PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Minister HarshVardhan on Tuesday said thatnames of hospitals foundinvolved in any kind of fraud-ulent practices in theAyushman Bharat healthinsurance scheme will be putup on its official website to"name and shame" them.

Nearly 1,200 cases of fraudhave been confirmed andaction has been taken against338 hospitals, he said, assert-ing that the government haszero tolerance towards cor-ruption.

"Not only would such hos-pitals found involved in anykind of fraudulent activityand practices would be de-empanelled, their nameswould be put up on the offi-cial website of Pradhan MantriJan Arogya Yojna (AyushmanBharat) and made public. Theidea is to name and shamethem," the Health Ministersaid at a press conferencehere. Indu Bhushan, CEO ofthe National Health Authority,the apex body responsible forthe implementation of thecentrally-sponsored scheme,said that the decision to pub-licly name the health insur-

ance fraudsters underAyushman Bharat was takenin collaboration with theIRDAI to deter them fromindulging in malpractices. "Weare taking stern action againstsuch fraudsters and have filedcriminal cases and FIRs insome cases. In fact, we havesuggested such hospitalsshould not only be de-empan-elled from the PMJAY schemebut also from other schemeincluding that of CGHS andECHA," Bhushan said.

Giving out figures, Vardhansaid 376 hospitals currently are

under investigation while theNHA has taken action interms of issuing showcausenotice, suspending, levyingpenalty and de-empanellingagainst 338 hospitals.

He said 97 hospitals havebeen de-empanelled from thescheme while FIRs have beenlodged against six hospitals. Atotal amount of Rs 1.5 crore inpenalty has been levied andnearly 1,200 cases of fraudhave been confirmed.

"And all these figures showthe government's zero toler-ance towards corruption and

we have been able to detect allthese frauds because of aproactive robust strong ITanti-fraud detection system.Our message is loud and clearthat no fraud, even of minutenature, will be tolerated in thewhole scheme," he said.

Vardhan said the govern-ment's ambitious AyushmanBharat scheme will completefirst year of its launch onSeptember 23 and the fort-night of September 15-30 isbeing marked as the'Ayushman Bharat Pakhwara'where several activities will becarried out in the states to gen-erate awareness around thescheme.

A mega national event'Gyan Sangam' will be organ-ised from September 29-30during which the PrimeMinister will take stock of theprogress of the insurance

scheme and its achievementswill be highlighted.

Adopting the true spirit ofcooperative federalism, 32states and Union Territorieshave already implemented thescheme so far, Vardhan saidand appealed to the remainingstates including Delhi andWest Bengal to join thescheme so that people thereare not deprived of its benefits.He said that 10 crore e-cardshave been given out to bene-ficiaries and the governmentso far has spent Rs 7,500 croreon treatment. 18,073 hospitalshave been empanelled andaround 53 per cent the hospi-tals are from the private sector.

More than 39 lakh peoplehave availed cashless treat-ment worth over Rs. 6,100crore for serious illnesses sincethe launch of AB-PMJAY.

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*Late City Vol. 1 Issue 323*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Giving out figures, Vardhan said 376 hospitalscurrently are under investigation while theNHA has taken action in terms of issuingshowcause notice, suspending, levying penaltyand de-empanelling against 338 hospitals

}RASHMIKAMANDANNA

AS A VILLAGEBELLEPage 11

{G RAVI KIRANn VIJAYAWADA

The last rites of formerSpeaker Kodela SivaprasadaRao, who committed suicidein Hyderabad on Monday,will be performed with Statehonours in his home townNarsaraopet in Guntur dis-trict on Wednesday. ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy announced that Raowill be cremated with Statehonours. He directed theChief Secretary to make thenecessary arrangements inthis regard.

Rao's son SivaramaKrishna, who was on a visit toKenya, landed in Vijayawadaon Tuesday afternoon. Helater left for Narsaraopet.

Meanwhile, the seniorTelugu Desam Party leader'sbody was shifted fromHyderabad to Guntur by road.TDP president NChandrababu Naidu, his sonN Lokesh and senior partyleaders accompanied thebody. Braving heavy rain,TDP workers paid their lastrespects to Rao at differentplaces as the processionentered Guntur district. Thebody will be kept at the TDPoffice in Guntur town toenable party leaders to payhomage. It will then be takento Narsaraopet.

Police have made elaboratesecurity arrangements in

Guntur district to preventany untoward incident.Prohibitory orders have been

imposed to prevent any out-break of violence.

Continued on Page 4

TDP legislator from Visakhapatnam Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar paying tributes to Kodela Sivaprasad at Visakhapatnam beach onTuesday Photo: Tirupatirao G

KODELA TO BE CREMATEDWITH STATE HONOURS

Chandrababu Naidudemands CBI probe PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Former chief minister NChandrababu Naidu lashed outat the YSRCP stating that it hasharassed former Speaker DrKodela Siva Prasada Rao men-tally, physically and financiallyby slapping cases against him.Kodela's death was a case ofmurder that instigated by theYSRCP government, he saidand demanded a CBI probeinto the death. Naidu said thatdespite the letters sent byKodela to take away the furni-ture, the Government had filedcases after receiving them. Hesaid that on August 20, DrKodela had sent a letter andNarasaraopeta MLA GopireddySrinivasa Reddy lodged a com-plaint two days later.Subsequently, they filed casesagainst Dr Kodela Siva PrasadaRao and his son KodelaSivaram, he added.

"When he was ready to handover furniture, what's the needfor filing cases against? Is it not

harassment? A man, who hascharge sheets against him forfinancial frauds worth Rs 43,000crore, has filed cases against DrKodela for furniture worth Rs2 lakh. They have filed 19 cases,including old ones which havebeen reopened now." CallingKodela "Palnati Tiger", he saideven the police humiliated himby not responding to his appeal.He alleged that all police officialsand IAS officers had surren-dered to the ruling party.

When he was ready to handover furniture, what's the

need for filing cases against? Is itnot harassment? A man, who hascharge sheets against him forfinancial frauds worth Rs 43,000crore, has filed cases against DrKodela for furniture worth Rs 2 lakh.They have filed 19 cases against Dr.Kodela including the old ones whichhave been reopened now

— N CHANDRABABU NAIDUTDP Chief

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Foxconn InternationalHolding's Country Head andManaging Director JoshFoulger met Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy hereon Tuesday, and said it was planning to increase pro-duction.

The head of the Taiwanesemultinational electronicscompany informed Jagan thatthe company had employed15,000 women at its Sri CitySEZ unit in Nellore districtand provided skill develop-ment training to women.

Foxconn sells 35 lakhmobile phones per month.

Stating that AndhraPradesh is the best investmentdestination and provides fullcooperation to investors, theChief Minister said that thegovernment was ready to wel-come new opportunities and

taking steps to make the statean electronic hub.

Jagan said that the govern-ment would set up high stan-dard skill development cen-tres in each 25 parliamentaryconstituencies to train man-power.

"The government is plan-ning to create more jobsthrough these skill develop-ment centres and Foxconnshould take steps in thisregard," a statement from theChief Minister's Office quot-ed him as saying.

Foxconn International Holding's Country Head and Managing Director JoshFoulger with Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday. Additional ChiefSecretary PV Ramesh is also seen

Foxconn Country to boost its Andhra market

Fraudulent hospitals will be shamed: Harsh Vardhan

Harsh Vardhan

FULL PLATE

Toll in boatmishap risesto 26PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Toll in the tourist boat acci-dent in river Godavari inAndhra Pradesh mounted to26 as 14 more bodies wereretrieved on Tuesday. But tak-ing out the boat that sank over315 feet deep in the river isproving to be a herculean task,police said.

Deputy Inspector Generalof Police Md Ehsan Raza said19 bodies were recovered sofar and many more could betrapped inside the boat.

Teams of expert divers ofNavy and NDRF continuedthe search for the bodies.

The search teams found thebodies floating far away fromthe accident spot atKachhuluru in East Godavaridistrict. One body was foundnear the coffee dam ofPolavaram project whileanother was recovered nearnew Pattiseema.

NEW DELHI: Union LabourMinister Santosh Gangwar onTuesday said that over sixcrore EPFO members will get8.65 per cent interest for 2018-19. Earlier, the Employees'Provident Fund Organisation's(EPFO) apex decision-makingbody Central Board ofTrustees had decided to raisethe interest rate on EPF to 8.65per cent for the year 2018-19.

The EPFO is currently, pay-ing an interest rate of 8.55 percent for 2018-19 under EPFwithdrawal claims. The 8.55per cent interest rate on EPFdeposits was fixed for 2017-18.

For 2018-19, EPFO hadraised interest rate to 8.65 percent, from 8.55 per cent pro-vided in 2017-18.

EPFO to credit8.65% interestinto six cr EPFaccounts

VIJAYAWADA: The AP HighCourt served notices on TDPMLAs Ganta Srinivasa Rao,Anagani Satya Prasad andGadde Rammohan onTuesday. YSRCP leaders, whohave contested against thesethem, filed a petition in theHigh Court seeking cancella-tion of their election, allegingthat they had filed affidavitswithout furnishing full details.The High Court posted hear-ing to October 14. KKannappa Raju from VisakhaNorth Constituency, MinisterMopidevi Venkata Ramanafrom Repalle constituency andBoppana Bhava Kumar filedpetitions. Manohar Reddy isthe counsel of the petitioners.

Advocate Manohar Reddyalleged that the three TDPMLAs did not declare theirreal properties, income, andother details. Hiding thosedetails will lead to a disquali-fication, he added.

HC notices toGanta, Gadde and Anagani

Kodela’s mobilemissing

The police have found themobile phone of Dr Kodela

Siva Prasada Rao missing.After 5 pm on Monday, themobile was switched off. The police extracted the calldata of the mobile and foundthat at around 8.30 a.m beforehis suicide, Dr Kodela hadspoken on a number for about24 minutes. However, thenumber has not beendisclosed.

l Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddyannounced that Rao

will be crematedwith State honours.

He directed theChief Secretary to

make the necessaryarrangements in

this regard

l Braving heavy rain, TDPworkers paid their last respectsto Rao at different places as theprocession entered Gunturdistrictl The body will be kept at theTDP office in Guntur town toenable party leaders to payhomage. It will then be taken toNarsaraopet

‘Naidu'shumiliationdrove Kodelato suicide’PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The YSR Congress Party(YSRCP) lambasted the TDPfor politicising the death ofDr Kodela Siva Prasada Rao.

Countering the TDP'sattack on it saying that theformer Speaker had died onlydue to harassment by thegovernment, YSRCP leadersheld Naidu as being respon-sible for Kodela's suicide.

Minister Kodali Nani andChief Whip GandikotaSrikanth Reddy launched atirade against Naidu duringtheir press meets at Tadepallion Tuesday.

Kodali Nani said, "It wasNaidu who had humiliatedthe former Speaker by notgiving him due respect in theparty, encouraging rivalgroups in party activities andnot responding to his phonecalls, which drove him to theextreme step. If the call dataof his cell phone is taken out,the reason for his death willcome to light."

Continued on Page 4

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lunch with his mother Heeraben on his 69 birthday in Gandhinagar ion Tuesday

Modi has lunch with motheron his 69th birthdayPNS n GANDHINAGAR

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday met hisnonagenarian motherHeeraben on his 69th birthdayand had lunch with her.

Modi spent around half anhour with his mother, wholives with his younger broth-er Pankaj at Raisan village nearGandhinagar.

TV visuals showed the PMpaying obeisance with foldedhands to his mother, who was

seen blessing her now world-famous son. After coming outof the house, Modi alsoallowed local residents to clickselfies with him and gaveautographs to kids.

Modi reached Raisan afteraddressing a gathering atKevadiya in Narmada district.Modi, who arrived in Gujaratlate on Monday, inauguratedthe Namami Devi NarmadeMahotsav, celebrating theoverflowing of the SardarSarovar dam.

Vattibrandishesgun, bookedPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Arilova Police registered acase against former ministerVatti Vasant Kumar and hisfriend following a complaintlodged by a person, whoalleged that Vasant Kumarhad threatened him with arevolver over property dispute.

The case was registered onMonday. According to Arilovapolice, one B Ravi Shankarapproached them on Mondayand complained that the formerminister threatened his peoplewith a gun in a land dispute.

Continued on Page 3

No night flightsto Bhubaneswarfor 8 monthsBHUBANESWAR: The BijuPatnaik International Airporthere will remain partiallyclosed for eight months due tothe runway re-carpeting work,said an official on Tuesday.The flight services would berescheduled as the re-carpet-ing work of the runway will betaken up from Nov. The re-carpeting of the runway wouldtake place in two phases.

"We are planning forRunway re-carpeting witheffect from November 1 toMarch 31 from 10 pm. to5.30am. We have requestedDirector General of CivilAviation (DGCA) for per-mission. Once we get theapproval, the work will start,"informed airport directorSuresh Chandra Hota.

TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu with party leaders on way to the Gunturoffice on Tuesday

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated September 17, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Bhdrapada & Krishna PakshaPanchangamTithi : Tritiya : 04:32 pmNakshatram: Ashwini: Full NightTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 03:12 pm – 04:42 pmYamagandam: 09:09 am – 10:39 am

Varjyam: 02:21 am - 04:06 am

Gulika: 12:10 pm - 01:41 pmGood Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 10:50 pm - 12:35 amAbhijit Muhurtham: 11:46 am - 12:34 pm

VIJAYAWADAWEATHERForecast: ThunderstormsTemp: 29/25Humidity: 89%Sunrise: 06.04Sunset: 06.16

PNS n HYDERABAD

A delegation of TDP leadersmet Union Minister of State forHome Affairs G Kishan Reddyin Hyderabad late in theevening on Tuesday andsought a CBI inquiryinto the circum-stances leading tothe death of for-mer speakerK o d e l aSivaprasada Rao.

Former Ministerfrom AP AlapatiRajendra Prasad,TTDP president LRamana, TTDP seniorRavula Chandrashekar Reddyand others met Kishan Reddyat his residence. They allegedthat ruling YSRCP's govern-ment's 'vendetta politics' was themain reason for Kodela's sui-cide. The TDP leaders wantedthe Union Minister to launch aprobe into cases foisted on

TDP leaders and workers by theYSRCP government in theState.

In response, Kishan Reddy,while expressing his grief andshock over Kodela's suicide,

observed:"It is unfortunatethat a senior and com-

mitted leader likeKodela SivaprasadaRao ended his lifethis way. I will askAP DGP to pre-sent a detailed

report on KodelaSivaprasada Rao's

death. I will also speak toAP CM on the issue. Iwill also inform the issue

to Union Home Minister AmitShah and take necessary actionaccordingly." Kodela's daugh-ter, Vijayalakshmi, also lodgeda complaint with the police stat-ing that her father committedsuicide unable to bear harass-ment by the Government ofAndhra Pradesh.

TDP urges Kishan Reddyto order CBI inquiry

G Kishan Reddy

Printed and Published by B Krishna Prasad on Behalf of CMYK Printech Limited. Printed at Jagati Publications Limited, Sakshi Press, Door No. 5-625, Vadlamudi Road, Atmakuru Village, Mangalagiri Mandal, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh.Published at Door No. 40-4-11, Flat No.501, Sujatha Citadel, Jasti Venkataratnam Street, Behind DV Manor Hotel, Vijayawada, Krishna District, AP. Resident Editor B Krishna Prasad RNI title Code no. APENG03628. Phone No. 0866-2479001.

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VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 vijayawada 02

‘Epistemicon'held at ALIETPNS n VIJAYAWADA

With the objective of exposingstudents to advancements intechnology, Andhra LoyolaInstitute of Engineering andTechnology (ALIET),Vijayawada, conducted'Epistemicon', a national sym-posium here on Tuesday.

D Ramakrishna, ManagingDirector, Efftronics SystemsPrivate Ltd, was the chief guestand inaugurated the sympo-sium at the college seminar hall.

Speaking on the occasion, heexplained to students aboutthe importance of sharing

knowledge and underscoredthe need to participate in vari-ous events.

Principal of ALIET OMahesh motivated the studentsby explaining the real world sce-nario. He also said that engi-neering students must alwayskeep themselves abreast of lat-est developments in the fieldsof their study apart from main-taining discipline. Director ofALIET Rev Fr Dr FrancisXavier shed more light onissues related to student guid-ance. The event was coordi-nated by Ch Nagaraju, HoD,Civil Department, ALIET.

TTD officials gearing up forBrahmotsavams: Special OfficerPNS n TIRUMALA

With less than two weeks leftfor the annual Brahmotsavamsof Tirumala Sri VenkateswaraSwamy, all departments aregearing up for the mega reli-gious event, said TirumalaSpecial Officer AV DharmaReddy.

After a review meeting onBrahmotsavams and develop-ment activities with regard todifferent departments inTirumala at AnnamaiahBhavan on Tuesday, the SpecialOfficer speaking to media per-sons later said, all the workspertaining to annualBrahmotsavams will be com-pleted by September 25.

In a good move, the TTD isnow heading towards cashlesspayments and it was com-menced two weeks ago nearaccommodation counters,which has given fruitful results,he said. "An application exclu-sively for Locker GoverningSystem and Darshan

Governing System was alsobrought under use. We want toachieve cent percent resultssoon", he added.

Later he said, the 3D imag-ing of interesting features relat-ed to Tirumala temple, alongwith some jewellery of theLord, would be placed in SVMuseum. "We asked thedonors to present a proto-type of the system, which willbe done soon," he maintained.

CE Ramachandra Reddy,Additional CVSO SivakumarReddy, temple deputy execu-tive officer Harindranath, IThead Sesha Reddy and otherswere also present.

Champs Fleur, country's first floral boutiquePNS n HYDERABAD

Nothing cheers up a life bet-ter than a colourful bunch offlowers. But investing moneyin flowers, which will wilt ina few hours, is an expensiveproposition. Understandablythen, people prefer artificialflowers. Or you can head toChamps Fleur, India's firstpreserved floral boutique thatspecialises in long-lastingroses.

The Hyderabad-basedbrand has created a bespokerose atelier and is committedto taking personalised floralservices across the country.

Founder Chitra Das says,"India has a rich floral cultureand that's a boon. Peopleknow the value of flowers, butalso realise that they don't

come without fuss. I havetried to introduce a bespokeservice in which a singleflower lasts a year. It comes ina beautiful vase, glass or cus-tomised packaging, which canbe placed in your home oroffice. You can gift these toyour loved ones or order moreelaborate styles for occasions."

Compared to real flowers,these blooms also have envi-ronmental benefits. "Thereare thousands of tonnes of flo-ral waste at events, parties andweddings. Our customisedservice ensures that all thoseflowers used, preserved and

recycled on a daily basis,"adds Das.

The process of creatinglong-lasting bouquets is notan easy one. Roses are pickedup from farms around theworld and shipped to ChampsFleur's Japan-based factory

where they are preserved infour phases.

Their natural moisture isextracted using ethanol tomake them last longer. Anorganic dye is then used tocolour them. Moisture is theninfused again into the roses tomake them look supple andfresh. The entire process takesabout 4-6 weeks.

"Every Champs Fleur roseis organically grown and iscompletely free from haz-ardous chemicals. The four-step preservation process usesnatural ingredients to com-bine the beauty and goodnessof natural roses with theimmortality of inanimateones, transforming them intolong lasting roses while pre-serving the same freshnessand feel," says Das.

l The Hyderabad-basedbrand has created a bespokerose atelier and is committedto taking personalised floralservices across the country

l Founder Chitra Das says,"The process of creating long-lasting bouquets is not aneasy one. Roses are picked upfrom farms around the worldand shipped to ChampsFleur's Japan-based factory

where they are preserved infour phases"

l Their natural moisture isextracted using ethanol tomake them last longer. Anorganic dye is then used to colour them. Moisture isthen infused again into theroses to make them looksupple and fresh. The entireprocess takes about 4-6weeks.

SCR launches mega cleanlinessdrive in Vijayawada divisionPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Vijayawada Division of theSouth Central Railway (SCR)conducted a Mega CleanlinessDrive at all major railway stationsas part of the Swachh hi Seva -Swachhata Pakhwada - fort-night-long cleanliness campaignon Tuesday.

Following Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's call to bansingle-use plastic in all forms, theVijayawada division has con-ducted a massive Shramdaan atVijayawada Railway Station, divi-sional office compound, coach-ing depot, wagon depot andrailway colonies with greatenthusiasm and zeal. G Sumana,additional divisional railwaymanager (Operations) led a teamof officers and 50 staff from dif-ferent departments and con-ducted mega cleanliness drive ondivisional office compoundpremises.

Speaking on the occasion, G Sumana, ADRM, said that theban on single-use plastic will beeffectively implemented fromOctober 2 and awareness cam-paigns are being conducted effec-tively to sensitise people aboutthe ill-effects of plastic contam-ination.

The ADRM said that officersand staff from several depart-ments were nominated at all

railway residential colonies,wagon depot and railway sta-tions to undertake and super-vise the cleanliness drives. Ateam of officers and 100 staffundertook cleanliness drive atVijayawada Railway Station andcollected plastic waste anddebris from the railway trackson all platforms.

Later, a seminar on SwachhSamwad (Clean dialogue) wasorganised by officers from oper-ating, commercial departmentand Child Helpline members atVIP Longue, VijayawadaRailway Station. K KamalakarBabu, Assistant Commercial

Manager, counselled the cater-ing stall contractors and ven-dors regarding the indiscrimi-nate use of plastic and advised

them to maintain personalhygiene to stay healthy. NukkadNattaks were staged by SKCVschoolchildren to create aware-

ness on evils of plastic use atwaiting hall on Platform No 1at Vijayawada Railway Station.

Similar Shramdaan activi-ties were conducted by nomi-nated officers at Railway LocoColony, STPM Colony, REColony and Wynchipet RailwayColony. Cloth bags were dis-tributed free of cost to colonyresidents to promote clean andgreen initiative.

