c m y k c m y k

WEATHERMax: 34OC Min: 27OC Rainfall: Nil

ASTROGUIDESarvari: Aadi 6Tithi: Prathamai

Star: PusamRahukalam:

3 pm to 4.30 pmYamagandam:

9 am to 10.30 am PRAYERS

Fajar: 4.32 amZohar: 12.20 pm

Asar: 3.38 pmMaghrib: 6.39 pm

Isha: 7.57 pmSUNSET TODAY 6.39 PM

SUNRISE TOMORROW 5.52 AMMOONRISE TODAY 6.13 AM

MOONSET TOMORROW 7.24 PM

COUNTER POINT

SPORT | 8England beat West

Indies by 113 runs

THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIACHENNAI I TUESDAY 21 I JULY 2020

NATION | 4Advani to depose on

July 24 in Babri case

New Delhi: The Centre has writtento all states and union territorieswarning against the use of N-95

masks with valved respirators bypeople, saying these do not pre-

vent the virus from spreading outand are "detrimental" to the mea-sures adopted for its containment.

The Director General of HealthServices referred to the advisoryon the use of homemade protec-

tive cover for face and mouthavailable on the website of the

Ministry of Health.

Govt warns against useof N-95 masks with

valved respirators

Kabul: A suicide truck bomberstruck an army convoy in east-

ern Afghanistan on Monday,killing at least eight Afghan sol-diers, the Defense Ministry said.

Another nine troops werewounded in the attack in Maidan

Wardak province.

Suicide truck bomberkills 8 Afghan soldiers

WORLD | 5UK to alter HK

extradition treaty

1,47,49,999WORLD CONFIRMED CASES

STATE GOVERNMENT BULLETINS

CASES

(+35,704)11,53,811

(+4,985)TN: 1,75,678

DEATHS

(+593) 28,096

2,551

6,10,837213

DEATHS

COUNTRIES,AREAS WITH

CASES

CORONA C UNT

worldometers.info

covid19india.org

deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle, google.com/+deccanchronicle Vol. 16 No. 116 Established 1938 | 8 PAGES| `3.00

One dynasty tryingto destroy PrimeMinister: NaddaNew Delhi, July 20:Hitting out at RahulGandhi for criticisingPrime Minister NarendraModi over the border rowwith China, BJP presidentJP Nadda on Monday saidthe Congress leader'sattempts to ‘politicise’defence and foreign policymatters show one dyna-sty’s “desperation to wash(off) their past sins” andefforts to “destroy” Modi. Accusing Gandhi of mak-ing statements that are“weak on facts” and“strong on mudslinging”,Nadda alleged in a seriesof tweets that the formerCongress president inrecent years, be it theDoklam crisis or the cur-rent row with China, haspreferred briefings fromthe Chinese instead ofbelieving India's armedforces.

“Attempts to politicisedefence and foreign policymatters show one dynas-ty's desperation to wash(off) their past sins of 1962and weaken India... Whydoes one dynasty want aweak India and a strongChina? Many leaders inthe Congress also disappr-ove of one dynasty's shen-anigans!" he said. — PTI

TN attracts `10K cr more in investment

Record 4,985 new cases in TN,Chennai numbers stabilise

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, JULY 20

Eight Memoranda ofUnderstanding (MoU) weresigned in the presence ofChief Minister Edappadi KPalaniswami on Monday tostart new ventures thatwould be launched with atotal investment of `10,399crore, bringing in 13,507jobs in the districts ofKanchipuram, Chengal-pattu, Ranipet, Coimbat-ore, Villupuram and Erode.

According to an officialpress release, the State gov-ernment was keen onbringing new industries toTamil Nadu even as it grap-ples with the pandemic.

One of the new industriesto come up will be byVikram Solar companythat will invest `5,422 crorefor manufacturing solarcells and modules, whichare now being imported, atthe Oragadum InfosysIndustrial Park inKanchipuram district, pro-viding jobs for 7,542 per-

sons.The second one to come

up at Walajabad inKanchipuram districtwith an investment of `250crore, offering 1500 jobopportunities, will be byCGD Sathrai Pvt Ltd tobuild an industrial Parkand third one will be inCoimbatore district byAquasub for a setting up aductile iron foundry withan investment of `200crore with 400 jobs.

In Ranipet district, NDRInfrastructure Companywill set up an industrialpark with an investmentof `200 crore, providingfor 500 employment oppor-tunities, � P2

Keeladi Museum to store6th century BCE artefactsDC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, JULY 20

Chief Minister Edappadi KPalaniswami laid the foun-dation, through video con-ference, for a `12.21 croremodern museum to be setup at Kondagai village inSivaganga district to exhib-it the 14,535 pieces ofantique artefacts that wereunearthed during the sixphases of excavations car-ried at the Keeladi archeo-logical site.

The excavations thatbegan at Keeladi village onthe southern banks of RiverVaigai, which is 13 km fromMadurai on the Rameswa-ram road, on a 110 acre sitein 2014 and is still continu-ing threw up historical factsabout an ancient urban civ-ilization in Tamil Nadu that

dated back to sixth centuryBCE.

Among the artefacts thatwould be on display at themuseum coming up on 81hectares of land will be ter-racotta figurines, bells, cop-per coins, iron articles, dice,bone ends, earthern ear-rings, conch bangles andpots with Tamil engravingsand markings.

The project would betaken up by the heritagewing of the PWD.

���� One of the newindustries to comeup will be by VikramSolar company thatwill invest `5,422crore for manufac-turing solar cells andmodules

Pondy assembly session goes ahead without Lt Guv’s addressPuducherry, July 20 :Puducherry Lt GovernorKiran Bedi on Monday stuckto her decision to not to turnup at the Assembly to deliv-er the customary address tomark the start of a session,on the grounds that the bud-get was not sent to her forapproval.

The House had been con-vened to meet at 9.30 amMonday with the LtGovernor's customaryaddress before the presenta-tion of the budget. Arrangements had been put

in place, including thedeploying of personnel toaccord a customary guard ofHonour to her.

Bedi had already informedChief Minister VNarayanasamy on Sundaynight the reasons for herdecision not to present hercustomary address.

The session, however, com-menced 15 minutes behind

schedule at 9.45 am with theSpeaker VP Sivakolundhureading out a couplet fromthe Thirukkural.

The ParliamentarySecretary to the ChiefMinister K . Lakshm-inarayan rose to move a res-olution requesting theSpeaker to keep in abeyancethe address of the LtGovernor scheduled fortoday. Ruling Congress leg-islator T Jayamoorthy sec-onded the motion.

The Speaker announcedthat the Lt Governor'saddress had been kept inabeyance.

He said the session wasconvened in keeping with

the rules governing the busi-ness and procedure. TheSpeaker further said the LtGovernor's address was now

kept in abeyance and theHouse would resume its sit-ting at 12.05 pm and theChief Minister would pre-

sent the budget for the fiscal2020-'21. He said any delay inbringing in the budget inthe current Covid-19 situa-tion would only affect peo-ple at large and hence it wasdecided that the budgetwould be presented todayitself.

AIADMK legislator AAnbalagan said his callattention motion on pan-demic situation should betaken up while the BJP leg-islators said it would not beproper to go ahead with thesession without the custom-ary address by the LtGovernor.

The Chief Minister had ina letter to Bedi on Sunday

night pointed out that theannual financial statementhad been duly recommend-ed by the Administrator (LtGovernor) and approved bythe President.

“There is therefore noinfirmity of any rule or lawin this regard. Hence theapproval of the Admini-strator for placing theAnnual financial statementbefore the Assembly (aswas maintained by Lt gov-ernor in her letter to theChief Minister) did notarise and will be redundant.This practice is being fol-lowed in this Union Terr-itory for many decades,” hehad said. — PTI � P3

CM Ashok Gehlot,Pilot trade barbs Jaipur/New Delhi, July20: The Ashok Gehlot campsharpened its attack onSachin Pilot on Monday,with the chief minister call-ing him “useless” andanother loyalist allegingthat the dissident Congressleader had himself offeredhim crores to switch sides. Pilot reacted sharply, say-

ing he will take the MLA tocourt. Union ministerGajendra Singh Shekhawatwas dismissive of a noticefrom Rajasthan police overunverified audio clips, say-ing their authenticityshould be examined first. According to the Congress,

Shekhawat is heard in oneof the clips in which a plot totopple the state governmentis being discussed.

The BJP had earlierdemanded a CBI inquiryinto “illegal” phone-tappingby the state government.But, in what could be amove to pre-empt such aprobe, the state governmenthas withdrawn its “generalconsent” to the centralagency to investigate crimi-nal cases in the state. The agency will now have

to seek consent on a case-by-case basis. As the infightingin the Congress intensified,a court battle continuedthrough the day. The harshest words spokenduring the day came fromChief Minister AshokGehlot who used the deroga-tory term “nikkama”, Hindifor “useless” or “incompe-tent”, for the sacked deputychief minister, with whomhe is now locked in a tusslefor power. Referring to Pilot’s perfor-

mance as the state Congresschief, Gehlot said, “Weknew he is ‘nikamma’ (use-less), he is ‘nakara’ (idle)and not doing any work.”Gehlot did not mentionPilot by name, referringonce to him as his “youngcolleague” and recallingthat the he had been givenimportant posts by theparty at an early age.

Pilot ignored theseremarks but reacted strong-ly to allegations made byCongress MLA GirirajSingh Malinga, whoclaimed that he was offered

money by Pilot to join theBharatiya Janata Party.

He said talks were held atPilot's residence and helater told Gehlot about the“conspiracy”. He did notdisclose the amount thatwas discussed, but whenreporters asked if it was Rs30- 35 crore, Malinga said hewas offered the “going rate.Malinga is part of a group of

six Bahujan Samaj PartyMLAs, which was inductedlast September into theCongress which then had aslim majority in the assem-bly. Pilot rejected Malinga’sallegation as basesless, say-ing it was levelled to malignhim and stifle the “legiti-mate concerns” he had rai-sed against the party’s lead-ership in Rajasthan. — PTI

HC to resume hearing onSachin, 18 MLAs’ plea

India’s Covid-19 casetally crosses 11 lakh

Jaipur, July 20: TheRajasthan High Court willon Tuesday resume hearingthe petition filed by SachinPilot and 18 other dissidentCongress MLAs, challeng-ing the disqualificationnotices issued to them bythe assembly Speaker. \

The hearing remainedinconclusive on Mondayand Chief Justice IndrajitMahanty said it will be con-cluded Tuesday. The order is also likely to

be pronounced on Tuesday.Abhishek Manu Singhvi,counsel for the Speaker,argued that the petition waspremature as a decisionwas yet to be taken on dis-qualifying the MLAs fromthe House. He said there

was no scope for interfer-ence by a court over theshow-cause notices issuedby the Speaker. Singhvisaid that the Speaker issupreme as far as the leg-islative assembly is con-cerned and the notices havebeen issued within thepurview of the Speaker’spower. A lawyer appearingfor the Speaker toldreporters that the chief jus-tice asked is the Speakerbound to issue a notice on apetition seeking disqualifi-cation of such a naturewithout recording any rea-son. Singhvi argued thatthere was no requirementto record reasons as it wasmerely a show-causenotice. — PTI

New Delhi, July 20:India’s Covid-19 case tallycrossed the 11-lakh mark onMonday, while the totalnumber of recoveredpatients increased to overseven lakh, according toUnion health ministry data. The death toll due to the

disease rose to 27,497 with681 fatalities reported inone day. The data updated at 8 am

on Monday showed that arecord single-day jump of40,425 Covid-19 cases hadtaken the total number ofcases to 11,18,043.

India’s Covid-19 tallycrossed the 11-lakh mark,

just three days after itcrossed the 10-lakh mark. This is also the first time

that the single-day spike incases has crossed the 40,000-mark.

There are 3,90,459 activecases in the country, while7,00,086 people have recov-ered and one person hasmigrated. The recoveryrate stands at 62.62 per cent.As many as 22,664 Covid-19patients have recoveredfrom disease in the last 24hours. The number ofrecovered Covid-19 patientsexceeds India’s active case-load by 3,09,627, as onMonday. — PTI

PAWAN BALI | DCNEW DELHI, JULY 20

In a strong message toChina amidst heightenedborder tensions, IndianNavy warships and USNavy’s carrier strike groupled by nuclear powered air-craft carrier USS Nimitz onMonday carried out pas-sage exercise (PASSEX) inthe Indian Ocean Region(ICR).

“Indian Navy unitsundertook PassageExercise (PASSEX) with

units of US Navy-NimitzCarrier Strike Group asthey transit through IndianOcean Region,” said asenior official from IndianNavy. He said that fourIndian Navy warships andfour US ships took part inthe exercise. India and USnavies have been increas-ing their interoperabilitythrough a series of exercis-es in the past few years.

Last week Indian Navyhad carried out an exten-sive exercise in Andamanand Nicobar islands which

dominate major sea traderoutes for the Chineseships.

Indian navy is already ata high alert due to theIndia-China military stand-off in the Ladakh sector.

Indian Navy andJapanese Navy (JapanMaritime Self DefenseForce) had conducted asimilar exercise in June.

“Indian Navy conductingan exercise with US navyships which have been sentparticularly to the SouthChina Sea to keep a check

on Chinese Navy’s activityis a strong message to theChinese government,” saidsources.

India is also looking atinviting Australia to jointhe annual Malabar navalexercise which includesJapan and the US. If theproposal is approved by thegovernment all members ofQuad will be carrying outmilitary exercises in theBay of Bengal in a signal toChina that its aggression insea will not go unchal-lenged.

India’s strong blue water message to China

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, JULY 20

Districts adjoiningChennai reported a spikein new Coronavirus infec-tions on Monday eventhough the number offresh cases within the citystabilized at 1,269 againstthe State’s total of 4,985.

In Chengalpattu, wherethe infection figure was at354, the district

Superintendent of PoliceKannan tested positive forCovid-19 and was admittedto a hospital. The otherneighbouring districtsthat had high infectionrate were Kancheepuram329 and Thiruvallur 454.

The other districts thathad high numbers wereCoimbatore 139, Madurai106, Tenkasi 103, Theni107, Thiruvanamalai 151,Thoothukudi 200,

Tirunelveli 180, Vellore114 and Virudhunagar 169.

Food and Civil SuppliesMinister R Kamaraj, whoinspected medical campsin Teyanampet zone inChennai, said the efforts ofthe Government had led tothe decline in infection inthe city. In all the 15 zonesthe percentage of infectedpersons returning homeafter hospitalization was81 per cent, he said. � P2

Indian Navy warships and US Navy’s carrier strike group led by nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz carry outpassage exercise in the Indian Ocean Region on Monday. — DC

Oxford’s vaccinegives first

ray of hopeLondon: Scientists atOxford University say

their experimentalcoronavirus vaccine

has been shown in anearly trial to prompt a

protective immuneresponse in hundredsof people who got the

shot. Britishresearchers first begantesting the vaccine inApril in about 1,000

people, half of whomgot the experimental

vaccine.� P5

COVID-19

���� Puducherry Chief Minister V. Narayanasamytabled the budget for the finan-cial year 2020-21 of the UnionTerritory. He announced freeelectricity upto 100 units, freewater supply to people belowpoverty line and a breakfastscheme for school childrenunder the name of formerTamilnadu Chief Minister MKarunanidhi. AIADMK, NR Congress and BJPmembers staged a walkout boycotting thebudget

Kiran Bedi

CongressMLA fromRajasthan

Giriraj SinghMalinga

alleged onMonday

that rebelparty leaderSachin Pilothad offeredhim moneyto join the

BJP

I am saddenedbut not sur-

prised to be at thereceiving end ofsuch baseless andvexatious allega-tions being levelled

against me. This is done solelyto malign me and to stifle thelegitimate concerns that I hadraised against the party lead-ership of the state, as a mem-ber and MLA of INC”

— SACHIN PILOT, dissident Congress leader

Rajasthan Chief Minister AshokGehlot called Sachin Pilot “useless”, using the Hindi word“nikamma”

A sketch of Keeladi museum

CITY pg 2DECCAN CHRONICLE | TUESDAY | 21 JULY 2020 | CHENNAI

IN BRIEF

Chengalpet SP testsCovid positive

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, JULY 20

Chengalpet Superintendent ofPolice D. Kannan tested posi-tive for coronavirus onMonday and was admitted toSRM medical college and hos-pital for treatment.

According to sources, the SPhad given his swabs for testingon Saturday, since he visitedareas with Covid-19 cases. Thetest result came as positive onMonday, following which hewas admitted to the Coronaward at SRM medical collegeand hospital inKattankulathur.

Mr Kannan had been visitingthe containment zones to helpin controlling the spread ofthe virus.

Info tech centre at`4,000 cr to provideopenings to 2,500

Police tellsYouTube toblock channelChennai, July 20:YouTube has been askedto block a channel thathas offensive contentincluding a post againstpopular Tamil, Hinduhymn "Kanda SashtiKavacham," police saidhere on Monday. Againstthe backdrop of arrest oftwo men of the channelfollowing complaints bythe BJP's legal wing andHindu outfits, policesaid cyber crime winghas written to the socialmedia platform.

"We have askedYouTube to block theKaruppar Kootam chan-nel in view of the offen-sive contents includingone against KandaSashti Kavacham," sen-ior police officials heretold PTI. The CentralCrime Branch policeteam also conductedsearches in the office ofthe Karuppar Kootamchannel at T Nagar hereand sealed it days ago.

The video post againstthe 'Kavacham' hymn,considered sacred andrecited everyday by mil-lions of Tamil Hindusseeking divine protec-tion from Lord Murugacaused outrage andmany people took tosocial media to registertheir protest and seekaction.

In thee post, theanchor Surendran alias'Nathigan' (meaningatheist) allegedly gavevulgar and offensiveinterpretation to thecenturies old hymnauthored by a reveredsaint, Bala DevarayaSwami at the famedChennimalai SriSubramania Swamytemple near Erode inwestern Tamil |Nadu. — PTI

Min: Death rate inTN lower than other

statesFrom P1

In fact, in Teynampet zone,which once had a high rate ofinfection, the percentage ofperson cured was 83 per cent,he said.

Fisheries minister D.Jayakumar also spoke aboutthe government efforts in com-bating the pandemic and saidthat it had helped in bringingit under control.

He said the death rate inTamil Nadu was lower thanother states. On Monday, 70persons succumbed toCoronavirus in the State andthe death figure for Chennaiwas 22.

Meanwhile, minister for elec-tricity P Thangamani, whowas admitted to a private hos-pital in Chennai on July 8, wasdischarged ‘after successfultreatment and complete curefrom Covid-19’, a hospitalpress release said.

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, JULY 20

A man fatally hit his 28-year-old cousin with agrinding stone on his headafter an altercation duringa drinking session inAdambakkam on Sunday.

