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*Late City Vol. 2 Issue 77*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

ASouth Carolina woman was Thursday sentenced to 25 years in jail aftershe admitted poisoning her husband by putting eye drops in his

drinking water. In a plea deal, Lana Sue Clayton, 53, pleaded guilty tovoluntary manslaughter in the death of Steven Clayton, 64, at their homein Clover, near Charlotte, CBS-affiliate WBTV reported. She was accusedof poisoning her husband by lacing his drinking water witheye drops between July 19 and 21, 2018. Her husband wasinitially thought to have died of natural causes but anautopsy toxicology report showed poisonous levels oftetrahydrozoline, which is found in eye drops.

US NURSE POISONS HUBBY USINGEYE DROPS, GETS 25-YEAR JAIL

40 JAWANS HOSPITALALISED INJHARKHAND WITH FOOD POISONING

SAI GETS FOUR WEEKS TO DISPOSESEXUAL HARASSMENT COMPLAINTS Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday said all pending complaints of

sexual harassment at SAI institutes will be disposed off in the nextfour weeks to ensure a zero tolerance approach towards the menace.Reacting to a report which claimed that 45 cases of sexual harassmentwere reported from 24 Sports Authority of India (SAI)institutes over the last 10 years in which little or noaction was taken, the minister asserted that the body'sinstitutes are, in general, safe spaces. "There is zerotolerance for sexual harassment on SAI campuses. Theinquiries that are underway will be speeded up,” he said.

More than 40 jawans have been hospitalised due to food poisoning inthe Jharkhand Armed Police Training Centre in Padma, Hazaribagh.

According to police, jawans posted in the training centre fell ill aftertaking dinner on Thursday night. The jawans were then rushed to theHazariagh Medical College. Around1,130 constables are taking trainingat the Padma training centre. Aftertraining the jawans will be promotedto the rank of Assistant SubInspector (ASI).

VIJAY MALLYA ALLOWED 17-BEDROOMFRENCH MANSION TO ROT, SAYS BANKIndian tycoon Vijay Mallya's palatial island home boasts 17 bedrooms,

a cinema, private helipad and even its own nightclub. But one of thebanks suing him for unpaid debts allege the formerbillionaire let it fall into disrepair. Mallya bought 'LeGrand Jardin' through his company Gizmo Invest SAin 2008 using a 27-million euro ($30 million) loanfacility from Ansbacher & Co., a unit of QatarNational Bank SAQ. Gizmo has since defaulted onthe loan, the bank told a London high courtWednesday.

State Cabinet meet advancedto upset plans of protesters

Cabinet to meet at 3 pm today; ministers endorse reports on capitalPNS n VIJAYAWADA

In a strategic move, the Stategovernment has decided tohold the Cabinet meeting at 3pm on Saturday instead ofJanuary 20, the day on whichthe Opposition parties andAmaravati Parirakshana Samitiare planning to organise mas-sive protests.

Chief Secretary NeelamSawhney on Friday eveningissued orders advancing thedate of the Cabinet meeting.

Earlier in the day, membersof High Power Committee,who had their fourth meeting,met Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy at his camphouse in Tadepalli. They madeseparate PowerPoint presenta-tions to the CM on various pro-posals mentioned in the GNRao Committee and BCG

reports. They also made recom-mendations to the CM in sup-port of decentralisation ofdevelopment and governance,thus favouring the three-Capital concept mooted by thegovernment.

The committee will holdanother meeting on Saturday.

"We will go ahead with ourplan in tune with the people'saspirations. The Chief Ministertold us all steps will be taken for

the benefit of the farmers whogave up their lands for the cap-ital. He suggested that a betterpackage be given to the farm-ers," Municipal Minister BotsaSatyanarayana told reportersafter the meeting.

The Minister feigned igno-rance when asked about themove to scrap the AP CapitalRegion Development AuthorityAct, in the wake of the plan toshift the capital from Amaravati

to Visakhapatnam.The HPC is expected to

submit its report in a couple ofdays before the Cabinet meetson January 20 to approve it.

The HPC report will then beplaced in the Legislature dur-ing the extended winter sessionbeginning on January 20 fordiscussion upon which thegovernment is expected tocome out with its final decisionon the state capital issue.

Meanwhile, the AP HighCourt admitting a PIL on sub-mission of suggestions andraising objections and extend-ed the last date up to 2.30 pmon Monday (January 20). ThePIL also sought the HC torestrain the High PowerCommittee from submitting itsfinal report to the governmentuntil then.

Continued on Page 3

The Chief Minister told usall steps will be taken for

the benefit of the farmers whogave up their lands for thecapital. He suggested that abetter package be given to thefarmers

— BOTSA SATYANARAYANAMunicipal Administration Minister

BJP gains from alliance withJSP, but what about Pawan?The political scene in

Andhra Pradesh hasreceived a sudden spike withthe 'joint agitation' announce-ment by Jana Sena and BJP.

As there are no electionson the horizon, except forlocal bodies, the decision towork together by two partieshas surprised political circles.

But the inside story is thatthere has been consistenteffort by top brass of two par-ties to have some sort ofalliance, though the BJP lead-ership was reluctant due tothe many objections fromPawan Kalyan and his teamthat had earlier sailed withCommunist parties.

Pawan's inconsistency vis-à-vis his political ideologywas also a stumbling block toclinching an alliance. How-ever, Pawan rushed to NewDelhi and clinched a deal, sig-naling a change of stance.

Now, everyone is trying tofigure out who stands tobenefit from the deal.

On the surface, it appearsthat BJP will gain the mostfrom the alliance.

During the 2019 Assemblyelections, BJP could get only1 per cent of the vote in APwhereas about 7.5 per cent ofthe voters backed the JanaSena. However, the percent-age of the votes went unno-ticed due to Pawan Kalyanhimself losing in both theseats he contested from, andhis party winning just oneseat. Statistics suggest thatJana Sena has the votes butlacks a strategy while theBJP has leadership but has novote bank.

Their coming together willmost certainly help eachother strengthen. However,many political analystsbelieve that the alliance is pre-cursor to the merger of JanaSena with the BJP, just before

the 2024 elections.If everything goes as pre-

dicted, the present movewould be certainly a pragmat-ic one.

But then there is an ideo-logical hurdle for Pawan andhis team as BJP is hell bentupon getting support for theCitizens Amendment Act(CAA), NPR and NRC.While pursuing its agenda inAP, BJP might hurt the votebank of Pawan which consistsmostly of youth.

The youth across the coun-try are fighting against NRCand divisive politics. In hishurry to please the "big broth-er", Pawan will have to sacri-fice his fans who are Left-ori-ented and from the minori-ties.

This may also erodePawan's ideological basewhich often compares himwith Che Guevara, theArgentine Marxist revolu-tionary.

For Pawan Kalyan, the BJPis strong at the Centre andthis may help him build hisparty from the grassroots. Itis already rumoured that hewill be offered Rajya Sabhamembership and will beaccommodated in the UnionCabinet to get maximummileage from his strong

image among youth.BJP as of now has no pop-

ular face to woo to voters ofAP and with about 7.5 percent vote bank and strong-hold over a numerically well-distributed community,Pawan certainly fits the bill.

The future of the Jana Senadepends on whether Pawanwill use the time till 2024 tobuild his party organizationor simply hang around theBJP and generally be relevant.

Whereas, BJP will certain-ly use its association with theJana Sena to attract moreKapu leaders into the partyfold and send a signal to peo-ple of AP that it is a strongcontender in the comingdays. This will automaticallyimprove its fortunes in anoth-er important southern statethat shares border withKarnataka where it is inpower.

Religious differences ofpolitical leaders had neverplayed a role in Andhra pol-itics but it appears now thatthe BJP, armed with JanaSena, will not leave theopportunity to raise theirvoice against YSRCP leader-ship whenever there is achance.

At the time of rivals com-ing to form a labyrinth, theruling YSRC party needs tobe more careful as the localmedia is also not in favour ofYSRCP government for theirown reasons.

— Krishna Prasad

During the 2019 Assembly elections, BJPcould get only 1 per cent of the vote in APwhereas about 7.5 per cent of the votersbacked the Jana Sena. However, thepercentage of the votes was unnoticed dueto Pawan Kalyan himself losing in both theseats he contested from

JAC leaders meet Governor,explain situation in Amaravati

PNS n HYDERABAD

In a major setback to ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy, a CBI special court hereon Friday dismissed his peti-tions seeking all the dischargepetitions to be heard at onestretch. After a lengthy argu-ment, the court decided to hearall the petitions separately.

Jaganmohan Reddy alsofiled a petition requesting theCBI court to hear the ED caseafter completion of the CBIcase. However, the court dis-missed this petition too.

The court posted the case toJanuary 24.

However, JaganmohanReddy, who appeared for courthearing last Friday, did notturn up this Friday.

His lawyers filed absent peti-tion on behalf of the ChiefMinister, seeking exemptionfrom personal appearancewhich the court granted for

this week. The hearing onJagan's disproportionate assetscases will continue next Fridayon January 24.

Continued on Page 3

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Amaravati Parirakshana SamitiJAC leaders on Friday metGovernor Viswa BhusanHarichandan and apprisedhim of the situation in theCapital.

They alleged that the policewas being highhanded againstpeaceful protestors. They alsosubmitted a memorandum tothe Governor demanding thatthe Capital be retained atAmaravati.

Later, the JAC leaders toldreporters that they had broughtto the notice of the Governorthe police excesses in theCapital region. JAC convenorA Siva Reddy said 20 associa-tions had come together onone platform with 'One State-One Capital' being their objec-tive. There was a lot of uncer-

tainty in the Capital regionover the last one month follow-ing the government's three-Capital proposal.

Siva Reddy said the JAC hadurged the Governor to ensurethat the State government gives

clarity on the Capital issue. Hesaid that the Governorpromised them that the issuewould be brought to the noticeof President Ram NathKovind.

Continued on Page 3

Amaravati Parirakshana Samiti JAC leaders submit a memorandum to GovernorViswa Bhusan Harichandan at the Raj Bhavan in Vijayawada on Friday.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Three years after they shiftedfrom Hyderabad to Amaravati,employees of the AndhraPradesh Secretariat may soonbe packing their bags forVisakhapatnam as theJaganmohan Reddy-led gov-ernment appears to be goingahead with its proposal to shiftthe administrative capital to theport city.

Nearly 4,000 employees,working from the temporarySecretariat in Amaravati sinceOctober 2016 are resisting themove to shift the capital evenbefore they could settle downhere after they were forced torelocate following the bifurca-

tion of undivided AndhraPradesh.

However, unlike the farmerswho are on the streets for amonth protesting against thethree capitals proposal, the

employees are not voicing theirdissent publicly. They maycome out in the open if the YSRCongress Party (YSRCP) gov-ernment takes a decision tomove the seat of governance to

Visakhapatnam.To prevent any such resis-

tance from the employees andto persuade them to relocate toVisakhapatnam, the govern-ment is said to be working ona series of sops for them.

The government proposes toshift the Secretariat and theChief Minister's Office toVisakhapatnam, making it the

state capital for all practicalpurposes. Under the proposal,the High Court will be shiftedto Kurnool while Amaravatiwill house only the Raj Bhavan,the official residence of theGovernor and the StateAssembly and that too only forthe winter session.

The government's proposalis based on the premise ofdecentralisation of develop-ment. This idea was endorsedby an experts' panel and theBoston Consultancy Group(BCG). A high-powered com-mittee comprising of ministersand senior officials is current-ly studying both the reports toarrive at a conclusion.

Continued on Page 3

Unlike the farmers ofAmaravati who are onthe streets for amonth , theemployees are notvoicing their dissentpublicly

Delhi courtissues freshdeath warrant

Two minorboys ‘rape' 4-year-old girl

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh HighCourt on Friday took a seriousview of police excesses inAmaravati during the ongoingagitation by farmers andwomen.

The court asked theAdvocate General as to what

had led the male police offi-cials to kick women protesters.

Continued on Page 3

PNS n KAKINADA

Offering her a kite during theSankranti celebrations, twominor boys (aged 14 and 8years) allegedly raped a 4-year-old girl under Two-Town police station limits inKakinada of East Godavaridistrict.

The girl is a LKG studentof a private school inKakinada Town and the twoboys are her neighbours.

The incident came to lighton Friday when the parents ofthe girl filed a complaintwith the police.

The mother of the girlnoticed injuries on her pri-vate parts and when asked,the child revealed that thetwo boys took her to a roomby offering a kite. She told hermother that the 14-year-oldfirst sexually assaulted herfollowed by the younger one.

Based on the complaintfrom the girl's parents, thepolice registered a case underthe Protection of childrenfrom Sexual Offences(POCSO) Act.

The girl was sent to a gov-ernment hospital for medicalexamination.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A Delhi court Friday issuedfresh death warrants forFebruary 1, 6 am against thefour convicts in theNirbhaya gang rape andmurder case.

Additional Sessions JudgeSatish Kumar Arora washearing a plea by one of thefour death row convicts in thecase, Mukesh Kumar Singh,seeking postponement of thedate of his execution sched-uled for January 22.

CAT sets asideappointmentof Punjab DGP PNS n CHANDIGARH

In a big blow to Punjab gov-ernment, the CentralAdministrative Tribunal onFriday set aside the appoint-ment of Dinkar Gupta as thestate police chief.

A two-member benchpronounced the order on anappeal by MohammadMustafa and SiddhharthChattopadhyaya, who hadchallenged Gupta's appoint-ment on the ground thatthey were "ignored" despitebeing senior to Gupta.

Continued on Page 3

In his second petition,Jagan appealed to thecourt to allow his co-accused to appear be-fore it in his absencein the charge sheetsfiled by the ED

CBI court refuses relief for Jagan

NIRBHAYA CASE

HC takes serious viewof police excesses

Relocation again irks Secretariat staff

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated January 07, 2019 5:00 PM

ALMANAC TODAY

Month & Paksham:Paush & Shukla PakshaPanchangamTithi : Trayodashi: 03:43 am (Next Day) Nakshatram: Rohini: 03:51 pmTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 12:22 pm – 01:45 pmYamagandam: 08:14 am – 09:37 amVarjyam: 07:42 am – 09:19 am,09:24 pm – 10:59 pmGulika: 10:59 am - 12:22 pmGood Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 12:35 pm – 02:13 pmAbhijit Muhurtham: NIL

VIJAYAWADAWEATHERFFoorreeccaasstt:: Partly CloudyTemp: 31/19Humidity: 71%Sunrise: 06.48Sunset: 05.57

Gujarat IPS to benew JD of CBI Manoj Shashidhar, a

Gujarat-based IPS officerhas been appointed the newJoint Director of CBI in a sud-den development by the BJP-led NDA government at theCentre on Friday. The moveassumes significance in thebackdrop of CBI adopting atough stand against AP CM YSJaganmohan in disproportion-ate and quid pro quo casesbooked by the CBI and ED.

Continued on Page 3

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CAPSULE

JEO releases postersVIJAYAWADA: Joint ExecutiveOfficer (JEO) of Tirumala TirupatiDevasthanams (TTD) P BasanthKumar released the posters ofthe annual Brahmotsavams ofSri Prasanna VenkataramanaSwamy of Kosuvaripalle onFriday. Deputy executive officerElleppa and others were alsopresent on the occasion at thechambers of JEO in TTDadministration building inTirupati.

One person dies as car hits bikeVIJAYAWADA: One person diedwhen a speeding car hit a bikeon the national highway nearNTR Nagar in Nellore district onFriday. According to police,Janardhan (65), a resident of BVNagar in Nellore, and his relativeNagaraju, went to NTR Nagar onsome work on their bike andwere returning when thespeeding car, which was comingfrom Kavali on the nationalhighway, hit their bike. With theimpact of the collision,Janaradhan fell on the road andhis legs came under the wheelsof the vehicle, while the carcrashed into the nearbyfarmlands. In the accident,Janaradhan died on the spot dueto severe injuries, while Nagarajualso suffered serious injuries.Locals, who witnessed theaccident, rushed him to ahospital for treatment. Onreceiving information, policereached the spot and shifted thebody to the government hospitalfor post-mortem. Police seizedthe car and registered a case.

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | JANUARY 18, 2020 vijayawada 02

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Data from Fitbit smartwatches helped predict flu in real timeIANS n NEW YORK

In a first-ever study on wear-able devices to improve surveil-lance of infectious disease,researchers in the US haveachieved real-time flu predic-tion in five States, using restingheart rate and sleep trackingdata from Fitbit users.

Resting heart rate tends tospike during infectiousepisodes and this is captured bywearable devices such as smart-watches and fitness trackersthat track heart rate.

Influenza results in 650,000deaths worldwide annually.And approximately seven percent of working adults and 20per cent of children aged underfive years get flu each year.

"Responding more quickly toinfluenza outbreaks can pre-vent further spread and infec-

tion, and we were curious to seeif sensor data could improvereal-time surveillance at thestate level," said study authorDr Jennifer Radin from Scripps

Research TranslationalInstitute.

Researchers reviewed de-identified data from 200,000users, who wore a Fitbit wear-

able device that tracks users'activity, heart rate and sleep forat least 60 days during the studytime.

From the 200,000, 47,248

users from California, Texas,New York, Illinois andPennsylvania wore a Fitbitdevice consistently during thestudy period, resulting in a total

of 13,342,651 daily measure-ments evaluated. The averageuser was 43 year olds and 60per cent were female.

De-identified data from theusers retrospectively identi-fied weeks with elevated rest-ing heart rate and changes toroutine sleep, said the researchpublished in The Lancet DigitalHealth journal. "In the futureas these devices improve, andwith access to 24/7 real-timedata, it may be possible to iden-tify rates of influenza dailyinstead of weekly basis," saidRadin.

This data was compared toweekly estimates for influenza-like illness rates reported by theUS Centres for Disease Control(CDC). This is the first timeheart rate trackers and sleepdata have been used to predictflu, or any infectious disease, in

real-time.With greater volumes of data

it may be possible to apply themethod to more geographical-ly refined areas, such as coun-ty or city-level. The authorsidentify several limitations intheir study.

Weekly resting heart rateaverages may include dayswhen an individual is both sickand not sick, and this mayresult in underestimation of ill-ness by lowering the weeklyaverages.

Other factors may alsoincrease resting heart rate,including stress or other infec-tions. Lastly, the authors notedthat previous studies of sleepmeasuring devices have beenfound to have low accuracy,though they said that accura-cy will continue to improve astechnology evolves.

"Responding morequickly to influenzaoutbreaks can preventfurther spread andinfection, and we werecurious to see if sensordata could improve real-time surveillance at thestate level," said studyauthor Dr Jennifer Radinfrom Scripps ResearchTranslational Institute

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Gajanan Mallya, GeneralManager, South CentralRailway, declared the KadiyamRailway Station in VijayawadaDivision as energy-neutral sta-tion recently.

Kadiyam Railway Station inRajahmundry section hasearned the rare distinction ofbeing the first energy-neutralstation in the entire SouthCentral Railway zone by meet-ing all its electrical demandsthrough solar energy. This rarefeat is accomplished by instal-lation of 10KWp on-grid solarpower plant on roof top of thebuilding with bi-directionalnet-metering.

The entire electrical load ofthe station works on 10KWpsolar power plant during the dayand excess units generated fromthe plant are fed to DISCOM(Distribution Companies)through net-metering. Similarly,during the night, the powerrequirement for the building istaken from DISCOM, whichwill be deducted from energysupplied to DISCOM duringthe day, hence, the energy con-sumption charges paid to DIS-COM is zero from railways.

The solar power plant was

procured at a cost of Rs 6.5 lakh,this solar plant is also resultingin reduction of 14.7 tonnes ofcarbon footprints per annum.The station is already equippedwith all energy efficient electri-cal equipment like LED lights,BLDC (Brushless DC electricmotor) fans and star ratedpumps to minimise the electri-cal consumption.

P Srinivas, Divisional RailwayManager, Vijayawada, compli-mented V Venkata Ramana, SrDEE/M, and the team for theirdedicated work and achievingthis rare feat. The DRM alsosaid that such cost efficient ini-tiatives not only bring down themaintenance cost but also con-tributes to clean and greenenvironment.

Kadiyam declared as energy-neutral railway station

n The entire electricalload of the stationworks on 10KWp solarpower plant during theday and excess unitsgenerated from theplant are fed toDISCOM (DistributionCompanies) throughnet-metering

n Similarly, during the night,the power requirementfor the building is takenfrom DISCOM, which willbe deducted from energysupplied to DISCOMduring the day, hence, theenergy consumptioncharges paid to DISCOM iszero from railways

Drive to createawareness onenergy savingtips launchedPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Petroleum ConservationResearch Association (PCRA)'publicity van' was flagged-offhere on Friday to createawareness among people inrural areas on fuel and ener-gy saving tips here on Friday.The van will travel 1,800 kmacross the State for 45 Dayscovering 40 km per day.