E Santharam, Sr.DEN/Coord, Ram ChandraSahoo, Sr DEnHM, K Srinivas,Sr DME, P Nehamiah, Sr DPORamesh Gaikward, DEnHM,Varun Babu, DEN/East, ChSresh, Station Director, otherbranch officers and staff par-ticipated in the event.

l Following PPrime MMinisterNarendra MModi's ccall tto bbansingle-uuse pplastic iin aall fforms,the VVijayawada ddivisionhas cconducted aa mmassiveShramdaan aat VVijayawadaRailway SStation, ddivisionaloffice ccompound, ccoachingdepot, wwagon ddepot aandrailway ccolonies wwith ggreat

enthusiasm aand zzeal

l G SSumana, aadditionaldivisional rrailway mmanager(Operations) lled aa tteam oofofficers aand 550 sstaff ffromdifferent ddepartments aandconducted MMega CCleanlinessDrive oon ddivisional oofficecompound ppremises.

A seminar onSwachh Samwad(clean dialogue) wasorganised by officersfrom operating,commercialdepartment and ChildHelpline members atVIP Longue,Vijayawada RailwayStation

Modi turns 69, celebratesbirthday in GujaratPNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi turned 69 on Tuesdayand celebrated his birthday inhis home State of Gujaratoffering prayers to GoddessNarmada at the Sardar SarovarDam, which was filled tocapacity for the first time. Healso visited the Statue of Unityand shared a meal with hisnonagenarian mother.

Modi, who was greeted byleaders across the politicalspectrum, also addressed apublic rally in Kevadia wherehe lauded the vision of SardarVallabhbhai Patel, saying hisgovernment drew inspirationfrom the country's formerHome Minister for its decisionlast month on Jammu andKashmir in an attempt to findsolution to a decades-old prob-lem.

BJP chief and Union HomeMinister Amit Shah, topCongress leaders Sonia Gandhiand Rahul Gandhi, BSP supre-mo Mayawati, Chief Ministersof West Bengal, Telangana,Odisha and Delhi-MamataBanerjee, K ChandrasekharRao, Naveen Patnaik andArvind Kejriwal respectively-were among others who greet-ed Modi on his birthday.

Shah described Modi as aleader with strong willpowerand a symbol of decisive lead-ership and hard work whileDefence Minister RajnathSingh hailed the PrimeMinister's "visionary leader-ship" and said it has helpedIndia scale new heights ofglory. On his 68th birthday lastyear, Modi was in his LokSabha constituency of Varanasiand spent time with school-children.

TV visuals showed PrimeMinister Narendra Modi greet-ing his mother with foldedhands to seek her blessings. Hethen sat down to have a birth-day lunch with her. The TVimages showed the motherand son enjoying whatappeared to be a Gujarati thali.

Modi began the day with avisit to the Statue of Unity andthe Sardar Sarovar Dam on theriver Narmada. The Statue ofUnity, billed as the tallest in theworld, was inaugurated byhim on Sardar Patel's birthanniversary on October 31last year.

The country has taken animportant decision with theinspiration of Sardar Patel, towalk a new path to resolve adecades-old problem," Moditold the public rally atKevadiya.

The government on August5 revoked Article 370, whichgave special status to Jammuand Kashmir and also bifur-cated the State into two unionterritories, Jammu andKashmir and Ladakh.

Modi also referred toHyderabad Liberation Day,saying this event is a result ofSardar Patel 's vision.September 17 marks the dayin 1948 when the erstwhileHyderabad State was annexedto the Indian Union. Modi

said he was happy to see therising number of visitorsthronging the Statue of Unity.While the average number ofdaily visitors to the 133-year-old Statue of Liberty is10,000, around 8,500 peoplevisit the 11-month-old Statueof Unity each day, he added.

The Sardar Sarovar projectis catering to needs ofGujarat, Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra and Rajasthanand has benefitted people inthese four States, he said.

Modi thanked "the lakhs of

people" who worked to makeSardar Sarovar project a suc-cess and offered them hissalutations.

Dwelling on the ecologicalimpact of big projects, Modisaid, "Our culture believes indevelopment while protectingenvironment. Nature is ourjewel and is very dear to us."

At separate events in Delhi,BJP leaders cut 69-kg and370-kg cakes, symbolisinghis age and scrapping ofArticle 370 of theConstitution.

l BJP chief and Union HomeMinister Amit Shah, top Congressleaders Sonia Gandhi and RahulGandhi, BSP supremo Mayawati,Chief Ministers of West Bengal,Telangana, Odisha and Delhi-Mamata Banerjee, KChandrasekhar Rao, NaveenPatnaik and Arvind Kejriwalrespectively-were among otherswho greeted Modi on his birthday

l TV visuals showedPrime Minister NarendraModi greeting his motherwith folded hands to seekher blessings. He then satdown to have a birthdaylunch with her. The TVimages showed themother and son enjoyingwhat appeared to be aGujarati thali

Andhra, Telangana CMs greet Modi on his birthdayHyder ab ad:T e l a n g a n aand AndhraP r a d e s hC h i e fMinisters onTuesday greet-ed Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on his 69thbirthday.

Telangana Chief MinisterK Chandrashekhar Raoconveyed his birthday wish-es to Modi through a specialmessage, according to theChief Minister's Office.

"CM KCRprayed to theAlmighty formany moreyears of

Modiji's ser-vices for the

country," said the CMO.Andhra Pradesh Chief

Minister YS JaganmohanReddy also greeted thePrime Minister on hisbirthday. "Wishing him along, healthy and successfullife ahead in the service ofthe nation," tweeted Reddy.

Twitter trends with birthdaygreetings for Narendra ModiPNS n VIJAYAWADA

From film stars, sports per-sons, politicians, BJP lead-ers, commoners and admir-ers, Twitter wasflooded withgreetings forPrime MinisterNarendra Modi ashe turned 69 onTuesday.

Several Twitterhashtags made it to the topIndia trends on the micro-blogging site. While #hap-pybirthdaynarendramoditopped the chart in India,the other hashtags were#HappyBirthdayPM and#ShriNarendraModi.

The other hashtags doingthe rounds along with birth-day greetings to the PrimeMinister were:#HappyBDayPMModi ,#NarendraModiBirthday,#HappyBirthdayPMModi,

#HBDModi and#HappyBirthdayModi.

Former athlete PT Ushatweeted: "Wishing you a

very happy birthday, Shri@narendramodiji. Sports, just like

other fields hasgrown tremendous-

ly under your lead-ership. May god bless

you with a long andhealthy life!

#HappyBirthdayPM."Sand artiste Sudarshan

Pattnaik tweeted with a pic-ture of a sand sculpture hehad made greeting thePrime Minister. He wrote:"Happy Birthday Hon'blePM Modi ji. My sand artwith message: 'Millions ofblessings' with you for#NewIndia, at #Puri beach.# S w a c h h a t a H i S e v a# J a l S h a k t i A b h i y a n#SayNoToSingleUsePlastic#PoshanMaah2019."

TV visuals showedPrime MinisterNarendra Modigreeting his motherwith folded hands toseek her blessings

All the workspertaining to annualBrahmotsavams willbe completed bySeptember 25, saidthe Special Officer

D Ramakrishna, Managing Director, Efftronics Systems Private Ltd, speaking at anational sympoisum at Andhra Loyola Institute of Engineering and Technologyin Vijayawada on Tuesday

Rajbhasha Saptah concludes at Waltair DivisionPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The observation of the HindiDiwas in Waltair Division of EastCoast Railway from September9 concluded here on Tuesday.

India adopted Hindi written inDevanagari script as the officiallanguage in 1949 and it wasadopted as the official languageunder the Article 343 of theIndian Constitution.

The decision of Constituentassembly was authorised on

January 26, 1950, the day whenthe constitution of India cameinto effect. The first Hindi Diwaswas celebrated in 1953.

Various Hindi competitionswere held during the period. Theconcluding ceremony was held inSeptember wherein merit cer-tificates and awards to winnersof the different competitionswere presented by DivisionalRailway Manager Chetan KumarShrivastava. On the occasion,DRM highlighted the indis-

pensable role of Hindi languagein national integration and askedeveryone to use Hindi as theirprime language for all officialwork.

He asserted that Hindi is get-ting worldwide fame for its easyto understand character. TheDRM extended greetings to allthe award winners. ADRM(Operations) Ramachandra Raocongratulated the officers andemployees over growing positionof Hindi in the routine officialwork of the organization.

He called upon the officials tostrive for promotion of Hindi lan-guage and to take active partic-ipation in usage.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The tragic news of formerSpeaker Dr K Sivaprasada Raocommitting suicide is veryunsettling, said GITAMChancellor Prof KoneruRamakrishna Rao here onTuesday.

In a condolence message,Prof Ramakrishna Rao men-tioned that it was unlike himto take recourse to a coward-ly act of suicide. Prof Raoremembered the close associ-ation with Dr SivaprasadaRao when he was the minsterin the Cabinet of the lateChief Minister NT Rama Rao.

Prof Ramakrishna Raomentioned that as an accom-

plished surgeon Dr KSivaprasada Rao fought for thelives of his patients' health andin politics he always fought forthe cause he believed in. ProfRamakrishna Rao expressedhis condolences and profoundgrief at the sad demise of hisfriend and well wisher DrKodela Sivaprasada Rao.

DRM Chetan Kumarhighlighted theindispensable role ofHindi language innational integration

Kodela suicide tragic,says GITAM Chancellor

Officials belonging to South Central Railway taking part in the mega cleanliness drive in Vijayawada on Tuesday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with his mother Heeraben, having lunch ather residence in Gandhinagar on Tuesday

EGGRATES

` 37,880 (10 gm)

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GOLD

` 46,700 (1kg)

` 9900

HYDERABAD 353VIJAYAWADA 381VISAKHAPATNAM 380RETAIL PPRICE `3.81

SILVER

VIJAYAWADABULLION RATES

`/100

CHICKENRATES

Dressed/With Skin `139

Without Skin `158

Broiler at Farm `96

`/KG

(IN VIJAYAWADA)

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 vijayawada 03

The mess that AndhraChief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy

finds himself in is obviouslyhis own creation. He couldwell have chose not to take topolitics of vengeance with for-mer CM Chandrababu Naidu,but he did. The new CM notjust ousted Naidu out of hishome and office first thingafter taking over, purely out ofvengeance, he also annulledmost of the major project con-tracts the ex-CM had award-ed. Now, there is a limit to howfar one can go in terms ofextracting revenge from apolitical rival and where todraw a line and continue gov-erning from where your pre-decessor left off. Jagan shouldhave known that any CM,even if he/she happens to be apolitical opponent, takes deci-sion primarily in the interest ofhis state. That AP's interest andit progress was on top ofNaidu's mind was quite clear- denial of special status to APand the resultant snapping of

ties with the ruling party at theCentre are ample evidence.

Jagan's action of scrappingthe existing contract for thePolavaram project and order-ing a reverse tendering for it,along with review of all otherirrigation projects and powerpurchase agreements (PPAs),has ended up being his mostinjudicious step so far. In try-ing to spite ChandrababuNaidu, Jagan has delayed theproject, hurt the state's inter-est and inadvertently por-trayed himself to be a littlenaïve in statecraft. In normalcircumstances, an incumbentbegins with a 'give-and-take'approach and carries forwardprojects awarded by the pre-ceding regime. This ensuresseamless functioning of stateaffairs and continuance of

effective governance. A fewdecisions here and there canbe altered to suit the newagenda. Instead, Jagan wentabout annulling the contractfor the Polavaram project andbooted out Navayuga compa-ny -- the reputable construc-tion firm executing the pro-ject. This was done despite thecentral government and other

foreign agenciesopenly expressingtheir disapproval atthe move.

What could haveled Jaganmohan Reddy totake such a drastic decision?One, he saw "massive corrup-tion" in the entire Polavaramhydel project deal and allegedthat bribes had been offered

and accepted in the award ofthe project. He may also havewanted to hand out such alucrative contract to some ofhis favoured business houses.Experienced politicians cer-tainly have done this in the

past, but not so often afterscrapping an existing con-tract. Two, all of Andhra peo-ple know that whoever isfinally able to bring thePolavaram project to fruitionwill secure a place in theannuls of AP's history for alltime to come - given that it isexpected to be the lifeline ofAndhra Pradesh that will caterto the drinking water needsand agriculture requirementsof the entire state from theabundant water of riverGodavari. And Jagan wantedhis name etched bold andclear, front and center, onthat front. Alas, it's all tied upin controversies and litigationat the moment.

As for the AP people, theystill harbor the hope that theirresiduary state will indeed

attain a level playing field andstand shoulder to shoulderwith the prosperous neigh-bouring states eventually. Inorder to get there the least theAP CM can do is to pick up aleaf from his Telangana coun-terpart and good friend KChandrashekhar Rao's book.He didn't go about strikingdown every agreement andcontract the earlier regimehad committed to. New dis-pensations need to be accom-modative and allow ongoingworks worth thousands ofcrores to continue, whileawarded fresh contracts tocompanies attuned to the newpolitical climate. The saga ofwell-known firms such asTransstroy, Gayatri andProgressive Constructionsowned by prominent political

figures is a case in point. Someproject works need to contin-ue irrespective of politicalaffiliations. Telangana CMKCR, for one, continued withseveral contracts, includingirrigation projects, awardedto firms belonging to big entre-preneurs who hail fromAndhra. This move - despitesevere anti-Andhra mood pre-vailing in TS at the time -- notonly enabled projects to becompleted on time and with-in budget, it also gained hima lot of goodwill fromAndhraites who continue tolive in Telanagana. As a bonus,the entire rank and file of TDP-- which has a lot of Andhrainfluence -- rallied behindKCR and moved over to hiscamp.

To recoup the situation, APCM Jagan Reddy must seekreconciliation and show flexibility towards others,including his staunchest political rivals, and renewfocus on governing the stateeffectively.

M D RATNA KUMAR Senior Journalist

Jagan needs to press reset buttonIn trying to spite Chandrababu Naidu, APCM Jaganmohan has delayed thePolavaram project and hurt the state'sinterest. To recoup the situation, he mustshow flexibility towards others, includinghis staunchest political rivals, and renewfocus on governing the stateeffectively

PINPOINT

‘Spandana evokes good response’PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy hasinstructed officials to con-duct workshops on main-taining quality while solvingthe problems of peoplethrough Spandana pro-gramme. Addressing a reviewmeeting over the Spandanaprogramme held on Tuesdayat Tadepalli, he called for anaction plan to be prepared toconduct workshops inSeptember and October.

Jaganmohan Reddy saidthat the State-level work-shops will be conducted onSeptember 24 and 27. A two-day workshop will be con-ducted at the district-level inOctober.

He instructed DistrictCollectors to take part in theworkshops.

The Chief Minister opinedthat the response from thepublic is good because of the

commitment of the govern-ment towards the Spandanaand that it increases ourresponsibility to ensure qual-ity in solving the problems,which will happen only withthe support of all the officers.

YS Jaganmohan Reddyordered officials to give morepriority to social audit inVillage Secretariats, andeveryone, who applies fornew ration cards and pen-sions, should be providedwith the same by December.

He asked the officials todisplay the details of whitecard holders and beneficia-ries of pension scheme on theboards in Village Secretariats,along with the details of ben-eficiaries of welfare schemes.

The Chief Ministerreviewed the Auto DriversBeneficiary Scheme, HousingScheme, YSR Kanti VeluguScheme and directed the offi-cials to identify the beneficia-ries in a proper way.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Former Minister YanamalaRamakrishnudu alleged thatSai, a relative of former SpeakerDr Kodela Sivaprasada Rao,who filed a case over the deathof the latter, is a YSRCP leader.

In a press note issued hereon Tuesday, he said Ministerfor Municipal AdministrationBotsa Satyanarayana's wordsand the content of the com-plaint was similar.

Yanamala said that thoughSai is a relative of Kodela, he isworking for YSRCP. He hasgiven a complaint againstKodela Sivaram and the media

has given much coverage to it."Anybody can observe thatthe content in the complaint ofSai is the same as BotsaSatyanarayana's statement," headded.

The forensic report has also

confirmed that Dr KodelaSivaprasada Rao had commit-ted suicide, Yanamala said.He said that the YSJaganmohan Reddy's govern-ment should take responsibil-ity for the suicide of Dr KodelaSivaprasada Rao.

3,545 PanchayatRaj workscancelledVijayawada: As many as 3,545works of the Panchayat Rajdepartment, including the onestaken up under the SC, STSub-Plan, have been stoppedby the State government. Theworks, which were originallyscheduled to be grounded byApril, are yet to take off due tolaxity on the part of contrac-tors.

Road works worth Rs1,013.17 crore were stopped bythe government. ThePanchayat Raj department hasissued an order to cancel them.The State government has clar-ified that the decision wastaken due to inordinate delayin starting the works thoughtenders for the same werefinalised much in advance.The contractors have failed totake up the works, promptingthe government to cancelthem. However, the officialsdid not disclose when freshtenders would be invited.

Shut down‘Bhagiradha',demands HRFPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Human Rights Forum(HRF) has intensified its strug-gle on the BhagiradhaChemicals and IndustriesLimited located in Ongole,which is releasing pollutionand causing damage to publichealth, environment and econ-omy. Already, the APPCB hasissued an order to stop pro-duction. But, HRF has issueda press statement on Tuesdaythat "Stop Production" order isnot sufficient and demandedits immediate closure.

Following a spate of com-plaints about the heavy pollu-tion caused by the Bhagiradhafactory, Human Rights Forumon Sunday visitedCheruvukommupalem, TufanNagar and interacted with thevillagers to ascertain the factsof the case. They have spokenwith a doctor from the RIMS,Ongole.

"A supervisor, LakshmiNarayana, from theBhagiradha factory was pre-sent all through the visit occa-sionally threatening to callhooligans from the factory andget us beaten up," they alleged.

TTD HERALDS INTO MASSIVE PLANTATION DRIVEPNS n TIRUPATI

TTD has heralded into amassive plantation drive ofaromat ic and colourfu lflower plants in road junc-tions, ghat roads and footwalkers path to enhance thespiritual experience of devo-tees during ensuing SrivariBrahmotsavams, which arescheduled from September30.

Under the directive ofTTD Executive Officer AnilKumar Singhal and thesupervision of TirumalaSpecial Officer AV DharmaReddy, Deputy Conservatorof Forest for TTD PhaniKumar Naidu has taken upRs 80 lakh plantation drive inTirumala. As per the beauti-fication agenda, attractivelandscaping of ghat roadsand the walkers path ofAlipiri and Srivari Mettuhave been taken up.

The TTD has rolled outinitiatives to beautify mainthoroughfares from GNC

tollgate to Balaji bus stand inTirumala at a cost of Rs 14lakh from CRO to RamBagicha at Rs 13 lakh andemployees canteen to MedaraMitta at Rs 12 lakh with cro-ton, rose, bamboo, lillies,pulmeria (Deva Ganneru),nerium and night jasmine(parijatha) plants.

Similarly, TTD has taken

sandalwood plantation on10 hectares of land near GoGarbham dam to bring totalof sandal plantation to 90hectares.

ROCK MODELS ROCKSTTD has put up rock

moulds of endangered animalspecies found in Seshachalaforests at a cost of Rs 40 lakh

near Sila Toranam-the natur-al arch. A colourful garden ofroses, allamanda and ixoraplants near Akash Ganga andgreen landscape on the roadto Dharmagiri and SrivariPadalu at Rs 6 lakh funding.

Beautification of dividersfrom Ruia Hospital to Alipiriin Tirupati at Rs 10 lakhcost. On both ghat roads and

Alipiri and Srivari Mettupaths, TTD has launchedboth flower and aromaticplants, including hibiscus andbougainvillea.

Forest range officers ShivaKumar and Nagendra aresupervising beautificationand plantation works atTirumala and Tirupat irespectively.

Tips to improve sleep routinePNS n VIJAYAWADA

British self-help author andhypnotherapist GlennHarrold's new book 'LookYoung, Live Longer' offersinteresting insights intoimproving fitness and beinga happier, healthier you.

Among the things thebest-selling author suggestsfor better sleep are:l Get into the habit of

going to bed at the sametime every night, the ear-lier the better. Remember- an hour before the mid-night is worth two after.

l Remove any television,hi-fi equipment, mobilephones or landline tele-phones from your bed-room. Your bedroom isfor sleeping and its envi-ronment should be con-ducive to sleep.

l Sleep in complete darknessso that not even the lightfrom your alarm clock isseen. Make sure you turnoff any lights outside yourroom. Use black-out blindsif necessary, to block outthe morning light.

l Do not eat or drink anythingother than water or herbaltea for at least four hoursbefore you go the bed.

l Keep a notepad and penby your bedside so thatyou can jot down thingsyou need to do the nextday. Once you have writ-ten them on your pad,you can forget aboutthem and go to sleep safein the knowledge thatwhat you have writtendown will be remem-bered.

l Avoid stress as much aspossible by meditating,playing a gentle sport, orpractising yoga, pilates ortai chi, especially in theevenings. Calm yourmind to alleviate tensionbefore you hit the bed,either by listening tosoothing music, doingsome sort of relaxationexercise that helps youwind down 30 minutes orso before you retire to bed.

Suicide pact:Man dies,mother survives

l YS Jaganmohan Reddy ordered officialsto give more priority to social audit inVillage Secretariats, and everyone, whoapplies for new ration cards and pensions,should be provided with the same byDecemberl He asked the officials to display thedetails of white card holders andbeneficiaries of pension scheme onthe boards in Village Secretariats,along with the details ofbeneficiaries of welfareschemes

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy ordered officials to givemore priority to social audit inVillage Secretariats, and everyone,who applies for new ration cardsand pensions, should be providedwith the same by December

Govt should take responsibilityfor Kodela's death: Yanamala

The forensic reporthas also confirmedthat Dr KodelaSivaprasada Rao hadcommitted suicide,said Yanamala

PNS n GUDIVADA

A 31-year-old manChaitanya died and his57-year-old mother JanakiDevi survived a suicidepact in a lodge atGudivada in Krishna dis-trict on Monday night.They belong toSaroornagar inHyderabad.

