Chariot of Lord Narsimha Swamy in ,!˘ ˘ .ˇ # /˚˘0 + 1 Antarvedi ......1 day ago · to resume its operations in a phased manner from Monday, putting in place all Covid-19 guidelines

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Chariot of LordNarsimha Swamy inAntarvedi gutted� �� -��

A chariot of Lord SriLakshmi NarasimhaSwamy temple atAntarvedi village inEast Godavari dis-trict was guttedwhen a fire brokeout in the wee hoursof Sunday but nocasualties werereported so far.

On learning about the inci-dent, a team of police and firebridge personnel rushed to thespot. The chariot was 62-year-old with a height of 40 feet andwas made of teak wood. It wasused to take out procession ofthe temple idols. Police said thatthe chariot caught fire at around1 am and the fire was extin-guished by 3 am.

"There is no property loss andno one was injured as the char-iot shed was almost 200 metresaway from the temple,"Sakhinetipalli sub-inspector ChGopalakrishna was quoted assaying. It may be recalled that onFebruary 14, the chariot of SriPrasanna Venkateswara Swamytemple in Nellore was gutted infire ahead of Bramhotsavams.

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Minister forEnergy BalineniSrinivas Reddyhas directedofficials to for-mulate an actionplan to involvefarmers in theDirect BenefitTransfer (DBT) of Dr YSR

free power schemethat would direct-

ly benefit lakhs offarmers in theState andempower themto questionpower utilities to

supply highlyqualitative power

to agriculture.

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When the buzz surroundingthe capital city in Amaravatihas fizzled out, Vizag hoggedthe limelight, thanks to ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy’s three capitals con-cept.

After he declared Vizag asthe Executive Capital, landprices enhanced manifold,

hence, the land grabbingcases are on the rise since twomonths. On Sunday, arrest-ing five persons accused ofgrabbing a land worth Rs 10crore, the Vizag city policehelped its right owner to getback his property.

In August, police hadrestored Rs 30 crore worthproperty to a well-known res-ident of the city. The PM

Palem police identified thearrested persons as JamiSatya Ravi Kishore, GantaRavi Kishore, Pilla Ramu,Pothina Yallayamma,Pothina PotnuriNarasayamma and YeddipilliPaidikonda. All are fromVizag city.

According to ACP (North)R Ravi Shankar Reddy, DattiLaxmana Rao,

Ve n k a t a r a j a p u r a m ,Gowrammapeta ofVizianagaram, said he andtwo others purchased1,146.13 square yards andanother bit measuring 125.86square yards located in sur-vey number No.249/10Durganagar, Madhurawada,Visakhapatnam by way ofregistered sale deeds.

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Ending days of anxious wait,the BCCI on Sunday releasedthe schedule for the upcomingIPL, and in keeping with tra-dition, defendine championsMumbai Indians will take onrunners-up Chennai SuperKings in the opener in AbuDhabi on September 19.

Moved out of India dueto a surge in COVID-19 cases, the upcom-ing edition of theworld's biggest T20league will be heldin the threevenues of Dubai,Abu Dhabi andSharjah in theUAE.

After the tournament-open-er, Dubai will host its firstgame the next day when DelhiCapitals take on Kings XIPunjab followed by the third

m at c ho n

Monday between SunrisersHyderabad and RoyalChallengers Bangalore.

The action will then shift toSharjah on September 22when Rajasthan Royals willhost Chennai Super Kings.

There will be 10 doubleheaders, with the first matchstarting at 3:30pm IST and thesecond 7:30pm, according toBCCI release.

In all, 24 matches will beheld in Dubai, 20 in

Abu Dhabi and 12 inSharjah. Venues forthe playoffs and theIPL 2020 final willbe announced

later. The final isslated forNovember 10.

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The coronavirus positivesincreased by the new normal10,000-plus but the numberof active cases dropped belowthe one-lakh mark in AndhraPradesh on Sunday.

With the addition of10,794 in 24 hours ending 9am on Sunday, the aggregateCovid-19 cases now reached4.98 lakh just short of thefive-lakh mark.

The latest bulletin said11,915 patients had recoveredfrom the infection andwalked home but another 70succumbed in 24 hours.

A total of 3.94 lakh coro-navirus patients had so farbeen cured while 4,417 died.

The number of active casesnow stood at 99,689, the bul-letin said.

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YSRCP MLA from Pithapuramin East Godavari districtPendam Dorababu was testedpositive for Covid-19 onSaturday and admitted to a pri-vate hospital in Kakinada.

Pithapuram governmenthospital superintendent VijaySekhar informed that MLADorababu was suffering fromfever and had undergoneCovid test at a communityhealth centre and was testedpositive. Immediately, he wasadmitted to a private hospi-tal. After testing positive forthe virus, the MLA informedthe leaders, officials and oth-ers, who met him during thepast few days, to get tested forCoronavirus and keep them-selves in isolation.

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Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Printed at Sree Seshasai Enterprises, D.No. New 3-88, Old 3-22, Chandra Theatre, Gosala, Penamaluru Mandal, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh - 521 151, Resident Editor: B Krishna Prasad, AIR SURCHARGE of Rs 2.00.

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With Ladakh border issue withChina once again assumingdangerous proportions, andwith as many as 123 countriesof the world grouping againstChina for a variety of reasons,the precious metals halted theirforward march as the US dol-lar paused its northward jour-ney. Consequently, New Yorkgold declined and finally closedat US $ 1,934.60 (per ounce),while silver followed suit andclosed at $ 26.93 (per ounce).Platinum moved downwardand closed at $ 902 (per ounce)and Palladium appreciated andclosed at $ 2,185 (per ounce).

Other economic parametersremained strong. Brent closed

at US$ 42.66 (per barrel), whilecrude MCX oil was quoted atRs.2,903 (per barrel). WhileGold MCX stood atRs.50,678 (per 10 gms),MCX Silver appreciatedand closed at Rs.67,266(per kg). CopperMCX closed atRs.526.65 (per kg).Sensex andNifty 50 closedat 38357.18and 11333.85points, respec-tively. Leading foreign curren-cies' exchange rates were, US $:Rs.73.25, British Pound:Rs.97.34, Euro: Rs.86.71,

Singapore $: Rs.53.67, SwissFranc: Rs.80.24, Australian $:

Rs.53.36, Saudi Riyal:Rs.19.53, New Zealand

Dollar: Rs.49.13, KuwaitiDinar: Rs.239.30,

Omani Rial:Rs.190.24 and UAE

Dirham: Rs.19.94,Japanese Yen:

R s . 0 . 6 9 ,Hong KongD o l l a r :

Rs.9.45.In local markets, standard

gold (24 carats) declined byRs.430 and closed at Rs.53,300(per 10 gms). Ornamental gold

too followed suit and was quot-ed in the range of Rs.48,770 -48,870 on the closing day. Silver(0.999) appreciated by Rs.750and closed at Rs.67,050 (per kg).

COMMODITIESThe sentiment in principal

wholesale commodity marketsin the twin cities continued toremain strong. Rythu Bazarsand the various commoditymarkets located in BegumBazar, Kishangunj,Mukthyargunj, Risala Abdullah,Mir AlamMandi, Dilsukhnagar,Kukatpally, BowenpallyandGeneral Bazar witnessed brisk

activity. During the week, com-mon pulses such as tuar dal,masoor dal, moong dal andurad dal and commodities likechillies and garlic firmed upmarginally, while staple food-grains and common edible oilsremained unchanged.

Although the time limit forimport of urad and masoor dalat concessional tariff expired onAugust 31, there has been noannouncementso far about theextension of this concession. So,the price graph of commonpulses is expected to take thenorthern route in the near term.

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Although the AThe historicjudgment of theSupreme Court in the

contempt case relating toPrashant Bhushan, a senioradvocate of the apex court,hasraised a country-wide debateon several important issuesconcerning the Rule of Law,majesty of courts, and honourof the presiding officers.

It is unfortunate that onthese important issues involv-ing nation's prestige and rep-utation of judiciary, instead ofsolidly backing the apex court,some vested interests havechosen to indulge in futiledebates thereby belittling thejudiciary.

It is one thing to oppose thepolicies of an elected govern-ment in order to providehealthy opposition in publiclife and quite another when itcomes to opposing and disre-specting the judiciary andjudges at which the commonman looks with awe and rev-

erence. The courts are called,in common parlance, theTemples of Justice, and thejudges, the demi-gods. True,nobody in this world, includ-ing the judges, is infallible.However, in the interest ofgood governance and jus-tice delivery system, wemust trust and abide bysomebody at somestage. If this is not done,the entire structure ofpublic administra-tion, includingjustice deliverymechanism, willface assaults byvested interests inthe name of free-dom of expression.

Take the pre- andpost-verdict behaviour of thenow convicted PrashantBhushan. His arrogance, crassdefiance, and least concernfor the health of judiciary,

smacks of deep conspiracy totarnish the image of judiciaryin particular and the countryas a democracy in general.

Now that Bhushan, aboutwhom it was boasted by hisblind supporters like Yogendra

Yadav and Ashutosh Guptathat "he would not budgeeven an inch from his pub-licly taken stand even if

somebody puts a gunon his head",hasaccepted to payrupee one fine

imposed as penalty onhim by the court, the

supremacy of court hasnot only been firmlyestablished but also prop-er reflection of the peo-ple's aspirations has found

its place properly. However,Bhushan has shown noremorse or repentance in hisongoing tirade against the jus-tice delivery system and has

advocated scrapping of theContempt Law. This showshis retrograde thinkingbecause without a stringent lawon the contempt, it is highlyimpossible to control undisci-plined elements in society,including the lawyers of theBhushan creed. Seen in thiscontext, the Bar Council ofIndia's move to initiate disci-plinary proceeding againstPrashant Bhushan and possi-bly against other lawyers,including K.K.Venugopal, theAttorney General of India,Dushyant Daveand others, is

welcome. Further, there is anurgent need to take a holisticview of the Contempt Law anddevise similar mechanisms toprotect the dignity and honourof other public bodies, includ-ing Parliament andLegislatures.

Lawyers prefer virtualmode

According to an opinionpoll conducted by theSingapore InternationalArbitration Centre(SIAC), dur-ing a global webinar held onSeptember 2, 54% of the mem-

bers of the legal fraternity pre-ferred the working of thecourts throughout the world inthe current virtual mode, while46% favored the re-opening ofcourts and wanted to resumeworking in physical mode asbefore the outbreak ofCOVID-19 pandemic. Theopinion poll result reflects themood of the lawyers who, likeother citizens,are yet to comeout of the fear of COVID-19.

The only lawyer whopleads in Sanskrit

It may appear strange, but itis true. Acharya ShyamUpadhyay is perhaps the onlyadvocate who has been doing allcourt-related work like drafting,pleading and arguing the casesin Sanskrit. Upadhyay, who hailsfrom Varanasi, has been assid-uously following the practice ofusing Sanskrit in the courtssince 1978. He was encouraged

by his father, who was nothappy with the court languagesbeing Hindi, English and Urdu.Initially, some judges were baf-fled at his written and oral pre-sentations in Sanskrit, but laterthey found a way by engagingtranslators.

It is significant to note that ofthe total 22 languages listedunder Schedule VIII of theConstitution of India, Sanskrit isthe least spoken language of thecountry, despite it being calledthe language of Gods.

Madras HC on the conceptof merger of orders

The Madras High Court onWednesday expressed the viewthat once the order of the singlejudge has merged with the orderpassed by the division bench inthe writ appeal, if it is felt that theorder has been violated or dis-obeyed, a contempt petition canbe maintained only before the

division bench and not beforethe single judge.The order waspassed by Justice N.AnandVenkatesh, in the contempt peti-tion filed by the All India UnionBank Officers Association v.Brajesh Sharma, The ChiefGeneral Manager(HR) UnionBank of India.

SC clarifies on admissibility of evidence

The Supreme Court of Indiahas interpreted the applicabilityof Sec. 195(1)(b)(i) and195(1)(b)(ii) Cr.P.C when theoffences complained about areu/s 191 and 192 of IPC(Fabrication and false evidence).The apex court observed thatwhen the forgery or fabricationhas been made to the documentsbefore they are approved by thecourt concerned as evidence ina case, it cannot attract Sec.195(1)(b)(i) of Cr.P.C and there-by 195(1)(b)(ii) is attracted.

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Most of the babus are known as head weightpeople precisely because they are expect-

ed to, and often do, know more than the netasthey serve. Cutting across states, classes andregions, every Indian thinks that civil servantsare highly educated and intelligent. Still, the Modigovernment has other ideas and plans, call it far-reaching or whatever. Towards the end of 2018,suddenly it was decided that, in order to tone upadministration, the Centre should hire expertsfrom the private sector and allow lateral entry intocentral services. In a first, nine professionals wereselected as joint secretaries in April 2019 for fill-ing posts in over a dozen departments. Thosenavaratnas were selected from among 6,077 appli-cants. Further rounds were considered. Nobodyknows whether the private sector brains lost theirsheen after entering the government sector orthey simply could not measure up to the expec-tations of the Modi government. The Centre,adding insult to injury, recently announced the'Karmayogi’ programme. It has sent karmicshockwaves in administrative circles acrossIndia. Apparently Modiji thinks that IAS, IPSand other civil servants need to learn a lot morethan what they parade as their gyan. More impor-tantly, (read not intelligently), they should workaccording to their roles. This explains the raisondetre for the neo ‘adult literacy’ programme forbabus. Who says it is insulting since they are allhighly intelligent and have common sense?

Insiders say Karmayogi is designed to bustthe myth that babus know everything. For now,babus do not even know how the Centre willtake forward the adult literacy programmemeant for them. Will it be online classes? Howabout timings: during, before or after hours?Who will conduct examinations (OK, grantedit is going to be 'performance appraisal') forthem? How and how often? What happens tothose who do not make the grade (read followdiktats to the letter with unthinking obedience)?Simply put, what happens to those who fail to‘learn’ their new roles? For those who came late,the actual adult literacy programme, which waspart of India’s great educational policy, standsabandoned after 2014 (one might say that it iswith the advent of the NDA govt, but not yourstruly). There was no funding, no supervisionand no implementation of the adult literacycampaign and the programme died of infantileneglect. The childish question that babus askeach other in the corridors of power today is:Will the new avatar of adult literacy scheme lastlong enough to ‘brighten’ sarkari babus?

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It is not that all babus are deemed imbeciles.Some are too bright to be disturbed from their

position. Others cling to their posts with sur-prising tenacity. Whichever way you look at it,Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary NeelamSawhney has created a record of sorts by get-ting extensions twice from the Centre at a timewhen PM Modi looks askance at proposals forgiving extensions to officers. It is not clearwhether due to sheer performance or simply forbeing at the right job at the right time, the sec-ond extension was announced three monthsbefore time, much to the astonishment of fel-low babus. Amidst all this, one rumour that isspreading like wildfire in the corridors of power

is that one officer in CMO is making all-outefforts to stop a senior officer from becomingthe next Chief Secretary, and, in the process, ispromoting two other officers for the top post.The officer is hell-bent upon opposing the seniorofficer and his Plan B (in case the CM does notapprove one of the two names): another threemonths' extension to Neelam Sawhney beyondDecember 31, citing health emergency-like sit-uation in the state due to rampant Covid-19spread. Whether and how it will happen are mil-lion-dollar questions. Concerted efforts are onto stop the senior officer by hook or crook.

��

When there are too many advisors, it is dif-ficult to get the bit of advice that really

works. Business people, media mughals and oth-ers are always eager to find out who is the mostpowerful person in Andhra Pradesh stateadministration, of course after the ChiefMinister. First, going by the trappings of power,they thought it was Ajeya Kallam who was madeincharge of CMO and also chief of all advisorsin the initial days. After he was relegated to a postthat is reckoned as that of a normal advisor, lob-byists beheld in Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy theirnew route to power centre. That aura also fadedupon the arrival of Praveen Prakash, who hassince taken over the CMO duties. Biz tycoonsvery soon realized that as far as release of fundsis concerned, he has no great say and it is stillnot in his vicinity, leave alone control. They arepatiently trying to figure who is the person whocan deliver what they want. After the divisionof the Finance Department into revenue andexpenditure wings, they have become muchmore eager to zero in on the person with ‘realauthority’ so that they can plug into the powerpoints. Yours truly is also trying to pinpoint thatperson. Await an update.

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Those who do not speak out when they arein power, let their imagination run riot upon

superannuation or retirement. In hindsight, peo-ple then think that all these days the perils ofpower cramped their creativity. Retired IAS offi-cer Ajay Mishra is now writing beautiful poet-ry on his Facebook wall. Many of his friends andwell-wishers are enjoying insightful lines in versefrom this senior officer. In his writings, he hasraised questions about ‘Raj neeti (political dhar-ma), prosperity of contractors while governmentexchequer is emptied, expensive elections etc.He has also suggested that civilized society existsonly in definition. His memories about child-hood and examinations have also been well-received by his pals. The babu, who was left outin the race for the coveted Chief Secretary postin Telangana State, retired as senior mostbureaucrat in July. During his long stint, hehelmed important portfolios, including powerand general administration. His peers, includ-ing those who now admire his creative streak,are wondering why he did not raise any objec-tion to any of the government policies or try tomodify or change programmes finalized by thegovernment when he was in power. They arenot sure whether he is repenting or giving newgyan. If it is gyan, babus in power should wakeup before the farewell party at their retirement.