State Level Coordinator forOil Industry (AP)Umashankar welcomed thegathering and said that vari-ous activities aiming at differ-ent segments of users wouldbe carried out during themonth-long programme forcreating awareness on conser-vation of fuels.

In order to spread the mes-sage, students are chosen asambassadors and variouscompetitions, which were heldacross the State in education-al institutions. He compli-mented and thanked the edu-cation department andschools for encouraging chil-dren to participate in compe-titions held from July toOctober 2019 in which theState has recorded a participa-tion of 7.5 lakh students.

Barricades confuse motorists, add to NH chaosPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Police impose curbs to regulatetraffic and at the same time putbarricades to provide safety tomotorists, four wheeler andheavy vehicle drivers. But sometime, barricades may becomehurdles for motorists as bikeriders in the city are complain-ing that the barricades kept atmany points along the NationalHighway passing through thecity are confusing them andsometimes resulting in minormishaps.

Also, some mischievous per-sons are often seen displacingthe barricades bringing themexactly at the middle of theroad. This not only cause cre-ate traffic congestion but alsomotorists trying to overtake

vehicle could end up hitting thebarricades.

These barricades are placed

in zig-zag pattern at all busyroads, including highways, fly-overs, narrow roads and even

at places where ground diggingwork is underway. Freak acci-dents were most common insuch places as the motoristswere habituated to ride fast andovertake other vehicles.

Instead of speed breakers,the traffic police are relying on

the barricades to slow down thespeeding vehicles. Though themajor accidents have comedown, there were minor acci-dents due to hitting irregular-ly positioned barricades, partic-ularly during the night time.

When asked about this issue

in his last visit to the city,Director General of Police DGautam Sawang said, "At pre-sent, erecting barricades is theonly solution to slow the speedof vehicles. Keeping them hasbrought down accident casessignificantly across the State.When we come up with a newway out, we will definitelyremove them. Till then, publicmust support us."

New Accident AnalysisSystem to curb fatal roadmishaps

An accident analysis systemwill be set up in Vizag regionto curb the fatal road accidents.The Police and Road TransportAuthority (RTA) will sharetheir resources and informa-tion. If the casualties in amishap were three or more,

then the enforcement depart-ments used to analyse the fatalaccidents.

District administration, inthe recent road safety reviewmeeting, had asked police andRTA to form special teams toscientifically investigate all thefatal road accidents by visitingthe accident scene to ascertainthe exact reasons for fatal acci-dents.

"In some cases, police men-tion several reasons in the FIR toconclude the case but it may notbe accurate. A detailed study ofthe fatal accidents such as crashcausation, injuries, vehiclesinvolved in the crash would fol-low, based on which the author-ities would take decisions," saidMember of Road SafetyCommittee, Vizag, AH Khan.

n Some mischievouspersons are often seendisplacing thebarricades bringingthem exactly at themiddle of the road. Thisnot only cause createtraffic congestion butalso motorists trying toovertake vehicle couldend up hitting thebarricades

n These barricades areplaced in zig-zag pattern atall busy roads, includinghighways, flyovers, narrowroads and even at placeswhere ground digging workis underway. Freakaccidents were mostcommon in such places asthe motorists werehabituated to ride fast andovertake other vehicles

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The Indian Institute of Welding(IIW-INDIA) under the guid-ance of Union Ministry ofSkill Development (GOI,)along with the support ofNational Skill DevelopmentCorporation and private indus-tries, is working on closing theswelling gap of the skilled per-sons needed in the country tomeet the national objective ofmaking India a 5 trillion econ-omy.

Addressing the media hereon Friday, R Srinivasan, Past-President of IIW and Co-Chairman of the NationalOrganising Committee, said"The skill level and the techno-logical gap that exist today inthe Micro, Small & MediumEnterprises (MSME) sector ofthe manufacturing units areglaring. IIW India - a PremierWelding Institute of the coun-try in its mission to develop theupgradation of the weldingscience and technology inmetal joining technique hastaken up a structured way ofwelding training and certifica-tions methods".

This will be showcased inthe 13th Weld India Exhibitionin association with theInternational Institute ofWelding from February 6 to 9in Mumbai on the Theme of'Advanced WeldingTechnology and QualitySystems for DevelopingEconomies'. With strong baseof over 5,000 welding profes-

sionals and 300 industries (pri-vate and public sector) as themembers IIW India will alsohost concurrently 5thInternational Welding con-gress to answer the needs ofindustries.

Participants from over 22countries will present exclusiveskill development techniquesfor the Indian industries. Theexperiences of various suc-cessful welding models aroundthe globe, especially underwater and space welding will beshared by expert team fromIndia, Canada, China, Australiaand government officials.

A National WeldingCapability workshop is beingorganised to identify and pre-pare the roadmap to close thetechnological gaps that existstoday, which is being seen as abig hurdle to meet the globalchallenges that face the Indian

market.The Weld India exhibition,

which showcases the latesttechnologies that has devel-oped globally to meet the chal-lenges and the participation ofvarious industries and thetraining institute will give anopportunity to over 4,000industrial visitors and the del-egates to understand the newtechniques that can be used toreduce the gap in the needs ofthe skill development.

R Srinivasan added"Industries will be benefittedlargely by associating with thisevent, as over 150 technicalpapers are likely to be present-ed and an opportunity is cre-ated by The IIW India to theIndian industries by bringingover 250 highly experiencedpersons from across the worldto interact with the Indianindustries so that Central gov-

ernment Mission of 'Make InIndia" is achieved at all levels."

13TH WELD INDIA EXPO FROM FEB 6 TO 9 IN MUMBAI

‘Bridge skill and technology gap’

l R Srinivasan, Past-President of IIW and Co-Chairman of the NationalOrganising Committee,said "The skill level andthe technological gapthat exist today in theMSME sector of themanufacturing units areglaring

l IIW India - a PremierWelding Institute of thecountry, in its mission todevelop the upgradationof the Welding Scienceand Technology in metaljoining technique hastaken up a structuredway of welding trainingand certifications

PNS n AMARAVATI

The State government hasbeen successful in taking stepsto see that the people, whotravel to their native places forSankranti, are not chargedheavily by the private busoperators by operating specialAPSRTC bus services, saidMinister for Transport andInformation and PublicRelations PerniVenkataramaiah.

Speaking to the media hereon Friday, the minister saidthat 3,132 cases were bookedbetween January 2 and 16against private bus operatorsfor over-charging and 544buses were seized for viola-tions, topping the list with 202buses in Krishna district fol-lowed by 198 buses inVisakhapatnam district.

Moreover, the APSRTC hadannounced 4,900 special busservices in addition to the exist-

ing ones as per the demand dur-ing the festival time to check theexploitation by the private busoperators. A provision wasmade to ferry 1,03,500 people totheir native places during thefestival. The number of people,who used the RTC services dur-ing January 2020 has increasedfrom the number of people,who used the services duringJanuary 2019.

Similarly, over 2,000 special

buses would be plied by theRTC to take the people to theirdestination after the end of thefestival from Friday onwards,the minister said and addedthat the government hadincreased the number of busesfor the convenience of trav-ellers during the festival timeand that they can call8309887955 on WhatsApp ifthey find that the private busoperators are fleecing them.

AEO inspects sitefor RTC depotPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Additional executive officer ofTTD AV Dharma Reddy onFriday inspected different sitessuitable to be allotted to set upthe APSRTC bus depot cumgarage in Tirumala. He, alongwith estate officer of TirumalaVijayasaradhi, DFOPhanikumar Naidu, visitedPurohita Sangham, BataGangamma and WasteManagement areas to study thefeasibility of providing the landto the APSRTC. EEChandrasekhar, TirumalaDepot Manager GiridharReddy and others accompaniedthe additional executive officerduring the site inspection.

PNS n AMARAVATI

Coming down heavily on JanaSena president Pawan Kalyan,Minister for Information andPublic Relations Perni Nanihas said that the former is arank political opportunist.Addressing a press conferenceat Tadepalli on Friday, he saidPawan Kalyan had inheritedthe opportunism of TDP pres-ident N Chandrababu Naidu.He observed that Naidu had noconfidence in his son Lokesh,so he was moved closer toPawan Kalyan.

Stating that Jana Sena hadno ideology, he said it was hav-ing alliance with its critics.Pawan Kalyan had proved that

even a political party could beput up for sale in OLX.

Pawan Kalyan had gone onrecord saying that he hatedChief Minister JaganmohanReddy. "Then, why is he takingJaganmohan Reddy's nametime and again?" he said.

Perni Nani wondered why

Pawan Kalyan had entered intoa tie up with BJP uncondition-ally. He could have fought forthe Special Category Status(SCS) to the State, he added.

He said Pawan Kalyanhelped Chandrababu Naiduand Narendra Modi win theelections in 2014. In 2019, hehelped Jaganmohan Reddywin the elections and he wouldrepeat it in 2024.

Stating that Naidu has polit-ical and financial interests, hesaid he would use others toachieve what he could throughhis son Nara Lokesh. But,Pawan Kalyan had put evenNaidu to shame in this game. Hehad become a 'care of ' addressfor opportunism, he added.

Pawan, a rank opportunist: Perni Nani

544 private buses seized

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | JANUARY 18, 2020 vijayawada 03

CAPSULE

MoolasthanamEllamma gets sarefrom SrivaruVIJAYAWADA: In a traditionalpractice, the precious gift inthe form of 'Sare' was sent tothe famous folk goddesslocated at Chandragiri,Moolasthanam Ellamma, fromHer beloved brother SriVenkateswara Swamy onFriday. In connection with theSankranti UtsavaluKondachuttu festival, the ex-officio member of TTD TrustBoard and TUDA Chairmanand local legislator Dr CBhaskar Reddy has presentedthe 'Sare' on behalf of TTD.Earlier, 'Sare' was broughtfrom Tirumala to ChandragiriSri Kodandaramalayam templeby temple PeishkarLokanatham. From there,'Sare' reached MoolasthanamEllamma temple in a grandreligious procession. The EOof the folk Goddess temple SriRamakrishna Reddy andChairman Sri SivashankarReddy received Sri C BhaskarReddy and arranged darshan.

Paruveta Utsavamheld at ReniguntaVIJAYAWADA: The ParuvetaUtsavam of Sri Govinda RajaSwamy was held at Reniguntaon Friday with religious pompand gaiety. Utsava deities ofSri Govindaraja Swamyflanked by Sridevi, Bhudeviand Andal Ammavaru werebrought to the ParuvetaMandapam located atRenigunta in the evening and'Asthanam' was performed bythe priests as per Agamas.Later in the evening, deitiesreturned to the temple.

Central jails in State overcrowdedPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The latest report of NationalCrime Records Bureau alsothrows light on how the pris-ons in Andhra Pradesh areovercrowded by 10 per centand also understaffed by atleast 24 per cent. The problemof overcrowding in CentralPrisons in the State continuesto persist.

Andhra Pradesh has fourCentral Prisons located inVizag, Rajahmundry, Nelloreand Kadapa and which canaccommodate 3,814 prison-ers. However, in 2018, 4,212prisoners, including 4,049 maleand 163 female prisoners (bothconvicts and under-trials),were accommodated with anoccupancy rate of 110.44 percent. In 2017, the four CentralJails in the State had 4,690 pris-oners, while the number ofprisoners in the four jails was4,126 in 2016.

The overall occupancy ratein all the jails (Central Jails,Sub-Jails, District Jails, WomenJail, Open Jails, altogether 105jails) in Andhra Pradesh is 79.5per cent in 2018. A total of6,988 prisoners, including 414

female inmates, were in variousprisons in the State against itscapacity of 8,786.

Superintendent of VizagCentral Prison S Rahul saidthat convicts in the Central Jailsaccount for around 40 percent, while the under-trial orremand prisoners' share wasaround 60 per cent, he added.

A total of 2,373 convicts pris-oners were in the Central Jailsand a few other jails in the State.

The majority of the convictprisoners (1,574) were involvedin murder cases, while 163 con-victs involved in rape cases.

Senior advocate KMuralidhar said that someunder-trial prisoners, who wereinvolved in ganja transporta-tion and a few other cases, arestruggling to get bails due tovarious reasons. As the moreyoungsters are involving incrimes such as cybercrimes,

ganja trade and a few others foreasy money, there is a need toincrease the capacity of thecentral jails in the state, headded.

Members of the Visakha-patnam Bar Association saidthat overcrowding in the jailsis also one of the violations ofHuman Rights, as it is theresponsibility of the govern-ment to provide reasonablespace in the prisons.

n Andhra Pradesh has fourCentral Prisons located inVizag, Rajahmundry,Nellore and Kadapa andwhich can accommodate3,814 prisoners.However, in 2018, 4,212prisoners, including4,049 male and 163female prisoners (bothconvicts and under-trials), were accommo-dated with an occupancyrate of 110.44 per cent

n In 2017, the four CentralJails in AP had 4,690 pri-soners, while the num-ber of prisoners was4,126 in 2016.

n The overall occupancyrate in all the jails(Central Jails, Sub-Jails,District Jails, Women Jail,Open Jails, altogether105 jails) in AP is 79.5 percent in 2018. A total of6,988 prisoners, inc-luding 414 females werein various prisons againstits capacity of 8,786.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP national general secre-tary Nara Lokesh and CPInational secretary Narayanaled a massive motorcycle rallyin Mangalagiri on Friday insupport of the Political JACmembers and farmers agitat-ing against the three-Capitalconcept in the State. Naraynarode pillion on Lokesh'smotorcycle.

Leaders and activists ofOpposition parties, includingthe TDP, Jana Sena and Leftparties, took part in the bikerally.

Amaravati continued to betense on the 31st day of theagitation with farmers, theirfamilies and sympathisers tak-ing to streets and organisingvarious forms of protest. Therally, which began at Sitaramajunction, culminated atAmbedkar statue inMangalagiri town. Peoplebelonging to different villagesaround Mangalagiri took partin the rally.

CPI State secretaryRamakrishna warned ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy against shifting theCapital from Amaravati. Hesaid if the Chief Minister wentahead with his decision, hispolitical fall would start fromthere.

Ramakrishna alleged thatthe CM did not talk to thedeputy chief ministers andthe ministers about the Capitalshifting. He expressed solidar-ity with Deekshas started by

farmers in various villages. Hesaid Jaganmohan Reddy andVijayasai Reddy were decidingthe fate of five crore people.

The CPI leader appealed topeople to take part in the'Chalo Assembly' agitation onJanuary 20.

Alleging that police werecausing inconvenience topeaceful protesters in theCapital Region and hedemanded that the DGP act ina responsible manner.

Meanwhile, police are gear-ing up to foil the Oppositionattempt to lay siege to theAssembly and is deploying alarge number of police person-nel to tackle the situation.

TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh greeeting people during amotorcycle rally in Mangalagiri on Friday. CPI leader Narayana is also seen

Lokesh leads bikerally in Mangalagiri

n Leaders and activists ofOpposition parties,including the TDP, JanaSena and Left parties,took part in the bike rally

n The rally, which began atSitarama junction,culminated at Ambedkarstatue in Mangalagiritown. People belongingto different villagesaround Mangalagiri tookpart in the rally

n Amaravati continued tobe tense on the 31st dayof the agitation withfarmers, their familiesand sympathisers takingto streets and organisingvarious forms of protest

Collectors'detentionpowersextendedPNS n AMARAVATI

The State government hasextended the period forempowering Collectorsand Commissioners ofPolice to exercise powersof detention for threemore months fromJanuary 16 to April 15.According to an orderissued by Chief SecretaryNilam Sawhney onFriday, the governmenthad delegated the powersto all Collectors andCommissioners of Police,Vijayawada andVisakhapatnam, to exer-cise the powers with aview to preventing any-one from acting in anymanner prejudicial to thesecurity of the State orfrom acting in any man-ner prejudicial to themaintenance of publicorder or from acting inany manner prejudicial tothe maintenance of sup-plies and services essen-tial to the community.

Admin gears up for smooth conduct of R-DayPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Collector V Vinay Chanddirected officials of depart-ments concerned to ensureproper coordination witheach other and dischargetheir duties for smooth con-duct of the Republic Day.

As the State-level celebra-tions of 71st Republic Day willbe conducted at the RK Beachin Visakhapatnam, the districtadministration is making nec-essary arrangements.

He informed that joint col-lectors will look after thearrangements related to VVIPguests near the main stage.Already, committees wereformed with higher officialsas presidents and district offi-cials as members.

These committees willensure organising the eventon a high-scale. Each com-mittee will take care ofarrangements such as mainstage, welcome of guests,accommodation, transport,parking, protocol, seating,sanitation, preparation oftableaux and their manage-ment.

Along with Governor

Biswa Bushan Harichandanand Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy, severaldignitaries from the Centraland State governments willarrive in the city on January25 to take part in the flaghoisting event here onJanuary 26.

Rehearsals and otherarrangements for the annualparade will start in the cityfrom Saturday. The Collector

asked officials to complete thearrangements on a war-foot-ing. He directed beautificationof the RK Beach to create afestive atmosphere in the city.

Police Commissioner RKMeena informed that theytightened security measuresto prevent any untoward inci-dent in the event. Trafficrestrictions were imposed inthe city as per the schedule.The VIP convoy routes werealso being prepared, he said.

The police imposed trafficrestrictions on the BeachRoad from Friday. The traf-fic police blocked the roadfrom 5.30 am to 11.30 am inthe morning and from 3 pmto 5.30 pm. City buses 28K,28Z/H, 10K and 66K will plyon diverted routes.

Devuni KadapaBrahmotsavamsposters releasedPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The annual Brahmotsavams atSri Prasanna Venkataramanatemple in Devunikadapa ofYSR district will be conductedfrom January 26 to February 4with Ankurarpanam onJanuary 25, said JEO P BasanthKumar. The JEO, who releasedthe posters related to thisannual event at his chambersin TTD Administrative build-ing in Tirupati on Friday, saidBrahmotsavams will be organ-ised by the TTD for nine dayswith Dhwajarohanam onJanuary 26, Garuda Seva onJanuary 30, Kalyanotsavam onJanuary 31, Rathotsavam onFebruary 1 and Chakrasnanamon February 3. He said theannual Pushpayagam will beconducted on February 4 inthe evening between 6 pm and9 pm.

State Cabinet meet advancedto upset plans of protesters

Continued from Page 1

The next hearing in thecase will be held on January 20.

Incidentally, a large numberof farmers gathered at thegrievance cell of CRDA officeand submitted their sugges-tions and objections on thegovernment's decision overdecentralisation. Theydemanded that the GN RaoCommittee and BCG reportsbe made available in Telugu.

CRDA officials said thefarmers had submitted sever-al suggestions and objectionsto them.

The farmers have preparedan action plan to submit theirgrievances. They have pre-pared letters giving theirdetailed opinion. TheAmaravati Praishshana Samiti

too has been issuing letters tovarious categories of landown-ers to be handed over to thegovernment.

Meanwhile, the farmers hadfaced inconvenience in upload-ing their grievances onlinedue to failure of the server.

However, the government tooksteps to rectify the problem.

Minister BotsaSatyanarayana later confirmedthat the technical problemswas fixed and appealed to thefarmers to upload their griev-ances and suggestions.

High Court takes seriousview of police excesses

Continued from Page 1

The High Court conclud-ed its hearing in the petitionagainst police highhanded-ness on the farmers agitatingagainst the proposal to shiftthe Capital from Amaravati.

In all, seven petitions werefiled against prohibitoryorders in Vijayawada andAmaravati region by farmers,women and lawyers. Besides,Chief Justice GK Maheswarihad taken a suo motu cog-nizance of the situation.

The farmers contended incourt that the police behav-iour towards them, especial-ly towards women farmers,was objectionable right fromthe first day of the agitation.The police were carrying outattacks on them though they

were staging protests peace-fully, they said.

They contended that therewas no way they could reg-ister their protests due toSection 144 and Section 30being in force in the region.They prayed for lifting of banorders in the region.

When the court askedAdvocate General whySection 144 was imposed, thelatter replied that it wasalready in force since 2014.The present government hadonly extended their period,he added. Asked to explainwhy 619 cases were regis-tered against the protesters,the AG said that they weretaken into custody as theywere going to participate ina rally at Benz Circle inVijayawada.

The High Court pulled upthe police officials for gettingthe women arrested by maleofficials.

The High court took seri-ous objection to TulluruDSP's comments on imposi-tion of Section 144. TheDSP's comments on SupremeCourt's judgment that thecitizens should not be deniedtheir constitutionally-guar-anteed rights in the name ofSection 144 turned contro-versial.

He had told mediapersonsthat the apex court order wasdelivered keeping the situa-tion in Jammu and Kashmir.The High Court found faultwith the DSP's commentson the apex court's order.The next hear ing wasadjourned to January 20.