The deceased wasManikandan, a resident ofMannadiamman KovilStreet in Adambakkam.He and his cousin, Edwin,lived in the same area.

The incident happenedon Sunday night whenthey were drinking liquorat Edwin’s place. Policesaid, quoting Edwin, while

they were drinking, thetwo entered into an argu-ment over a family proper-ty. Edwin, in a fit of rage,hit Manikandan’s head

with a grinding stone.When he realised thatManikandan had died, hefled the spot.

Neighbours alerted thepolice after the loudsound. The Adambakkampolice registered a caseand sent the body to theChrompet Governmenthospital for post-mortem.

The police later arrestedEdwin, who confessed tohis crime. He was remand-ed to judicial custody.

Man fatally hit by cousinover property dispute

HC directs Centre, RBI to file counterJ. STALIN | DCCHENNAI, JULY 20

The Madras high courthas declined to stay theoperation of an ordinancepromulgated byParliament, whichallegedly tends to takecontrol of the affairs ofthe Cocoperative societiesrunning the cooperativebanks.

The first bench compris-ing Chief Justice A.P.Sahiand Justice SenthilkumarRamamoorthy orderednotice to the Union gov-ernment and the ReserveBank of India on the peti-tions filed by BigKanchipuram CooperativeTown Bank Ltd and theVelur Co-operative UrbanBank Ltd.

The petitioners chal-lenged the constitutionalvalidity of certain sec-tions of the BankingRegulation AmendmentOrdinance, 2020, promul-gated on June 26, 2020, asbeing ultra vires theConstitution of India, onthe ground that theimpugned Ordinance leg-

islates on subject matterswhich are entirely beyondthe legislative competenceof the Union Parliamentand cannot be presumed tobe covered by Entries 43and 45 of List I of theSeventh Schedule to theConstitution of India, inas much as the petitionersare co-operative societiesand, therefore, theimpugned ordinanceamounts to impingingupon the rights of the co-operative societies to begoverned exclusively bythe state framed law,which stands protected byvirtue of Entry 32 of ListII of the Seventh Scheduleto the Constitution ofIndia.

The petitioners contend-ed that the incorporation,organization, regulationand functioning of thecooperative society byitself would not constitutethe activity of banking,which was managed as abusiness by the coopera-tive society and therefore,the impugned Ordinance,which encroaches uponthis field of legislation,was totally beyond theOrdinance making powerof the Centre and parlia-mentary competence andhence, the Ordinancedeserves to be struckdown.

Senior counsel ArvindhPandian, appearing for thepetitioners submitted thatsince the Ordinance hasalready been notified, thepetitioner banks wereunder a clear threat, theapprehension whereofwas not far to see, of beinginvaded in their rights toadminister the society, theinterference with whichwas now imminent underan incompetent law andtherefore, it was necessarythat the impugned provi-

sions should not beallowed to operate throughthe amendment intro-duced, so as to impingeupon the affairs of thecooperative society.

Opposing the interimrelief, additional solicitorgeneral R. Sankaranara-yanan and senior counselA.L.Somayaji, appearingfor RBI urged that the lawbeing competent so long asit was not declared ultravires cannot be stayed andalso should not be inter-fered with at this stage.

They contended that inthe event of the court wasproceeding to examineand test the validity of theprovisions on the groundof competence, then theyshould be granted time tofile counter affidavits,whereafter, the matter can be disposed offinally.

The bench said, “Havingweighed the conse-quences, we find that forthe grant of an interimrelief the sounding of atrumpet and war drums issufficient to entertain a

legal debate, the arbiterwhereof is this court, but,in our opinion, unlessthere is an imminent tan-gible cause or evidenceindicating actual invasionof the rights of the peti-tioner banks in runningthe affairs of the society, itwould not be appropriateto consider the issue ofinterim relief at thisstage, leaving it open to beconsidered as and whenany overt or covert act bythe Central governmentauthorities or the RBIbased upon the impugnedprovisions of the ordi-nance actually impingesupon the functioning ofthe affairs of the society,for which any appropriatematerial can be broughton record by the petitionerbanks for such considera-tion. We therefore, grantfour weeks to both therespondents to file theircounter affidavits andthereafter, two weeks tothe petitioner banks to filea rejoinder.”

The bench posted toSeptember 1, 2020, furtherhearing of the case.

Covaxin human trialbegins at SRM hospitalDC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, JULY 20

The human trial ofCovaxin commenced atSRM Medical CollegeHospital and ResearchCentre, Kattankulathur.on Monday. Volunteershave been screened forthis trial.

SRM Hospital is the onlymedical college in TamilNadu to be selected forthis trial. The college isamong the 12 sites wherehuman trial for Covaxinwill be conducted as a partof the nationwide pro-grame to develop an

indigenous vaccine forCovid-19.

The volunteers in theinstitutes were given thefirst dose of vaccine. Theywill be given the seconddose of vaccine after aninterval of 14 days, arelease added.

The trial has begun inAll-India Institute ofMedical Sciences (AIIMS)Patna, PGIMS Rohtak andNizam’s Institute,Hyderabad. AIIMS-Delhiis also scheduled to startphase I/II of human clini-cal trial of the indige-nously developed Covid-19vaccine candidate

'Covaxin' on Monday.Covaxin has been devel-

oped by Bharat BiotechInternational Limited incollaboration with ICMRand NIV (Pune). It has gotthe nod for human trialfrom the Drugs ControllerGeneral of India.

If you are healthy per-son the ages of 18 to 55willing to participate inthe study and would liketo know more detailsabout this.

Please contact us at(75989 51868 / 73580 26002 /044-47432341) or mail us atsrm.covaxcin2020@gmail.com

SHRC seeks report oncrime against Dalit boyDC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, JULY 20

The State Human RightsCommission (SHRC) hasdirected the district col-lector and superintendentof police to file a report ona Dalit boy being forced toclean his faeces with hisown hands in the district.

Initiating suo motu proceedings, the commis-sion directed the officialsto file a reply in fourweeks.

According to the report,a 14-year-old Dalit boy wasmade to clean up his fae-ces from a field, after hewas spotted defecating

behind the bushes in a vil-lage in Penngaram.

A case has been regis-tered against the perpe-trator based on a com-plaint filed by the victim’sfather.

According to the com-plainant Krishnamoorthy,his son had stepped into anearby area under coverof an umbrella on a rainyevening on July 15 to defe-cate.

He was spotted by theowner of the landRajashekhar, who pulledhim up and forced him toclear the faeces with hishands. Rajashekhar alsohit him, according to the

complaint. The boywalked home and narrat-ed the incident to hisfather.

The Communist Party ofIndia (Marxist) con-demned the incident anddemanded registration ofa case.

On last Friday, a casewas registered againstRajashekar underSections 323 of the IndianPenal Code and Section3(1) of Scheduled Castesand Scheduled Tribes(Prevention of Atrocities)Amendment Act, 2015.The accused is yet to bearrested, the report stat-ed.

Students fill application forms for college admission in Anna Nagar on Monday. —DC

From P1In Marakkanam ofVillupuram district acashew processing plant,offering 465 jobs, will beset up with an investmentof `36 crore by GI AgroTech company.

The Hiranandanigroup’s Yotta companywill built an informationtech centre at a cost of`4,000 crore, providingopenings for 2,500 per-sons, at theSingaperumalkoil-Ora-gadam highway inChenagalpattu districtand ELGI Equipmentswill start an air compres-sor manufacturing facili-ty in Coimbatore districtat an investment of `250crore and giving employ-ment for 600 persons.

The eighth business ven-ture would be the foundryexpansion of J S AutoCast company at a cost of`40 crore at the SipcotPerundurai IndustrialPark in Erode district.

READY FOR OPENING

An aerial view of the newly constructed Pallavaram flyover. Motorists await its inauguration.— DC

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, JULY 20

The state government hasinformed the Madrashigh court that the pro-posal to increase thenutrition for childrenbeneficiaries of noon-meal scheme is of consid-eration which is inclusiveof mode of supply.

Government pleaderV.Jayaprakah Narayananmade this submissionwhen the Public InterestLitigation filed by advo-cate R.Sudha came up forhearing before a divisionbench comprising Justi-ces M.M.Sundresh andR.Hemalatha on Monday.

After JayaprakashNarayan sought furthertime to get instructions,the bench granted time

till July 27, 2020 to getinstructions and said theinstructions should alsoinclude making requisitesupplies through rationshops.

In her PIL, Sudhasought a direction to theauthorities to formulateand implement a schemein and by which the stu-dents benefiting underthe mid-day noon-mealscheme were providedfood even during theCovid times and Ammacanteens also providenutritious food to boostthe immunity by providing egg as part ofits meal apart from pro-viding a “NutritionHamper” as part of thedry groceries in the localration shops till theCovid-19 pandemic wasover.

Increasing nutrition for kidsunder consideration: TN

Immunity booster

589 strandedIndians flownback home

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, JULY 20

Four special Air Indiaflights brought back589 Indians strandedabroad.

A flight fromKyrgyzstan landed inChennai bringing back165 stranded Indians.As per the HealthMinistry guidelines,the passengers willundergo a mandatoryquarantine for 14 daysat a government facili-ty or hotels, followedby 7 days’ home quar-antine.

A flight arrived fromDoha with 200 Indiansand another flight fromDubai with 172 Indianson Sunday night.

Passengers of bothflights were classifiedafter immigration andcustoms clearancebesides temperaturescanning. They weresent to governmentand paid quarantinefacilities in the city onbuses arranged by thestate government.

Another Air Indiaflight landed at theChennai airport onMonday with 52Indians fromAustralia.

Police said, quoting Edwin, while theywere drinking, the two entered into anargument over a family property.Edwin, in a fit of rage, hitManikandan’s head with a grindingstone. When he realised thatManikandan had died, he fled the spot

A health worker distributes kabasura kudineer to residents of Maduravoyal inChennai on Monday. — DC

Pleas challenge ordinance on cooperative banks

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, JULY 20

A 40-year-old woman andher daughter sufferedgrave injuries after heralcoholic husband stabbedthem with a kitchen knifeas she refused to give himmoney to buy liquor.

The incident took placeat Chitlapakkam inTambaram on Sundaynight. The Chitlapakkampolice registered a caseand arrested the accused.

According to the police,the accused has been iden-tified as Srinivasan(42). Helived with his wife

Vijayalakshmi(40) anddaughter Nethra(14) atSarvamangala Nagar inChitalapakkam. Sourcessaid that he is a liquoraddict and due to hisdrinking problem, he quithis job as an assistantmanager in a nationalisedbank, three months back.

Police said he would fre-quently demand moneyfrom his wife to buyliquor. This time when sherefused to give money, hepulled out a kitchen knifeand stabbed her on herchest and abdomen.Hearing her mother shoutin pain, 14-year old Nethra

came to her rescue.However, she too wasstabbed by Srinivasan.

Srinivasan fled the spotafter the attack. The moth-er and daughter bled pro-fusely. The neighbours,who heard their cries,alerted the ambulance andthe police.

They were taken to theChromepet governmenthospital and later shiftedto a private hospital inNandambakkam.

The Chitlapakkam policeregistered a case andarrested Srinivasan.Further investigations areon.

Alcoholic husband stabs 40-year-old woman, daughter

Stepping into college life

STATE pg 3DECCAN CHRONICLE | TUESDAY | 21 JULY 2020 | CHENNAI

OTHER STORIES

Bathing ghatson Cauvery go deserted

DC CORRESPONDENTTIRUCHY, JULY 20

The Amma Mandapambathing ghat at river Cauveryin Srirangam here, lookeddeserted on Monday, followingthe lockdown. Usually, onevery Ammavasya day, theplace wears a festive look andcrowded with devotees offer-ing ‘Dharpanam’ to their fore-fathers. Monday, being ‘AdiAmmavasya’ day, police andrevenue authorities hadannounced a ban on publicentry inside AmmaMandapam bathing ghat andthe banks of river Cauveryand Kollidam, across the dis-trict. Hence, there was nocrowd at Amma Mandapam,Ayyaalamman andThillainayagam bathing ghatsand a few other areas ofKollidam river. Policemenwere also posted in these areasto prevent entry of people.Despite all this, people in andaround Musiri, flouting allsocial distancing norms tookbath at Cauvery at Musiri andalso gave ‘Dharpanam’ to theirforefathers with the help ofpurohits on Monday.

New corona carecentre in

PattukottaiG SRINIVASAN | DCTHANJAVUR, JULY 21

A corona care centre is beingreadied at the housing unitcomplex of the Tamil Naduslum clearance board atPattukottai, said Collector MGovinda Rao, on Monday.

Rao inspected the housingunit at Pattukottai, and laterheld discussions with officialson prevention of corona. Hesaid that the corona care cen-tre would provide treatment topeople infected by corona inPattukottai, and surroundingareas.

Rao said that places withmore than three corona infec-tions are turned into contain-ment zones in Pattukottaiarea. He appealed to the peopleto strictly follow corona pre-vention measures like wearingmasks and social distancing,to break the infection chain.

Deshmukh Kumar Sanjay, SP,Thanjavur district, and DrMaruthu Durai, dean (in-charge), TMCH, accompaniedthe collector. Meanwhile, peo-ple were banned from bathingin the ghats along Cauvery inThiruvaiyaru area and per-forming ‘Dharpanam’ to theirancestors in view of AadiAmavasya, on Monday.

Elderly woman succumbs to

corona in PondyPuducherry: A 75-year oldwoman succumbed to COVID-19 in Puducherry while 93fresh cases were reported onMonday taking the overalltally in the union territory to2,092, the Health departmentsaid.

The elderly woman suc-cumbed to the virus at theIndira Gandhi GovernmentMedical College Hospital inneighbouring Kadirkamam,taking the death toll to 29.Director of Health and FamilyWelfare S Mohan Kumar saidin a bulletin that the womanwho died of the viruswasadmitted to the hospital onJuly 9, had comorbidities. Shedied on Sunday.

The 93 fresh cases were iden-tified at the end of examina-tion of 798 samples, MohanKumar said.

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, JULY 20

DMK organisation secre-tary R.S. Bharathi filed acomplaint with the com-missioner of police onMonday regarding a fakeTwitter account in thename of the leader ofOpposition M.K. Stalin,which he said was donewith a view to playingwith the religious feelingsof the people of TamilNadu.

In the complaint, he saidunknown persons creat-ing fake Twitter accountof Stalin was on the riseand the motive behind itwas to bring disrepute,cause injury and to dis-honour him, besides low-ering the image of DMK

party and its leaders inthe eyes of general public,especially Hindus.

Though the DMK hadlodged a few complaints inthis regard, no action hadbeen taken and that hademboldened the miscre-ants to repeat the same onJuly 17 with a tweet that

promised legal help forthe You Tube content creators, KaruparKootam.

Since, the offender hadaccessed and created afake id of Stalin through acomputer resource, he ispunishable under Section66 of the InformationTechnology Act 2000.Theact of the offender is alsoliable to be punishedunder section 66 -A (b) and(c),66B,66C and 66 F (B) ofthe said Act, the com-plaint said.

The contents were madewith an ‘intent to attemptto promote enmity, ill willbetween different reli-gious groups viz believersof Lord Muruga and othergods and between differ-ent castes viz Brahmins

and non-Brahmins, whoare living in harmony inthe State.’

“‘Allowing persons tocarry on such illegal activ-ities will be prejudicial toPublic Tranquility andhence the said act is pun-ishable under sections 153A (1) (a) and (b) and 505 (2)of the Indian Penal Code1860.”’ he said.

Since, the fake twitter idwas created with a fraudu-lent intention to cheat thegeneral public to makethem to believe that it wasfrom the twitter id ofStalin, based on fabricatedelectronic records whichare false documents as perlaw, the said act is alsopunishable under sections420,468 and 471 IPC, thecomplaint added.

DMK files complaint overfake twitter account

B. RAVICHANDRAN |DCOOTY, JULY 20

Potato farmers hereare on cloud nine ad asthe Ooty potato knownfor its taste and culi-nary flavour, hasbegun to fetch veryhigh prices in auc-tions, certainly doublethe normal price.

Indeed potatoes havebrought good tidingsto potato farmers, andthey hope the trendwill continue for somemore time, that wouldhelp enhance the econ-omy of potato farm-ers.

Regular potato con-sumers are at thereceiving end as pota-to price has begun toskyrocket from lastweek. A kilogram ofpotato is being sold at

Rs.70 in local marketshere, the land of pota-toes. Those who took

to potato cultivationare now reaping thebenefits.

R Rangasamy, presi-dent, the NilgirisPotato and Vegetable

Growers Association,said that due to lack ofpotato farming activi-ties in the northernparts of the country,due to the lockdownand corona crisis dur-ing the early part ofthe year, potatogodowns and storagecentres there havebegun to dry up fromthis month, which infact has brought goodfortunes to potatofarmers here.

Now, luck is smilingon potato growers inthe Nilgiris. A bag of45 kgs of potatoes,called ‘Oru thundu’ inlocal terms, fetchesbetween `2,800 and`3,200 in the auctionsnow, which is unprece-dented. This trend isexpected to continuefor the next couple ofmonths, he added.

Prices soar for Ooty potatoes

Police form ‘RACE’ in Tiruchy rangeR VALAYAPATHY | DCTIRUCHY, JULY 20

All the 109 police stationsin Tiruchy range compris-ing Tiruchy, Karur,Perambalur, Ariyalur, andPudukottai districts willhave a three-memberpolice team ‘Rapid Actionfor CommunityEmergency’ (RACE), eachexclusively to sort outpublic complaints, saidDIG of Police Z AnnieVijaya, Tiruchy range.

Speaking to newsmenafter flagging off ‘RACE’here on Monday, AnnieVijaya said the team,equipped with exclusivetwo-wheelers and mobilephones, would be readyfor round-the-clockdeployment on a rotation

basis.The DIG said the key

objective of ‘Race’ is toserve the needy and solvetheir issues. Public caninform their grievance tothe respective police sta-tion's mobile number of‘Race’, based on which apolice team would visitthe spot and sort out theissue, she added.

She said that there areseveral intelligence-relat-ed issues like children’sissue, domestic disputes,problems between neigh-bours and the like. If‘Race’ team receives anycomplaint from the affect-ed, the team will approachthe concerned and heartheir issues, and try tosort out the issue to theirbest.

To a question, AnnieVijaya, said there were 30police stations in Tiruchydistrict, Pudukottai 38,Karur - 17, Perambalur - 8and Ariyalur - 16 sta-tions.

In Pudukottai, after flag-ging off ‘RACE’ in the 38stations in the district,Superintendent of Police,Balaji Saravanan, toldnewsmen said under thepresent situation, thepolicemen are workingunder severe stress, butspecial counseling andspecial classes for themare planned to ease theirmental agony.

Karur SP Pagalavan alsoinaugurated the ‘Race’team in all the 17 policestations in the district onMonday.