—Yours truly

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The government is 'harassing'a section of the evacuees underGandikota project in Kadapadistrict by not giving themrehabilitation and resettlement(R&R) package, alleged Leaderof the Opposition NChandrababu Naidu. He askedthe government here onSunday to explain how the dis-placed families will vacate theirvillages without getting theR&R and one time settlement(OTS) package.

Naidu lamented that over2,369 families were not yetgiven R&R package atTallapodduru village but theywere being asked to evacuate,which is objectionable. He toldthe government that it wouldbe difficult for the evacuees tofind a new shelter if they werenot given suitable compensa-tion and a resettlement pack-age. He alleged that the govern-ment acted in a partisan man-

ner and gave packages only to500 families while discriminat-ing against the rest of the fam-ilies in the village.

Naidu deplored that lots ofproblems were cropping up inthe implementation of projectsdue to lack of foresight andstrategic planning on the partof the government. He opined

that good results can beachieved in any project onlywhen timely action was takenin all parameters. He lament-ed that due to lack of respon-sible action, the Gandikotaproject evacuees were nowfacing hardships and misery.

The TD chief stated that theevacuees cannot go anywhere

at this juncture in view of theCoronavirus threat while thereis submersion threat from theproject backwaters. He allegedthat though there were floodsin the rivers, no efforts weremade to store 26 tmc feet ofwater in Gandikota reservoirby the YSRCP governmentand demanded immediatesanction of R&R package to theevacu

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Continued from Page 1

They purchased the landfrom one Dhanaraj Kalyaniin 2003 and later construct-ed a compound wall. Sincethen they have been inpeaceful possession of prop-erty by paying propertytaxes. He said the accusedcreated a fraudulent andforged document and exe-cuted deeds of partition intofive unequal shares to anextent of 2,323 square yardsand got registered at sub-reg-istrar office at Dwarakanagarin Visakhapatnam.

The grabbers trespassedinto the property, damagedpart of the compound walland constructed a thatchedshed. The main accused inthe case Ravi Kishore erect-ed a board of ownershipand employed some labour-ers to keep tabs on the board.The ACP said after investi-gation, they arrested all thesix persons and were pro-duced in the court for judi-cial custody.

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Chariot of LordNarsimha Swamy...


Minister for EndowmentsVelampalli Srinivas termed thefire accident at Antervedi wasunfortunate. The minister onSunday called Endowmentsdepartment Commissioner PArjun Rao and the District SP onthe measures to be taken. Theminister ordered for an investi-gation into the accident.Endowments department addi-tional commissionerRamachandra Mohan wasappointed as the investigatingofficer.

He further stated that they areprobing whether it is negli-gence, or sabotage that led to thefire accident. Officials of thedepartment concerned havebeen asked to take steps for thereconstruction of a new chariot.

The All India HinduMahasabha has expressed itsconcern over incident. It wasbrought to the notice HomeMinister Amit Shah andGovernor Biswa BushanHarichandan by the HinduMahasabha. Prof GVR Shastrisaid that a CID inquiry shouldbe ordered into the incident andstern action should be taken

against those responsible.The incident hurt the senti-

ments of devotees, TDP MLCNara Lokesh said and allegedthat temples are being desecrat-ed and used as a platform for pol-itics. He said that temple priestssay that the burning of the char-iot was a bad omen for the State.Furthermore, Lokesh demand-ed that the culprits be identifiedand severely punished for burn-ing the chariot.

Meanwhile BJP state presidentSomu Veera Raju wrote a letterto Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy andexpressed concern over the fireaccident. He demanded a probeinto the incident and shouldbring out the facts of the fire acci-dent whether it was an accident,or was intentionally set on fire bythe miscreants.

Veera Raju said that the char-iot has a six-decade history thatwas made in 1958 and for the last62 years the Sri LakshmiNarasimha Swamy chariot pro-cession was being taken out.With the fire accident the senti-ments of Hindus across thecountry were deeply hurt. Hedemanded an inquiry by a HighCourt sitting judge.


With the caseload increas-ing daily by thousands, theinfection positivity rate shotfurther up to 12.13 per centafter a total of 41.07 lakhsample tests were conducted.

The recovery rate tooshowed an improvement to79.10 per cent while the mor-tality rate remained stable at0.89 per cent, according tothe bulletin.

SPS Nellore district is nowturning out to be the latesthotbed in the state.

It reported 1,299 freshcases in 24 hours, pushing itsoverall tally to 37,278.

However, only 6,673 casesare active in the district.

East Godavari added 1,244,West Godavari 1,101 andPrakasam 1,042 new cases in24 hours.

Chittoor and Kadapareported more than 900 caseseach and Srikakulam over800.

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��8��9��8� 1/#Continued from Page 1

Later, he has been airlifted toBengaluru for better treat-ment. Earlier, a dozen rulingparty MLAs were infectedfrom Covid and they success-fully recovered after undergo-ing treatment. Meanwhile, EastGodavari district has reported1,244 positive cases duringthe past 24 hours, according tothe health department onSunday. Till date 66,948 posi-tive cases were reported in thedistrict while 52,067 havemade a complete recoveryfrom the virus and 14,454 areactive cases. The districtreported five deaths during thelast 24 hours taking the toll to427 in the district.

The Coronavirus hasalready infected many publicrepresentatives in the State.Recently, two YSRCP MLAswere affected by the

Coronavirus. Anantapur dis-trict Madakasira MLA DrTippeswamy, Krishna districtNuzvid MLA Meka VenkataPratap Appa Rao were testedpositive for Coronavirus.

Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy onSaturday called MLATippeswamy and enquiredabout his condition. He alsospoke to doctors over phoneand asked them to providebetter treatment. Jagan wishedMLA Dr Tippeswamy aspeedy recovery. He spoke toMLA's son Dr Swami Dinesh.

On the other hand, NuzvidMLA Meka Venkata PratapAppa Rao was diagnosed withCorona. MLA Pratap, whowas actively involved in pub-lic events since five months,was tested positive after under-going the test two days ago. Hesaid that he is currently inquarantine in Hyderabad.


The minister said the gov-ernment will implement theDBT scheme in Srikakulamdistrict on a pilot basis andimplement State-wide fromApril 1, 2021, the minister toldofficials that Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy was takinga series of steps to transformDr YSR nine-hour free powerto agriculture as one of thebest schemes in the countryand the DBT of free powerscheme is one among them.The Chief Minister has astrong commitment to makefree power scheme as a rolemodel for the entire nation.

“The government has takenall necessary steps to protectthe interests of farmers. Thefarmer has no need to pay sin-gle paisa from their pockets.The government will depositentire amount in the accounts

of farmers. The farmers willpay to Discoms, which willgive a right to farmers to askpower utilities to provide high-ly qualitative power,” the min-ister said.

Giving a strong assurance totenant farmers, the ministerclarified that the separateaccounts that will be openedby the government would berestricted only to make pay-ments to the Discoms andthere would be no possibilityto withdraw amount from theaccounts or adjust by banks forany other dues. The govern-ment has taken all the precau-tions to protract the interestsof farmers. The ultimate aimof government is only toensure all the farmers in theState to get free power for thenext 30 years and improvetheir living standards,” theminister said.

He further said that the

government had spent Rs 1700crore to upgrade agriculturepower supply network and isplanning to install a 10,000MW solar energy plant withan aim to provide free powersupply to agriculture sector forthe next 30 years. “This showsthe commitment and sinceri-ty of the State governmenttowards farmers’ issues andfree power scheme as well,” hesaid and added that the gov-ernment has cleared pendingsubsidy dues of Rs 8,655 croreto Discoms and dues of Rs14,036 crore to power gener-ation utilities that had beenpending up to March 31, 2019.

Secretary for Energy SrikantNagulapalli said that the gov-ernment has given clear direc-tions to Discoms to continuepower supply to agricultureconnections even as late pay-ments to farmers’ accountsfrom government side.

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Appealing to the farmers not tofall prey to the false propagan-da of TDP chief NChandrababu Naidu and vest-ed interests, Minister forInformation and PublicRelations PerniNani said thatChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy government will providefree power to the farmers andthe smart metres are only tobring in accountability andtransparency in to the system.

Speaking to the media hereon Sunday, the minister saidNaidu had ditched the farmersduring his tenure, where he didnot pay Rs 970 crore to farm-ers towards paddy procure-ment and the previous TDPgovernment owed Rs 8,000crore to DISCOMS. Naidu hasno moral right to speak on agri-culture as he is always consid-ered it was a non-profitable ven-ture, which does not contributeto the State's economy. He hadfailed to waive the loans offarmers as promised but hadonly cleared a fraction of it,

which shows his intent and hespeaking for farmers' cause wasfutile, the minister said.

Though the TDP govern-ment had ordered for firing atagitators seeking roll back ofpower tariff hike atBasheebaghin Hyderabad ear-lier, TDP leaders are now shed-ding crocodile tears on farmers'issues, he said.

PerniNani clarified that theState government will not putany additional burden on farm-ers with the introduction of

Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) offree power subsidy but willbring in more transparency andaccountability into the system.The electricity bills of farmerswill be sent to the governmentand amount will be credited toescrow accounts of farmers,which would be paid toDiscoms. So far, the State gov-ernment has spentRs 1,700crore for strengthening the feed-ers for supplying quality powerto the 19 lakh farmers across theState Countering the allegations

of opposition leaders on APranking second in farmers' sui-cides, the minister slammedTDP leaders for shifting theblame on the governmentthough majority of suicideswere committed during theTDP term. Soon after assum-ing office, YS JaganmohanReddy government paid exgra-tia to the families of the 1,029farmers, who committed sui-cides in 2019, and also tookmany farmer friendly initia-tives.

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Leader of Opposition in theLegislative CouncilYanamalaRamakrishnudu onSunday accused the governmentof having ulterior plans toimpose an overall financial bur-den of Rs 24,000 croreon theDISCOMs by not makingrequired payments to themevery year. He demanded thatChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy explain why his regimehas not yet cleared Rs 4,802croredues to the DISCOMs inthe very first year itself.

He lamented that theYSRCPgovernment was notonly destroying the power sec-tor but also rendering injusticeto farmers by installing smartmetres on agricultural pumpsets.He has suggested to the gov-ernmentto check its own defaultin payments to the power util-ities before making allegationsagainst the previousTDPgovernment. He men-tioned that the DISCOMs faceda deficit of Rs. 6,052 crore lastyear but the government hascleared just Rs 1,250 croreleav-

ing pending payments of Rs4,802 crore. He further statedthat going by this, theDISCOMs would be pushedinto losses up to Rs 24,000 croreand all this burden would haveto be borne by the next gov-ernment alone.

He told the government torealise that the democratic sys-

tems by which Jagan came topower were meant for the larg-er wellbeing of people but notfor promotion of greed andwealth of the ruling party lead-ers.He alleged that the YSRCPwas behaving as if it has norespect for the Constitution, thecourts and the democratic insti-tutions.

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The second batch of the two-year Post GraduateProgramme for ExperiencedProfessionals (PGPEx), theExecutive MBA degree of theIndian Institute ofManagement Visakhapatnam,was inaugurated by ProfessorKaruna Jain, Professor ofTechnology & OperationsManagement of the School ofManagement, IIT,Bombay.

Prof Jain was earlier thefirst woman director of NITIE,Mumbai, a famous businessschool under the Ministry ofEducation, Government ofIndia.Twenty-eight studentsenrolled into the programme.

Prof Jain, in her address,spoke about the role of tech-nology in the transformationof organisations and howtoday's corporations and theirpersonnel need to be agile toadapt to change. She referredto the works of PadmaVibhushanDrRaghunathMashelkar, the former DG of CSIR,in which he emphasised on the

importance of three 'E's viz.Renewable Energy, SustainableEnvironment and ProductiveEmployment as the determi-nants of the success of futureorganisations. Describing thefour levers that DrMashelkarpropounded, Prof Jain spokeabout STEP - SocialEngagement, Technology,Economy and Public Policy askey to organisations forremaining connected withtheir stakeholders.

She spoke of the need fororganisations to leapfrog fromincremental, silo-based inven-tions to radical, organisation-wide innovations, to beimpactful. She drew upon theASSURED innovation con-cept of affordability, scalabili-ty, sustainability, universality,rapid implementability, excel-lence and distinctiveness incharacter as vital for survivaland success of organisations.

She also referred to the"Infinite Change '' concepts ofArvind Eye Care, that haveseveral management lessonsbuilt-in. She urged the studentsto develop, apart fromIntelligence Quotient andManagerial Quotient,Emotional Quotient too, fordealing effectively with col-leagues at their workplace.

Earlier, Prof Chandrasekhar,Director, spoke about the rapidstrides the Institute made in ashort span of five years and theimportance of learning andleadership being indispens-able to each other, as is wide-ly acknowledged.

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Special trains will run throughEast Coast Railway jurisdictionfrom September 12. Booking forthese trains will start fromSeptember 10.Vizag-Korba trainwill start from Vizag at 20:05hrswith effect from September 12.In its return journey, it will beginfrom Korba at 16:10hrs witheffect from September 13.

Stoppages - Vizianagaram,Bobbili, Parvatipuram, Rayagada,Kesinga, Titilagarh, Kantabanji,Khariar Road, Mahasamund,Raipur, TildaNeora, Bhatapara,Bilaspur, Akaltara, JanjgiriNailaand Champa betweenVisakhapatnam and Korba fromboth the directions.

Tiruchchirapalli-Howrah-Tiruchchirapalli bi-weekly special

( 0 2 6 6 4 / 0 2 6 6 3 ) : F r o mTiruchchirapalli at 16:20hrs onevery Tuesday and Friday witheffect from September 15 andfrom Howrah at 16:10hrs onevery Thursday and Sunday witheffect from September 17.

Stoppages - Vijayawada,Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram,Khurda Road, Bhubaneswar,Cuttack and Bhadrak betweenTiruchchirapalli and Howrahfrom both the directions.

Guwahati-Bangalore CanttTri-Weekly Special(02509/02510): From Guwahatiat 0620hrs on every Sunday,Monday & Tuesday with effectfrom, September 13 and fromBangalore Cant at 2340hrs onevery Wednesday, Thursday andFriday with effect fromSeptember16.

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CPI State secretary KRamakrishna said that the Stategovernment was planning toimplement the Direct BenefitTransfer (DBT) scheme byinstalling metres to agricul-ture pumpsets fromSrikakulam. Speaking at a pro-gramme on DBT schemeorganised by social activist DrG Lakshminarayana as part ofelectricity reforms at the PressClub here on Sunday, he saidthat the opposition parties,Civil Rights organisations andfarmers would oppose anddestroy the metres soon aftertheir installation.

He said that Left partiesstrongly oppose the DBTscheme and appealed to theCongress, JanaSena Party andthe TDP to join them. Hepointed out that the oppositionTDP should come out of theillusion that they are still inpower. All the parties shouldunite and come together to fightagainst the government on thenew schemes. He said thatpeople have an impression thatfree power to agriculture wasimplemented by Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy but the

government is diluting thescheme as per the directions ofthe Modi government.

He said that in the name ofEase of Doing Business, thegovernment was increasing thetaxes and registration charges.He said that by implementingthe reforms of the Central gov-ernment, the State governmentwas rendering injustice to thepeople by saying that free powerwill be given to agriculturenext 30 years.

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Ever since the pandemic start-ed, India's economy has onlygone downhill. Several com-panies across sectors havetaken to job cuts, along withsalary reductions and leavewithout pay. There have beenseveral mass lay-offs throwinglakhs of people in financial cri-sis.

All this situation, whileaffecting the nation's economy,is also taking a toll on work-ing professionals mentalhealth. Several people,between the age group of 25-45, have been battling withanxiety and nervousness due

to the same. Jahnavi Rao, an IT profes-

sional working in the city,shares that she is nervousabout the current economicissues. "I have been seeing somany people losing their jobs.While my company assured usthat they won't cut anysalaries, the way things aregoing you never know if theymight take that decisions. Meand my husband have loans totake care of, and scares me tothink what will happen if thesalaries are cut. Worst thing isgetting stuck inside the housefor so long. I get anxiousabout it," she shares.