According to GudivadaTwo Town CircleInspector L Ramesh, themother-son duo checkedinto Room No 204 of thelodge on September 9.He said when the roomboy rang the bell, JanakiDevi opened the door andcollapsed. He said thatthe duo had consumedpesticide in a suicide pact.While Chaitanya died,Janaki Devi was shifted tothe Government GeneralHospital in Vijayawada.The body of Chaitanyawas shifted to the govern-ment hospital mortuary,he added.

Ramesh said Chaitanyaand his mother were reg-ular customers, whostayed at the lodge fre-quently. However, the rea-son for their extreme stepis yet to be ascertained, hesaid. A case was regis-tered and investigation ison, the CI said.

Daily wage worker crowdfundsdaughter's cancer treatment PNS n GUNTUR

Isolation - It's what most can-cer families would tell youhow they felt during the treat-ment. It can often feel likenobody else around youunderstands what your fami-ly is going through.

Ramu, a daily wager fromGuntur is one such example.It wasn't easy for anyone tobelieve that his cheerful andactive child Somitha wasfighting cancer, despite allthe weakness she managed tosmile and was hopeful that shewould go back to school soon,but her parents were contin-ually running on flames.

Doctors assured that hercancer was curable, but withhis meagre income, Ramuknew that treatment cost wasbeyond his means. When doc-tors suggested about Milaap,South Asia's largest crowd-funding platform, Ramu didnot believe that it would giveback all his lost happiness andhope. Thanks to 595 sup-porters from across the world,they showed them thestrength of stranger's kind-ness, around 12 lakh was

raised in less than a month forher intense chemotherapy andmaintenance chemotherapy.Now, Somitha is out of dan-ger and is back to her normallife.

Commenting on medicalcrowdfunding trends Milaaphas observed specifically inGuntur, Anoj Viswanathan,President and co-founder,Milaap, said: "Even here inGuntur, out of the total Rs 1.5crore raised for causes from

the city, more than 86% are formedical needs. What's heart-ening the fact that 94% of thefundraisers raise funds ontheir own by sharing withtheir friends, family and com-munity without any addition-al help from Milaap."

Setting up an onlinefundraiser is a process of lessthan five minutes and doesnot require a lot of technicalknow-how. Campaigns canbe set up using Whatsapp,other instant messaging appsand even without typing, byrecording their story in any ofthe eight available Indian lan-guages. It is then automatical-ly transcribed to create text.All of these features open uponline fundraising to anyonewith a smartphone. Miaaphas so far raised over Rs 650crore for such causes fromacross the country, over 80%of which is for medical andrelated needs.

l With over a crore raised formedical needs, the wheels ofhealthcare funding arebeginning to turn towardscrowdfunding in Guntur

Somitha, a cancer patient, who isundergoing treatment withCrowdfunding

l TTD has put uprock moulds ofendangered animalspecies found inSeshachala forestsat a cost of Rs 40lakh near SilaToranam-thenatural arch

l A colourful garden of roses,allamanda and ixora plants near AkashGanga and green landscape on the roadto Dharmagiri and Srivari Padalu weredeveloped at a cost of Rs 6 lakh l TTD has taken sandalwood plantationon 10 hectares of land near GoGarbham dam to bring total of sandalplantation to 90 hectares.

PNS n AMARAVATI

The Government of AndhraPradesh has finalised names ofT i r u m a l a - T i r u p a t iDevasthanams governingbody members and a GO islikely to be issued soon.

According to sources, eightfrom Andhra Pradesh andseven from Telangana havebeen identified for posting asTTD governing body mem-bers. Similarly, four fromTamil Naidu and three fromKarnataka and one each fromDelhi and Maharashtra arelikely to be appointed to theTTD governing body mem-bers.

According to sources, themembers from AP are identi-fied as: Legislators Golla BabuRao, Nadendla Subba ao,Meda Prasanti, UV RamanaMurthy, DP Anantha,Chippagiri Prasad Kumar andPartha Saradhy. TUDAChairan Chevireddy BhaskarReddy will be ex-officio mem-ber of the TTD Governingbody.

The following have beenchosen from Telangana forpost ing as : Jupal l iRameshwar Rao, BParthasaradhi Reddy,Venkata Bhaskar Rao,Muramsetty Ramulu, DDamodarama Rao, K SivaKumar and Putta PratapReddy.

The following are likely to

be appointed to the govern-ing body from Karnataka:Ramesh Setti, Ravi Narayanaand Sudha Narayana Murthy.

The following have beenchosen to represent on thegoverning body from TamilNadu: Vaidyanathan,Srinivasan, Dr Nishchita andKumaraguru.

According to sources,the members from APare identified as:Legislators Golla BabuRao, Nadendla Subbaao, Meda Prasanti, UVRamana Murthy, DPAnantha, ChippagiriPrasad Kumar andPartha Saradhy. TUDAChairan ChevireddyBhaskar Reddy will beex-officio member of theTTD Governing body

TTD governing bodyhas 8 from AP, 7 from TS

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 region 04

VRO lands in ACB netPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Officials of Anti-CorruptionBureau (ACB) on Tuesdayarrested Kotti MadanaMohana Sundara Rao, work-ing as Village Revenue Officer(VRO), Neradi cluster underKotturu Mandal inSrikakulam district, fordemanding and accepting abribe of Rs 10,000 from acomplainant for doing anofficial favour.

According to ACB offi-cials, one Savara Minna Rao,a farmer was doing therounds to the VRO office toobtain pattadar passbook andmutation for a farmland infavour of Minna Rao's moth-er-in-law Savara Sayamma.But, to get the work done, theVRO demanded Rs10,000bribe.

Acting on the complaint ofthe farmer, the ACB officialscaught the village revenueofficer red-handed when hewas accepting the bribe fromthe complainant. A case hasbeen registered and the VROhas been taken into custody.He will be produced beforethe ACB court here.

When I first met DrKodela Siva PrasadaRao some 20 years

back, I was taken aback withhis "How are Amma" address.Although, it was our firstmeeting, his smile made it looklike we had known each otherfor quite a long time. A dis-tinctive of his was addressingeveryone with an "Amma"suffix.

That disarming style earnedhim lot many friends in themedia. In 1999 when a bombexploded in his house inNarsaraopet, I went to hisplace to write follow-up stories.Congress had been gunningfor Kodela's head and therewas a widespread demand fora CBI enquiry into the inci-dent. The whole of Guntur wastense after the bomb explosionbut not Kodela. He welcomedme to his house and explainedabout what happened. A large

number of people gathered inand around his residence fear-ing his arrest. He startedenquiring their health andprescribing medicines forsome. During our lunch whenI asked him how he could staycalm and smiling, his reactionwas point blank "Taking ten-sion is useless".

I knew as a leader of onesection in Narsaraopet, a high-ly divided region in Palnadu,he also involved in someexcesses as a minister. Therewas a rumour in 1980s that hewas the one who protected thekillers of Vangaveeti MohanaRanga. Kapu communityalong with Reddys in Palnadusaw Kodela as a villain.Overall, he lived in a highly

stressful and tense life allthrough his life. Tensions werealmost integral to him.However, he survived manypolitical threats.

Kodela was not given berthin 1999 cabinet, during thsecond term of ChandrababuNaidu. Instead SanakkayalaAruna was accommodated

from Guntur district. Kodelawas kept outside the cabinetfor quite a long time in 1999.Added to that was the com-mencement of CBI inquiry

into Narsaraopet bomb blastincident. This was a real test-ing time for Kodela.

The number of visitors tohis big bungalow, which, inci-dentally, is the present

Telangana State ChiefMinister's official residence,started dwindling. During thattime, he used to call me forbreakfast or lunch. His person-al secretary K Gopalam usedto call me to tell the time. Notmany know that Kodela was afitness-freak. He used to swim,go for walks, jogging and didyoga regularly. When YSRgovernment asked him tovacate his bungalow, he said hewould miss a wonderful swim-ming pool in ITC Kakatiya,which is exactly oppositePragati Bhvan. He maintainedgood habits, had a balanceddiet and did exercises fregular-ly throughout his life. Whenasked about this, he said"Amma we are in a most

stressful field that is politics. Ifwe have other habits we can'trun with the young leaders".

When he became Speaker ofresidual Andhra PradeshLegislative Assembly he mademe a member of the mediaadvisory committee ofAssembly. He told him that asdeputy political editor inTimes of India I would not gettime to spare for these things.But he insisted telling thatworking journalists must be incommittees to give better ideasto the speaker. He was metic-ulous in every sphere of activ-ity he took up. He had a clearidea about politics and its ill-effects. Even before any otherleader encountered, he facedfull-length caste hatred, com-

munal divide and politicalvendetta. But he dealt all ofthem with rare gusto. But thatimage was shattered when hewas alleged a 'thief ' of theAssembly furniture. He was inpin when he was blamed with'K tax' by some of his own fol-lowers in Narsaraopet. Whenone by one his followerschanged loyalties, Kodela wasin a state of depression. Hetried to defend him but aseries of complaints by his ownpeople devastated him com-pletely. When I last spoke tohim in August, he was recu-perating from a heart strokeand told me that we wouldmeet once he is better. But henever came back.

A man who lived with prideand confidence throughouthis life eventually concededdefeat. It will not be easy forTDP and Palnadu region to getsuch a livewire leader.

REMEMBERING KODELA ‘AMMA’Not many know that Kodela was a fitness-freak. He used to swim, go for walks,jogging and did yoga regularly.When YSR government asked him to vacatehis bungalow, he said he would miss awonderful swimming pool in ITC Kakatiya,which is exactly opposite Pragati Bhvan

KRISHNA PRASAD B

Many projects sanctioned forVizag yet to take any shapePNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

As several projects sanctionedby the Union Governmentyet to see light of the day,many issues are cripplingdevelopment of the Port cityand Andhra Pradesh, mem-bers and stakeholders fromVizag Development Council,AP Chambers of Commerceand CII apprised NationalExecutive Member of BJP Dr.K. Haribabu, Rajya SabhaMPs, YS Chowdary and TGVenkatesh at an interactivemeeting here on Tuesday.

Both the MPs assured thatthey would take a delegationof representatives from Vizagto the concerned UnionMinisters for developingEODB and expediting sanc-tion or approvals of pendingprojects.

The members also calledfor financial support fromthe Centre to help the Statemake payments to contrac-tors, whose bills have been puton hold due to fund crunch.

Among the issues anddemands raised at the meet-ing were establishment ofCDAC (Center for theDevelopment of AdvancedComputing) atVisakhapatnam and IT

Incubation Center that hadbeen sanctioned earlier. Thegovernment has sanctionedRs 40 crore for STPI but nofurther planning for the estab-lishment is yet to be initiated,the representatives said.ITAAP President Narayanaurged the BJP members to get10,000 more seats under IBPS

scheme for Vizag. They werealso exhorted to peruse ITIRfor Vizag.

Establishment of NIPER,announced by former UnionMinister Anant Kumar at a CIIpartnership summit, IndianInstitute Of Foreign Trade andIndian Institute of Packaging inVizag were put forth at themeeting. Indian Institute ofPlantation Management wassanctioned for AP, but it is yetto take off as the state did nottake active initiation. The rep-resentatives sought the planta-tion institute in Vizag to boostagro economy.

The stakeholders also raisedthat foundation stone waslaid for the National Instituteof Oceanography, but no fur-ther progress was recorded.Biotechnology IncubationCentre had been approvedfor Vizag, but it did notprogress as the state govern-ment yet to submit a DPR inthis connection.

Air Travellers Association,T o u r - a n d - T r a v e l l e r sAssociation, Members of Sea-food Exporters association,Textile Merchants, and mem-bers from hospitality industryalso sought improvement oftrain and flight facilities in theState.

PNSn VISAKHAPATNAM

To commemorate the 150thbirth anniversary of MahatmaGandhi, Railways has beenobserving 'Swachhta Hi SewaPakhwada' across its entire net-work from September 11.

The Pakhwada commencedwith the administration ofSwachhta pledge by DivisionalRailway Manager ChetanKumar Shrivastava to all Railwaystaff, passengers, stake holdersand NGOs.

On Tuesday, vigorous cam-paigns and rallies were orga-nized across the Division toobserve 'Pakhwada'. During theSwachchta hi seva Pakhwada,tree plantation along railwaytrack, in railway colonies, stationpremises were taken up.Cleaning of approach roads to12 stations was done.

Concentrating on the segre-gation of plastic waste, stationpremises, colonies, railwayestablishments like Diesel LocoShed, Electric Loco Shed,Coaching Complex etc werecleaned up and awareness pro-grammes were held. To make"Swachta Hi Seva" initiative a

grand success, intensive aware-ness campaigns were organizedusing social media, NukkadNatak, audio/video clips to moti-vate and involve passengers,students, families, pensioners,SHGs and other stake holders toalso participate in the variousactivities of the "Swachhta-Hi-Sewa Pakhwada".

Massive cleanliness pro-gramme was organized atVisakhapatnam Railway stationunder the leadership of DRM.Addressing the media DRMsaid "We have started cam-paigning for Clean Railways -Clean India by creating aware-ness among the rail users andpublic and we did not limited forslogans but our commitmenttowards Swachh Bharat isreflected through our

Shramdan, where one can wit-ness to see the railway men&women and their wards involvedin cleaning railway premises.Our women's wing also involvedin the noble cause, they are alsocleaning the stations, coloniesapart from plantation pro-grammes.

Shouldering the socialresponsibility, Women's WelfareOrganization of Waltair Divisionunder the leadership of ShaliniShrivastava, President ofECoRWWO conducted inten-sive cleanliness at RailwayColonies and mass green plan-tation programme organized.She went to Anurag MotessoriSchool run by ECORWWO,where swachhta pledge wasadministered.

Speaking on the occasionShalini Shrivastava said thatcollective efforts only couldresult in making our countryClean India and thus saving ourearth form plastic menace. It isthe time to spread the messageto ban the single use plastic andinvolvement of children to prop-agate the message of ban on plas-tic is vital as they are the futureof India, she added.

Another familygoes missingPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Another family fromVisakhapatnam may havemet a watery grave follow-ing their disappearanceafter the Godavari boattragedy. With this, the totalpersons missing from Vizagwent up to 13, according toofficials from East Godavariand Visakhapatnam.

Reports said PMaheswara Reddy (35), anative of Nadyal, has beenworking in Pharma Cityand hired a flat in Gajuwakato live with his family. Onlast Saturday, he called a taxioperator close to his houseand wanted a car for hire tovisit his home in Nandyal.

On Sunday morning hestarted off with his wifeSwathi (30), son VikhyatReddy (6), daughterHansika and another per-son MV Seetharama raju(55). He informed his rela-

tives after he left Gajuwaka.In the evening, his rela-

tives tried to reach him andhis wife but their mobilephones were switched off.His close friend and senioradvocate RamakrishnaReddy made seriousinquiries with the officialsand was told that the carwas found on the banks ofGodavari where the touristsboarded the ill-fated boat.

Confirming the family'strip on the boat, EastGodavari police told theadvocate that MaheswaraReddy booked the boattickets through Hyderabadbased KVK Tours andTravels.

The tickets were bookedin the name of MaheswaraReddy, Swathi, VikhyatReddy and MVSeetharama Raju. Hansikaname was not includedsince she was below fiveyears.

City doctors perform complex surgeryPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Doctors in the city performeda complex surgery on a 74-year-old person by putting a stentin a critically narrowed bloodvessel, here on Tuesday savinghis life. The patient Sanyasi Raosuffered a stroke recently.

He was admitted into a cor-porate hospital with right sidedweakness and in a comatosestate.

Explaining the case, consul-tant neurologist from KimsIcon Hospital, Dr KiranBuddaraju, said keeping in viewhis age, the attenders did notopt for the injection due to therisk of bleeding associated withit. Angiogram of the patientshowed highly narrowed basi-lar artery with risk of the strokeprogressing to severe complica-tions. The final option was tostent the narrowed blood ves-

sel. ̀ `Our interventional cardi-ology team comprising DrDamodar Rao and Dr BhaskarRao helped with cerebralangiogram and a stent has beenplaced in the narrowed bloodvessel with no procedure relat-ed complications. The patientgained consciousness over thenext two days. Subsequently, he

was removed from ventilatorand stayed in the ward for sixdays prior to discharge," he said.

Speaking about the case,consultant neurologist fromthe hospital Dr Ch Vijay said,"Conditions like location ofthe stroke, size of the vesselinvolved, age, risk factors, timeperiod of onset of treatment,

play a vital role in deciding thetreatment. Also, it is not possi-ble to give the injection(Alteplase) to all the strokepatients nor all the strokepatients can be stented. Largevessel clots can be stented afterclot removal and smaller vesselclots can be treated with theinjection.

Results will be encouragingif the interventions are attempt-ed at the earliest after the onsetof symptoms.''

Rajya Sabha MPs YS Choudary,TG Vvenkatesh addressing a press conference in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday

The members also called forfinancial support from the Centre to help the State make paymentsto contractors, whose bills have been put on hold due to fund crunch

RTA plans to ban substandard helmetsPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Trying to evade fine just usinga sub-standard helmet? If so,two-wheeler riders need toknow that wearing a non-ISIhelmet or low-quality helmetwould also attract punish-ment as the traffic police andRoad Transport Authority(RTA) will treat them as hel-metless riders.

It has been observed thatmost of the two-wheeler rid-ers are using non-ISI markhelmets. Hence, the cops havedecided to initiate a driveagainst sub-standard head-gear. There were instances oftwo-wheeler riders succumb-ing to death even after wear-ing helmets mainly due to thecounterfeit helmets.

With the regular drivesagainst the helmetless riders bythe traffic police and RTA incities and towns in the state,the demand for the protectivehead-guards has increased.

Cashing in on the situation,non-ISI-Marked or substan-dard helmets (head-guards)are flooding the markets in thestate.

The non-ISI marked helmetcosts around Rs500 while thecost of the ISI marked goodquality head-guard rangedfrom Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 atthe authorized shops.

'The two-wheeler riders,who feel ISI helmet is a cost-ly affair, prefer to purchase thecheap quality helmet fromus,' says a helmet vendor GRavana, near MVP colony.

Deputy TransportCommissioner, Vizag, SVenkateswara Rao said over 40to 50 per cent of the two-wheeler riders who wear head-guards, are using the cheaperhelmets (non-ISI mark) with-out knowing the conse-quences. The sub-standard

head-guards would not giveany protection in case of acci-dents, we have been urging thetwo-wheelers to distancethemselves from the helmetssans ISI mark, which can puttheir lives at a risk, he added.

The Section 129 of IndianMotor Vehicles Act says thattwo-wheeler riders shouldhave to use protective head-gears. They should conform tothe Bureau of IndianStandards (BIS) and usersshould check their quality.Soon we will check the quali-ty of the helmets also. Thosewearing helmets without ISImark will be penalized in thecoming days as they would betreated as riding helmetless,according to sources in policeand RTA.

An officer with traffic wingsaid that nobody is concernedabout the quality of the hel-mets as most of the riders wearthese to just escape from thepolice checks. There is urgentneed to check the quality ofthe head-guards and have toinsist fear among the two-wheeler riders who use non-ISI mark helmets and do notfollow the norms, they added.

Cashing in on thesituation, non-ISI-Marked or substandardhelmets (head-guards)are flooding the marketsin the state

Cops seize 22kgsof ganja, nab fourVisakhapatnam: City TaskForce police personnel raided aplace near Simhachalam northcabin and arrested four persons,who were in possession of 22kgs of ganja. They were identi-fied as Gantam Sanjay KumarDas (38) of Paduva village ofKoraput district in Odisha,Aditya Bhakta (48) also ofPaduva village, Kunteri Sriram(29) of Pedavalasa village, Arakuand Vantala Govind (30) ofBadimala village, DumbrigudaMandal, Visakhapatnam. Theyplanned to transport the ganjaby train when they were trappedand caught.

Sanyasi Rao with the team of doctors from KIMS Icon Hospital in Visakhapatnamon Tuesday

Angiogram of thepatient showed highlynarrowed basilar arterywith risk of the strokeprogressing to severecomplications

Vatti brandishesgun, bookedContinued from Page 1

In a photo the formerminister is seen holdinga gun while talking topeople. The police haveregistered cases undersection 447 and 506 (34)of IPC. When ques-tioned, Vasant Kumaradmitted that he had agun in his hand. But hedenied the allegationsthat he had threatenedpeople.

He said, "I have notthreatened anyone withthe weapon. After com-ing out of my house inVizag, I saw some peoplecutting off trees in aland. I'm aware that theland belongs to one ofmy close associates and Ihave sent my driver totalk to them."

"The person who wascutting the trees hadcome menacingly at mydriver with an axe thathe was using to cut thetree. I immediately gotdown the car along witha weapon. I have ques-tioned them about whythey are cutting it down.Nowadays questioninginjustice has also becomea problem.

Everything we can dois to keep quiet and con-tinue with our own busi-ness,'' he said. Sources inthe police said VasantKumar might to be takeninto custody along withhis friend in a day ortwo.

Kodela to be cremated with State honoursContinued from Page 1

Blaming the YSRCP govern-ment for Rao's death, the TDPstaged protests in Guntur andother districts on Tuesday.Holding black flags and picturesof Rao, TDP workers took outrallies, raising slogans against thegovernment. They alleged thatharassment by the governmentforced Rao to take the extremestep.