Foundation stone laid

Eyesore

Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami laid the foundation stone for the museum atKonthagai village to showcase the findings at the ancient Keeladi site, through videoconferencing from the Secretariat on Monday.

Signature drive againstCentre, TN governmentDC CORRESPONDENTARIYALUR, JULY 20

District DMK secretaryhere, S S Sivasankar, inau-gurated an one-crore sig-nature campaign organ-ised by the coordinationcommittee of the All Indiafarmers association at VKaikatti near here onMonday, urging theCentre and State govern-ment to withdraw itsamended Electricity Act2020. It also urged the TNgovernment to withdrawits new Electricity TariffAct which enables thegovernment to levy addi-tional caution deposit fornew farm pumpset con-nections based on itshorsepower. Among oth-ers who participatedincluded coordinationcommittee's state presi-dent, VaaranavasiRajendran, Cauvery Deltairrigation farmers associ-ations federation statepresident, Ilangeeran, and

leaders of various farm-ers associations and polit-ical parties. Rajendranlater told newsmen thatblack flags would be host-ed in the houses of allfarmers across the dis-trict on July 27, in a showof solidarity of theirprotest.

IN THANJAVUR: Meanwhile in

Thanjavur, the All IndiaKisan Sabha (AIKS) affili-ated to the CPM launchedan one-crore signature

collecting campaign hereon Monday to protestagainst legislationsbrought by the Centralgovernment using coronapandemic as an alibi,which they alleged wereagainst the interests offarmers, and appealed tothe Centre to withdrawthem.

N V Kannan, district sec-retary, AIKS,Durai.Chandrasekaranand T K G Neelamegam,DMK MLAs, P GRajendran of Congress, GNeelamegam, district sec-retary, CPM, participated.

Dark clouds hovering above Sathuvacheri in Vellore distict. —K. Senthil Nathan

Tonnes of garbage, emanating unpleasant odour, dumped on 200 Feet Radial Roadyet to be cleared.

Mystery shrouds deathof medico in Chennai Chennai, July 20: A 24-year old doctor doing postgraduation died onMonday after a suspectedfall from the third floor ofthe state-run StanleyMedicalCollege hostelbuilding here, police said.

A first year PG studentin orthopedics, he wasfound lying with severeinjuries in the hostelpremises early Monday.

He was rushed immedi-ately to the hospitalwhere he died withoutresponding to treatment,they said.

The student was lateridentified as M Kannanhailing from Tirupatturdistrict.

Police officers said allangles, including possiblesuicide, were under inves-tigation.

A senior police officersaid he had joined thecourse only "recently...itcould be a month and ahalf ago."

A medical educationdepartment officialreplied in the negativewhen Asked if Kannanwas on COVID duty at theStanleyHospital.

Senior officials from themedical educationdepartment held aninspection at the collegepremises.

Doctors Association forSocial Equality, in a state-ment, described Kannan'sdeath as "mysterious,"and demanded that thegovernment order a com-plete inquiry.

The association allegedthat PG doctors andhouse surgeons werebeing forced to performduty continuously andwanted their work hoursto be confined to eighthours.

Asked about the allega-tion, the medical educa-tion official denied it say-ing "it is not true."

— PTI

Corona cases:Police station, PHClocked in KovaiDC CORRESPONDENTCOIMBATORE, JULY 20

A police station and aprimary health centre(PHC) here were lockedon Monday followingreports of a few covid-19positive cases.

Sources said,Thondamuthoor policestation was locked lateon Sunday night, after acop attached to the sta-tion tested positive,while the test report oftwo more constablesattached to the same sta-tion, was released aspositive, on Monday.

Immediately, the sta-tion was disinfected andlocked, and is function-ing in a nearby marriagehall, and the affectedcops are under treat-ment. One more cop att-ached to the Alanduraipolice station who rece-ntly suffered from mildfever, sore throat andtiredness is awaiting histest report. Another con-stable attached to Singa-nallur police station tes-ted positive on Monday,but the station remainsopen and rest of the copshave been asked to un-dergo Covid-19 test.

Two other staff belong-ing to a rural primaryhealth center near Som-annur also tested positi-ve, and the health centeris locked.

Not receivedbudget fromgovt: BediFrom P1

In her letter, Bedi hadstated that she had notreceived the budget andit had no approval whichis a 'serious omission' onthe part of the govern-ment. Narayanasamy, onhis part, told the LtGovernor that there wasno omission committedby the Assembly secre-tariat or by the govern-ment as alleged by Bedi.He had also pointed outthat "when the entirenation is fightingagainst COVID-19 it istime to stand united...""Already it had been 20days since the lapse ofvote on Account 2020-2021. Any further delaywould only affect theadministration in itsfight against the pan-demic and ultimatelythe people ofPuducherry would suf-fer. "I believe your goodself would appreciatethe facts and deliveryour speech as sched-uled and uphold the val-ues of Constitution ofIndia and spirit ofdemocracy," he had said.Bedi, in a reply to theChief Minister today,said the budget is pre-sented to the Assembly"after the governmentfirms up its proposedexpenditure for the year.Without firming up thedemand for grants, thequestion of presentingbudget does not arise.Therefore only after get-ting approval under theUnion Territories Act1963 budget can be pre-sented." "You are there-fore requested to kindlysend the file without fur-ther delay for layingAnnual Financial state-ment and demand forgrants before theAssembly, for me toaccord a consideredapproval and to give afresh date for presentingthe budget as well as forthe inaugural address,"she wrote.

The Lt Governor andthe Narayanaswamy-ledgovernment in theunion territory havebeen at loggerheadssince Bedi assumedoffice in 2016 over vari-ous issues.

— PTI

■ Among others who participated includedcoordination committee's state president,Vaaranavasi Rajendran, Cauvery Delta irri-gation farmers associations federationstate president, Ilangeeran, and leaders ofvarious farmers associations and politicalparties. Rajendran later told newsmen thatblack flags would be hosted in the housesof all farmers across the district on July27, in a show of solidarity of their protest

■ Senior officialsfrom the medicaleducation department heldan inspection atthe college prem-ises■ DoctorsAssociation for

Social Equality, ina statement,describedKannan's death as‘mysterious,’ anddemanded thatthe governmentorder a completeinquiry

NATION pg 4DECCAN CHRONICLE | CHENNAI | TUESDAY | 21 JULY 2020

SHORT TAKES

LOKAYUKTA ORDERSPROBE INTO M.P.ENVELOPE VIDEO

RABINDRA NATHCHOUDHURY | DCBHOPAL, JULY 20

Madhya Pradesh Lokayukt onMonday took suo motu cog-nizance of the controversialvideo clip in which formerstate transport commissionerV. Madhu Kumar, a 1991 batchIPS officer, was seen purport-edly receiving envelopes fromhis junior officers, andordered a probe into it, givinga new twist to the row.

State Lokayukt N.K. Gupta’saction comes in the wake ofthe state government main-taining ‘discreet silence’ overthe issue without bothering toinitiate a probe into it, eventwo days after the video clipwent viral.

The IPS officer was merelyshunted out of the post andtransferred to the police head-quarters here hours after thevideo went viral.

The Lokayukt superintend ofpolice (SP) has been asked toprobe the matter.

Earlier on Sunday, state rev-enue and transport ministerGovind Singh Rajput told themedia here that the matter hascome to his notice.

In the 5.35 –minute-video, theIPS officer was seen receivingenvelopes from his junior offi-cers, separately, in a govern-ment guest house.

He was seen in the video put-ting the envelopes in his brief-case while looking around.

Dubey encounter:Retd SC judge tohead probe panelPARMOD KUMAR I DCNEW DELHI, JULY 20

The commission toinquire into the allegedencounter death of gang-ster Vikas Dubey will beheaded by a retired judgeof Supreme Court.

The Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment accepted a sug-gestion from ChiefJustice of India S.A.Bobde to reconstitute thepanel headed by a retiredAllahabad High Courtjudge.

The panel will have aformer Indian PoliceService officer of therank of Director Generalof Police as its memberand the former judge ofthe High Court will con-tinue to be on the commit-tee.

The bench, also com-prising Justice R. Subhash Reddy andJustice A.S. Bopannamsaid that the draft notifi-cation reconstituting theinquiry commissionshould be placed before itfor its approval,

The court left the choiceof the retired judge of thetop court to the UP government. The CJI saidthat their initial efforts tofind a retired judge from Delhi did not suc-ceed as they are hesitantto go to Allahabad in themidst of the Covid-19 pan-demic.

Justice Bobde noted thatthe reluctance of formerjudges to venture out ofDelhi was coming in theway of the committeeheaded by JusticeV.S.Sirpurkar makingheadway in the encounterkilling of four personsfollowing the Disha gan-grape and murder lastyear.

At the outset, Justice

Bobde sought to distin-guish between the TSencounter of the fouraccused and that of UttarPradesh, where theencounter victim VikasDubey was allegedlyinvolved in the killing ofpolicemen.

Expressing reservationover the terms of refer-ence of the inquiry com-mittee set up by the UPgovernment that includesother criminal casesagainst Dubey, JusticeBobde said, “You arechanging the focus intosomething else”

The court told theSolicitor General to alsolook into whether ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanathand Deputy ChiefMinister had made cer-tain statements and thensomething followed. TheCJI said this after hisattention was drawn tocertain statements attrib-uted to the Chief Ministerand the Deputy ChiefMinister.

As Solicitor GeneralMehta and senior counselHarish Salve appearingfor the UP DirectorGeneral of Uttar Pradesh,sought to focus on theantecedents of Dubey, CJIBobde said that it wasappalling that Dubey with64 criminal cases wasreleased on parole by thecourt.

Describing the releaseas institutional failure,CJI Bobde said, “We wantto go into this issue. Giveus an accurate report ofall the orders. This showsthe failure of the sys-tem.”

“It is not only one incident that is at stake.What is at stake is thewhole system”, Bobdetold Solicitor GeneralMehta.

DC CORRESPONDENTwith agency inputsLUCKNOW, JULY 20

A special CBI court onMonday set July 24 forrecording the statement offormer deputy prime min-ister L.K. Advani in the1992 Babri mosque demoli-tion case.

The 92-year-old BJP lead-er’s statement under sec-tion 313 of CrPC will be re-corded through video con-ferencing. In his order, Sp-ecial Judge S.K. Yadav al-so fixed July 23 for recor-ding the statement of BJPleader Murli Manohar Jo-shi through video confer-encing. The court is rec-ording the statements ofthe 32 accused under Sec-tion 313 of CrPC to enablethem to plead their inno-cence, if they so want.

The court, which is con-ducting day-to-day hear-ings to complete the trialby August 31 as directedby the Supreme Court, setJuly 22 for former ShivSena MP Satish Pradhanto depose before itthrough a video link.

On Monday, it recordedthe statement of accusedSudhir Kakkad who appe-ared in person, though ea-rlier he wanted to deposethrough a video link. Thecourt will record the state-ment of accused RamChandra Khatri on

Tuesday. Meanwhile, Senior BJP

leader Uma Bharti onMonday coined a newterm, “Ram drohi”, to pullup Nationalist CongressParty supremo SharadPawar for criticising Pri-me Minister NarendraModi for choosing to atte-nd the foundation layingceremony for the con-struction of the Ram tem-

ple in Ayodhya on August5 at a time when the Coro-navirus pandemic has hitthe economy hard.

She said that Pawar wasunnecessarily trying topoliticise the Ram templeissue, saying, “The PMwill hardly take two hoursto attend the event. Canthe economy of the coun-try be salvaged in twohours?”

Advani to depose onJuly 24 in Babri caseUma Bharti calls Pawar ‘Ram drohi’ for ‘anti-temple’ remarks

2 petitioners finedfor frivolous pleasDC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, JULY 20

The Supreme Court onMonday pulled up twopetitioners for filing a“frivolous” plea seekingpreservation of artefactsat the Ram Janmabhoomisite at Ayodhya, andimposed a fine of `1 lakhon each of them.

Admonishing the peti-tioners, Justice ArunMishra heading a benchcomprising Justice B.R.Gavai and Justice Krish-na Murari said, “How da-re you approach the courtunder Article 32? Youwere just trying to stop

the verdict of this court.”Senior counsel Menaka

Guruswamy sought toexplain to the bench whatthe petitioners were seek-ing. As she began saying,“With great respect myLord”, Justice Mishra obs-erved, “What respect? Th-is is your respect? Why ar-e such frivolous petitionsbeing filed? Nonsense.”

The top court wasapproached by SatishChindhuji Shambharkar,the Dr AmbedkarBodhikunja Foundationand others seeking thepreservation of artefactsat Ram Janmabhoomi atAyodhya.

RAJASTHAN’S SOGSERVES NOTICE TOSHEKHAWATDC CORRESPONDENTwith agency inputsNEW DELHI, JULY 20

Union minister GajendraSingh Shekhawat hasbeen served notice by theSpecial Operations Groupof the Rajasthan police inthe investigation into alle-gations of a conspiracy topull down the Rajasthangovernment.

The subpoena was sentto the personal secretaryof Shekhawat underSection 160 of the CrPC inconnection with twoaudio tapes, in one ofwhich the minister isallegedly heard during apurported conversation totopple the Rajasthan gov-ernment.

The FIR does not identi-fy Gajendra Singh refe-rred in the clip as Unionminister Shekhawat, asenior BJP leader fromRajasthan.

Mr Shekhawat onMonday questioned theauthenticity of the audiotapes and said, “They(police) should first clari-fy about authenticity ofthese tapes,” he said.

Telangana towns gointo self-lockdownDC CORRESPONDENT HYDERABAD, JULY 20

A total of 1,198 new casesand seven deaths wererecorded in the state onMonday. The GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation recorded 510of these cases, and therest of the state 688.

Several parts of ruralTelangana state havegone into a self-lockdownwith traders deciding toshutdown till July 31. Thespread of the virus hasled to markets remainingclosed and only essentialservices operating.

The government saidthere were 11,530 activecases of Covid 19 onMonday.

Senior doctors saidthere are many undocu-mented cases which mustbe checked, traced andrecorded.

Covid-19 patients whoare coming into hospitalsin a very serious condi-tion and collapse within afew hours are not beingspotted earlier. This is arequirement to curb thespread of Coronaviruscases.

Doctor said there is aneed for people to strictlywear masks and followsocial distancing. Due tolack of following thesesafety measures, Covid-19cases are turning up frommany places.

AKSHAYA KUMARSAHOO | DCBALASORE, JULY 20

A rare yellow turtle res-cued by villagers inOdisha’s Balasore districthas evoked curiosityamong animal lovers inthe state. The turtle wasrescued from Sujanpurvillage under Soro blockon Sunday.

According to reports,Basudev Mahapatra ofSunjanpur spotted therare turtle when he wasworking in his croplandand brought it to home.Later, he handed over the turtle to forest offi-cials.

“A rare yellow turtle wasspotted and rescued inBalasore, Odisha yester-day. Most probably it was

an albino. One such aber-ration was recorded bylocals in Sindh a few yearsback,” tweeted SusantaNanda, senior IndianForest Service (IFS) offi-cer and chief executive ofChilika DevelopmentAuthority.

Sharing the pictures ofthis turtle, Nanda said italso appears to have pinkeyes, a feature that indi-cates albinism.

Bhanoomitra Acharya,Wildlife Warden, was sur-prised upon seeing theturtle and said the wholeshell and the body of therescued turtle is yellow.“This is a rare turtle. Ihave never seen one likethis,” said Acharya.

Dr Siddhartha Pati ofAssociation forBiodiversity Conservationand Research (ABC) whowas part of the rescue of

the turtle said albinism isa condition in which thereis an absence of melanin.

“Vertebrates withalbinism are not onlywhite (or sometimes paleyellowish) in color butthey also have very paleeyes, often pink or red incolor as the blood vesselsshow through. Leucism isonly a partial loss of pig-mentation, which canmake the animal havewhite or patchily coloredskin, hair, or feathers.However, the pigment cellsin the eyes are not affectedby the condition.,” Dr Patiinformed.

The researcher said therescued turtle belonged tothe Flatshell species. Thisspecies is mainly seen in India, Nepal andPakistan.

CURED COVIDPATIENTS BALK AT DONATING PLASMADC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, JULY 20

To find a recovered Covid-19patient to donate plasma inHyderabad is a Herculean taskas they are not coming forwardto help out. Some recoveredpatients are holding a grudgeagainst hospitals for over-charging them and notresponding to appeals for help.Others are bluntly denyingthat they suffered from Covid19 when their phone numbersare circulated as being eligiblefor plasma donation. Becauseof these factors, many patientsneeding plasma therapy arechasing false leads.

The state has 32,438 recoveredpatients of whom at least 25,000are eligible to donate plasma.

Patients whose numbers weregiven by hospitals are saying:"Kisne bola humko Covid-19hua. Kaun faila raha hai yehkhabar? Hamare baju wale kohua aur hum ko ghar pe bithadiya (Who says I had Covid-19?Someone is spreadingrumours. My neighbour hadCovid-19 and I was quaran-tined)."

Many others simply switchoff their phones when they getcalls asking for plasma. Otherssimply refuse to donate plas-ma, saying that they are sav-ing it for their near and dearones. Private hospitals whohave treated more than 400patients and have a good num-ber under home treatment arefinding the recovered patientsscared.

DC CORRESPONDENTMUMBAI, JULY 20

The Bombay high court onMonday asked the NIA and theMaharashtra government toinform it about the health con-dition of poet Varavara Rao,an accused in the ElgarParishad-Maoists links case,and if his family could beallowed to see him “from a rea-sonable distance”.

The directions came afterRao’s lawyer told the courtthat the activist was almost onhis deathbed.

Rao (81) is currently admit-ted in the Nanavati Hospital inMumbai. He tested positive forcoronavirus earlier this monthand is also suffering from sev-eral other ailments.

A division bench of JusticesS.S. Shinde and S.P. Tavadeasked the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA)and the state to inform thecourt about Rao’s health con-dition and clarify by July 22whether his family memberscould be permitted to see him.

Rao’s lawyer Sudeep Pasbolatold the court that the activistwas “almost on his deathbed”and that if he were to die, itshould be in the presence ofhis family. “His condition isvery serious. He hit his headagainst the hospital bed whilehe was at the JJ hospital andsustained severe injuries. Bes-ides Covid-19, he suffers fromseveral ailments, he is halluci-nating and is delirious,”Pasbola said.

HC SEEKS DETAILSOF VARAVARARAO’S HEALTH

GOLD SEIZURE:CPM IN DAMAGE CONTROL MODEDC CORRESPONDENT THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,JULY 20

Rattled by the goldsmuggling case whichbrought into sharpfocus the links ofKerala Chief Minister’sformer principal secre-tary with the accused,the ruling CPM hasdecided to convene ameeting of staffattached to all minis-ters in the LeftDemocratic govern-ment to reemphasise onthe need to complystrictly with the code ofconduct.