However, salary cuts aren'tthe only issue people are deal-

ing with. VaishnaviRamanadham, who workedwith an even management

company, shares that she does-n't think her job will go backto normal if the pandemic was

to end today. "The pre-Covidtime had a lot of scope in myfield, especially in the enter-tainment sector. We would getmany assignments and pro-jects. However, since the pastfive months, I worked on onlyone assignment, for just oneday. It has taken a toll on mefinancially. I had to moveback to Hyderabad fromMumbai. However, my biggerproblem is that I do not thinkthings will go back to normal.We won't see a lot of liveshows, and even if we do theywon't be very grand. So, myincome will certainly be affect-ed." The mental health expertsshare that for some time theytoo have observed an increase

in the number of workingprofessionals seeking theirhelp. Dr Baijesh Ramesh,Clinical Psychologist shares,"There is definitely more anx-iousness in people since theeconomy is fallen. They aren'tsure about their future, andthat can induce nervousnessand fear. We have seen anincrease in people approach-ing us for help as well. We tryto calm them down, however,these problem are very realis-tic."

Professional space is notthe only worry of people aswell. "The stress people are fac-ing professionally, is alsoaffecting the personal rela-tionships.”

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After more than five months,the Hyderabad Metro Rail is setto resume its operations in aphased manner from Monday,putting in place all Covid-19guidelines and protocols.

These include checking ofbody temperatures of passen-gers, sanitisation and social dis-tancing through markings atstations and alternate seatingarrangements in trains.

No person showing Covid-like symptoms will be allowedto enter the Metro stations orboard trains. It will be manda-tory for all passengers to wearface masks.

On Monday, Metro serviceswill resume only on Miyapur toLB Nagar corridor. Trains willbe operated from 7 am to 12noon and from 4 pm to 9 pm.

Nagole to Raidurg stretchwill be made operational fromTuesday with the same timings.

From September 9, Jubilee

Bus Station (JBS) to theMahatma Gandhi Bus Station(MGBS) corridor will also re-open, with services availablefrom 7 am to 9 pm.

Gandhi Hospital, BharatNagar, Moosapet,Musheerabad and Yusufguda,the five stations which fall incontainment zones, will remainclosed.

Security personnel deployedat the entry points to theMetro stations will check the

body temperatures of allentrants with hand-held ther-mal guns. In case a visitor hashigh temperature or showsany other medical symptom,he will be taken to the isolationroom at the station and pro-vided medical assistance, saidHMRL officials.

HMRL Managing DirectorNVS Reddy appealed to thepeople with Covid-like symp-toms like fever, cold, and coughto avoid travel on the Metro.

Authorities have also madeelaborate arrangements forsanitisation, putting pedal-operated sanitiser dispensers atentry points. Sanitisationpoints have also been createdfor luggage before it passesthrough the x-ray machines.

Passengers have also beenadvised to carry sanitiser bot-tles/dispensers with them.Those entering the stationswill also be advised to down-load the Aarogya Setu app.

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The State government is likelyto enhance the house tax thatwould affect around 1.5 croreurban population in the State,disclosed CPM State leaderChBabuRao. Addressing themedia here on Sunday, he saidthat the government is likely toimpose a burden of Rs 100crore on people.

The CPM leader said that theCentral government instead ofhelping the States during theCovid pandemic was trying toput the States under its controlunder Atmanirbhar Bharatscheme. He lashed out at thegovernment for issuing the GONo 22 for fixing metres toagriculture pumpsets.

He said that municipalitieshave become business organi-sations instead of serving the

people by they are imposingburden on the customers in thename of user charges for every-

thing like garbage, drinkingwater, drainage and others.

Reverse cash transfer hasstarted in the State burning aholein the pockets of peoplewith taxes, he alleged andadded that the government hasalready ordered an increase inoccupation tax in towns.

"When the people are suf-fering from the pandemic, thegovernment has increased theregistration fee in towns. Thegovernment is likely toincrease life tax on motorvehicles in the name of GreenTax," he said. He said that theChief Minister was followingthe instructions of the Centralgovernment, he alleged.

He said user charges arebeing collected from the appli-cants in Village and WardSecretariats that was not thereearlier.

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Unlike states like Tamil Nadu,Kerala and Goa, the drivinglicense in the Telangana statelack the most basic andimportant information, theblood group.

The blood group informa-tion on the licence can savenot only time but also lifeespecially in emergency situ-ations, where an accident vic-tim is in an unconscious state,away from the family. Theoption of blood group wasincluded in the Motor VehicleAct, 1988 with an intention

that it would be useful in sit-uations like accident. Manyrepresentations to makeblood group details manda-tory in the driving licencehave been made even in thepast, but no action has beentaken.

Various stakeholders sharethe importance of the issuehere. Former Governor alsosuggested officials to makeblood group details manda-tory in driving licence inJune 2016 on his visit to RTAKhairatabad, but no moveshave been taken up by author-ities.

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The West Zone Task Forceteam raided three places in thecity and seized tobacco prod-ucts worth Rs 10.70 lakh. Theofficials have also taken threepersons into custody.

The arrested persons wereidentified as Mohd FazalAhmed, 42, B Anjaneyulu, 52and Md Aslam, 30.Few daysago the accused Fazal Ahmedpurchased gutka packetsworth Rs 10 lakhs and dumpedin his shop at Borabanda,

Acting on a tip-off, taskforce team conducted a raidand nabbed the accused FazalAhmed and seized gutka andtobacco materials. "The triowas selling tobacco products toretailers and customers aftersourcing it from variousplaces. On information, theestablishments were raidedand the property seized," saidTask Force DCP.

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Several rural students havebeen facing many troubles totake lessons online. Whilemany do not have any accessto TV or smart phones, somedespite having the electron-ic devices have trouble withthe network.

Many students, thus, arefinding innovative ways toreach places where they canget the network for theirclasses. One such student isSafa Zareen. Safa is studyingin a Telangana MinoritiesResidential EducationalInstitutions Society(TMREIS) and belongs to asmall village near Rajurawhere the network is notstable.

With her passion of learn-ing, makes her walk twokilometers to her field, wherethe network is better.

"I love to study," sharesSafa, adding, "My father is afarmer and mother is ahousewife - we don't havemuch of a financial standing.But they support my educa-tion."

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A 34-year-old man and hisfour-year-old daughter diedin a road accident afterbeing hit by a lorry frombehind on Chodavaramroad in AnakapallemandalofVisakhapatnam district onSunday.

The deceased were iden-tified as A Raju and AHayathi, both residents ofMalkapuram area andnatives of VMadugulamandal.According to reports, the incidentreportedly occurred whenthe duo was heading totheir native village. WhileRaju and Hayathi died onthe spot, wife of Rajuescaped with minor injuries.Raju's wife was seen incon-solable after seeing the deathof both her husband anddaughter.The bodies wereshifted to NTR hospital,Anakapalle.Anakapalle(Traffic) police registered acase.

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Your skinny best friend seems to eattwice as much as you. But you’restil l overweight. Why? For

decades, experts thought they had theanswer — too many calories and notenough exercise. But the latest scientif-ic research is turning those assumptionsdown. Differences in our individual biol-ogy — our genetics, hormones or psy-chology — all play a crucial role.

The show Why Do I Put on Weightfollows five volunteers who go on dietstailored to their bodies and brains.They’re just like us, normal people whoexperience weight gains and losses.Combining science with engaging per-sonal stories, this experiment mightchange the way you think about diet. Ifyou thought long term weight loss wasimpossible, you need to rethink.

�Given the current situation, peopleare dealing with a lot of physical andmental health challenges. The showWhy Do I Put on Weight talks about thedifferent factors behind weight gain.What’s your take on that?

We always think weight gain is afood related problem but in realitythere are various other factors that playa role in fat gain and loss process, suchas genetics, biology, stress, psychologyand more. And given the situation, thehealth challenges have increased becausethe gyms were shut, there weren’t anyproper places to exercise, no proper rou-tine and no sleep schedule. So, these aresome of the reasons behind our weightgain.

�As a nutritionist, what one advicewould you give to someone who is ontheir weight loss journey?

My first advice would be to alwayskeep a check on the stress levels as it’svery important to be stress free. Even inthis show we have discussed factors thataffect your health. Your attitude, emo-tions, mental state, psychological well-being, everything matters in the weightloss journey. It is also important to havea proper routine and stop binge eating.During the lockdown most of us had alot of time in our hands, so we consumeda lot of junk food in free time, whichaffects your health. So it is very impor-tant to have a mindful approach towardsthe diet. In turn, we should add more offruits, raw veggies, salads, and nuts inour diet.

�It is believed that in the process ofweight loss, 30 per cent depends onexercise and the rest 70 per cent is diet.Is this a myth or a reality?

It is a reality; the fact is that activi-ty and some kind of exercise is veryimportant. But nowadays people havemade exercising a mere trend. And nowwe all have a sedentary lifestyle, most-ly working on gadgets. Hence there isless of body movement. Such a lifestyledemands frequent movement and reg-ular exercises. There are different kindsof exercises one can opt for — Yoga,pilates, HIIT, cardio and others.

�What is your take on packaged andprocessed food available in the marketthat claims to be heathy?

With the advent of advertising andmarketing, the food industry always triesto manipulate and tempt people to trytheir products which are claimed to behealthy by them. However, I thinkhomemade and natural foods are moresustainable, affordable and nourishingcomparatively. All these processed foodswith preservatives sold in the name ofhealth are the reasons why we gain morefat in our body. Hence, homemadefood is the best choice.

�How important is exercise for yourbody?

Our generation is not very active asour ancestors were. Earlier we didn’thave house helps, or lifts in building,people used to walk long distances, that’sthe reason our ancestors lived a veryactive life. However, our lifestyle iscompletely different, we get everythingat the tap of a button. This results in lessmovement which means higher need toexercise. If we don’t exercise, our mus-cles loosen up resulting in further com-plications. As we sit in one position, ourback and abdomen muscles tend toweaken. I personally believe in yoga, itsvery strengthening. But one can also tryvariation of workouts between cardio,HIIT and yoga as workout in any formis important.

�What are the five most importantthings one can keep in mind for ahealthy lifestyle?

The utmost important thing is toconsume right food and healthy drinks.Another important thing is get propersleep as it determines your attitude,mood and mental health. Next is tomaintain your stress levels and be awareof it. Lastly, its self-love. Don’t compareyourself, your lifestyle with others andnever give out negative statements foryour body. Your body is your house andpower store.

(Watch the show on September 7 at8 pm on Sony BBC Earth.)

Asparkling silver lining of theglobal Coronavirus pandem-

ic has been a significant improve-ment in air quality across multi-ple countries. However, that does-n’t present a long term solution tothe ‘Airpocalypse’ India is on theverge of, according to experts. Asthe country resumes economicactivity slowly but steadily in the

aftermath of COVID-19, the pos-sible overshooting of greenhousegas and emissions are a very realthreat.

UNEP GoodwillAmbassador and UN SDG advo-cate actor Dia Mirza sites thesevery pertinent concerns as sheengages in a clean air campaignfor India, furthering the globaldialogue of bluer skies and ahealthier environment at home.“We need to make every effort tobuild back sustainably becauseclean air is the right to life,” saidthe actor who has certainlybecome a climate changemakerand other causes related to theenvironment.

“The global lockdown haslead to cleaner air than we havehad in over a decade. Some of themost polluted cities in India haveexperienced AQI levels below 50through the lockdown. Naturecan and will recover leading tobetter health for all people. Butthe lockdown is not the solution.

We need to engage in fruitfulpartnerships and implementstrategies and policies for theglobal goal of clean air,” Diaadded.

The actor-producer is cur-rently working with the UnitedNations EnvironmentProgramme in their efforts todeclare September 7 as theInternational Day of Clean Air forBlue Skies in order to find sustain-able solutions to the air pollutionon our planet. Dia, who hasstressed the importance of learn-ing from the experience of thepandemic and building back bet-ter, will engage in conversationwith prominent ‘Clean AirChampions’ who are singularchange-makers championing acleaner earth. She feels thatobserving #WorldCleanAirDaywill bring much-needed aware-ness to people and policymakersalike, fueling a change in humanlifestyles to ensure a balancebetween man and nature.

��In 1947, Mildred Ratched begins working as a nurse at a leading

psychiatric hospital. But beneath her stylish exterior lurks a growingdarkness. Starring Sarah Paulson, Finn Wittrock and Judy Davis,season 1 releases on September 18 on Netflix.

�� Two years after Cole survived a satanic blood cult,

he’s living another nightmare: high school. And thedemons from his past? Still making his life hell. StarringJudah Lewis, Jenna Ortega and Emily Alyn Lind, the filmreleases on September 10 on Netflix.

�� A disillusioned Delhi wife and her new-in-town cousin nav-

igate damning secrets, dreams and their thorny dynamic on theirrespective roads to freedom. Starring Bhumi Pednekar, KonkonaSen Sharma and Vikrant Massey, the film releases on September18 on Netflix.

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Several Bollywood personali-ties, including actors TaapseePannu, Swara Bhasker, andfilmmaker Anubhav Sinha,criticised media's mobbing ofactor Rhea Chakraborty, flout-ing all standard protocols amidCOVID-19 pandemic, as shereached Narcotics ControlBureau (NCB) office onSunday.

Rhea Chakraborty, who isaccused of abetting SushantSingh Rajput's suicide by hisfamily, appeared before theNCB for questioning in thedrugs case linked to the deathof the actor and her live-inpartner.

According to viral visualsfrom several channels on socialmedia, the 28-year-old actorwas seen being heckled andpushed by the media as shemade her way to the NCBoffice, escorted by MumbaiPolice.

Media's behaviour was crit-icised by Twitter users, includ-ing celebrities from the frater-nity who called it "disgusting".

Pannu took to Twitter andlamented over the treatmentbeing meted out to RheaChakraborty in the case.

"In the name of justice thesepeople have lynched a human

being off her right to live evenbefore proven guilty. I sin-cerely pray karma finds theaddress of each and everyhuman being part of this low-est low of mankind we are wit-ness to," the actor wrote.

This was the "lowest" thecountry had stooped to, saidBhasker.

"India... witness our lowest!Shameful witch hunt!

Disgusting," she wrote.Mirza said the behaviour by

the media present on groundwas "reprehensible".

"The law must and will takeit's course. This behaviour rep-rehensible in every way.Enough! Why can't Rhea begiven space and the right tophysical distancing? Why arethe media behaving like vul-tures? Please please give her

space. Stop attacking/dehu-manising her & her family," theactor wrote.

The NCB, over the last twodays, has arrested RheaChakraborty's younger broth-er Showik Chakraborty (24),Rajput's house managerSamuel Miranda (33) andDipesh Sawant, a member ofthe actor's personal staff, in thiscase.

Sinha said the video of RheaChakraborty's entry into theNCB office was representativeof the "power of media over lawand order in Mumbai".

"And yes, this is much worsethan being called names. Anynames," he added.

Filmmaker AlankritaShrivastava said it's sad how theentire country's focus was onRhea Chakraborty.

"No thoughts about theeconomy, the pandemic oranything else of consequence.Indians are only interested inburning Rhea at the stake.That is what makes our peo-ple happy and fulfilled andvalidated. No amount of hateand venom is enough. We aresick. Very very sick," shetweeted.

Various angles surroundingthe death of Rajput, 34, arebeing probed by three federalagencies, including theEnforcement Directorate (ED)and the Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI).

The NCB initiated a drugangle probe in this case afterthe ED shared with it a reportfollowing the cloning of twomobile phones of RheaChakraborty.

Rajput was found dead at hisflat in suburban Bandra area onJune 14.

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Immense self-discipline andcaution were exercised at placesof worship in India during thecoronavirus pandemic, settingan example for the entireworld, Minority AffairsMinister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvisaid on Sunday.

He said followers of almostall religions of the world residein India and various festivalsand other auspicious occa-sions were observed during thecoronavirus crisis.

"The people of the countrydisplayed restraint, caution,sensibility, and celebrated allthe festivals taking all precau-tions and followed the guide-lines of social distancing to helpto curb the coronavirus infec-tion," Naqvi said after payingobeisance at the Hazrat

Nizamuddin Dargah where heprayed for the health and well-being of the people of thecountry.

The dargah in south Delhiopened on Sunday after over

five months, but there will beno Qawwali evenings at theshrine due to the COVID-19pandemic.

The minister said all reli-gious and social organisations

displayed immense self-restraint, self-discipline andcaution during the pandemic.Also, self-restraint, self-disci-pline and caution were exer-cised at places of worship in

India which has set an exam-ple for the world, he said.

While several places of wor-ship have reopened, somestates are yet to allow thereopening of religious places.

Naqvi said the great Sufisaint Hazrat Nizamuddin'steaching and message of peace,humanity, harmony, unity, andbrotherhood break the barriersof religion, region and country.

"We should carry forwardhis message of welfare ofmankind with all honesty andsincerity. Teaching and princi-ples of Sufi saints have playedan important role in fulfillingthe dream of 'Ek Bharat,Shrestha Bharat'," he said.