JAC leadersmeet Governorexplainsituation inAmaravati

Continued from Page 1

The problems being facedby the farmers, general pub-lic and women on account ofheightened security in theAmaravati Capital region andthe imposition of Section144 and Section 30 in theregion were explained to theGovernor, the JAC leadersaid. Woman leaderYalamanchali Anjali said thecommon people had lost theright to speak in the State.

Co-convenor of State JACGadde Tirupati Rao, JACKrishna district convenor RVSwamy, Y Ramana Rao,Gadde Rajaling,Venkateswara Rao and otherswere present.

Relocation againupset Secretariat staff

Continued from Page 1

Jaganmohan Reddy is underattack from the entire opposi-tion over the proposal as theybelieve he is dumpingAmaravati just because it is thebrainchild of his predecessorChandrababu Naidu.

The ministers and rulingparty leaders are also defend-ing the proposal on the groundthat the previous Naidu gov-ernment was involved in insid-er trading, a term being usedto refer to the allegations thatthe leaders of the then rulingTDP purchased land in andaround Amaravati at throw-away prices before announc-ing the state capital.

Another argument is thatthe government has no finan-cial resources to build a Gre-enfield capital city, which re-quires more than Rs 1 lakh-crore.

When the AP capital movedto Amaravati in 2016, the go-vernment employees includingIAS and IPS officials were ina dilemma about moving theirfamilies from Hyderabad asAmaravati and even nearbyVijayawada had no infrastruc-ture including schools for

their children. Some of them,who could not afford to main-tain a house in Hyderabad,relocated to Vijayawada withtheir families, but many fam-ilies are still in Hyderabadwhile they continue to shufflebetween the two cities.

They usually visit their chil-dren in Hyderabad on week-ends as the distance betweenHyderabad and Vijayawada(where the employees cur-rently live) is about 300 kmand the two cities are well-con-nected by road, rail and air.

If the Secretariat is shifted toVisakhapatnam, the employeeswill not be able to visit theirfamilies on weekends as thedistance and travel time will bemore than doubled.

The employees feel that thelatest proposal came as a boltfrom the blue even beforethey could overcome the shockof shifting from Hyderabadand settle down in Amaravati-Vijayawada.

"How can we relocate onceagain? The whole debate aboutthe capital is political butnobody is talking about theproblems the employees willface," said an employee oncondition of anonymity.

Man rapes his minordaughter repeatedly PNS n TIRUPATI

In another shocking incident, a man rapedhis 11-year-old daughter under influenceof alcohol on Thursday in a village underVedurukuppam mandal of Chittoor district.The 40-year-old accused is a daily wagelabourer and has two wives. The girl is hisdaughter from his second wife. She is aClass-VI student and stays in a hostel.

According to police, the survivorreturned home for Sankranti festival and herfather raped her while she was busy withhousehold chores on Thursday.

The police registered a case against theaccused under Section 376 of IPC and rel-evant Sections of the POSCO Act. Thepolice nabbed the accused and sent the girlfor medical examination. Preliminary inves-tigations revealed that the accused hadraped his daughter repeatedly over the pastfew months.

KTR: We split distswithout any protestsPNS n HYDERABAD

TRS working president andMunicipal AdministrationMinister KT Rama Raoresponding to the decentrali-sation of Capitals in AndhraPradesh said that Telanganaunder the aegis of ChiefMinister K ChandrashekarRao could create 33 districtsfrom 10 without any protests.In a chit chat with the media,he said that there is a need tothink about why there areprotests and agitation inAndhra Pradesh when itcomes to Capital.

KTR took a dig about JanaSena's alliance with BJP.Responding to a question onJana Sena expanding to otherlocations, he said,"International level also hecan align with BJP at interna-tional level. Pawan kalyan canexpand presence anywhereand we are not concernedabout it".

Furious over thechargesheet released by BJP,KTR said, "Congress and BJPhave been in power fordecades but could not bedeveloped any of the cities, soPeople would file chargesheet

against them. Chargesheetshould be filed against BJP,which done nothing for thestate since 2014". He took a digat BJP's Smart cities andAmrut programs. He askedBJP President Laxman to showin which Amrut town is'Amrutham' (elixir) is flowing.He said that BJP is spreadinglies about releasing fund tocities. He said that the detailsof the special funds broughtfrom the Center to the townsof Telangana during the lastfive and a half years are to beput before the public. He chal-lenged Union Minister KishanReddy to show 2BHK housesbuilt anywhere in any BJP-ruled state, similar to doublebedroom houses built inTelangana state.

CBI court refusesrelief for Jagan

Continued from Page 1

The ED cases hearings willbegin on January 24 itself.

Jagan was not been givenexemption from personalappearance before the court inED cases also. The 11 CBIcases will be taken up for hear-ings separately.

The CBI has filed 11

charge sheets, besides sup-plementary charge sheetagainst Jagan in alleged casesof disproportionate assetsand quid pro quo invest-ments into his firms.

The court heard two peti-tions filed by JaganmohanReddy. One is for clubbing ofall the 11 charge sheets filed bythe CBI.

Continued from Page 1

The Union HomeMinistry issued orders con-firming the appointment ofShashidhar, a 1994-batchIPS officer of Gujarat cadre.

The news came afterYSRCP MP Vijaya Sai Reddylast week wrote to UnionHome Minister Amit Shahto appoint someone from anon-Telugu State as the CBIJD. He said that earlier, VVLaxminarayana and otherJDs had 'secret friendship'with TDP and they tried tofix Jagan in CBI cases on

'political grounds'. Amit Shah, responding

positively to Vijaya Sai'srequest, directed officials toidentify a new JD from non-Telugu states cadre.

At a time when the CBI isseen to have adopted a toughstance against Jagan, theappointment of Shashidharhas raised eyebrows.Shashidhar is said to haveclose links with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andHome Minister Amit Shahand has also worked underthem when they were rulingGujarat.

Gujarat IPS to be new JD of CBI

CAT sets asideappointment ofPunjab DGP

Continued from Page 1

The CAT bench, in its 54-page order, directed the UnionPublic Service Commissionand the empanelment commit-tee to form a new panel of threesenior-most off icers forappointment to the post ofDGP and complete the exercisewithin four weeks.

In the plea filed last year, thetwo police officers said theywere senior to Gupta and hadoutstanding service records."The empanelment was doneby a committee headed bythen DGP Suresh Arora whowas biased againstChattopadhyaya," their counselAtma Ram said in the plea.

The police officers alsoopposed the contention of theempanelment committee,which sent a report to theUPSC saying the officerslacked experience in core polic-ing areas, Ram said.

While Mustafa is a 1985-batch off icer andChattopadhyaya a 1986-batchofficer, Gupta is a 1987-batchofficer.

The counsel said his clientswere ignored by UPSC forappointment as the state's DGP.

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | JANUARY 18, 2020 nation 04SHORT READS

Illegal 4-storeybuilding reduced torubble in few secondsINDORE: Under its ongoingdrive against illegal structures,the Indore MunicipalCorporation (IMC) on Fridayrazed a four-storey buildingthrough controlled implosionmethod, turning it into rubble inless than 60 seconds. An IMCofficial said the owner of thebuilding, located in Nyaya NagarExtension, was issued a noticeon January 15, asking him todemolish the illegal structure,built on government land,within two days. After thedeadline ended withoutdemolition of the building, civicofficails used explosives tobring it down throughcontrolled implosion method,he said. The explosives were sopowerful that the four-storeybuilding turned into a pile ofrubble in less than a minute, theofficial said. Building implosionmethod involves strategicplacing of explosive materialand timing of its detonation sothat a structure collapses onitself in a matter of seconds.

MP: 7 land owners inPanna fined Rs 27 crfor 'illegal mining'

Man strangles wife,three daughters andmother in Bihar townMUNGER (BIHAR): A middle-aged man, said to be sufferingfrom acute depression,allegedly throttled to death hismother, wife and threedaughters, before making afailed suicide bid here onFriday, police said. Fifty-year-old Bharat Kesri - awatchmaker by profession -strangled his 80-year-oldmother, wife Asha Devi (45)and daughters Shivani Kumari(16), Simran Kumari (14) andSonam Kumari (10), in a fit oftemper early in the morning inKharagpur police station area ofthe district. Kesri thereafterclimbed atop the roof of hishouse and jumped off thebuilding but fell on a neighbourwho was passing by,Kharagpur SHO Mintu Babusaid. The neighbour has beenadmitted to a hospital withinjuries, while Kesri, who wasunscathed, has been arrested.Preliminary investigations haverevealed that he had beensuffering from depression forsome time, the SHO said. Thebodies of the deceased havebeen sent for post mortem, headded.

PANNA (MP): The districtadministration of Panna inMadhya Pradesh has imposeda fine of total Rs 27 crore onseven private land owners forallegedly indulging in illegalmining, an official said onFriday. These illegal miningcases came to light recentlyduring the districtadministration's drive, theofficial said. Ajaygarh's subdivisional magistrate (SDM) SK Gupta said that during thedrive, cases were registeredagainst the seven persons forillegally carrying out miningactivities on their private lands."On the basis of reports andestimation submitted by themining inspector, notices wereserved to these land owners,"Gupta said. As they failed tosubmit any proof to supporttheir case, a fine of around Rs27 crore was imposed onthem, he added.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A court Friday granted bail toone of the accused arrested inconnection with the violence inSeemapuri area in northeastDelhi during anti-Citizenship(Amendment) Act protests.

Additional Sessions JudgeSanjeev Kumar Malhotragranted relief to Rais Ahmedon a personal bond of Rs20,000 and one surety of likeamount.

The police had earlier toldthe court that Ahmed hadallegedly hurled petrol bombsat them and he himself hadreceived a blast injury.

Ahmed's counsel advocate

Zakir Raza had said that he wasfalsely implicated.

The court earlier grantedbail to 13 persons and direct-

ed them to get their doubtsregarding the amended lawcleared by the police.

On December 20, stone-

pelting and incidents of vio-lence were reported fromDaryaganj in Old Delhi andSeemapuri during protestsagainst the CAA. Fourteenpeople were arrested in con-nection with the case.

Claiming that some of theirpersonnel were seriouslyinjured in the Seemapuriprotest, the police had slappedsection 307 (attempt to mur-der) of the IPC against all theaccused.

The advocates, however, saidtold the court that section 307was wrongly invoked since"admittedly the nature ofinjuries sustained by policeofficials is simple in nature".

ANTI-CAA PROTESTS

Delhi court grants bail to accusedin Seemapuri violence case

PNS n NEW DELHI

President Ram Nath Kovind hasrejected a plea seeking disqual-ification of Aam Aadmi PartyMLA Surender Singh forallegedly holding an office ofprofit by being a member of theNew Delhi Municipal Council.

The President signed theorder rejecting the petition onDecember 31, 2019 based on anopinion given by the ElectionCommission on September 16last year. The February 8 polls tothe Delhi assembly wereannounced on January 6. Singh,MLA from Cantonment in theoutgoing assembly, was denieda ticket by the AAP. One Sanjeev

Kumar Rajput had moved apetition in August last yearseeking disqualification of Singhas MLA, alleging that by beinga member of the NDMC he washolding an office of profit.

The EC opined that "as perSection 4 of the NDMC Act,1994, there is a statutory man-date to appoint two such MLAsto NDMC who have been elect-ed to the Delhi LegislativeAssembly from an assemblyconstituency which falls whol-ly or partly in the NDMC area.Hence, Surender Singh, MLAdid not incur disqualification."Based on the Commission'sopinion, the President rejectedthe petition.

President junks plea todisqualify AAP MLA forbeing member of NDMC

PNS n CHANDIGARH

The Punjab Assembly on Fridaypassed a resolution by voicevote against the controversialCitizenship Amendment Act,the second state in the countryto do so.

The resolution moved byParliamentary Affairs MinisterBrahm Mohindra was passedafter over three hours of discus-sion. While the ruling Congressand main opposition AamAadmi Party (AAP) supportedthe resolution, the BJP opposedit. The SAD sought inclusion ofMuslims in the list of commu-nities that could be granted cit-izenship under the amended

law. CAA provides for granti-ng citizenship for Hindus,Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsisand Christians, who hadmigrated to India beforeDecember 31, 2014 but not tomembers of the Muslim com-munity. The Kerala Assemblywas the first to pass the resolu-tion against the amendedCitizenship Act.

Punjab Assembly passesresolution against CAAby voice vote

PNS n AURANGABAD

NCP legislator DurraniAbdullah Khan has said thereis enough evidence to provethat Saibaba was born at Pathriand there is a fear if the townin Parbhani district ofMaharashtra is developed, theimportance of Shirdi, whichhas a grand temple of thesaint, will fade.

Devotees in large numbersthrong the Shri Sai JanmasthanTemple at Pathri and during arecent visit there, ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackerayhad announced a grant of Rs100 crore for development ofthe town.

People of Shirdi, inAhmednagar district, areafraid that if Pathri is devel-

oped, the importance of Shirdiwill decline, Khan said.

There is enough evidence toprove that Pathri is the birth-place of Saibaba and PresidentRamnath Kovind has alsoendorsed the fact earlier, theNCP leader added.

"While Shirdi is Saibaba's'karmabhoomi' (work place)and Pathri is 'janmabhoomi'

(birthplace) and both theseplaces have their own impor-tance," he said. Tourists fromacross the country and worldvisit Pathri in large numbers,he said, adding that the townlacks good infrastructure.

"The Chief Minister hasagreed to grant Rs 100 crore toPathri. People of Shirdi don'thave an issue with the funds,they just don't want Pathri tobe called Saibaba's birthplace,"he said.

Shirdi residents fear that ifPathari comes under the lime-light, the flow of devotees totheir town will come down, hesaid. The Saibaba Temple atShirdi draws lakhs of devoteesand is one of the most popu-lar pilgrim destinations in thecountry.

Enough proof to show Pathri isSaibaba birthplace: NCP leader

Trade unions oppose Modi’smove to rename Kolkata portPNS n KOLKATA

Trade unions at Kolkata PortTrust (KoPT) have startedprotesting against PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'sannouncement to change thename of the port after DrSyama Prasad Mookerjee, say-ing the move will hurt the his-tory of the organisation. Amass signature campaign fromthe employees of the riverineport against the Centre's deci-sion has been launched by theNational Union of WaterfrontWorkmen(I), backed by theWest Bengal's rulingTrinamool Congress. Modi,while speaking at the 150thanniversary programme ofKoPT on January 12, hadannounced that it will berenamed after the Bharatiya JanSangh founder.

"It is not acceptable. Wecommenced our protests andhave been holding meetingsand rallies in offices and docks.

We plan to continue such pro-grammes at every corner of theport area mobilising supportfrom employees, until the deci-sion is revoked," NationalUnion of Waterfront Workmen(I) general secretary AsimSutradhar told PTI.

He said the union has col-lected 1,000 signatures andhopes to garner 1,500 more infew days, following which amemorandum will be sent to

the shipping ministry to recon-sider the name-change deci-sion.

CITU-backed Calcutta Portand Shore Mazdoor Uniongeneral secretary Prabir Sarkarsaid they are supporting thecampaign as they oppose theModi's announcement. Thename-change will hurt "the his-tory of the organisation", hesaid.

"In Kolkata, we have Netaji

Subhas Dock and SatishSamanta berth at Haldia, bothnamed after freedom fighters.We had also sent a letter to theport chairman, urging him tocelebrate Netaji's birthday onJanuary 23," Sarkar said.

Hind Mazdoor Sangh-backed trade union leaderChinmoy Roy said theCentre's announcement was"unexpected" as there was nodemand for it.

Govt set to issue EoI, sharepurchase agreement for AI PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre is likely to issue theexpression of interest (EoI) andthe share purchase agreement(SPA) for debt-ridden Air India'sprivatisation within the nextthree to four days, a senior gov-ernment official said on Friday.

The official said that "agroup of ministers (GoM),headed by Union home min-ister (Amit Shah), had onJanuary 7 approved the EoIand the SPA for the airline".

"We will issue these withinthree to four days," the govern-ment official said.

While Air India's net loss in2018-19 was around Rs 8,556crore, its current total debt isaround Rs 80,000 crore.

Dismissing rumours thatthe national carrier will shutdown operations, CivilAviation Minister HardeepSingh Puri had said onDecember 31 that the nation-al carrier, which is incurring aloss of Rs 20 crore to Rs 26crore daily, will keep on oper-ating till it is privatised.

Air India chief AshwaniLohani on January 4 had saidthat "rumours" of the disinvest-ment-bound airline's shut-down are "all baseless", weeksafter he told the civil aviationministry that the carrier'sfinancial situation was "gross-ly untenable" for sustainingoperations.

In 2018, the governmenthad proposed to off load 76 percent equity share capital of the

national carrier as well astransfer the management con-trol to private players.

However, the offer failed toattract any bidder when thedeadline for initial bids closedon May 31, 2018. Therefore,the Centre re-started the dis-investment process in 2019.

The Centre plans to divestits entire stake in Air India thistime so as to make it attractivefor private entities.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Two of the main accused in themurder of rationalist M MKalburgi have absconded andcannot be traced, a SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT) hastold the Supreme Court onFriday in its status report.

Kalburgi, a former vice-chancellor of Hampi Universityand well-known epigraphist,was shot dead at his residencein Kalyan Nagar in Dharwad,Karnataka, on August 30, 2015.

Born in 1938, he was aSahitya Akademi award-win-ning writer of old Kannada lit-erature.

The SIT, in its status reportfiled before a bench of JusticesR F Nariman and S RavindraBhat, said that investigation hasbeen completed and charge

sheet filed in the murder case."We have gone through the

status report filed by the SIT.It says that two of the mainaccused have been abscondingand cannot be traced. Theyalso say that a charge sheet hasbeen filed in the case andmatter has been remitted to aSessions Court for trial," thebench said.

As the Karnataka HighCourt is monitoring the case,nothing survives in the petitionfiled by Kalburgi's wifeUmadevi and disposed of herplea, it said.

Umadevi moved the apexcourt in 2017 for a probe by aNational Investigation Agency(NIA) or Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) claimingthat no substantial probe hasbeen carried out so far in themurder case by the state police.

She alleged that there was acommon link between themurder of her husband andthat of rationalist NarendraDabholkar and social activistGovind Pansare, and hence theprobe should be done by aCentral agency.

On February 26 last year, thetop court had transferred the

probe into the killing ofKalburgi to the SIT, alreadyinvestigating the murder caseof journalist-activist GauriLankesh after Karnataka gov-ernment said there were com-mon links in the two cases.

The state's CrimeInvestigation Department wasearlier probing Kalburgi'skilling and a SIT was investi-gating the murder of Lankeshin September 2017, inBengaluru.

The apex court had asked theDharwad bench of theKarnataka High Court to mon-itor the SIT investigation intoKalburgi's killing. It had said thatif killings of Kalburgi, Lankesh,Pansare and rationalistDabholkar are linked, it shouldbe probed by one agency andmonitored by one high court.

KALBURGI MURDER CASE

Prime accused have fled, untraceable: SIT

PNS n NEW DELHI/GENEVA

Social entrepreneurs workingwith the Schwab Foundationfor Social Entrepreneurshiphave distributed USD 6.7 bil-lion in loans or value of prod-ucts and services, improvinglives of more than 62 millionpeople in 190 countries, andIndia is the top-most countryin terms of their presence, anew study showed on Friday.

These social entrepreneurshave also helped mitigate morethan 192 million tonnes ofCO2 and improve educationfor more than 226 millionchildren and youth.

Besides, they have helpedprovide energy access for morethan 100 million people, andhave driven social inclusion forover 25 million people.

The report, titled TwoDecades of Impact: SchwabFoundation for SocialEntrepreneurship, has beenreleased ahead of the 50thWorld Economic Forum(WEF) Annual Meeting inDavos and focusses on howsocial entrepreneurs canachieve impact at scale, changethe systems in which theyoperate and contribute to the

Sustainable DevelopmentGoals.

"The community has dis-tributed more than USD 6.7billion to projects and productsthat have enhanced liveli-hoods, including increasinghealthcare access, providingclean energy solutions, andimproving education out-comes," the report said.

"This report challenges thenotion that models of socialinnovation can be dismissed assmall, isolated islands of suc-cess amidst our overwhelmingglobal challenges," said HildeSchwab, Co-founder andChairperson of theFoundation. "Consider thecombined capability of allsocial innovators in the world,those recognised in networks

like the Schwab Foundation,and the hundreds of thousandsthat exist in local communitiesaround the world," she said.

This community of socialenterprises operate in morethan 190 countries, with 25 percent of them reaching at least90 countries each.