The 72-year-old, who alsoserved as minister in undividedAndhra Pradesh, committedsuicide by hanging at his resi-dence in Hyderabad on Monday.The family members told thepolice that he was under stress.

Terming this as a murder bythe government, N

Chandrababu Naidu demandeda probe by the Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI). He toldreporters in Hyderabad that thegovernment of YS JaganmohanReddy humiliated Rao andharassed him physically, mental-ly and economically, leading tohis death. "Such an incident hasnot happened anywhere in thecountry. Never before a seniorleader like Kodela committedsuicide due to harassment by thegovernment," said the formerChief Minister.

Naidu said JaganmohanReddy, who was chargesheetedby the CBI for corruption to thetune of Rs 43,000 crore, got a casebooked against Rao in connec-tion with furniture worth a fewlakhs of rupees.

The TDP chief was referringto the case against Rao forallegedly diverting Assemblyfurniture. Rao and his sonSivarama Krishna were lastmonth booked by police forallegedly diverting Assemblyfurniture. Some furniture wasrecovered from a motorbikeshowroom of Sivarama Krishnain Guntur. The YSRCP rub-bished Naidu's allegations thatharassment by the governmentdrove Rao to suicide. YSRCPleader and Government ChiefWhip G Srikanth Reddy allegedthat Naidu is playing politics overthe death. He pointed out that amember of Rao's family haslodged a complaint with thepolice that a dispute in the fam-ily led to his death.

Cleanlinessprogramme wasorganized atVisakhapatnamRailway station underthe leadership of DRM

Massive clean-up to markcleanliness fortnight

‘Naidu'shumiliation droveKodela to suicide’Continued from Page 1

Nani said that from the beginningKodela was discriminated against byNaidu. He has not been givenMinistry, not allotted the Assemblyseat which he requested, Nani added.Despite the favour done by Dr Kodelawhile not taking any action on thedefection of YSRC MLAs into TDP,Naidu had neglected him, theMinister alleged.

Srikanth Reddy said that Naiduwas relaxed after knowing that therewas no suicide letter of Dr Kodela SivaPrasada Rao. If there was a suicidenote, Naidu would have been insoup, he added.

Once the air was cleared, naidustarted playing with sentiments andwhipping up passions blaming theState Government and has been car-rying out a sustained campaignagainst the government, leveling falseand baseless allegations by pumpingin the same data through dedicatedmedia and a handful of spokesper-sons, he alleged.

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 nation 05SHORT READS

No compromise onIndia's security: ShahNEW DELHI: Union HomeMinister Amit Shah on Tuesdaysaid the Modi government willnot tolerate any breach ofIndia's territory and is ready todeal with any such acts strongly.Shah also asserted that thesituation in Jammu and Kashmirhas been peaceful ever since thespecial status given to the stateunder 370 was abrogated onAugust 5 and added that not asingle bullet has been fired noranyone has died since then."There will be no compromiseon India's security. We will nottolerate even an inch of breachof our territory. We will deal withit strongly. We will not allow anydrop of blood of our soldiers goin vain," he said addressing anevent of the All IndiaManagement Association here.Coming down heavily on theprevious Congress regime fornot adopting a comprehensivenational security policy, thehome minister said thecountry's strategic policy wasovershadowed by the foreignpolicy. "After the surgical strikeand air strike, the perception ofthe world has changed andIndia's strength has beenrecognised globally," he added.

I am not joining anypolitical party: UrmilaMatondkar

‘Will focus on issuesrelated to WB duringmeeting with PM’KOLKATA: Describing herscheduled meeting with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onWednesday in New Delhi as a"courtesy" one, West BengalChief Minister Mamata Banerjeeon Tuesday said she wouldhighlight various issues likefunds that are due to the state.Talking to reporters at cityaiport before leaving for thenational capital, Banerjee saidshe would also raise issues likename change of the state aswell matters like merger ofpublic sector banks during themeeting. "I go to New Delhivery rarely.This is a routinework. This time I am going totalk about funds that are due toWest Bengal. I will alsohighlight issues like change ofWest Bengal's name. "Will alsotalk about matters like mergerof public sector banks, issueswith Air India, BSNL, Railwayswhere there are severalproblems. They (employees ofthese organisations) cannot goanywhere and come to us,"Banerjee said before leaving forNew Delhi. Banerjee, who hasbeen one of the harshest criticsof BJP and Modi, earlier in theday greeted the PM on his 69thbirthday.

MUMBAI: Amid speculationthat the Shiv Sena might be hernext choice after quitting theCongress recently, actress-turned-politician UrmilaMatondkar on Tuesday soughtto put such reports to rest,saying she is not joining anypolitical party. Urmila'sclarification comes in the wakeof reports that she was in touchwith Uddhav Thackeray's closeaide Milind Narvekar since shewalked out of the Congress,and might consider joining theSena, the main constituent ofthe BJP-led Maharashtra andCentral governments. Assemblyelections are due inMaharashtra next month. Shehad announced her resignationfrom the Congress owing to"petty in-house politics" onSeptember 10 this year withingsix months of joining the GrandOld Party and unsuccessfullycontesting her maiden electionfrom Mumbai North Lok Sabhaseat against BJP's GopalShetty. Urmila had then saidthat she stood by her "thoughtsand ideologies" and willcontinue to work for thepeople.

PNS n AURANGABAD

The Maharashtra governmenthas launched some schemeswhich will help make thep e r e n n i a l l y p a r c h e dMarathwada region free ofdrought, Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis said onTuesday.

He said the government wasworking on various sectors,including irrigation, agricul-ture and infrastructure, todevelop the region and make itovercome the water scarcity."The water grid and other newschemes will makeMarathwada shed the tag ofbeing a drought-prone region,"he said addressing a gatheringhere on the 71st MarathwadaMuktisangram Day.

"It is the day to make reso-lutions. As part of this, we haveinitiated various schemes forMarathwada which will helpthis region to beat the waterscarcity and drought," he

assured. Tenders have beenfloated to implement the watergrid scheme, on which thegovernment will spend Rs20,000 crore, the chief minis-ter said.

"Besides, to meet the waterneeds for agriculture inMarathwada, the state gov-ernment is planning to thebring excess water from theKonkan region, which flowsinto the sea, towards theGodavari valley," he said.

Fadnavis said the govern-ment has also sanctioned awater pipeline scheme worth Rs

1,650 crore forAurangabad."This will help toovercome water scarcity in thecity for next 50 years," he added.

He said Aurangabad willplay a vital role in future on theindustrial front. The first phaseof Shendra node of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridorproject, recently inauguratedby Prime Minister NarendraModi, will act as a magnet forinvestments in theMarathwada region, he said.

Along with the DMIC project,the Samruddhi corridor willalso help Aurangabad and

Marathwada to make remarkablecontribution in the national eco-nomic growth, Fadnavis said.

Meanwhile, some freedomfighters, who were present onthe occasion, demanded equalpension amounts for themunder the central and stateschemes.

"We are paid less by the stateas compared to the centralgovernment. We fought forone nation, then our pensionshould also be one," city-basedfreedom fighter NarayandasRathod Aurangabad toldreporters after the function.

Fadnavis: New schemes to makeMarathwada drought-free

Modi lauds Patel's vision

PNS n NAGPUR

Union minister Nitin Gadkarihas said sometimes when peo-ple fail to get tickets to contestpolls on the basis of theirwork, they play the "castecard".

Praising Prime MinisterNarendra Modi "for neverinvoking his caste", he citedexamples of a number ofprominent politicians who roseabove the caste and religiousidentity to carve out a niche forthemselves.

"When people fail to get(poll) ticket on the basis oftheir work (krututva), theyplay caste card," the former BJPpresident said addressing agathering here on Monday atthe 'Akhil Bhartiya Mali SamajMahaadiveshan', organised bythe Mahatma Phule ShikshanSanstha.

"I want to ask - did GeorgeFernandes (former Unionminister and socialist stal-wart) belong to any caste? Hedid not belong to any caste...hewas a Christian. Did IndiraGandhi come to powerbecause of caste?" he said.

Did Ashok Gehlot belong toyour caste? But he became thechief minister of Rajasthanwhen people from other castegroups helped him, he point-

ed out. "People told me thatwomen should get reservation,'I said yes they should getreservation'. But, I immediatelyasked them, did Indira Gandhiget reservation? For severalyears she ruled the country andbecame popular," he said.

Similarly, did VasundharaRaje and Sushma Swaraj (BJPleaders) get reservation? theminister said to support hisargument that caste was notinstrumental in the success ofthese politicians.

"In politics those who dogood work, don't have to askfor votes as the votes come tothem naturally," he said.

"Prime Minister Modi nevertalks about his caste. I reallyappreciate Modiji. Aaj takNarendra Modiji ne kabhi

nahi kahaa main backwardcommunity se hun (PM Modihas never said he belongs to abackward community),"Gadkari said.

People at times play ‘castecard' to get poll ticket: Gadkari

PNS n KEVADIYA

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday lauded thevision of Sardar Patel, addingthe BJP-led government's deci-sion last month on Jammu andKashmir was an inspirationfrom the former home minis-ter of India.

The Union government'sdecision on Kashmir isinspired by Sardar Patel and isan attempt to find solution toa decades-old problem, Modi,who turned 69 on Tuesday,said at a public rally here.

The government on August5 revoked Article 370 whichgave special status to Jammuand Kashmir and proposedthat the state be bifurcated intotwo union territories, Jammuand Kashmir and Ladakh.

The PM said the HyderabadLiberation Day is a result ofSardar Patel's vision. Observedon September 17 each year, itmarks the day in 1948 when theerstwhile Hyderabad State wasannexed to the Indian Union.

Modi said he was happy tosee the rising number of visi-tors to the Statue of Unity.While the 133-year-old State ofLiberty gets around 10,000visitors per day, about 8,500people visit the 11-month-oldStatue of Unity daily, he said.

The Sardar Sarovar projectis catering to needs of Gujarat,Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtraand Rajasthan and has bene-fitted people in these fourstates, Modi said.

On a visit to his home state,

Modi earlier on Tuesday offeredprayers to goddess Narmada atthe Sardar Sarovar dam.

Accompanied by GujaratChief Minister Vijay Rupani,Modi offered prayers as part ofthe state government'sNamami Devi NarmadeMahotsav celebrations beingheld to mark the dam receiv-ing water to its full capacity.

Modi also visited theButterfly Garden in Kevadiyaand named the saffroncoloured plain tiger butterfly asthe state butterfly.

Modi began the day with avisit to the Statue of Unity andthe Sardar Sarovar Dam on theriver Narmada.

The Statue of Unity, billed asthe tallest in the world, wasinaugurated by him on SardarVallabhbhai Patel 's birthanniversary on October 31last year. He also tweeted avideo of the statue, taken fromhis helicopter.

Modi arrived at Kevadiya onTuesday morning to take partin the 'Namami Narmada' fes-tival being celebrated by theGujarat government to markthe filling up of the dam to itsfull reservoir level of 138.68metres.

PNS n MUMBAI

Amid talks of the BJP seekingmore seats than the Shiv Senafor the upcoming Maharashtrapolls, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party is trying to corner thesenior ally over the Aareyland, induction of leadersfrom the Congress and NCPand the Ram temple issues.

The BJP, however, said theSena needs to look at thingspractically in view of the AmitShah-led party's vote sharegoing up in the Lok Sabhapolls held earlier this year. Inthe 288-member MaharashtraAssembly, the Sena is ready fora 135 seats each formula withthe BJP, while leaving 18 seatsfor their allies.

But, the BJP no longerseems willing to accept it."The BJP is not willing to givemore than 120 seats to theSena and we don't approve ofit. Before the announcement ofalliance in February this year,Uddhavji and BJP presidentAmit Shah agreed to contestequal number of seats in the

Assembly polls," a senior Senaleader said.

However, a BJP leaderpointed out that as comparedto the 2014 polls, the party'svote share increased in the LokSabha elections this year.

"It is a fact that our leader(Prime Minister) NarendraModi's image has helped someof the 18 Sena Lok Sabha mem-bers to retain their seats. Hence,we expect to contest more seatsthan the Sena, and it is based onthe (latest) trends," he said.

With the BJP seeminglyfirm on contesting more seats,the Sena has been trying to putit in the dock by opposing theproposed tree felling in AareyColony here to make way fora Metro car shed.

It also took a jibe at the BJPover its move to induct anumber of Congress and NCPleaders, and also reiterated itsdemand for the Ram temple inAyodhya. Another BJP leadersaid this was a "trick" theSena was playing "to put us onthe back foot and negotiate formore seats with us".

SEAT-SHARING ROW

Sena raking upissues to putBJP in dock

‘Narmada dam filled ahead ofschedule for PM's birthday’PNS n BHOPAL

Madhya Pradesh HomeMinister Bala Bachchan onTuesday claimed the SardarSarovar Dam was filled up tothe full reservoir level "aheadof its schedule" to facilitate cel-ebration of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's birthday atthe dam site.

He said this disturbed therelief and rehabilitation worksunderway in the MadhyaPradesh areas submergedunder the dam water.

Modi, who turned 69 onTuesday arrived at Kevadiya inGujarat in the morning totake part in the 'NamamiNarmada' festival being cele-brated by the western state'sgovernment to mark the fillingup of the Sardar Sarovar Damto its full reservoir level of138.68 metres.

Bachchan claimed thataccording to the NarmadaControl Authority's schedule,the dam was to be filled up toits full reservoir level by mid-October.

"However, it was filled to thefull level nearly a month aheadof its schedule so that theprime minister could cele-brate his birthday at the site,"he told reporters here.

This change of schedule hasdisturbed the relief and reha-bilitation works underway inthe areas submerged under thedam water in four districts ofMP, he said.

"It would have been better ifModiji had paid attention to theMadhya Pradesh's people affect-ed due to the Sardar Sarovar

Dam's backwaters," he said.The prime minister should

have sanctioned immediaterelief to these people, he said,adding that the Centre earlierpromised the state to ensureproper rehabilitation of thedam-affected people "but it wasnot yet fulfilled".

Residents of nearly 178 vil-lages in MP's Barwani, Dhar,Alirajpur and Khargone dis-tricts are affected due to dam'sbackwaters, Narmada BachaoAndolan (NBA) leader MedhaPatkar told PTI on Monday.

She also said that they wouldprotest in Barwani duringModi's birthday celebration.The NBA is demanding thatthe gates of the dam, built onthe Narmada river, be openedimmediately given that itsbackwaters have partially orfully flooded 178 villages inMadhya Pradesh.

The floodgates of the damwere closed on June 17, 2017,56 years after the foundationstone of the project was laid bythen Prime Minister JawaharlalNehru.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The "era of the corrupt" has cometo an end and the phase of goodgovernance, inclusive growthand service to the poor hasbegun, Union minister MukhtarAbbas Naqvi said on Tuesday.

Addressing a programme inRampur on the occasion ofPrime Minister Narendra Modi'sbirthday, Naqvi said that whenthe people had given mandate toPrime Minister Narendra Modifive years ago, "champions ofcorruption" had been domi-nating the system and middle-men were running a "parallelgovernment".

"But now, champions of cor-ruption, power brokers and mid-dlemen are either in jail or wait-ing for their turn outside thedoors of jail," the Minority AffairsMinister was quoted as saying bya statement from his office.

Naqvi said that the "uneasi-ness" among the corrupt was evi-dence of a changed positiveatmosphere and transparent sys-tem. "The era of the corrupt and

middlemen has come to end andthe phase of good governance,inclusive growth and service tothe poor has begun," he said.

The senior BJP leader saidPrime Minister Modi has ful-filled his commitment to goodgovernance and service to thepoor by demolishing "the polit-ical culture of arrogance.

The Modi government hasbrought a major positive changein the country keeping in mindwelfare of "the last person in theline", he said.

Naqvi claimed that this phasein India is being recognisedworldwide as "ModiRevolution". The Modi govern-ment has displayed its strongnationalist will by taking "boldand historic decisions" whichhad been seen as impossible tobe taken, he said.

The minister said schemessuch as Jan Dhan Yojana,Ujjwala Yojana, Mudra Yojana,Start Up India, AyushmanBharat and Kisan Samman haveproved to be the guarantee ofdevelopment of the needy.

Era of corrupt over;good governancehas begun: Naqvi

Karna reduces flooddamage estimate by3,380 crorePNS n BENGALURU

Karnataka Revenue Minister RAshoka Tuesday said the statehas reduced its flood damageestimate by Rs 3,380 croreafter the union governmentobjected to inclusion of privatebuildings that were affected.

"We had sent estimates,including private building loss-es...like private hospitals,schools. So today we are send-ing (flood damage estimate)after revising it from the earli-er Rs 38,451.11 crore to Rs35,160.81 crore. Now we havedeleted private buildings asthe centre had objected to it,"Ashoka told reporters here.

The union governmentwould release the amount as perthe rules, he said and expressedthe hope it would be done soon.As many as 103 taluks in 22 dis-tricts were affected due tofloods last month, in which over80 people were killed. Aroundseven lakh people were shiftedto safe areas and lakhs of hous-es were damaged. Oppositionparties, including the Congressand JD(S) have hit out at BJPgovernments at the centre andthe state over the 'delay' inrelease of funds, despite UnionHome Minister Amit Shah,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman and the inter-min-isterial central team visitingthe affected areas.

It is the day to makeresolutions. As part of this, wehave initiated various schemesfor Marathwada which will helpthis region to beat the waterscarcity and drought

PNS n NEW DELHI

A pictorial book traces thejourney of Narendra Modifrom his days as a young boyfrom Vadnagar in Gujarat toNew Delhi's 7, Lok KalyanMarg as the 14th prime min-ister of India. “Turbulence &Triumph: The Modi Years”,jointly authored by RahulAgarwal and Bharathi SPradhan, is replete with anec-dotes from family, friends,

colleagues, associates, testi-monials of leaders from Indiaand the world across partylines, publisher Om Booksannounced Tuesday.

The book, expected to hitstores next month, also hasphotographs sourced frompublic and private archives.The publisher said the bookis a definitive portrait of theprime minister in a docu-mentary-style visual narrative.

“The politician, the leader,

the orator and the asceticcommitted to the idea of anew India, has been com-posed into a single frame bythe authors for a comprehen-sive experience of a leaderwho makes compelling polit-ical history,” it said.

A number of books have beenwritten on Modi, who turned 69on Tuesday. He has alsoauthored a few books, includinga hand guide for students and acollection of poetry.

Pictorial biography to chronicle Modi's journey

SONIA WISHES PM ON 69th B’DAY RAHUL WISHES MODI

Congress president SoniaGandhi on Tuesday extended

her greetings to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on his birthday,wishing him a healthy, happyand long life. Modi turned 69on Tuesday and was greeted byseveral top leaders from acrossthe political spectrum."Congress President Sonia Gandhi has extendedher greetings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi onhis birthday. She wished him a healthy, happy andlong life," a party statement said.

Congress leader RahulGandhi on Tuesday

greeted Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on hisbirthday, wishing him goodhealth and happiness.Modi turned 69 on Tuesdayand was greeted by severaltop leaders from across thepolitical spectrum. "My best wishes to NarendraModi Ji on his 69th birthday. May he be blessedwith good health and happiness always," Gandhisaid in a tweet.

People told me thatwomen should getreservation, 'I said yesthey should getreservation'. But, Iimmediately askedthem, did Indira Gandhiget reservation? Forseveral years she ruledthe country andbecame popular

The PM said theHyderabadLiberation Day isa result of SardarPatel's vision.Observed onSeptember 17each year, itmarks the day in1948 when theerstwhileHyderabad Statewas annexed tothe Indian Union

Bala Bachchanclaimed thataccording to theNarmada ControlAuthority's schedule,the dam was to befilled up to its fullreservoir level bymid-October

SAYS J&K DECISION INSPIRED BY HIM

It is a tragic irony that the worst act byterrorists involving wanton killing ofinnocent people in recent times tookplace on September 11, 2001, whentwo hijacked planes were deployed to

kill over 3,000 people on the Twin Towersof the World Trade Center, New York, whileanother one targetted the Pentagon and yetanother crashed in Pennsylvania. Just threeweeks later after that dastardly act, we com-memorate the birth anniversary of thegreatest human being to ever have practisednon-violence, Mahatma Gandhi. This year,of course, marks a special occasion whenGandhiji’s 150th birth anniversary wouldbe celebrated.

Gandhian philosophy represents aperfect integration of non-violence, non-exploitation of one community by anoth-er and respect for all human beings andother species with whom we share the plan-et earth. His views on these subjects are bestexplained by the following quotation:“Public opinion alone can keep a societypure and healthy...I claim that human mindor human society is not divided into water-tight compartments called social, politicaland religious. All act and react upon oneanother...Human society is a ceaselessgrowth, an unfoldment in terms of spiri-tuality...ill-digested principles are, if any-thing, worse than ill-digested food, for thelatter harms the body and there is a curefor it, whereas the former ruins the soul andthere is no cure for it...It is the law of lovethat rules mankind. Had violence, ie,hate, ruled us, we should have becomeextinct long ago. And yet, the tragedy of itis that the so-called civilised men andnations conduct themselves as if the basisof society was violence.”

The holistic nature of Gandhianemphasis on non-violence was expressedeloquently by his emphasis on the need forhuman beings not exploiting other humanbeings and the essential need for them, notin any way considering themselves supe-rior to other forms of life. Here again,Gandhiji was very direct in two commentsthat he conveyed.

“A society can be judged by the way ittreats its animals.”

“It is an arrogant assumption to say thathuman beings are lords and masters of thelower creatures. On the contrary, beingendowed with greater things in life, they arethe trustees of the lower animal kingdom.”

Most importantly, Gandhiji’s concept ofnon-violence extended directly to humansociety, not in any way inflicting major dam-age to the ecosystems of this planet andresources, which nature provides us and onwhich all life survives and endures. Today,the material demands of human society areresulting in extensive damage to the earth’sbiodiversity, the growing dangers and risksfrom human-induced climate change andmajor pollution of the oceans, which willhave serious consequences not only for life

under water but also extensive-ly on large areas of land.