Naqvi said that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi ledIndia's response to the coron-avirus crisis from the front andhis effective efforts have helped

in mitigating the challengesposed by COVID-19 to a largeextent.

The steps taken by the Modigovernment in the healthcaresector have ensured that despitethe huge population, India hasbeen successful in containingthe effects of the pandemic toa great extent which is evidentfrom the higher recovery rateof coronavirus patients in thecountry, the minister said.

India has not only becomeself-reliant in the health sector,but it has also helped othernations, he said, claiming Indiahas turned a crisis into anopportunity.

"We need to take precautionsand not panic in this situation.We have to move forward witha commitment to restraint, pre-caution, sensibility to ensure'Jaan Bhi, Jahan Bhi'," Naqvi said.

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A 13-year-old girl was rapedallegedly by seven men - twoemployees of a leading televi-sion channel, a policeman andfour others - here, and thepolice have launched a man-hunt for the accused.

The two television channelemployees are colleagues ofthe victim's mother, policesaid on Sunday.

The incident occurred dur-ing the lockdown period inMarch-April but no com-plaint was filed at that time asthese two men had threat-ened the victim and hermother of killing the girl ifthe matter was reported tothe police.

However, the woman inlate August lodged a com-plaint with the police accus-ing the two colleagues, twoprivate security personnel, apoliceman and his two asso-ciates of raping her daughterin her rented accommodationwhen she was in office.

The woman and herdaughter used to stay in thehouse in Bhubaneswar whileother members of the familylive in Kendrapara district.The two had initially fled toKendrapara after beingthreatened but later returnedto the state capital in August.

A medical examination ofthe girl was conducted onFriday. The police have alsorecorded her statement.

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Music company T-Series hasissued notices to many socialvideo platforms, includingBolo Indya, Mitron, MXPlayer's Takatak, Triller andJosh, for copyright violationsand warned them againstusing the work of the compa-ny on their platforms in anyform.

The Super CassettesIndustries Private Limited,which operates under thebrand name T-Series, hasasked each of these short-video platforms to pay aroundRs 3.5 crore in damage and"render accounts of all rev-enues illegally earned" by theplatforms from the copyright-ed content, as per an infringe-ment notice.

The company has alsoserved notice to Chinese appSnack Video which is opera-tional in India and filed a law-suit against short-video appRoposo.

When contacted, T-Series-appointed Ira Law firm con-firmed the issuance of noticesto these platforms.

Geetanjali Visvanathan,Partner at Ira Law, said legalnotice to the named videoapps have been served and alawsuit against Roposo hasbeen filed but did not makeany further comments.

Bolo Indya in response toan e-mail query sent by PTIsaid it does not offer audio andvideo library as a feature tousers as of date and thus thereis no base for any breach ofmusic rights.

"We are a UGC (user gen-erated content) platform anddue to the ban of Chineseapplications, a lot of content

creators started to uploadthose videos which they cre-ated on those apps. Thesevideos weren't created on ourplatform and any such videoreported from time to time,where any possible breach ofIPR is there, is immediatelyremoved from the platform,"Bolo Indya founder VarunSaxena said.

He said that his firm alwaysrequests music companies towork collaboratively with itlike they do with YouTube andreport any copyrighted content.

"When in future we willlaunch audio library as a func-tion, we will work in a very col-laborative manner with all theleading music companies as werespect their rights and arecommitted to build a cohesiveand strongly synergetic envi-ronment of all Indian compa-nies growing together," Saxenasaid. Triller declined to com-ment on the matter and othercompanies did not revert to thequery sent to them in thisregard.

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The Uttar Pradesh unit ofCongress has decided to ropein young voters as its follow-ers through a quiz competitionon former prime ministerRajiv Gandhi, a partyspokesperson said on Sunday.

The quiz competition onGandhi's personality andachievements will be heldonline on September 13 and14, he said.

"The preparation for thequiz competition will enableparticipants to know moreabout the personality andachievements of former primeminister Rajiv Gandhi. Thecompetition is meant foryoungsters in the age group of16-22 years, and till now over5 lakh aspirants have regis-

tered themselves for the com-petition," UP Congressspokesperson Ashok Singhtold PTI.

He added that all the frontalorganisations of the party havebeen given responsibility forthis.

"We are expecting morethan 20 lakh youths to partic-ipate in the competition," hesaid. Singh said after the quizcompetition, the party willestablish communication withthem.

When asked to explain therationale behind the quiz com-petition, Singh said, "Partyleadership is of the view thatyouths should come forward.Thanks to the bad policies ofthe BJP government, the youthsare envisaging a dark future inthe current circumstances."

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Women participation in equi-ty markets has surged duringCOVID-19 pandemic andexperts believe the growingneed to share householdexpenses with rampant paycuts and lay-offs has broughtthem to trading, market par-ticipants said.

Additionally, women arelooking for alternatives tothe decreasing bank's fixeddeposit (FD) rates, theyadded.

Interestingly, most of suchwomen are first time investorsand a large number of themare housewives.

"As retail participation hasgrown during the lockdown,this has been true for womenas well. In line with the over-all investors population,

women are looking for alter-natives to decreasing FDrates," said Shankar Vailaya -Director, Sharekhan by BNPParibas.

"Lockdown has just beenan accelerator al lowingwomen to deepen their capi-tal market knowledge via dig-ital solutions," Vailaya added.

Online brokerage houseUpstox said it has witnessed agrowth of 32 per cent inaccount opening by womenfrom April to June 2020, com-pared to the preceding threemonths.

Of these, 70 per cent ofwomen are first time investors.Additionally, more than 35per cent of the brokeragehouse's women customers arehousewives.

Ravi Kumar, co-founderand CEO, Upstox said, "theincreased need for sharinghousehold expenses withrampant pay cuts and lay-offsis what seems to have broughtmore women into trading".

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Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Sunday said he hada "very fruitful" meeting withhis Iranian counterpartBrigadier General AmirHatami and discussed ways tobolster bilateral cooperationand exchanged views onregional security issues,including the situation inAfghanistan.

Singh reached Tehran fromMoscow on Saturday on atransit halt after concludinghis three-day visit to Russiawhere he attended a meetingof the Shanghai CooperationOrganisation (SCO) defenceministers. He also held bilat-eral talks with his counter-parts from Russia, China andthe Central Asian countries.

"Had a very fruitful meet-ing with Iranian defence min-

ister Brigadier General AmirHatami in Tehran. We dis-cussed regional security issuesincluding Afghanistan andthe issues of bilateral cooper-ation," Singh said in a tweet.

"Both the DefenceMinisters discussed ways totake forward bilateral cooper-ation and exchanged views on

regional security issues,including peace and stabilityin Afghanistan," Singh's officesaid in a separate tweet on themeeting held at the request ofthe Iranian defence minister.

The meeting between thetwo ministers took place in a"cordial and warm atmos-phere," it said, adding that theleaders emphasised upon theage-old cultural, linguisticand civilisational ties betweenIndia and Iran.

Iranian Defence MinisterHatami and his Indian coun-terpart Singh held talks inTehran on international,regional and bilateral issues,Iran's official Irna newsagency reported on Sunday.

Visit of Singh is the firsttravel of a top Indian officialto Iran since the outbreak ofthe coronavirus pandemic inDecember 2019, it noted.

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Around 60 per cent of respon-dents favoured availing ‘DigitalHealth ID' to be created underthe Centre's National DigitalHealth Mission, but do notwant to share sensitive person-al data beyond health andmedical records, a recent sur-vey said.

The survey was conductedby LocalCircles, a communitysocial media platform.

According to the survey, 59per cent of respondents saidthey want to avail‘DigitalHealth ID' under the DigitalHealth Mission programme,but do not want to share sen-sitive personal data beyondhealth and medical records.

It said 23 per cent respon-dents supported creating thehealth ID, saying it could helpin faster access to healthcare.While 18 per cent said itshould not be created as it

could lead to personal sensitivedata getting compromised.

Around 9,000 peopleresponded to the question onwhether Digital Health IDshould be created under theNational Digital HealthMission (NDHM), it said.

The social media platform

received around 34,000responses on four questionsrelated to the draft NationalHealth Data ManagementPolicy, which proposes to cre-ate Digital Health IDs for allIndians.

When asked about makingaggregate or anonymised data

of people available for thepurpose of research or promo-tion of diagnostic solutions, toexternal agencies, 48 per centrespondents said they do notapprove of it, while 45 per centsaid they were ‘okay' with itand 6 per cent were unsure.

Akshay Gupta, GeneralManager, LocalCircles saidthe survey results will be sub-mitted to key stakeholdersassociated with the DigitalHealth ID initiative, so thatcitizen inputs can be kept atthe forefront as the govern-ment lays out the blueprint ofthe initiative.

To safeguard confidentialhealth data collected frompeople under NDHM, thegovernment has proposed aframework and a set of min-imum standards for data pri-vacy protection to be fol-lowed across the board incompliance with applicablelaws and regulations.

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Three persons, includingtwoowing allegiance to BJP,have been arrested in the cityfor allegedly secretly video-graphing senior TrinamoolCongress leader MadanMitra without his permis-sion, police said on Saturday.

Mitra, when contacted,said that the three accusedrequested for an appoint-ment for a meeting onFriday after identifyingthemselves to be fromBelghoria area of the city andseeking his help to joinTMC.

The three had secretlyvideographed Mitra, the for-mer transport minister,whom they met at the officeof the 'AutomobileAssociation of Eastern India'in the city on Friday, theTMC leader said.

"My security guardscaught them videographing.Initially they denied havingdone so, but when somevideos were found they saidthey will delete everything.On checking their phones wefound several photographswhere they were with seniorBJP leaders as well as withthat party's state president(Dilip gHosh).

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The South Western Railwayshas said it will run 40 pairs ofspecial train services fromSeptember 12 on specificroutes.

According to a statementissued by the SWR onSaturday, these services shallbe in addition to the Shramikspecials and the special trains,which are already in opera-tion.

These trains will be restrict-ed stoppages in view of thesuggestions of the state gov-ernment, the railways said.

This besides, services ofseven pairs of trains of South

Western Railway shall alsostart with effect fromSeptember 12.

These trains will operatebetween Bengaluru-Mysuru,Bengaluru Cantonment-Guwahati, YesvantpurBikaner, Mysuru Jaipur,M y s u r u S o l a p u r ,GorakhpurYesvantpur andKSR BengaluruNew Delhi.

The Railways said all theprecautionary measures willbe in place such as social dis-tancing, thermal screeningand wearing of face masks bypassengers will be strictly fol-lowed. The SWR said onlyreserved passengers will beallowed.

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By denying the payment ofGST compensation to Statesand instead asking them toborrow, the Centre may

have been legally correct but it mustnot be forgotten that the States hadmade a huge sacrifice in surrender-ing their taxing powers while agree-ing to implement the GST regime.They had bought into the idea of aunified market based on what waspromised to be a “Good and SimpleTax.” That promise remains to be ful-filled yet. Multiple rates, technicalglitches in the GSTN and difficul-ties faced by the taxpayers in gettingtimely refunds, that have bedevilledit since launch, still remain unad-dressed. The latest decision of theGST Council may have driven awedge between the Centre and theStates, which have so far wonderful-ly cooperated in the panel that has,barring a single occasion, votedunanimously on all contentiousissues.

This is not to undermine thepositive benefits the GST has alreadybrought. It was supposed to be atransformational tax, and in manyways it has been so. It not only elim-inated multiplicity of taxes andcesses but also brought down therate of effective tax and its incidenceon most items. The ominousInspector Raj and long queues oftrucks at the state entry barriers arethings of the past. Even in a coun-try with a highly fractious politicalculture, the GST Council has set ashining example of cooperative fed-eralism. However, the future maynot be as smooth.

Even before the pandemic hadstruck, GST revenues were falling.Now the pandemic has wroughthavoc and collections are nowherenear last year’s levels. As per the GSTCompensation Act, the Centre issupposed to compensate the Statesat bimonthly intervals for five yearstill FY-22, in case the revenue loss-es of the States exceeded 14 per centgrowth calculated on the base-year2015-16 collections. It was supposedto draw from the GSTCompensation Fund financed by theCompensation Cess levied on lux-ury and sin goods like cars, tobac-co products and soft drinks. GSTpayments to States for the currentfiscal have been pending since April2020. For 2019-20, the total com-pensation paid was �1.65 lakh croreagainst the compensation fund col-lections of just �95,444 crore, and theCentre had to tap the balance of cessfrom the previous years as well as

�33,412 crore from theConsolidated Fund of India onaccount of IGST to meet theStates’ dues. Thus the inability topay States’ GST dues was not justdue to the economic morass trig-gered by the pandemic. Theactual collections under the fundnow cover only half the month-ly requirement of �14,000 crore.

The reduction in GST ratesfor many items had resulted in aninverted duty structure where theduty on the final product was lessthan the duty on the inputs,requiring higher refunds. Theoptions before the GST Councilwere either to (1) rework the slabsor increase rates to correct theinverted duty structure; (2)increase the rates of compensa-tion cess and expand the itembase, or (3) allow the States toborrow more and repay the bor-rowing using future collections,that is, by extending the compen-sation cess beyond 2021-22.Given the mayhem caused by thepandemic and the severe contrac-tion of the GDP driving the econ-omy into a comatose state, theCentre was rightly wary of rais-ing or expanding the scope of thecess that might cause further joblosses. The Centre thus had onlytwo options: either allow theStates to borrow or meet theshortfall from its own resources,which must come from its ownborrowings, with correspondingfiscal and monetary implica-tions. Yields of government secu-rities (G-Secs) will harden,putting pressure on interest ratesacross the economy; credit ratingagencies also may view this neg-atively. Besides, with the fiscaldeficit already having exceededthe full year target of �7.96 lakhcrore, it was really a Hobson’s

choice for the Centre.The Act does not deal with

this unprecedented shortfall ofcompensation cess, the reason forwhich is partly the inefficiency ofthe GSTN to fix the technicalglitches, especially its inability tomatch the buyers’ and suppliers’invoices. The Centre had earlierapproached the Solicitor-General,who argued that it was not legal-ly obliged to pay full compensa-tion to the States. Armed withthis, in the GST Council meetingof August 27, the Centre offeredthe States two options, the logicof which is questionable. It hascited the unprecedented eco-nomic contraction and conse-quent revenue shortfall due to thepandemic as an “Act of God”,which is not covered by the GSTstatute that has no force majeureclause, to renege on its promise topay the States compensation outof its own funds. There is also nodenying that the Chinese actionon the LAC has necessitatedhigher security expenditure.

The estimated compensa-tion shortfall of �2.35 lakh crorein the current fiscal was dividedinto two segments though someaccounting jugglery: �97,000crore on account of GST imple-mentation and the rest due to rev-enue loss attributable to COVID-19. Accordingly, the Centreoffered two options to the states:Option-I for additional borrow-ing of �97,000 crore under a spe-cial borrowing window of the RBIat G-Sec-linked interest rates, tobe repaid in full, including inter-est from the compensation cessfund, without being counted asStates’ debt. The rest �1.38 lakhcrore will be reckoned as States’debt. Option-II was allowingthem to borrow the entire

amount of �2.35 lakh crore fromthe market, of which only theprincipal will be paid from thecompensation cess while theinterest burden will lie on theStates’ shoulders. However, itappears that the Centre mightallow the interest also to be paidfrom the cess without creating anyburden on the exchequer. Thecompensation cess will continueto be levied beyond FY22 till theStates’ debts get liquidated.

Earlier, under the Centre’sstimulus package, States weregiven additional borrowing spaceby raising their borrowing lim-its from 3 to 5 per cent of GSDP,but save 0.5 per cent, the rest wasavailable only on their implemen-tation of various reform mea-sures, like the One Nation, OneRation Card, Ease of DoingBusiness, power distribution andaugmentation of municipalityrevenues. Even the 0.5 per centwas conditional upon achieve-ment of the milestones pre-scribed in respect of the reforms.Now Option-I allowed the Statesto carry forward any unutilisedborrowing space up to 1 per centof GSDP unconditionally to thenext fiscal. The Centre wouldcoordinate the borrowing andalso bear the extra interest costabove the G-Sec yield through asubsidy. However, no such extraborrowing space would be avail-able for Option-II; the entire bor-rowing exceeding ��97,000 crorewill count as the States’ liability.The interest would be decided bythe market and not linked to G-Sec yields.

States are understandablyfurious at what they see as“betrayal” of the Centre, espe-cially the non-BJP ruled oneslike Punjab, Delhi, Puducherry,

Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.They feel the distinction in theshortfall on account of GSTimplementation and the pan-demic is “unconstitutional.” Inany case, they want the entireborrowing to be accommodat-ed by increasing the borrowinglimit. They are apprehensivethat the borrowing would trans-late into “mortgaging of thefuture.” States have a legitimategrouse not only because thedelay in compensation pay-ment has pushed their alreadyprecarious finances to the brink,but also because they get noshare from the various cessesand surcharges levied by theCentre on items like petrol,diesel, education, health orsocial welfare.