All 10 countries in whichsocial entrepreneurs are mostactive are low to middleincome markets (with theexception of the US), and sixof those are in Africa. Theyinclude Brazil, Ethiopia, India,Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, SouthAfrica, Tanzania, Uganda andthe US.

150 girls to performGarba at R-Day fetePNS n NEW DELHI

A group of 150 girls from differ-ent schools of Gujarat are set todelight the crowd with a colour-ful 'Garba' performance at theRepublic Day parade here onRajpath, an achievement that hasleft the students ecstatic.

Besides, students from threedifferent schools in Delhi, whichhave been selected for the firsttime to take part in the ceremo-nial parade, would also regalethe crowd with Rajasthani folkdance, Bengali Baul-themedrendition and Yoga routines,officials said on Friday.

The students who will per-form 'Garba' have been drawnfrom two schools inGandhinagar — J M ChaudhariSarvajanik Kanya Vidyalaya and

Sarkari Prathmik Shala, andanother from Gondal in Rajkotdistrict -- Kantaben BabubhaiBera Kanya Vidyalaya.

"For the 71st Republic Day,the Directorate of Education andMinistry of Defence have select-ed three Delhi schools and theWest Zone Cultural Centre ofUdaipur wherein a total of 474girls and 162 boys will presentcolourful cultural programmes,"a senior official said.

3-man panel to probelocking up of MPPNS n NEW DELHI

The Visva Bharati University onFriday set up a three-membercommittee to look into theincident of BJP MP SwapanDasgupta confined in a roomfor several hours when he vis-ited the campus on January 8 todeliver a lecture on the new cit-izenship law.

Dasgupta, Vice ChancellorBidyut Chakraborty and otherswere confined for six hours ina university building as hun-dreds of Left-leaning studentsstaged a sit-in outside accusingthe politician of promotinghatred among communities.

"We have formed a three-member committee to lookinto the matter where BJP

leader Swapan Dasgupta hadsaid that he was locked in aroom with a mob outside, at theuniversity, where he wasaddressing a meeting onCitizenship Amendment Acton January 8," a senior officialsaid. Dasgupta had taken toTwitter to inform about theincident.

"How does it feel to have amob attack a peaceful meetingon CAA and intimidation stu-dents? This is what is happen-ing to a meeting I am address-ing at Vishwa Bharati now.Locked into the room nowwith mob outside," he hadtweeted. The panel will alsolook into alleged clash betweentwo groups of students of theuniversity on January 15.

India top-most country for presenceof social entrepreneurs, says Schwab

"In Kolkata, we haveNetaji Subhas Dock andSatish Samanta berth atHaldia, both named afterfreedom fighters. We hadalso sent a letter to theport chairman, urging himto celebrate Netaji'sbirthday on January 23,"Sarkar said

These socialentrepreneurshave also helpedmitigate morethan 192 milliontonnes of CO2and improveeducation formore than 226million childrenand youth

PNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

After a storm erupted over a"beef fry" tweet by KeralaTourism on Makarasankrantiday, the CPI(M)-led LDF gov-ernment on Friday clarified itsaim was not to hurt anyone'sreligious beliefs.

Slamming the state, BJP MPShobha Karandlaje tweetedthe "Kerala communist govthave declared a war againstHindus of the state!"

Tourism MinisterKadakampally Surendran crit-icised those who were trying togive a communal colour to theTourism department tweet onthe Kerala delicacy -- "Beef

Ularthiyathu" and said in thesouthern state none links foodwith religion.

"Tender chunks of beef,slow-roasted with aromaticspices, coconut pieces, and

curry leaves. A recipe for themost classic dish, BeefUlarthiyathu, the stuff of leg-ends, from the land of spices,Kerala," the tweet read alongwith a recipe link.

Some Twitter users hadshowed their displeasure as thetweet had appeared on January15 on Makarsankranti day, a

Hindu festival celebrated asPongal, Bihu and Lohri inother parts of the country.

Surendran said those tryingto communalise the matterwere the ones who were creat-ing a controversy by saying thatpictures of pork dishes shouldalso be uploaded by the depart-ment.

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | JANUARY 18, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

Dravidian outfitaccuses Rajinikanth oflying on PeriyarCHENNAI: Dravidar ViduthalaiKazhagam on Friday accusedsuperstar Rajinikanth of"uttering a blatant lie" inconnection with a 1971 rallyheld by social reformer Periyar,demanded his apology and alsofiled a police complaint,seeking action against him.DVK president Kolathur Mani,in a statement, alleged that theactor uttered a "blatant lie thatthe images of Lord Ram andSita were taken nude in a rally,held as part of superstitioneradication conference held in1971 at Salem." The actormade the remarks at an eventheld by a magazine on January14, the outfit said.

Junior engineer shotdead by unidentifiedassailants in Mathura

ED files charge sheetbefore Delhi courtagainst ex BPSL CMD NEW DELHI: The EnforcementDirectorate on Friday filed acharge sheet against formerBhushan Power and Steel LtdCMD Sanjay Singal and others ina multi-crore money launderingcase linked to an alleged bankloan fraud. The charge sheet wasfiled before Special Judge ArunBhardwaj. Singal was placedunder arrest on November 22last year under the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act (PMLA)after he was questioned inconnection with the case.

Rahul has noknowledge aboutamended citizenshipNEW DELHI: BJP workingpresident J P Nadda on Fridaytook a dig at Congress leaderRahul Gandhi, saying he has noknowledge and understandingof the amended Citizenship Actand dared him to speak 10sentences on the law. AccusingGandhi of misleading thecountry, Nadda said at an eventhere that the amended law isfor minorities who facedreligious persecution inneighbouring countries foryears and had taken shelter inIndia. He said that thoseopposing the amendedcitizenship law were essentially"weakening" the country.

MATHURA (UP): A 35-year-oldjunior engineer of state powerdepartment was shot dead byunidentified assailants in UttarPradesh's Mathura district, anofficial said on Friday. PradeepKumar was shot at in thestomach around 9.30 pm onThursday in Jamuna Paar areawhen he was returning fromPanigaon power sub station,said Superintendent of PoliceAshok Kumar Meena. He said itis unlikely to be a case of lootas Pradeep's belongings,including his motorcycle,laptop and purse, were found atthe crime scene. The juniorengineer was transferred fromhis home town Agra to Mathuraaround five months ago, apower department official said.Pradeep is survived by his wifeand two children.

PNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Senior Congress leaderRamesh Chennithala on Fridayjustified his party's decision toapproach Governor ArifMohammed Khan against theLeft government's ordinanceon the civic body ward-reor-ganisation. The ward-reorgan-isation, envisaged through theordinance, was solely to protectthe "political interest" of theMarxist party, he told reportershere.

"We had approached theGovernor against the ordi-nance as he has to give hisassent. The LDF government'sinefficiency and lapses hadmade complex, matters relat-ed to the ward-reorganisationand voters' list of Local self-governments in the state,"Chennithala said.

Asked about the Governor'scriticism against the LDF gov-ernment for not informinghim in advance about movingthe Supreme Court againstthe Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA), the senior

Congress leader said he doesnot know the legal proceduresin this regard.

"The Constitution demandsthat state governments consultthe Governor on certain sub-jects...while it is not mandato-ry in the case of some othermatters. Here, I had suggestedthat the government move theapex court against the CAA.They have the right for the

same. But I do not know if theGovernor has to be consultedbefore moving the court. It isup to the government to exam-ine it," he said. Chennithalaalso said it was not appropri-ate for the Governor to holdpress meets. The Congresshad always expressed its sharpcriticism and oppositionagainst the stand taken byKhan on CAA, he added.

PNS n LUCKNOW

An army delegation fromRussia visited the key militarylogistics' installations and theiconic Taj Mahal in Agra as itwrapped up its two-day tourto the Uttar Pradesh city onFriday. The five-member del-egation, led by Major GeneralAndrei Kozlov, Chief of the

Directorate of the MilitaryRailway Service of the EasternMilitary District, visited theArmy Base Workshop andthe Central Ordnance Depotin Agra, an official releaseissued here said.

The delegation was briefedabout the modernised logisticsinstallation, which providesimportant electrical and tech-nical equipment to the IndianArmy, it said.

The visit of the Russian del-egation to various IndianArmy logistics establishmentfurther strengthens the coop-eration and military tiesbetween the two nations, therelease said. India and Russiahave a history of strong strate-gic, military, economic anddiplomatic relations, whichhas witnessed further growthand development in the recenttimes, it said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Denying the Delhi govern-ment's role in delaying thehanging of the Nirbhaya caseconvicts, Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal on Fridaysaid the victim's mother isbeing "misguided" and accusedBJP leader Prakash Javadekarof politicising the matter.

Kejriwal, who is the AAP'snational convener, toldreporters that whateverresponsibilities the Delhi gov-ernment had, it had finishedthem within a few hours.

"We sent the mercy petitionwithin hours, so the Delhigovernment has no role indelaying the hanging of theconvicts," he said.

On Javadekar's allegationsthat the Delhi government isdelaying the convicts' hanging,

Kejriwal said the BJP leader isdoing politics over the matterand this is not good.

Union minister Javadekarhad also said that all the fourconvicts would have beenhanged by now, had the AAPgovernment acted quickly andserved notices to them imme-diately after the SupremeCourt rejected their appealagainst death sentence in 2017.

Reacting to reports that

Nirbhaya's mother said thosepeople who held protests onstreets in 2012, today they areonly playing with her daughter'sdeath for political gains, Kejriwalsaid she is being "misguided".

"Why would our govern-ment try to delay, we wantthem hanged at the earliest. Ithink she is being misguided.The Delhi government barelyhas any role in the wholeprocess," he said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Aadhaar will be required forgetting benefits under a centralgovernment scheme for pro-viding financial assistance tofamily members of victims ofviolence perpetrated by terror-ists or naxals, and communalriots.

In a notification, the UnionHome Ministry said an eligiblebeneficiary desirous of receiv-ing the benefit under the'Central Scheme for Assistanceto Civilian Victims/Family ofVictims ofTerrorist/Communal/LWEViolence and Cross BorderFiring and Mine/IED Blasts onIndian Territory' is required tofurnish proof of possession ofAadhaar number or undergoAadhaar authentication.

Any eligible beneficiarydesirous of receiving benefitunder the scheme, who does

not possess the Aadhaar num-ber or, has not yet enrolled forAadhaar, shall have to apply forAadhaar enrolment.

The home ministry said thenotification comes into effectin all states and union territo-ries except Assam andMeghalaya, where Aadhaarhas not covered all residents.

"The assistance is given bythe state governments and thehome ministry reimburses thestate governments when it getstheir demand. The annual bud-get for the scheme is broadly inthe range of Rs 6 to 7 crore," asenior home ministry officialsaid.

The notification said the

ministry through the imple-menting agency is required tooffer Aadhaar enrolment facil-ities for the eligible beneficia-ry, who is not yet enrolled forAadhaar and in case there is noAadhaar enrolment centrelocated in the respective Blockor Taluka or Tehsil.

Till the time Aadhaar isassigned to the beneficiary,benefit under the scheme shallbe given to such beneficiarysubject to the production of theAadhaar enrolment identifica-tion slip if he or she has

enrolled and any one of the fol-lowing: bank or post officepassbook with photo; or voteridentification card; or PANcard; or ration card; or pass-port; or kisan photo passbook;or driving licence or certificateof identity having photo ofsuch person issued by agazetted officer or a tehsildaron an official letter head; orMahatma Gandhi NationalRural Employment GuaranteeScheme Job Card; or any otherdocument as specified by theministry.

CORONAVIRUS SPREAD IN CHINA

India issues travel advisoryPNS n NEW DELHI

The government has issued atravel advisory asking citizensto follow certain precautionarymeasures while visiting Chinain the wake of the outbreak ofan infection there because of anew strain of virus which iscausing respiratory problems.

The advisory issued by theUnion health ministry statedthat even though the mode oftransmission of the novel coro-navirus is unclear as of now,those visiting China areadvised to avoid travel tofarms, live animal markets orwhere animals are slaughtered,and refrain consuming "raw orundercooked meat".

It suggested avoiding closecontact with people who areunwell or showing symptomsof illness, such as cough, runnynose among others. The trav-ellers are advised to wear amask if thy have symptoms ofrespiratory problem.

The advisory asks travellersto China to follow some "pub-lic health measures at all times"like observing good personalhygiene, practice frequent

hand-washing with soap andfollow etiquettes like coveringmouth when coughing orsneezing. It also stated that ason January 11, as many as 41confirmed cases of infectionwith the novel coronavirushave been reported so far, ofwhich one person has died.

"Only travel-related caseshave been reported (one each)in Thailand and Japan. Theclinical signs and symptomsare mainly fever with a fewpatients having difficulty inbreathing.

"The mode of transmission

is unclear as of now. However,so far there is little evidence ofsignificant human-to-humantransmission. Although as perthe World HealthOrganisation's risk assessment,the risk for global spread hasbeen stated as low," the adviso-ry read.

All travellers to China, inparticular to Wuhan city, havebeen advised to monitor theirhealth closely.

"If you feel sick on flight,while travelling back to India:Inform the airlines crew aboutillness, seek mask from the air-

lines crew, avoid close contactwith family members or fellowtravellers and follow the direc-tions of airline crew while dis-embarking," the advisory read.

It asked travellers who feelsick on flight or at the time ofdisembarkation to report toairport health authorities orimmigration and follow thedirections of the airport healthofficer.

"If you feel sick with in aspan of one month after returnfrom China: Report the illnessto the nearest health facilityand also inform the treatingdoctor regarding your travelhistory," the advisory states.

‘Nirbhaya's mother ‘misguided',Delhi govt had no role’

DELAY IN HAINGING CONVICTS

Arvind Kejriwal

"We sent themercy petitionwithin hours, sothe Delhigovernment hasno role in delayingthe hanging of theconvicts," he said.

It also stated thatas on January 11,as many as 41confirmed cases ofinfection with thenovel coronavirushave beenreported so far, ofwhich one personhas died

The LDF government's inefficiency andlapses had made complex, mattersrelated to the ward-reorganisation andvoters' list of Local self-governments inthe state," Chennithala said

Ramesh Chennithala Arif Mohammed Khan

"The assistance is given by the stategovernments and the home ministryreimburses the state governmentswhen it gets their demand. The annualbudget for the scheme is broadly in therange of Rs 6 to 7 crore," a senior homeministry official said.

J-K LG reviews Jammu lakeproject to expedite worksPNS n JAMMU

Jammu and KashmirLieutenant Governor GirishChandra Murmu reviewed theprogress of a number of pro-jects in the winter capital of theUnion territory on Friday andsaid the administration willexpedite the works.

He visited the market placeand tourism reception centreto assess the facilities there.During a visit to the Tawi riverbank the L-G was briefed byAjeet Sahu, the principal sec-retary of the Irrigation andFlood Control Department,about the progress of its beau-tification project and theJammu lake project.

During his visits, Murmuwas accompanied by top divi-sional-level officials and headsof departments.

Asserting that the adminis-

tration was trying to expeditethe projects, the L-G said, "Wedon't know what had hap-pened in the past, but we willcarry it from here and see to itthat these are completed."

In June last year, the Jammuand Kashmir government hadcancelled GR Infra ProjectsLimited's contract for devel-oping the artificial Tawi lake.

The administration is set torelease fresh tenders toresume work.

A revised detailed projectreport was framed, accordingto which Rs 51.57 crore shallbe required to complete theproject and Rs 4.97 crore toundo the damage caused dueto floods till date, officialssaid.

NIRBHAYA CASE

Tihar jail seeks from courtfresh death warrantsagainst 4 convictsPNS n NEW DELHI

Tihar jail authorities Fridaysought from a Delhi courtissuance of fresh death war-rants against the four convictsin the Nirbhaya gang rape andmurder case.

Additional Sessions JudgeSatish Kumar Arora directedthe jail authorities to informthe court by 4:30 pm onwhether Mukesh, one of thefour convicts, has beeninformed that his mercy peti-tion was dismissed by thePresident.

Public Prosecutor IrfanAhmed told the court thatMukesh's mercy plea was

rejected by President RamNath Kovind on Friday.

The court was hearing aplea by one of the four deathrow convicts in the case,Mukesh Kumar Singh, seekingpostponement of the date ofhis execution on January 22.

The 23-year-old paramedicstudent, referred to asNirbhaya, was gang raped andbrutally assaulted on the inter-vening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a moving busin south Delhi by six personsbefore being thrown out onthe road.

She died on December 29,2012 at Mount ElizabethHospital in Singapore.

Russian armydelegationvisits keymilitary sites

Aadhaar required to get benefits under schemefor civilian victims of terror, communal violence

Punjab CM convenes all-party meetWATER CRISIS

PNS n CHANDIGARH

Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh has convenedan all-party meeting on January23 to evolve a comprehensivestrategy to tackle the criticalwater situation in the state.

Intervening in a discussionon`The Punjab WaterResources (Management andRegulation) Bill 2020', intro-duced by his government,Singh said invitations for themeeting have already beensent out.

All matters related to waterissues, including the SutlejYamuna Link (SYL) issue, poorquality of ground water and pol-lution caused by industrial anddomestic waste, would be dis-cussed during the meeting in a

bid to evolve consensus andchalk out a detailed strategy toaddress these problems.

The Bill introduced byIrrigation Minister SukhbinderSingh Sarkaria was later passed

by the House unanimously,paving the way for creation ofPunjab Water Regulation andDevelopment Authority tomanage critical water resourcesin the state.

Both the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) and the ShiromaniAkali Dal (SAD) supported the

Bill while expressing concernover scarce water resourcesand depleting ground watertable in the state.

In response to issues raisedby the Leader of theOpposition Harpal SinghCheema, the chief ministerflayed the Opposition for crit-icising his government on theissue, while themselves failingto help tackle the problem.

Pointing out that he and hiscolleagues have already givenup power subsidy for tubewells,Singh challenged Oppositionleaders to show if any of themhad heeded to his appeal anddone the same.

The appeal, he said, wasaimed at ensuring judicious useof groundwater and inculcat-ing the habit of water saving.

Amarinder Singh

Both the AamAadmi Party (AAP)and the ShiromaniAkali Dal (SAD)supported the Billwhile expressingconcern overscarce waterresources anddepleting groundwater table in thestate

HC sets aside ex-Delhi lawminister’s election PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High Court Fridayset aside the election of formerlaw minister Jitender SinghTomar for giving false declara-tion regarding his education-al qualification in his nomina-tion papers for the 2015Assembly polls. The courtpassed the order on a plea bya BJP leader seeking to set asideTomar's election. "The petitionis allowed," Justice Rajeev SahaiEndlaw said. It is pertinent tomention that Tomar is alsocontesting the upcoming DelhiAssembly election and is like-ly to file his nomination fromTri Nagar constituency onSaturday. Tomar had contest-ed on an Aam Aadmi Partyticket. BJP leader Nand KishoreGarg had alleged in his pleathat Tomar's election had been"materially affected by deliber-ate concealment, misrepresen-tation, wrong declaration andwilful suppression of the edu-cational qualification in theaffidavit filed along with thenomination form".

Chennithala justifies approachingGovernor against ward recast

BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje

Beef delicacy tweet kicksup row in Kerala

Why, when the nation shouldbe focussing all its resourceson remedying its economicslowdown in a fascinatingbut disruptive world driven

by automation and Artificial intelligence (AI),should we continue to be obsessed with thepast? Well, because history is no longer thesole purview for reclusive academics tuckedaway amid lengths of dust-laden book-shelves. It’s being revisited and morphed,bandied about by politicians and re-brand-ed in the media everyday. It’s used as a veri-table psychological battleground and there’sa war, for our allegiance. It’s a campaign char-acterised by selective erasure, of highlightingspecific events, the systematic reduction of his-torical figures to mere unidimensional labelsand retro-fitting them into contemporarypolitical positions.

Take the case of Dara Shukoh, thewould-be emperor of Hindustan, haloed inhis timeless promise of ideal kingship. The tra-ditional tack of pitting him against his neme-sis, Aurangzeb, has imploded in recent times.So much so that even the debate of “goodMuslim versus bad Muslim, good Mughal ver-sus bad Mughal” has faded away. DaraShukoh, rescued from centuries of indiffer-ence, has re-emerged in his new avatar as “theemblem of Indianness”, confident and con-summate. Dara the eternal victim is a notionof the past and we can all pretend that his bel-ligerent brother never existed. Ample reasonsare being furnished for this new, posthumouskhitab. The Mughal prince was a deeply syn-cretic thinker, accomplished scholar, poet anda theologian of unusual merit; a calligraphistand connoisseur of the fine arts as well as adutiful son and warm-hearted family man.