The meeting sched-uled to be held onThursday, will beattended by ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vija-yan and CPM state sec-retary KodiyeriBalakrishnan. The LeftDemocratic Front soonafter coming to powerin 2016, had clearly out-lined code of conductfor staff working withministers’ offices.

Interestingly, formerchief minister OommenChandy, his personalstaff ’s involvement inthe solar scam was oneof the reasons for LDF’smassive win four yearsago. As the five yeartenure comes to an end,many in the rulingfront feel certainunwanted tendencieshave crept in and peoplewith a shady back-ground have succeededin gaining access tosome senior officials.

Flatshell species mainly seen in India, Nepal, PakRARE | SIGHT

Albino turtles rescued in OdishaRarealbinoturtlerescuedbyOdishavillagers.

DC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, JULY 20

India will never join anyalliance system in thefuture too just as it neverdid in the past, ExternalAffairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar told a TVchannel on Monday.

He also said that thegrowth of China in thepast more than three

decades was much morerapid than that of Indiaand that this “gap”between the two countrieshas certain “implica-tions”.

Jaishankar also conced-ed that there was an ele-ment of bipolaritybetween the United Statesand China in today’s mul-tilateral world.

The EAM’s comments

come in the wake of resur-gent Sino-Indian militarytensions in the past fewmonths and India’sincreasing proximity tothe United States.

On the economic front,the EAM said that theworld is heading for a“protectionist global econ-omy” and that theCoronavirus pandemicwould “accelerate” this

trend. On the issue of FreeTrade Agreements (FTAs),Jaishankar indicated thatat least some of the FTAsinked by India in the past“have not served us (India)well”.

On China, the EAM saidChina must be given cred-it for its impressivegrowth in the past fewdecades including sweep-ing economic, administra-

tive and social reform,adding that its growth wasmuch faster than India.

He pointed out that 32years ago in 1988 when thethen prime minister RajivGandhi had made a visit toChina, the size of the twoeconomies was roughlythe same, indicating justhow fast the Chinese econ-omy had grown sincethen.

No alliances for India: Jaishankar

TRIALS FOR COVAXIN BEGINAT HYDERABAD INSTITUTEKANIZA GARARIHYDERABAD, JULY 20

The much-awaited trialsfor an Indian vaccine forCovid-19 began at theNizam's Institute ofMedical Sciences (NIMS)here on Monday, withtwo male volunteersreceiving doses ofCovaxin, the Covid-19vaccine candidate fromBharat Biotech, a city-based company.

Both volunteers arebeing monitored in thehospital's intensive careunit and are stated to bein a stable condition.They have not displayedany side-effects.

They will be kept atNIMS till Tuesday andthen discharged. Theirhealth and various

parameters of their well-being, as required underthe vaccine testing pro-tocol, will be monitoredvia tele-communicationand videoconferencingevery day.

The doctors at NIMSstated that the volun-teers taking part in thetrial will be called forphysical check-ups.There are a total of 30volunteers on whom thevaccine is to be tested.Data collected from thedifferent subjects at 13testing centres is beingpooled in a data field andwill be compared.

Any variations will benoted and there will beanalysis done of eachvolunteer's health beforeand after the vaccineadministration.

AP TALLY CROSSES50K; 54 MORE DIEViajyawada: AndhraPradesh’s Covid-19 tallycrossed the 50,000 markon Monday as another4,074 fresh cases wereadded in the state. Thecoronavirus death tollincreased to 696 after 54new casualties werereported in a day.

ONE DEATH, 794CASES IN KERALAThiruvananthapuram:Kerala on Monday report-ed 794 cases of Covid - 19even as 245 recoveredfrom the infection in thestate. The total number ofactive cases has now goneup to 7611. One moredeath was reported onMonday taking the deathtoll in the state due toCovid - 19 to 43.

KARNATAKA HAS3,648 NEW CASESBengaluru: Karnatakaon Monday reported 3,648new cases of COVID-19and 72 related fatalities,taking the total numberof infections to 67,420 andthe death toll to 1,403, thehealth department said.

One-horned rhinos take shelter at a highland in the flood-hit Kaziranga National Park, in Golaghat district, Monday. Nine rhinos are among the108 wild animals that have died during this year’s floods at Assam’s Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR).

WORLD pg 5DECCAN CHRONICLE | CHENNAI | TUESDAY | 21 JULY 2020

IN BRIEFDutch military

copter crash, 2 dieThe Hague: A Dutch military

helicopter has crashed intothe Caribbean Sea near the

island of Aruba, killing two ofthe crew, the Defence

Ministry said in a statementearly on Monday. The NH90helicopter was nearing the

end of a coast guard patrolwhen it crashed on Sunday

afternoon near the island.The cause of the crash is

under investigation, the min-istry said. A 34-year-oldpilot, Lt. at Sea Christine

Martens, and 33-year-old tac-tical coordinator, Lt. at SeaErwin Warnies, were killed.

Two other crew escaped.

Son of US judgekilled, hubby shot

North Brunswick (US): Agunman shot and killed the

20-year-old son of a federaljudge in New Jersey and shot

and injured her husbandSunday at the family home,

the state’s chief district judgesaid. The shootings occurredat the North Brunswick home

of US District Judge EstherSalas, and killed her son,

Daniel, Chief District JudgeFreda Wolfson said. Her hus-

band, defence lawyer MarkAnderl, was injured, Wolfsonsaid. The gunman posed as adelivery driver, according to

a judiciary official who wasn'tauthorised to comment and

spoke anonymously.

Vatican: Lay menin wedding rites

Vatican City: The Vatican saidon Monday that in very excep-tional circumstances and with

special permission, layCatholics can be allowed toperform marriage rites. In a

document issued by the HolySee office for clergy, the

Vatican said that could onlyhappen if there are no priests

or deacons available, thenation’s bishops sign off onthe exception and the Holy

See OKs it too. The same doc-ument stresses that lay faith-ful can preach at liturgy serv-ices, but never can give homi-

lies at Masses.

US Bill urges China tode-escalate border rowHouse of Representatives concerned over military escalationWashington, July 20:Voicing concern over therecent Chinese militaryaggression against India, abipartisan group of nineinfluential Congressmenhave introduced a resolu-tion in the US House ofRepresentatives, urgingBeijing that it should worktowards de-escalating thesituation at the borderthrough existing diplomat-ic mechanisms and not byforce.

Led by Indian-AmericanCongressman Raja Krish-namoorthi, other co-spon-sors of the Congressionalresolution are Indian-Ame-rican Congressman RoKhanna and lawmakersFrank Pallone, Tom Suo-zzi, Ted Yoho, GeorgeHolding, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Haley Stevens andSteve Chabot.

In the months leading upto June 15, along the Lineof Actual Control, theChinese military reported-ly amassed 5,000 soldiers;and is trying to redrawlong-standing settled bou-ndaries through the use offorce and aggression, theCongressional resolutionsays. Noting that India andChina have reached anagreement to de-escalateand disengage along theLine of Actual Control, theresolution says that onJune 15, at least 20 Indiansoldiers and an uncon-firmed number of Chinesesoldiers were killed in skir-mishes following a weeks-long standoff in EasternLadakh, which is the defacto border between thetwo countries. “The Gover-nment of the People’sRepublic of China shouldwork toward de-escalatingthe situation along theLAC with India throughexisting diplomatic mecha-nisms and not throughforce,” the Cong ressionalresolution said. — PTI

London, July 20:Britain’s government willbe making changes in itsextradition arrangementswith Hong Kong on Mon-day, after China imposed atough new national secu-rity law.

As tensions grow withBeijing, Prime MinisterBoris Johnson said he hadconcerns about the newlaw and about allegedhuman rights abuses inChina in particularly inregard to the treatment ofthe Uighur minority. Hepromised to be “tough''but to not completelyabandon a policy ofengagement with China.

“There is a balancehere,” Johnson said dur-ing a visit to a school. “I’mnot going to be pushedinto a position of becom-ing a knee-jerk Sinophobeon every issue, somebodywho is automatically anti-China.” Johnson said hewould leave it to foreignsecretary Dominic Raab

to outline the extraditionchanges in a statement tothe House of Commonslater Monday.

Raab said Sunday it canno longer be “business asusual”. He is reportedlyplanning to follow theexample of the US,Australia and Can-ada onMonday by suspendingextradition arrangementswith the territory.

The UK has accused theBeijing government of aserious breach of theSino-British JointDeclaration under whichthe UK returned controlof Hong Kong to China in1997, and announced itwould open a specialroute to citizenship for upto 3 million eligible resi-dents of the community.Beijing has objected to themove. China’s envoy toBritain, Liu Xiaoming,recently described theoffer as “gross interfer-ence” in Chinese affairs.

— AP

UK to alter HKextradition treaty

JOSHUA WONGFILES PAPERS FORHK ELECTIONSHong Kong, July 20:Pro-democracy activistJoshua Wong filed candi-dacy papers on Mondayfor upcoming legislativeelections in Hong Kong,where the new nationalsecurity law could pre-vent Opposition candi-dates from taking seats.

Wong was one of the topcandidates emerging fromunofficial primaries heldby the pro-democracycamp as it aims to win amajority of seats in the70-seat legislature in theSeptember elections. “Wehope to let the world toknow how we choose notto surrender, how wechoose not to kowtow toChina,” Wong said. — AP

Pandemic censorship: Artist‘seals’ tongue in 30-day stirShanghai, July 20: Toprotest censorship duringthe Covid-19 outbreak, aChinese artist known asBrother Nut kept hismouth shut for 30 days,using metal clasps, gloves,duct tape and other items.

In the project —#shutupfor30days — healso sealed his mouth

with packing tape with“404”, the error code for awebpage not found, writ-ten across it, a nod to theblocking of online contentthat is common in Chinafor sensitive issues.

“If you ask me how anartist should digest unfairtreatment like violence orcensorship, my first reac-

tion is: keep fighting, withart,” said Brother Nut.

The 39-year-old artisthas built a reputation forstatement-making proj-ects in a country wherethe room for dissent hasshrunk and censorshiphas intensified underPresident Xi Jinping.

— Reuters

People wearing face masks watch a movie during the first day of re-opening the the-atres after Covid-19 in Shanghai on Monday. Hundreds of cinemas reopened inChinese cities on Monday following a nearly six-month nationwide shutdown due tothe coronavirus. Cinemas in Beijing are still closed for now. — AFP

London, July 20:Scientists at Oxford Univ-ersity say their experi-mental coronavirus vac-cine has been shown in anearly trial to prompt a pro-tective immune responsein hundreds of peoplewho got the shot.

British researchers firstbegan testing the vaccinein April in about 1,000 peo-ple, half of whom got theexperimental vaccine.

Such early trials are usu-ally designed only to eval-uate safety, but in thiscase experts were alsolooking to see what kindof immune response wasprovoked. In researchpublished Monday in thejournal Lancet, scientists

said that they found theirexperimental Covid-19vaccine produced a dualimmune response in peo-ple aged 18 to 55. “We areseeing good immuneresponse in almost every-body,” said Dr Adrian Hill,director of the JennerInstitute at Oxford Univ-ersity. “What this vaccinedoes particularly well istrigger both arms of theimmune system,” he said.

Hill said that neutralis-ing antibodies are pro-duced — molecules whichare key to blocking infec-tion. In addition, the vac-cine also causes a reactionin the body’s T-cells whichhelp to fight off the coron-avirus.

He said that larger trialsevaluating the vaccine’seffectiveness, involvingabout 10,000 people in theUK as well as participantsin South Africa and Brazilare still underway.

Another big trial is slat-ed to start in the US soon,aiming to enroll about30,000 people. How quicklyscientists are able todetermine the vaccine’seffectiveness will dependlargely on how muchmore transmission thereis, but Hill estimated theymight have sufficient databy the end of the year todecide if the vaccineshould be adopted formass vaccination cam-paigns. — AP

Oxford’s vaccine gives firstray of hope against Covid

Aries: Listen to your heart rather than yourintellect. You start a lucrative business ven-ture, which brings forth your creativity, givingfreedom and space.Taurus: You’ll make dynamic beginnings profes-sionally and personally. You may meet a won-derful person who sparks deep feelings of love.Beware of someone crafty.

Gemini: Beware of someone undermining yourwork efforts and achievements. Businessopportunities bring success. Romanceenhances your life.

Cancer: A loving attitude resolves differencesin relationships. You’ll work well with womenand children in a new project. You may sufferlosses in business.Leo: Be careful around monetary transactions.Interview results may be unfavourable. Expecta good property deal. Remain cool, thoughyou may get involved in a controversy.

Virgo: Avoid conducting important meetings.Meeting VIPs may improve professional luck.Seniors may praise you for a new contract. Moneyinflow is good. Enemies may hatch a conspiracy.

Pisces: Your business expands but you mustexpect a personal loss. Efforts to catch yourlover’s attention fail. You’ll successfully con-trol aggressive behaviour. Unwise and hastypersonal actions may make it a hard day.

Your day today

Aditya Srivastava, actor. He is best known for his role asSenior Inspector Abhijeet in C.I.D. and Bollywood moviesSatya, Gulaal, Lakshya, Paanch, Black Friday, Kaalo and

Super 30.

You share your b’day with

COFFEE-BREAK

Across

1.Cross-breed (6)3. Skip over (4)7. Entice (4)8. Large bottle (6)

10. Illness (7)13. Revised (anag) (7)16. Wax pencl (6)17. Cab (4)18. Egg centre (4)19. Abhor (6)

Down1. Aid (4)2. Interment (6)4. Coax (4)5. Broad-brimmed hat

(6)6. Bunch (7)9. Arctic reindeer (7)

11. Courageous (6)12. At an angle (6)14. Imprison (4)15. Penalty (4)

QUICK CROSSWORD

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER

Across: 1.Corpuscle, 6. Rider,7. Romeo, 9. Pure,10. Mental, 12.Oyster, 14. Able, 17.Equip, 18. Total,19. Adornment.

Down: 2. Order, 3.Purl, 4. Series, 5.Limit, 6. Reprove, 8.Oil well, 11. Pepper,13. Sound, 15.Baton,16. Stem.

TODAY’S RATINGS: 30 AVERAGE; 33GOOD; 36 OUTSTANDING

Word Mine

IH M C

E R U T A

By Dr C.V.B. Subrahmanyam

E.B. White, who was anauthor of children'sbooks, wrote, "Weather

is a great bluffer. I guess thesame is true of our humansociety -- things can look dark,then a break shows in theclouds, and all is changed."

Bridge contracts can be likethat. When you are the declar-er, sometimes things lookgrim, but suddenly there is alight at the end of the 13-tricktunnel. It is the job of thedefenders, though, to keep

the light bulb off. How is thatrelevant to today's deal?South is in six diamonds. Westleads the club king, then shiftsto the spade queen.

South evaluated his handwell. Note that if North hadhad the heart jack extra, sixdiamonds would have beenalmost laydown.

Most experts lead king fromace-king and king-queenagainst a contract of fiveclubs or higher. Then Eastgives count.

Declarer won with his spadeace and cashed all of histrumps, discarding spadesfrom the board. The defend-ers jettisoned clubs, but onthe last trump, West turnedon the light by discarding oneof his apparently uselesshearts. South cashed his heartking, played a heart to thequeen and claimed when thejack dropped.

West should have partedwith a spade. Yes, declarermight have just played hearts

from the top, which is the per-centage play in the suit. But ifhe sensed that West startedwith four hearts and East withonly two, the odds change.Now finessing dummy's heart10 on round two would be rec-ommended because Eastcould have only five jack-dou-bletons but 10 low-double-tons.

Copyright United FeatureSyndicate

(Asia Features)

bridge

PHILLIPALDER

CAN YOU PICTURE THE

WINNINGLAYOUT?

jumble

C A L V I N A N D H O B B E S | B i l l W a t t e r s o n

B L O N D I E | D e a n Y o u n g a n d J o h n M a r s h a l l

A N D Y C A P P | R e g S m y t h e

T A R Z A N | E d g a r R i c e B u r r o u g h s

T H E W I Z A R D O F I D | P a r k e r a n d H a r t s d

A R C H I E | B i l l H e n r y S c a r p e l l i & c r a i g b o l d m a n

How many words of four or moreletters can you make from the lettersshown in today’s puzzle? In making aword, each letter may be used onceonly. Each word must contain the

letter at the top of the pyramid. Thereshould be at least one nine letterword. Plurals, foreign words andproper names are not allowed.

Libra: Great care in some things is counterbalancedby equal disorder in others at home and work.Nature’s beauty brings unlimited joy. Mismanage-ment at business may cause monetary losses.Scorpio: Your past hard work brings rich divi-dends, leading you towards long-lastingachievements and financial security for you andfor your family. Romance is disappointing.Sagittarius: Today brings satisfaction in allspheres at work. Life brings great benefits andyou’ll profit effortlessly at home and work.You’ll care for family values.

Capricorn: Disputes with close ones and col-leagues settle amicably. Too much caffeinemakes you jumpy in the day. Romance suffersas you neglect your partner’s feelings.Aquarius: Consider the repercussions ofrash behaviour. Invest only what you can —not to show off. Failure to exhibit yourideas’ depth may be disappointing.

ANSWERS:amir, atrium, chair, chime, chimera, cite,crime, emir, emit, ethic, hair, haircut, heir, hermit,hire, irate, itch, item, merit, metric, mica, mice, mire,mirth, mite, ramie, remit, RHEUMATIC, rice, rich, rite,their, thrice, tier, time, timer, tire, trice, trim, uric

Washington, July 20: USPresident Donald Trumpfaces an uphill task in hisreelection bid in Novem-ber with his approval rat-ing hitting a record lowand Democratic nomineeJoe Biden taking a double-digit lead in key indica-tors, according to a surveyconducted by theWashington Post and ABC

News. The opinion poll,conducted July 12 to 15,shows how theCoronavirus outbreak hasadversely affectedTrump’s prospects.

Now, the President’shopes of winning arepinned on his enthusias-tic core base of support-ers and showing the elec-torate that the pandemic

is being dealt with effec-tively, The WashingtonPost said in its report onthe ABC News-Post poll.

Among registered vot-ers, Biden, 77, leadsTrump, 74, 55 per cent to40 per cent. In the samecategory, Biden led Trumpby just two points inMarch and by 10 points inMay. — PTI

Trump trails Biden in US approval ratings: Survey

EDIT pg 6DECCAN CHRONICLE | TUESDAY | 21 JULY 2020 | CHENNAI

How long will we be living like this in morbid fear of theCoronavirus Sars-Cov-2 even as the pandemic seems to haveattained a relentless momentum of its own? The answer, ofcourse, is until an effective vaccine is found. Only a vaccine can

restore confidence in a world stricken by a galloping virus that has infect-ed 14.5 million people in a bit over six months and killed 6 lakh of themand is spreading at around a quarter of a million cases a day insidiouslyinto all areas - urban and rural - that health care systems have been over-whelmed. Hospital beds are getting scarce from the San Francisco Bay toBangalore and way beyond.