Understandably it was notan easy decision for the Centre,and it militates against the spir-it of cooperative federalism sofar demonstrated convincinglyby the GST Council. As regardsborrowing by the States, theremay not be much difficulty. Themarket is awash with liquiditywith little demand for credit asevidenced by the FCI being ableto raise loans of �75,000 croreat only 4.6 percent. Banks areflush with funds from the stim-ulus package, which are beingparked at the RBI at the reverserepo rate. But the Centre stillcan regain the States’ trust byincreasing their borrowing lim-its further to accommodate theentire �2.35 lakh crore. In fed-eral relations, trust is as impor-tant as legality.

(The author is a formerDirector General, Office of theComptroller & Auditor Generalof India and an academic.)

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Sir — The collapse of the GrossDomestic Product (GDP) tominus 23.9 per cent has pushedthe country’s growth behind by50 years. Now, in order toachieve the goal of a $5 trillioneconomy and nine per centGDP growth, it will take aminimum of 10 to 12 years,which in the current situationlooks impossible. With nomoney or purchasing poweramong the people due to theCoronavirus-induced lock-down, closure of industries andjoblessness, there will be chaosin the days to come. There willbe bankruptcy, price rise andpoor performance in every sec-tor as far as production is con-cerned. We are looking atstagflation.

The whole country is suf-fering due to the economicinefficiency and incompetenceof the present regime whichwants to blame the pandemicfor its missteps. Does theGovernment want us to forgetthat the economy was in ashambles even before the out-break of the Coronavirus?

While its votaries have beenfocussing on mandir-masjid

politics and people have beenlynched by cow vigilantes, theeconomy of the nation hasdipped to a level never seenbefore. Yet, the BJP continues to

blame the Congress for all itswoes. At least it didn’t drive usdown to this extent.

Bhagwan ThadaniMumbai

�� Sir — Bollywood actor KanganaRanaut’s controversial tweet, inwhich she compared Mumbai toPakistan-occupied Kashmir,

should not be tolerated byMumbaikars. It is good that theleaders of the ruling alliance inMaharashtra lashed out at her forinsulting the people of the State.Maharashtra Home Minister AnilDeshmukh made a statementthat “those who feel unsafe in thecity have no right to live here.”

Why should anyone insult aState that has welcomed peoplefrom all over the country withopen arms? Other people, whohave made Mumbai their home,don’t agree with Ranaut’s state-ment and she should not givelessons to Mumbaikars on how tobehave as she herself is very abu-sive and offensive.

She, too, is playing by thesame book that she accuses hercontemporaries of. She is going toany length for publicity and hastaken a Right-wing political posi-tion to be heard, knowing full wellthat she will find support onlineand on news media. Ranaut ishand in glove with some power -hungry politicians to malign theSena-NCP-Congress Governmentand the Mumbai Police. Shameon her!

Ashmit AaronNoida

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With the dragon becoming increasinglyaggressive and the two-front threat becom-ing a certainty, India needs to shed its his-

toric “continentalist” mindset and transform froma military force to a military power. In order to dothat, India, apart from strengthening its maritimepower, has also to develop non-kinetic warfare capa-bilities in the space, cyber and electronic warfare(EW) domains. India has the technology but is keenon using it for civilian rather than military purpos-es. A minor policy change will enable us to devel-op systems purely for military use. There is an urgentneed to develop threat-specific responses to wardoff any danger to our national security from belliger-ent China and Pakistan.

Our strategy so far relies on the offensive capa-bilities of the Indian Air Force (IAF) to counter themenace posed by our adversaries. But China hasdeployed an array of Surface to Air Missiles(SAMs) in both Xinjiang and Tibet regions and isalso providing military assistance, including prolif-eration of banned technology to Pakistan, toupgrade its Integrated Air Defence System (IADS).At the same time China and Pakistan have collud-ed to ensure that we remain fixated towards our landborders and have to spend so heavily to keep themsecure that the much-wanted expansion of the IndianNavy gets scuttled.

This will be a big drawback in our attempts toward off any maritime threat and counter China’sgrowing interest in the Indian Ocean. The two-frontintimidation is certainly a measure taken by theChinese to keep India focussed to the threat fromits land borders and remain distracted from its mar-itime ambitions, which were exhibited in therecently-enhanced budget of the Navy and itsimpressive acquisition list, including aircraft carri-ers, destroyers, frigates, amphibious transport ships,submarines and surveillance aircraft.

China is very sensitive to the vulnerabilities ofits Sea Lanes of Communications (SLOCs) whichcater to 80 per cent of its trade and movement ofoil and goods from the Middle East to the Chineseports. To keep the Chinese supply chain going, safeSLOCs are critical. Nevertheless, it is taking stepsto mitigate its “Malacca dilemma” by building upits surface naval forces and undersea fleet, financ-ing deep-water commercial ports in littoral andisland nations and making diplomatic inroads withkey actors across the Indian Ocean basin.

As part of its string of pearls policy to encircleIndia, it is negotiating with our neighbours, name-ly Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. In the future,these efforts could give China the ability to sustainforward-deployed forces in greater numbers andmight tilt in its favour the maritime military balancein the region. The development of Gwadar port, theKarakoram highway and the use of Iranian portsafter signing the strategic treaty with Iran will, to agreat extent, mitigate Chinese problems at sea. Yet,in the quest for becoming a global power, the People’sLiberation Army Navy (PLAN) will still continueto struggle for dominance of the Indian Ocean andpose a threat to India’s claim of the most powerfulresident power in the region.

While Russia pioneered the Anti-Access AreaDenial (A2/AD) capability to check the NorthAtlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces and pri-marily the US during the Cold War, China in themodern days has made considerable progress inmastering the technology and development of sys-tems to keep the US Navy away from the SouthChina Sea (SCS) and the disputed maritime claimsof the nine-dash line. It did not hesitate to fire itsdeadly hypersonic “Fleet Killer” missile in the dis-puted Spratly Islands when the US was busy con-ducting the ten-nation RIMPAC naval exercise offthe Hawaiian Coast in the Pacific Ocean. Incidentally,

an Indian naval ship was also deployed inthe SCS at that time. The DF 21 KillerMissile has the capability of destroying amoving carrier at sea. With this China dis-played its A2/AD capabilities and sent astern warning to both the US and India.

India, too, needs to develop A2/ADcapabilities to prevent any future build-upof Chinese forces in the Tibet region andneutralise any threat from Islamabad bygrounding the Pakistan Air Force beforeit becomes airborne as far as our land fron-tiers are concerned. Along the maritimeborders, the A2/AD capability will enableus to prevent access to the PLAN andrestrict the freedom of movement of thePakistan Navy. Inherent in it would be thedevelopment of countermeasures neededto ensure freedom of movement and oper-ation of our air and naval forces across theland and maritime frontiers.

To develop the A2/AD capability, itis necessary to understand its philosophy.Action intended to slow deployment offriendly forces into a theatre or cause suchforces to operate from distances fartherfrom the locus of conflict than they wouldotherwise prefer is called as Anti-Access(A2). It affects the movement of adversaryforces into a theatre. Action intended toimpede friendly operations within areaswhere it is difficult to prevent access ofinimical forces is termed Area Denial(AD). AD affects manoeuvre within a the-atre. The two are not mutually exclusive.A2/AD capabilities are overlapping andspread across multi-domains to includeboth kinetic and non-kinetic systems withthe sole purpose of degrading the adver-saries’ war-fighting capabilities at land, sea,air, cyber, space and EW. Emerging tech-nologies representing military revolutionin Artificial Intelligence (AI), QuantumTechnology, Swarm Technology andhypersonic weapons form the backboneof these capabilities.

A potent A2/AD capability will posea serious threat to the ability of both ouradversaries to deploy and employ forcesacross our land and maritime boundaries.India needs to develop A2/AD capabili-ties not only as countermeasures to the

combined threat posed by both China andPakistan but also to pose a similar threatto them, both at land and sea.

A2/AD capabilities have to be an inte-gration of terrestrial, air and space-basedsensors which can defeat stealth technol-ogy, an array of long range deep penetrat-ing cruise, surface-to-air and air-to-sur-face missiles, space weapons, satellites,hypersonic weapons and aerial platforms,both manned and unmanned. India hasan arsenal of formidable missile systemsand aerial platforms; it has invested in theRussian S-400 Air Defence System,Phalcon AWACS, armed drones andother air defence systems.

But it still needs more to develop a for-midable A2/AD capability, particularly todominate the Indian Ocean and keepPLAN at bay. For the purposes of com-mand and control, the existing StrategicForces Command (SFC) should be nom-inated. India needs to invest more inboosting aerospace capabilities and cyberwarfare capabilities. The need for an aero-space and a cyber command has becomemore pressing now.

As countermeasures to the adver-saries’ A2/AD capability in Tibet regionand against our western neighbour, weneed to invest heavily in the developmentof stealth, stand-off precision strike,Manned Unmanned Teaming (MUT),Swarming technologies and developmentof a robust Command, Control,Communications, Computers,Intelligence, Surveillance andReconnaissance (C4ISR ) and EW poten-tial. Meanwhile, the IAF will have to beboosted with the next-generation stand-off strike capability in the form of missilesand unmanned platforms.

As far as the Indian Ocean is con-cerned, India will always be constrainedby resources to invest heavily in powerprojection naval platforms. Due to thenature of the threat to India’s security, theIndian Army and the IAF will remain themain focus centres as far as defence expen-diture is concerned. But at the same timein order to score over China, India willneed to cash upon the Chinese “Malacca

dilemma.” The best option for India insuch an eventuality is to spend on A2/ADcapability rather than investing in mar-itime power-projecting forces with moreconcentration on anti-access capabilitiesbecause India enjoys the advantage ofhome turf viz a viz PLAN.

For this, India’s island territories,namely the Lakshadweep Islands and theAndaman and Nicobar Islands, will playa crucial role. These territories, whichoverlook critical Indian Ocean lanes,give India a toehold in the Arabian Sea andthe Bay of Bengal. India has already takensteps to bolster its military presence onthese strategically-positioned islands dur-ing the ongoing stand-off with China.These could be developed as epicentres ofour A2/AD capabilities to guard our mar-itime frontiers.

India’s joint warfare doctrine will needto focus on countering the adversaries’A2/AD capabilities to ensure operationalfreedom of friendly forces with minimumdowngradation of our fighting capabilityand also to include the potential of ourA2/AD capabilities to cause maximumattrition to the adversaries’ war fightingpotential and their exploitation.

With the Himalayan defences becom-ing impregnable, only a foolhardy enemywill attempt a major/decisive battle there.While mind games and provocations willcontinue along the LAC, a decisive blow to the Chinese can only be deliveredat sea.

In order to counter China’s growingexpansionism and belligerence, Indiashould seriously explore the option of con-verting the QUAD from a mere securitydialogue to a security alliance followed byQUAD +. The combined GDP of QUADis double that of China thus neutralisingthe growing economic muscle of the drag-on. The move will benefit India as far asthe Aatmanirbhar Bharat Mission is con-cerned. The availability of high-end tech-nology will become easier, giving a boostto domestic production and also ensuresafety of supply chain lines.

(The author is a veteran political com-mentator, security and strategic analyst)

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The combined vote share of reli-gio-political parties in the 2018elections in Pakistan was 9.58

per cent, slightly lower than what it wasin the 2013 polls and much lower thanthe 11 per cent they bagged in 2002.The 2002 tally was the highest theIslamist parties have ever received inpolls. In 2018, the performance of reli-gio-political parties was weak becausethere were a lot more Islamist partiescompeting. Apart from the establishedones, two new religio-political outfitsemerged: The Milli Muslim League

(MML) and Tehreek-i-LabbaikPakistan (TLP). Their entry into elec-toral politics was encouraged by theestablishment to usurp the “religiousvote” of the Centre-Right PML-N sothat Imran Khan’s Centre-Right PTIcould benefit. None of the new religio-political parties could win many seats,but that was never the “plan.”

Whereas the MML could notperform in the manner in whichsome expected it to, the radical BarelviTLP not only succeeded in usurpingPML-N’s Barelvi vote, but also gobbledup the secular MQM’s lower-middle-class Barelvi votes in Karachi. This cer-tainly aided PTI in challenging thePML-N in Punjab and the MQM inKarachi. Historically, Islamist outfits inSouth Asia are not built as electoralparties. They emerge as evangelicalgroups or residues of movements. Andeven when they do convert into elec-toral outfits, they struggle to do well

in polls because the non-religion-basedmainstream parties pragmatically co-opt their causes and rhetoric.

Plus, the religio-political partiesare closely associated with one Islamicsect/sub-sect or the other. This limitstheir appeal to voters from otherdenominations. Some are even under-stood to have developed a sect of theirown, as the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) wasonce accused of doing. Islamist groupsin South Asia developing politicalinterests is a 20th century phenome-non rooted in the Khilafat Movementof 1919-1924. When the European the-ory of the State began to attractCentrist and Leftist groups in SouthAsia in the early 20th century, Islamistgroups, too, began to be attracted byit and started to theorise the possibil-ity of creating an “Islamic state.” Butmost of them could not find the meansor the need to devise any electoral toolsto achieve such a State. They often saw

electoral politics as contrary to theirIslamist dispositions. That’s why thedemand for a Muslim-majority StatePakistan arose from a Centrist andquasi-secular All India Muslim League(AIML). What’s more, almost allmajor Islamist parties opposed thisdemand on one pretext or the other.But they could not neutralise AIML’splans because, by the 1940s, it had notonly become an experienced electoralentity, but it was able to juxtapose its“modernist” Muslim nationalism withrhetoric from their Islamist opponents.These opponents had no plan to stallthe League through electoral means.

The Islamist parties remained inan electoral limbo during the first 20years of Pakistan but they did retaintheir evangelical and agitational dispo-sition, in an attempt to influence theideological character of the new coun-try. But even during the years of indi-rect elections (1957-58) and hybrid

democracy (1962-69), they could notdevise any effective electoral tools andsend members to the first two con-stituent Assemblies, and the twoAssemblies that came into being dur-ing the Ayub Khan dictatorship.

Yet, just before the country’s firstdirect elections in 1970, parties suchas JI were claiming that they wouldsweep the polls. But the opposite hap-pened. From 1947 till 1972, Islamistparties operated from outside theAssemblies and had no significantinfluence on policymaking, otherthan through the threat of agitations.Though 18 members from three reli-gio-political parties managed to enterthe 1972 Parliament, they were nomatch for the mainstream electoralparties. That’s why, in 1974 and thenagain in 1977, Islamist parties onceagain banked on their penchant foragitational politics to undermine aregime. With the sidelining of some

major parties during 1977, the religio-political parties were given space todevelop their electoral skills andexpand constituencies. Separate elec-torates were introduced to favourthem. But the idea, on the part of themilitary regime, was to manoeuvrethem in a manner that would help theZia dictatorship ward off challengesposed by the Opposition parties.

Most of them became tools of theestablishment, without whose backingthey believed they could not becomeeffective electoral entities. In the1990s, the PML-N continued to co-optreligious rhetoric of the Islamist par-ties. However, the self-proclaimed“enlightened moderate” Musharrafdecided to aggressively sideline thePML-N and the PPP during the 2002polls, by creating the conditionsrequired for the religio-political par-ties to win in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.This was when these parties bagged 11

per cent of the vote but this could nothalt the return of the PPP and thePML-N after the 2008 elections.

In the eyes of the establishment,the mutable utility of the old religio-political parties has been exhausted.With growing mistrust between thePML-N/PPP and the establishment,the latter “allowed” the growth of newreligion-based groups like the TLP andthe MML. In an environment wherethe State was at war with religious mil-itancy and with the sword of theFinancial Action Task Force (FATF)still hanging over the country’s head,the idea was to quietly nurture newreligious groups, not to help them win,but to aid the pro-establishment PTIby way of scattering PML-N’s religiousvotebank. The fate of the religio-political parties in politics is thus like-ly to continue being dependent ontheir utility to the establishment.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

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IT services will remain a signif-icant part of the job environ-ment in India as the demandfor talent and services contin-ues to grow in the country,according to Tata ConsultancyServices CEO and MD RajeshGopinathan.

He also emphasised on theneed for experienced IT pro-fessionals to embrace automa-tion and other new technolo-gies to remain competitiveeven as youngsters, who couldbe native to these new tools,enter the workforce.

"...in absolute terms, IndianIT's employment potential willcontinue to be quite strong andwill relatively keep growing inpace with where we see theopportunity. The relative ratioof IT to other industries is afactor of what happens in thelarger economic scenario...inthe foreseeable future, IT ser-vices will remain very attractiveand a significant part of the jobenvironment in India,"Gopinathan said in a recentwebinar on LinkedIn.

He added that this is onaccount of the demand for tal-ent and services, which is "only

going to explode given the rolethat technology is playingtoday and in future".

