGang was born. The communityholds events where fans congregate. Ifpossible, the present Team India captainmakes and appearance. One is told thattheirs is the only fan club that Kohli fol-lows on Twitter.

“It is not possible for Virat Kohli tobe there at each and every event that weorganise but he does make an appearancewhen possible. We are always in touch

with him over Twitter. There is very lit-tle that we don’t know about the man andthe game that he plays. Even during thelockdown, we posted things that ViratKohli said to keep the morale of the peo-ple high and ensure their mental wellbe-ing. While there was nothing muchrelated to the game, it was important thatwe were in touch with the community,”Avachare tells you.

While it is not always possible for himto be present for each and every matchthat India plays, he is there for all the

matches that are played in the countryand the important ones.

“I was there in England last year forthe World Cup. I travel as much as I canand follow the team. It is easier to do sowhen they are playing domestic cricket.It is a bit of an expensive hobby but thepleasure that I derive from watchingKohli play in the stadium has a charmthat can’t be replaced,” Avachare tells you.

The lockdown pushed forward someof the plans that the club had planned butthings are moving now, he tells you andsoon they will be out with merchandiseon Virat Kohli. He tells you that since theIPL started, they have a parallel fan clubfor the RCB team where they just don’tgo ga-ga over Kohli but the entire team.“We have the RCB Bold Brigade calledThe Red Army. This means that when theteam won their first match the other day,we were thrilled. It goes without sayingthat they are my favourites. Here we fol-low all the players in the team and evenhave merchandise to offer to the fans likeT-shirts, key chain and wrist bands,”Avachare says.

All this requires a lot of work andplanning, he tells you and thereforeDileep and he make a calendar of eventsthat they need to follow everyday. “It isnot as if we can afford to have a blank dayon Twitter. We have to update everydayand let the fans know what is happening.If it is not about the game, it is about theevents that we are set to organise,”Avachare says.

He tells you that while he has fol-lowed every game that Team India hasplayed since 2005, when SachinTendulkar was in the team he hasn’t seenany reruns of games played before that.

“I started following cricket serious-ly in 2005. Don’t know much about thematch played before. But that doesn’tmean I don’t know who the top playersof that time were or what their recordswere. It is just easier to follow the gameas one is growing up and keep tabs onyour favourite player,” Avachare says.

Professor ASHISH THAKKARMumbaiFavourite IPL team: Mumbai Indians

He is a CharteredAccountant by profes-sion and takes tutorials.Numbers is his love butwhat keeps the family

together is their love for cricket. Hischildhood dream was to play crick-et or become an umpire. But unfor-tunately, the love for food meant thathe couldn’t maintain the well of fit-ness that was required to play inter-national level. Meet Ashish Thakkar.

“We are a Gujarati family and ourinherent love for numbers is in me aswell. However, my grandfather, father,me and now my daughter are suchavid fans of the game that it wasimpossible to stay away from it.While I did not end up being anumpire or a cricket analyst, I amhappy that I can still be part of thegame even as a spectator,” Thakkartells you.

Ashish’s love for the game comesfrom his family. He tells you that hisgreat grandfather had some interestwhich was passed on to his grandfa-ther who then introduced his son andlater Ashish to the game.

“I still remember it was inNovember 1986 that I saw my first gameat Wankhede Stadium. It was a match that my father took me to; it was just apractice match between England and Bombay. I fell in love with the atmosphere.It was in Class IX when I started regularly going for all the international gamesthat were played in the city. I am not a fan of any player, it would be difficult toname one. I am a fan of the game. As long as the game is played in the spirit ofthe sport, it doesn’t matter who wins,” Ashish says.

While his great grandfather, grandfather and father grew up listening to thecommentary for away games. For other games, they would end up watching atBrabourne Stadium. He started watching the game on the Black and White TVand then Wankhede Stadium.

His father, Surya Kanth Thakkar tells you that his memory of the game datesback to the radio days. Like his son, he is the fan of the game. “When I was intro-duced to the game, I was told to love the game and no side with a team. I taughtthe same thing to my son and now granddaughter,” the 71-year-old tells you andsays that during his time, his favourite player was Andy Roberts. He used to regaleAshish with stories about the cricketer.

“I am will be honest here. I am a traditionalist and love Test Matches, thenODIs and then comes T20 format. There have been instances when I have satalone to just watch a Test Match. My daughter on the other hand prefers the T20,”Ashish tells you.

His 12-year-daughter, Ishti is no less. While she may not be a fan of the TestMatch, her love for the T20-format keeps her glued and interested in the game.When I first saw the T20 game, I fell in love with the players who would hit foursand sixes. My problem with the IPL is that since all of them have Indian players,it has become difficult for me to choose a team. But since I live in Mumbai, Isupport Mumbai Indians and its Captain Rohit Sharma. The way he captains histeam is great,” Ishti says. For her, the best part of cricket is the sportsmanship thatthe game inculcates. And while there are boys in her class who are fans of thegame, she did manage to convince some of her girlfriends who are now fans ofthe game.

He and his family have no problems that the game had to be held outside.While he would have preferred it to be held in India, what he loves is that theleague is being held at least even though there is no crowd to cheer the playerson the field.

While Ashish’s dream to umpire at the international level never materisled,he has umpired for the local community games. “I was perhaps the only 16-year-old who was umpiring games for 25 year olds back when I was in school. I haveno regrets that I was not able to umpire. I am happy I can watch the game withall the changes that have been introduced over the years including the introduc-tion of the third umpire. If technology can eliminate human error, why not? Therehave been matches in the past that a team has lost due to a wrong decision bythe umpire. It is good to improve the game and introduce new rules,” Ashish says.

SHARADAMBALVISWESWARAMChennaiFavourite IPL team:Chennai Super Kings

One would have thought that a

person who has seen the era when

following live cricket match via

radio commentary, the IPL matches with

its 20 over game would not hold much

interest. However, those who love the

sport for the game and the

sportsmanship that it brings on the field

would tell you that whether it is T20, or

ODIs or even IPL, it is not the format

that keeps them glued to their seats but

the game itself. One such person is

Sharadambal Viswewaram from Chennai

in Tamil Nadu. The 81-year-old who

today spends her time reading

magazines, watching movies and

spending time with her grandchildren is

an avid follower of the game.

“The format doesn't matter. I just

love the game. It was not as if I always

followed the game. Yes, there were fun-

filled days during the winter season

back in the 70s when we used to sit

around and follow the game via radio

commentary,” Viswewaram recalls.

Her interest in the game started

when Kapil Dev started playing for Team

India. “I really liked Kapil Dev and the

way he used to play. That’s where my

interest for cricket started. Back then

there were only two formats — Test

Matches and ODIs of 60 overs that each

team played. Back then it was strange to

watch a match that would be over in a

day. But it was fun too. I am sure the

1983 World Cup is etched in every

Indian’s memory, at least those who

were old enough to remember. We

would have never lifted the Cup had it

not been for Kapil Dev’s 175-not out

against Zimbabwe. It is sad that there is

no record of that game. One can only

imagine how explosive his game would

have been. Once he got going, there

was no stopping him. Such a great

player,” Viswewaram tells you who has

never seen a match in the stadium. And

recounts the glorious days of

commentary over the radio.

“There was a charm to that. The

commentary was such that one felt one

was right there, sitting in the front row

watching the game. But it was not

always possible to follow the game all

the time. Household chores took a lot of

my time. But for cricket fans,

commentary was everything and still is

given that, at least for me, there is no

such thing as too much cricket,” she

says who has an ongoing banter with

her son-in-law over the phone during

IPL season. He is a Mumbai Indian fan

and she is CSK.

But it was not as if she understood

the league from day one. “My son-in-

law, who is a fan, explained the league

to me. It got me interested in the CSK

team. I like MS Dhoni; he is so calm on

the field. He is second to Kapil Dev,”

Viswewaram says.

She loves the energy that IPL

brings to the ground. It is great to see

how the game brings families together.

People want to have family time and

what better way than sports — cheering

for your team. Even though IPL had to

shift out, the good part is that it is back,

no if or buts,” Viswewaram says.