There is a section of pub-lic opinion today which seemsto believe that perhaps nothingcan be done to solve some ofthese problems simply becausehuman society is too far goneto be able to retreat in the direc-tion of reduced demand forgoods and services.

There is now mountingevidence from all over theworld on the expanding foot-print of human society on theearth’s ecosystems. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hastaken up the challenge of reduc-ing single-use plastic in thiscountry because we have blind-ly emulated the developednations, which are responsiblefor the mounting waste of var-ious kinds, based on the grow-ing demand for material goodsand products.

It is for this reason scien-tists like Paul J Crutzen havedescribed the current periodthat we are going through asone of the anthropocene asopposed to the geological ageHolocene, which began 11,700years ago. Gandhiji wasabsolutely right when he said:“The incessant search for mate-rial comforts and their multi-plication is evil. I make bold tosay that the Europeans willhave to remodel their outlookif they are not to perish underthe weight of the comforts towhich they are becoming

slaves.”For almost 50 years, human

activities have increasinglyexceeded the bio-capacity ofecosystems to absorb theexpanding footprint of ouractivities. There is, therefore, theneed for a radical shift bywhich a rapid and decisivechange is brought into the dev-astating consumerist culturedominating modern society,which would ultimately lead tounacceptable risks in the futureand exploitation by some, aswas the case with colonialism.

We are already seeing signsof domination by vested inter-ests of countries and commu-nities by the rich and powerfulseeking benefits of assuredsupply of raw materials, ener-gy and rare minerals fromother locations, almost in acolonial relationship. There is,therefore, an imperative forhuman society to movetowards Gandhian principles,which, quite apart from shun-ning violence of one commu-nity versus another, proscribeviolence used against natureand its attributes, which sustainlife for all species on earth.

In actual fact, it is clearlythe desire by human beings toexpand material wants and thepower associated with it whichin some form or the other leadsto violence all around. It is trag-ic that in the 21st century, thereare still prosperous nationsand groups, which are financ-

ing terrorist activities, the worstexample of which leaves uswith a continuing sense ofhorror from the events ofSeptember 11, 2001.

It appears that the globalcommunity, including theUnited Nations, has been large-ly ineffective in curbing violencein several regions of the world.The war in Yemen continues tokill innocent human beings,including children. The conflictin Syria, despite the involvementof some big powers, has not ledto any movement towardspeace, even as ceasefire afterceasefire is violated. In our ownneighbourhood, the Talibancontinues to attack innocentindividuals in Afghanistan,clearly encouraged and fundedby the army of another countryin our neighbourhood.

Overall, Gandhian beliefsand principles are required tobe spread worldwide not onlyto eliminate conflict within thenarrow prism of one commu-nity or one nation imposingviolence against another butalso in respect of our wantondestruction of nature and theecosystems of this planet. India,as the nation to which Gandhijigave so much, has a deep glob-al responsibility to carry hismessage to the rest of theworld, particularly on his 150thbirth anniversary.

(The writer is former chair-man, Intergovernmental Panel onClimate Change, 2002-15)

Considering that both Mumbai and Delhicould be counted in the race to be desir-able world cities, both are considered

grossly unsafe, according to the EconomistIntelligence Unit, which ranks 60 countriesworldwide across indicators, including digital,infrastructure, health and personal security. Inthe context of safety, Mumbai and Delhi ranked37 and 41 respectively on the parameter of per-sonal security and 45 and 52 overall. That is alarge dollop of dampener considering that for

all our pretension to becoming an Asian powerhouse, cities in the Asia-Pacificregion have bagged six of the top 10 spots. Tokyo continues to be the numerouno for the third year in a row as Singapore and Osaka take second and thirdplaces. In contrast and worryingly so, Delhi actually slid callously down the lad-der, falling nine places from its 43rd position in 2017 to the 52nd position in justtwo years. According to data released by the Delhi police itself, the total num-ber of heinous crime cases registered till August 31 was 2,00,485, much high-er than last year’s 1,57,462 cases. Mumbai, too, which witnessed the first dipin the past decade in 2017, registered 21 per cent more rapes and murders lastyear. If that was not all, both our cities had a poor track record on environmen-tal and health security, pollution being the biggest bottleneck. The less said aboutinfrastructure security the better, both cities scoring low on the road safety index.And as far as population growth is concerned, Delhi’s planners, who in 2014were expected to address needs of 6.7 million more residents between 2020and 2030, have actually allowed that figure to swell to 8.7 million.

It’s not that we didn’t envision the parameters; our smart cities project wasall about developing liveability indices, a vision which has failed miserably in exe-cution. In fact, if pursued correctly, some of India’s newer cities could have wellmade it higher up on the list. The Tokyo model needs to be emulated as it is oneof the most populous cities in the world with an intense demand on its resources.Yet it scored well on almost all parameters — be it its low crime rate and improv-ing the quality of life by banning diesel cars. Clearly, city governments have takentough decisions and stood by them. One parameter where the Asia-Pacific regionlags behind is on digital security and it is here where our cities could score byusing technology for traffic management and personal safety. Also, we need respon-sive city governments that work with the citizenry rather than hide-bound bureau-cracy, instill pride by making legislative bodies more representative and provi-sioning for responsible elected officials.

If the Government indeed wants to make anexample of Kashmiri politicians, who have trad-ed loyalties on either side of the LoC for their

political relevance and continuity, then it wouldbe advised to expose such deliberate acts onfacts. Holding former Chief Minister andNational Conference (NC) leader Farooq Abdullahunder the Public Safety Act (PSA) certainly won’tachieve that purpose, considering he no longerhas “high visibility” value. For normal Kashmiris,he is a recipient of much hatred and abuse. Theybelieve he shortchanged them by choosing to

accede with a secular and democratic India and lost the only marker of auton-omy they had courtesy Article 370. Now, not only that is gone, the former Statehas been reduced to a Union Territory. So Kashmiris are questioning his familylegacy of standing by India. For New Delhi, he may have been the moderate faceand an asset but one that’s not needed, given the endorsement of Jammu andKashmir’s (J&K) special status both at home and the world. Therefore, Abdullah’sinescapable need to question the abrogation of Article 370 and appear an activistKashmiri is more than an irritant, it is an obstacle in the new narrative. His sug-gestions of a negotiated autonomy for the two sides of Kashmir and convertingLoC into a soft border for trade and commerce to flourish seem misplaced whenall talk is about righting historical wrongs and reclaiming territories in that con-text rather than addressing current realities. Yet one must remember his worththrough the decades of conflict. He acted as a filter and as Chief Minister didmanage to keep militancy in check, give some semblance of credibility to theelection process and had a pan-India acceptability. At 81, and suffering from kid-ney ailments, he certainly doesn’t pose such a threat as to be booked under atough law meant to be used against terrorists. Apparently, the idea is to preventhim from participating in a rally planned by Opposition leaders ahead of the UnitedNations General Assembly (UNGA) session next week. Does a former Chief Minister,democratically elected and for years nurtured as an asset by the Centre, be sud-denly disowned as a troublemaker under a draconian law? One which doesn’tallow him to be tried before two years? All this has happened despite him andson Omar Abdullah meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier and hours beforethe Supreme Court was to take up a habeas corpus petition by MDMK chief Vaikoseeking to know the whereabouts of his “friend.” Considering that Congress leaderGhulam Nabi Azad has been allowed to visit four J&K districts — Srinagar, Jammu,Baramullah and Anantnag — to meet people but not hold any political rally andthat CPI(M) leader Mohd Yousuf Tarigami has been allowed back in, Abdullah’sdetention reeks of chicanery and intrigue, not of vision. For he may be a spentforce but people, who have invested in the idea of India at his call, will only seethis as betrayal and recede into separatist ways.

True Abdullah, and his son Omar, have failed to deliver to both New Delhiand their people but both have sworn by the Constitution and neutralised the shrillcries of azaadi. And if the peace-makers are suddenly seen as deal-breakers andmade the fall guys, then we are unwittingly drawing the world’s attention backto the human rights situation in Kashmir, the lockdown and the political and eco-nomic morass. Dangerously enough, our justification for reorganising Kashmirmay not seem all that worthy. If the Government is not even able to restore nor-mal lives despite its heavy-duty security presence, crackdowns and an informa-tion blockade, then there will only be a flood of questions on its intent to engagewith people, convince them of their stakeholdership and erect an alternative polit-ical matrix that’s more responsive to its concerns. For that to happen, peoplemust be heard and allowed to speak. Also, leaders like Sajjad Lone, whom theCentre was at one time keen on grooming as its “enabler”, continue to be detainedtoo. The common Kashmiri, hedged in by the politics of the terror economy, knowsthat abrogation of Article 370 doesn’t mean much on the ground as the Statewas anyway being run like a Union Territory for some time. But locals still wantthat reconciliation with honour, dignity and justice, not arbitrary impositions anddemotions. Abdullah’s detention is so not clever as it emaciates the political willto treat J&K as a serious matter. It’s not an extension counter of Central whim.

Farooq, now a threat

Respect languages

Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Not Hindi hain hum”(September 17). Union HomeMinister Amit Shah’s pitch forHindi as a national languagebecause it is the “heart and soulof our freedom struggle” shouldhave been best avoided becauseit is beset with strongly divisiveattitudes, especially in the Southwhere the earlier anti-Hindiagitations had disturbed a hor-net’s nest. By seeking to thrustHindi down the throat of mil-lions, the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) would be committing agrave act of indiscretion.

Any imposition wouldarouse a fresh round of anti-North hatred that the Centremust guard against. Our linguis-tic chauvinism and respectivelingual ethnocentrism will hard-ly let us accept Hindi as the lan-guage of the country.

English has ceased to be aforeign language. Even the Britishhave ceded exclusive rights overthe English language. What iscertain is that no language —indeed, nothing — can beimposed from the top. In reali-ty, it is not even needed. Even

without any Government impo-sition, Hindi as a language hasspread far and wide. In 1971, 36.9per cent of Indians spoke Hindias a first language but in 2011 thishad increased to 43.6 per cent.

J AkshobhyaMysuru

Saudi crisis

Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “War clouds” (September17). West Asia is yet again in thegrip of hysteria with rebels inYemen attacking Saudi oil infra-

structure. The development has sent

alarm bells for a possible war onIran by the US because the lat-ter believes that the drone strikewas carried out by the rebelswith support from Iran. It is anopen secret that Houthi rebels

are being fed by Iran for long.Yemen is Saudi Arabia’s neigh-bouring country and has beenravaged by civil war for long.

Houthi rebels have beenbattling against the Yemenregime backed by Saudi Arabiaand the US. So the attack on theSaudi oil facilities is only a natural extension of Houthirebels’ vendetta against SaudiArabia.

Iran has always cocked asnook at the US. Now Iran’s eliterevolutionary guard force hassaid that it is prepared for a “full-scale war” and that their missilescould hit bases in the US andships within a range of 2,000 km.Anything may happen anytime.This could be disastrous for theentire world.

The drone attack on theSaudi oil facilities made theauthorities in Saudi Arabia slashthe oil production by half andconsequently, oil prices havebeen gone up. For India, the fall-out will be unbearable as a spikein oil prices will upset the com-mon man’s budget.

TK NandananChennai

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

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op nionVIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

06

Message for a violent world

RK PACHAURI

Gandhian beliefs need to be spread to not only eliminate emerging conflicts but alsoarrest the wanton destruction of nature and the ecosystems of this planet

The situation in Kashmir isbad not because of the people of Kashmir butbecause of all of us politicians and politics.

CPI(M) leader—Mohd Yousuf Tarigami

If you've not seen the productand are already writing it off,it's not right. But if you see mywork and still don't like it,you're entitled to your opinion.

Actor—Karan Deol

There’s no need to worry muchbeyond a point about what peo-ple will say on Kashmir. India'sposition on its internal issueshas prevailed and will prevail.

External Affairs Minister—S Jaishankar

S O U N D B I T E

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

India will do well to emulate Belgium

This refers to the editorial, “Not Hindi hain hum”(September 17). Even before the controversy overthe draft National Education Policy (NEP)’s pitch for

the implementation of the three-language formula inschools could die down, Union Home Minister Amit Shahhas opened a can of worms by advancing the theoryof “one nation, one language.” Shah’s appeal has miffedthe Southern States. As it is, India is inhabited by descen-dants of two distinct streams — ancestral north Indiansand ancestral south Indians — who, in the modern con-text, have varied cultures and speak different languages.One is yet to hear of a cogent and convincing asser-tion about any additional element in Hindi that is notseen in other languages in the Schedule-VIII of theConstitution of India. This distinguishes it as a catalystof growth and a unifying factor.

That the number of people speaking Hindi is moreis certainly not the essential criterion for it to be anoint-ed as the national language. Therefore, excessiveactivism to establish the paramountcy of Hindi is des-tined to backfire with unpredictable consequencesunfolding. Bernard Shaw’s humorous comment,“England and America are two countries separated by

the same language”, is a reaffirmation of the fallacy aboutunity without affection. Belgium, a country of just 11million people with three distinct regions, Flemish,Walloon and Brussels Capital, has three official lan-guages — Dutch, French and German — but the coun-try itself is neither bilingual nor multi-lingual. India couldwell be in the league of Belgium for good.

Haridasan RajanKozhikode

IT IS TRAGIC THAT IN THE 21ST

CENTURY THEREARE STILL

PROSPEROUSNATIONS AND

GROUPS WHICHARE FINANCING

TERRORISTACTIVITIES, THE

WORST EXAMPLEOF WHICH LEAVES

US WITH ACONTINUING

SENSE OFHORROR FROMTHE EVENTS OF

SEPTEMBER11, 2001

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Unsafe cities

Saffron-clad people are sellingchuran and committing rapes.Is it our religion? God will not pardon those who havedefamed our sanatan dharma.

Congress leader—Digvijaya Singh

Holding the NC leader and former CM under a draconianAct will undo any points the govt might claim on Kashmir

Delhi, Mumbai slide down in a global report on securityand liveability, fall behind Asian counterparts

The need of the hour

INSTEAD OF FIGHTING ITS OPPOSING PARTIES, THECONGRESS IS HURTING PARTIES WHO SUPPORT IT.

THIS IS A BETRAYAL OF THE BSP MOVEMENT.— BAHUJAN SAMAJ PARTY SUPREMO

MAYAWATI

MLAS CONSIDERED THE SITUATION AND FEELINGSOF THE PEOPLE AND THAT IS WHY THEY JOINED US.WE DID NOT PUT ANY PRESSURE ON THEM.—RAJASTHAN CHIEF MINISTERASHOK GEHLOT

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Every nation and individual is exposed to therisks of climate change and we have to makeseveral adaptations to mitigate them. These

largescale measures are costly. So nations needfunds to implement them, making climate financea vital necessity. Such a resource pool seeks to raiselocal, national or trans-national funds drawn frompublic, private and alternative sources. Recognisingthat it may be out of scope and capacity of sever-al countries to initiate climate change measures,the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement callfor financial help from parties with more resourcesto those that are less endowed and vulnerable.

In accordance with the principle of “commonbut differentiated responsibility and respectivecapabilities” set out in the convention, developedcountries are to provide financial resources to assistdeveloping nations in implementing the objectivesof the UNFCCC (United Nations FrameworkConvention on Climate Change). The pact reaf-firms the obligations of developed countrieswhile encouraging voluntary contributions by par-ties.

Developed country parties should also con-tinue to take the lead in mobilising climate financefrom various sources, instruments and channels,through a variety of actions, including supportingcountry-driven strategies and taking into accountthe needs and priorities of developing country par-ties. Such mobilisation of climate finance shouldrepresent a progression beyond previous efforts.Overall, efforts under the Paris Agreement areguided by its aim of making finance flows consis-tent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gasemissions and climate-resilient development.

Setting up of funds: A financial mechanism,which also serves the Kyoto Protocol and the ParisAgreement, was set up to provide financialresources to developing countries by entrusting oneor more existing international entities. Since theConvention came into existence in 1994, the GlobalEnvironment Facility (GEF) has served as an oper-ating entity of the financial mechanism. At theConference of Parties (COP) 16, in 2010, partiesestablished the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and in2011 also designated it as an operating entity ofthe financial mechanism.

This module is accountable to the COP, whichdecides on its policies, programme priorities andeligibility criteria for funding. In addition, threemore special funds have been established — theSpecial Climate Change Fund (SCCF) and the LeastDeveloped Countries Fund (LDCF), both managedby the GEF; and the Adaptation Fund (AF) estab-lished under the Kyoto Protocol in 2001. At theParis Climate Change Conference in 2015, it wasagreed that the operating entities of GCD, GEF,SCCF and the LDCF shall serve the ParisAgreement.

A Standing Committee on Finance (SCF) wasestablished at COP 16 to assist it in exercising itsfunctions in relation to the financial mechanismof the Convention. Currently, the SCF has four spe-cific functions: assisting the COP in improvingcoherence and coordination in the delivery of cli-mate change financing; assisting it in rationalisa-tion of the financial mechanism of the UNFCCC;supporting it in the mobilisation of resources forclimate financing; and supporting it in reportingand verification of support provided to develop-ing country parties.

The committee is also tasked withorganising an annual forum on climatefinance, provide the COP with draft guid-ance for operating entities, provideexpert inputs during periodic reviews ofthe mechanism and prepare a biennialassessment and overview of climatefinance flows. Furthermore, the SCF isdesigned to improve linkages and pro-mote coordination with climate financerelated actors and initiatives both with-in and outside the Convention. At theParis Conference in 2015, it was decid-ed that the SCF shall also serve the ParisAgreement.

In addition, the long-term financeprocess is aimed at progressing on themobilisation and scaling up of climatefinance of resources originating from awide variety of sources. The COP decid-ed on the following activities until 2020:organisation by the secretariat of annu-al in-session workshops; developedcountries providing, on a biennial basis,information on strategies and approach-es for scaling up climate finance and con-vening of biennial high-level ministeri-al dialogue on climate finance.Throughthe Cancun Agreements in 2010, devel-oped countries committed, in the con-text of meaningful mitigation actions andtransparency on implementation, to agoal of mobilising jointly $100 billion peryear by 2020 to address the needs ofdeveloping countries.

When adopting the ParisAgreement, parties confirmed this goal,called for a concrete roadmap to achievethe goal by 2020 and agreed that priorto 2025, the COP shall set a new collec-tive quantified goal of over $100 billionper year.

India’s position on climate finance:Since India is quite susceptible to theimpacts of climate change, it is a hugechallenge for us. Given its unique and dis-tinct topography, variations in climateremain a steady feature and any changes

in climate are likely to worsen the exist-ing pressure on various sectors. With agrowing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emis-sion profile, India is currently the third-largest discharger of GHGs globally, afterChina and the USA. However, accord-ing to a 2014 World Bank report, India’sper capita GHG emanations remainextremely low at 1.7 metric tonnes(MT) of carbon dioxide (CO2) percapita, as compared to China at 6.2 MTand USA at 17.6 MT.

Moreover, according to the PressInformation Bureau 2009(b) report onemissions, it has been estimated that evenby 2031, India’s per capita GHG emis-sions (likely to remain 4 MT of CO2 percapita) will continue to be lower than theglobal per capita GHG emissions in 2005(4.22 MT of CO2 per capita).

Climate finance entered the dictio-nary of the official establishment with therelease of the Economic Survey 2011-12,which contained for the first time a chap-ter on Sustainable Development andClimate Change and a dedicated sectionon Climate Change Finance and provid-ed an overview of various domestic andinternational sources of finance, as wellas private finance sources. An estimat-ed `230,000 crore was provided as theamount needed to fulfil the missionobjectives under the National ActionPlan on Climate Change (NAPCC) in thesubsequent Economic Survey of 2012-13.

The Government responded by set-ting up the Climate Change Finance Unit(CCFU) in September 2011. In spite ofthe creation of the CCFU, there is no for-mal coordination mechanism around cli-mate finance. As a result multipleprocesses for financing thrive within thecountry including the Centre, States, pri-vate sector and civil society actors, allplaying significant roles in low emissionand climate-resilient development.

Due to the well-defined national cli-mate policy, climate-related finance is

available through a variety of domestic,international, public and private sources.Domestic resources in India can bebroadly divided into public climatefinance and private climate finance.Public finance comprises budgetarysupport, taxes, subsidies and other mar-ket mechanisms. Private finance usual-ly comprises clean development mech-anism finance, debt instruments, equi-ty finance and partial risk guarantee facil-ities. To realise the potential for greaterand more effective action on climatechange, given the diverse public and pri-vate actors engaged in climate finance atthe national level, there are lessons to belearnt by India on how to engage withthe international climate finance archi-tecture, and the emerging GCF in par-ticular. India can develop a long-term,coherent strategy around climate finance,by interfacing ongoing efforts on miti-gation and adaptation with the emerg-ing financial arrangements.

It would also be worthwhile tothink of ways in which India could devel-op new, transformative ideas with a highmitigation or adaptation potential anduse GCF financing to unlock a range ofdomestic financing and implementationcapacity around such efforts. India needsto debate on the “readiness” for climatefinance.

It has to identify and link existingpipelines of projects to the financial chan-nels that have emerged, both domestical-ly and through international flows. It hasto create a new pipeline of domestical-ly-owned projects that could seek inter-national finance for their transformativepotential.

To achieve this, several Governmentdepartments will need to work closelytogether not just on climate policyissues but also on operational questionsaround how to prioritise action.