There have been concerns oflayoffs in the IT sector - whichhires thousands of graduatesevery year - as automationincreases. With COVID-19pandemic impacting business-es globally, there were concernsabout hiring and job opportu-nities in the sector as compa-nies froze and even laid offemployees.

Gopinathan, who heads theUSD 22-billion firm, wasrecently named as a LinkedInInfluencer, joining the list ofeminent personalities like Satya

Nadella, Vani Kola, PunitRenjen and Kiran MazumdarShaw. Tata ConsultancyServices is the country's largestIT services firm and employsover 4.4 lakh people.

Gopinathan said the young-sters coming into workforce arenative to many of the technolo-gies that are leading the disrup-tion and learn about the tools"by default" because that is theenvironment they are cominginto.

"My bigger message is to theones who have got more expe-rience, the ones with 10-15years' experience. They alsoneed to embrace it rather than

being worried about it. Andthey need to invest in theirknowledge, in their contextu-al knowledge and upgradetheir skills in terms of the toolusage," he said. He added thatwhile the tools used today willbe different from 15 years ago,but the context that the peoplehave built up and the knowl-edge they have amassed is"invaluable", which positionsthe individual in a very uniqueposition compared to any newperson entering the workforce.

Gopinathan said theCOVID-19 pandemic hasallowed people to use tech-nologies that already existedmore effectively by reducingthe threshold of acceptability.

"So video conferencing didnot get invented six monthsback. But our acceptability ofleveraging it and the opennesswith which we are leveragingit has significantly gone up 10-folds, 50-folds...a lot of thework content could be donethrough remote collaborationlike we are currently doing andthe acceptability of thatincreasing -- both inside enter-prises and between enterpris-es — will be a huge booster," headded.

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The Customs Department willroll out pan-India facelessassessment for all importedgoods by October 31, theCentral Board of Indirect Taxesand Customs (CBIC) has said.

While faceless assessmentfor import of certain goods wasalready rolled out in Bengaluruand Chennai ports on June 8,it was extended to Delhi andMumbai Customs on August 3.

This will now be extended inphases to all ports across thecountry by December 31.

"Board has decided to rollout the Faceless Assessment atan all India level in all ports of

import and for all importedgoods by October 31, 2020,"the CBIC said in a circular.

Faceless assessment enablesan assessing officer, who is

physically located in a partic-ular jurisdiction, to assess a Billof Entry pertaining to importsmade at a different Customsstation, whenever such a Bill of

Entry has been assigned to himthrough an automated system.

The CBIC has constituted 11National Assessment Centres(NACs), consisting of thePrincipal Commissioners/Commissioners of Customs.

"...The NACs need to workin a coordinated manner toensure that all assessments arecarried out in a timely mannerand there is no delay or hold upof the Bills of Entry.

The NACs would also exam-ine the assessment practices ofimported goods acrossCustoms stations to bringabout uniformity andenhanced quality of assess-ments," the CBIC said.

The NAC would have tocoordinate with Directorate ofRevenue Intelligence (DRI)and Directorate General ofGST Intelligence (DGGI),Directorate General ofAnalytics and RiskManagement (DGARM) andother Directorates to enhancerisk assessment.

"To ensure smooth imple-mentation of FacelessAssessment & to sensitize boththe departmental officers andthe trade, Directorate Generalof Taxpayer Services (DGTS)in coordination with CustomsPolicy Wing shall organizeextensive outreaches via onlinewebinars/promotional videos

etc," the CBIC said.The CBIC said the key ele-

ments of the 'Turant Customs'programme are faceless, con-tactless and paperless Customsclearance processes.

This includes faceless oranonymised assessment, self-registration of goods byimporters, automated clear-ances of bills of entry, digiti-sation of Customs documents,among others.

The objectives sought to beachieved are exponentiallyfaster clearance of goods,reduced interface betweentrade and Customs officersand enhanced ease of doingbusiness.

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Eight of the 10most valued com-panies witnessed atotal loss of Rs1,11,799.05 crorein their marketvaluation lastweek, with ICICIBank and RelianceIndustries Limitedemerging as leading losers.

Tata Consultancy Servicesand HDFC Bank were theonly gainers among the 10most valued listed firms.

Last week, the BSE Sensexplummeted 1,110.13 points or2.81 per cent amid a global sell-off and weak economic data.

The market capitalisation ofICICI Bank tumbled Rs25,476.75 crore to Rs2,57,073.30 crore. The valua-tion of Reliance IndustriesLimited (RIL) tanked Rs24,216.53 crore to Rs13,16,947.89 crore.

HDFC's market capdropped by Rs 20,150.82 croreto Rs 3,17,321.63 crore and thatof Kotak Mahindra Bank by Rs17,642.8 crore to Rs2,72,815.29 crore.

The market valuation ofITC declined by Rs 10,951.21crore to Rs 2,29,667.79 croreand of Infosys by Rs 6,643.75crore to Rs 3,91,544.91 crore.Hindustan Unilever's marketcap dipped by Rs 6,471.69crore to Rs 4,99,186.72 crore.

Bharti Airtel's valuationdeclined by Rs 245.5 crore toRs 2,85,380.21 crore.

In contrast, TCS added Rs19,756.31 crore to its valuationat Rs 8,59,202.29 crore. Thevaluation of HDFC Bank roseby Rs 2,641.5 crore to Rs6,16,240.17 crore. In top 10 listof the most-valued firm, RILtopped the chart followed byTCS, HDFC Bank, HUL,Infosys, HDFC, Bharti Airtel,Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICIBank and ITC in that order.

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Tata Steel's production levelhas now recovered to 100 percent as the company sees arevival in domestic demandin the current quarter led bya good monsoon and ruraleconomy, its CEO andManaging Director T VNarendran has said.

The company is now lessdependent on exports com-pared to the first quarter, headded. The COVID-19 out-break in India, followed bythe national lockdown,impacted the steel industryseverely. It disrupted the sup-ply chain and impacted thedemand as well as produc-tion.

Due to the market condi-tions, steel makers like TataSteel were forced to cut downtheir operations by up to 50per cent in April. The playersalso had to turn to exports tofind markets for their pro-duce. However, with therelaxation of lockdownnorms, the company rampedup its production in a phasedmanner. "Production is run-ning at 100 per cent and weare now less dependent onexports than we were in Q1," Narendran said.

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Mining companyT h r i v e n iEarthmovers hasbagged a contractworth Rs 31,428crore from NTPCto develop andoperate Talaipallicoal mine inC h h a t t i s g a r halloted to the state-ownedpower giant.

"Thriveni Earthmovers... aCoimbatore-based miningcompany, has bagged anothermine development and oper-ation contract from NTPCon August 26, with a contractvalue of Rs 31,428 crore," anofficial on the condition ofanonymity said.

Earlier, NTPC had termi-nated the contracts it hadawarded to BGR Mining &Infra for development of itscoal mines in Jharkhand andChhattisgarh over allegationsof corruption against seniorofficials of the private miningcompany.

NTPC had terminated thecontracts for development andoperation of Chatti-Bariatucoal mine in Jharkhand andTalaipalli coal mine in

Chhattisgarh, according totwo separate letters dated July4, 2019 by NTPC.

NTPC had awarded minedevelopment and operationcontract of the Chatti-Bariatumine to BGR in November2017. In the same month, ithad awarded a similar contractfor the Talaipalli mine to aconsortium of NCC and BGRMining. Talaipalli coal minehas a production capacity of 18million tonne of coal perannum. The block was reallo-cated by the coal ministry toNTPC in 2015.

Thriveni Earthmovers spe-cialises in mining naturalresource commodities likeiron ore, copper, coal, bauxite,among others. The companyclaims to be one of the lead-ing Mine Developer andOperator (MDO) globally.

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State-owned Oiland Natural GasCorp (ONGC)has managed tosave its golf cours-es in Ahmedabadand Vadodaraafter the depart-ment of disinvestmentdropped a proposal to divestthe company of the 'non-core'assets, sources said.

The Department ofInvestment and Public AssetManagement (DIPAM), erst-while called the department ofdisinvestment, had in May2019 decreed golf courses andsports clubs owned by centralpublic sector enterprises as

non-core assets and wantedthem to monetise them.

It listed ONGC's two golfcourses in Ahmedabad andVadodara as non-core assetsthat needed to be sold to pri-vate developers to raise moneyfor the government.

But the Ahmedabad golfcourse was in the middle of anoilfield and had oil wells.

Sources privy to the devel-

opment said DIPAM droppedthe two golf courses from itslist a few weeks back afterONGC made a case of howselling them would mean alsohanding over producing oilwells to a private developer.

Also, ONGC stated that thegolf courses were on land thatit does not own. The land is ona long lease from the localmunicipal corporations andland that the company doesnot own cannot be sold, theysaid.

The 9-hole Ahmedabad golfcourse sits in the middle ofONGC-operated 15.69 squarekilometre Motera oilfield. Twoof the five wells on Motera oil-field are housed in the golfcourse.

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Telecom regulatorTrai has grantedadditional time,till September 8,to Vodafone Ideato reply to itsshow-cause noticeon priority plan,after the companysought more time to respond.

The Telecom RegulatoryAuthority of India (Trai) lastmonth had slapped a show-cause notice on Vodafone IdeaLtd (VIL) over its pay-more-for-priority treatment mobileplan, saying the tariff offer"lacks transparency" and is"misleading" and not in com-pliance with the regulatoryframework.

The regulator had initiallygiven time till August 31 toVIL to respond, but laterextended the deadline toSeptember 4 following compa-ny's request.

A source privy to the devel-opment told PTI that VILagain wrote to the regulatorstating at least 15 days areneeded to respond to the elab-orate 17-page show-causenotice that was issued onAugust 25.

So, Trai has now agreed toextend the deadline toSeptember 8 and communicat-ed the same to telco, the sourcesaid.

A mail sent to VodafoneIdea did not elicit a response.

The regulator — which hadbeen probing VIL's priorityplan -- had issued a show-cause notice asking the com-pany "why appropriate actionshould not be initiated againstit for violating the extant reg-ulatory framework by its RedXtariff plan..."

In its show-cause notice toVIL, the regulator had said:"The RedX Tariff offer lackstransparency and is misleadingand not in compliance withregulatory principles of tariffassessment contained underTelecom Tariff Order, 1999 asamended from time to time."

The sector regulator had

also said it is of the view thatthe "claim of VIL for provid-ing 'Priority 4G Network withfaster data speeds' is not incompliance with the extantregulatory framework..."

It had said that the RedXtariff offer is in contraventionof specific clauses of theTelecom Tariff Order relatingto protection of interests of theconsumers.

VIL's RedX tariff offer "vio-lates the terms of license agree-ment" and is not consistentwith stipulated technical spec-ifications, Trai had said addingthat it also did not comply withthe service quality norms.

Trai had been examiningVodafone Idea's priority planRedX and Bharti AirtelPlatinum Offering to see if net-work preference to specificcustomers leads to deteriora-tion of services for other non-premium subscribers or vio-lates any norms.

Bharti Airtel, however, wasnot issued a show-cause noticefor its platinum plan. Airteloffered to abide by Trai's viewsand also voluntarily modifiedits platinum offering suitably,and hence Trai is not proceed-ing with further investigationon that.

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Ceramic productsmaker AsianGranito India Ltdaims to clock Rs2,000 crore rev-enue in the nexttwo to three years,helped by expan-sion of sales network in thedomestic market and exports,according to a top companyofficial.

Though the company isanticipating "temporary hic-cups due to COVID-19 in theshort term", it is confident ofbouncing back on its growthpath in the long term with itsfocused growth strategy.

AGIL expects that demandfrom real estate sector could

take a little longer to recoverbut growth in the current fis-cal could be driven by demandfrom the retail sector, especial-ly from rural, tier-II and semi-urban areas, and exports.

"For FY 2019-20, the com-pany reported revenues of Rs1,224 crore with a net profit atRs 41.9 crore. In the next twoto three years, the companyhas set a target to increase itstouchpoints to over 10,000.

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A long-term regu-latory roadmap isrequired for theautomobile indus-try to grow andincrease its contri-bution to GDP to12 per cent from the current 7per cent, according to a reportby Nomura Research InstituteConsulting and Solutions India(NRI India). While the govern-ment plans to bring Indianautomotive industry at par withdeveloped nations in safetyand emission regulations, thereport said there is a need tostudy regulations in Indiancontext as conditions in thecountry are different fromdeveloped nations in manyaspects.

"The Indian automotiveindustry has kept pace withthese changes and in recentyears has undergone a numberof changes in the domain ofpassenger safety, emission con-trol and connected technology.

"One such highlight isleapfrogging from BS-IV toBS-VI emission norms and

hence achieving parity withEuro emission norms," thereport said. In addition to thepositives these changes havebrought to the Indian market,they have also brought Indianautomotive industry at par withthe developed regions likeEurope, Japan and the USA.

Further, the much neededamendments to the MotorVehicle Act (MVA) have beencommendable steps by the gov-ernment of India, it said.

"However, there have beenmany instances where regula-tions are enforced without ade-quate lead-time and delibera-tions. It may be important tostudy the regulation formuationprocess adopted by global agen-cies and take learnings fordeciding timeline and lead-time for regulation implemen-tations," it said.

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Former Union finance minis-ter P Chidambaram onSunday suggested the gov-ernment to borrow more tohelp stimulate demand andrevive the country's economy.

The senior Congress leaderalso suggested some measuresto raise money which includerelaxing FRBM norms, accel-erating disinvestment and bor-rowing money from globalbanks.

As part of his measures torevive the economy, he soughttransferring cash to the poor-est 50 per cent of families,offering them foodgrains andincreasing spending on infra-

structure, besides payingarrears of GST compensationto states. "Here are some con-crete steps to stimulatedemand/consumption andrevive the economy: Transfersome cash to the poorest 50percent of families. Offer foodgrain to all families, thosewho need will take it. Increasespending on infrastructureprojects. Use food grain stockto pay wages in kind and startmassive public works.Recapitalize banks to enablethem to lend and Pay thearrears of GST compensationto the States," he said onTwitter."All of the above willneed money. Borrow. Don'thesitate," he suggested.

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Overseas investors pulled outRs 900 crore on net basisfrom Indian markets in thefirst four trading sessions ofthis month as weak econom-ic data and India-China bor-der tensions hit market senti-ment. Depositories datashowed that foreign portfolioinvestors (FPI) pulled out Rs675 crore from equities and Rs225 crore from the debt seg-ment on net basis betweenSeptember 1-4.

Prior to this, FPIs were netbuyers for three consecutive

months. They invested Rs46,532 crore in August, Rs3,301 crore in July.

"FPIs turned cautious atthe start of the week ahead ofthe release of the GDP data.Amidst the coronavirus pan-demic, India's GDP for thequarter-ended June 2020 con-tracted by huge 23 per cent,which dented sentiments,"said Srivastava, associate direc-tor Morningstar India.

They also stayed on side-lines on the back of weak glob-al cues and rising border ten-sion between India and China,he added.

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ere you confused about the kindof tattoo you wanted some timeback? Did you scroll throughhundreds of pictures to decidewhat to finally get inked andwhere? Well, you perhaps got alittle late in deciding things asthe pandemic has turned every-thing upside down.

The nature of this profession ishighly personal as getting inkedcannot be a contactless activity.Considering safety and socialdistancing as the need of thehour, most of the people are nowhesitating to get tattooed. Also,now that people only step out forthe essentials, they believe tattoo-ing can wait for a while!However, this has landed theindustry in some major troubles.

The impact has been such thatit seems to have pierced a hole inthe industry. Several tattoo artistsand studios are struggling tomeet even their basic expenses.Unlike other professions, theseartistes cannot join another com-pany after a job loss as their jobis not based on qualification butskills. And work from home defi-nitely can't be an option here.

Veteran and celebrity tattooartist Vikas Malani, founder,BodyCanvas Tattoos, says, “Weare artists and need clients to runour businesses and showcase ourskills. Since tattooing is a person-to-person job, the loss is high inthis industry. Earlier, around 20customers used to visit our stu-dio every day on an average butnow the footfalls have reduced totwo or three. Even the ones whovisit are our regular customers,there are no new ones. With suchless clients, the inflow of moneyseems to be scary.”

He further adds that theyrequire at least one or two hoursto ink, unlike other places wherepeople go into a store, purchaseand leave within a few minutes.So the chances of contracting thevirus is high as people are inconstant contact with the studioartists who meet a lot of othercustomers throughout the day.

Now, after a series of lock-downs and relaxations, theindustry is slowly restarting andpeople have been constantlythinking about newer and safeways to run their tattoo studios.They are following frequent sani-tisation, use face shields, glovesand masks. It is also advised toprovide a safety kit to the artistsand people visiting the studio.

“Even before this pandemic,we used to wear safety glovesand masks. However, now it hasbecome more significant as it

can be one of the most commonor easy ways for the transmissionof virus,” says Vikas.