The first stumbling block comes in thenature of an anachronistic fallacy: The ideaof retrospectively imposing the concept of“Indianness” — and by corollary, nationhoodand nation-state and more specifically, the per-sonification thereof in the form of a deified“Bharat Mata” — onto the Mughal empire ofthe 17th century. The fact is that in our land,the consciousness of nationhood has evolvedas the end-result of a much later historicalprocess: The idealistic, patriotic reaction tothe brutal British colonial experience andrather more tenuous associations with 19thcentury European history such as theGermanic Freiheitzkampf (freedom struggle)during the Napoleonic regime. This isbrought out very clearly in Sugata Bose’s book,The Nation as Mother and Other Visions ofNationhood.

There is, however, another challenge. Thecherry-picking of only the syncretic attribut-es of Dara completely leaves out otheraspects of his personality. He was habituallycold and arrogant towards the mass ofcourtiers and commanders, who he felt, wereintellectually inferior to him. He was highlysuperstitious by nature, easily swayed by mys-tery, magic and all manner of self-styled god-men, a conspicuously uninspiring military

commander and an alarminglypoor judge of human character.One can well wonder whether,even assuming he had managedto ascend the throne, his eclec-tic nature but indifferencetowards administrative and mil-itary matters would have enabledhim to hold the empire togeth-er. In the years between 1654 andSeptember 1657, when ShahJahan fell grievously ill — the Warof Succession broke out soonthereafter — Dara was the defacto ruler of the empire. Thisperiod was characterised bymoves to thwart campaigns ofterritorial expansion in theDeccan and Kashmir, coupledwith a reclusive temperament andhighly creative outpouring of aphilosophical nature. In terms ofcourt politics, Dara displayed asteady, cold hostility towards thesenior imperial advisors andcommanders and his mutuallyacrimonious exchanges with theseasoned wazir, Saadullah Khan,almost mirrors the rivalrybetween the crown prince Salim(later, the emperor Jahangir) andAbul Fazl. But the moot questionis: Would the current unidi-mensional narrative about Darahave even brought up theseother facets of his personality andobjectively looked at the man inthe context of his times?

Separated from Dara Shukohby almost two-and-a-half cen-turies but basking in this sameLazarus light is VinayakDamodar Savarkar. Stymied

through the prime of his life bythe draconian prisons of theBritish Raj and then afterIndependence, even posthu-mously, by a succession ofCongress-led Governments, onlyin recent years has his releasefrom oblivion taken place. Theimage of the controversial polit-ical leader has been resurrectedby the present administration tolarger-than-life proportions andwith it, his ethos of Hindutva.

This very term has come todenote a number of aspects inour common perception, the re-establishment of rituals and reli-gious practices (including the cultof cow worship) in the heart ofsocietal life, the retention — andat times, deepening — of thefault-lines of caste and a steadfastadvocacy of vegetarianism,among other things.Consequently, the image ofSavarkar looms before us as anaustere, conservative traditional-ist, steeped in the rituals of hisfaith, a sort of archetypal Hinducounterpoint to the ulema. Andpolitically, a Hindu Jinnah.

But is that who he was, inreality? A recent biography,sourcing the treatises, letters andspeeches of this polemic leader inthe original Marathi, reveals avery different picture. Savarkar’sconception of Hindutva, thebook informs us, was essential-ly political, a move to galvanisethe eternally splintered Hinducommunities into a homogenouswhole — and not an ultra-reli-

gious manifesto. In Savarkar’scredo, the key to achieving thiswas the uniting and unionisingof the Hindu polity, across castelines. Far from being a tradition-alist, this high-caste ChitpavanBrahmin established a PatitPavan temple open to all castes,organised inter-caste dinnersand marriages and did not per-sonally care for rituals, includingthat of cow worship. In thismore objective narrative,Savarkar emerges not as a fanat-ic but an astute rationalist, whorejected the Gandhian project,and wholeheartedly espousedindustrialisation as the vehicle ofprogress in the future.

A significant aspect ofSavarkar’s life, unravelled in thebiography, further belies the uni-dimensional label adduced tohim. In The Indian War ofIndependence, his first major lit-erary work that catapulted himto fame — and in the eyes of thecolonial rulers, notoriety — hepresented his narrative as a uni-fied uprising against the Britishoppressors, stemming from astrong sense of nationhood.Savarkar’s position in this bookis unambiguously secular —Hindu satraps and comman-ders had rallied in unison againstthe British under the flag of theMuslim Mughal titular monarch,Bahadur Shah Zafar. There’s nohint of any deep-seated hatred ofthe Muslims, which henceforthbecame the quintessential traitassociated with him. In fact, it was

only later, triggered by particu-lar experiences and tribulationsduring his long incarceration inthe Cellular Jail of the Andamans,that Savarkar developed his ani-mosity towards the Muslims.

We’re now faced with a lin-gering, larger question, which iscentral to this whole issue. Is therestill a purpose to all this indulgingin history in today’s world? TheChurchillian, though unorigi-nal, viewpoint purported toanswer this question: “Thosewho fail to learn from history arecondemned to repeat it.” But suchaphorisms have long since dis-solved into clichés.

Contemporary thinkers suchas Yuval Noah Harari are not onlymore ambitious, they’re alsomore persistent when demand-ing our participation: “Thoughhistorians occasionally try theirhand at prophecy (withoutnotable success), the study of his-tory aims above all to make usaware of possibilities we don’tnormally consider. Historiansstudy the past not in order toavoid repeating it — or perpet-uate it — but in order to be lib-erated from it.”

As India charters its coursethrough the 21st century, the lib-eration we all need is not from theglories of the past but from itsburdens — communal, econom-ic and psychological.

(The writer is a columnist,business advisor and entrepreneur.He is the author of Dara Shukoh:The Man Who Would Be King)

In terms of disastrous visits to India,Amazon’s Chief Executive Jeffery Bezos’slatest trip wasn’t quite up there. No, it will

take a lot more to top the stupendous failureof Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’svisit a few years ago. Despite misquotingGandhi. Yet, Bezos’ rap on the knuckles deliv-ered by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal,where he straight up accused Amazon of fund-ing its losses in India with its latest investment,was harsh. Even though Goyal was forced tobacktrack and claimed that his quote was taken

“out of context,” it was strange that a Minister, who speaks decent English, istaken out of context time and again. But the message was clear: Bezos’ own-ership of The Washington Post and articles published by it against Prime MinisterNarendra Modi counted against him. Also the fact that the BJP still draws hugesupport from the trading community, which has deeply been affected by the adventof online retailing, has meant that Bezos has had a problematic visit to the coun-try this time. He has even eschewed both the Government and media interac-tions. Indeed, Bezos’ most high-profile interactions were in Mumbai where hecelebrated the success of Amazon’s video streaming service Amazon Prime withBollywood’s elite and the honchos of several Indian conglomerates.

While Goyal was surprised by the way some reacted to his comments, theydid have an element of truth. Although reactions were delivered with the graceof a dancer wearing work boots and quickly retracted, there was no hiding fromthe fact that the Government wanted Bezos to know it is not very happy withAmazon and his ownership of The Washington Post. While Bezos is unlikely tointerfere in the editorial process of his newspaper, it is also clear that he needsIndia as a market. Most American internet giants are locked out of China andIndia is the “it” market. This is the case not just for Amazon but also Google,Facebook and Uber. And as India becomes more aware of this, it will flex itsmuscles economically. Recent actions against Malaysia are a case in point anda decision is also likely to be taken against Turkey for its support to Pakistan-sponsored separatists. It is unlikely that India will act against Amazon in the imme-diate future but the firm does need to answer some questions as to how it isabusing (or not) its market position. The BJP, too, should understand that it can-not control the narrative in the foreign media. It needs to have better spokesper-sons who can defend the Government’s position or change perceptions.

Pakistan may have nudged its all-weath-er friend China into raising the Kashmirdispute at the United Nations Security

Council (UNSC) yet again — perhaps goingby Western concerns about the continued lock-downs in the erstwhile State that is now a UnionTerritory — but failed with a big thud. This isthe second time that such an attempt, eitherin the nature of informal consultations or closeddoor meetings of the Council’s permanentmembers, has been thwarted convincingly. Themessage is quite clear. The remaining Big Four

(US, Russia, France, UK) are still committed to their position that Kashmir is abilateral issue between India and Pakistan to be settled within the paradigm ofdialogue set by existing agreements among the neighbours. It also means thatthe UK and the US, while responding to criticism on shutdown in the Valley, havedelinked it from the larger Kashmir question and would much rather address itone-to-one. At the same time, certain facts cannot be ignored like China beingallowed to raise the issue despite no significant change in collective viewpoints.Or that Pakistan’s lobbying is high-pitch, with its Foreign Minister Shah MehmoodQureshi believed to be in New York while China moved the motion. He even metthe UN Secretary-General. Clearly, given the emphasis on bilaterals, at some pointboth India and Pakistan have to sit across the table and look to engage with eachother. Perhaps, India’s invitation to Pakistan for a meeting of the regional alliancecalled Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is an opportunity to thaw rela-tions and set up some sort of interaction on the sidelines. Besides, China is sched-uled to take over the rotational presidency at UNSC in March and without somemovement from India, it will have no point to neutralise Pakistan with, much asit would want to keep its working relationship with India going. Besides, it hasto show something for giving assent to the declaration of Jaish chief MasoodAzhar as a UN-designated global terrorist. China and Pakistan back each otherup on the world stage, representing each other in official groups of nations wherethe other is not present. For instance, Pakistan stands up for China in the Non-Aligned Movement and in return, it gets China’s veto power in the UNSC.

India’s bigger challenge though is to manage the SCO, where both Chinaand Pakistan are key members, for its strategic imperatives. Already, we havemade noises about jointly strengthening the fight against terrorism, extremism,drug trafficking and organised crime to corner Pakistan as a sponsor of terror.India has to also walk cautiously on economic cooperation with members andensure that China does not surreptitiously ensure its overlordship as the latterhas proposed a free trade area for all. Most members are yet to feel comfort-able on multi-lateral trade and cooperation. Besides, all other SCO members haveembraced the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which India is opposing.In fact, Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan formed the EurasianEconomic Union (EAEU), which has signed a non-preferential trade and eco-nomic cooperation agreement with China. For all of India’s efforts to highlightits connectivity corridors, like the Chabahar port and India-Myanmar-Thailandhighway, Pakistan will always counter their significance with that of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Negotiating terrain with both Pakistan andChina, India must find its feet in the SCO if it wants to strengthen its footprint inCentral Asia, a diplomatic initiative that the Modi Government is keen on. India’sother counter-balancing act is between Russia and China, both of whom havecome closer but are wary of eating into each other’s sphere of influence. Indiacan be the counterweight and use that status to extract its gains. Besides, Indianeeds to work on its economic heft vis-a-vis the SCO majors. Our trade withRussia stands at about a little over $10 billion and is projected to be $30 billionby 2025. In contrast, China’s trade with Russia has already crossed $100 bil-lion. A similar lopsided volume prevails with Central Asian republics. The lackof connectivity has stifled energy cooperation between the hydrocarbon-rich regionand India. We cannot miss the bus as the SCO accounts for 20 per cent of theworld’s GDP and can guarantee its relevance in the region. But can its bilateraldifferences with Pakistan and China mean SCO members could set up their ownmini-groupings of mutual benefit and derail its very purpose? That’s for India tounderstand and move adroitly.

Act responsibly

Sir — It is disappointing thateducated politicians speak irre-sponsibly. Congress leaderShashi Tharoor criticised DelhiChief Minister Arvind Kejriwalby comparing him to a “eunuch.”Leaders must inspire the mass-es, otherwise their words canadversely impact the mindset oftheir supporters.

RaviVia email

Experiment first

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“SC to the rescue” (January 16).There have been several controver-sies about the educational quali-fications of some of our Ministers.A complete mismatch between theclaims made by them and theirmarks in their certificates hasbeen found. How then do theyexpect the citizens to have all nec-essary documents? If there is meritin the Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA), it must be explained.Before it is applied throughout thecountry, our leaders must first passthe CAA test.

Even then questions will

remain. How can the poor, thenomads and marginalised peoplefetch old documents? Moreover, itis ludicrous to ask the adivasis,who have been living in the coun-try for centuries, to produce papersto prove their citizenship. There isa complete lack of clarity withregard to the documents that willbe accepted as proof of citizenship.

Sujit DeKolkata

Space dreams

Sir — The Indian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO) must becomplimented for successfullylaunching the GSAT-30 into theorbit. After last year’s setback,where the Chandrayaan-2 mis-sion failed to touch down on thelunar surface, this is its firstlaunch this year. GSAT-30 is

aimed at eliminating the techni-cal bottlenecks not only for thecountry’s communication sys-tem but also of a large number ofAsian countries. Given that ISROhas helped India earn severalfirsts through its space missionsin the recent past, hopefully, it willcontinue pushing the boundariesof Indian space science.

Yugal Kishore SharmaFaridabad

Healthy lifestyle

Sir — Kudos to the Ministry ofAYUSH for coming out with anexcellent initiative to make peo-ple at work destress and refreshthemselves through Y-BREAKor Yoga break — a five-minuteexercise designed to make profes-sionals at workplaces get somephysical activity. It will help keepthe mind tension-free and alsoenhance lifestyle apart fromincreasing productivity. This pro-ject may soon become a part ofthe schedule at all Governmentinstitutions and corporate bodies.Around 15 institutions, includingcorporate houses like TataChemicals, Axis Bank and Ernst& Young Global ConsultingServices, have volunteered tojoin the project.

Booklets and videos on howto practise yoga will be given tothe staff at the work places.Besides, the Ministry would alsoprovide all possible help and sup-port to see that this programmeis inculcated among all.

M PradyuKannur

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

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

op nionVIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | JANUARY 18, 2020

06

Need to objectify history

AVIK CHANDA

As India charters its course through the 21st century, the liberation we all need is not fromthe glories of the past but from its burdens — communal, economic and psychological

I was very naughty in classbut I was a teacher’s pet.When the teacher was out, Iwas making dirty jokes and Iwas grabbing boys and kiss-ing them. I was terrible!

Actor—Kalki Koechlin

Our Government wants peacein the neighbourhood. But weare not prepared to pay anyprice, certainly not withoutresolving the Kashmir disputein a just manner.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister—Shah M Qureshi

S O U N D B I T E

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

Government must rise above politics

Union Minister Piyush Goyal seems to havejumped the gun by saying that Amazon is not doinga favour to the country by investing $1 billion and

that this was probably on account of a need to fund loss-es. To recall, Amazon had promised to create more than25,000 jobs on a new campus in Long Island City, NewYork, in return for nearly $3 billion in Government incen-tives. It was a cocky and raw business approach in anation that is a votary of pure capitalism. Yet, it failedin this venture mostly due to the growing influence ofthe progressive Left in New York.

In its current home in Seattle, Amazon is beingcriticised for impacting house prices and growinginequality that has damaged the city. Now, theMinister in our own Right of the Central Governmenthas chosen to cast a barb on its predatory pricing poli-cies. This might well be due to the party's concernson saving its trader vote bank. But the remarks, thoughcredible, could as well have come from a party func-

tionary than a Cabinet Minister. That, too, one whoholds a crucial portfolio as that of Commerce and Trade.As is its wont, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) isknown to put its concerns over elections ahead of thosethat actually should. The state of the economy andgrowing unemployment should worry it more.

R NarayananNavi Mumbai

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Bezos’ bummer tripI want to inform the CDS, ifyou want to deradicalise, thenyou first read the Juvenile Act.IPC is not applicable to children. What de-radicalistionare you talking about?

AIMIM chief—Asaduddin Owaisi

While UNSC backs India on Kashmir and insists on it beingdiscussed bilaterally, our SCO invite is a smart move

From getting a Gandhi quote wrong to drawing the ire of theBJP, the Amazon CEO’s latest trip didn’t go that well

The Congress is opposingthe CAA. I dare RahulGandhi to speak 10 sen-tences on the law. He shouldtell us in two sentences whatis his problem with the CAA.

BJP working president—JP Nadda

Talks with Pakistan?

Change or perish

I WANT TO TELL AAP THAT AFTER THE REJECTION OFTHE REVIEW PETITION, BECAUSE OF YOU THE

CONVICTS COULDN'T BE HANGED IN TIME.—UNION MINISTER

SMRITI IRANI

PLEASE DON’T DO POLITICS ON THIS. I DON’T BLAMETHE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT FOR THIS. BOTHGOVERNMENTS ARE TRYING EVERYTHING THEY CAN.—DELHI CHIEF MINISTERARVIND KEJRIWAL

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Despite the concerns of policymakers and plan-ners regarding the efficient management ofnatural resources, the threat to them is grow-

ing exponentially by the day. This is because thecountry’s efforts towards market-led developmentare eating up our social, natural and cultural capi-tal faster than ever. Unfortunately today, the coreissue of a preferred pattern of growth is hiddenbehind the innocuous facade of Gross DomesticProduct (GDP) growth as the supreme objective.Decisions on all matters related to developmentrequire the adoption of a holistic approach becausethe need for environmental improvement is not ableto attract appropriate investments. This is mostlyowing to the fact that they are essentially long-termin nature and their support to sustained economicgrowth is seldom appreciated or quantified. In aworld which refuses to adopt the concept of a steadystate of long-term economic growth, sustainabilityis seen as absurdity.

Gradually, however, the world is coming torealise that there is no alternative to sustainabilityand the present trajectory of economic growthdivorced from environmental considerations is drag-ging us towards the reckless path of mass extinction.The fact remains that there is no alternative to a con-certed effort towards sustainable management of nat-ural resources that demands collective action at theregional, national and global level.

The key areas in which action is required arebig investments designed towards land, water, andbiodiversity conservation, apart from simultaneousreduction in emissions on a mass scale. That includesHerculean efforts in jealously safeguarding forests;reduction and diversion in investment in newsources of energy away from dirty sources like coal,crude and nuclear power; improvement in availabil-ity and affordability of public transport systems withmetro and light rail systems everywhere; switchingto material and energy-efficient houses; smart elec-trical grids carrying renewable energy and all thesesupported by massive research efforts to improve effi-ciencies as we move on. Considering the increasein the pressure on forests, sincere efforts to mobiliseagroforestry initiatives coupled with adequate sci-entific support, extension and education in resourceliteracy are a must. This great leap, however, willnecessitate the shedding of our preoccupation withshort-term gains that creates hurdles in integratingeconomic growth-related issues and sustainablemanagement of natural resources. In short, the plan-ners have to accept without any inhibitions the holis-tic approach which considers ecology, economics andethics as a part of a whole interconnected circle —which at present appears to have been broken.

A careful consideration of the policy impact ofdifferent sectors, the essential trade-off between dif-ferent sectors for restoration and development of nat-ural resources, would have created huge economicdemand and job opportunities for a wider base ofpoor like tribals and others residing in far-flung areas.One cannot overlook the fact that the economichealth of any society or country in the ultimate analy-sis is supported by its basic ecological status.

Let us take forests as their management is impor-tant. However, effective linkage of forestry with otherimportant sectors of the economy is not yet in place.Forest-based activities have largest forward and back-ward economic linkages. Just to elaborate: Along withthe flexibility of capital, skill and energy requirement;it has a spectrum of activities, ranging from value-

addition activity at the household level tomicro industries and small sawmills to for-est-based industries and to a totally com-puterised ayurvedic drug as also thepaper industry. Policy measures andactivities in other sectors mar the abilityof the forests to perform their economic,social and environmental roles, as muchas the policies set in forestry do.

In fact, policy decisions taken outsidethe forestry sector may be detrimental orbeneficial for effective functioning of ser-vices from forests on a long-term basis. Letus take, for example, the development ofinfrastructure. The policy instrumentsattempting modernisation of transport,telecommunication and highways do cre-ate both positive and negative impacts forforest conservation and development.They do improve forest firefighting andpublic awareness of environmental issuesbut also create backlash in the shape of for-est degradation. Pucca roads through for-est habitats serve as barrier for dissemi-nation of pollen grains, mating of small-er animals and recharging of undergroundwater reserves, loss of hybrid vigour dueto inbreeding and related extinction,noise and other disturbances resulting inthe decline of reproduction or mating ofmany wildlife species. Measures are need-ed to strengthen the positive impacts andreduce the negative fallouts.

Careful planning and strict imple-mentation could avoid many such back-lashes. Provision of compensatoryafforestation elsewhere can never be a sub-stitute for loss of natural forest and itsecosystem services at the point of concern.

An overarching policy of creating aplatform for dialogue can remove barri-ers between sectors and institutions cur-rently working with different myopic man-dates. Understanding of involved trade-offs in natural ecosystems and benefits ofharmony among forestry and other land-based sectors are urgently needed. Canada

already has the provision for removingbarriers between institutions and orient-ing them towards a philosophy of com-mon goals. An outcome of this is a modelforest programme in which forests aremanaged by a partnership of diverse inter-est groups of industry, conservationists,community, aboriginals and so on.