(The writer is Assistant Professor,Amity University)

To mitigate environmental risks , we have to make costly adaptations. Nationsneed funds for this, making climate finance a vital resource

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

Time to up the game

India is losing to China in the fight to wooMyanmar, the latest geo-economic battleground, says Rupesh Dutta

HIMA BINDU KOTA

TO REALISE THEPOTENTIAL FOR

GREATER ANDMORE EFFECTIVE

ACTION ONCLIMATE CHANGE,

GIVEN THEDIVERSE PUBLIC

AND PRIVATEACTORS

ENGAGED INCLIMATE FINANCEAT THE NATIONAL

LEVEL, THEREARE LESSONS TO

BE LEARNT BYINDIA ON HOW TO

ENGAGE WITHTHE

INTERNATIONALCLIMATE FINANCE

ARCHITECTUREAND THE

EMERGING GCF INPARTICULAR

In the last five years, India has achieved notable success in strength-ening relations with its immediate neighbours, Sri Lanka and Nepal.However, the other major economy in the region, China, is deter-

mined to emerge as the winner in the ongoing geo-economic clashwith India and Myanmar has become the latest battleground. Chinahas overtaken India in terms of pumping in money and finalisingmassive infrastructure projects in the tiny country’s economy.

This comes despite India’s all-out efforts to boost its Act EastPolicy. Myanmar, whose political transition to a free democratic sys-tem is less than four years old, is in dire need of foreign investmentto shun the tag of an “underdeveloped economy.” While India hasbeen sluggish in its approach to invest in Myanmar, China has grabbedthe opportunity by wooing Aung San Suu Kyi, the Buddhist nation’sState Counsellor, a position akin to a prime minister, with lucrativetrade offers. Myanmar, has swallowed the Chinese investment baithook, line and sinker.

According to Myanmar’s Directorate of Investment andCompany Administration, between 1988 and 2011, India investeda paltry $763.567 million as compared to China’s whopping $20,566million. In 2014-15, Indian investment was $208.886 million againstChina’s $511.415 million and in 2015-16 it was $224.223 millionagainst Beijing’s $3,324 million. In 2016-2017, New Delhi invest-ed nothing and China pumped in $482.591 million.

Similarly, India invested $10.993 million against China’s$1,396.219 million in 2017-18, followed by New Delhi’s $19.925million against Beijing’s $304.732 million in 2018-19. Year after year,Chinese investments were more than 200 per cent of that by Indiawhich even restricted its funding during the power transition fromthe ‘Tatmadaw’ (armed forces) to a democratic set up in 2015.

Significantly, the Beijing-led Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank(AIIB) is considering providing $20 million to Myanmar for the devel-opment, construction and operation of a Greenfield 225 MWCombined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) power plant in Mandalay. Itwill be the largest gas-fired Independent Power Producer (IPP) inMyanmar, producing much-needed clean energy to meet the powerdeficit.

Furthermore, a master plan for a Chinese-backed, model eco-nomic zone along the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC)has been prepared and the Suu Kyi Government is engaged in dis-cussions for its implementation. The Myitkyina EconomicDevelopment Zone (MEDZ) is also in the pipeline and a pact wassigned between Myanmar and the Chinese Yunnan Tengchong HengYong Investment Company for its implementation. The MEDZ is like-ly to come up in approximately 4,700 acres of land along the his-toric Ledo Road, built during the World War II and used by the Alliesto deliver supplies to China which was fighting the Japanese forces.It was an overland connection between Ledo, in Assam and Kunmingin China’s Yunnan Province. The MEDZ expected to cost over $400million, will include nearly 500 factories and 5,000 buildings.

On the other hand, India has fallen short in its plans for Myanmar’sinfrastructural development. New Delhi must realise that its inabili-ty to engage with Naypyitaw will spell doom for its Act East Policyas Myanmar is the bridge linking India with South-East Asia. Sadly,most projects have remained on paper and others are likely to missdeadlines. For instance, New Delhi had funded and implemented aproject to develop the deepwater Sittwe Port in Rakhine State to han-dle 20,000-tonne vessels by dredging the River Kaladan from Sittweto Paletwa (a 158-km long stretch) to improve its navigability. It alsoinvolved building an inland terminal at Paletwa and constructing a129-km-long highway linking Paletwa to the Indian border. However, theproject is running behind schedule and has faced various hurdles.

Similarly, the Narendra Modi Government had cleared a ̀ 6,167crore upgrade of a 352-km National Highway in Mizoram to improveconnectivity to Myanmar. However, the project has been in a limbofor the last couple of years despite the contracts being awarded.

Moreover, Beijing supported the Myanmar Government duringthe ethnic crisis in its Rakhine province, saying it understands thecountry’s “security concern” even when the rest of the world termedthe clashes as ethnic cleansing and has since called for the repa-triation of Rohingyas.

This was the opposite of what the Modi Government did, as itnot only remained neutral but also constructed 250 pre-fabricatedhouses in Myanmar, indicating its tacit support for the repatriationof the Rohingyas to Myanmar. India’s relations with Myanmar in thelast couple of years have improved significantly and the coopera-tion between the two governments has increased, especially whenit comes to sharing Intelligence.

This in particular, is a boon for India, given the fact that the major-ity of armed extremist groups from its northeastern states have theircamps on the Myanmar side of the border. India should be fully awarethat to crush such forces, it will need the support of the MyanmarGovernment.

The Modi Government must consolidate its image as a caringneighbour who does not believe in economic adventurism like China.It must also make larger investments in Myanmar not only to checkBeijing’s rising regional dominance but also not to lose an imme-diate neighbour which has a buffer status vis-à-vis China.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Will Prime MinisterNarendra Modi go for aUniform Civil Code

(UCC), particularly after beingprompted by the Supreme Court(SC) last week?

Right now several of the reli-gious communities in India followtheir own personal laws. Under theUCC, all personal religious laws inthe country, including marriage,divorce, property rights, inheri-tance and maintenance will bebrought under a secular umbrella ina unified way.

The apex court batted for theUCC, pointing out that the found-ing fathers who framed theConstitution had hoped that the

State would bring in such a code. Justice Deepak Gupta said,

“Though Hindu laws were codifiedin the year 1956, there has been noattempt to frame a Uniform CivilCode applicable to all citizens of thecountry despite exhortations. Abelief seems to have gained groundthat it is for the Muslim communi-ty to take a lead in the matter ofreforms of their personal law. Nocommunity is likely to bell the catby making gratuitous concessionson this issue. It is the State which ischarged with the duty of securing aUniform Civil Code for the citizensof the country and, unquestionably,it has the legislative competence todo so.”

Citing the case of Goa, where aUCC is applicable to all, regardlessof religion, except while protectingcertain limited rights, the courtasked why the Centre has notbrought an UCC as yet.

The SC’s observation hasstrengthened the ModiGovernment’s resolve to bring theUCC, which is part of the core agen-

da of the Sangh Parivar. TheBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has alsomanaged to nuance its narrative byadding the issue of gender equali-ty.

The BJP’s argument is thatthough Hindu laws were codified in1956, there is no law applicable toall citizens of the country even afterseven decades of Independence.

India’s first Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru, while defendingthe introduction of the Hindu CodeBill in Parliament in 1954, said, “Ido not think that at the presentmoment the time is ripe in India forme to try to push it through.”Today Modi has the mandate andthe ability as well as willingness tobring the UCC for the benefit of thecountry.

Taking advantage of the weakand divided Opposition, the PrimeMinister has already pushedthrough two controversial Bills inParliament, the Triple Talaq and theabrogation of Article 370, in his sec-ond term despite not having amajority in the Rajya Sabha. The

Ram temple issue is in court. Though the Law Commission in

its report last year said that the UCCis “neither necessary nor desirableat this stage”, the party promised tobring the UCC in its 2019 manifesto.

However, the immediate prior-ity of the Government is to deal withthe economic situation andKashmir. There is trouble in theNortheast on the National Registerof Citizens (NRC).

Then there are elections tothree State Assemblies, Maharashtra,Haryana and Jharkhand soon.Therefore, the work on the UCCcould be taken up after that.

Supporters of the UCC arguethat it is long overdue. The issue wasdiscussed during the ConstituentAssembly debates where BRAmbedkar was batting for it, butmany Constituent Assembly mem-bers shot it down. Thus it was addedto Part IV of the Constitution as oneof the Directive Principles of Statepolicy.

Second, Modi’s vision of a NewIndia is also a young India with 65

per cent of the population under theage of 25 years. These young peo-ple are influenced by global viewsand would appreciate the UCC.Third, it would promote nationalintegration as it would provide onelaw for all citizens. Fourth, it wouldprovide gender justice.

The opponents point out thatthe Muslims perceive the UCC as anencroachment on their religiousfreedom, even though some of theIslamic countries have adopted acommon law for all. They also notethat there is no consensus on theissue.

However, today, the issue ismore political than legal and eachtime the subject comes up, there isa heated debate from both its sup-porters and opponents. As for polit-ical parties, there is no consensusand most of them use it for votebank politics.

The Congress wants a politicalconsensus while the SamajwadiParty has accused the BJP of doingit for Muslim votes. On the otherhand, the BJP’s ally, the Janata Dal-

United (JD-U), has diplomaticallyasked for consultation with allstakeholders. The Communist Partyof India-Marxist (CPI-M) wantsreforms across all religions and theNationalist Congress Party wantsdiscussions on a broader spectrum.While the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) is opposedto it, the Shiv Sena supports it. Sowhere is the consensus?

However, there is merit inhaving one law for all. One canunderstand the stand of the Muslimsbut the Congress and other politi-cal parties should not play politicsin bringing uniformity in laws. Inthe 80s, even the late Rajiv Gandhihad explored the possibility ofintroducing a voluntary civil code.

“One nation, one law” is anecessity and the sooner the UCCcomes, the better, though it is a sen-sitive issue and should be handleddelicately by having more publicdebates and discussions to bringabout a consensus.

(The writer is a senior journal-ist)

Will Modi bite the UCC bullet?‘One nation, one law’ is a necessity and the sooner the Uniform Civil Code comes, the better, though it is

a sensitive issue and should be handled delicately by having more public debates and discussions

KALYANI SHANKAR

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

California is one of the feweconomies large enough toset the rules in a globalisedworld. It was also thebirthplace of the gigeconomy, and the use ofwebs of casual labour tiedtogether by algorithms tosubvert labour laws andother regulations in all sortsof fields, ranging from taxifirms to B&Bs. So it's animportant development thatthe state's senate has nowturned decisively againstthe exploitation of casualworkers.

(The Guardian editorial)

CALIFORNIA HASSEEN THE LIGHT

PTI n NEW DELHI

Given weak consumer demand,higher oil prices can result instagflation in an emergingeconomy like India, whichimports more than 70 per centof its oil needs, says a report.

In economic parlance,stagflation means a situation ina country's economy wheninflation is persistently high,demand is stagnant and unem-ployment rates are high.

According to the Japanesefinancial services majorNomura, when the rise in oilprices is driven more by sup-ply-side factors – as is the casecurrently – it tends to be moredamaging to large net oilimporters.

This is because, "in theabsence of a strong pick up inexports, higher import cost ofoil could sharply worsen cur-rent account positions, com-press profit margins and, to theextent that firms pass on high-er production costs, raise con-sumer price index (CPI) infla-tion," it said.

Crude oil benchmark, Brentfutures, surged by almost 20per cent to USD 71.95 per bar-rel (intra-day) on Monday

after twin drone attacks onSaturday wiped out more thanhalf of Saudi Arabia's crudesupply. It was also the biggestgain in Brent in dollar termssince futures started trading in1988.

The drone attacks onSaturday targeted Abqaiq, thesite of the largest oil process-

ing plant run by the Saudi stateoil company, Aramco, and theKhurais oilfield.

As per the report, for acountry like India, higher oilprices are equivalent to a neg-ative terms-of-trade shock thatweakens growth, pushes upinflation and deteriorates thetwin deficits.

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 money 08

CAPSULE

ADB PresidentTakehiko NakaoresignsNEW DELHI: AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB) onTuesday said its PresidentTakehiko Nakao hasannounced his resignationwhich will be effective fromJanuary 16 next year. Hebecame the President of ADBon April 28, 2013. The newpresident will be elected inaccordance with an open,transparent and merit-basedprocedure, ADB said in astatement. "I am announcingmy resignation with a deepsense of satisfaction andgratitude. With support fromstaff, Board members, andmember governments, wehave achieved many things,"Takehiko said in his remarksto the staff and board ofmembers of ADB. ADB,enlisting the achievements ofthe current President, said heexpanded the operations of thefunding agency from USD 14billion in 2013 to USD 22billion in 2018 whileincorporating more advancedtechnologies into projects.

Tata Motorspartners locationtech provider NEW DELHI: Tata Motors onTuesday said it has tied upwith location technologyprovider what3words fornavigation services in its cars.The partnership will enabledrivers to enter a three-wordaddress by voice or text inputand then navigate to thataddress. The technologyprovider has taken the entireworld, divided it into 3mx3msquares, and assigned eachsquare a unique identifier -made of three random words.The what3words system isavailable in 36 languages,including Hindi, Bengali, Tamil,Telugu and Marathi.

The drone attacks on Saturdaytargeted Abqaiq, the site of thelargest oil processing plant run by theSaudi state oil company, Aramco, andthe Khurais oilfield

All options open : GoyalMMTC, STC AND PEC

PTI n NEW DELHI

Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal said onTuesday that all options areopen with the ministry for clo-sure or merger of three publicsector undertakings - MMTC,STC and PEC.

When asked whether thegovernment is considering toshut or merge these units,Goyal said: "All options areopen".

He said gradually the pur-pose of these companies is get-ting eroded and they are nomore canalising agencies.

"It is not the government'sbusiness to be in the business,"he told reporters here at thesidelines of a CII function.

He said there is no meaningfor such a big infrastructure(MMTC) to carry out goldimports.

"We have started discus-sions. One by one we will do,"he added.

STC and PEC are debt-rid-den firms.

According to STC's annualreport for 2018-19, the com-pany is facing "severe liquidi-ty crisis" as all the lenderbanks have reported STC's

account as NPA due to non-payment of interest on thebanking limits availed by thecompany".

Therefore, at present, the

company has no banking lim-its, funded or non-funded,available with it.

The company has reporteda net loss (after tax) of Rs 881

crore during 2018-19 as com-pared to net profit (after tax)of about Rs 38 crore in 2017-18.

The net loss reported in2018-19 was mainly due towrite-offs amounting to aboutRs 626 crore made in thebooks of accounts.

STC was set up in 1956 as atrading arm of the governmentto undertake trade with eastEuropean countries.

PEC was incorporated as asubsidiary of STC in 1971 tohandle canalised business ofexport of railway and engi-neer ing equipment. Itbecame an independent firmin 1997.

MMTC was created in 1963as an independent entity onseparation from STC primar-ily to deal in exports of min-erals and ores and imports ofnon-ferrous metals.

All three companies areunder the administrative con-trol of the commerce ministry.

When asked about India, UStrade talks, he said both coun-tries are in continuous dialogueon trade related issues.

"If things get resolved, wewill announce something," headded.

When asked whether thegovernment is considering to shut or merge these units, Goyal said:"All options are open"

India more vulnerable tobig oil price moves

ONGC fined Rs 2.05 cr for green norm violation in AssamPTI n GUWAHATI

The Pollution Control Board,Assam has slapped a fine of Rs2.05 crore on PSU firm Oil andNatural Gas Corporation(ONGC) for allegedly violatingan order by the Supreme Courtand causing pollution to theenvironment.

The board's order was issuedconsidering violation of envi-ronmental laws in six wells ofthe state-owned energy behe-moth in Assam.

"Pollution Control Board,Assam, is constrained toinform you that you have non-chalantly violated the provi-sions of law in force causingpollution to the environment.

"Environmental compensa-tion fine amounting to Rs2,04,90,000 only has beenassessed as per formula pro-vided by the National Green

Tribunal (NGT), PrincipalBench," said the order datedSeptember 5, 2019.

ONGC has been asked todeposit the money within onemonth of issuance of the order.

When contacted, ONGCofficials declined to make com-ments immediately.

Before taking the action,the Pollution Control Board,Assam (PCBA) had issued ashow cause notice to the com-pany on June 28 this year andONGC replied to it on July 18.

"Your reply to the showcause notice is not based on thefacts and findings of the inspec-tion carried out during July 6to July 8, 2019 by engineers andscientists deputed from HeadOffice cum Central Laboratoryof this board," the order said.

It also said that the drillingoperation of the six well unitswere "either completed or in

operation without installingany primary effluent treatmentplant" (PETP) at the sites.

"During inspection by theofficials of the board's RegionalLaboratory cum Office, atSivasagar, it has been observed

that there is seepage/leakage inthe waste pits of the wells.Waste pits were full of effluentand without having any treat-ment facility," PCBA said.

It also mentioned that theSupreme Court, in its judgment

passed on February 22, 2017,had directed all the effluent dis-charging units to install PETPwithin three months, whichwas by May 22, 2017.

"Thereby you have violatedthe aforementioned order ofthe Supreme Court of Indiapertaining to installation of pri-mary effluent treatment plant,"the board told ONGC.

As per the "analysis report"of samples collected duringthe inspection by the officials,it was found that parameterssuch as "oil and grease and totalsuspended solids" are beyond

the permissible limits in allcases, which indicate "yourfailure in pollution controlmeasures", the order said.

Though the penalty was forsix wells, but the boardinformed ONGC that theRegional Laboratory cumOffice had reported there wasno mobile ETP for treatment ofthe effluent of the waste pits ineight wells.

"You are directed to take nec-essary measures for propertreatment of the effluent andarrange for reclamation of thecompleted drill sites," it added.

Pollution Control Board, Assam, isconstrained to inform you that youhave nonchalantly violated theprovisions of law in force causingpollution to the environment

PTI n NEW DELHI

Traders body CAIT onTuesday said there is no slow-down in the domestic auto-mobile sector and the industryis making hue and cry only toget a package from the gov-ernment.

The auto industry has beenattributing the sales down-turn to several factors likehigh GST (Goods and ServicesTax) rates, farm distress, stag-nant wages and liquidity con-straints.

"There is no slowdown inthe domestic automobile sec-tor. They are saying this to geta package from the govern-ment," Confederation of AllIndia Traders (CAIT)Secretary General PraveenKhandelwal told reportershere.

Citing an example of newvehicle launches, he said com-panies have received hugenumber of bookings, which donot reflect any slowdown in thesector.

Talking about recent festivalsales announced by global e-commerce firms like Amazonand Flipkart, Khandelwal

demanded immediate actionfrom the government to banthese mega sales.

He claimed that such firmsare violating foreign directinvestment (FDI) norms in thee-commerce sector.

"If the government does nottake action, we will approachthe court," he said.

‘We need to follow global standards of governance’PTI n NEW DELHI

Indian corporates need to holdthemselves accountable to glob-al standards of governance ifIndia wishes to re-shape theglobal economic order, AdityaBirla Group Chairman KumarMangalam Birla said on Tuesday.

Speaking at an event here,Birla said that with changingtimes the core business phi-losophy is rapidly moving awayfrom shareholder capitalism tostake holder capitalism whichincludes investors, customers,employees and value chainpartners.

"For India to reshape theglobal economic order, Indiancompanies will have to holdthemselves accountable toglobal standards of governance.I believe this cannot happen byrunning roughshod overminority shareholders," Birlasaid.

Issues such as professionalCEOs acting as promoters andfounders wielding undue anddisproportionate clout alsoneed to change, he added.

Birla said that increasingly allthe the stakeholders aredemanding a higher value,order, accountability and addi-tionally the businesses will haveto earn their license to operatein the society as a whole.

"As ease of doing businessimproves, the way of doingbusiness needs to change... Ifwe want to make our mark inthe world we have to be pre-pared for the world to leave itsmark on us," he noted.

Birla said there were varioussectors in India which had thepotential to grow into billiondollar business over a period oftime.

"There is one severely under-exploited sector and that istourism. Only 11 million for-

eign tourists come to Indiaannually. This is roughly thesame as Bali and possibly closeto half of what Barcelona gets,"he said.

If Stonehenge in UK can getclose to million tourists in ayear, the historic world heritagesites of Hampi and Gaya andAjanta Caves have potential toget ten times more, he added.

"Tourism alone, I believecan be a USD 100 billionindustry. Same is the storywith various sectors in India.The country for example canbe centre for development ofhealthcare solutions, in thedigital domain India can gen-erate trillions of data pointsdue to its sheer size andhence it could posi-

tion itself as a hub for data ana-lytics industry globally," Birlasaid.

So from tourism to healthcare to data sciences, the sheerscale of Indian economy willensure that India's imprint isfelt on the world, he added.

"It will be a two-way engage-ment with the world, global

companies will seekto harvest India's

growing androbust con-s u m p t i o nm a r k e twhich isslated tocross USD 6trillion in the

n e x t

ten years," Birla noted.Commenting on global

trade, Birla said that globalisa-tion is here to stay.

"The current climate of pro-tectionism and trade frictionwill make you believe thatglobalisation is under retreat.I don't believe so, I believe it isa process and trend that is irre-versible," he added.

Not many would be awarebut just two weeks ago a madein China cruise liner was deliv-ered to an American company,"Birla said.

"So despite the chatter, thefact is that bilateral tradebetween the US and Chinaeven this year will be close toUSD 600 billion. So the wheelsof globalisation are definitelynot coming off. Global trade infact is increasing at a pace of 3-5 per cent every year," headded.

However, at the same timeit is very evident that theworld is now witnessing

growing nationalistic sen-timent as well, Birla said.

As ease of doing business improves,the way of doing business needs tochange... If we want to make our

mark in the world we have to be prepared forthe world to leave its mark on us

—KUMAR MANGALAM BIRLAAditya Birla Group Chairman

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Rs 20,000 crore fund cre-ated by the government mayhelp in completion of up to 2.5lakh housing units acrossseven major cities, propertyconsultant Anarock onTuesday said.