The Virat Gang star

It is not possible for

Virat Kohli to be there

at each and every

event that we organise

but he does make an

appearance when

possible. We are

always in touch with

him over Twitter

Four generationof cricket love

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the opening match of IPL 13 between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings is being played in an empty stadium in the UAE Pioneer Photo

Prathamesh Avachare celebrates his big fan momentwith RCB skipper Virat Kohli

AGE NO BAR: Sharadambal Visweswaramloves the energy of IPL

Ashish and his daughter, Ishti have been withcricket live and happening. This time however it istelevision screens for them

Photo: IPLT20.com

At 81, she won’t miss a ball in cricket

This week your health will be good. If you are facinghealth challenges, be supportive of yourself and loveyour body. Listen to your body. Turn to women withstrong feminine energy to help you heal at this time.Think positively and trust in the universe’s healingenergy. On the career front, things are looking good.You will be able to achieve quite a lot in a short time.You will be busy, active and sustain your creative visioneven in the time of adversity. The best part is that youwill be focused on your goals while being friendly andoptimistic to those around you. On the personal front,this is an excellent time for you. Unpleasant times areover and there is great potential for happiness in thefuture.

Lucky number 8Lucky colour Pastel coloursLucky day Wednesday

ARIES March 21-April 19

This week discipline and logic will be the mantra for yourhealth. You will display self-control in managing yourhealth. If you have still not started then this is the righttime to do so. Those suffering from an ailment mustlayout a diet plan or an exercise regime that suits theirbody well. You are likely to bring comfort to thosearound you through your attitude. Professionally, this isan excellent time for you. You will learn to trust yourselfand your abilities. You have a strong desire to make thenecessary changes that will put you on the path tosuccess. On the relationship front, you are likely to feeldisconnected. It is important to let your partner knowabout this feeling. It may be helpful if you simply spendsome time apart.

Lucky number 22Lucky colour BlueLucky day Sunday

TAURUS April 20-May 20

This week you may neglect your health — physical aswell as emotional. This is the time to change thatpattern and look at more healthy lifestyle choices. Youneed to take out quality time for yourself — to rest andrebuild your physical, mental and spiritual energies.Career-wise, this period will be crucial. You will beoffered a new project or venture. You will feel veryenthusiastic about pursuing it. Just go for it and get itstarted. This is the time to use the creative energies andchannelise your inspiration to get the desired results.On the personal front, keep your balance in every waythat you can. Stay mindful of ‘give-and-take’ requiredfor all relationships. Pay attention to both your partnerand your ideas and share them.

Lucky number 12Lucky colour RedLucky day Thursday

GEMINI May 21-June 20

Increasing the magnitude of a fitness plan is sure tobring excellent results. Any health challenges that youface at this time will be tackled well by you. Yourmental energies are also well-directed and controlled.You must use this time well. On the professional front,things are not looking that great. Do not panic andtake some time off to re-evaluate your situation andwhat you want out of your job. You must seekanswers from within and should be open to takinghelp from a career counsellor. This will help you to seea fresh perspective on your current situation. Yourromantic relationship is likely to go well. You mustembrace change and take a long-term view of yourfuture.

Lucky number 11Lucky colour BrownLucky day Monday

CANCER June 21-July 22

This week you will feel exceptionally good. You will befilled with gratitude and humility. Share it with others, asyou get back what you give out. You will be feelingupbeat about your future. Give thought to how you maysupport and continue this good health. Professionally,you will be happy as you reach the point ofaccomplishing the goals at the workplace or completinga certain project. However, on the downside, you mightget weighed down by the responsibilities andcommitments that come with it. Take time out for rest.On the relationship front, you are likely to question theexistence of your relationship. The decision is sure tohave consequences which will affect your present andyour future.

Lucky number 12Lucky colour YellowLucky day Thursday

VIRGO Aug 23-Sep 22

Being in control of your emotions will serve you well onthe health front. Treat your body with care andcompassion. Any news related to health will be good. If atall you face illness, take the doctor’s care and trustmedicine completely. Professionally, you may be presentedwith a dilemma at your workplace which demands actionor decision. Analyse all the available information beforeyou choose the right path. Your value system may bechallenged, in that case, stay true to you and be asgenuine and authentic as possible. There may be an easychoice available; you need to ask yourself whether it is theright choice for you in the long run. On the relationshipfront, you are likely to make a positive start. Do nothesitate to speak your mind to your partner.

Lucky number 13Lucky colour PeachLucky day Tuesday

LIBRA Sep 23-Oct 22

On the health front, your biggest success will be basedon how you conduct your everyday affairs. You need tostart with the basics. Ensure that you are eating right,getting enough sleep and adequate exercise. Makegradual progress. On the career front, things will begoing well for you. You are filled with inspiration and theuniverse is by your side. But to get actual results, youneed to act as well. You may have been through setbacksand failures in the past but now there is a promise for abright future. You have it in you to make positive careerchanges, so go for it. Relationship wise, this is a verygood time for you. Those who are committed will moveto the next level. You are likely to have a peaceful andhappy love life.

Lucky number 14Lucky colour GreenLucky day Friday

SCORPIO Oct 23-Nov 21

Anxiety and stress are likely to affect your life thisweek. You will feel let down by some health challenges.It may be a minor illness or test results that you arewaiting for. More than your external situation, it is thetroubled psychological state that is bothering you. Stopworrying about what will happen in the future and thinkabout what needs to be done. On the career front, youare on the verge of completing a project, but face a setback at the last minute. Know that you have the innerresources to overcome any difficulty or challenge. Beresilient as you will be opposed by hidden enemies. Onthe relationship front, you may be confused in decidingwhether to stay with your beloved or move on. Thedecision will affect both your present and future.

Lucky number 10Lucky colour GoldenLucky day Sunday

AQUARIUS Jan 20-Feb 18

This week you have all the positive energy to take goodcare of yourself and upgrade your health. However, itdepends on how well you channelise this energy for yourgood. This is a period of self-transformation. On the workfront, things are not very clear. It is a time whensomething is not what it appears to be. Practice activelistening to make sure that you and your co-workersunderstand each other perfectly. Some of you may feellost as you are unsure of your destination. Be calm andlet your intuition guide you to success. On the personalfront, this is the time to renew your love life. Expressyourself to your partner and see how it works indeepening your relationship. You are ready to exploredifferent aspects of your relationship.

Lucky number 17Lucky colour Sky BlueLucky day Wednesday

PISCES Feb 19-March 20

This week your health will be good. You have beenthrough challenges and are feeling much stronger. Withpositive health comes happiness in other aspects of life.You will feel that you have come a full circle whether it iscareer or relationships. Professionally, you will besurprised at how well things are going for you. Thisperiod will be marked by the end of any problems thatyou have been experiencing, especially related to yourinteraction with others. A compromise will be foundwhich will create a harmonious environment. On thepersonal front, it is time for a breakthrough moment inwhich you feel very inspired and motivated about yourrelationship with your partner. Ensure you expressyourself and know how to use this creative energy.

Lucky number 15Lucky colour GreyLucky day Friday

CAPRICORN Dec 22-Jan 19

This week you need to pay very close attention to youremotions. You may be forced to consider a health planwhich you are currently avoiding. It may be taking a testor getting that surgery or plain following a fitness plan.Whatever it is, seek opinions, feedback, and get to knowthe key information. Also, positive thinking and balancedbehaviour are crucial now. On the work front, things willgo well. If you are already employed, then there arechances for upward mobility. It all depends on whetheryou utilise your thoughts and conquer your fears to usethem for your and everyone else’s highest good. On therelationship front, you are well aware of issues that existin your relationship. The good part is that you are notletting them affect you.

Lucky number 19Lucky colour BlackLucky day Saturday

LEO July 23-Aug 22

This week do not compromise on the health front as youtend to become inflexible in your approach. Analyse howyou are dealing with health issues because chances areyou are resistant to changing your ways for the good.You have established your way of living and are followingthe tried and tested ways. Don’t be rigid in getting thingsdone your way. At work, it is crucial that you have focusand determination to achieve your goals. Chances arethat you will be faced with difficulties and others may tryto limit you. Be confident and work hard to overcome anyopposition. On the personal front, the potential for newbeginnings in relationships or renewal is on the cards. Ifyou are already committed then you will find a deeperspiritual meaning with your partner.

Lucky number 21Lucky colour WhiteLucky day Monday

SAGITTARIUS Nov 22-Dec 21

YYOOUURRWWEEEEKK

AHEADMADHU KOTIYA

sundaymagazine

tarot 8WHOEVER IS WINNING ATTHE MOMENT WILL ALWAYS

SEEM TO BE INVINCIBLE— GEORGE ORWELL Hyderabad, September 27, 2020

One day, a group of self-acclaimedrationalists barged into my officeunannounced to question me on

the relevance of astrology. “Why do youmislead people with this unscientific dis-cipline?” they asked. “Well, I have been astudent of science, which is why I pursuethis discipline with confidence,” Iresponded. More than exposure to oneor other discipline of science, it is thescientific temper that matters the most.Scientific temper calls for a thoroughscrutiny before accepting or rejectingany view point, and with an open mind,free from any limitation whatsoever. Youare expected to thoroughly explore asubject before challenging its relevance.Let me tell you, astrology is a disciplinein its own right, having its own philoso-phy, premise, phraseology and workingmodalities. It doesn’t need sanction ofany other belief or discipline, includingscience, which itself is subject to contin-ued change.