Though it becomes challeng-ing to run the business with lim-ited resources, necessary precau-tions are essential for safety.Vikas lists some of the safetymeasures to consider before get-ting a tattoo.

��<2#>��2��692��<59�#6.75�:92�� Sanitise your hands and wear

a fresh pair of protectivegloves for each client.

� Check the body temperatureof all the staff members,including the artists, everyday before they enter the stu-dio.

� It is advisable to allow onlyone client at a time inside thestudio.

� Ensure that the studio,including furniture andworkstation, is properly ster-ilised.

� Sterilise non-disposableequipment, instruments andsupplies.

� Don’t miss sanitising fre-quently used areas such asdrawers, handles, sinks andtables.

��<2#>��2��692��<59:872�#�� Make sure that you approach

a standard and reputed tattooparlour that operates withexperienced professionalsand follows the correct safetyguidelines.

� Do all the consultationthrough phone calls andbook an appointment beforeentering the studio.

� Discuss the details, designand positioning over a call toreduce physical contact. Askyour artist if they can digital-ly represent the tattoo designto get a clear idea.

� Try to visit the studio direct-ly from your home to avoidtransmission from a thirdparty.

� Only the person to be inkedshould enter the studio tomaintain social distancing.

� Be cautious about the com-mon spots like doorknobs,chairs, tabletops that aretouched frequently by severalpeople. Wash your handsafter touching any commonarea and use hand sanitiser.

� Avoid carrying several thingsinside the studio. Some stu-dios also provide lockers forclients to keep their belong-ings to avoid possible risks.

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�� +�5��8;unny, as peoplefondly call her athome and on socialmedia, was barely 16years old when shewas first approached

for a film. Though she didn’ttake up the project, the offerand the idea of acting for theTelugu film industry somedayprobably lingered around in hermind. Thanks to her extremelysupportive grandmother andmother, she signed a meaning-ful film, Madhu Madasu’sVidyarthi, alongside ChethanCheenu. The poster and teaserof the film were released recent-ly by VV Vinayak, SaiKorrapati, Surrender Reddy, KLDamodar Prasad, HarishShankar, and the likes.

The story of her debut filmrevolves around a face-offbetween two families over casteand a love match, where asmall-town girl (Varshinnie),who is polite and brave, falls inlove with her classmate(Chetan), which leads to troublein her family. The protagonist’sfather later plans to takerevenge. The film highlights thesocial discrimination prevalent

in the backdrop of a village.“My family has always been

supportive of me, my ideas, mycreativity, and talent,” says the18-year-old who’s currently pur-suing her Bachelor of Arts inMusic. The actress, known forher expressions, emotions, andquirky smiles, not only acts butsings, plays the guitar, keyboard,and the drums too. To mostartists her age, there is both loveand hate coming their way, butshe stands out. “My fans havealways been positive and loving,I barely get hate online, I’mgrateful for that,” saysVarshinne, who has around 88Instagram fan pages, over 322thousand followers on herwidely popular Instagram pro-file, and more than 2.1 millionfans on Tik-Tok. If you’re won-dering what’s with her name‘Bunnyvox’ it’s a combination ofher nickname and her love formusic.

Speaking of music, the youngmulti-talented star says shehopes to be releasing videos ofher covers soon on her YouTubechannel. Does she plan to go bigwith a band? She replies in thenegative. She sees her love for

music more as a passion than asa means for monetary gain.Asked what her long term goalis, you’d be surprised to know ithas little to do with cinema —she says she wants to makemore music for and by herselfmore. Apart from being anactress and a musician,Varshinne is an animal lovertoo. Her love for her pet dog,Zoey, is evident on her socialmedia handles, she hopes tobuild homes for street dogssoon.

On what she loves best aboutthe Telugu film industry,Varshinne says, “The peoplehere are so warm and welcom-ing. They’ve never treated melike a newcomer and treatartists with respect. This is adream for any fresher.” Asked ifshe, who can converse inEnglish, Telugu, and Hindi,would be willing to take up aproject from other film indus-tries across the country, shesays, “Why not, but let’s see.”

For a girl who says actingcomes naturally to her, she isn’ta movie buff and pursuing cin-ema was never part of herdreams, not until very recently

— an offer came up and shetook it up. “Also, my grand-mother and mother havealways pushed me to take partin cultural activities always,”she adds. Being a newcomerwho has been offered a role ina film like Vidhyarti, a filmabout the evil that the castesystem is, in India, Varshinnecounts herself blessed. “I’mgrateful for a role like this, itcomes with a huge responsibili-ty and I hope to get roles likethese in the future,” she tells us.The actress says she cares littleabout the length of her role asopposed to the weight of thecharacter she plays.

So how different is her lifenow? “Not very, I have onlyreceived more love and respectthan I did before, the film is yetto hit the screens. I definitelywill continue posting videos onsocial media, maybe less thanbefore, but I won’t stop,”Varshinne assures, even as shefinds making a 2-minute TikTok video more painstakingthan a film because here she’sthe one who’s got to do all thework, including lip-syncing andediting!

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Monday September 7 2020

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ctress RheaChakraborty is readyfor arrest, her lawyerSatish Maneshinde saidin a statement issuedon Sunday.

“Rhea Chakraborty is ready forarrest as this is a Witch Hunt andif loving someone is a crime shewill face the consequences of herlove,” Satish Maneshinde said inhis statement.

“Being innocent, she has notapproached any court forAnticipatory Bail in all the cases

foisted by Bihar Police now withCBI, ED and NCB,” he added.

Meanwhile, Rhea left her resi-dence for the NCB office onSunday morning. She was sum-moned by the Narcotics ControlBureau (NCB) to join the investi-gation of actor Sushant SinghRajput death case.

Over the last two days, the NCBhas arrested her younger brotherShowik Chakraborty, Rajput'shouse manager Samuel Mirandaand Dipesh Sawant, a member ofthe actor's personal staff.

Sushant was found dead in hisapartment in Mumbai on June14. His father KK Singh hadfiled a case with the BiharPolice against Rhea, her fatherIndrajit, mother Sandhya,brother Showik, Shruti Modi,house manager SamuelMiranda, friend SiddharthPithani and unknown oth-ers. The case is currentlybeing handled by the CBI,with Enforcement Directorate(ED) and NCB also joiningthe probe.

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Monday September 7 2020 �� !"#

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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ctor Arjun Kapooron Sundayrevealed he hastested positive forCovid-19, and iscurrently under

home quarantine.“It is my duty to inform all

of you that I have tested posi-tive for coronavirus. I amfeeling ok and I am asympto-matic. I have isolated myselfat home under the advice ofdoctors and authorities andwill be under home quaran-tine,” Arjun wrote onInstagram.

He thanked everyone inadvance for wishes and sup-port.

“I thank you all in advancefor your support and I willkeep you updated aboutmy health in the days tocome. These are extra-ordinary and unprece-dented times and Ihave faith that all ofhumanity willovercome thisvirus,” Arjunadded.

Reacting to the post,Arjun’s cousin, actorHarshvarrdhan Kapoor, com-mented, “Feel better brother,warrior.”

Lisa Haydon wished himgood health, “Unprecedented.Health to you bro.”

“Speediest recovery andsuper responsible and coolthat you have put this outthere. Be well soon,” NimratKaur conveyed her best wish-es to Arjun.

Arjun recently stepped outof his home and startedshooting for a yet-to-be-titled

rom-com co-starringRakul Preet

Singh.

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apper Yo YoHoney Singh,known for afiercely loyalfan base, hasopened up

about the fake socialmedia followers scam,saying when he started hiscareer many people hadmade many accusationsagainst him.

Honey Singh’s musicalrival, rapper Badshah’sname recently cropped upin a sensational socialmedia racket linked tocreating fake ‘followersand likes’, after MumbaiPolice investigated at least20 prominent personali-

ties including the latter.Badshah had subse-

quently admitted tospending Rs 72 lakh togarner 7.2 crore views forhis song Paagal, in anattempt to create a worldrecord.

Without naming any-one, Honey Singh toldIANS, “I have heard a lotof rumours about rapperswho have bought fakeviews for their songs. Iwant to say that when Istarted my career and Iwas getting popular peo-ple had made many accu-sations.”

He said these are justallegations and nothing

has been proved, for us tojump to a conclusion.

“This is a mark ofprogress, and artistes youare talking about havesuch allegations on them.It's a congratulation frommy side to them becausethey are progressing andthese are just allegations,so I can’t say anymore onit,” he added.

Speaking about hiswork, Honey Singhrecently came out with hisnew track Billo tu agg.The song is the latest inthe non-film circuit thatHoney Singh has workedon with Singhsta, afterMakhna.

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In danger of her earliest exit at the U.S.Open since her debut 22 years ago, SerenaWilliams turned things around and took

over against Sloane Stephens.Williams emerged from the third-round

matchup between two Americans who are pastchampions at Flushing Meadows - she’s

won six of her 23 Grand Slam sin-gles titles at the place - with a 2-

6, 6-2, 6-2 victory over 2017titlist Stephens on Saturday.

Afterward, Williams’3-year-old daughter,Olympia, wore a maskand waved at Mom whilesitting on her father's lapin a front-row seat. On herway to the locker room,Williams waved back.

“I hope,” Williamssaid, “that she saw hermama fighting.” Williamsdid it, as she so oftendoes, with her best-in-the-game serve, hitting12 aces at up to 122mph as it got reallydialed in midwaythrough the second set,and an ability to re-cal-ibrate her ground-strokes that were soawry early and sosuperb down the

stretch.“She served a lot bet-

ter,” said Stephens, now 1-6against Williams, althoughthey hadn't played eachother since 2015.

“Obviously she hasone of the greatest serves

in the game. It’s real-ly difficult to read.”

Williams collect-ed 10 of the last 12 games

by lifting her level, to be sure. Butit helped that Stephens went from

playing nearly perfectly to missingmore and more.

Following mistakes, Stephenswould look over at her coach,

Kamau Murray, or smackher right thigh with herpalm so loudly that itechoed through a nearlyempty Arthur AsheStadium.

“In that first set, I don’t think shemade any errors, honestly. She wasplaying so clean. I said, ‘I don’t wantto lose in straight sets,” saidWilliams, whose only career U.S.Open loss before the fourth roundcame in the third against IrinaSpirlea in 1998 at age 16.

Williams, who turns 39 in threeweeks, said she told herself Saturday:“OK, Serena, just get a game. Get agame.” There were, of course, nofans - banned because of the coro-navirus pandemic - and so thewhole thing was flush with the feelof a practice session, rather than ahigh-stakes contest on a GrandSlam stage.

There were some other playerson hand to watch, including 15th-

seeded Maria Sakkari, whosipped orange juice and atelunch while on her playersuite's balcony. Sakkari hada vested interest: She faces

Williams for a berth in the quarter-finals. Other women into the fourthround: No. 16 Elise Mertens, No. 20Karolina Muchova and TsvetanaPironkova, who defeated No. 18Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-1.

In men’s action, 2019 runner-upDaniil Medvedev and another semi-finalist from a year ago, No. 6Matteo Berrettini moved on, as didNo. 10 Andrey Rublev, No. 15 FelixAuger-Aliassime, No. 21 Alex deMinaur and Vasek Pospisil, who'sbeen in the news lately because heteamed up with Novak Djokovic toset up a new association to representplayers.

Pospisil eliminated No. 8Roberto Bautista Agut 7-5, 2-6, 4-6,6-3, 6-2, and next faced another five-set winner, de Minaur, who defeat-

ed No. 11 Karen Khachanov 6-4, 0-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. Williams vs. Sakkariis a rematch of their meeting wonlast month by Sakkari at the Western & Southern Open, a hard-court tournament played at the U.S.Open site instead of its usual homein Ohio because of the pandemic.

"You know, Serena is Serena,"Sakkari said after advancing earlierSaturday by beating 19-year-oldAmerican Amanda Anisimova 6-3,6-1. "You have to come up with somegreat tennis. Otherwise there is nochance against her." Stephens didthat very thing in the early stagesSaturday.

She was playing patient, wait-for-the-right-moment tennis, creat-ing lengthy, complicated points thatmore often than not ended withWilliams blinking first.

The end of the first set was metby total silence - not even the awk-ward, manufactured soundtrackpiped in during other matches tosimulate ambient noise.

From 2-all in the second,Williams finally made inroads. Shesaved a break point, then broke forthe first time when Stephens misseda forehand, part of a stretch in whichWilliams grabbed 12 of 15 points.

She was on her way. And nowshe is four wins from adding to herGrand Slam trophy count, which hasbeen at 23 since she won the 2017Australian Open while pregnant.

Asked Saturday what the posi-tives are about still being active ontour as a parent, Williams said: “Oneday, your daughter can say she wasthere. Whether she remembers ornot, we can always have pictures. Butother than that, it’s just (a) minus,like: I'm not with her, I’m notaround her. It's hard.” Williams hasreached the finals at four of the pastseven major tournaments, losingeach time.

“We all hope she gets to it,”Stephens said. “If she is feeling pres-sure, I hope she releases it and getsto 24.”

��

Basu Shanker, the manresponsible for the fitness

transformation of the nation-al team, feels India and RCBskipper Virat Kohli hasreturned from the long breakan even fitter athlete afterworking on “specific physicalpointers” that needed atten-tion.

Kohli was stuck inMumbai for five months dueto the coronavirus-enforcedlockdown and had his firstproper hit in the nets onlyafter his arrival in the UAEfor the Indian PremierLeague, beginning

September 19.However, he ensured

during the break that hissupreme fitness level wasnot impacted and, in fact, ithelped him skill-wise on hisreturn to action even thoughhe was “scared" to hit thenets.

“He (Kohli) has comeback in much bettershape. He is at his best

weight at the moment andhis movement patterns arepretty much in sync with hisbest self in the past,” formerIndia trainer Basu, who isnow the strength and condi-tioning coach of RoyalChallengers Bangalore, toldPTI from Dubai.

“He has taken this breakas an opportunity to work onall the pointers which need-ed attention from a physicalpoint. I guess his motto to lifeis ‘Bear the cross and wearthe crown’,” said the man whoworked with the Indian team

between 2015 to 2019.He has worked exten-

sively with Kohli, both atRCB and during his timewith the Indian team.

Basu said Kohli was ableto work on things which aninternational cricketer findsit difficult to do in a packedcalendar.

“He had the time to bevery specific with his mealplans and running intervalsat home. He did not havemuch of a choice during thelockdown and he invested ona treadmill and worked onhis endurance which is oth-erwise not possible during apacked calendar.

��

En g l a n d ’ sb o w l e r s

showed disciplineand skill to restrictAustralia to 157/7in 20 overs in thesecond T20I hereon Sunday.

P a c e m a nChris Jordan wasthe pick of thebowlers for thehosts, returningfigures of 2/40 butit was a team effortreally as JofraArcher (1/31) andMark Wood(1/25) bowledsuperbly to neverlet the Aussies getthe better of them.

For the visitors, skipper Aaron Finch top-scored with a 33-ball 40, with his inningslaced with four fours and two sixes.

Marcus Stoinis also looked good for his35 and Glenn Maxwell made 25 but all threebatsmen were removed just when theylooked to get going.

David Warner was the first to go as he wascaught behind by Jos Buttler off Archer.

Alex Cary, promoted up the order, wasout in similar fashion to Wood as Steve Smithalso failed with the bat, managing just 10 ashe was run out by England captain EoinMorgan.

The Aussies were 89/5 at one stagebefore the likes of Stoinis, Maxwell andAshton Agar (23) steadied the ship with PatCummins (13 not out) also chipping in.

��

Out of reckoning for Test cricket for thepast two years, opening batsman Shikhar

Dhawan on Sunday said he has not given upon making a comeback to the Indian teamand is looking at the upcoming opportuni-ties to plot his return.

The 34-year-old Dhawan last played aTest against England at The Oval inSeptember 2018.

“I am not a part of the Test teambut that does not mean I have givenup all hopes of a comeback,”Dhawan told TV channels dur-ing an interaction.

“Whenever I got anopportunity... Like in theRanji Trophy last year Iscored a century,then I made a come-back into the one-day team, if I get anopportunity then why not, ofcourse.”

Dhawan stroked his way tothe fastest Test century by adebutant, against Australia in2013, but has often struggledfor consistency in the five-day game.

In Rohit Sharma, KLRahul, Mayank Agarwaland Prithvi Shaw, the Testteam has a number of optionsat its disposal for opener's role,making Dhawan's case even moredifficult.

The left-handed batsman,though, remains optimistic.

“I will keep trying mybest. The T20 World Cup isthere next year, so I need tokeep performing, keep myselffit, make runs consistently.

“If I keep doing these, other things willautomatically fall into place.”

Dhawan has so far played 34 Tests andscored 2,315 runs with seven centuriesunder his belt at an average of 40.61.