A silver lining is to be seen in the progress of expedited vaccine trials.There may be none in 224 vaccine trials that are on to promise a goldenone-shot immunity. Trials by Oxford University (in association withJenner Institute and pharma giant Astra Zeneca) with their high-techRNA and adenovirus vaccine may be the frontrunner at the moment as itpromises the generation of not only antibodies but also virus killing T-cells in the body. A highly anticipated Lancet study on the trial corrobo-rated the vaccine’s efficacy saying there were no adverse side-effectseither. T-cells are white blood cells that may ensure Covid-19 infected cellsare not only detected but also killed off, actively or passively.

A word of caution about the efficacy of vaccines is that they have noteliminated any disease in 100 years except smallpox and, to an extent,polio. Booster shots may be required to fight this virus. However, a vac-cine against Covid-19 is the sole passport to a saner world in which notonly can people hope to resume a life without a fear psychosis but also forsociety to revive livelihoods so that a lack of them will not cause collater-al damage by way of job losses and outright hunger and starvation thatmay get even bigger than virus-induced mortality.

The stress on the success of vaccines and faith in them regardless ofwhat the anti-vaxxers may believe is a clear giveaway that most nationshave failed their citizens in the battle against Covid-19. A litany of reasons- from initial scepticism that delayed lockdowns to bureaucratic muddles,faulty models projecting misplaced confidence and hubris or Cassandra-like overstatement, outright sloth or corruption in medical materials pro-curement and politicians passing the buck and the blame after promisingto follow the science – can be listed to prove how the world fell, from thebest-equipped and wealthy USA and Europe to many clueless States inIndia down to poorer Africa and South America.

Given the experience of this universal pandemic, a vaccine may only bethe start of a new journey. Getting billions of doses, first to the most vul-nerable and the workforce, in orderly fashion may be an even bigger chal-lenge to a leadership that has now veered to the view that God alone canhelp now. T-cells on their own generate immunity too and prayers mayhave to be aimed at a new decade, new millennium God who has beenresiding all along within our own body.

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar hit the nail on thehead when he said some people think coronavirus will go awayafter the temple is constructed, referring to the reports that the

Ram Janmabhubhi Mandir Trust is planning to launch the constructionof the Ram temple at Ayodhya from August 3 to 5 and that it was planningto invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the event. According to MrPawar, eradication of the coronavirus must be the priority of the govern-ment.

A seasoned politician, Mr Pawar knows how parties set their agenda. Hehas also seen how pandemic Covid-19 has left Indians in misery. Thenation is facing some of the most serious challenges it has encounteredsince independence — the coronavirus, the economic disruption it hascaused and the Chinese aggression on the border, and all of them are vis-iting the nation simultaneously. These are no simple threats; each one isso lethal it can derail the nation’s progress. Together, their firepower mul-tiplies manifold. It calls for building a national consensus if India were tosurvive the triple assault and come out victorious. A government worththe name would be concentrating on building it; for the lack of it could seeus a fragmented, defeated people. It is not a surprise that a seasoned politi-cian like Mr Pawar can see through the design of the ruling dispensationfoisting the temple project as a façade to save its ineptness in rising up tothe challenge.

Several crucial assembly elections are scheduled in the coming months,to start with the one in Bihar in November, and followed by those in WestBengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. A government that has not yet shown thegrit to address serious national issues would find a comfortable cover inthe temple project. All that Mr Pawar has done is to call it out.

A temple amid pandemic

A vaccine for Covid-19 isthe only silver lining

The news agency ANI reportedlast week that “PM Modi (is)taking inputs from 50 top offi-

cials to revive (the) economy”. The90-minute meeting would have pre-sentations by finance and commerceministry officials. What would sucha meeting have looked like? If all 50got a chance to give an input, andnobody else spoke or asked ques-tions, they would get less than twominutes each. But it’s likely some-one would do some sort of introduc-tion and set up the agenda, so it’sunlikely the per person time wastwo minutes. Perhaps many of themdid not get the opportunity to speakat all. The headline says the PM waslooking for inputs from them. Whatcan be communicated in a couple ofminutes?

Modi likes this sort of meeting. Thefirst time I met him, with DileepPadgaonkar and B.G. Varghese,both now dead, was for an EditorsGuild report on the 2002 violence. Atthat meeting, Modi called in all hissecretaries, about two dozen, andperhaps more men sitting in rows torespond to us. There were no minis-ters. That was and apparently still isModi’s style.

The question is what happens atsuch large meetings, for input andwhat is taken away from them. Youwould have a series of men sayingextremely concise things. And theyhave to be prescriptive. The problemis already known: the ANI story saysthe meeting would find means of a“speedy recovery of the economy,which has witnessed a slowdown inrecent quarters”.

What would a two-minute pre-scription be? It would be somethinglike: “The black money problem canbe permanently solved by eliminat-ing high value currency notes. Wecan force everyone to exchange theirnotes for smaller denominations andidentify the black money sources.This will also end counterfeiting andreduce terrorism.”

Such a presentation would lacknuance and not contain detail. Itmay or may not get into the prob-lems that could come about becauseof such an action and it may or maynot list the things that could gowrong. There wouldn’t be enoughtime. It would merely present somesort of solution, and if the solutionlooked like a permanent fix and if itsounded original and innovative, it

would meet approval.This is the problem of decision-

making done on the basis of shortand rapid inputs. But when one asks50 people to give a series of short andsharp inputs, it’s clear this is the pre-ferred style of functioning.

I have written before about thismanner of Modi’s governance. Hesaid in an interview with MadhuKishwar that he doesn’t read files ashe can’t govern through academicstudies. He wants people to reduceissues to a two-minute synopsis,which he will digest and then decide.

The problem is that some thingscan’t be reduced to a short presenta-tion as they are very complex. Manythings aren’t clear. They are grey.Many details aren’t precise becausethere is not enough information ordata. What the possible conse-quences of decisions will be can’t beunderstood without very thoroughanalysis.

Black money was such a matter,China relations another, as is Covid.The effect of a two-month lockdownis also complex. What it could do tothe economy should be examinedwith great care and caution must beused before using a blunt weapon

like demonetisation or a total lock-down.

My intent is not to be needlesslycritical or contemptuous. WhatModi decides affects all of us, and wemust see what can be done in thebest interest of our nation and itspeople. However, the decision-mak-ing style must be examined andthere’s no running away from that.Let me quote another report, thistime from Indian Express:“Manufacturers fret as sudden lock-down hits logistics of production.”The story tells of the problems. OnJuly 13, Karnataka ordered a lock-down from the next day and toldindustries to shut. Automobile man-ufacturers like Toyota told workersto go home, informed vendors andissued a statement. But next day thegovernment sent another circular,saying manufacturers were exemptfrom the lockdown. But the workershad already gone. One week’s pro-duction was lost.

Another problem was supplychains. Auto manufacturing doesn’thappen in one place. It’s only assem-bled at the main factory, but compo-nents come from around the coun-try. There was a lockdown in some

states, so even if the main assemblyplant was exempt from lockdown orin a state with no lockdown, produc-tion would slow or stop.

There are lockdowns in TamilNadu, Maharashtra, Bihar,Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Assamand elsewhere. There was no coordi-nation to ensure that supply chainsare kept going. Similarly, firmscouldn’t access warehouses, withsome under lockdown. Anotherproblem was workers who werereluctant to return given the prob-lems they faced during the first lock-down.

These are issues of detail and com-plexity. They don’t require decision-making. They require governance,meaning the hard work of makingthe State function efficiently. It istrue India has always been a hardplace to govern because it is chaoticand anarchic. The government does-n’t often follow its own rules. It won’tbe easy for us to undo the damagedone to the economy by the lock-down and the solution won’t comefrom two-minute presentations.

The writer is a senior journalist andcolumnist

All decisionscan’t be taken

after 2-minutepresentations

My dog Charlie islong gone. ButCharlie, who was

a brown “Great IndianMongrel”, was wise inthe ways of the world. Hetaught me a lesson inpublic policy I will neverforget.

Corruption is India’sfavourite conversationtopic. We love discussingit and bemoaning its allpervasiveness. We areexperts at it and have allexperienced it in someform or the other and atall levels. Yet with somuch collective experi-ence, it’s a difficult topicto write about. Like ourgods, it takes so manymyriad forms. It defies asimple definition. But weall know what it is. WhatJustice Potter Stewart ofAmerica’s SupremeCourt said in the contextof obscenity -- “I know itwhen I see it” -- is equallyapplicable to corruption.It is the most obscene ofobscenities but a fairlycommon one.

Economists prefer tobandy about a differentterm when referring tocorruption. They call it“economic rent”. TheIMF says “it is the extraamount paid (over whatwould have been paid forthe best alternative use)to somebody or for some-thing useful whose sup-ply is limited either bynature or throughhuman ingenuity”. Quiteclearly this definitionexcludes the moraldimension. But then ourproblems get even morecompounded when werealise the moral dimen-sion is very elastic andvaries.

Take, for instance, thecase of former PrimeMinister ManmohanSingh. He is now a mem-ber of the Raya Sabhafrom Rajasthan, afterclaiming to be “ordinari-ly a resident of the state”.Before that he was ordi-narily a resident ofGuwahati in Assam. L.K.Advani was just as peri-patetic. At one time hedeclared he was a resi-

dent of Ujjain in MadhyaPradesh. Then he was aresident of Ahmedabad.Both were ordinarily res-idents of New Delhi. Butif you and I were as cava-lier as this in declaringour place of residence,say for the purpose of apassport, we could endup in prison.

Economic rent takesother forms, which taxthe common good farmore. High importduties, for instance,meant to restrainimports, actually serve toincrease prices and prof-its for domestic manufac-turers. The Ambassadorcar, that immortal sym-bol of a mindless andrapacious bureaucracy,actually gave its manu-facturer and employeesas much joy as it gavesorrow to those whoowned or drove thesecars. Did you notice howall car tyres or batteriescost about the same? Orhow all similar sized air-conditioners and refrig-erators cost about thesame? Adam Smithexplained it best by not-ing that “people of thesame trade seldom meettogether, even for merri-ment and diversion, butthe conversation ends ina conspiracy against thepublic”.

Our MPs have much tothank Dr ManmohanSingh for conjuring upMPLADS (MP’s localarea developmentscheme), but the thenfinance minister proba-bly never contemplatedthe likes of SakshiMaharaj, who turned itinto one of personaldevelopment.

The business of takingmoney for parliamentaryquestions is as common-place as a traffic cop col-lecting money from

errant drivers. In the for-mer, it’s an extra-legalpayment for a service. Inthe latter it’s an unoffi-cial punishment for tru-ancy. In both cases, themoney is tax-free andhence in the same class.

People who build ormake alterations withoutthe sanction of theauthorities pay under-hand for deviations,knowing it was againstthe law. But it is com-monplace, and thatseems okay. But when ahigh court orders themdemolished, we are out-raged. What if the samehigh court ordered thatMPs making false state-ments about their placeof residence must quit? Itmight make us happy.This is clearly a subjectthat needs far greaterdeliberation and discus-sion.

Opinion polls show thatthere are some profes-sions we believe to bealmost entirely corrupt.Politicians and police-men top this list, with 99per cent of those polledbelieving them to becrooks. Much of the cor-ruption we witness ineveryday life is a result oftheir unnecessary exer-tions.

When I lived inGurgaon, I had an oppor-tunity every morning tocontemplate a vacant plotof land in the neighbor-hood. Roads bound theplot on all four sides andpeople walking to worknaturally took a shortcutacross it. Some officioussoul had taken it uponhimself to put an end tothis practice. First a signcame up demanding thatpeople not do the mostrational thing, that is tak-ing a shortcut. The signwas ignored, and my dogCharlie began using thesignpost to leave his sig-nature. Then a smalllength of barbed wirepegged between two polesappeared astride thepath. The people who usethe path still found it con-venient to go around the

poles and take the short-cut. Good old Charlie justslipped under the wireand seemed quite happythat he had two morepoles to leave his dailymarkers.

The nature of most ofour lawmaking is justlike this. They are irra-tional and people willrespond rationally tothem, by circumventingthem if not completelyignoring them. The onlyway that plot could havebeen prevented frombeing used as a shortcutwas to build on it. If theempty plot is just walledup, the walls will encour-age another use, whichwill be odious to boot.Which brings me toanother aspect. We havelaws that prohibit pissingin public and on walls,private and public.Pissing is meant to be aprivate business. Butwhere are people to peewhen you just don’t haveenough public urinals? Alaw against pissing inpublic therefore makessense only when youhave enough public uri-nals.

Thoughtless laws cor-rode a state thoroughly.That’s why states builtaround tight regulationsand appeals to a higherhuman idealism fail.Corruption is all-perva-sive and a worldwidephenomenon. It comesbuilt in with nature.Animals steal food fromeach other just ashumans extort from oth-ers. But human beingslive in organised soci-eties, which are nothingbut systems based onlaws. For laws to work, itmust be clear that ifcaught, trials will beswift, and if found guiltyretribution will be com-mensurate.

That’s where we haveserious problems. Whomakes the law?Politicians. Who enforcesthe laws? The variouspolicing agencies. Bothare believed to be over-whelmingly corrupt.

The writer, a policy ana-lyst studying economicand security issues, hasheld senior positions ingovernment and industry.He also specialises in theChinese economy.

Opinion polls showthat there aresome professionswe believe to bealmost entirelycorrupt. Politiciansand policemen topthis list

LETTERSDESTRUCTIVEINTELLIGENCEApropos the editorial Wargames on Twitter? (July20). It endorses the unde-niable fact that cyber-hackers are a lot smarterthan the criminal investi-gating agency/cyber secu-rity systems, thanks to thehackers’ destructive intelli-gence giving them fastbucks owing to anaemicsecurity measures. What isironical is they did notspare even getting accessto the blue-check accountsof America’s political big-wigs. It is time the Centreand the respective Statescudgelled the brains for afoolproof security systemlest India should also turnvulnerable to hackers. Theeditorial’s rhetorical ques-tions send a clarion call forthe policy mangers to beefup the cyber security.

E.S. Chandrasekaran Chennai

Subhani

To fight corruption, getrid of thoughtless laws

VIRTUAL WORLD OF COVIDTHE COVID count has touched analarming increase of 40,000 per day.No beds in government hospitals.Oxygen-starved casualties are rising,even as concerned authorities arebusy announcing the imminence ofan ‘Indian’ vaccine but not toiling onensuring what is rudimentary andparamount at this moment. With nocentral assistance and guidance orthe political will for a serious andsystematic reopening of economy, itis finally left to municipal commis-sioners to clamp lockdowns, in cava-lier abdication. As this nips off anylittle bud of certainty, nothing muchof anything is open to business. Yet,our Sensex-economy is seen addingto the market cap, proportionate tothe climbing Covid count.

R. NarayananChennai

PAWAR SLAMS PMTHIS REFERS to the news reportPawar slams PM for Ayodhya plan(July 20). Congress along withSharad Pawar’s party couldn’t solveAyodhya issue for a long time. MrNarendra Modi, inspite of his major-ity in parliament, waited forSupreme Court orders. Is it wrong tolay foundation stone for Ram templeafter Supreme Court judgment? Whyis Pawar aligned with Shiv Sena? Is itnot for power alone? Having won LokSabha election with Ram temple asan issue, it is the duty of BJP and MrModiji to fulfil the ambition of croresof Indians.

R. GanesanChennai

Mohan Guruswamy

Aakar Patel

Corruption isIndia’s favouriteconversationtopic. We lovediscussing it andbemoaning its allpervasiveness

21 JULY 2020

DECCAN CHRONICLE

ADITYA SINHA K. SUDHAKAREditor Printer & Publisher

R. MOHANResident Editor

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BoI, CBI, IOB, BoM & PSB in selloff list

Half the banksto be privatised

pg 7TUESDAY | 21 JULY 2020 | CHENNAI

New Delhi, July 20: TheSupreme Court Mondaysaid it will not hear "evenfor a second" argumentson re-assessment ofAdjusted Gross Revenue(AGR) related dues of tele-com companies which runinto about Rs 1.6 lakhcrore.

The apex court also saidit was not a reasonableproposal that a period of15 to 20 years be given tothe telecom companies topay AGR dues.

A bench of JusticesArun Mishra, S AbdulNazeer and M R Shahreserved verdict on theissue of timeline for stag-gered payment of AGR-related dues by telecomcompanies.

When issue of re-calcu-lation of the dues wasraised, the bench shotback: We will not heararguments for re-assess-ment (of AGR relateddues) even for a second.

The bench also observedthat instead of seeking 15or 20 years for paymentthe companies shouldcome forward with anappropriate time frame.

The Centre had earlierurged the top court that upto 20 years be given to tele-com companies for thepayment of dues in stag-gered manner.

The top court further

said that it would examinebona fides of some tele-com companies going intoinsolvency.

On June 18, the top courtwas informed by theCentre that the Depart-ment of Telecommunic-ations (DoT) has decidedto withdraw 96 per cent ofthe Rs 4 lakh croredemand for AGR relateddues raised against non-telecom PSUs like GAIL.

The court had howeverasked the private telecomcompanies includingBharti Airtel, VodafoneIdea to come out with areasonable payment plan,make some payment toshow their bona fide andfile their books ofaccounts for the last 10years.

During the hearing onMonday, the bench askedsolicitor general TusharMehta, appearing for theDoT, as to how the govern-ment intends to secure theAGR related dues.

When the counselappearing for one of thetelecom companies disput-ed the DoT's calculation ofAGR related dues and saidthat the figures have to bechecked, the bench shotback: Everybody is disput-ing the dues. Tell us onlythe instalment part andthe time (for payment ofdues).” —PTI

SC: No reassessmentof telecom AGR dues

FC BUREAUwith agency inputsCHENNAI, JULY 20

Amazon's total exportsfrom sellers in India havecrossed the $2-billionmark in a space of four-and-a-half years, a topcompany official said.

Under its Global Sellingprogram, Amazon hasenabled more than 60,000Indian exporters to sellproducts to customersthrough its 15 interna-tional websites in coun-tries such as the US, UK,UAE, Canada, Mexico,Germany, Italy, France,Spain, the Netherlands,Turkey, Brazil, Japan,Australia and Singapore.

In January 2020,Amazon had pledged toenable $10 billion incumulative exports by2025.

"It took the programthree years to hit cumula-tive exports of $1 billionand it has grown 100 percent to hit the next $1 bil-lion in less than 18months, to cross the $2 bil-lion milestone in cumula-tive exports from India.We will continue to makeexports easy for Indianentrepreneurs and busi-nesses of all sizes and ful-fil our pledge of enabling$10 billion in e-commerce

exports by 2025," saidAmit Agarwal, seniorvice president and coun-try head, Amazon India.