A decade back, a lady known to mecame with a list of astrological terms,not in popular use. She wished to have asmall note on all of them. She informedme that Khuswant Singh (then alive)wished to write critically on Astrology. A

week later, in his weekly column in anational daily, he wrote disparagingly onastrology, based on those few liners.How can such a serious discipline becommented upon through a look intofew selective terms, which he did notunderstand?

Then came the next question: “Howcan you define anybody’s destiny infinite terms? Does individual freewillnot count in making one’s destiny?”Well, it’s your power of freewill thatdefines your destiny. Human beingsenjoy the exclusive privilege to guidetheir actions by choice and discrimina-tion. But whenever there is choiceoption in hand, the probability of its useand misuse remains equal.

And there is nothing like a freelunch in this world. You have to own upand bear with the consequences of thechoices you make. It’s again a mistakenperception that astrology straightawaylooks into one’s future space. Instead, itlooks into your present, which is noth-ing but a culmination of doing in thepast. And, seeded in the present is theway future is expected to unfold. If youknow that you have the seed of a mangotree in hand, if you plant and nurse it,

following its natural chemistry (expectedtimeline), will first sprout and then growinto a full-fledged mango tree. It maynot be out of place to mention here thatshould you self-reflect, through a dispas-sionate look into your thought-trends,you may figure the indwelling desiretrends. And all actions on your part aredriven by inlaid desire-trends, withrelated bearing on future course of life.So, astrology looks into your present,based on which future trends are antici-pated with a fair amount of precision.

Then came a counter: “Agreed, onecan watch out for own thought-trendsthrough self-reflection. But how can youread it through planetary projections?Planet’s gravitational pull can hardlyhave any bearing on us.” First, let me tellyou that it is not just the gravitationalpull of the planets that matters. Theplanets are not to be seen just as physicalobjects moving in the cosmos. All ofthem are energy balls either excitinglight in own right as Sun and other stel-lar bodies, or reflecting those drawnfrom other stellar bodies, or both.

Here a look into scientific principlesdeserves attention. Going by the percep-tion of modern theoretical physics, allexistences in this living world are actual-

ly manifestation of energy streams excit-ed from a ‘Singularity’ following the Big-bang. And energy particles having com-mon root, are in immediate and intimateconnect with each other. Even in so faras human beings are concerned, whatyou see of a being with a form body withhard bones, are at subtle level nothingbut an inseparable web of energy pat-tern, all primarily sourced to nature. So,at energy plane, there exists immediateconnect between man and the cosmicworld.

Now, thoughts playing throughmind are again nothing but energy.Their flow can’t be directly read. Butplanetary motions can be measured witha fair amount of precision. It is the cor-respondence between the movement ofcosmic bodies and the man that helpsdecipher how one’s mind would be flow-ing. So, planets are not doers, they arerather markers of what is going withinour minds. To sum up, though the disci-pline of astrology doesn’t claim scientificheritage, but its operating principlescan’t be termed unscientific either.

The wwriter iis aan aastrologer, vvastu cconsultant and sspiritual ccounsellor. CConnect wwith hhim aat

Tel: 991-111-99818037273/9871037272Email: bbharatbhushanpadmadeo@gmail.com

ASTROTURFBHARAT BHUSHAN PADMADEO

Madhu Kotiya is a tarot card reader, spiritual healer, and Founder, MShezaim Institute of Tarot and Divination. Contact details: madhu@indiatarot.com, www.indiatarot.com, M: 9873283331

Seeds of future are in present

TEAM AGENDA DESK > NAVNEET MENDIRATTA, CONSULTING EDITOR | H LAYOUT AND DESIGN > SATISH CHANDRA JAKHMOLA, SENIOR EDITOR (CREATIVE)

NNooww yyoouu ccaann wwrriittee ttoo uuss aatt aaggeennddaappiioonneeeerr@@ggmmaaiill..ccoomm

sundaymagazine

11Krishna's manifests in icons

F R O M T H E I N S I D E

We all keepdreaming, andluckily, dreams

come true— Katie Holmes

‘I want to explore all mediums’

Hyderabad, September 27, 2020

Picture this: Jay worked as a techni-cal consultant for a financial soft-ware company’s taxation productteam. For a new project, his teamwas forced to interact with the

financial services team due to political pres-sure from senior management. As expected,the initial interactions were a bit contentious.The technical lead for the taxation team,Abhay, saw this as an opportunity to shineand mandated that he would be the point ofcontact for interacting with the financial ser-viced team. All communications were nowrequired to be funneled through him.

This created a precarious situation forJay. All his emails and documents were pre-sented to the other team as if Abhay had pro-duced them. Abhay was taking credit foreverything Jay did. Abhay would edit outmajor chunks of essential technical advicebeyond his level of competence, and hewould keep coming back to Jay for moreinputs on how to answer questions comingfrom the other team. This entire episode leftJay feeling angry, frustrated, and unmotivat-ed.

The above is a classic example of officepolitics. Office politics is a reality that existsin every organisation, big or small: the largerthe firm, the more complex the politics.There is more of everything — players, com-petition, agendas, information, and more togain and lose. If you have enjoyed a goodnumber of years of work experience, I’m sureyou have experienced politicking in theworkplace.

Companies with a great culture knowhow to create systems to minimise or miti-gate politics. Indeed, productivity, employeeengagement, and a company’s growth dependon how much politics exists. Leaders have ahuge responsibility to recognise what causespolitics and which systems, processes, orpeople initiate or encourage it in their com-pany environment. Alternatively, employeesmust also understand their workplace’s polit-ical machinery to bring about success forthemselves and their team members.

As a leadership coach, I work with peo-ple managers from mid-level managers up toCXOs and board members from diverseindustries. These folks are all brilliant, intelli-gent, and accomplished individuals. When Iwork with them on their leadership goalsand challenges, I get to hear the real-life situ-ations they have encountered. The only thingsetting them back is their collective belief inoffice politics. I listen to statements like, “Idon’t like office politics, and I don’t want togo there at all.” “I cannot get to this positionbecause it requires me to be political, and Iam not a political person,” etc.. They holdthemselves back from greatness because oftheir limited perception of office politics. Intheir minds, office politics is a dirty wordthat they are better off not handling.Understanding and cruising through anorganisation’s power dynamics is the key dif-ferentiator between successful and extremelysuccessful people.

WHAT IS OFFICE POLITICS, AFTER ALL? It is all about power, influence, and rela-

tionships, the power entanglements betweencoworkers trying to get ahead. These strug-gles for advancement are usually based onwhat you are after and whom you formalliances with. Some people are drawn into itintentionally, many accidentally and mostunknowingly.

Definitely, through years of work experi-ence, people do learn to deal with this beastmore effectively. But why leave such a criticalskill to chance? Why not address it head-onby understanding the power dynamics early

on in your career and moving ahead victori-ously in your leadership journey.

SMELLING POLITICSThere are a few tell-tale signs of environ-

ments being intensely political. If youencounter these signs, often you know thechances of getting stuck in the dirty swamp ofpolitics are high. Beware when you encounterthe following patterns:l There is a lack of transparency in communi-cations. People are not direct and don’t meanwhat they say. There exists an unspoken sys-tem within the organisation that needs to beworked. l Often poor performers are neither fired norreprimanded. Superstar employees quitbecause they don’t want to play the game anddon’t see any future growth.l The majority of the people are unwilling toacknowledge and celebrate their team mem-ber’s successes. Other’s growth invokes nega-tive emotions such as discomfort, resentment,or jealousy! They view it as being left behind.l Fear and limitations of opportunities drivemost conversations, decisions, and behaviours.l There is a constant underlying sense of com-petition amongst individuals for roles, visibili-ty, or growth.l Trust in leadership is weak.l Most individual performance rewards arenot in alignment with those of the organisa-tion’s wins.l People’s need for opportunity or recognitionmakes them nervous and fearful of makingmistakes and taking risks.l Most employees have little knowledge of andvisibility into the company’s decision-making.There is a significant distance between junior-level employees and executives; too manyclosed-door meetings with exclusive informa-tion are not shared with the rest of the organi-sation.l There is a lack of ownership amongst peo-ple. The general tendency is to shirk responsi-bility when possible. Instead of stepping upand taking on tasks outside their area, peoplecan quickly assign blame to someone else.