Last week, Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharamanannounced that the govern-ment will set up a special win-dow to provide last-mile fund-ing for housing projects whichare non-NPAs and non-NCLTin the affordable and middleincome category.

In the fund, Rs 10,000 crorewill be contributed by thecentral government androughly the same amount willcome from outside investors.The government had said thatthis fund will help complete anestimated 3.5 lakh units acrossthe country.

"After considering thesecaveats, nearly 2.5 lakhunits...can avail relief fromthe government's aid in the top7 cities alone. However, sincedata for projects under NPAsis not available, there could bea further dip in these num-bers," Anarock ChairmanAnuj Puri said in a statement.

The seven cities include fourmetros as well as Bengaluru,Hyderabad and Pune.

Puri hailed the move to cre-ate stressed asset fund but saidthere was a need to change thegovernment's definition of‘affordable' housing.

"As it stands today, the gov-ernment labels a metro-basedhome as affordable if it admea-sures 60 sq mt or less in car-pet area and is priced withinRs 45 lakh. This price tag is fartoo low in cities such as Delhi-NCR and Mumbai. Moreover,the price definition of mid-segment homes is also notclear," he added.

Anarock said a total of 4lakh units in projects launchedin 2013 or before are stuck ordelayed across various seg-

ments, excluding NCLT pro-jects. Of this, only those thatfall under the affordable ormid categories - 2.5 lakh units- can legitimately avail of thegovernment's new provisions.

"This can be further nar-rowed down when the nomi-nated professionals from thereal estate and banking fra-ternity select the projects to begiven government aid. As ofnow, 2.5 lakh units can at leasthope to be rescued under thisprovision. Only time willreveal the final numbers," headded.

Anarock said there are atotal of 5.76 lakh units(launched in 2013 or before)across budget segments thatare stuck in various stages ofnon-completion in the topseven cities alone. These alsoinclude units falling underNPAs or NCLT.

On Monday, real estate dataand analytic firm PropEquityfounder Samir Jasuja said Rs90,000 crore fund would berequired for a total of 7.4 lakhunits that fall under stressedcategory.

Puri hailed themove to createstressed assetfund but saidthere was a needto change thegovernment'sdefinition of‘affordable'housing

Govt fund for 2.5lakh housing unitsin 7 major cities

PTI n NEW DELHI

US-based IT major Cognizanton Tuesday said it has elevat-ed Ramkumar Ramamoorthyas Chairman and ManagingDirector of its India operations.

Ramamoorthy, who hasworked with the company forover two decades, will reportdirectly to Cognizant'sExecutive Committee.

In an email to employees,Cognizant CEO BrianHumphries saidRamamoorthy had played aleading role in developingmany of the company's India-based portfolios.

These include areas like mar-keting and communications,market research and intelli-gence, public affairs, and knowl-edge management, he said.

Ramamoorthy - as theExecutive Director atCognizant India - had alsospearheaded work forCognizant Foundation andCognizant Outreach.

Before joining Cognizant,he has worked with TataConsultancy Services. Prior tothat, he was a lecturer at twopremier colleges in India andwent on to officiate as thePrincipal at one of them.

Terming its India operationsas a 'jewel' and 'prized asset',Humphries said the country isa hub of its global delivery,solutioning, and innovation.

"We are fortunate to havemany talented and engagedcolleagues in India, more than2,00,000 in all, who excel atserving our clients," he noted.

At the end of June 2019quarter, the companyhad said its global head-count stood at about288,200 people.

H u m p h r i e ssaid in the weeks

ahead, Ramamoorthy will setup a management committeeand an operating committeefor India.

"These committees will helpus further strengthen ouroperations in the country,proactively advance our agen-da as we engage with themedia and government, drivegreater diversity and inclusionthroughout our organisation...and work to accelerateCognizant's topline growth,"he added.

Ramamoorthy said Indiahas played a key role inCognizant's growth story fromUSD 2 million to USD 16 bil-lion in revenue.

"It is both a privilege and anhonour to lead Cognizant'sIndia operations to our nextlevel of growth and innova-tion, drivenby the dig-i t a lopportu-nity," hesaid.

Ramamoorthysaid India hasplayed a key rolein Cognizant'sgrowth storyfrom USD 2million to USD 16billion in revenue

RamkumarRamamoorthy namedCognizant India CMD

No slowdown in automobilesector, claims traders body CAIT

L&T FinanceHoldings to raiseRs 150 cr byissuing bonds PTI n NEW DELHI

L&T Finance Holdings onTuesday said the companywill raise up to Rs 150 croreby issuing bonds on a privateplacement basis.

The committee of directorsof the company on September17 approved the offer andissuance of up to 150,00,000cumulative compulsorilyredeemable non-convertiblepreference shares (CRPS) toamount of up to Rs 150 croreon a private placement basis,L&T Finance Holdings said ina regulatory filing.

The bonds carry a couponrate of 7.95 per cent per annumpayable annually, it said.

The date of allotment of thebonds is September 20, 2019.Redemption of the bonds isset for January 20, 2023.

K RAMYA SREE & SEELAM AROZIEn HYDERABAD/VIJAYAWADA

eonardo Da Vinci,once said ‘Art isnever neglected, it’sabandoned’. Thatresonates now likenever before

regarding the condition ofHyderabad’s bamboo artisans.Bamboo workers live aneglected life and are a com-munity of migrants. In mosthouseholds, women are themain breadwinners. The skillsare passed down generationswith children aged underthree also working. With noexposure to the market, theylive a life devoid of sanitationand hygiene, lack clean drink-ing water and food. Earning ameagre Rs 1,200 to Rs 3,000 amonth is not even enough forthem to put food on the plate,let alone buy a house andsend their kids to school. Toadd to it all, stinking lanesand congested houses makematters worse for them.

Seasons do little to dampentheir spirit though. Rain orshine, bamboo workers goabout their profession in thecorner of the street. Theymake bamboo mats for yourwindows and balconies tohelp you stay cool in summer,but they don’t keep one forthemselves as most of themdon’t have homes. Sitting rightbeside the drain amidst thestink at Nampally exhibitiongrounds is something theyhave to live with every day.

Sarita, a bamboo artisan at

Nampally, said, “The profitsmade by weaving baskets,mats and other items is noteven enough to even feed ourchildren. The lack of literacyamong the community andless exposure to the mar-ket, only makes thingsworse for us.”

“As we don’tmake enoughmoney to take careof our monthlyexpenses, even ourchildren, who aresupposed to be inschool, end up helpingus in earning our dailybread,” she added.

“While people with goodexposure to the market earnwell by selling their productsto big firms, we are neglected,as neither the government norpeople help us. Since we arenot trained in any other workwe try to make ends meetwith whatever we earn. Werequest the people not to bar-gain as we don’t even gain Rs10 from the item. But thereare times when we have to sellthe product at the manufac-turing price as we don’t wantto ruin our work,” said anoth-er artisan in Nampally.

The situation is no differentin Vijayawada, where about280 Medara families live inGirpuram, Kothapeta,Payakapuram, Kandrika,Rajarajeswaripeta, Ranigar-ithota, Ajit Singh Nagar,Chuttugunta and other sur-rounding in Vijayawada.

Thirty-nine-year-old PilliYesebu, who starts his day by

peeling off abamboo near

Railway Officers’Quarters compound

wall on the GopalareddyRoad, told this correspondentthat he was born at that veryplace and that his parents tooworked there. Asked if he washappy with his profession, hereplied in the negative sayingthat bamboo is pricey and theincome is not sufficient.

Echoing his words,Grandhi Satti Pandu and hiswife Lakshmi said they havebeen living in a rented house,paying Rs 5,000 as rent eachmonth. “This is too much forus to bear. Bamboo prices aregoing through the roof, mak-ing our lives difficult. Howcan we meet our daily expens-es and provide for educationof our children with our mea-gre earnings?” asked SattiPandu.

The couple said they hadbeen sanctioned a houseunder the NTR HousingScheme during the previousTDP government and hadeven paid Rs 1,00,000 towards

it. But, the house is yet to behanded over to them.“Though it has three monthssince the new government hasformed, we are yet to takepossession of our home,” saidSatti Pandu’s wife, GrandhiLakshmi

Rokka Lakshmi, a basketweaver, who sits close by saidshe was also expecting thegovernment to sanction ahouse to her so that she canspend the amount saved onrent for other day-to-dayexpenses. Though the govern-ment provides subsidy tobamboo workers, it is allegedthat the forest departmentsupplies low-quality materialto them.

Grandhi Nageswara Rao,President of the KanakaDurga Cane and BambooWorkers’ Cooperative Societysaid that the forest depart-ment auctions three categoriesof bamboo — special, firstgrade and second grade. Healleged that in each of thesecategories the best variety isset aside for private dealersand the low-quality bamboo

is auctioned to the societies(there are six such societies inthe city) at subsidised rates.Therefore, the societies areforced to purchase qualitybamboo from private dealers.The subsidised bamboos arepriced at Rs 38, Rs 27 and Rs16 apiece. This apart, the soci-eties have to pay GST andVAT, he said alleging that thebamboos auctioned at sub-sidised rates are not worthusing. Mr Rao added thatwhen the societies com-plained against the forestdepartment the commissionerof industries promised to lookinto the matter.

Another blow for theseworkers is that there is nocommon stock point for lift-ing of bamboos. This forcesthem to park their vehiclesand unload their products onthe road, thereby incurringthe wrath of officials and thepolice, Mr Rao demands a sitebe allotted to these societiesfor setting up a commonstock point from where bam-boo can be lifted in a hassle-free manner.

RAIN OR SHINE, BAMBOO WORKERS GO ABOUT THEIR PROFESSION INTHE CORNER OF THE STREET. THEY MAKE BAMBOO MATS FOR YOURWINDOWS AND BALCONIES TO HELP YOU STAY COOL IN SUMMER,BUT THEY DON’T KEEP ONE FOR THEMSELVES AS MOST OF THEMDON’T HAVE HOMES. SITTING RIGHT BESIDE THE DRAIN AMIDST THESTINK AT NAMPALLY EXHIBITION GROUNDS IS SOMETHING THEYHAVE TO LIVE WITH EVERY DAY.

Bamboo handiworks take a lotof hardwork to complete.

Bamboo artisans are a small,tightly-knit community of

labourers who are forced tolive in dingy bylanes of

metropolises. The margin they earn from selling the

products after putting theirblood and sweat into them is

meagre. Though thegovernment claims to be

giving them bamboo atsubsidised rates, there is moreto it than meets the eye. Read

on to find out how theseartisans eke out a living, their

grouse with the governmentand much more

L

When art meets marriageThe wedding season is near and the big fat Indian wedding is famousworldwide for being grand. Many couples turn to wedding plannersto showcase their best for their special day. Wedding planners met inthe city to discuss the art and business side of great marriages

he HyderabadEdition ofIntercontinentalWorld ofWedding organ-ised by Inter

Continental, Chennai, washeld in the city on Saturdayat Ashiana Convention onRoad No 1, Banjara Hills.

The event was moderatedby D. Ramchandram fromSolus media featured twounique engagements. Thefirst event was about bring-ing wedding professionalson a single platform and thesecond one was a panel dis-cussion on ‘AffordableLuxury DestinationWeddings in the South’. The

panelists included: RakhiKankariya, wedding plannerand academy head whooffers wedding managementas a curriculum; Farah, awedding and event planner;Mintu Sarna, a weddingcurator and Anand G. Nair,general manager, InterContinental ChennaiMahabalipuram resort.

Filmmaker S.S. Rajamoulirecently went to Jaipur forhis son Karthikeya’s wed-ding to Pooja Prasad. Thisraised questions aboutwhether there are any gooddestinations for luxury wed-dings in the South. Thepanelists felt that the Southis home to good and afford-

able luxury wedding desti-nations like Mahabal-ipuram, Ramoji Film Cityand Falaknuma Palaceamong others.

South India is emergingas a one-stop destinationthat offers both luxury andaffordable venues. What islacking however is market-ing, branding and publicrelations.

India is a young nationand about 60 per cent of itspopulation or is under 35-years-old. Nearly 18 crorepeople of the 30 croreyoungsters in the South,dream of a destination wed-ding, they observed. Theevent was held with an aim

to prove that destinationweddings can be affordabletoo.

The second event was amaster class from celebritystylist Eshaa Amiin, who isone of the biggest names inthe styling world. She hasstyled for many Bollywoodactresses such as KarishmaKapoor, Jhanvi Kapoor, LaraDutta and others.

Ms Amiin conducted hermaster class on bridalstyling for a limited groupof brides to-be and the classincluded everything fromtips on choosing the rightkind of lehengas or saari, tomake-up tips and tricks forthe best overall look.

SPEAKING DESIGN:

T

FILMMAKER S.S.RAJAMOULIRECENTLY WENT TOJAIPUR FOR HISSON’S WEDDING.THIS RAISEDQUESTIONS ABOUTWHETHER THERE AREANY GOODDESTINATIONS FORLUXURY WEDDINGSIN THE SOUTH.

WEAVING THEIR DESTINYONE BASKET AT A TIME

WORLDBAMBOO

DAY

WORLDBAMBOO

DAY

Pilli Yesebu Rokka Lakshmi

WednesdaySeptember 18, 2019

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

CARDI B SPILLSPLAN TO HAVESECOND CHILD

apper Cardi B hasrevealed her desire to havea second child, but thatwon’t be happening soon.

She confirmed that shedoes want to expand her

family with rapper Offset. The 26-year-old “Bodak Yellow” rapperrevealed over Instagram Live onMonday her desire to have another

child. On the Live session, she alsoshared her plans for her music career,reports aceshowbiz.com.

She said, “My plan is to take a coupleof months working on my album. Andright after I finish my album, I’m goingto rehearse for a tour. I’m alreadyworking on a tour deal. Point is thateverything is going good.”

Cardi added that she has alreadyhad three songs for the follow-up toher 2018 debut album Invasion ofPrivacy, but she’s “not sure about

one of them”.“After my tour, I want to have a

kid. I want to have another kid,”she said.

Based on her planned timeline,Cardi’s second child is coming no

sooner than next year. Cardi andOffset welcomed their first child

together, a daughter named KultureKiari Cephys, in July 2018, after

secretly tying the knot in their hotelroom in September 2017.

inger-actress Jennifer Lopez’sHustlers will open in India onSeptember 27. Directed byLorene Scafaria, the heistthriller is based on a 2015 NewYork magazine article by

Jessica Pressler. The film is about a groupof strippers in New York City who beginto drug stock traders and business hon-chos who visit their club, in order to stealtheir money. The story is set against thebackdrop of the 2008 recession.

Along with Lopez, Hustlers, which pre-miered at Toronto International FilmFestival this year, also stars ConstanceWu, Julia Stiles, Keke Palmer, LiliReinhart, Lizzo and Cardi B.

The film is co-produced by Lopez

along with Jessica Elbaum, ElaineGoldsmith-Thomas, Lopez and AdamMcKay, and is brought to India by PVRPictures.

Hustlers, budgeted at $20.7 million, hasalready done business to the tune of$37.7 million at the last count since itsrelease last weekend in the UnitedStates, and has garnered good reviews.The film currently hold an 88 per centapproval rating on the review aggrega-tor website Rotten Tomatoes, and thewebsite’s consensus reads: “Led by acareer-best performance from JenniferLopez, Hustlers is a uniquely empower-ing heist drama with depth and intelli-gence to match its striking visualappeal.”

RS

JLO'S HUSTLERS GETSINDIA RELEASE DATE

Vijayawada Wednesday September 18, 2019

10

ade In Chinadirector MikhilMusale isimpressed withRajkummar Rao’sdedication

towards a project, and saysthe actor has spoiled him forlife.

Made In China is Musale’sfirst Hindi directorial. Inthe film, Rajkummar essaysa small-time businessmanin Ahmedabad. For therole, the actor spent amonth in that city beforethe shoot, learned the lan-guage and gained weight toget the part right.

“When he signed on tobe part of the film, he wasalready thinking aheadand making mental notesabout what aspects he willneed to work on to ace hischaracterisation,” saidMusale, who has grownup in Ahmedabad.

“Raj and I had many con-versations to solidify thespace of Raghu Mehta’s world.Next thing I know, I get a callfrom him telling me that he isin Ahmedabad. He took avideo camera and visitedmany busy areas ofAhmedabad from LalDarwaja to Gandhi market toManek Chowk and also a fewplaces that lots of peopledon’t know about. He visitedthese places completely underthe radar — going virtuallyunrecognisable,” added thedirector.

Musale was impressed thatRajkummar “spoke to localstore owners, young peopleshopping in those areas andalso ate food from the localplaces to sink his teeth intothe colloquialism and the cul-ture”.

“My co-writer Karan Vyas,a typical Gujarati, also joinedRaj for a few days and he

took Raj to meet his friendsto understand the culture alittle more. When I met himclose to the shoot, I saw acompletely different man, Isaw Raghu — nuanced evenbeyond my script. Rightthrough the film shoot too,he asked us to speak to himand around him in Gujaratias much as possible so that hedevelops an ongoing easewith the language andaccent,” he added.

In terms of physicalappearance, Rajkummargained eight kgs.

“I really don’t know how hedid it. And that too, in such ashort time span. That’s hissecret and that’s honestly themagic of a performer asincredible as Raj. I think hehas spoiled me for life as thiswas my first Hindi film and Iwas fortunate enough to workwith possibly the most collab-orative artist,” Mikhil added.

Dinesh Vijan presentsMade In China in associationwith Jio Studios. A MaddockFilms production, the filmalso stars Mouni Roy, BomanIrani, Paresh Rawal andGajraj Rao.

Made in China tells thestory of the Gujaratienteprenuer Raghu Mehta andhis jugaadu business journey.The film is being juxtaposedwith the tag India ka Jugaad. Itis slated to release aroundDiwali this year.

Producer Dinesh Vijansaid: “I’m a strong believerthat certain energies gravitatetowards each other and that’show this film has beenmade... We are excited for theaudience to see the endearingchemistry between Raj andBoman, and the special partGajraj and Paresh play inRaghu and Dr Vardi’s entre-preneurial journey.”

— IANS

M

RAJKUMMAR HAS SPOILED ME FOR LIFE:MADE IN CHINA DIRECTOR

ollywoodactressTaapsee Pannusays she likesto experimentwith her looks

and her personal stylepersonifies independence,

confidence and beauty withease and comfort. The Pinkstar, who is the brand ambas-sador of Melange by Lifestyle,recently launched its new fes-tive collection of the contem-porary ethnic wear brand atDLF Mall of India in Noida. Excerpts from an interview:

What is your style mantra?TP: For me, your style reflects

your personality, whichclothes and accessories onlyenhance. Festive patternsand bright colours with amodern silhouette — that’smy style. I love to combineIndian colours and patternswith western silhouettes fora contemporary look. Mystyle personifies indepen-dence, confidence and beau-ty with ease and comfort.

Three fashion hacks.TP: Keep it contemporary.

Keep it comfortable andclassy.

Your fitness travel essentials.TP: I never forget to carry my

workout gear.

How important is it forwomen to understand thatbeing fit is more importantthan being thin?TP: Fitness is a way of life

more than anything, itkeeps you fresh and ener-gised. Everybody shouldindulge in an activity thatnot only keeps them fit, butalso makes them happy.

Your preferred look.TP: Colourful, comfortable

and contemporary — that’sme and my wardrobe.

Your fitness regime.TP: I play squash for an hour

and I do weights for muscletoning.

What do you think of theMelange festive collection?TP: The Melange festive col-

lection has many versatilepieces and is perfect formany occasions. Theensembles in the collectioncelebrate the season’s trendslike intricate gold detailing,zari and sequin embroi-deries and accents of brightcolours. In fact, the entirecollection has a very festivevibe. I like to experimentwith my looks, and I lovethe creative freedom thiscollection gives me. ThoughI am partial to the entirecollection, the ensemble I

wore for the fashion show isone of my favourites. It isperfect for the festive seasonand I can see myself wear-ing it on several occa-sions.

What do you think aboutthe brand Melange byLifestyle and how hasthe journey with thebrand been?TP: Melange is a con-

temporary ethnicwear brand byLifestyle thatinspires and com-plements the sen-sibilities of themodern woman,who has a dis-tinct sense ofstyle. It is all aboutreinventing ethnicwear. I cherish myassociation withMelange and look for-ward to anything newthat the brand comesup with. I think it’sbecause I trulybelieve in the brandethos and the factthat I love theensembles iswhat makesour journeytogether evenmore special.

THANKYOU FOR BEING

MINE: PRIYANKA TONICK JONAS

Actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas penned a love-filled note toher husband Nick Jonas on his 27th birthday. Sharing a

video collage of herself with her husband on Instagram onMonday night, Priyanka wrote: “The light of my life. Everyday with

you is better than the last. You deserve all the happiness in theworld. Thank you for being the most generous loving man I haveever met. Thank you for being mine. Happy birthday Jaan. I love

you Nick Jonas.”The Quantico actress tied the knot with the American

singer in two extravagant ceremonies at the Umaid BhawanPalace in Jodhpur in December 2018.

She is gearing up for the release of Shonali Bose’sThe Sky Is Pink, which also stars Farhan Akhtar

and Zaira Wasim.

B

Rajkummar

celeb talks

YOUR STYLE REFLECTSYOUR PERSONALITY:

TAAPSEE PANNU

ashing in on the image he cuts across youth, the makers of VijayDeverakonda’s next film with Malli Malli Idhi Raani Roju director Kr-anthi Madhav have titled the film as World Famous Lover. The announce-ment was made on Tuesday by film’s productionhouse Creative Commercials.

After being shot in Kothagudem and Europeearlier, the film has recently moved toHyderabad. Sometime back an action episodewith Deverakonda was completed under thesupervision of Kanal Kannan master and wenow hear Kranthi is filming some scenes.