Health and hygiene,nutritional supplementsand home essentials sawincreased demand fromcustomers in marketslike the US, Canada,Europe, Mexico, Japanand Australia. WowSkincare, CaliforniaDesign Den, Chandra-kala Creations, Aheli andSVA Organics were someof key brands thatexported in 2019.

Delhi, Maharashtra,Rajasthan, Gujarat, UttarPradesh and Haryanaemerged as the top statesin terms of exports.

The biggest market forAmazon's Indianexporters is the UnitedStates, and annual eventsthere, such as Black

Friday, Cyber Mondayand the e-tailer's ownPrime Day have helpedboost sales, said AbhijitKamra, head of globaltrade, Amazon India.

During an India visit inJanuary, Amazon bossJeff Bezos said the com-pany would invest $1 bil-lion in digitising small-and medium-businessesin India and expected toexport Indian-madegoods worth $10 billionby 2025.

Current sales are still afraction of India's totalexports of goods andservices, which are esti-mated at nearly $530 bil-lion in the last financialyear.

Amazon has previouslysaid it has also tied upwith domestic banks toprovide cheap loans to itssmall sellers.

Amazon hits $2-bn markin exports from India

AFTAB AHMED & NUPUR ANANDNEW DELHI/MUMBAI, JULY 20

India is looking to priva-tise more than half of itsstate-owned banks toreduce the number of gov-ernment-owned lenders tojust five as part of an over-haul of the banking indus-try, government and bank-ing sources said.

The first part of the planwould be to sell majoritystakes in Bank of India,Central Bank of India,Indian Overseas Bank,UCO Bank, Bank ofMaharashtra and Punjab &Sind Bank, leading to aneffective privatisation ofthese state-owned lenders,a government official said.

"The idea is to have fur-five government ownedbanks," said one seniorgovernment official. Atpresent, India has 12 state-owned banks.

The government official

said that such a plan wouldbe laid out in a new privati-sation proposal the govern-ment is currently formu-lating, and this would beput before the cabinet forapproval.

The government is work-ing on a privatisation planto help to raise money byselling assets in non-corecompanies and sectorswhen the country isstrapped for funds due tolack of economic growthcaused by the coronaviruspandemic.

Several government com-

mittees and the ReserveBank of India have recom-mended that India shouldhave not more than fivestate-owned banks.

"The government hasalready said that there willbe no more mergers(between state-ownedbanks) so the only optionfor them is to diveststakes," a senior official ata state-owned bank said.

Last year, the govern-ment had merged ten state-owned banks into four, cre-ating a handful of largerbanks. —Reuters

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, JULY 20

Household incomes havebeen hit hard by theCovid-induced lockdown,subsequent job losses andsalary cuts. Across allincome groups, only 6.7per cent of householdsreported an increase inincomes in April-June2020 against 33 per centreporting a rise in thesame period last year,according to privatethink-tank CMIE.

The proportion ofhouseholds reporting animprovement in incomescompared to a year agodeclined quite sharply inthe April-June period,finds the survey by CMIE.The proportion that saidthat their incomes werehigher than a year agowas 9.6 per cent in April.This fell to 6.1 per cent inMay and then to 4.4 percent in June. While 122million jobs were lost inApril, the subsequentrecovery in jobs is notreflected in perceptionsregarding improvementin incomes at all.

“Every income grouphas suffered a big hit interms of the proportion ofhouseholds who report anincrease in income. But, agreater proportion of rel-atively richer householdshave been hit by theirincomes not growing,”said Mahesh Vyas, man-aging director of CMIE.

None of the respondentswho earned less than Rs4,000 a month said thattheir incomes hadimproved during April,May and June. Less thanfive per cent of those whoearned between four andsix thousand a month saidthat there was animprovement. But, thisworsened in June whennone of the respondentswho earned less than Rs6,000 a month said thattheir incomes hadimproved over the past 12months. The improve-ment in employment inJune did not help improveincomes at the lower endof the income spectrum.

In April-June 2019,around 14 per cent of thehouseholds that earnedless than Rs.6,000 permonth reported anincrease in income over ayear.

Lockdownhits householdincome: CMIE

BAIJU KALESHJULY 20

Dealmakers in India willbe busier than ever asglobal investors are goingto follow Facebook Incand Google in deployingcapital into the country,according to CarlyleGroup.

India has becomeCarlyle's No. 2 investmentdestination in Asia afterChina, according toGregory M. Zeluck, itsHong Kong-based manag-ing director and co-headfor buyout funds in theregion. The US firm hasannounced two deals inIndia in the past month--anacquisition of a 20 per centstake in billionaire Ajay

Piramal's pharmaceuticalbusiness for $490 millionand paying $235 million fora stake in Bharti AirtelLtd's data-centre business.

India emerged as a rarebright spot for deal-mak-ing this year, thanks inlarge part to $19.5 billionof investments in MukeshAmbani's technology ven-tures from Carlyle's rivalssuch as KKR & Co as wellas the likes of Facebookand Google. The SiliconValley giants are comingafter India's half a billionInternet users, whosegrowing embrace ofeverything from e-com-merce to messaging anddigital payments is draw-ing comparisons to theearly days of China's tech-

nology boom.Overseas investment

into both China and Indiahas swelled enormouslyin the past two decades,according to data com-piled by Bloomberg.China receives tens of bil-

lions more per year thanits Asian rival, yet invest-ment there peaked in 2015,before trade tensions,including the long-sim-mering dispute with theUS, began to weigh ondeals. By contrast, foreigninvestment into India lastyear was 134 per centhigher than in 2015.

"China has just taken offin the last decade from aninvestment perspectiveand India is sure to fol-low," Zeluck said in aninterview. "It looks like weare on the inflection pointnow, this year and nextyear. I wouldn't say it isgoing to explode but it isgoing to grow very sub-stantially in the next fiveto seven years."

Carlyle plans to step upinvesting in India's mediaand digital sectors, Zelucksaid. While theInternational MonetaryFund is forecasting thatIndia's economy will con-tract as one of the world'sbiggest and strictest lock-downs takes its toll, theimpact of the Covid-19pandemic will potentiallybe beneficial for healthcare, he added.

"Some logistics may be abit of issue, getting con-trol of Covid at the begin-ning can be an issue,"Zeluck said. "Through theeconomic downturn, par-ticularly pharma mayshow some upside as well.So pharmaceuticals andhealth care in general are

two verticals that wethink are investible atthis point in time."

Tensions between Chinaand the US will alsoprompt supply chains tomove into India, Zelucksaid. The pharmaceuticalindustry will be thebiggest beneficiary, andelectronics and othermanufacturing may alsosee a shift, he added.

"We are very excitedabout India," Zeluck said."There were some eco-nomic troubles the coun-try has already been fac-ing. But we have a tremen-dous level of confidencethat India will reboundand will be a great invest-ment for the long term."

— Bloomberg

Rules for e-tailers this week: PaswanNew Delhi, July 20: Thenew rules for electronicretailers, includingmandatory display of'country of origin' on theirproducts, will come intoforce by the end of thisweek, Union ministerRam Vilas Paswan said onMonday.

The 'ConsumerProtection (E-Commerce)Rules, 2020' will be appli-cable to all electronicretailers (e-tailers) regis-tered in India or abroadbut offering goods andservices to Indian con-sumers, he said.

"Most rules framedunder the ConsumerProtection Act 2019 havecome into force fromtoday (Monday). However,e-commerce rules will getnotified by the end of thisweek, while rules ondirect selling will takesome more time," the con-sumer affairs ministertold reporters in a virtualpress conference.

The e-commerce rulesare "mandatory in nature"and violation of these willattract penalties as decid-ed by the consumer pro-tection authority and con-sumer courts as providedunder the Act, he said.

Consumer affairs secre-

tary Leena Nandan saidthe rules have beenfinalised after takinginputs from theDepartment forPromotion of Industryand Internal Trade.

As per the rules, the e-commerce players willhave to display the total'price' of goods and servic-es offered for sale alongwith break-up of othercharges.

They are also required tomention the 'expiry date'of goods offered for saleand the 'country of origin'of goods and services.

E-tailers have to display

details about return,refund, exchange, warran-ty and all other informa-tion required by con-sumers to make informeddecisions. Sellers have toprovide these details tothe e-commerce entity.

E-tailers should notimpose "cancellationcharges" on consumersunless similar charges arealso borne by the e-com-merce entity if it cancelsthe purchase order.

They are also notallowed to "manipulatethe price" of the goods andservices offered on theirplatforms to gain unrea-

sonable profit and dis-criminate between con-sumers of the same class.

That apart, e-tailers arerequired to display promi-nently to its users detailsabout the 'sellers', includ-ing the name of their busi-ness, geographic address,customer care numberand the like.

The rules will not permitany inventory e-com-merce entity, includingsingle-brand retailers andmulti-channel single-brand retailers, to "falselyrepresent itself as a con-sumer and post reviewsabout goods and servicesor misrepresent the quali-ty or the features of anygoods and services".

Under the rules, noinventory e-commerceentity will be allowed torefuse to take back goods,or withdraw or discontin-ue services purchased oragreed to be purchased, orrefuse to refund consider-ation, if paid, if suchgoods or services aredefective, deficient spuri-ous, or if the goods orservices are not of the fea-tures as advertised or asagreed to, or if such goodsor services are deliveredlate from the stated deliv-ery schedule. —PTI

RAVI RANJAN PRASADMUMBAI, JULY 20

Weekend positive earn-ings surprise from indexmajors HDFC Bank,Britannia, HCLTechnologies and earlierby IT giants Infosys andWipro as well as globalcues aided the Nifty-50close above the 11000level.

The Nifty-50 index closedat 11022.20, up 120.50 pointsor 1.11 per cent, while theSensex closed at 37418.99,up 398.85 points or 1.08 percent.

“In just 21 weeks, theNifty regained the 11000level. This is importantbecause at one point theNifty was below the 7500levels. Economy and tech-nology stocks supportedthe market, which is a rarething,” said ShrikantChouhan, executive vicepresident, Equity Techni-cal Research, KotakSecurities.

"The earnings resultsdeclared so far have beenpositive, as the sectoralleaders, especially in theIT and Banking sector,have emerged better thanexpected,” said Vinod Nair,head of Research, GeojitFinancial Services.

New Delhi, July 20:IndiGo has decided to layoff 10 per cent of its work-force due to the economiccrisis caused by the coron-avirus pandemic, its CEORonojoy Dutta said onMonday.

"From where thingsstand currently, it is impos-sible for our company tofly through this economicstorm without making

some sacrifices in order tosustain our business oper-ations," Dutta said in astatement.

"Therefore...it is clearthat we will need to bid apainful adieu to 10 per centof our workforce. It is forthe first time in the historyof IndiGo that we haveundertaken such a painfulmeasure," he added. As onMarch 31, 2019, the airline

had 23,531 employees on itspayroll.

Dutta said on Monday the"impacted employees" willbe given "notice pay", cal-culated on the basis ofgross salary, in lieu ofserving notice applicableto them.

In addition to the noticepay, they will be paid a sev-erance pay, which will becalculated as one month of

CTC (cost to company) forevery completed year ofservice, subject to a maxi-mum of 12 months, he saidin the statement.

This means that if anemployee has been work-ing with IndiGo for sixyears, he or she will be get-ting an amount equivalentto six months' gross salary(CTC) as a severance pay-ment. However, those who

have worked for 12 years ormore with the companywill get a fixed amountequivalent to one year'sgross salary (CTC) as sev-erance payment.

"At a minimum, an impa-cted employee will receiveat least 3-months' grosssalary, including both theabove payments. Thosewith higher tenure withthe company will receive

more as per the above cal-culation method," heexplained.

Dutta said annual bonusand performance-linkedincentive will be paid tothe impacted employeeswhenever the airlinedecides to make this pay-ment to the rest of theemployees during thisfinancial year.

"Medical insurance cov-

erage for impacted employ-ees will be extended untilDecember 2020. Thereshall also be a provision tocontinue with the policypost December 2020 as perapplicable market rates,"he added. Moreover, if theimpacted employees needto travel back to theirhometown, IndiGo willassist them with a one-wayair ticket, he said. —PTI

Hit by Covid, IndiGo to lay off 10% employees

Foreign inverstment into Chinaand India has recently diverged■ India ■ China

Source:Bloomberg

1.5

1.0

0.5

0

Keep growing

2000 ------------------- 2019

quickBITES

INDICATORS %Sensex 37,418.99 1.08Nifty 50 11,022.20 1.11S&P 500* 3,235.20 0.32Dollar (`) 74.91 0.15Pound Sterling (`) 94.12 -0.04Euro (`) 85.79 -0.33Gold (10gm)* (`) 49,916▼31 0.06Brent crude ($/bbl)* 43.18 0.04IN 10-Yr bond yield 5.799 -0.005US 10-Yr T-bill yield* 0.609 -0.019

* As of 9:30 PM IST

Debt-to-GDP toshoot up to87.6% in FY21India's debt-to-GDP ratio willshoot up to 87.6 per cent atthe end of the current financialyear from 72.2 per cent inFY20 on the back of extra bor-rowing by the government inwake of the Covid-19 pandem-ic, economists at SBI said. Overfour percentage points of theincrease in the debt-to-GDPratio is attributable to the fallin growth, which is going toresult in GDP contraction dur-ing the year, they said.

IL&FS aims toresolve 57% ofdebt this year

IL&FS said it expected to resolveabout 57 per cent of its near Rs1 lakh crore debt pile even as thepandemic delayed the resolutionprocess in some of the groupcompanies. About 50 per centof the debt is expected to beresolved by March 2021, itsboard said in a progress report,with 18 per cent already addres-sed as of June end. The boardhad said in October that itaimed to resolve 50 per cent ofthe debt by March this year.

Glenmark sharesdrop on chargesof ‘false claims’Glenmark Pharmaceuticals’ sha-res closed nearly 3 per centlower after the drug regulatorsought clarification from thefirm over its alleged "falseclaims" about use of anti-viralFabiFlu on Covid-19 patientswith comorbidities and pricingof the drug. The DGCI soughtthe clarification after an MPcomplained that the total cost ofFabiFlu treatment is aro-und Rs12,500 and the drug trail wasnot designed for comorbidities.

Cafe Coffee Dayshuts 280 moreoutlets in Q1Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) hasclosed down 280 outlets in thefirst quarter of the current fis-cal year, citing profitabilityissues and likely future increasein expenses, a company state-ment said.With these closures,the total count of its outletsstood at 1,480 as on June 30.The coffee chain also reporteda decline in average sales perday (ASPD) per cafe to Rs15,445 during Q1 from Rs15,739 a year ago.

Carlyle sees M&A accelerating on pharma, tech deals

◗ E-tailers have to display total price of goods &services with break-up of charges◗ Expiry date and 'country of origin'of goods offered have to be men-tioned◗ E-tailers not allowed to "manipu-late the price" to gain unreasonableprofit and discriminate betweenconsumers of the same class◗ E-tailer cannot "falsely rep-resent itself as a consumerand post reviews aboutgoods and services"

MORE TRANSPARENT THAN SHOPS FOR BUYERS

Ram Vilas Paswan

Nifty closesabove 11000on earningssurprise

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Manchester, July 20:England beat the WestIndies by 113 runs to winthe second Test at OldTrafford on Monday.

West Indies, set a nominal312 to win, were bowled outfor 198 on the final day asEngland levelled the three-match series at 1-1.

The third Test of a seriesthat marks internationalcricket’s return from theCoronavirus lockdownstarts at Old Trafford onFriday.

Ben Stokes removedJermaine Blackwood offthe final ball before tea toleave the West Indies on 137-5 and ignite England’schances.

Blackwood (55) gloved anattempted shot around thecorner and wicketkeeperJos Buttler scrambled totake a diving catch, endinga 100-run partnership withShamarh Brooks that wasgiving the West Indies hopeof salvaging a draw.

Brooks made 62 beforebeing trapped leg before bySam Curran. The touristswere rocking at 37-4 afterStuart Broad trappedRoston Chase lbw for histhird wicket of the innings,for the loss of 25 runs. Thepaceman has six wickets for

the match on his recall tothe team after beingdropped for the first Test.

Yet it is Ben Stokes whohas been England’s star,once again. Before takingthat crucial wicket ofBlackwood, the allrounderhad gone into limited-oversmode to plunder 78 not outoff 57 balls to help Englandto 129-3 before captain JoeRoot declared with his teamhaving a lead of 311 runs.England made 92 runs off 11overs after resuming on 37-2, effectively taking thegame away from WestIndies.

England had a total of 85overs to dismiss the WestIndies and has bowled 42.4of them. England had lostthe first Test by four wick-ets on the final day inSouthampton. — AP

BRIEF SCORES

■ Day 5: England 469/9 decl& 129/3 decl (Ben Stokes 78n.o. vs West Indies 287 in 99overs (Shamarh Brooks 68,Roston Chase 51; ChrisWoakes 3/42) & 198 in 70.1overs (Jermaine Blackwood55, Shamarh Brooks 62; JasonHolder 35, Stuart Broad 3/42,Chris Woakes 2/34, DormBess 2/59, Ben Stokes 2/30)

England force deciderHosts beat West Indies by 113 runs to win the second Test

NEHRU STADIUM ‘B’ GROUND OPENED FOR TRAININGNEHA SURANA I DCCHENNAI, JULY 20

The Sports DevelopmentAuthority of Tamil Nadu(SDAT) has given permis-sion to the elite sportsper-sons who come under theMission InternationalMedal Scheme (MIMS) touse the Ground ‘B’ — atraining facility with awarm-up track — atJawaharlal Nehru Stadium.International fencer C.A.Bhavani Devi and a fewnational-level tennis play-ers have started using it.

“When the governmentgave an order to reopen, wesent out an email to thenational and internationalsportspersons, especiallythose who reached out to us.We fully comply with gov-ernment of India’sStandard OperatingProcedures (SOP). However,we haven’t got the ordersfrom the central govern-ment to open the indoorfacilities, so it remainsshut. Gym and swimmingpools aren’t permitted to

open either,” said an SDATofficial.

The official added thatthey have provided clearguidelines for thesportspersons who are

using the facility.Temperature checking,sanitisation, bringing ownequipment and one-and-onetraining are a few of theconditions.

“Bhavani and a few tennisplayers have started train-ing. But, some sportsper-sons are still apprehensiveto come and use the train-ing facility,” added the offi-cial.

Bhavani said she takesutmost precautions whiletraining. “Before enteringand exiting the facility, theydo a temperature check.While training I don’t wearmask because I am alone inthe ground,” she added.

Bhavani’s Italian coach,Nicola Zanotti, sends train-ing instructions online.“My main focus is on fit-ness and getting back inshape. Fencing is a contactsport and it’s challenging totrain without a sparringpartner. I keep my fencingbag in a vertical positionand keep a mask on it tomake it look like a dummyperson,” said Bhavani.