TIPS AND TRICKSBelow are a few tricks on dealing with cor-

porate politics:Observe and listen: Most people jump intothings from the intention of action and contri-bution. Whether it is a meeting, a project, or anew role, everyone wants to perform well, andso they start doing things. Instead, be in anobservation and listening mode before youchoose to take action. This will help you iden-tify the influencers — they are the stakehold-ers that hold power to move things in theorganisation. Understand their needs andmindsets.

Do you know how the power distributionin your organisation works? Who are the keydecision-makers? What are their motivations?

Trust but not blindly: It is wonderful to findgood friends in your colleagues; after all, youare spending many waking hours with them.Research proves that it can be extremelyhealthy to have friendships at work. Personalbonds at work are essential; however, there is adifference between personal and professionalrelationships. Knowing the limits and bound-aries of these relationships is crucial.

It requires one to walk that tightropebetween sharing and oversharing. Practicessuch as socialising outside of work are helpingto advance careers and build networks andbonds. Be mindful — a drink too many canexpose you and give people something to talkabout or lead to even more severe conse-quences. The same rules apply to social mediainteractions with colleagues.

Iconography has an important place inIndia's cultural tradition, since it has

religion and philosophy as its integral part

AS INDIVIDUALSWORKING IN THE

BUSINESS WORLD,WHEN YOU FEEL

POWERLESS ANDOUT OF CONTROL

IN SITUATIONSWHERE YOU

BELIEVE YOU AREAT THE RECEIVINGEND OF POLITICALMANOEUVERS OF

COWORKERS, IT ISESSENTIAL TO

REMEMBER THATTHERE ARE

SEVERALTECHNIQUES YOU

CAN APPLY TOSUCCEED. YOU

HAVE A CHOICE.THE CHOICE MAY

NOT ALWAYS BE ANEASY ONE

INTHE

Be clear of your vision: We all have avision for our lives, spoken or unspo-ken, explicit or implicit. A vision is howone commits to living their life, demon-strated by their choices, actions, words,and behaviors. What separates greatleaders from the average one is theirability to crystallise their vision andthen execute goals towards it. Beingclear of your desired reality helps youstay out of the unnecessary messes andface with courage and conviction, thepaths essential to actualise your dreams.

Communicate your vision: Once youknow and own your vision, communi-cate it intelligently and smartly withyour manager and team members. Thismay or may not mean sharing every-thing. Your vision may be to become theCFO of an organisation in a few years,identify the skills and experiences youneed to get there, and communicateonly those.

Stay informed, but avoid gossip: Keepin mind, no matter how tempting itmight seem, hear gossip but don’t gen-erate or propagate it. Being aware ofwhat is going on around you is prudent,but make sure not to get sucked into it.Being viewed as a gossip underminesthe trust people will have in you. Loosetalk can get you in trouble or make youseem immature.

There is a significant differencebetween gossiping and stayinginformed. The former projects you asimmature while the latter is a skill onemust develop to succeed at work.

Information is powerful: Most suc-cessful politicians spend their energymanaging up, down and sideways.They hustle and work their chain ofcommand. Such people base theircareer on building alliances with thepower brokers. They are astute enoughto be present at all the right meetings,jump in, and take personal credit for

other’s work and are informationhoarders. Information is power, andpower is politics. The one who hasknowledge holds power. The clear signof a political person is that they rarelyshare information.

Learn to read people: So many times, Ihave come across leaders misjudgingsituations and the intentions of people.The outspoken ones are edged to speakup the politically incorrect things likecomplaining about the health benefitsor a new policy. People don’t flinchbefore showing enthusiasm for ideasand activities that may harm yourcareer. As part of building ExecutivePresence, I often help leaders get edu-cated on sensing and reading body lan-guage in others and utilising powerstances for themselves. Reading peopleand situations is the number one talentto get ahead without getting in trouble.

Integrity and ethics always win: Thegeneral impression is that people thatrise quickly often have to do unethicalthings to get there. The negative conse-quences of acting out of your value sys-tem or integrity will catch up with you.There is no escaping that. Sometimesthings may take a little longer but staythe course and don’t succumb to wrong-doings and temptations.

GOOD POLITICS VERSUS BAD POLITICSMy book Checkmate Office Politics

discusses the distinction between goodpolitics and bad politics. Practicinggood or healthy politics enables peopleto further personal and team interestsfairly and justly. Staying alert and awareof the ‘bad’ politics helps to avoid need-less suffering and being taken advantageof. To look at politics through a positivelens, one must first understand the dif-ference between good and bad politicsor healthy and unhealthy politics.Healthy Politics: Healthy politicsalways attempts to empower

individuals. An effective politicianbuilds a strong network at all levelsinside and outside of an organisation.They are familiar with the pulse ofemployees at all levels. They have acrisp and clear understanding of thesuccess parameters in theirorganisation. Healthy politics requiressharing information and encouragingothers to do the same. Good politicsbelieves unity is Strength. Goodpoliticking fuels the promotion ofinnovation and problem-solving. Itadvocates respect and inclusiveness forall, irrespective of their role andposition. There is a goal of improvingsystems instituting permanentsolutions to problems. In the aboveexample of Jay and Abhay, Abhay wasdoing a good thing by streamlining thecommunication through a narrowchannel to avoid confusion, howeverhe could have given credit to Jayhighlighting his contributions in hisinteractions to avoid the bad politics.

Unhealthy Politics: The mostsignificant sign of harmful politics is thepersonal gains of a handful of people.Unhealthy politics leads to a divide andrule philosophy. It promotes authorityand compliance and creates a distanceamong people based on thesedifferences. Bad politics deviateattention away from the real issues.

As individuals working in the busi-ness world, when you feel powerless andout of control in situations where youbelieve you are at the receiving end ofpolitical manoeuvers of coworkers, it isessential to remember that there areseveral techniques you can apply to suc-ceed. You have a choice. The choice maynot always be an easy one. However, it isusually a choice between staying in yourcomfort zone or getting uncomfortablebut evolving into a better leader.

The writer is a leadership coach and anauthor. She has just published

Checkmate Office Politics: Build aPositive Power Equation at Work

with SAGE India

Office politics is a reality that exists in every

organisation, big or small, writes BHAVNA DALAL

as she shares a few tricks on how to deal with

corporate politics

POLITICSWORKPLACE

10 SHEEN DASS, who plays Chinamma in SET’sIndiawaali Maa, speaks with MUSBA HASHMIabout her role, how the acting bug bit her...

sundaymagazine

spirituality 10Hyderabad, September 27, 2020

THE WAY TO GAIN A GOODREPUTATION IS TO

ENDEAVOUR TO BE WHATYOU DESIRE TO APPEAR

— SOCRATES

HIDDENSOULSPRAMOD PATHAK

Bollywood is in the eye of a storm.The industry thatdid yeoman service for the masses by entertainingthem has suddenly become a cesspool, a term Big B

used for politics. Nevertheless, Bollywood has been provid-ing three hours of power-packed action, fantasy, joy andromance — all for the price of peanuts. It made people laugh,cry, filled them with rage, and made them partake in theworld of make-believe. It aroused and awakened too, at times.All that has been pushed to the backburner. But before blam-ing Bollywood for all that is bad in the society we need topause and ponder. In more than a century of its history, theMumbai film industry has served the society in a way fewindustries have done. It has researched like no institutioncould do, it has taught like no teacher would have done. Itde-stressed the masses, at a price that the common mancould afford. It provided an outlet for the pent up feelingsof the people, made them rejoice and giggle, filled them withecstasy, made them forget their sorrows casting a magicalspell. There was a salutary hangover too. People would talkand discuss even after they had seen the film. No mean ser-vice to a huge majority that was starved for pleasure andjoy. It advocated the right lessons too. That it’s the good thattriumphs over the evil in the end. Or as you sow so you reap.All of a sudden, everything is being painted black. So blackthat it reeks of a design. Reasons are not far to seek. FrancisBacon once said that if you go deep into any problem youwill find people. Only, replace people with politics. Man,after all, is a political animal. So if you go deep into a prob-lem, you will find politics. Dirty politics. Forget those blamegames. Forget those ideas of cronyism and syndicate, lob-bies and pressure groups. They are everywhere. Even in thenoblest of institutions. We must go back to the basics. Andthat reminds of the class four English language idiom — Abad workman blames his tools. There is a hindi equivalent,too, and in Bollywood lingo: “If you don’t know how todance, you find fault with the dancing floor”. Films and thefilm world are of a different genre and for a different pur-pose. To be objective, films don’t create society, they reflectsociety. And on this count they are more real than manynews channels which pollute the society more than the films.Films are market driven and showcase the society. There isno formula for a hit film nor a lobby. It is the film goer whodecides and he is highly erratic. Interestingly, he himself does-n’t know why. Same happens in the case of film stars. Orelse meagre budget and no star film like Jai Santoshi Maawould not have been a bigger hit than the mega budget multi-starrer Sholay in the same year. Coming to stars making itbig, examples galore prove that it’s God given merit and notGodfather. From Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar and Rajkumarto Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha and the like provethat it is only merit. And failure of star sons confirms this.One last take. And a crucial one. While many news chan-nels try selling lies as truth, films are doing it the other wayround. Bollywood must stand and the show must go on.