Professional forestry in a country likeIndia needs a radical change. OurGovernment, committed to social justice,has so far failed to adequately recognisethat the services needed by people cannotcome from the Forest Department staffedby men trained as professional forestersin the core subject.

It is well understood by now that for-est ecosystems have multifarious roles toplay in helping the country in halting thedownward spiral of land degradation; inrestoring the vitality of the land; in pro-tecting land from wind and water erosion;in job creation in far-flung areas; in car-bon sequestration and of course in com-batting climate change-related problems.

A location-specific proper model ofagroforestry can promote and sustain anintrinsically-sustainable and resilient agri-culture system especially under margin-al conditions. There is a whole range oflocal problems of forestry that requires dif-ferent solutions based on different strate-gies. Placements of Indian Forest ServiceOfficers in different developmentMinistries are adequate proof of the factthat forestry professionals can handle var-ious dimensions of administrative work.Their special inputs, in fact, through pro-vision of new insights in relating conser-vation and sustainable management ofnatural resources to their respective sec-tors of economy will be their most worth-while contribution to the country.

Gradually provisions are being madefor placement of environmental person-nel in industries and other Governmentdepartments too. Their roles, more often

than not, are generally confined towardspollution abatement measures. It will bebetter if they are designated as naturalresource managers with additional man-date of looking at the use or abuse of nat-ural resources for sustainable develop-ment. In addition, the time has come foruniversity courses to be re-designed andmade compulsory in all branches of edu-cation apart from promoting and subsi-dising the courses of management of nat-ural resources on a sustainable base as thecore subject.

The horizon of knowledge about nat-ural resources is ever-expanding andaccordingly conservation is reinventingitself. New models in forestry as well asagriculture incorporating the role of treesthat are known to exert an influence farbeyond their immediate environment, cango a long way to save the farmers fromcommitting suicides and help them goahead on the path of sustainable develop-ment.

Conservation of resources and sus-tainable development is the bedrock ofsurvival of mankind but conservationtoday is much more than merely a choicein favour of one’s long-term economic self-interest.

It entails moral choices and respon-sibilities, too, involving the community ofall life forms in the company of which wehave evolved and to which we essential-ly belong. Further, it has to be alive to theissues of inter-generational equity.Conservation and sustainable manage-ment of natural resources, within this per-spective, is a radical endeavour to saveEarth itself and that will essentially haveto derive strength from knowledge, eth-ical value, wealth of our dreams and anunderstanding of nature as a sacredspace.

(The writer is Advisor at AmityUniversity and former Principal ChiefConservator of Forests, Uttar Pradesh)

There is no alternative to sustainability and the present trajectory of economic growthdivorced from environmental considerations is dragging us towards mass extinction

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

Tectonic shift inUS’ attitude

DEEPAK SINHA

The US no longer views West Asia as critical toits economic well-being as it did in the past,when it depended on the oil from that region

BKP SINHA

A CAREFULCONSIDERATION

OF THE POLICYIMPACT OFDIFFERENT

SECTORS, THEESSENTIALTRADE-OFF

BETWEENDIFFERENT

SECTORS FOR

RESTORATIONAND

DEVELOPMENT OF NATURALRESOURCES,

WOULD HAVECREATED HUGE

ECONOMICDEMAND AND JOB

OPPORTUNITIESFOR A WIDER

BASE OF POORLIKE TRIBALSAND OTHERSRESIDING IN

FAR-FLUNGAREAS. ONE

CANNOTOVERLOOK THEFACT THAT THE

ECONOMICHEALTH OF ANY

SOCIETY ORCOUNTRY IN THE

ULTIMATEANALYSIS IS

SUPPORTED BYITS BASIC

ECOLOGICALSTATUS

Karl Marx once wrote, “History repeats itself, first as tragedy,second as farce.” But often times events tend to combineboth the tragic and the farcical in equal measure, just as

we are seeing them play out between the Iranians and theAmericans. US President Donald Trump’s recent actions remindone of the Hollywood blockbuster, Gunfight at the OK Corral, exceptfor the minor aberration that West Asia is no Wild West and Trumpis certainly no Marshal Wyatt Earp.

Whatever reasons he may put forward for his actions, thetargetted execution of a serving Iranian General and war hero,Qasem Soleimani, while on an official visit to Iraq raises seriousquestions of sovereignty, morality, ethical conduct and can neverbe justified in any civilized society. It was, in fact, a blatant act ofaggression in clear violation of international law and a war crime,made even more heinous because neither America nor Iran is atwar with each other. It shows up the true face of America for whatit is and has been these past decades, a global bully.

More importantly, the rationale and timing of the attack raisegrave suspicions as to Trump’s motives. The late General Soleimaniwas by no means a tactical commander and his neutralisationwould hardly stop operations in progress, in this case the launchof “imminent attacks” on American embassies, as has been allegedby the President. What is more likely is that Trump ordered thisrash and utterly immoral attack in the vain hope that it would divertattention from his forthcoming impeachment trial, while at the sametime make him appear to be a strong and decisive leader. However,make no mistake General Soleimani’s killing was a grievous lossto the Iranian establishment, especially to its “Irregular Warfare”capabilities, something that will take time to rebuild.

While Trump’s action was totally transactional and short-termin nature, it coincided with the American deep state’s far morelong- term strategy there, the necessity to squeeze China. Overthe past two decades there has been a tectonic shift in the man-ner the United States (US) views West Asia, ever since it becameone of the world’s leading oil producers, exporting more oil thanSaudi Arabia. In March last year, the Energy InformationAdministration (EIA) reported that the US exported more crudeand petroleum products than it imported. As senior partner PerMagnus Nysveen of Rystad Energy, a global oil consulting andanalysis firm, put it, “The oil market is overly preoccupied withshort-term US crude stocks but the big picture tells a new story.Increasingly profitable shale production and a robust global appetitefor light oil and gasoline is poised to bring the US to a positionof oil dominance in the next few years.”

This fact obviously suggests that the US no longer views WestAsia as critically important to its economic well-being as it didin the past, when its economy depended on the oil from that region.For it, the geostrategic value of that region lies more in the adverseimpact that any exacerbation of tensions there would have on theChinese economy, as it is bound to, given Chinese dependenceon oil from that region. It, therefore, stands to reason that it nolonger finds it necessary to maintain a large troop presence inthe region and can achieve its long-term aims through the useof proxies such as Saudi Arabia and Israel. In this context, muchhas been made of the Russian attempts to fill the vacuum thatthe US withdrawal has left. However, President Putin must be awarethat he is punching well above his weight given the fact that theRussian economy is just around 1/20th that of the US.

Finally, with regard to the US-Iran imbroglio, while it is cer-tainly extremely far-fetched to suggest that World War-III is justaround the corner, one can also safely assume that the existingstalemate is not going to last forever and probably the situationis going to get far worse, before it gets better. This is more so ifin the coming months the Iranians attempt to utilise their consid-erable irregular warfare assets to force the Americans out of Iraq,if not the Middle East. Escalation in tensions would then be unavoid-able and that would have serious repercussions, with unintend-ed and unpredictable consequences for the world at large.

In this context we would do well to recall the innocuous eventsthat triggered one of the darkest chapters in world history, the assas-sination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife bya 19-year-old Serbian terrorist, Gavrilo Princip. While that eventmay have occurred in far-away Sarajevo, it did set the world aflame,bringing untold misery to tens of millions over the next four years.It would indeed be unfortunate if this tragedy were to be repeat-ed.

(The writer, a military veteran, is a Consultant with the ObserverResearch Foundation and a Senior Visiting Fellow with ThePeninsula Foundation, Chennai)

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman will present herfirst full Union Budget on

February 1 and people are expectingsome out of the box initiatives tostimulate the economic growth of thecountry. Some of the key macroeco-nomic indicators like the GrossDomestic Product (GDP) growth,tax collection, credit growth and soon, indicate that the economy is grap-pling with a slowdown which is large-ly due to a decline in demand.

Global trade protectionism, alooming oil crisis and a rise in retailinflation are further aggravating thesituation. Given the current econom-ic scenario, it would be too optimisticto believe that growth will jump and

the private sector will start investingall of a sudden in the coming fiscal.

India has a federal structurewhere sufficient autonomy has beengiven to State Governments. Thisautonomy is not just for making leg-islations and administration over theterritory but it extends to the fiscalarena also. The States are getting theirfair share of revenue after the imple-mentation of the recommendationsof the Fourteenth FinanceCommission.

Our constitutional mechanismempowers the State Governments todeal with the matters which comeunder the State List, as per theSeventh Schedule of theConstitution, and they have jointcontrol over the matters comingunder the Concurrent List.

Despite the enormous powersgiven to States and the responsibili-ty entrusted upon the StateLegislature, it is a fact that whenev-er the question of economic growtharises, people always look to theUnion Government. The fact that theunion is nothing but a sum of allStates should be appreciated and,

therefore, the journey towards eco-nomic prosperity is the equal respon-sibility of both the Centre and theStates. A common man doesn’t wantto be entangled in a tug of warbetween warring politicians butunfortunately, gaining and retainingpower is more important for peoplewho are sitting at the helm of affairsthan the welfare of the people whoput them there.

There is a general perception thata State which is ruled by the samepolitical faction for a relatively longerperiod offers far more policy certain-ty and enhances its ability to attractinvestors. It is also perceived that hav-ing a Government of the sameparty/coalition at both the Centreand State helps in the unimpededgrowth of the State.

However, if we see the data forthe two most populous States of thecountry viz. Uttar Pradesh (UP)and Bihar, then these notions willprove to be a myth.

Bihar has been continuouslyruled by Nitish Kumar for the last 15years (except for a short while whenJitan Ram Manjhi was at the helm).

In the case of UP, most of thetime the State was ruled byGovernments which had allies at theCentre.

However, despite this favourablepolitical environment, these Statesare not doing well economicallyand are called the BIMARU States.This means that the State-level politi-cians are not doing good enoughwork for their development. Thislackadaisical attitude of StateGovernments stems from the factthat economic growth and job cre-ation are considered the sole respon-sibility of the Union Government,which it is not.

For Chief Ministers it is easy topass the buck on to the Centre in casequestions regarding the economy anddevelopment are asked.

The persona-centric politics ofthe major parties like the BJP and theCongress is also to be blamed for notgrooming the State leadership andnot pushing regional leaders to pre-sent a development role model forothers.

The people of the country allwant jobs and a higher income and

a better quality of life. For this, wehave to start making State-levelleaders accountable and questiontheir inability to deliver on theirpromises made during the electioncampaigns.

Economic reforms are an ongo-ing process and investors continu-ously evaluate various investmentoptions before committing theirresources. Land and labour reformsare the most critical of all the struc-tural changes which this countryneeds. Land comes under the StateList and matters related to labour arepart of the Concurrent List. Amongvarious things, an investor looks forinfrastructure and the law and ordersituation. These two vital prerequi-sites for development also fall underthe domain of States. If we take stockof all the major areas which needimprovement for attracting invest-ment then, barring fiscal and mon-etary policies, almost all the key itemsare either in the State List or theConcurrent List of the Constitution.

The rural economy and theMicro, Small and MediumEnterprises (MSME) sector are fac-

ing severe distress. The rural econ-omy is largely driven by agricultur-al activities and as a matter of fact,the farm sector accounts for almosthalf of the workforce employed inour country and contributes 18 percent to the GDP. Similarly, theMSME sector contributes almost 29per cent to the GDP and more than45 per cent of product exports comefrom this sector. State Governmentsare uniquely positioned to under-stand local needs and tailor schemesas per those requirements, includingtax concessions by reducing StateGoods and Services Tax rates.Central schemes are applied acrossthe country and “one size fits all” maynot be true in every situation.

If India has to grow, then StateGovernments should take ownershipfor development and people shouldalso ask regional leaders to deliver ontheir promises. This nation belongsto all and therefore development isthe collective responsibility of all ofus, particularly those who have beengiven the mandate to rule.

(The writer is a CharteredAccountant)

States also responsible for economic growthIf we take stock of all the major areas which need improvement for attracting investment then, barring fiscal and monetary

policies, almost all the key items are either in the State List or the Concurrent List of the Constitution

SHSHANK SAURAV

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | JANUARY 18, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

US President Trump’s trial isnot just a defining momentfor him but also for thepresidency and the Senate. Ifthe Senate votes on partylines to acquit and Trump isthen re-elected, this would bean infamous outcome. Theidea that a president canabuse his office would beaccepted. A new and lawlesspresidential legitimacy wouldbe sanctioned. And thechecks and balances of theUS constitution would nolonger exist and would needto be built afresh.

(The Guardian editorial)

TRUMP’S TRIAL ADEFINING MOMENT

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | JANUARY 18, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Xiaomi India spinsoff POCO asindependent brandNEW DELHI: Smartphonemaker Xiaomi on Friday said it isspinning off 'POCO' as astandalone brand. With thisrestructuring, POCO will runindependent of Xiaomi with itsown team and go-to-marketstrategy, a statement said. "POCOstarted as a sub-brand of Xiaomiin 2018 with a small team. Itsfirst smartphone, POCO F1, wasincredibly successful andremains an extremely popularphone till date," it added. XiaomiVice President and IndiaManaging Director Manu Jainsaid POCO has grown into itsown identity in a short span oftime. "We feel the time is right tolet POCO operate on its ownnow, which is why we're excitedto announce that POCO will spinoff as an independent brand," headded.

Adani, Azure topbidders for solar tendersNEW DELHI: Adani GreenEnergy and Azure Power haveemerged as successfulbidders in Solar EnergyCorporation of India's firstmanufacturing-linked solartender, a top governmentofficial said on Friday. Adanihas bid for 1.5 GW solar cellmanufacturing capacity and 6GW generation capacity,MNRE Secretary AnandKumar said on the sidelines ofIndia Energy Forum-Renewable Energy Summithere. He also said that AzurePower bid for 500 MW solarcell manufacturing capacityand 2 GW generation capacity.With the green shoe option,the capacity for Adani wouldincrease to 2 GW of solar cellmanufacturing capacity and 8GW generation capacity,Kumar said.

Auto Expo to focuson new emissiontechnologyLUCKNOW: The upcomingAuto Expo at the India ExpoMart in Greater Noida willfeature new emissiontechnology products and act asa launchpad for some keybrands entering the Indianmarket and unveiling newproducts.The biggest bi-annualextravaganza of the automotiveindustry is slated to beinaugurated on February 6,Co-chairman, SIAM Trade FairGroup and Vice President,Corporate Communications,Maruti Suzuki India SanjeevHanda said here on Friday. Theweek-long show will featurenew emission technologyproducts and vehicles withmore stringent safety standardsunder one roof, Handa said,adding that the event willshowcase Indian automotiveindustry's preparedness toadopt to the BS-VI normsahead of the government'sspecified deadline.

‘Amazon to create one mn jobs in India by 2025’PNS n NEW DELHI

World's largest online shoppingplatform Amazon on Fridayannounced plans to create onemillion new jobs in India overthe next five years as it firefightscomments from CommerceMinister Piyush Goyal on thefirm not doing a favour to thecountry by making the invest-ments.

Amazon founder and CEOJeff Bezos, in a statement onFriday, said the company plansto create one million new jobsin India over the next fiveyears. The new jobs - cre-ated both directly andindirectly - will be acrossindustries, including IT,skill development, contentcreation, retail, logistics, andmanufacturing.

These jobs are in addition tothe seven lakh jobs Amazon'sinvestments have enabled over

the last six years in the country.The statement comes a day

after Goyal said the US-basedcompany was not doing afavour to the country by theinvestments, andquestioned how theonline retailingmajor could incursuch "big" lossesbut for its predato-ry pricing.

Bezos, who isin India this week,had on Wednesdayannounced USD 1 bil-

lion (over Rs7,000

crore) investment in the coun-try to help bring small andmedium businesses online andcommitted to exporting USD10 billion worth of India-made

goods by 2025."We've seen huge con-

tributions from ouremployees, extraordi-

nary creativity fromthe small businesseswe've partnered with,and great enthusiasm

from the customerswho shop with us -

and we're excitedabout what

l i e s

ahead," Bezos said in the state-ment on Friday.

The company noted that theIndian government has priori-tised job creation and skillinginitiatives – including the train-ing of more than 400 millionpeople by 2022 – in rural andurban areas.

"Amazon's job creation com-mitment and investment intraders and micro, small andmedium enterprises (MSMEs)

complement thesesocial inclusion

and socialmobility effortsby creating moreopportunities for

people in India tofind employment,build skills, andexpand entrepre-neurship opportu-nities," the statementadded.

The company's

new investments will help hir-ing talent to fill roles across thecompany in India, includingsoftware development engi-neering, cloud computing, con-tent creation, and customersupport, it said.

Since 2014, Amazon hasgrown its employee base morethan four times, and last yearinaugurated its new campusbuilding in Hyderabad –Amazon's first fully-ownedcampus outside the UnitedStates and the largest buildingglobally in terms of employees(15,000) and space (9.5 acres).

The e-tail giant had previ-ously committed USD 5.5 bil-lion investments in India -Amazon's most importantmarket outside of the US anda key growth dri-ver.

The invest-ments, Amazonsaid, will also helpin expandinggrowth opportuni-ties for the more than 5.5 lakhtraders and micro, small, andmedium-sized businesses –including local shops – throughprograms like Saheli, Karigar,

and “I Have Space”.In a post on the Amazon.in

website, Bezos said more than60,000 businesses are exporting'Make in India' products glob-ally with cumulative exportsexceeding USD 1 billion.

"I fall more in love withIndia every time I return here.The boundless energy, inno-vation, and the grit of theIndian people always inspireme," he wrote.

Bezos' visit has been markedby Competition Commission

of India ini-tiating a for-mal investi-gation intoalleged deepdiscounts,preferential

listing and exclusionary tacticsadopted by Amazon andWalmart-owned Flipkart.Many store owners, led bytraders' body Confederation of

All India Traders, had alsoorganised protests in 300 citiesagainst online retailers allegingthat these e-commerce com-panies were violating FDI rulesand following predatory pric-ing in India.

Last year, the governmenthad tightened rules for e-commerce marketplaces withforeign investment. Theserules barred such platformsfrom offering products of sell-ers in which they hold a stakeand banned exclusive market-ing arrangements among otherclauses. Following this,Amazon restructured its jointventures to ensure compli-ance.

The government has assert-ed that e-commerce companieshave to follow Indian rules inletter and spirit and not findloopholes to make a back-door entry into multi-brandretail segment.

The statement comes a day after Goyalsaid the US-based company was notdoing a favour to the country by theinvestments, and questioned how theonline retailing major could incur such"big" losses but for its predatory pricing.

India must continue structuralreforms to boost growth: UN reportPNS n NEW DELHI

A UN report on Friday saidcontinued structural reformsare necessary to boost growthin India, which is currently fac-ing an economic slowdown.

The World EconomicSituation and Prospects 2020(WESP) report has also loweredGDP growth estimate for Indiawhile expressing hope thatcombination of fiscal stimulusand financial sector reforms willhelp boost consumption.

"After experiencing a sharpeconomic slowdown from 6.8per cent in 2018 to 5.7 per centin 2019, India has committed toan ambitious fiscal expansion tocomplement the country'salready loose monetary policy.

"The combination of fiscalstimulus and financial sectorreforms, boosting investmentand consumption, is expectedto support a recovery in growthto 6.6 per cent, but it will takecontinued structural reforms tobring India's growth back to itsprevious levels," it said.

However, the data related toIndia was revised to 5 per centfor the current fiscal and 5.8-

5.9 per cent for the next finan-cial year, Nagesh Kumar, Head,UN Economic and SocialCommission for Asia and thePacific, said.

While presenting the report,he said the GDP forecast inWESP did not take intoaccount the latest growth num-bers released by India'sNational Statistical Office(NSO).

The report, he said wascomputed in October 2019and NSO's advanced growthestimates were released inJanuary 2020 suggesting coun-

try's growth would slipto 5 per cent during 2019-20 fiscal.

Kumar further said India'smacro economic fundamentalsare strong as ever and recoveryin growth is expected in thenext fiscal.

According to the UN study,one in five countries will seeper capita income stagnate ordecline this year, but listedIndia among few countrieswhere the per capita GDPgrowth rate could exceed 4 percent level in 2020.

A prolonged weakness in

global economicactivity maycause significantsetbacks for sus-tainable devel-

opment, includ-ing the goals to

eradicate povertyand create decent jobs

for all. At the same time, per-vasive inequalities and thedeepening climate crisis arefuelling growing discontent inmany parts of the world.

In the European Union,manufacturing will continue tobe held back by global uncer-tainty, but this will be partial-ly offset by steady growth inprivate consumption, allowinga modest rise in GDP growthfrom 1.4 per cent in 2019 to 1.6per cent in 2020.