Paddler Sharath Kamalconfirmed that the SDAThas given him permissionto train at the outdoor facil-ity. But he is waiting for theindoor TT hall to open.

Fencer Bhavani Devi trains at Nehru Stadium Ground ‘B’.

INDOOR FACILITY REMAINS SHUT

Dubai, July 20: To no sur-prise, the men’s Twenty20World Cup in October inAustralia has been delayedfor 12 months because ofthe Coronavirus pandemic.

India might also be able tofind a slot for its lucrativeIndian Premier League,which was postponed indef-initely in April.

Cricket Australia castdoubt in May on thechances of it going aheadon schedule from October18 to November 15.

It will be played in thesame months in 2021, theInternational CricketCouncil said on Monday.

It was going to be risky togather 15 other nations

with different levels of theCoronavirus in Australia,where the state of Victoriawas currently under lock-down after a new surge incases. Victoria is to stagethe final at the MelbourneCricket Ground.

The postponement has ledto a reshaping of the men’sinternational calendar inorder to accommodate bilat-eral series which have beenpostponed everywheresince March except inEngland.

The T20 World Cup sched-uled for November 2021 willtake place in 2022, while theCricket World Cup sched-uled for February andMarch 2023 in India will go

ahead in October andNovember that year.

“Our members now havethe clarity they needaround event windows toenable them to reschedulelost bilateral and domesticcricket,’’ ICC chief execu-tive Manu Sawhney said.

“Moving the men’sCricket World Cup to a laterwindow is a critical ele-ment of this and gives us abetter chance of maintain-ing the integrity of thequalification process. Thisadditional time will be usedto reschedule games thatmight be lost because of thepandemic, ensuring qualifi-cation can be decided on thefield of play.” — AP

WT20 makes way for IPL

England’s Stuart Broad (right) celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of WestIndies batsman John Campbell on the final day of the second Test at Old Trafford inManchester, northwest England, on Monday. — AFP

India cricketer R. Ashwinreturned to outdoor trainingafter a long break. He trained with a bunch ofTN first-class cricketers.

NIVI SHRIVASTAVA

Recently, popularInstagram account DietSabya opened a can of

worms against evil bosses andtoxic work culture prevalent espe-cially in the Indian fashion, beau-ty, PR, music, and advertisingfields by splashing horrifyingwork stories all over the socialmedia. The campaign gainedsteam as screenshots of multipleharassment stories reported byusers were shared by shaming thealleged perpetrators. It all startedwith an unnamed CXO at a cos-metic brand company and heralleged misdeeds, fol-lowed by awful sto-ries from topfashion mag-azines anda talenta g e n cyt h a tm a n -a g e st o p

Bollywood stars such as DeepikaPadukone and Ranbir Kapoor,among others.

Many stories highlighted therampant unprofessionalism inthese “creative” fields — fashionmagazines, music industry, mod-elling, PR companies... — wherecasual sexism, bigotry commentsand mental harassment were con-sidered to be a rite of passage forbeginners.

ONLINE VERSUS REAL-TIME BULLYING

In its latest Instagram post twodays ago, Diet Sabya questionedthe toxic culture in fashion maga-zines and business environments.

“I think,” says a part of themessage in the screenshot

posted, “there’s a deeperissue that needs to be

addressed here —WHY are fashionmagazines/busi-ness environmentsso toxic? Why doeseveryone in the

industry feel so entitled to be bul-lies? And why the hypocrisy inwhat they publish and how theybehave? (sic.) […]” The post gotover 4,800 likes and close to 250comments. The self-proclaimedfashion watchdog account alsoshared that they received legalthreats to bring down the storiesand remove the names of the topbrass that were exposed as bulliesand sexual predators.

However, the trend to reportonline highlights a key issue —why are employees forced toreport to an anonymous accountinstead of addressing the prob-lem internally? Shivani Mehta, as e n i o rbrand con-s u l t a n t ,recalls herawful workexperiencefrom herlast job. “Inmy last jobat a PRagency, I

faceda

very disturbing work culture. Myboss was a complete bully whowas always shouting at us. He cre-ated unnecessary work pressureand overloaded us with work. Iwas asked to attend events at oddhours and my payments weredelayed if I argued about any-thing. It was a small firm andthere was no one to report to, so Iquit after a few months.”

TURN TO PAGE 4

Mogul is on Aamir’s radarFULL

STORYON PAGE

8

Employees call out bosses on social media, anonymously,questioning toxic culture prevalent in most industries

Horrible bossesexposed online

Screenshots of multipleharassment stories reported byusers were shared by shaming thealleged perpetrators. An unnamedCXO’s alleged misdeeds at acosmetic brand company, followedby awful stories from top fashionmagazines and a talent agency thatmanages top Bollywood stars suchas Deepika Padukone and RanbirKapoor, among others were named

Shivani Mehta

I had to go through unacceptablework conditions. Right from ugly

politics of top management to no work-lifebalance, long unpaid hours, and anunsupportive boss — I went through a toughtime and struggled with mental and physicalhealth issues. I was stressed, depressed... Iquit the job to save my sanity

— Anushka Sharma

The 2006 American comedy-drama film The Devil Wears Prada shows a rigid workplace relationship between apowerful fashion magazine editor and her assistant played by Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway respectively

TUESDAY | 21 JULY 2020

PG4

KANGANA AT ITONCE AGAIN

chennaiCHRONICLE

Amrish Ganesh is a happy man thesedays. He has a reason to rejoice.

The actor-turned-musician’s ChinnaMachan song has touched a record – 133 mil-lion views and counting.

The folk number featured in the filmCharlie Chaplin 2 was picturised on noneother than dancing sensation Prabhu Devaand Nikki Galrani. It was rendered by popu-lar folk singer couple Senthil Ganesh andRajalakshmi of ‘Super Singer’ fame.

Talking to DC, Amrish says, “I am touchedby the reception given by my fans to theChinna Machan song. To be honest, it wasvery challenging for me to score for thepeppy number as it was shot on PrabhuDeva Sir who is known for his dancingprowess. I took that extra care by keepingthe instruments minimal, so that the lyricswere not disturbed. Today, it has paid off.”(smiles)

The young composer is also happy that hewas able to make another top choreograph-er-turned-hero, Raghava Lawrence, grooveto one of his foot-tapping songs – Hara HaraMahadevaki in an earlier film.

ANUPAMA SUBRAMANIAN

A controversial video by a self-proclaimed atheistYouTube Channel, Karuppar Koottam, was in newsrecently for derogatory remarks about Kandha Sashti

Kavacham, a hymn in praise of the protection provided byLord Muruga. However, after several Hindu religious organi-sations and political parties condemned the video and lodgedcomplaints, the channel’s office was sealed and the ownersarrested. Actor-politician Kamal Haasan was one of themany celebrities who expressed his views on the issue on socialmedia.

Kamal, who describes himself as an atheist, tweeted in Tamilto the effect that, “A rational society is one which allows coexis-tence and doesn’t force any ideology on others, without hurting

others. The politics of hatred and sepa-ratism is not our identity. One can’t giveany colours to Tamils by using the evilstrategy of divide(sic).”

Now, actress/choreographer GayathriRaghuram, a contestant in a season of theBigg Boss reality show hosted by KamalHaasan and a member of the BJP party,has flayed Ulaganayagan for not mak-ing a direct statement regarding theKaruppar Kootam issue.

She posted, “Why are you explaininginstead of condemning? We don’t wantany explanations. Why can’t you bedirect? Everyone knows what kind ofpolitics is happening in TN, who isspreading hate, who is creating hateand who is saving the criminals.”

However, netizens are trollingGayathri, alleging that she is trying totake revenge against Kamal Haasanfor what happened in the Bigg Bossshow. In one of the episodes, Kamalhad pointed out a mistake on herpart, and exposed her lie.

Like Jyotika’sPonmagal Vandhal,

Keerthy Suresh’s Penguinand VaralaxmiSarathkumar’s Danny, yetanother female-centricmovie Paris Paris, aremake of B’town block-buster Queen and starringKajal Aggarwal, is taking adigital route for release.The original had KanganaRanaut in the title role andshe had bagged a NationalAward for Best Actress.

It is learnt that remakesof Queen in other southernlanguages, which havelong been lying in the cans,will also see the light ofday on OTT platforms,skipping theatre release.There’s no officialannouncement on this,though. The Telugu ver-sion stars Tamannah whilethe Malayalam remake hasManjima Mohan in thelead and Parul Yadav starsin the Kannada avatar.

Kajal, in an earlier inter-view with DC, had said, “Iknow comparisons arebound to hap-pen. I justwant to

do my role of an innocentgirl from Virudhunagar inmy own way and style,keeping the Tamil sensibil-ities in mind.”

Another interestingaspect of this developmentis that Paris Paris facedproblems with the censorsand the CBFC panel object-ed to certain cuss wordsand bold visuals, suggestedmutes and visual blurs,and reportedly recom-mended 25 cuts in the film.

Ramesh Arvind, who isalso the director of theKannada version, hadargued then that when theSandalwood version wasgiven a clean chit, therewas no reason for the CB totreat the Tamil version dif-ferently. The revising com-mittee had beenapproached in this regard.

With no censorshipguidelines in place for con-tent streamed on OTT plat-forms, one can expect thatif Paris Paris is aired digi-tally, it will be the originalversion.

2Tuesday 21 July 2020

Deccan ChroniclekollywoodParis Paris tohave a digitalrelease?Viewers might get to see theuncensored version of the flick

“I knowcomparisons arebound to happen. Ijust want to do myrole of an innocentgirl fromVirudhunagar in myown way and style,keeping the Tamilsensibilities in

mind.”– Kajal Aggarwal

GayathriRaghuram slamsKamal Haasan……but is she paying off old scores?

Record 133 million viewsfor Chinna Machan tuneAmrish Ganesh is dancing a jig for his hit!

A still from the song Chinna Machan

Amrish Ganesh

— Snippets by AS

APSARA REDDY

Divya, a fitnessenthusiast has lim-ited followers on

Instagram, but those thatdo follow her swear byher concoctions.

She is the brains behinda humble enterprise —East Coast Brewery —named after the East CoastRoad area on the outskirtsof Chennai.

“My parents have a greenthumb. Last year, my

father died, leaving to mycare a rich coastal gardenwhere anything that canbe grown, grows. Then thelockdown happened.During the early days ofthe lockdown, when I hadbarely overcome my griefover the bereavement, Iwas looking to immersemyself in something thatmade me feel connectedwith things around me.My neighbour Marwahsent me her starter cul-ture. That’s how brewingfound me,” shares Divya.

“Today, we are ferment-ing so many things aroundus — I see a jasmine, it’s inour drink. I see turmeric,we ferment it. Andthrough this beautiful nat-ural process of “slowdeath”, we take the best ofnature around us, and cre-ate our probiotic rich fizzydrinks — Kombuchas andSoda Pops — kids, elders,doctors, nutritionists, fit-ness lovers, are drinkingalmost everyday toimprove their immunityand overall wellbeing,”she elaborates.

‘Excited’ and ‘profes-sional’ are two words peo-ple attach to foodpreneurCardin Roby. A man offew words, he has foughtmany a battle to findhis footing in thefood industry.And he’s nowd o n a t i n gbiryani to thehomeless andthe needyevery day fromhis humblekitchen. Having worked formany top outlets, he hashoned his culinary skillsand features the best ofbiryani recipes at his

backyard food venture,Cardys Catering. “I haveno Godfather or any cor-porate backing. I am asimple person who loves

catering to variedtaste buds. Food

inspires me.Many peoplehad doubtsabout meand mycapabilities.I’ve strug-

gled to make aname for

myself, andthanks to the people of

Chennai, I’ve managed tosurvive,” says Cardinwith pride.

3Tuesday 21 July 2020

Deccan Chroniclecitylife

Brewing up a storm

Immersed inthe quest fornatural immunityand comfortfood in theseextraordinarytimes we’re traversingwithout a map,influencers arebusy samplinghealth produceand Insta-shar-ing exceptionaltalents

"During the early days of the lockdown, when I had barely overcome mygrief over the bereavement, I was looking to immerse myself in something

that made me feel connected with things around me."— DIVYA

Aman of few

words, Cardinhas fought many abattle to find his

footing in thefood industry.

Cardin Roby and his family

Pho

to s

ourc

e : U

nsp

lash

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

STRESSFUL WORK CONDITIONS

In many small companies withdummy HRdepartments, thework culture isoften dictated bythe top boss andif he/she is awretched per-son, the toxicitytrickles down tolower levels.

A n u s h k aSharma, whocurrently works in an IT firm,shares with us her experienceswhen she worked in a hospitalitychain. “I had to go through serious-ly unacceptable work conditions.Right from ugly politics of top man-agement to no work-life balance,long unpaid hours, and an unsup-portive boss — I went through atough time and struggled with men-tal and physical health issues. I wasstressed, depressed, and sufferedfrom hormonal imbalance. I quitthe job to save my sanity.”

Saad Mughal, a team leader atsocial media and content market-ing firm, shares that a particularex-colleague created problemsamong the team to get “attention”.He says, “I worked with an atten-tion seeker, who loved gaining sym-pathy and gossiped all the time tocreate a rift between co-workers.She made work very unpleasantand bitched about everyone. Whenwe tried to confront her, she criedand quit.”

DETRIMENTAL CLIQUES

At the work-place, a cliqueculture isoften a hugeissue for new-comers. Itcauses fric-tion amongthe team ande n c o u r a g e s

ragging byhumiliatingothers.

A seniorf a s h i o ne d i t o r ,w h o

request-ed anonymity, talks about

the common sight in manyoffices of women not sup-porting other women.“They pull down, rile andgossip in closed girlgangs. Many editors areinsecure and dabble in

petty politics to retaintheir positions,” she says.According to her, the job

is less dependent on talentand more on how much you cankiss ass. “To top it all, I was a singlemom. So when I had to go for myson’s parent-teachers’ meeting orreport card day I was told that aday’s salary would be cut. When I

was a feeding mom, I never got anyhelp from my boss who would oftenridicule me and say that companiesshould not hire mothers.”

The senior editor laments abouthow offices don’t have crŁche orflexible, work-from-home options.“And, sadly you were never consid-ered for a promotion if you werefamily-oriented,” she adds.

LURE OF EXPOSURE AND FAKEPROMISES

Sarthak Kush, founder of AlfaRecords, speaks about the exploita-tion in the music and events indus-try and how early in his career, hehad come across many such fraud-ulent people. “Young artists, espe-cially women, face so much harass-ment when they enter the field.Even I had to work for peanuts andstill chase people for my pay-ments,” remembers Sarthak. “Somany times, I would play live gigstill late hours and no one wouldeven offer me a glass of water.When I started my event firm,many restaurant owners would ill-treat us and behave like spoiltbrats, making us work extra with-out proper contracts in place.”

Similarly, blogger and tarot cardreader Jeevika Sharma shares herexperience and says, “It’s beenmore than a year that I have startedpracticing tarot card reading pro-fessionally, and for the past threeyears I have been blogging aboutfood. I have experienced manybrands and PR representatives mis-treating us by insisting on takingup a barter deal or offering veryless pay. Also, many PR companiesare notorious for the extreme delayin payments as they don’t seemintent on paying for the brand pro-motions.”

DC CORRESPONDENT

In recent times, Kangana Ranaut has bashed almost every-one in the industry with her strong remarks. While she has

already been making headlines for accusing Karan Johar andMahesh Bhatt after the demise of Sushant Singh Rajput, she hasresurfaced lamenting Swara Bhasker and Taapsee Pannu. In arecent interview, the Queen actress called Swara and Taapsee ‘Bgrade actors’. She went on to state that they both like KaranJohar and despite looking better than Alia Bhatt and AnanyaPanday, aren’t getting much work.

Meanwhile, both Taapsee and Swara responded to Kangana’sattack. Taapsee gave a witty response to Kangana’s remark

on twitter and wrote, “Maine suna class 12th n 10th keresult ke baad humaara result bhi aa gaya hai!Humaara grade system ab officialhai ? Abhi tak toh number system

pe value decide hoti thi na.(sic).” Swara too took to twitter call-

ing Kangana’s comment a com-pliment. “Needy outsider — B

grade actress (But) — better look-ing & better actor than Alia Bhatt &

Ananya!” Net net I think this was acompliment! Thanks Kangana! I think uare gorgeous, generous & a great actor!Shine on(sic),” tweeted theRasbhari actor.

Kangana even called Alia’sGully Boy ‘mediocre’, to whichthe Raazi actress took toher Instagram andshared a quote. “Thetruth is the truth,even if no onebelieves it. A lie isa lie even ife v e r y o n ebelieves it,”her note read.This notecomes daysafter Alia hadshared a mes-sage whichread, “Silencesays a lot morethan youthink.”

4Tuesday 21 July 2020

Deccan Chroniclethe buzzHorrible bossesexposed online

A senior fashion editor, whorequested anonymity, talks aboutthe common sight in many officesof women not supporting otherwomen. “They pull down, rile andgossip in closed girl gangs. Manyeditors are insecure and dabblein petty politics to retain theirpositions,” she says. According toher, the job is less dependent ontalent and more on how muchyou can kiss ass

Alia BhattSwara Bhasker

Kangana Ranaut Taapsee Pannu Sarthak Kush

Jeevika Sharma

Saad Mughal

Kangana at it once again

SALMAN’S ‘FARMING’ DIARIES: Salman Khan, who is currently living in his Panvel farmhouse,shared a new video of his ‘farming’ days. The ‘Sultan’ can be seen riding a tractor on a muddypiece of land at his farmhouse. Few days back, the actor was trolled for a picture he posted, as atribute to farmers, of himself sitting in a field and all covered with mud. This new video too in notime received a lot of flak, where some of the users even calling the Sultan actor a ‘show off’.

Miss World Manushi Chhillaris a perfect combination ofbeauty with brains. The beau-

ty queen, who is quarantining withher family in Punjab, apart from prepar-

ing for her debut opposite Akshay Kumarin Prithviraj is also spending her time play-

ing chess at home.The 23-year-old is playing chess regularly to

sharpen her mind and it seems that herfather is her coach and a sparring partner.

“Chess stretches your mind in terms ofstrategy and imagination because you reallyhave to outwit your opponent at any cost.Playing chess with my dad is something thatI have always loved doing because he’s themost unpredictable, intelligent and sharpestperson I’ve ever played with,” says Manushi,and adds that she is fiercely competitivebecause of her father.

“My father is equally competitive. We havehad several nail biters when we play and I amstill learning from him,” she says.

— Sanskriti Media

DC CORRESPONDENT

Jennifer Aniston, who has been urgingher fans to stay safe and maintain

hygiene since the Covid-19 hit the world

shared a picture of her friend lyingon a hospital bed after being diag-nosed with COVID -19.