Pathak is a professor of management, writer, and an acclaimed public speaker. He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com

Then, we accept His creation.This has a huge implication onour lives. We will begin to seek

God’s guidance and help, because thisis the cosmic design. We, souls, areparts of God. (Bhagawad Gita 15.7) Ourexistence, independent of God, is verytroublesome as those who don’t havea connection do realise sooner orlater. And God will guide and help; wejust need to approach Him in allhumility. Therefore, humility is the firstquality we inculcate in ourselves.Imagine a world where people are hum-ble and treat others with respect. Thisbrings us to the next quality — becom-ing better. The way the creation is, thereis only one big entity, that is God. Wehumans are small and will remain so.However, there is no bar on becomingbetter.

This leads us to the third quality —to be able to coexist with others. Ourrelationships improve greatly. We realisethat no one is perfect, only God is,therefore, we need to accept faults ofothers as others accept ours. We alsorealise that we depend upon a whole lotof people for our existence. Slowly, themode of goodness begins to gainascendency. We speak better, we behavebetter, etc. This mode has an enormousinfluence over our senses and themind. It prods us to eat what is usefulto us, see what is illuminating, hearwhat benefits, and so on.

Gradually, we enter the spiritualrealm. We understand that there is athing like the Karmaphala principle.This is in short — what we sow, we reap.This is as simple as that. Some fruits areinstant, like if we appreciate someonewe get excellent vibrations from thatperson. Some take long like studyingto become financially self-supporting.

We begin to watch all our actions inorder to create a better future for our-selves. This is the beginning of spiritu-al intelligence. The wise ones turn tothe book eternal wisdom — The Gita.One then progresses to become eithera medium of God or an instrument.God uses us to deliver benefits to otherpeople. For example, someone is to geta donation, the Lord inspires one of usto do this noble deed, for which theLord rewards handsomely. Then, Goduses advanced devotes to deliver Hisinstructions to other devotees, that isHe uses one of His own to do this veryimportant job. Advancing this way, asoul begins to enjoy the company ofGod — the highest achievement priorto qualifying for liberation after a fewlives.

This is about those who acceptGod. The story is quite different forthose who don’t. They believe in thechance theory, that is anything can hap-pen anytime, though this is absurd. Onetime a person was arguing with meabout this; he said that he believed inchance. I asked him whether he sends

his children to school. He said yes. I,then, advised him to avoid this pain;they may get educated by chance. Egoof such persons is quite dominant; theydon’t listen to reason. They are guidedby material intelligence even thoughthere is cause and effect there also. Theyare mostly in the modes of passion anddarkness, and suffer on account ofthem. Their senses and minds are most-ly uncontrolled. They wish to becomebigger — a mirage.

Most of their lives such persons tryto compete with others or feel that oth-ers are after them. They are mostlyalone, at least this is how they feel. Lifeis mostly rudderless, jumping from onematter to another; there is hardlymuch focus. After all, without God con-sciousness, one will be whimsical only.

Therefore, it is wise to accept God.Life will take a perfect direction withunimaginable advantages accruing,and God will help in piloting usthrough future lives till we qualify forliberation — the greatest boon.

Bishnoi is a spiritual writer and can be reachedat spiritual@ajitbishnoi.com

Krishna, the theme did notconfine itself to the literaryworks alone, but also hasmanifested itself elaborate-ly in the art forms of India

which include, sculptural representa-tions, icons, images, paintings, murals-miniatures and archaeology (whichhas its subparts seals — epigraphy,coins and monuments etc). This arti-cle aims at providing an idea as to howShri Krishna has deeply expressedhimself through this varied art tradi-tion of India.

Generally, the icons are named asKrishna’s archa-avataras. Sanskrit termfor icon is archa-vigraha. Besides, termicon has its parallel in the word, pra-tima, which means an image. In theform of the science of images or pra-timas, iconography has a long histo-ry in India, which dates back to theVedic age. As one of the Rigvedicmantra mentions, one best icon (para-maapratima). After the Mauryan peri-od, elaborate temple iconographydeveloped in India and it continued tillthe Muslim invasions.

Iconography has an importantplace in India’s cultural tradition,since the same has religion and phi-losophy as its integral parts and as theimage worship constitutes the very

basis of its religion. Since, the religiousand philosophical trends originatefrom people’s mind and thus provemajor role in their lives, the icons thusserving as effective modes of express-ing this ideals and imparts regardingthe favorite icons of Krishna and othergods were also engraved in sculpturesalong side in the temples.

This art tradition on Krishna wasdeveloped on the basis of the Puranasand the Mahabharata. Its main aimwas to depict concepts-imageriesthemes, which are associated withKrishna from time to time. It also aimsto delineate new theological themes —or trends and symbols associatedwith Krishna in the later Puranas.With the result, his icons were engraft-ed with murals depicting new mean-ings and dimensions of his concept.Although, the scriptures in this wayhave provided much fundamentalframe-work to his icons and haveplayed a major role in the developmentof iconography of Krishna, yet differ-ences of treatment of Krishna conceptby both these sources (scriptural andicon — Art) is vividly visible.

As any tradition in India has neverceased to grow and further develop,the same trend applies to the Art tra-dition relating to Krishna’s iconic

manifestations. It has developed itselfunto a new form to meet the chal-lenges of time and circumstances. Italso had developed within its rangenew theological details from thepuranas, and the icons thus madeserved as very important mediums ofworship in the religious scenario of theIndians. Hence, during these times,the iconography of Krishna attainedthe mega position in the cultural artof India.

Now, to define icon, it is found thatgenerally icon of God or Krishnaimplies his imitation. Reference to theart tradition of iconography in Indiabe cited in the Vedas and upnishads,in the form of pratikriti. Besides, it isalso held that the vedic concept of theGods has inspired the framework ofthe icons of Gods, as in the Vedas andthe subsequent works Gods are spo-ken ‘men of the sky or Divo-naras andalso having forms like those of thehuman beings or Nri-peshas”.

As far as Krishna’s iconography isconcerned it has developed on thebasis of the scriptures like Agamas andthe Puranas. These works providemuch authentic material on Krishna’sicons, which are said to be of such typelike Chala, Achula, meaning thosewhich are very light in weight and

heavy in weight, light weight icons arefurther of four types known as Vautaka(those worshipped daily); utsava (wor-shipped on particular occasion); Bali(worshipped each day with offering ofPrasad); Snapana (sprinkled withholy water).

Where as the Achala icons aremade of stone and are of types suchas, mula vigraha and Dhruva. TheDhruva icon is further of these typeslike standing (sthanak), asan (sitting)and shayan (lying), with regard to thedetermination of dress ornamentssymbols which are to be applied thepeople of those regions according totheir cultural standards and trends.Apart from these types of Krishna’sicons other types of icons are men-tioned by Krishna’s icons other typesof icons are mentioned by Krishnahimself to Uddhava in a dialogue inBhagavatapurana, where he says thathis icons can be made of clay, sandalwood, stone, metal, sand, crystal, andof mental imagery (manomaya).

Generally, in the literary traditionon Krishna, the icons of Krishna aremade on the basis of the symbolswhich serve as key notes for makingicons individually and distinguishingthese form the other. The frameworkof icons is contemplated according tosome symbols in the abstract formand then is expressed in materialabstract form of specific symbol.Amongst all the Gods, it is Krishnawho has mostly impressed the templeart form of the medieval age, where-by he is shown in multiple form suchas Venugopal, alone or accompanyingRadha and other gopis during Rasa,holding govardhana mountain; asYogi in Narada’s vision, as youngcowherd boy in the company ofBalarama and Subhadra, as warriorkilling Kansa and his wrestlersJarasandha and Shishupala, drivingArjuna’s chariot.

In the icons, Krishna is eitherendowed with two or four arms. Twoarmed Krishna is in abhayadana pose.While, four armed Krishna is endowedwith conch, mace, chakra and lotus inhands. That various cults have addedto varied manifestations of Krishna iniconic forms. For instance, the cult oflotus and of conch, of mace associat-ed with Yaksha (he always holdsmace) be mentioned. Besides, mythol-ogy has also its role in the frameworkof the icons where he is depicted alongwith his family members.