However, the datarelated to India wasrevised to 5 per cent

for the current fiscal and5.8-5.9 per cent for the nextfinancial year,

—NAGESH KUMAR Head ofSSWA_UNESCAP

China's economy slumps to 6.1%, lowest in 29 yearsPNS n BEIJING

China's GDP grew by 6.1 percent last year, the lowest in 29years, the government said onFriday, as weak domesticdemand and the bruising 18-month trade war with the UStook their toll on the world'ssecond-largest economy.

The new data released by theNational Bureau of Statistics(NBS) comes a day after Chinaand the US signed a long-awaited phase one deal, mark-ing a ceasefire in the 18-month-long trade war whichsaw the world's two largesteconomies slap 25 per cent tar-iffs on about half a trillion-dol-lar worth of each other'sexports.

The world's second-largesteconomy grew by 6.1 per centlast year, its worst performancesince 1990, but it remainedabove the psychologicallyimportant six per cent mark.

The GDP growth remainedwell within the 6 to 6.5 targetset by the government, theNBS said.

However, significant fromthe Chinese government's per-

spective, the GDP expanded toUSD 14.38 trillion from lastyear's USD 13.1 trillion.

In 2018, China's economysank to a 28-year low slowingdown to 6.6 per cent year onyear, lower than the 6.8-percent growth registered in 2017as it grappled with the contin-ued slowdown amid the tradewar with US and decliningexports.

There is a sense of reliefamong the officials here as theofficial growth rate remainedabove the psychologicallyimportant 6 per cent as man-dated by Chinese President XiJinping who in the past direct-ed that GDP should not godown below six per cent, whichcould cause serious disrup-tion to the world's secondlargest economy.

Chinese economy was hithard by the US tariffs as a resultof the trade war between thetwo countries.

After signing the phase onedeal on Wednesday, USPresident Donald Trump said25 per cent tariff hike on USD360 billion worth of Chineseproducts would continue untilthe phase-2 deal is worked out.

"The phase one deal is onlyan interim agreement betweenChina and the US. In fact, topush for negotiation in the nextstage, the US will keep existingtariffs on imports from Chinaunless the two countries man-age to reach a phase two deal,"said Alicia Garcia Herrero,chief Asia Pacific economist atNatixis.

The world's second-largest economygrew by 6.1 per cent last year, itsworst performance since 1990, but itremained above the psychologicallyimportant six per cent mark.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Fertiliser Minister D VSadananda Gowda on Fridayunveiled the logo and brand'Apna Urea Sona Ugle' ofHindustan Urvarak andRasayan Ltd (HURL), which isin the process of reviving threesick urea units.

The sick urea units are locat-ed at Gorakhpur (UttarPradesh), Barauni (Bihar) andSindri (Jharkhand).

HURL, a joint venture firmpromoted by three PSUs --Coal India Limited (CIL),NTPC Ltd and Indian OilCorporation Ltd (IOCL) -- isin the process of putting inplace all logistic and market-ing infrastructure.

After the launch, Gowdasaid five sick urea units arebeing revived at present.

HURL's three units are

expected to be commissionedin February 2021, whileRamagundam (Telangana) andTalcher (Odisha) units are alsolikely to commence opera-tions next year.

"I hope all units will be com-missioned on schedule. This isthe need of the hour," he said.

At each location, a newplant with 12.7 lakh tonnescapacity of neem coated ureais being set up which willmake the country self-suffi-cient in urea, Gowda said,

adding that the country stillimports about 70-80 lakhtonnes of urea annually.

Fertiliser SecretaryChhabilendra Roul askedHURL to promote balanceduse of fertilisers and not justfocus on marketing its ureaproduct.

He also advised the compa-ny not to focus on single brandurea, but diversify its productportfolio to include agro-chemicals, compost, and nano-fertilizers.

Senior officials of FertilizerMinistry, CIL, NTPC, andHURL were also present at theevent.

According to HURL, thecommissioning of three unitsin Uttar Pradesh, Bihar andJharkhand will open forwardand backward linkages forbusiness activity in the easternpart of the country.

Gowda launches bid to revive threesick urea units; unveils logo, slogan

The sick ureaunits are locatedat Gorakhpur(Uttar Pradesh),Barauni (Bihar)and Sindri(Jharkhand)

PNS n NEW DELHI

Insurance Regulatory andDevelopment Authority ofIndia (IRDAI) chairman S CKhuntia on Friday cautionedinsurers against indulging inpredatory pricing, saying it isnot a sustainable model whileciting examples of airline andtelecom sectors.

Highlighting that the insur-ance industry is different fromother business, he said if aninsurer fails, it has bearing oncustomers as well.

"I would like to give a wordof caution here. Though your(insurance brokers) share isvery high in group healthinsurance, the loss ratio ingroup health insurance is alsovery high. Probably, it is notvery sustainable at present," hesaid at an event organised byInsurance Brokers Associationof India here.

"So the insurance compa-nies, intermediaries and poli-cyholders need to unite tocreate a sustainable atmos-phere. In other industries ifthere is unfair competition, theindustry suffers but the clien-

tele don't suffer. While this hashappened in airlines and tele-com industries but we cannotafford that kind of a situationin the insurance industrybecause insurance is an indus-try for protection," he said.

"So if the industry suffers,then clientele also suffers. Andas a regulator we would notlike that to happen. Oneshould not overcharge andalso not undercharge," he said,adding, there is need to createefficiencies so that to bringdown premium and minimisethe risk.

Asked if companies areengaging in predatory pricing

to up their volume, the regu-lator acknowledged it by say-ing "of course, of course."

"Regulator will have toensure that the industry runssustainably. There will be hostof actions not one kind ofaction (to check predatorypricing) but we will ensure thatthe health of insurance indus-try does not deteriorate," hesaid.

To a query on LIC stakereduction roadmap for IDBIBank, Khuntia said IRDAI hasreminded LIC and they are yetto come forward with it.

He, however, expressed hopethat it will be done quickly.

I would like to give aword of caution here.Though your

(insurance brokers) share isvery high in group healthinsurance, the loss ratio ingroup health insurance is alsovery high. Probably, it is notvery sustainable at present

S C KHUNTIA (IRDAI) chairman

IRDAI chief cautions insurersagainst predatory pricing

ShippingMinistry seeksland fromBengal for CEZPNS n KOLKATA

The Shipping Ministry hassought land from the WestBengal government for set-ting up a coastal employmentzone (CEZ), an official said.

Setting up CEZs acrossthe country will promoteport- led development con-ceived under the 'Sagarmala'project of the government.

The ministry is in talkswith the state government forgetting the land, Director(Sagarmala), ShippingMinistry, Abhishek Chandrasaid at a BCCI event here onFriday. Under the plan, thestate government will give theland as equity while fundingwill be done by the Centre.

"CEZs will be set up usingthe challenge methodology ofNiti Aayog," Chandra said.

Under this system, all pro-jects under different min-istries will be rated on morethan a half-dozen parameters

on a scale of zero-to-100and the state that gets thehighest score will get theproject automatically.

Vodafone Ideasharesnosedive over 39 pcPNS n NEW DELHI

Shares of Vodafone Idea onFriday plunged over 39 percent after the Supreme Courtdismissed review petitionsof top telecom firms seekingreview of its earlier order ask-ing them to pay Rs 1.47 lakhcrore in past statutory dues byJanuary 23.

The company's scriptanked 39.30 per cent to Rs3.66 on the BSE.

On the NSE, it plummeted39.16 per cent to Rs 3.65. BhartiAirtel, however, was trading inthe green after initial losses of0.83 per cent on the BSE.

The Supreme CourtThursday dismissed reviewpetitions of top telecom firmsincluding Bharti Airtel andVodafone Idea seeking reviewof its earlier order askingthem to pay Rs 1.47 lakhcrore in past statutory dues byJanuary 23 saying it did notfind any "justifiable reason" toentertain them.

In a big blow to telecomsector, India's apex court hasdismissed the review petitionfiled by telecom companies togrant a relief on AGR liabil-ities, said a report by MotilalOswal Institutional Equities.

Centre pushes centres forvehicle tracking systemPNS n NEW DELHI

With little progress on settingup monitoring centres by sta-tes on vehicle tracking system,the Centre has stepped in toensure effective implementa-tion of the project under theNirbhaya Framework with anassistance of Rs 332 crore.

In a letter to Principal Secreta-ries and Transport Commissio-ners of states and UTs, Ministryof Road Transport and Highwayshas asked them to apply for theassistance by February 15.

"Since very little progresscould be achieved on setting upthe Monitoring Centers, it wasfelt necessary to support the

States under Nirbhaya Frame-work at the earliest so as to effec-tively implement the vehicletracking system and ensure safecommute to the women and ch-ildren in public passenger trans-port vehicles," the letter said.

The ministry earlier hadmandated vehicle locationtracking device and emerge-ncy buttons be fitted in all pu-blic service vehicle w e f fromApril 1, 2018, which was re-examined and it was decidedto give exemption to all pub-lic service vehicles that wereregistered till December 31,2018 (old vehicles) from theserequirements till notified bystate/UT governments.

ance as an artform hasa l w a y sserved as amedium ofemotional

communication. Artisteshave used dance as a platformto express joy and sadness andfind common ground amongcommunities for centuriesaround the world.

Recently, the Monsoon RagaFoundation, in association withthe United States Embassy andSBI, presented the Battery DanceCompany from New York inHyderabad. The dance companyperformed its criticallyacclaimed production, Shakti: AReturn to the Source, at theShilpa Kala Vedika. People fromacross Hyderabad turned up for the

event and the performance wasreceived well. The show started offby Shreenath Muthyala, founder ofthe Monsoon Raga Foundation,and Jonathan Hollander, director ofBattery Dance, introducing the per-

formances to the audi-ence. The perfor-mances that followedwere presented inthree parts. The firsts e g m e n t‘Observatory’ kickedoff the show with anenergetic perfor-

mance andwas choreo-graphed byS o u t hA f r i c a nchoreog-r a p h e rT h e oNdindwa.Its pulsat-i n gr h y t h mkept theaudience attheir edge

of the seats.The second

segment ‘TheRed Line’ choreo-

graphed by TadejBrdnik was emo-

tionally moving andheartwarming. Thefinal segment and the

main element of theshow ‘Shakti’ featuredguest artiste UnnathHassan Rathnaraju, anIndian Classical con-temporary dancer. The

final act was a fusion ofBharatanatyam and mod-

ern contemporary and fea-tured Indian music. Theshow also featured twoincredible solo acts fromguest artist Guru Swathi

Gundapuneedi Atluri, a highlyrespected Kuchipudi artist.

The final part of the show endedwith the artists receiving a standingovation in the auditorium. Thesound of applause electrified the halland people left with tears and a bigsmile because of the connection theperformance and the artistes madewith the audience. A theatrical ele-ment of the show was that each partof the show was a story told in danceand the meaning was left to theaudience to interpret.

Vivake Khamsingsavath, dancerand choreographer of the BatteryDance, discussed with The Pioneerhis experience of performing andteaching in Hyderabad. He says, “Itwas an honour to teach and performin Hyderabad. Bethany, also adancer and choreographer at theBattery dance, and I taught a work-shop specifically connecting emo-tions to movement. It was inspira-tional to watch the students work

through their feelings and find a wayto show what they felt throughdance. Our host at the school,Anjali, from HY dance studio cre-ated a safe environment for the stu-dents to learn and try new things.Shreenath took amazing care of thecompany in preparation of our per-formance. The stage was spaciousallowing us to go bigger than anyother show we have done so far.Afterwards, the reception wereceived from the audience was an

overwhelming feeling of apprecia-tion and admiration. It was a trueprivilege to share our work inHyderabad.”

The Hyderabad tour of Batterydance lasted for three days. Ascreening of Moving Stories washeld followed by a panel discussionon January 8 at the Prasad’s Labs.Three workshops on personalitydevelopment for children and adultswere also conducted. The BatteryDance Company is a New York-

based dance company which hasbeen performing and teachingdance around the world for 44years. From integrating refugees intodance to presenting NYC’s longest-running public dance festival andbringing education in the arts tothousands of youngsters in publicschools, Battery Dance redefined themeaning of dance and its power inbringing the world together.

India has always been theirfavourite spot where the company

has appeared several times in vari-ous cities bringing the east and thewest together.

Jonathan Hollander expressedhis love towards Indian music andespecially Indian classical dancewhich has always been an inspira-tion for his work.

The India tour team of BatteryDance included Robin Cantrell,Sarah Housepian, Bethany Mitchell,Sean Scantlebury and VivakeKhamsingsavath.

Hyd was treatedto a celebration of

dance by theBattery Dance

Company fromNew York.

SIDDHESHSUMAN writes

about theperformance ofthe troupe and

their missionto bringpeople

togetherthrough

dance

n recent times, we haveseen marches being held bypeople from all walks oflives globally to spreadawareness on the climatechange. Many experts warn

that the optimum climatic conditionsnecessary for our survival are in dan-ger and immediate action need to betaken to save it for future generations.One cannot forget Swedish climateactivist Greta Thunberg’s speech at theClimate Action Summit, 2019 at theUnited Nations General Assembly.

“We are at the beginning of massextinction and all you can talk

about is money and fairytales of eternal economicgrowth. How dare you!”she had lashed out at thegovernments of the world.

Like Greta, many peopleare doing their bit to safe-

guard the present environ-mental state. Hyderabad-based Dr P. Narayana Rao

started a monthly maga-

zine called Environment and People in1994 and has been publishing articleson environmental issues and aboutpeople who were working hard to savethe environment. The magazine car-ries articles written by eminent jour-nalists, academicians and administra-tors.

Narayana Rao said, “I was interest-ed in social activities since my child-hood and used to participate in vari-ous programmes. I started my NGO,Society For Environment andEducation, in 1993 after the UnitedNations Conference on Environmentand Development, 1992, in Rio deJaneiro. I thought there is a need toexplain to the youth about the impor-

tance of saving mother earth forfuture generations. I go to various col-leges in Hyderabad and explainedstudents about the issues regarding theclimate crisis. Later, in 1994, I startedprinting a monthly magazine titledEnvironment and People to forwardthe same cause.”

The magazine has 36 pages that hasarticles about good environmentalpractices, human interest stories andcartoons about the cause. Every montha quiz is featured in themagazine urging the read-ers to test their knowledgeabout the environment.The money to run themagazine is obtainedby crowdfunding, saidRao.

He said that then min-ister for environment,Marri Shashidhar Reddy,of erstwhile AndhraPradesh launched themagazine. I met manyIFS officials and other cli-mate experts and request-ed them to write about the

climate issues and the action requiredto save ourselves for drastic climatechange, he said.

Narayana Rao had also worked as aPollution Control Board member from1994 to 1998 which opened his eyes tothe various problems plaguing theenvironment.

He said that after the Earth Summitin 2002 at Johannesburg in SouthAfrica, he began working on theissues highltighted at the conference -water, energy, health, agriculture andbiodiversity also called as WEHAB.

“As I worked as a PCB member, Iknow many people who work for theenvironment. I meet and learned fromthem their methods. Later with theirpermission, I published their work. Ialso read various newspapers, maga-zines, websites to check people whowere working hard for the environ-

ment and publish theirstories by referring theparticular media nameas a source,” he said.

“Till date, we got agreat response frompeople regarding themagazine. I believethat more shouldinvolve themselves inworking towards theissues regarding theclimate to make earthsafer for the next gen-

erations,” headded.

i

d

THE DANCE COMPANYPERFORMED ITSCRITICALLY ACCLAIMEDPRODUCTION, SHAKTI: ARETURN TO THE SOURCE,AT THE SHILPA KALAVEDIKA. A THEATRICALELEMENT OF THE SHOWWAS THAT EACH PARTOF THE SHOW WAS ASTORY TOLD IN DANCEAND THE MEANING WASLEFT TO THE AUDIENCETO INTERPRET

A WORLD UNITED BY DANCE

THE MAGAZINE HAS 36 PAGES THAT HAS ARTICLES ABOUTGOOD ENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICES, HUMAN INTERESTSTORIES AND CARTOONS ABOUT THE CAUSE. EVERY MONTHA QUIZ IS FEATURED IN THE MAGAZINE URGING THE READERSTO TEST THEIR KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT

Turn the pagefor a better future

I started my NGO, Society For Environmentand Education, in 1993 after the UnitedNations Conference on Environment andDevelopment, 1992, in Rio de Janeiro. Ithought there is a need to explain to theyouth about the importance of saving motherearth for future generations

Hyderabad-based P Narayana Rao, through hismagazine, Environment and People, seeks

to inspire people to join the fight against theclimate crisis, finds V SATEESH REDDY

SaturdayJanuary 18, 2020

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

restler-actor John Cena isnot finished with wrestlingdespite his blossoming act-ing career.

Cena has followed fellowWorld Wrestling

Entertainment (WWE) legend andactor Dwayne The Rock Johnson’spath to Hollywood, having rarelystepped into the ring since takinga hiatus from the sport in 2018,reports aceshowbiz.com.

He says his success as an actordoesn’t mean his wrestling career isat an end — even if movie commit-ments are keeping him out of the

ring for now.“I’m not done with WWE yet. Keep

in mind that being a sports entertain-er is like being an actor. You have to

invest your full passion into it. Due toinsurance liabilities for movies, you can’t

do other stuff... I am far from done with theWWE. I am trying to change perception —

it’s not a transition,” Cena told portal Extra.The star went on to say that there’s a “great

chance” his fans will see him back in the ringat some point.

Cena is set to join Johnson as a member ofthe Fast and Furious franchise, debuting in Fast

and Furious 9 later this year, and said he waswelcomed by his new castmates — despite someinitial rivalry.

He added: “At first it was like being the newmember of a family. Everyone is sizing you up...They were all so open-minded, and I got toknow everyone quickly and was welcomed intothe family.”

Motherhoodlimits my choices

on screen: EVA MENDES

ctress Eva Mendes likes to ‘set an example’ for her daugh-ters with the roles she plays on screen.

Mendes has not been seen in anything since sheappeared in her partner Ryan Gosling’s movie Lost Riverback in 2014, reports aceshowbiz.com.

Since becoming a mother, her absence from the screenhas not gone unnoticed by her fans, one of whom took to

Instagram to question Mendes on when will she be seen in a film.“When can we the fans going to see you in some new movies @eva-

mendes,” the fan questioned.The actress replied: “hi! When there’s something worthwhile to

be apart of.”“As a mother now, there are many roles I won’t do. There are

many subject matters that I don’t want to be involved with, soit limits my choices and I’m fine with that. I have to set an

example for my girls now. But no worry, I got someside hustles. Ha! Thanks for asking. All the bestfor 2020.”

Mendes shares two daughters —Esmeralda, five, and Amada, three

— with Gosling.

10

what’s brewing?

When SRK made Jeff Bezossay Don dialogue

uperstar Shah Rukh Khangave a filmy touch to hismeeting with Jeff Bezos whenhe made the Amazon’s glob-al CEO say a dialogue fromhis hit film Don.

It was a starry evening for Bezos inMumbai as he opened up about his jour-ney and his bond with India during aconversation with superstar Shah RukhKhan and filmmaker Zoya Akhtar. The

event was attended by RiteishDeshmukh and his wife Genelia,Vidya Balan and her husbandSiddharth Roy Kapur, ArshadWarsi, Rajkummar Rao,Pankaj Tripathi, Kamal

Haasan and Ali Fazalamong others.

When Bezosopened up aboutgetting a role in StarTrek Beyond, ShahRukh went in andasked him to prac-tice the art of givingan audition for aHindi movie, leavingBezos surprised.

Modifying his Don kopakadna mushkil hi nahinamumkin hai dialogue, he

made Bezos say Jeff ko pakadna mushk-il hi nahi impossible hai.

The moment was shared by actorRiteish on his Twitter handle , which hasgone viral on social media.

SRK was a super host of the eveningand made Bezos comfortable. At oneinstance, he opened water bottle andoffered to him.

Looking at his gesture, Bezossaid: “You are so humble”. Towhich, SRK joked: “That’sbecause my last few films

haven’t done well.”

s

aw

JOHN CENA says acting careernot transition from wrestling

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

Vijayawada Saturday January 18, 2020

xtending their tribute toformer chief minister ofTamil Nadu MGR on his103rd birth anniversaryon Friday, the makers of

the Tamil, Telugu and Hindi trilin-gual, Thalaivi, unveiled AravindSwami’s first look from the film.The actor plays MGR in the film,directed by A.L. Vijay. KanganaRanaut is playing J. Jayalalithaa, thelate CM of Tamil Nadu, on whomthe title is based upon. MGR wasinstrumental in grooming theactress into a neta.