He remains in the scheme of things inODIs and T20Is and is gearing up for IPL2020, to be held in UAE from September 19.

The experiencedDhawan will turn out forDelhi Capitals and spoke

about the challenges beingfaced by the players while

staying in a bio-bubbleamid the COVID-19 pan-demic.

"There are challengesof being in the bubble,

you do not meet new peo-ple, can't go to restaurants,

we can only go to the desig-nated areas.

“But our franchise haslooked after us, we are living

like a family, it depends on theperson how he sees the situation,”

Dhawan said in a press conference.When asked about Delhi

Capitals’ chances this IPL, Dhawansounded optimistic.

“It’s important we bond togetherand create that energy. We have a verybalanced side and confident we willtake the cup.”

He said Shreyas Iyer has been lead-ing the team very well. He also said theinclusion of experienced India players

Ajinkya Rahane and R Ashwin willstrengthen the outfit.

“Shreyas led the team pretty well lastyear, this time Ajinkya has come in,Ashwin has come in, they are quite expe-

rienced players and I am sure theyare going to share their insights.”

��

AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gaslyclaimed an unlikely victory at the

Italian Grand Prix after a thrilling racewhich saw world champion LewisHamilton given a 10-second penaltyand both Ferraris fail to finish at theirhome circuit on Sunday.

It was Gasly's first-ever win inFormula One. The 24-year-oldFrenchman finished 0.415 secondsahead of McLaren driver Carlos Sainzand 3.358 ahead of Racing Point's LanceStroll on a surreal-looking podium. Allthree drivers had never won a race andeach had only one top-three finish totheir name.

Hamilton appeared on course for

a comfortable victory from pole posi-tion but he was given the stop-go penal-ty for entering the pit lane whenclosed.

The Mercedes driver finished sev-enth, 17.245 behind Gasly.

Ferrari's abysmal weekend contin-ued as Sebastian Vettel had a brake fail-ure on Lap 7 and he limped into the pitswith his right-rear brake disc in flames.It was the four-time champion's firstDNF at Monza in his 14th start.

His teammate Charles Leclerc hadmade it into fourth but lost the rear ofthe car under acceleration throughParabolica on Lap 25 and crashed intothe barriers, causing the race to be redflagged.

By that time Hamilton’s penalty hadbeen announced. Hamilton had pittedimmediately after the safety car hadbeen deployed after Kevin Magnussenbroke down but was unaware the pitlane was closed as the marshals recov-ered Magnussen’s Haas.

��

Kylian Mbappé scored the winning goal as Franceearned a scrappy 1-0 win at Sweden in the Nations

League on Saturday.The Paris Saint-Germain striker’s 14th internation-

al goal came in the 41st minute but it could have beenmore comfortable for France, only for AntoineGriezmann to fluff a penalty right at the end. It wasGriezmann’s third straight penalty miss for France.

Mbappé cut in from the left and, after initially beingtackled, he got the ball back off Kristoffer Olsson, feint-ed, and then curled the ball inside the post.

“It was a tough match and we fought hard. It was-n’t easy ... it could be better in the future,” Mbappé said.“The most important thing is the result.”

It was an accomplished finish from Mbappé, follow-ing his glaring missed chance in the 1-0 defeat to BayernMunich in the Champions League final on Aug. 23.

France coach Didier Deschamps handed a debut to21-year-old Leipzig center half Dayot Upamecano andrecalled Adrien Rabiot to midfield, after a long spell outof the side following his refusal to be on the reserve listfor the 2018 World Cup.

Chances were scarce in the first half but veteranSweden striker Marcus Berg almost broke through lateon, only for France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to deny himby rushing off his line. Moments later, Sweden 'keep-er Robin Olsen was picking the ball out of the net.

“It was difficult for us, but for them as well,”Deschamps said. “We could have done a bit better goingforward.”

Still, France was in control of the second half, withMbappé and Barcelona’s Griezmann wasting goodchances before Lloris punched away a late effort fromthe lively Emil Forsberg.

Griezmann then blazed a poor penalty over the barafter substitute Anthony Martial was fouled.

France hosts Croatia at Stade de France onTuesday in a repeat of the World Cup final two yearsago, which France won 4-2 with Mbappé among thescorers.

In the group’s other game, Croatia lost 4-1 at defend-ing Nations League champion Portugal.

��

Kolkata Knight Riders,who have a new think

tank in place headed bycoach Brendon McCullum,are exploring the options ofpromoting their explosiveall-rounder Andre Russell atnumber three, team mentor

David Hussey said onSunday.

The star Jamaican, whowas adjudged the MostValuable Player last season,had blamed some “bad deci-sions” for the two-time for-

mer champions missing outon the playoffs.

Hussey said they arethinking of different combi-nations this season, whichincludes promoting Russellat three.

“If it benefits the teamand helps us win games ofcricket, why not? If thatmeans Andre Russell comesin at three and bats 60 balls,he might actually make adouble hundred. Anything

can happen with Dre Russ,”Hussey said in a news con-ference here.

Russell scored 510 runsfrom 13 innings, averaging56.66 and also picked up 11wickets.

Terming Russell as theheartbeat of the team, theformer Australia cricketer

said: “A fantastic player, heis probably almost theheartbeat of the team aswell.

“We’ve actually got real-ly a well-balanced team...Anyone can bat in any dif-ferent position. But if itbenefits the team, why not,why can’t he bat up the list.”

��

Ending days of anxious wait, theBCCI on Sunday released the

schedule for the upcoming IPL, andin keeping with tradition, defendingchampions Mumbai Indians willtake on runners-up Chennai SuperKings in the opener in Abu Dhabion September 19.

Moved out of India due to asurge in COVID-19 cases, theupcoming edition of the world’sbiggest T20 league will be held in thethree venues of Dubai, Abu Dhabiand Sharjah in the UAE.

After the tournament-opener inthe capital city, Dubai will host itsfirst game the next day when DelhiCapitals take on Kings XI Punjabfollowed by the third match on

Monday between SunrisersHyderabad and Royal ChallengersBangalore. The action will then shiftto Sharjah on September 22 whenRajasthan Royals will host ChennaiSuper Kings. There will be 10 dou-ble headers, with the first matchstarting at 3:30pm IST and the sec-ond 7:30pm, according to a BCCIrelease.

In all, 24 matches will be heldin Dubai, 20 in Abu Dhabi and 12in Sharjah.

Venues for the playoffs and theIPL 2020 final will be announcedlater. The final is slated for

November 10.The upcoming 53-day edition is

by far the longest in the history ofthe league.

The schedule was expected to beout in the last week of August butthe announcement was delayedafter 13 personnel of the ChennaiSuper Kings (CSK) camp tested pos-itive for the dreaded virus.

Also, due to different quarantinerules in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, IPL’soperations team took time to finalisethe schedule.

As per IPL rules, the defendingchampions and the last year’s run-

ner-up face off in the tournamentopener. The same is going to hap-pen this year after concerns overChennai Super Kings’ readinesswere erased with their first practicesession in Dubai on Friday.

CSK were the last franchise tohit the nets after clearing finalrounds of COVID-19 testing.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoniand all other CSK players, except forthe COVID-19 afflicted duo ofDeepak Chahar and RuturajGaikwad, started training on Friday.With Deepak and Ruturaj testingpositive last week along with 11

members of the CSK contingent, theteam was forced to delay its train-ing plan after completing the six-dayquarantine, including three tests,upon arrival on August 21.

The virus free players had toundergo three additional tests beforebeginning their training on Friday.The infected players are in 14-dayquarantine. This year’s IPL wasoriginally scheduled to be heldfrom March 29 to May 24 but waspostponed barely two weeks beforethe start of the tournament due tothe coronavirus outbreak.

Then, as the number of casesincreased, the league was indefinite-ly postponed but the postponementof the T20 World Cup cleared thedecks for the league to take place inthe September-November window.

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India veteran Rohan Bopannaand his Canadian partner

Denis Shapovalov stunned sixthseeds Kevin Krawietz andAndreas Mies in a hard-foughtthree-setter to advance to thequarterfinals of the US Openmen’s doubles event here.

The unseeded Indo-Canadian pair on Saturday over-came a set deficit to beat theGerman duo 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in asecond round encounter thatlasted one hour and 47 minutes.

Bopanna and Shapovalov willtake on Dutch-Romanian combi-nation of Jeal-Julien Rojer andHoria Tecau in the quarterfinals.

Bopanna is the lone surviv-ing Indian in the tournamentafter the exit of Sumit Nagal and

Divij Sharan.While Sumit Nagal bowed

out in the second round after los-ing in straight sets to world no. 3and second seed Dominic Thiemof Austria, Sharan and his Serbianpartner Nikola Cacic wereknocked out in the openinground of the men’s doubles eventby eighth seeds Nikola Mekticand Wesley Koolhof.

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ven as Nani-starrer big-budgeted action-thriller, V,took the steamer route, filmmaker PrasanthVarma is certain about releasing his next, ZombieReddy, in cinema halls. Featuring Teja Sajja, HarshVardhan and Priya among others, the film, whichrevolves around COVID-19, is a hilarious enter-

tainer. “I’m optimistic about a theatrical rollout for thefilm. Coronavirus too has been kind to me all this while.It helped me to take the script to the next level. As andwhen my first copy is ready, I’m sensing theatres willreopen. And I believe the film will have a long runin the halls,” Prasanth said with an air of confidence.

He clarified that Zombie Reddy is not a small film.“It’s relatively a big film. We are spending big bucks

on the technicalities and sound. Also, the film is bet-ter suited for theatres. You can enjoy it more with peo-

ple next to you in a closed environment than at your home,”he pointed out, while adding that the audience too is desper-

ate to watch movies on the big screen. He is looking to releasethe film after Sankranti. Produced by Raj Shekar Varma, the film

has music by Mark K Robin. — NG

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he teaser of Tanish-starrer Mahaprasthanam, acrime drama laced with romance, was unveiledby Sai Tej in Hyderabad on Sunday. Speaking later,Sai said the film has been shot in a single-shot pat-tern, with the reel and real-time being the same.

"It's a new experiment for Tollywood. This is our film andwe all need to encourage it. My best wishes for the team,"he said.

Extending his thanks to Tej for launching the teaser,director Jaani noted the film's story transpires in twohours, so is the run-time. "The whole film unfolds fromthe camera's point of view. We didn't even use slow-motionshots. 20 days of Tanish's call sheets were used forrehearsals alone. In fact, he prepped in action for a monthbefore joining the sets," he said.

Tanish said he is proud to be a part of Mahaprasthanam."It's a difficult film to execute. Once the director saysaction, actors should reel out their dialogues to precision;else we should go for one more shot. The director con-ceived the story based on a burning issue in the societyrather following the regular trope of hero and villain. Theaudience will feel they are also part of the story whilewatching. We are in talks with different OTT platformsfor a direct digital release," Tanish said.

The likes of Bhanu Sree Mehra, Raja Ravindra, KabirDuhan Singh, Gagan Vihari and Kancharapalem Raju areplaying supporting roles in the film, produced byOmkareswara Creations.

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ara Rohith, who has been on a sabbatical from acting after VeeraBhoga Vasantha Rayalu (2018) crash-landed at the box-office,is set for his comeback. While admirers of the actor wouldexpect him to stage a comeback with a solo hero film, it turnsout that he has hopped on board Sukumar’s Pushpa for a sig-nificant supporting role. Multiple sources close to the devel-

opment tell us that he has replaced Tamil actor Vijay Sethupathi in thefilm, an action-drama.

One source adds, “After Sethupathi expressed his unavailability to jointhe project over date issues, Sukumar thought of Rohith in the same role.Allu Arjun too endorsed the idea. The director gave Rohith an idea ofhis character and the story over phone during the lockdown and the actorwas impressed. The actor later met the director in person and impressedwith the way his character was etched, he agreed to come on board. Therewere no apprehensions as such in accepting a supporting role. This devel-opment has transpired nearly two months ago and it remains to be seenwhether the equations will remain the same, as Rohith is looking to starta solo project of his in November.”

Another source points out, “Rohith has a natural flair for picking updifferent Telugu accents and his films in the past proved it. With Pushpa,he is in a home territory as he needs to speak in Chittoor accent. Theactor’s family comes from Chittoor.”

Set in the backdrop of Seshachalam forests, Pushpa deals with redsanders smuggling and will see Bunny in the role of a truck driver. Thelikes of Jagapathi Babu, Dhananjay, Raj Deepak Shetty, Brahmaji andKannada Kishore are already on board to essay supporting roles, whileRashmika Mandanna is the leading lady. The film’s new schedule will rollin November.

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)��fter the release of Vinaya Vidheya Rama, her sophomore Telugu film, Kiara Advani choseto focus on Hindi cinema. While directors likeBommarillu Baskar and Kiran Korrapati tried to rope her in their respective films with Akhil

Akkineni and Varun Tej, she couldn’t accept them due toher commitments in Hindi. Now, as Telugu fans contin-ued to ask her to make a comeback on her social mediapages, Kiara seems to have given in.

During an interactive session with her Instagram fol-lowers recently, when a fan requested her to act in moresouth films, she stated, “And you will get it. Thanks forall the love (sic).”

Kiara’s name has been attached to play Sita in Prabhas-starrer Adipurush, which will be a Telugu-Hindi bilingual.She is also rumoured to be the frontrunner to pair oppo-site Ram Charan in Koratala Siva’s Acharya.

In Hindi, she is right now looking forward to the releas-es of Laxmmi Bomb and Indoo Ki Jawani.

yderabad’s very ownAditi Rao Hydari,who was discoveredby Malayalam,Hindi, Tamil, andMarathi filmmakers

earlier than Tollywood,played an impressive charac-ter in her recent Telugu film— V. The film was directed byher debut director IndragantiMohanakrishna, and featuresSudheer Babu playing a cop,who also happens to be herlove interest in her debutfilm, Sammohanam.

In a recent interaction withthe media, the actress saidthat she has received appre-ciation for her character‘Saheba’ in V that was releasedon Amazon Prime onSeptember 5. “Dhanushcalled me up and congratulat-ed me on my performance.Rashi Khanna too left a mes-sage praising the movie andmy role,” Aditi said.

On acting alongside Nani,the actress said, “The scriptcame to me just when I want-ed to work with Nani myself.I loved the script the minuteit was narrated to me.Indraganti garu introducedme to the Telugu audiencewith the movie

Sammohanam, I know hisworking style, so I did-

n’t have to think twicebefore okaying the

film. I don’t caremuch about the

length of myrole, but onlythe weight ofit. My character

stays connectedthroughout the

film, it wasn i c e l y

designed. Iwas a big

fan ofN a n i

before working with him,now I’m an even bigger fan.”

Aditi spoke about workingwith Indraganti and called itchallenging. “A good director,with an actor, can easily faceany big challenges. The mostchallenging part for me in themovie was the climax scene— which was shot on the veryfirst day! The scene has meshowing my love towardsNani while asking him tofight injustice as I try to pro-tect a girl. Until then I had notmet Nani but have to showmy love for him in that scene.I had to carry the wholescene myself, it seemed chal-lenging. I wonder how I didit. I was relieved after I sawthe audience’s reaction,” shesaid. On how she preparedherself for the role, Aditi saidthat she didn’t have to domuch. “I play a salesgirl in astore. I imitated the people Isaw as a kid when I went tostores with my grandmother.”

Aditi said she still can’t con-verse in fluent Telugu, despiteher family being able to do so.“I have been taking Teluguand Tamil classes during thelockdown but gave it up aftera while, because of all the con-fusion it had been causingme. Whenever I shoot mynext Telugu film, I shall hirea tutor,” she said. Talkingfurther on how the lock-

down had been for her, theactress said that she hadgrown to be more patient,kind, positive, and learnt toprioritise the right things.

The actress wished shewatched the film in theatressitting amid the audiencesand laments not being able to.“The film was shot to bereleased on the big screen, butthe COVID crisis stood as anobstacle, so it was released onPrime — I’m sure the makersmade the right decision,” shesaid. Among the films sheacted in, V is the second filmto have released on Amazon,after Sufiyum Sujatayum thisyear. Another film of hers isset to release on an OTT plat-form soon.

On what’s in the pipeline,Aditi said that she recentlywrapped up shooting withBollywood actor JohnAbraham in Mumbai. “Thecast and crew took the utmostcare to shoot amid the pan-demic. We were able to com-plete the shoot earlier thanexpected,” she said. Aditi alsoclarified that she is not actingin Ponnian Selvan, contrary tomost reports. “I am current-ly working for two Tamilfilms, 3 Hindi films, and oneTelugu film,” said the actresswho loves love stories butwants to work in all kinds offilms and roles.

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Chariot of Lord Narsimha Swamy in ,!˘ ˘ .ˇ # /˚˘0 + 1 Antarvedi ......1 day ago · to resume its operations in a phased manner from Monday, putting in place all Covid-19 guidelines