Finally to conclude, let us assumethat the iconic representation ofKrishna provides us the true transla-tion in lithic form of the texts of thepuranas and the epic and thus supple-ments the same.

The writer is a noted Indologist and authorityon Krishnaite Studies

Stand upBollywood

KRISHNA’S MANIFESTS IN ICONS

When we accept God...Life takes a perfect direction with unimaginable advantages accruing,when God guide us through our lives, writes AJIT KUMAR BISHNOI

While some people have looked at this pandemic as a difficult situation to bedealt with, there are some significant advantages as well, says DR BINAY SINGH

Iconography has an important place in India's cultural tradition, since it hasreligion and philosophy as its integral part, writes DR ASHA GOSWAMI

Past few months have been really diffi-cult for anyone trying to cope up withthe current times of pandemic, but it

has also bought opportunities for people toexplore. Time at home where most of theadults and all of the kids no longer have theresponsibilities of rushing off to work andschool every day. It’s an amazing gift thatthis pandemic has bestowed upon us, andaround the world we’re seeing people enjoy-ing it in ways they never thought possible.Individuals could invest their time in theright thing by staying at home and by beingproductive. These are a few ways to stayoptimistic and that will help you becomeuseful and productive during the Pandemic: l Read the Classics: The local librariesmight be off-limits, but there are a numberof devices you can use to read as manybooks, magazines, comics, or graphic novelsas you want, many for a substantiallyreduced price. There are great book web-sites all over with bucket lists of bookseveryone should read at least once in theirlifetime. Make a goal of reading one perweek and see how far you get and whatwonderful new worlds you can discover.l Planting & Gardening: Your home isyour castle. Time to upgrade it! If yourworking hours are reduced or gone com-pletely for a while, turn your energytowards improving the condition of yourhome and yard. Surely somewhere in yourhome, there are projects to take on that youare handy enough to handle. It might meanpatching a hole in your fence, re-painting aroom, replacing the weather stripping onthe door, or planting new flower beds toadd some color to your life. Most homerepair stores are still open as they count asessential businesses. Pretty much every pro-ject under the sun you might want to takeon has an instructional video availableonline at YouTube or another site, so surveyyour home and yard and find a project that

you have been itching to scratch.l If you can’t learn, teach! There is some-thing inherent to human nature that pre-vents us from shutting ourselves off com-pletely from one other. We still seek to bringour contributions to the fight against thevirus by whatever means we can. Peopleeverywhere have taken to the Internet tomake their presence known in a helpfulway. Some offer psychological support, oth-ers provide inventive ways of killing time byteaching classes and Do-It-Yourself (DIY)courses. A few gentle souls are even there tooffer a conversation partner to those whoare stuck alone in isolation.

If you’ve got a device that records video,you’re qualified to teach people how to dosomething. If you’ve got an audio recorderand a voice, you’re set to record a podcastabout anything you want — your expertisein your job field, your favorite music ormovie, your own brand of humour, whatev-er you think people will enjoy listening to.

The Internet is not only a way for us tocome together, but also to share positivemessages and stories in this time of distress.

l Team Building exercises: Spread theknowledge. People have slowly adapted tothe new normal of “Working from home”. Itmust have probably been a while since thepeers must have even spoke to each otheron the calls other than work, coming upwith sessions where team can speak abouttheir experiences of working from home,share some good ideas and play somegames can help the rejuvenate the thoughtprocess of the employees and they feel freshand start working with a positive attitude. l Analyse your budget: Even though, theeconomy has re-opened, it will somehowstill take time for it to be back to normaland boost and hence it becomes veryimportant to reassess our current budgetand our expenditures. One should high-light and spend where it is important atleast during this time of pandemic becauseit can help you get a gist of where themoney is going and will also be beneficialin a longer run.

The writer is the author of Coronavirus: Opportunitythrough Adversity and CEO, Singh Marine

Management Ltd

Ways to stay productive

THE ICONICREPRESENTATION

OF KRISHNAPROVIDES US THE

TRUE TRANSLATIONIN LITHIC FORM OFTHE TEXTS OF THEPURANAS AND THE

EPIC AND THUSSUPPLEMENTS THE

SAME

n What is your role in IndiawaaliMaa?

I play Chinamma, a girl fromMangalore. She is Rohan’s girlfriend.They both have moved to the US and areplanning to return to India now. She istruly in love with Rohan and wants tosupport him in his business. She has alot of baggage since her childhood. Shelost her mother at an early age so shenever got to experience that selfless love.She wonders how someone can loveselflessly and make sacrifices. Thoughher father loves her, he wants her tofollow the family traditions. However,she wants to do what she loves in life. Shewants to experience what true lovereally is.n What made you say yes to the role?

I have worked with Akshay beforeand when he told me about the projectand that he had signed it, I found itinteresting. The story is such that it willtouch everybody’s heart. Today, most ofus have become thankless to our parentsand the ef forts they put in ourupbringing. In such a scenario, theshow gives out a beautiful message andit feels great that I am a part of this show.The show is a tribute to all Indianmothers. n How did acting happen to you?

I was always inclined towards it, butI didn’t take it seriously initially. No onefrom my family was in this field and Ihad no idea of how to get there andbecome a part of it. It just happened withme. I was working with a bank in Delhiand got an opportunity to do a small rolein a project. Then people startedrecommending me for some projects andthen I started giving auditions. It was likea chain for me. n How supportive was your family?

My family has a lways beensupportive. They never me or my sisterwhat should we become in our loves,they left it upto us to make a choice.

Had anyone from my family been inthis field, I would have definitelyreceived some tips from them, but thatwas not the case. Hence, I was all bymyself, but they never stopped me fromdoing anything.n Were there any apprehensions beforeentering this field?

There were many. But slowly yourealise that in every artistic field, thereis very low certainity. So either you gofor a settled job and be certain abouteverything or take that risk to becomewhat you want. It’s your choice to make.n What kind of roles attract you?

There are a lot of roles that attractme. TV is changing and some beautifulshows are coming up that offer actorssome good roles. So I would like to bea part of shows that are unique and havean interesting story to tell.n Any plans of exploring the digitalspace?

Yes, definitely. There are so manyplatforms now and an actor can do somuch. I would like to explore everything.

I have not done much work till date, it’salmost like a starting. I want to webseries, theatre and films. I want toexplore all the mediums.n Any actor or director you would liketo work with?

There are lots of them. It’s very hardto name one. After every movie that Isee, I end up following the actors anddirectors on Instagram and then keepstalking them.n Do you still get butterflies in yourstomach when you see yourself on TV?

Yes. It happens with me everytime Ido a new project. Whenever I am on sets,I get so nervous and excited at the sametime. But after doing a couple of scenes,I get back to normal.

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 films & tv 11

‘I want to explore all mediums’VANDANA LALWANI’S INSPIRATION

Sony Entertainment Television’s latestoffering Indiawaali Maa which aptlydepicts that mother's love is pure,

unconditional, and eternal. The showfeatures an ensemble cast starring SuchitaTrivedi as Kaku, Nitesh Pandey asHasmukh, Akshay Mhatre as Rohan, SheenDass as Chinamma along with VandanaLalwani as Vasundhara in the show.

Vandana Lalwani who is making acomeback on the show after a long time isdonning the kannadian avatar and playingthe role of Chinamma’s stepmother, speaksabout her character. She said: “I gotexcited on knowing about this opportunityas I love Kannadian culture. Although itwas a challenge for me to get into thecharacter of Vasundhra who is Chinamma'sstepmother and doesn't vibe well with herbut somehow I perfectly managed to lookauthentic, and everyone loved it.”

She then continues: “I love their attireand even for the auditions I donned akanjivaram saree and with gajara whichwas loved by everybody. Hema ji and SriDevi ji movies helped me out to catch holdof the accent and give my best. Also, Vasuis one such character who brings a laughto everyone on sets and I hope for apositive response from the audience.”

RANDHIR KAPOOR SPILLS SECRETSZee TV's popular singing reality show,

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs has beenwinning hearts courtesy the amazingperformances by the wonderfulcontestants. After celebrating the 80's erawith Bollywood stars like Amol Palekar andAnnu Kapoor, the popular reality show is allset to keep the era of classics alive bywelcoming another legend of the Hindi filmindustry, Randhir Kapoor. In the upcomingepisode, while the contestants will leaveeveryone mesmerised with their iconicperformances, Randhir Kapoor will be seenrevealing some interesting secrets!