Vijay said they had consideredmany before zeroing in on Arvind.“Finally, we felt Arvind Swami would fit therole perfectly. In simple words, we are nowcompletely drenched in extreme astonishmentto find him breathe life into the legendary char-acter. Apart from our inputs, he spent sump-tuous time and energy in getting to knowdeeply about the legend’s life,” he added.

Besides the first look, the makers have also

released a small teaser of Swami asMGR filming the iconic songNaan Ungal Veetu Pillai from thefilm Pudhiya Bhoomi whichstarred Jayalalithaa as leadactress. Needless to say, Arvindlooked strikingly similar toMGR in both the promo-tional materials.

Beginning with herjourney as an actress,Thalaivi will end withJayalalithaa becomingthe CM. The ups anddowns she weath-ered will be a partof the film.

Produced by Vishnu Vard-han Induri and Shaailesh R.Singh for Vibri MotionPictures in associationwith Karma Media andEntertainment, Thalaiviwill open in cinemashalls on June 26.

ith Pawan Kalyan’s return to celluloidattached to the Telugu remake of theHindi movie Pink, the anticipationsurrounding the film is high. The film’sshooting will kick-off in

Hyderabad beginning Monday, withdirector Venu Sreeram set to filmscenes with Anjali, Nivetha Thomasand Ananya on day-one, whilePawan, as has been a norm withhim, will join the sets later.According to the grapevine, produc-er Raju already has a release date inmind. It is said that he is toying withthe idea of releasing the film for Eid —in the fourth week of May. Although May23 is favoured, it wouldn’t be a surprise if thefilm arrives a day early. Some of Pawan’s biggestblockbusters Kushi and Gabbar Singh were a sum-mer treat.

Pawan, who will be drawing more than Rs 50

crore for the project as his remuneration, has allot-ted close to a month for the film. Also, it seems themakers are in talks with Pooja Hedge for a cameo

appearance in the film. They’ve added a track withPawan and Pooja acting as a husband and

wife, similar to the story in NerkondaPaarvai (Tamil remake of Pink with

Ajith Kumar) and it remains to beseen if negotiations with her fruc-tify. She wouldn’t be required toshoot for more than a week.

Released in 2016, Pink createdwaves in the country with its por-

trayal of problems young women facein a patriarchal country and made the

nation understand that if a woman saysno she means it. It won the National Award

for the Best Film on Social Issues in 2017. TheTelugu remake, a joint production venturebetween Boney Kapoor and Dil Raju, willhave music by S.S. Thaman.

CHAY-SAMacquire a place in Goa

esides Europe, Goa has been a preferred holiday destination forNaga Chaitanya and Samantha whenever they get time off fromtheir schedules. They even tied the knot there three years ago.Taking their love for Goa forward, the couple has bought a placethere sometime back to construct a villa. “Both Chay and Sam make

it a point to visit Goa every three months for a quick getaway. In fact, theyboth welcomed 2020 in Goa along with their family. All this while they’vestayed at rented villas. It was Sam’s wish that they have their own proper-ty in Goa as she is a water girl and Chay obliged readily. It did cost thema bomb. The construction work is underway and by the end of first halfof this year, they will be proud owners of a sea-facing villa,” said a source.

On the work front, Chay is currently busy with Sekhar Kammula’s next,Love Story. He is charging close to Rs 8 crore as remuneration for a pro-ject, while Sam is shooting for The Family Man 2. She has projects likeMahasamudram and Ashwin Saravanan’s next in her kitty though her offi-cial participation in both the films is awaited. She is also rumoured to be

in talks with another Tamil filmmaker Gopi Nainar for a hard-hitting women-centric drama. She is charging somewhere

around Rs 1.25 crore to 1.50 crore per film.

Vijayawada Saturday January 18, 2020

bw

11

tollywoodPRABHAS'

picturesends fansinto frenzy

or the past couple of months, Prabhas’ fans havebeen patiently waiting for an update or two abouttheir darling’s next with Jil fame Radha Krishna.While they expected some news by New Year’seve or during Sankranti festivities, it didn’t hap-pen, leaving them dejected. Finally, to bring back

their smiles, the macho actor posted a picture of him onthe sets of the yet-to-be-titled film, on Friday.

“Elated to share that I’m resuming shooting for myupcoming film. Looking forward to a fun schedule (sic),”he wrote on his social media pages. Soon #Prabhas20Updatebecame a nationwide trend for a good part of Fridayevening.

It’s been more than six months since the Baahubali starfaced arc lights. Although he shot for the film in a coupleof short schedules last year, post-Saaho release he choseto take an extended break, which he utilised to work onhis looks and physique.

Set in Europe in the 1970s, the film is a love story betweena schoolteacher (Pooja Hedge) and a palm reader (Prabhas).It won’t boast of any action and would be high on music.Sets depicting bygone era have been erected at multiple stu-dios across the city under the supervision of productiondesigner S. Ravinder.

Being made simultaneously in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi,the film is a joint production venture between Gopi KrishnaMovies and UV Creations. Amit Tridevi is the tunesmith.

f

Pink, which becamea nationwide

phenomenon for itstake on women's

rights andpatriarchy, will be

seen in Telugu too.The shooting forthe remake will

begin on Mondayand Dil Raju is

planning the releasedate keeping PK’spopularity in mind

DIL RAJU targets Mayrelease for Pink remake

SARILERU… TEAM OFFERSPRAYERS ATTIRUMALA

eelebrating the success of SarileruNeekevvaru, the principal cast and crewof the film — comprising Mahesh Babu,Vijaya Shanti, Rajendra Prasad, Dil Raju,Anil Sunkara and Anil Ravipudi —

offered prayers to Lord Venkateswara Swamy atTirumala, on Friday. The team left for Tirumalaon Thursday evening and spent the night there.Producer N.V. Prasad received them. They tookthe blessing of the Lord early Friday morning.

Mahesh’s wide Namrata and their childrenGoutham and Sitara, along with VamshiPaidipally’s family also had a darshan of the Lordof Seven Hills. Paidipally, who will direct Maheshlater this year, offered his hair to the lord. Maheshalso met TTD (Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanamboard) chairperson Y.V. Subba Reddy and con-gratulated him on his new job. The team left toWarangal in the noon for a massive event to cel-ebrate the film’s success.

c

AL VIJAY in awe of ARVIND SWAMI as MGR

AFP n BERLIN

Jurgen Klinsmann is planninga party if Hertha Berlin beat

his former employers BayernMunich on Sunday despitedoubts about the validity of hiscoaching licence, as theBundesliga resumes this week-end after a four-week break.

Since taking charge inNovember, the 55-year-oldformer Germany and USnational team coach has pulledHertha up from the relegationplaces to mid-table with 10points from a possible 12 goinginto their clash with third-placed Bayern at Berlin’sOlympic Stadium.

However Klinsmann, wholed both the US and Germanyat World Cup finals, has beenleft red-faced after it emergedhis coaching licence, held since2000, may no longer be validand the relevant paperwork isat the family home inCalifornia.

“It’s just been a bit of achance for the media to let offa bit of steam,” Klinsmann toldSky as questions over hislicence became a hot topic inthe German media.

“No one has everapproached me about a licencein 20 years — whether ascoach of Germany, the USA orBayern. Now they have looked

into it and it’s expired.” Thematter remains unresolved butKlinsmann insists he has sentthe necessary paperwork to theGerman FA and that there is”

no problem at all”.He has a point to prove

against Bayern, who sackedhim in 2009 after just ninemonths and 43 games incharge.

Bayern striker RobertLewandowski has recoveredfrom recent groin surgery andwill look to pick up where heleft off after scoring 19 goals inthe first 17 games.

The defending championstrail leaders RB Leipzig byfour points and are withoutwingers Kingsley Coman(knee) and Serge Gnabry, whoinjured his Achilles tendonduring a training camp inQatar.

Bayern suffered a shock 2-0 defeat when they last trav-elled to Hertha in September2018 and Klinsmann said arepeat result would spark aparty in the capital.

“We have nothing to lose,”he said. “Let’s take a point —brilliant! Let’s take three, thenwe’ll have a party.

“We’ll go in there with the

confidence of four games with-out defeat.” One to watch:Erling Braut Haaland

Borussia Dortmund madethe league's standout signingduring the winter break whenthey paid Red Bull Salzburg 20million euros ($22m) for the19-year-old Norway striker.

Haaland attracted atten-tion last September when, aged19 years and 58 days, hebecame the third youngestplayer to score a ChampionsLeague hat-trick in a 6-2 vic-tory over Genk, finishing witheight goals in six group games.

“I don’t think we’ve hadthat kind of striker sinceRobert Lewandowski,”Dortmund captain Marco Reustold Sky.

Head coach Lucien Favrehas not said when Haaland willmake his debut. Fourth-placedDortmund hope a deluge ofgoals by their latest signing willhelp close the seven-pointdeficit to RB Leipzig, startingwith a win at Augsburg onSaturday.

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | JANUARY 18, 2020 sport 12

AFP n LIVERPOOL

Mohamed Salah saysLiverpool’s focus is

solely on ending a 30-yearwait to win the PremierLeague title, rather thandoing so by going the wholeseason unbeaten.

Jurgen Klopp’s menhave dropped just twopoints in 21 games to set anew record for Europe’s topfive leagues of 61 pointsfrom a possible 63 to startthe campaign.

That has propelled theEuropean champions into a

14-point lead over titleholders Manchester Citywith a game in hand, butSalah insists the Reds arestill taking their title chal-lenge one game at a timeahead of ManchesterUnited’s visit to Anfield onSunday.

“We don’t think aboutbeing unbeaten until theend of the season. If we dothat, it would be great, butat the end of the day we justwant to win the PremierLeague. That's the mostimportant thing,” Salah toldPremier League

Productions.“Unbeaten or not, it’s

not necessary - we want towin the Premier League.”

Liverpool could move amassive 30 points clear ofUnited with victory onSunday, but the Red Devilsare the only side to takepoints off them this seasonafter a 1-1 draw at OldTrafford in October.

Salah missed thatmatch through injury and iskeen to make up for losttime in the clash betweenEnglish football's two mostsuccessful sides.

“We need to win, weneed to carry on in our way- the way we’ve been doingsince the beginning of theseason and since last year,”added the Egyptian.

“Of course weknow it’s big for thefans, for the city andfor us. But at the endof the day, we play thegame to win.”

AFP n MADRID

Barcelona’s appointment ofQuique Setien, a fervent

disciple of Johan Cruyff, camethe day after Zinedine Zidanewon his ninth final out of nineas coach of Real Madrid.

With both teams level onpoints at the top of La Liga,Spain’s closest title race inyears will be as much a con-test of identity and beliefs aspoints won and lost.

Real Madrid, the club thatdefines itself by winning,against Barcelona, where win-ning is seen as the result ofsomething more profound, astyle heralded by Cruyff thathas become their footballingphilosophy.

Atletico Madrid andSevilla, both five pointsbehind, are still in touch butplaying catch-up.

Setien once said he wouldhave given his little finger toplay under Cruyff. Now, 34years later, he has the chanceto resuscitate those ideals after

two years under ErnestoValverde when pragmatismtook a greater hold.

Barca's new coach is notwell-known outside of Spainand, at 61, he may be in thetwilight years of his career.

“For me this is the pinna-cle,” he said at his unveiling onTuesday.

His previous clubs are notillustrious. They include Lugo,Logrones, Las Palmas, PoliEjido, Racing Santander, Real

Betis and one game in chargeof Equatorial Guinea. His listof trophies begins and endswith one Spanish Super Cupin 1985 with Atletico Madrid.

But his work and wordsup to this point could leavethe impression of someonethat has been preparing tocoach Barcelona his entirelife.

“When I was a player,coaches tried to set guidelinesfor me,” Setien, a formerSpanish international, toldMarca in 2018.

It remains to be seen howSetien’s appointment willaffect La Liga’s title race. WillReal Madrid’s players feeltheir chances are boosted orharmed by Valverde'sremoval? They are now upagainst a team with a coachthat has never won, or evencompeted for, a top-flight tro-phy. But they might feel warytoo, of the possibi l ityBarcelona could be released bySetien’s attacking beliefs andaccelerate.

PTI n BHUBANESWAR

The Olympics-bound Indianmen’s hockey team will kick-start its preparations for the

quadrennial showpiece when it debutsin the FIH Pro League against worldNo.3 the Netherlands here onSaturday.

After having missed the first edi-tion of the event, India will take on the2019 Pro League and EuropeanBronze medal winners, theNetherlands, in two matches in theiropening tie at the Kalinga Stadiumhere. The second match will be playedon Sunday.

With all the top teams of theworld in fray, the home-and-away ProLeague will be ideal preparation forworld No 5 India ahead of theSummer Games later this year.

After the Dutch side, India willhost world champions Belgium onFebruary 8 and 9 followed by twomore home fixtures against Australiaon February 22 and 23.

The Indian team will then leavefor the away games in Germany(April 25 and 26) and Great Britain(May 2 and 3).

India will return to play on homesoil on May 23 and 24 against NewZealand before travelling to Argentinato play on June 5 and 6.

The Manpreet Singh-led side willplay the last leg of the Pro Leagueround-robin matches in Spain on June13 and 14.

India’s head coach Graham Reidwill be aware of the challenges thatawait his team in the Pro Leagueopener.

Having served as a former assis-tant coach to the Dutch, Reid knowsexactly what to expect fromNetherlands in the double header.

The matches will also provideIndia a chance to avenge their heart-breaking 1-2 loss in the quarterfinalof the 2018 World Cup.

A look at the previous 10 meet-ings between the two teams reveals

that there is little to choose betweenthem.

The Netherlands have won five ofthose meetings, with India victoriouson four occasions and one match end-ing in a draw.

Reid too insisted that they are look-ing at the Pro League outings as a plat-form for Olympic preparation.

“It will be important to start strongand sharp in the Pro League with ourfirst three encounters against the topthree teams in the world,” Reid has said.

“We will be focussing on gettingour structures right and honing our setplays as preparation for our Olympiccampaign.”

The Indians would also benefittedby their familiarity with the KalingaStadium turf, having trained andplayed numerous matches here.

It is the same venue where theeight-time Olympic champions qual-ified for the 2020 Games after thrash-ing Russia 11-3 on aggregate in thetwo-leg FIH Qualifiers in Novemberlast year.

“The matches against India are avery important opener. Playing againstIndia at their home ground is chal-lenging no doubt but it is also veryexciting because we love playing inBhubaneswar,” Netherlands coachMax Caldas said.

Caldas too is looking at the ProLeague as preparation for Olympics.

“The players and combinations wewanted to test were experimented dur-ing the previous edition of Pro League.This edition we will have our mostcompetitive team as this will be thestepping-stone for us to be the best atTokyo,” he said.

India will field a full-strengthteam which will witness the return ofmidfielders Chinglensana Singh andSumit, who were out with injuries.

Chinglensana was on the sidelineswith an ankle fracture since theNational Championship last year,while Sumit suffered a wrist injury inJune during the FIH Men’s SeriesFinal.

PTI n HOBART

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirzacruised into the women’s

doubles final of the HobartInternational with herUkrainian partner NadiiaKichenok here on Friday.

Sania and Kichenok sailedpast the Slovenian-Czech pairof Tamara Zidansek and MarieBouzkova 7-6 (3) 6-2 in thesemifinal contest that lasted onehour and 24 minutes.

The fifth-seeded Indo-Ukrainian combination willlock horns with second seedsShuai Peng and Shuai Zhang ofChina. The Chinese pair got awalkover after Belgium’s KirstenFlipkens and Alison VanUytvanck conceded the othersemifinal match because ofinjury.

While Sania and Kichenokhad to fight hard in the open-ing set, the second set was acakewalk for the combination.

The first set was a toughcontest between the two pairs,bringing the tie-breaker into theequation after it was level at 6-6.

In the tie-breaker, Saniaand Kichenok upped theirgame by a few notches to out-

smart their opponents and takethe lead.

The second set was a nocontest as Saina and Kichenokbroke their opponents thrice -- in the second, sixth andeighth game — to easily pock-et the set and a place in thesummit clash.

Saina and Kichenok got11 break chances out of whichthey converted four, while theiropponents utilised two out ofthe five break chances thatcame their way.

The 33-year-old Sania isreturning to WTA circuit aftertwo years. During her timeaway from the game, she battledinjury breakdowns before tak-ing a formal break in April 2018to give birth to her son Izhaan.She is married to Pakistanicricketer Shoaib Malik.

Before the ongoing event,Sania last played at China Openin October 2017.

A trailblazer in Indian ten-nis, Sania is a former worldNo.1 in doubles and has sixGrand Slam titles to her cred-it.

She retired from the singlescompetition in 2013 afterbecoming the most successfulIndian woman tennis player.

PTI nMELBOURNE

India’s top-ranked player PrajneshGunneswaran failed to make the main draw

of the Australian Open men's singles eventafter going down in straight sets to ErnestsGulbis of Latvia in the final round of the qual-ifiers here on Friday.

Prajnesh, ranked 122nd in the world andseeded 17th in the qualifiers, lost 6-7 (2) 2-6to Gulbis in his final round qualifying match.

Prajnesh had earlier defeated local wild-card Harry Bourchier and Germany’s YannickHanfmann.

It was a close first set which went into tie-break, where Prajnesh faltered to hand earlyadvantage to his opponent.

In the second set, Gulbis broke Prajneshin the first and third games to race to a 3-0lead.

From there on, the Indian found it toughas Gulbis held his serve to close out the con-test that lasted for one hour and 20 minutes.

With Prajnesh’s ouster, India’s campaignin the singles ended in the qualifiers.

Earlier, Sumit Nagal suffered a straight-set loss to Mohamed Safwat of Egypt to crashout in the first round of the qualifiers onThursday.

AFP n ADELAIDE

Ukraine’s DayanaYastremska defeated her

third top 20 opponent in a rowto make the AdelaideInternational finals with a 6-4,7-6 (7/4) win over ArynaSabalenka on Friday.

The 19-year-old's blitzedworld number 20 Donna Vekic

in the quarter-finals of theMemorial Drive tournament aday after 18th-rankedAngelique Kerber retired fromtheir match with back painfrom a set down.

Yastremska, ranked 24th,will play for the fourth title ofher career on Saturday againsteither Australian world numberone Ashleign Barty orAmerican Danielle Collins.

“I’m pretty happy, this newseason is off to a good start,”Yastremska said after defeatingSabalenka of Belarus for theirthird match in as many meet-ings.

“I’m just doing myjob on court, playing mygame. I do what I can oncourt.

“I feel confidenceheading to the Australian

Open.” Yastremska brokeonce per set while losing her

own service once in the 106-minute showdown.

She finished on a thirdmatch point in the tiebreaker asSabalenka hitthe net on areturn.

Ya s t r e m s k aclaimed two WTA tro-

phies last season at Strasbourgand Hua Hin, Thailand.

Sania Mirza in action during Hobart International Hobart International/Twitter

Sania stormsinto Hobart final

India launch Olympic bid with pro openerManpreet led side host the Netherlands in FIH pro league game today

Manpreet Singh in a file picture Manpreet Singh/Twitter

Title most imp goal for Salah

Mo Salah celebrates with Sadio Mane after scoring Liverpool/Twitter

Harry replaces Young as captainAFP nMANCHESTER

Ole Gunnar Solskjaerhas confirmed Harry

Maguire as ManchesterUnited’s new captain lessthan six months after his?80 million ($104 million)move from Leicester.

Maguire will take overas skipper from AshleyYoung, who is expected tocomplete his move to InterMilan on Friday.

The England interna-tional, 26, has led the side ingames when Young hasbeen absent and was anobvious choice for the rolehaving played in everyPremier League match thisseason. “Harry has beenwearing the captain's arm-band and he will keep wear-ing it,” said Solskjaer, whoseside take on runaway lead-ers Liverpool at Anfield onSunday. “He’s come in andbeen a leader in the group.I have not been surprised

but I’ve been impressed byhis leadership skills.”

“He is part of a groupthat we’ve had that havebeen leading this younggroup,” added Solskjaer.

“Ashley has been ofcourse, Marcus (Rashford)is a young lad but he hasbeen involved, David (deGea) and Harry, so Harrywill keep on wearing thearmband now.”

Young, who moved toOld Trafford in 2011, willlink up at the San Siro withformer United teammatesRomelu Lukaku and AlexisSanchez.

“Ashley has been agood servant for the club,he’s been captain, he’s wontrophies, the league, variouscups,” said Solskjaer.

“But we’ve got playerscoming through andwhen Ashley's head andmindset was, 'I want totry this’, why not do itnow?”

Yastremska downsSabalenka for finals place

Prajnesh out ofAustralian Open

Klinsmann back to hurt Bayern

Hertha BSC Berlin head coach Juergen Klinsmann attends a news conference AP

Quique era starts in Barca

Prajnesh Gunneswaran plays a return shot AFP