Said to be an emotional love story, the film,co-starring Raashi Khanna, Aishwarya Rajesh,Catherine Tresa and Izabella Leite, is amonth away from a wrap-up. The first lookwill be unveiled this Friday. The releasedate, though, hasn’t been declared by themakers yet.

The film is an important one forDeverakonda to cement his position as thenext big thing. His earlier release, DearComrade, despite openingon a grand note, failed tosustain momentum asthe days pro-gressed.

fter their maiden collaborationMehbooba failed to light-up the box-office last year, there was a lot ridingon iSmart Shankar, their second ven-ture. Living up to the expectations, the

film performed phenomenally, grossing morethan Rs 70 crore and emerging as RamPothineni’s biggest money spinner till date. Allthe distributors who have purchased the filmtoo have landed in heavy profits. No wonder,director and producer duo, Puri Jagannadhand Charmme Kaur, are a happy bunch. Afterthrowing multiple parties to celebrate its suc-cess post the release, they have now giftedthemselves brand new cars from the profitsthey’ve made from the July release.

While Puri, who is known for his luxuriouslifestyle, brought home a grey colored swankyRange Rover Vogue, Charmme is now theproud owner of BMW 7 Series car. Both have

flaunted their brand new cars for a picturetogether.

Up next, the duo is keen on wrapping upRomantic, featuring Akash, in the next cou-ple of months. The film is 60 per cent over.Once it is wrapped up, Puri will shift his atten-tion to Fighter with Vijay Deverakonda. He hasalready wrapped up penning the first half ofthe script and he will be visiting Bangkok again to complete the second half.

Presently shooting for his home production 90 ML with Sekhar Reddy Yerra,

who assisted Chandra Mahesh in the past,the actor has greenlit another film, finds

NAGARAJ GOUDis early August releaseGuna 369 might nothave been a box-officesmash butKarthikeya’s year hasjust got better with

the success of Nani-starrer GangLeader, where he was seen in a partwith grey shades. Presently, shoot-ing for his home production 90 MLwith Sekhar Reddy Yerra, who assist-ed Chandra Mahesh in the past, theactor has greenlit another film, ThePioneer has exclusively learnt. Sree

will make his directorial debut withthe project.

“The film is a commercial actionentertainer set in a realistic space.Karthikeya got hooked to the screen-play that Sree conceived and hebelieves the film will help him con-solidate his market further and givehim an image makeover of sortsafter a film like 90 ML. The pre-pro-duction is going on silently. Themakers are tight-lipped about theuntitled project because they first

want 90 ML to hit the screens before theymake anything official about it,” informeda source close to the development.

Meanwhile, the filming of Hyderabad-set 90 ML is in the final leg. By Octoberfirst week, the entire shoot will bewrapped up, post which the unit will beflying off to Europe to shoot a couple ofnumbers. Noted actor Ravi Kishan is play-ing Karthikeya’s bête noire, while the likesof Rao Ramesh, Ajay, Posani KrishnaMurali, Praveen and Ali will be seen inkey supporting roles in the film. NewbieNeha Solanki is making her Tollywooddebut as a leading lady.

fter his last Parichayam failed to woothe audience, f i lmmakerLakshmikanth Chenna has recentlyannounced his next as Commitment.Speaking to The Pioneer, he said right

nowadays audience wants film content in themould of Arjun Reddy and RX 100 and hisCommitment is one such affair. “To pull theaudience to theatres in this day and agewhere content is just a swipe away from theirsmartphones, one need to make something

different and innovative. Commitment isthat something else,” he declared.

Guarded about revealing the film’splot line, the director who earlier madefilms like Hyderabad Nawabs andNinna Nedu Repu said, “The word com-

mitment is the most misused cuttingacross groups. Say if a girl bags a job andher employer asks her to work with com-mitment, there’s every chance for her tothink that he’s expecting some sexualfavours. The word carries a lot of weightas it can determine one’s career goingup or down. The film will deal withpeople who are using it for both gen-uine and not-so genuine purposes. Itwill be told in an entertaining waybut the audience will carry somegood out of it at the end.”

Chenna is in plans to take thefilm to floors next month. Themovie is most likely to feature sixnew actors. “We will be shooting

in Hyderabad, Karimnagar,

Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and some partsof Rayalaseema for around 50 days. The teas-er will create a storm of sorts,” he promisedand added that a couple of his friends areproducing the film. — NG

fter playingsmall-town girlin films likeChalo, GeethaGovindam and

Dear Comrade ,

Rashmika Mandanna

will now be seen as a vil-

lage belle in Sukumar’s

next with Allu Arjun.

Like is the case with the

director’s earlier leading

ladies, Rashmika’s part

too has a vital impor-

tance in the context of

the narrative. The film

deals with red sanders

smuggling as its core point and

a major chunk of the shoot will

take place in forests. “Rashmika’s

character hails from a village

where Bunny resides. It’s a well-

etched part, which like Bunny’s,

drives the story from beat to

beat. It calls for a cracking

chemistry between the two of

them,” points out a source.

The still-untitled action-

thriller will most likely be

launched around Dasara next

month. Bunny might shoot it

for a schedule, before shifting

attention to Trivikram’s Ala

Vaikunthapuramlo. Mythri

Movie Makers are producing

it, while Devi Sri Prasad has

already started recording

music.

Vijayawada Wednesday September 18, 2019

THE FILM, STARRING RAASHIKHANNA,AISHWARYARAJESH,CATHERINETRESA ANDIZABELLALEITE, IS AMONTH AWAYFROM AWRAP-UP

THE FILM IS A COMMERCIALACTION ENTERTAINER SET INREALISTIC SPACE.KARTHIKEYA GOT HOOKEDTO THE SCREENPLAY THATSREE CONCEIVED

THE FILM DEALS WITH

RED SANDERSSMUGGLING AS ITS

CORE POINT AND A

MAJOR CHUNK OF

THE SHOOT WILL TAKE

PLACE IN FORESTS

A

11

tollywood

Rashmika Mandanna

as a village belle

A

A

c Chenna's Commitmentto mirror society

A

GOES WITHANOTHER

NEWCOMER

KARTHIKEYA

PURI JAGANNADH ANDCHARMME KAUR WILL BE BUSYCOMPLETING THEIR NEXTPROJECT, ROMANTIC

PURI JAGANNADH andCHARMME's hot wheels

VIJAY Deverakondais World Famous Lover

he pre-release event ofmegastar Chiranjeevi-starrer Sye RaaNarasimha Reddy hasbeen delayed further.

Instead of Wednesday, theevent will now take place onSunday at LB Stadium,Hyderabad. According to thefilm’s Twitter handle KonidelaPro Company, weather forecastfor Wednesday played spoil-sport and the event had to berescheduled to Sunday.

Earlier, the event was plannedin Kurnool but with the districtwitnessing rainfalls, the loca-tion was shifted to Hyderabad.

Nonetheless, makers did con-firm that the trailer will bedropping on Wednesday.

With the event now set totake place on Sunday, itremains to be seen whetherTelangana MunicipalAdministration and ITMinister K.T. Rama Rao will begracing the function. He wasscheduled to attendWednesday’s event initially butdue to his other commitments,he conveyed it to the team thathe wouldn’t be making it.Pawan Kalyan and a host ofother mega heroes will be grac-ing the pre-release event.

tSYE RAA… event postponed, again!

Laks

hmik

anth

Che

nna

PTI n MOHALI

Rishabh Pant’s form wouldbe an important sub-plot when India look to

seize the advantage againstSouth Africa in the second T20International here onWednesday after a washout inDharamsala effectively madethe series a two-match affair.

The T20 World Cup ismore than 12 months away butIndia captain Virat Kohli hasalready detailed his plans andexpectations from the young-sters in the side.

The skipper did not expectto get a bagful of opportunitieswhen he arrived on the inter-national scene and believesthe current crop of youngstersalso need to make it count inthe limited time they are goingto get.

One of them is 21-year-oldRishabh Pant, who can’t bebracketed as a “youngster”anymore having made his

debut back in February 2017.Not a single ball was

bowled in the series-opener butthere was enough happeningon the sidelines and most of itwas focussed on Pant.

In a chat with the hostbroadcaster, the message forPant from the team manage-ment was loud and clear: hecan’t repeatedly throw his wick-et away and if he does “therewill be a rap on the knuckles”.

“We’ll let him be but attimes when you see a shot, likethe first ball dismissal inTrinidad (during the tour ofWest Indies), if he repeats that,then he will be told. There willbe a rap on the knuckles, tal-ent or no talent,” said headcoach Ravi Shastri ahead of theseries-opener.

With Kohli still very muchopen to having MahendraSingh Dhoni back on board,pressure is mounting on Pantto do justice to his rich talent.

Considering the circum-

stances, it was not a surprisethat Pant had a hit in the netsright after the team flew herefrom Dharamsala on Monday.

Pressure will also be onleg-spinner Rahul Chahar andoff-spinner WashingtonSundar, both of whom havebeen picked ahead of KuldeepYadav and Yuzvendra Chahalfor the second straight series.

With 20-odd games to gobefore the World Cup, theIndian team wants to boost itsbatting which will requirenumber 8, 9 and 10 to scoreruns on a regular basis, some-thing which has never beenIndia’s strength.

Will a deep batting line-upcompromise India’s ability towake wickets in the middleovers? Only time will tell.

It is also an importantseries for Shreyas Iyer andManish Pandey, who have beenbrought back into the side tosolidify the middle order.

The game will also be anopportunity for ShikharDhawan to play a substantialknock, having endured a leantour of the West Indies by hisstandards.

It a ground he is fond of,having scored a memorable187 on his Test debut and morerecently a 143 in the ODIagainst Australia in Marchthis year, albeit in a losingcause.

On the other hand, it willbe an uphill task for SouthAfrica to beat this Indian side,which has been on a roll formost part.

Time in the middle for ateam in transition would havebeen valuable but rain robbedthe Proteas of that opportuni-ty in Dharamsala.

The Kagiso Rabada-ledattack would have to bowlreally well to contain theIndian batsmen especiallyskipper Kohli, who played oneof his best knocks againstAustralia in March 2016, thelast T20 played here, to takeIndia to the World T20 semi-finals.

sport 12VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

PTI n MOHALI

Newly appointed India batting coach VikramRahtour feels Rohit Sharma is “too good a play-

er” to not be playing in all three formats and backedhim to do well as a Test opener in all conditions.

Rohit is one of the greats of white-ball cricket buthas had a start-stop Test career. He has been givenanother opportunity in the five-day format, this timeas an opener in the upcoming series against SouthAfrica.

“He is too good a player to not be playing in anygame. That is what is everyone is thinking. He hasdone so well in white-ball cricket as an opener so thereis no reason why he can’t succeed as a Test openerprovided he gets enough opportunities,” Rathour saidahead of the second T20 against South Africa hereon Monday adding that, “If he comes good, he willbe a huge asset for the team.”

Rohit will be getting the opportunity to open inTests at home but Rathour said the stylish batsmanhas it in him to succeed overseas also.

“At the moment, I am not too sure what the play-ing eleven for the first Test will be but if Rohit doeswell and is opening, why not,” he said, when askedabout the possibility of him opening on overseas tours.

PTI nMOHALI

The youngsters in the Indianteam have got a clear mes-

sage from the management — tounderstand that there is a fineline between “fearless cricket andcareless cricket”, new battingcoach Vikram Rathour said onTuesday.

The message conveyed wasdirected mainly at the likes ofyoungsters like Pant, who havebeen often been criticised for hisreckless choice of shots.

“At times, we over empha-sise on technique. It is moreabout the mindset at this level,getting your gameplan right. Asfar as Rishabh is concerned, heis a phenomenal player, he justneeds to sort out his gameplan,needs to bring in a little bit ofdiscipline in his cricket,” saidRathour on

“All the young players needto understand that there is a fineline between fearless cricketand careless cricket. What theteam management is askingfrom them is fearless cricket,having clear gameplans andplaying with intent but at thesame time, you can't be careless.I am sure they are smart enoughto understand that.”

The former selector wasreacting to comments fromskipper Virat Kohli, who recent-ly said that a youngster shouldnot expect more than fiveopportunities at the highestlevel.

“They (Kohli and headcoach Ravi Shastri) have said five

matches but it is not going to bea specific number. What theymeant was that you need to grabyour opportunities when you getthem. They (youngsters) haveplayed so much of cricket. Theyhave come though after doing sowell. I don’t think it is a massiveissue. The team will be backingthem fully.”

Elaborating more on theexpectations from Pant, Rathoursaid “We want him to play all hisshots. That is what makes himspecial, he is an impact playerbut at the same time you can’t becareless.”

Shreyas Iyer and ManishPandey have made a comebackin the middle-order and Rahouris expecting them to seize theiropportunities. But could theysolve India's middle-order mud-dle?

“Those two are very finecricketers who have done real-ly well in domestic cricket.Shreyas has got a good start (inODIs against the West Indies).Manish has done well in the pastand made a comeback afterperforming consistently indomestic cricket. I am confidentthey will come good, they justneed to be more consistent.”

India have begun theirpreparations for the T20 WorldCup in Australia next year andthere is a significant shift in theway they will approach their bat-ting in the shortest format.

Kohli wants the team to batdeep, increasing the expectationsfrom spin all-rounders KrunalPandya and Washington Sundar.

PTI n MOHALI

Newly-appointed South AfricanT20 captain Quinton de Kock

on Tuesday said the additionalresponsibility could be a double-edged sword but he is not thinkingtoo much about it.

De Kock is one of the seniorplayers in this new-look team andhas been handed captaincy in theabsence of Faf du Plessis as themanagement is looking to groomhim ahead of the T20 World Cupnext year.

“Not too concerned to be hon-est. It is a new stepping stone in mycareer, gives me extra responsibil-ity. Not sure if it would affect menegatively or positively” said thewicket-keeper batsman ahead of thesecond T20 against India here onWednesday.

Asked if he is prepared to playthe mentor's role in the team, likedu Plessis and Ab de Villiers playedwhen he burst on to the scene, deKock said: “I think they (Faf andABD) gave me lots of room to playthe way I wanted to. I don’t see it

why that would change withoutthem being here.

‘Even they in their career havehad to do the same thing we aredoing. So we will take it as itcomes. In the leadership group inthe team we have had a chat (ongrooming the youngsters). It isunder control so far but we are stilllearning as part of a young leader-ship group.”

De Kock said some youngsterscould get a longer rope while somemay not.

“I not going to put a number onit. For some it could be one, forsome it could be 10, so can’t reallysay.”

It has effectively become a two-match series with the series open-er in Dharamasala being washedout.

“It is a bit of a negative,” said deKock.

"We would like to have playedthree games against the Indianteam. Leading into the World Cup,to lose out on a game in differentconditions, it is not ideal but it iswhat it is.”

PTI n YOGYAKARTA (INDONESIA)

The Indian men’s teambeat Singapore 3-0 in

the 5-8 classificationmatch in the ITTF AsianTable TennisChampionships toremain in the championsdivision of the conti-nental event here onTuesday.

India lost to Japan 1-3 in the quarterfinal onMonday but ensured thatit will finish in the top sixof the tournament withthe win over Singaporeon Tuesday. India willthus gain direct entry in

the next championshipsin 2021. India will playHong Kong onWednesday in the matchfor fifth position.

“This is an achieve-ment in itself,” saidSharath Kamal, whoplayed an important rolein India’s 3-0 win overSingapore.

Sathiyan beat PohShao Feng Ethan instraight games (11-5, 11-5, 13-11). But Sharathneeded to dig deep intohis vast experience tobeat Pang Yew En Koen7-11, 13-11, 9-11, 11-9,11-3 and put India 2-0ahead.

PTI n NUR-SULTAN(KAZAKHSTAN)

Vinesh Phogat was pushedout of the title race by

reigning champion MayuMukaida of Japan but one ofIndia’s biggest hopesremained in bronze medalhunt in the 53kg category at

the World WrestlingChampionship here onTuesday.

Mukaida later reachedthe final to help Vinesh stayin the medal hunt as well asTokyo Olympics qualifica-tion. Two victories willensure her place in TokyoOlympics.

She will now have tobeat three wrestlers in therepechage- YuliiaKhavaldzhy Blahinya fromUkraine, world number oneSarah Ann Hildebrandt andthen Maria Prevolaraki fromGreece to win her firstWorlds medal.

It was second consecu-

tive defeat for Vinesh againstthe Japanese this season afterlosing to the two-time worldchampion at the AsianChampionship in China.

Vinesh has CWG andAsian Games titles but is yetto win a medal at the Worlds.

“Japan is a wrestlingpowerhouse. It takes sometime to attack these girls. It’sabout one technique, onemove one point that changesthe bout. I tried, it did nothappen and she succeeded,”Vinesh told PTI after herbout.

Vinesh said Mukaida wasno different from the AsianChampionship though sheand her coach Woller Akoshad plotted the fall of the for-midable Japanese.

“It happens. ButMukaida is not the only tar-get for me. We focus on allwrestlers. Everyone is toughin 53kg. It’s not over yet,” saidVinesh,

In another Olympic cat-egory, Seema Bisla (50kg) losther pre-quarterfinal 2-9 tothree-time Olympic medallistMariya Stadnik.

Like Vinesh, she tooremained in hunt for bronzeand Olympic qualificationas Stadnik reached the final.

“It’s not that Mariya wasmore powerful than me. Sheis more experienced thanme. I have just competed in5-6 competitions in 50kg. Iam learning and will get bet-ter,” said Seema.

In the non-Olympic cat-egories, Komal Gole was toodefensive against Turkey’sBeste Altug and lost her 72kgQualification bout 1-4 whileLalita was outplayed 3-10by Mongolia's Bolortuya BatOchir in 55kg.

Both Lalita and Komalare now out of the champi-onship since Bolortuya andAltug later lost their quarter-finals.

The experience of playing with the HaryanaSteelers has been marvellous. This is my first Pro

Kabaddi League and I couldn’t have asked for a bet-ter team to start my PKL career with. The manage-ment is fantastic. Everyone is supportive and moti-vates one another to perform to the best of their abil-ities. All players are aware of their responsibilities andeach of them execute their plans, therefore there's notmuch of pressure on the players.

I was a bit nervous at the start of the league andtherefore I hesitated to carry out my game freely ona few occasions, but, as I kept playing matches, I keptgetting better and better. I kept honing my skills witheach match and now I feel very confident every timeI step on the mat. I have realised that if I follow what-ever the coach and captain tell me to do, I will alwaysperform for my team.

Vikash Kandola and I discuss before everymatch about the skills I should work on. We talk aboutwhere I should attack to pick up points for the team.Vikash tells me just before I start my raid on the mat— when I should attack and when I should carry outan empty raid. Haryana Steelers’ coach RakeshKumar has taught me a very important skill this sea-son. He has told me that an immediate reaction isimperative for success in kabaddi. The coach has large-ly focused on immediate reaction and escape skills thisseason. Rakesh is very shrewd when it comes to tac-tics and I have been very lucky to train under him inPKL-7. Being a young player, I wasn't sure that I wouldget a chance to play. But I knew that if I get a chancethen I would definitely make the most of it. I am verypleased with the fact that I have been able to grab myopportunities and be one of the best raiders of HaryanaSteelers this season.

I really enjoy playing with established players likeVikash Kandola, Dharmaraj Cheralathan andPrashanth Kumar Rai. Dharmaraj has a fantasticknowledge of match situations. His experience hasbeen invaluable for the team. He knows how the teamshould react to every situation and keep improving.If Haryana is behind in the scoreline in a certain match,then Dharmaraj knows how the side can make a come-back in the match. The senior players make the strat-egy for the team, but now I am starting to understandhow a team should work out plans before a match.

The Pro Kabaddi League is a great platform foryoungsters to showcase their skills. The players cantest their skills against the best players from aroundthe world. The level of competition is very high andtherefore if a youngster performs in this competition

then he can certainly gain a lot of con-fidence for the rest of his kabaddicareer. At the moment, I am lookingto maintain my fitness and practiceregularly. And going forward, I want

to represent the Indian kabadditeam. Playing and achieving

great heights for my country isthe ultimate dream for me.

(The writer (VINAY)plays for Haryana Steelers

in Pro Kabaddi Leauge season 7)

Ravindra Jadeja bowls during India’s nets session ahead of 2nd T20 at PCA Stadium in Mohali on Tuesday PTI

India look to draw first bloodAfter Dharamshala washout, Men in Bluesearch first home T20 win against Proteas

Vikram Rathour speaks during press confrence ahead of 2nd T20 PTI

Fine line between fearlessand careless cricket: Rathour

Senior playersinspire & motivateus to get better

Double-edged sword

Quinton De Kock and Kagiso Rabada during practice session PTI

Vinesh to fight for Bronze

Vinesh Phogat in a file picture

Rohit Sharma in a file picture PTI

Too good to ignore

Paddlers remain inchampions division

Team (Rankings) P W L T N/R Success%

India (4th) 118 73 41 1 3 63.55

South Africa (3rd) 113 67 44 1 1 60.17

Ind v SA 13 8 5 - - 61.53

PERFORMANCE IN TWENTY-20 CRICKET

India 203-5 in 20 overs at Johannesburg 18-02-2018South Africa 219-4 in 20 overs at Johannesburg 30-03-2012

HIGHEST INNINGS TOTALS

India 92 in 17.2 overs at Cuttack 05-10-2015South Africa 116-9 in 20 overs at Durban 20-09-2007

India 106 Rohit Sharma at Dharamshala 02-10-2015South Africa 78 Colin Ingram at Johannesburg 30-03-2012

BEST BOWLING PERFORMANCESIndia 5-24 Bhuvneshwar at Johannesburg 18-02-2018South Africa 3-12 Albie Morkel at Cuttack 05-10-2015

FAISEL FEATURES

LOWEST INNINGS TOTALS

HIGHEST INDIVIDUAL SCORES