Amongst the various performancesput up by the Top 7 Li'l Champs, it wasRanita and Aryananda's performance toDer Na Ho Jaye Kahin from the movie

Henna which left everyone spellboundduring the shoot. In fact, it took RandhirKapoor down memory lane as he recalledfond memories that he shares with RishiKapoor. While sharing several anecdotesabout the movie, he revealed how Hennawas originally Raj Kapoor's dream project.As the veteran actor shared: “Henna wasindeed Raj Kapoor ji's prodigy and hisdream project for years. After his saddemise, when we wanted to make a movie,Rishi and I, followed his path and wentahead with Henna. In fact, we eventravelled to Pakistan only to convince ZebaBakhtiar and get her onboard for the film,which was quite a hassle back in time.Casting for the movie was indeed a task,but somehow we worked through that andstarted to shoot.”

Furthermore, speaking about thesong, the actor added: “Our father was avery punctual man, but Rishi and I did notshare this trait with him. When we wereyoung, Rishi was always late and whenPapa asked him why he was late, he wouldreply, ‘Main der karta nahi, der hojati hai'and this phrase was almost like our takiakalam. These incidents led to the songMain der karta nahin and thus the songwas made and it was played during theclimax of Henna. So it holds a very specialplace in my heart.”

Sharing several interesting stories andanecdotes, Randhir Kapoor will surelyleave the judges, jury and contestants

stunned. And while contestant TanishkaSarkar will be seen delivering a spectacularperformance to Dafliwale, Zaid Ali'sperformance to Hai Agar Dushman willsurely win everyone's heart. All in all, theupcoming episode of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'lChamps will have a lot of melodies,memories and surprises for the viewers.

NEW TWIST IN BAALVEER RETURNSSony SAB’s fantasy show Baalveer

Returns is set to take an unexpected twistas the upcoming episodes promise to putthe viewers on the edge of their seats. Afternearly being killed by the evil group fromShinkai, Vivaan (Vansh Sayani) andBaalveer (Dev Joshi) commence their huntfor Vivaan’s attacker. The viewers mustbrace themselves for an exciting turn ofevents as Baalveer and his team come one

step closer in uncovering this new threaton earth.

Baalveer, while saving Vivaan, getsinjured and drops unconscious on thestage. Milsa (Shweta Khanduri) makes useof this opportunity and collects a vile ofBaalveer’s blood for his plasma and sendsit off to Baambaal through Tauba Tauba(Shridhar Watsar). Baalpari (Sharmilee Raj)cures Baalveer through her magic andlearns that Baalveer’s blood has been takenby Milsa. Baalpari reveals that a single dropof Baalveer’s blood is really powerful and ifit gets into the wrong hands, it can be usedto create havoc.

To stop the culprit, Baalveer, Vivaanand Baalpari start their hunt to find Milsa.The team comes one step closer to theirmission, as they finally get hold of Milsa –Baambaal’s loyalist. Baalveer and Vivaanforce and torture Milsa to reveal the namesof her team member and their mission onearth. On the other hand, Baambaal(Vimarsh Roshan) comes to know aboutMilsa’s capture and realises that he nowruns the risk of getting exposed.

Will Milsa reveal their true intention onearth? What will Baalveer and Vivaan donext?

Dev Joshi, essaying the role ofBaalveer said: “Veerlok has finally capturedMilsa. The upcoming episodes on BaalveerReturns of packed with suspense andtwists. The entire week was full of danceand dhamal while the weekends with ashocking plot twist. Our viewers are goingto thoroughly enjoy this major twist on theshow as one of the evil gang members hasfinally been captured. It has been excitingto shoot the dance sequences with Anahita,Shoaib and the others as this is notsomething we often do on the sets. It hasbeen an entirely new and refreshingexperience which I will always cherish. So,stay tuned and watch this masti andsuspense-filled week unfold only onBaalveer Returns."

Shweta Khanduri, essaying the role ofMilsa said: “Essaying a negative role ischallenging but I am glad I am playing therole of Milsa. This character has so manyshades to her. She is brutal, smart and ago-getter. The episodes further will witnessMilsa accomplish a part of Shinkai’s biggermission and it will be interesting for theviewers to watch how she protects herteam members. I have had a blast shootingfor these episodes and I hope our viewersenjoy the surprises we have in store forthem.

T E L L Y T A L E

SHEEN DASS, who plays Chinamma in SET’s Indiawaali Maa, speaks withMUSBA HASHMI about her role, how the acting bug bit her and how she ends upfollowing actors and directors on social media after every movie that she watches

HOME THEATRE

CRACKDOWN Voot SelectEpisodes 8*ing: Saqib Saleem, ShriyaPilgaonkar, Iqbal Khan andothers Rated: 8/10

Apoorva Lakhia has shrunkfrom the big screen to tubespace, from multiplexes to

OTT, much too smoothly to notraise an eyebrow or two.

Having said that, the webseries that he has directed,Crackdown, brings in it, explosiveenergy, slick pace and of coursethe ability to withstand and negatein style any possibility of beingfathomed, till the very end.

That’s what makes this slicklyput together anti-terror spy storyworth the time you would spendwith it, on it. Lakhia skillfullypursues the goal of making hisviewers susceptible to bingewatching and then audaciouslywalks away with an ending that’sabrupt, killing and fodder foranother season chant withoutlosing much time.

Without letting out anyspoilers, the story pursues acovert operation and operatorswithin RAandW to take downterrorati in general and terrorcells in particular. Taking downterror cells, as it turns out,becomes like a walk into thebeehive with plot after plot

springing up to taunt the hero inpursuit. Saqeeb, by the way,manages the operation with a nononsense approach that leaves notime for the viewer to dwell onanything else than the job athand. That gives the series apinpoint focus and narrows downavenues to stray into emotionsother than the one which givesthem constant palpitation andanticipation.

Lakhia, please do zoom intoSeason 2 just like the way youtook us through Season 1.... withno time lost, with no bilaterals,with no dilly dallying. After all,you have sent the benchmark forthis much anticipated secondpart.

Crackling thriller inneed for Season 2

ENOLA HOLMESNetflix*ing: Millie Bobby Brown, Sam Claflin, Henry Cavill, Helena Bonham Carter Rated: 6/10

Let’s get one thing clear here. Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes neverhad a sister; only an older brother, Microft. So fans of the original 56 storiesby the author should not be scratching their heads wondering where this

sister was all along. This movie directed by Harry Bradbeer is based on a series of books written

by Nancy Springer. Now that we have one of the most popular detective characterall sorted out, it’s time to talk about the movie.

It is interesting to see how this sister is so much like Sherlock Holmes andat times smarter. Yes, she does manage to outwit and outsmart him, at least inthis one, to be a step ahead and solve the mystery. A bit strange to see a film thathas Sherlock Holmes and him taking a back seat. But Henry Cavill, yes the manwho plays Superman, fits the bill here. His straight laced face with somewhat smirkwhen he realises that he has been upped by a 16-year-old makes one smile sincewe all know that Sherlock Holmes was only outwitted once in his life — a womanwhom he referred to as The Lady.

Given that Benedict Cumberbatch played this life size character in the BBCseries so well, Cavill sits pretty in this role.

Millie Bobby Brown who plays Enola Holmes is brilliant. She is funny,charming and steals your heart from the word go even if she doesn’t conform tothe definition of how a proper lady should behave — definitely not stand in frontof her brothers in knickers pants and camisole worn in 1890s. But she holds herground brilliantly and takes you on a roller coaster ride. While there isn’t muchof a mystery yet Brown manages to keep the viewers entertained till the very end.So much so that one will wait for the next one. There are more right?

— Shalini Saksena

Enola Holmes holdsground

SECRET SOCIETY OF SECOND-BORN ROYALSDisney+Hotstar*ing: Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Niles Fitch, Isabella Blake-Thomas, Olivia Deeble Rated: 6/10

What would you do if you are the second-born royal? Mostprobably travel the world, do charity work, cut ribbons andsupport your sibling whenever called upon to so. Not quite right

if one goes by the movie directed by Anna Mastro. Here, if you are second-born you are born with certain privileges or should one say powers uniqueto each royal born later even if it is by a minute.

So if one is missing out on watching Avenger movies, Secret Society...is somewhat of a substitute. Or one can say that it is the fun take on theX-Men series.

While it may not be on the lines of Avengers and X-Men, it does comewith its fair share of gizmos, secret organisation, a fancy costume, a jetand not to forget a plot where there is revenge and murder. The filmis entertaining enough given that these royals have weird powers whichthey must master not to benefit themselves but to do good for the othersand ensure that the world is free from dangerous criminals.

