Follow us on: RNI No. APENG/2018/764698 @TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneer Established 1864 Published From ANALYSIS 7 MONEY 8 SPORTS 11 VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOW TIME FOR GOVT TO MAKE GLOBAL SHARES MOSTLY LOWER AS WTC WIN WILL BE SAME AS BHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH A CLEAR-CUT CHOICE INVESTORS WARY OVER STIMULUS WORLD CUP: ISHANT BHUBANESWAR RANCHI DEHRADUN HYDERABAD *Late City Vol. 3 Issue 102 VIJAYAWADA, TUESDAY FEBRUARY 23, 2021; PAGES 12 `3 *Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable FILM WITH RAVI GARU WILL BE A HILARIOUS ENTERTAINER: WRITER PRASANNA KUMAR { Page 12 } www.dailypioneer.com

AYODHYA AIRPORT TO BE NAMED TOP DOCTOR BODY CRITICISES HEALTH DADRA AND NAGAR HAVELI MP MOHAN INDIA SEES SHARPEST INCREASE IN AFTER LORD RAM MINISTER PRESENCE AT CORONIL LAUNCH DELKAR FOUND DEAD IN MUMBAI HOTEL ACTIVE COVID CASES SINCE NOV-END he under construction airport in Ayodhya will oga teacher Ramdev's claims on Patanjali's ohan Delkar, seven-term Lok Sabha ctive Coronavirus cases in India be named Maryada Purushottam Sriram Coronil as the "first evidence-based member from Dadra and Nagar Haveli, shot up by 4,421 in 24 hours - a TAirport, Ayodhya after Lord Ram and a Ymedicine for COVID-19", made in the Mwas found dead in a Mumbai hotel on Aspike of 3 percent - to go back provision of Rs 101 crore has been made for it in presence of Union Health Minister Harsh Monday, police said. The body of Delkar (58), over the 1.5 lakh mark for the first the budget presented in the Uttar Pradesh Vardhan, has drawn blistering criticism from the Independent MP from Dadra andNagar Haveli time in 17 days and register the Assembly on Monday. Besides the provision for the IMA. The medical body has questioned how the Union Territory, was found at the sea-facing steepest increase since end- Ayodhya airport which will subsequently be made Health Minister could promote a "falsely hotel in south Mumbai's Marine Drive area, a November. On November 27, the an international airport, the budget also provides fabricated, unscientific product" before the police official said. The official said a suicide active caseload was 4,55,555 - an for Rs 2,000 crore for increasing the number of country. On Friday, Ramdev launched the note in Gujarati was also found along with the increase of 3.85 percent from the airstrips at Jewar Airport from 2 to 6. Cities like Patanjali product in the presence of Harsh body. The cause of death will be known after 4,38,667 recorded on November 24. Aligarh, Moradabad, Meerut will also be linked Vardhan and Nitin Gadkari. On a poster behind autopsy, he added. An accidental death report Monday was the fifth consecutive day through air service soon, Chief Minister Yogi the trio were claims that the "medicine" was was registered, the official said. Delkar was in in which active cases have increased; Adityanath told reporters after the presentation of CoPP and WHO GMP certified - meaning it May 2019 elected to the 17th Lok Sabha,his 13,506 new cases have been added the budget by Finance Minister Suresh Khanna. holds a certificate of pharmaceutical product. seventh term in the House. in this period. Final tally has TDP on very distant horizon; YSRCP the clear winner n Ruling party supporters 10,098 panchayats, including those on Amaravati periphery

SNV SUDHIR n VIJAYAWADA Efficiency of Govt machinery TDP supporters win made it a PM opens treasure With the final results after chest for Assam the fourth phase of gram on display: Ramesh Kumar 'people's victory', says Naidu panchayat polls that ended Benami deals in ahead of polls on Sunday came in on VIJAYAWADA: State VIJAYAWADA: Leader of Monday afternoon, the rul- Election Commissioner the Opposition N ing YSRCP has emerged Nimmagadda Ramesh Chandrababu Naidu on Amaravati: Transcript the clear victor with candi- Kumar on Monday said that Monday termed the just- 5 dates backed by it bagging the government machinery concluded gram panchayat of conversation not around 80.51 percent of the has discharged its duties elections in the State as a panchayats that went for with commitment during 'people's victory' thanks