In the long post along with thephoto The Morning Show actor cate-gorically mentioned that her frienddidn’t have any health issues in the pastbut he got infected.

“This is our friend Kevin. Perfectlyhealthy, not one underlying health issue.This is Covid. This is real. We can’t be sonaive to think we can outrun this...if wewant this to end, and we do, right? Theone step we can take is PLEASE #wear-adamnmask (sic),” wrote the actress.

She then went on to remind everyone thatthe virus has an impact on every age groupand it is important to stay safe. “Just thinkabout those who’ve already sufferedthrough this horrible virus. Do it for yourfamily. And most of all yourself. Covidaffects all ages. (sic),” she added in the postand clarified that the picture of her friendwas taken in April and he is recovering well.

“PS this photo was taken in early April.Thank god he has almost recovered now.Thank you all for your prayers,” she said.

In addition, Jennifer also shared a pictureof herself with BFF and FRIENDS co-starCourteney Cox wearing identical masks.

Model-actress is spending hertime playing

chess at home

5Tuesday 21 July 2020

Deccan Chronicleglam shamPlaying chess with my dad issomething that I have always loveddoing because he’s the mostunpredictable, intelligent and sharpest

person I’ve ever played with

Manushi’schessmate

Jenniferwarns ofdangersof CovidThe actor posted aphoto of her friend

with COVID-19 onventilator and urgesfans to wear masks

and maintainhygiene

OFF THE WEB

PEECEE’S MUSHY POST:The much in love cou-

ple Priyanka Chopraand Nick Jonas have

never shied away fromprofessing their love for

each other on socialmedia. On Monday,

Priyanka took toInstagram to share a

mirror selfie with Nick,where he had leaned in

to kiss his wife.Recalling the day Nick

had popped the bigquestion two years ago,

she captioned, “To thegreatest joy of my life.

2 years ago on this dayyou asked me to marry

you! I may have beenspeechless then but I

say yes every momentof everyday since.”

We wouldalwayswelcome

healthy competitionbecause it is inevitablein any business. Infact, we need moreplayers to expand theTelugu digital space toprovide moreopportunities toactors, directors andtechnicians

— Aparna Achrekar,Programming Head,

ZEE 5, India

6Tuesday 21 July 2020

Deccan Chronicletollywood

B.V.S PRAKASH

T-town bigwigs such asSuresh Babu and AlluAravind, who are already

competitors in film production,distribution and exhibition in thetwo Telugu states, are now going tofight it out for a share of the digi-tal pie too.

Though Aravind has a head-startwith his digital platform Aha,which launched in March 2020,Suresh Productions has enoughresources and manpower to comeup with an exclusive digital plat-form too. Admitting that he iskeenly observing the happeningsin the digital arena and studyingvarious modules in place SureshBabu tells us that they are defi-nitely going to explore the digitalspace. “However, we haven’t setany timelines as we have a greatlegacy to follow. I know a few peo-ple are making some money in var-ied modules. We have theresources and a good team tochurn out content for films or theWeb on any given day. I am dis-cussing with the Next Gen mem-bers in my family, which I thinkwould be crucial to take a finalcall,” he shares.

We remind him that his archrival Allu Aravind has also takenthe plunge into digital space.

“Firstly, we are not rivals. In fact,we are really good friends,” hesays, attempting to correct percep-tions. “And he is free to take hisown decisions. Actually, we aretwo different people doing our ownset of businesses in our own spaceand time.”

ROOM FOR ALL

Web series in Telugu are relative-ly young, with just over 15 origi-nals having been aired so far,including Pelligola, Loser, Locked,G.O.D, and Mastihave. A few oth-ers on the space are dubbed ver-sions from other languages.

Nonetheless, Telugu ZEE 5 hasgained prominence in the last twoyears. “We are glad to be torch-bearers in the Telugu digitalspace. Having started two yearsago, we made it easier for othersby showing what kind of contentgoes into the digital space and con-nects with discerning Teluguviewers,” says Aparna Achrekar,Programming Head, ZEE 5, India.

Aparna, however, feels unde-terred by competition fromTollywood biggies such as AlluAravind. “We would always wel-come healthy competition becauseit is inevitable in any business. In

fact, we need more players toexpand the Telugu digital space toprovide more opportunities toactors, directors and technicians.However, our team will work evenharder to retain our NumeroUnoslot with more refreshing shows.”

Validating Aparna’s claim thatZEE 5 occupies the top spot in thedigital arena, Sushmita Konidela,daughter of Chiranjeevi, launcheda crime-based Web series on it aweek ago. This is despite heruncle, Aravind, running a digitalplatform. “We are very happy to beassociated with Sushmita and shenaturally brings in a brand value.We are also thankful to other tal-ented makers such as AnishKuruvilla and Bangarraju, alongwith newcomers. Our strength liesin out-of-the-box content and wewill stay ahead. We are also airingthe most popular family showAmrutham to get closer toTelugu hearts,” Aparna adds.

QUALITY OVER CASH

However, a person fromanother digital platform,on condition of anonymi-ty, tells us that whileTelugu producers withdeep pockets can make`100 crore movies they can-

not deliver successful Web contentwith similar ease.

“Web content is a different ballgame, so Telugu filmmakers haveto change their mind-set first.They should realise that cateringto niche — urban and educatedviewers who abhor clichéd fare —is a new challenge; just havingtonnes of money is not enough.Filmmakers caught up in masalapotboilers and action adventureswill face difficulties in the digitalarena,” he warns.

H o w e v e r ,V i r e n

Thambidorai, Creative Head,South India, Viu digital platform,is a little more hopeful, sayingthere is space for everyone in theemerging Telugu digital world.“Actually, there is a demand for1,000 hours of Telugu content in ayear, but we are churning out only300 hours, so more players can joinin,” he explains.

Noting that thanks to the lock-down, viewers, who are used towatching free content on YouTube,have begun slowly understandingthe subscription module, Virenshares his optimism about thefuture. “With viewers realisingthat the digital platform is thenew theatre, things are onlygoing to look betterin the days tocome,” hec o n -cludes.

The digital spaceopens up with

room for all, butsome cash-rich

Tollywood biggies want to

dominate

Satyadev Kancharana from the web series, Locked

A poster from the web series, Loser

Allu Aravind has a head-start with his digitalplatform ‘Aha’, launched in March 2020. Suresh

Productions has enough resources and manpower tocome up with an exclusive digital platform too.

Admitting that he is keenly observing thehappenings in the digital arena and

studying various modules in placeSuresh Babu tells us that they are

definitely going to explore thedigital space

Sushmita Konidela, daughter ofChiranjeevi, launched a crime-basedWeb series on Zee 5, a week ago.This is despite her uncle, Aravind,running a digital platform

Arjun Sarja’s daughtertests COVID positive

In home quarantine, says Aishwarya Sarja

Aishwarya, daughter ofpopular lead actor in

Telugu and Tamil, Arjun Sarja,has tested positive for COVID-19. The Chennai-based family hadgone to Bangalore to grieve thedeath of Arjun’s nephew, theKannada actor ChiranjeeviSarja. When they returned from

Bangalore, they got themselvestested for COVID-19, andAishwarya’s results were posi-tive.

“I have recently been testedpositive for COVID-19. I amquarantined at home while tak-ing all the necessary precau-tions under the guidance of aprofessional medical team. To

anyone who has been in contactwith me in the past few days,please take care. Stay safe every-one and please wear a mask. Iwill update you soon withgreater health,” Aishwaryaposted on her Instagram handle.

All other members of the fam-ily are negative for theCoronavirus.

Firstly, we (Allu Arvind and I ) are notrivals. In fact, we are really good friends.Actually, we are two different people

doing our own set of businesses in our ownspace and time

— Suresh Babu

Suresh Babu eyes OTT pie!

SHALKIE

As the ongoing coronavirushas confined us within thefour walls of our homes, there

has been a renewed focus on lookingafter oneself, both — physically andmentally. Lately, with the desponden-cy brought upon by the currentuncertain times, the self-care hasagain come into the fore. Thus, everynow and then, one can find peopleposting their photos using sheetmasks in the name of self-care. Theseserum-dipped facemasks, which haveamassed massive popularity withbeauty trend-setters and their follow-ers, have become a must for one’sSaturday-night self-care routine. Butit’s only reasonable to question howefficient they really are.

FEEL GOOD PRODUCTThe trendy sheet masks are face-shaped masks that are soaked innutrition-packed serums. Usuallymade out of paper or fabrics, theseindividually packed masks requirethe users to cover their faces for a cou-ple of minutes with it to get theinstant glow. Fast, convenient, andeconomically viable, these maskshave become a preferred option formillennials.

However, according to dermatolo-gists, these facemasks have less to dowith skincare but more with mentalcare. “It is just a feel-good product. Weget patients coming to us asking forrecommendations because in theirmind applying a mask is like a ritualto get a benefit,” says Dr RinkyKapoor, cosmetic dermatologist andthe director of The Esthetic Clinics.

The reason why it’s safest to cate-gorise these masks into the classifica-tion of feel-good products is that theinstant gratification provided by themasks is its biggest selling point. Inother words, the effect of the mask istemporary as opposed to the desiredlong-lasting results. “The effects aretemporary, and you cannot put itevery day. It cannot replace your med-ical regime or your regular cleansing,toning, moisturising creams,” saysDr Kapoor. Adding further, she says,“Masks are essentially for people whohave some function to attend becauseit gives you an instant effect of skinbrightening. Masks are just supple-mentary and they are not part of themedical treatment,” adds Dr. Kapoor.

NOT A MEDICAL TREATMENTWith so many beauty bloggers andvloggers touting sheet-face-masks, itis commonly mistaken that theserum-dipped masks will be the solu-tion to all the skin’s problems. Today,the cosmetics and the beauty marketsare full of beauty companies sellingsheet-masks for hydration, acne, anti-

aging, skin lightening, and brighten-ing and almost every skin problemunder the sky. Hence, one needs to beextremely cautious to not assumethese masks to solve all the issues ofthe skin.

“For instance, if someone has aproblem of acne, they have to haveanti-acne therapy. Dermatologistswill have to give them anti-acne andanti-bacterial creams because theyhave active ingredients that workover some time. One will have to usemedical-grade products,” insist thedermatologist.

BE WARY OF INGREDIENTS“A lot of people come to us with dam-aged skin because they have beenexcessively using such ubiquitousover the counter (OTC) products,”reveals Mumbai-based dermatologistDr. Manohar Sobhani. Since the skintypes vary, one needs to be careful asto what ingredients are there in theserum.

Always read the contents beforeselecting the sheet-masks. “Serum issomething that will give nutrition tothe skin. But ‘nutrition’ is a veryvague term. These facemasks with‘nutritious-serums’ can cost you any-where between `10 to `5,000. So howcan one know what natural ingredi-ent is actually used in the product,”he questions. “The most importantthing is to look into the products tosee if they have any damaging agentssuch as skin lightening and brighten-ing ones,” he adds. Further, always

prefer fragrance-free andhypoallergic sheet-masksto avoid irritable skin.

7Tuesday 21 July 2020

Deccan Chroniclebodylicious

NEEM OIL

The neem oil and neem leaf extracts areanti-fungal properties. One can apply the

neem oil (directly to the affected area two tothree times a day, massaging it into the skin.

This will reduce the infection.

GARLIC

For an effective treatmentfor athlete’s foot, crush

four to five cloves of garlic,smash them, and rub themover the affected area. Dothis twice daily.

With monsoon flourishing, one is susceptible to skindisease Athlete’s Foot. This common fungal infection

that typically starts between the toes can cause a scaly,itchy rash that may have painful or burning sensations.

With home remedies, one can treat the symptoms.

TEA TREE OIL

Tea tree oil has antifungal and antibacterialproperties. Mix warm coconut oil with tea

tree oil for a concentration of 25 to 50 percenttea tree oil. Apply it to the affected area twotimes a day.

Follow these thumb rules before youdecide to invest in over the counter

skin-care productsSHALKIE

Indulging in over-the-counter skin-care prod-ucts is something that weare all guilty of. As con-sumers, when we areinvesting in something asessential as skin-care, weneed to change the statusquo established by crafti-ly made advertisements,and dive ourselves deepinto understanding intoour own skin’s needs.

AGE AS A FACTORAccording to dermatolo-gist Dr. ManoharSobhani, a person’s skin’sneeds vary in differentage groups. “Below theage of 25, people general-ly have oily and acne-prone skin. In the ages 25to 35, there is a mix batchof people suffering fromof oily and dry skin, andthese days, we see a lot ofacne because of the hor-monal imbalance. After30, the skin begins to dryand age,” he says.

Hence, according totheir age group and skintype, one needs to knowwhat products will suitthem the best. Mindlesslyinvesting in products thatdon’t cater to one’s skincan treat it to the point ofirreversible damage.“People below the age of25 need to use productsthat don’t block theirpores, as they canincrease the pigmenta-tion,” says the doctor.

PH LEVEL AS A FACTORGoing back to our sciencetextbooks, one needs torecall that the pH of skinis 5.5. Hence, productsthat have less or more pHshould be strictly avoid-ed. “Most of the soaps arepH 11, some are even pH

12. Anything between pH7 and pH 11 is alkaline, soit’s harmful for the skin.We strongly recommendnot using soap that causesfoam because they arealkaline. It is very impor-tant to only buying skincare products with pH5.5,” he warns.

INGREDIENT AS A FACTOR

According to the derma-tologist, using sunscreenthroughout the year ismandatory. Though, evenchoosing which sun-screen to use can betricky nowadays.“Unfortunately, in sun-screen, you now havewhitening and lighteningagents. These agents peeloff your skin, as they arechemicals, and end updamaging than repair-ing,” he highlights.Therefore, one needs tostay to the basics andavoid getting trapped intothe marketing gimmicks.

Another core ingredientone needs to watch out foris Vitamin C that has anti-ageing properties andmicronutrients. “If youare using a product withVitamin C, you shoulduse it as soon as possible,because otherwise it oxi-dises. Stable Vitamin C isdifficult to procure, as itgets expensive,” heshares.

Be a smart buyerUnmasking the truthThe serum-sheet facemasks have amassed wide popularityamong beauty trendsetters but dermatologists warn you to not get floored

TIPS TO FOLLOWDo not keep sheet mask for longer than20 minutes.

Do not use daily. You may use once aweek or once in two weeks.

Mask containing retinol or exfoliantsshould be used in the night, followed bysunscreen during the day.

In case of any adverse effects such asredness or itching, wash your face withwater, apply moisturiser, and immediate-ly contact your dermatologist.

Vaani Kapoor is thrilled by the opportunity towork with Hrithik Roshan, Ranbir Kapoor and

Akshay Kumar. Vaani is paired with Hrithik in theblockbuster WAR; she will be seen with Ranbir inShamshera; and she has been cast opposite AkshayKumar in Bell-Bottom.

Vaani says, “I feel absolutely ecstatic and I could-n’t feel more blessed that I get to work with suchstalwarts in the industry. I have always idolisedHrithik, Ranbir, and Akshay Kumar. I have lovedtheir movies, so it’s like a dream come true forme.”

Talking about the different acting styles ofthese three stars, Vaani says, “Each of them isincredible and brings a different style to thetable. Hrithik is incredibly talented and pas-sionate about anything he’s involved in andthat passion inspires people around him.Ranbir is effortless in his demeanour and hiscool and composed charisma is so evident onscreen. Akshay, of course, is a legendary idolwho is one of the best in the industry today,and his contributions and star presence can-not be ignored.”

Vaani says she has an interesting and dif-ferent chemistry with each of these screen

icons. “I have a different equation with allof them and our chemistry is also so dif-ferent because of the kind of roles, butthey all make me want to do better andbe better to try and match up withthem,” she says.

The gorgeous actress definitely hasone of the strongest line-ups of

movies and is looking forward to hercoming releases.

— Sanskriti Media

8Tuesday 21 July 2020

Deccan Chroniclematinee

Mogul is on Aamir’s radarAamir Khan took timeduring the lockdown toread through the script of

the Subhash Kapoor-directedMogul. Khan, who was shootingfor Laal Singh Chaddha beforethe lockdown started, has notgone through any other freshidea, as he understands that itwill take a long while for thingsto get back to normal, and hewould rather read a script closerto when it can be made.

“Aamir is a one-film person.Hardly has he multitasked in thepast many years — he works onhis looks, his physique, and onconditioning his mind to work onthe film in hand. And that is thecase with Laal Singh Chaddhatoo. But he still has the filmMogul in mind and read a fewparts of Subhash Kapoor’s updat-ed script,” says an industry

source.Aamir had signed the film ini-

tially also as a producer withBhushan Kumar. It is a biopic ofthe late music baron GulshanKumar and one of the mostimportant projects from the TSeries banner.

But following allegations ofsexual harassment during the#MeToo movement againstKapoor in October 2018, Khandecided to opt out of the film,stating, “Without casting anyaspersions on anyone involved inthis case, and without coming toany conclusions about these spe-cific allegations, we have decidedto step away from this film.”

Eleven months later, inSeptember 2019, Aamir said thathe was back in the film and gavethe green light for Kapoor’s nextproject with Richa Chaddha, a

film called Madam ChiefMinister — said to be on the lifeof former Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Mayawati.

“I couldn’t sleep at nightbecause I used to constantly feelthat my actions have inadvertent-ly caused a person, about whoseguilt I have absolutely no idea,to lose his right to work andearn a livelihood,” Aamirhad shared then.

It has to be noted thatAkshay Kumar was theone who was firstsigned for the film,but he backed outover several dif-ferences. AndAamir Khanstepped into hisplace.

— Sanskriti Media

The actor has started reading through the updated script and might give his nod soon

Phone dead? Call phone bhoot

It is confirmed. Phone Bhoot will be KatrinaKaif ’s next release after Sooryavanshi. The

Farhan Akhtar-produced film directed byGurmeet Singh, and also starring Ishaan Khatter

and Siddhant Chaturvedi,will spook you next year.

While Diwali 2020 was thescheduled date for the

Sooryavanshi release, tradepundits say it may well

be pushed depending onhow the COVID-19 situ-ation pans out. In thiscontext, FarhanAkhtar and the threeactors made a jointannouncement.

Katrina Kaifsaid, “A major

announcement wason the way when lock-

down happened.” IshaanKhatter confirmed that it was,

“An absolute blast of a script.”Katrina is also looking for-

ward to her big-ticketannouncement in the super-hero franchise with directorAli Abbas Zafar. Ali had con-firmed that he was workingon a superhero film withKatrina in the lead, andsources later added that itwould be a two-part pro-ject, ideally for a digitalplatform. A new ideatitled Mr India, withmultiple changes in

the script of the orig-inal film, is on the

anvil. — SanskritiMedia

A dreamcome truefor Vaani