It is engrossing, exhilarating and kid-friendly. At the same time, theadults can enjoy the intrigue and the underground operative station —like a Batman Cave and state of the art weapons and computers to keeptabs on what is happening around the globe and in the house of the mostnotorious criminals as well.

Quite the operation that will keep the adults glued to the seats tillthe very end.

If you love movies where the characters have superpowers that theyuse to fight crime, even if they are just teenagers, Secret Society... is justup your alley.

— Shalini Saksena

Fun take on X-Men series

I WAS ALWAYSINCLINED TOWARDSACTING, BUT I DIDN’TTAKE IT SERIOUSLY

INITIALLY. NO ONE FROMMY FAMILY WAS IN THIS

FIELD AND I HAD NOIDEA OF HOW TO GET

THERE AND BECOME APART OF IT. IT JUSTHAPPENED WITH ME

HYDERABAD | SUNDAY | SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 12

A scientist, educator and currently the Vice-Chancellor of the University ofHyderabad, Professor Appa Rao Podile is someone who has come from a very humble

background and achieved success, receiving accolades for his work. In a candid chatwith The Pioneer, Prof Podile shares with NAMRATA SRIVASTAVA his upbringing,

his passion for teaching and his tryst with the theatre.

HUMBLE BEGINNING

I hail from a small village inGuntur from a farming family.I am the youngest of four sib-lings. My childhood was full of

beautiful memories which I still cherish.Growing up in a village is a completelydifferent experience. I absolutely lovednature and the open space. However, fora few years in the early years of my life, Idid not receive any formal education. Itwas only from Class VI that I went to aZilla Parishad High School, which wasalso around 6 to 7 km away. I and myfriends used to walk all the way toschool and back every day.

Till I was in school, I wasn't a verybright student. My teachers would countme as among the brightest in the class,but as per the standard these days, I wasnot that good. In fact, I was among 64year students from my school that tookthe Class X examinations together. Inthose days, there was a rule of passingstudents called 'moderate'. As per that, ifa student has passed in all exams, buthas scored 10 marks less in one paper(except Hindi), they would be consid-ered passed. That year, only eight of the64 students who took the exam weredeclared passed. I was one of them. Butall eight of us passed as ‘moderate’.

TEACHING WAS ALWAYS A PASSION

I believe I was always inclined towardsteaching. I liked to teach my friends any-thing that they needed help with. Iremember, after finishing my Class X, Ishifted to my Uncle's residence inGuntur city. My uncle had a strict rule athome — that I should be in bed by 9pm. When I was in the second year ofmy graduation, one of my friends wasfinding it difficult to grasp OrganicChemistry. This subject is such that ifyou can grasp it, it's a cakewalk. If not, itis a nightmare.

I asked my friend whether he wantedto score well or just pass. He said he willbe more than happy if he could just getthe passing marks.

I asked him to come to my houseevery day for 15 days and that I wouldteach him so he can at least pass. Hewasn't so convinced, but finallyagreed. I took permission frommy Uncle to stay up late, andmade arrangements in theverandah to teachhim. Myfriend

would come daily and I taught him for afortnight. The result was that he scored60 marks in the final examination.

I truly realised my love for teachingwhen I was doing my PhD at the SardarPatel University, Vallabh VidyanagarGujarat. My professor there one dayasked me to teach his daughter the chap-ter on 'photosynthesis' in biology. Wefixed the time, and I went to his house.His daughter had also called her friendswho wanted to study.

I took the class, and they understoodthe chapter quite well. My professor evenasked me later to take tuition classes forthose kids, especially his daughter, but Iwas quite focused on my research work.I would still help her with studies, butdidn't want to bind myself to regulartuitions.

PREPARING WELL

When I became a Professor in theUniversity here, I lived with my sisterand her husband in Hyderabad. Mybrother-in-law was always intriguedabout how much time I took to preparefor my classes.

However, I wanted to know every-thing about the subject that I planned toteach my students. So, I would preparefor five to six hours, for an hour’s lec-ture. I have always loved teaching and itgives me pleasure to educate youngminds.

INSPIRED BY MANY

I have always considered myself fortu-nate that I have got the opportunity tobe taught by many inspirational teachers.Each of my teachers added to my char-acter and made me who I am.

One of the most inspirational teachersof mine was Prof. JJ Shah who taught meduring my Masters. I was so inspired byhis teaching techniques. I just cannotimagine another person who couldinspire his or her students to be so freewith them. The best part about him wasthat he did not do anything specific toinspire anyone. His personality was somagnetic. He guided me so well throughmy Masters that I was well prepared formy further studies.

INSPIRATIONALUNCLE

On the personalfront, I was hugely

inspired by myuncle, whom I

lived with inGuntur dur-

ing my

Undergraduate days. Even today, I followhis strict rule that one should wake upby 4 am and sleep by 9 pm. He was anadvocate, and knew the value of educa-tion.

When I shifted from my village toGuntur city, I also shifted from Telugumedium to English medium, thoughEnglish was not my strength. My uncleadvised me to read the newspaper daily,pick out five to six words that I didn'tknow the meaning of.

He would then explain their meaningto me, and tell me to use them in sen-tences. That exercise helped me improvemy language. In fact, he gifted me a dic-tionary once. I still have it; it's one of mymost prized possessions.

And of course, my father was a majorinfluence. He never stopped any of us —I or my siblings — from participating inanything. Be it sports, extracurricularactivities or studies, he was our strongestsupporter.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

I think it was my father’s inspirationthat I have never stopped my kids fromdoing anything. When my younger son,Srikrishna, decided to make badmintonhis career, a lot of people advised me toget him to concentrate on his education.But when I saw that he had the zeal tobe an international-level sportspersonand also the talent for it, I and my wifeencouraged him. I think my fatherwould have done the same for me.

BALANCING STUDIES AND PLAY

My father was a director in a local the-

atre group. He has been a huge inspira-tional figure in my life. I have learnt somuch from him. When I started going toschool, my father always encouraged meand my siblings to participate in all theextracurricular activities. I picked upacting; I would take part in local theatregroups.

I was part of local mythological stageshows. It was nice to be involved insomething that required the entire teamto come together and present somethingto the public. I also played cricket andbadminton with my friends.

FROM STAGE TO EDUCATION

I used to act and take part in variousstage shows up till my first year in theUndergraduate course. After that Iturned my focus on my education.

Even today, I play cricket or bad-minton with my students. I always tellthem that they should dedicate theirtime doing activities that will help themrelax too. It keeps the mind fresh andhelps in all-round development.

I also meditate to keep my mind fresh.I can't say I am very regular with yogaand meditation, but I try to do it when-ever I get some time. I feel it's veryimportant that we all take some timeaway from the daily grind to unwind.

FAMILY TIME IS FUN

My field of work is ever evolving. So, Ihave to keep up with all the developmentstaking place around me. For this, I read alot and catch up with almost all newdevelopments everyday. However, when Iam not reading, I spend time with myfamily.

TRAGEDIES AND JOYS

I unfortunately lost my first wife 10years to acute leukaemia. She passedaway in 2010. I got married again in2017. My wife, Madhuri, is an AssociateProfessor at the National Institute ofRural Development.

My elder son, Susheel works for thefirm PwC, while the younger one,Srikrishna, is an international-level bad-minton player. My daughter-in-law,Meghana, works for Amazon.

Whenever we get the opportunity, wetry and spend some quality time togeth-er. I don't go for lengthy vacations, but Itry and take short trips and visit myfamily, friends and also my teachers. Wetry to be near nature a lot, maybe itreminds me of my childhood. So, mostof my vacations are at a hill station ornear water bodies like reservoirs. It'salways relaxing to be around peoplewhom you love and who love you backunconditionally.

A

With family members - standing (self, Srikrishna (son) and Madhuri (wife)and in the sofa Susheel (elder son) and Meghana (dughter in law)2019

With Sri Ratan Tata at Cornel University, USA, 2018

Receiving ISCA award from Honoroable Prime Minster Narendra Modi 2017

with Prof. J.J. Shah (97) in Baroda at his residence in 2019 July

With Dr. Y.T. Lee, Nobel Laureate, Chemistry and DirectorAcademia Sinica Taiwan 1998 as Post Doctoral Fellow

With Prof HC Dube, Ph.D. Supervisor on the right side and other friends ProfGS Prasad-Prof AS Reddy-Smt. V Uma Devi and Smt. G. Sarala-1983

With Mr. Shaik Subhani, Cartoonist on the right and other classmates duringMasters at Sardar Patel University-1981

First photograph printed to appear in X Board exam in 1975