to polls in four phases. the four phases of gram the candidates who stood enough, says SC The opposition TDP panchayat elections that up against the atrocities came a distant second, with were completed peacefully ruling YCP atrocities and PNS n NEW DELHI "This court cannot hold an the party backed candi- and successfully on Sunday. poll violations with courage inquiry as to what is there in dates bagging a mere 16.05 Addressing the media and confidence and con- The Supreme Court Monday the transcript of the conversa- percent of the panchayats. here, the SEC said that about tested the polls. said it cannot hold an inquiry tion and what is missed out. Despite this, the TDP 90,000 government employ- their vote since a peaceful Naidu warned the Chief backed by his party won as to what was there in the Let the HC take a call," the insists that its supporters ees from all departments atmosphere was main- Minister and his MLAs that 41.7 percent of the vote in phone conversation between bench said in the proceedings have won more than 40 pc were involved directly and tained," the SEC said. their "midnight murder of the fourth phase "despite former Andhra Pradesh High held through video conferenc- of the panchayats in all the indirectly in the election Arrangements were being democracy" perpetrated the multifarious threats and Court judge Justice V ing. four phases. process. He said that 50,000 made despite Covid pan- during the gram panchay- election violations" by Eswaraiah and a suspended Advocate Prashant After a high drama that police personnel discharged demic by officials of the at polls would not succeed YSRCP leaders. trial court magistrate with Bhushan, appearing for the had dragged on for their duties, putting off aside Medical and Health depart- in the coming municipal The TDP would have got regard to various issues includ- former HC judge, said that the months, the YS their Covid vaccination shot. ment and there was no elections. "The urban voter, 10 percent more votes if ing alleged 'benami' transac- High Court order needed to be Jaganmohan Reddy gov- No major incidents were major change in Covid pos- young people, traders and YSRCP leaders were pre- tions related to the Amaravati stayed as allegations have been VSP privatisation ernment wilted under the reported during the four itive cases, which is a good educated sections were all vented from committing land scam case. made without hearing the for- Supreme Court directions phases and the SP level offi- sign, he said. well prepared to oppose irregularities, he said. A bench of Justices Ashok mer judge. decision is conscien- and finally agreed to coop- cers intervened and took The Chief Secretary, the the YSRCP for its 'J-tax' col- Naidu said that the Bhushan and RS Reddy also Justice Eswaraiah had tious, beneficial erate with State Election control after a few minor DGP, Collectors, SPs and lections, increased munic- YSRCP would have been reserved its order on the plea moved the Supreme Court Commissioner skirmishes came to light. other officials were coordi- ipal taxes and unabashed wiped out in the panchayat of Justice Eswaraiah seeking a against a High Court order Nimmagadda Ramesh "Over 80 per cent polling nating with officials for the sale of unhealthy J-liquor polls itself if the State stay on the AP High Court directing a probe into the Kumar on holding gram reported which is a good smooth conduct of the polls brands," he said. Election Commission (SEC) order directing a probe into his phone conversation between panchayat polls. development that reflects as it was not a one-man Addressing a press con- did not fail to ensure a conversation with suspended him and a suspended trial This factor alone made it the confidence among vot- show, said the SEC. ference here, the TDP chief peaceful election. District Munsif Magistrate. court magistrate on the 2 a high stakes battle and the ers to come out and cast 2 asserted that candidates 2 The High Court had said ground that it allegedly dis- fact that the Jagan govern- that their phone conversation closed a serious conspiracy ment is just a few months had allegedly disclosed a seri- against the judiciary. away from complete two ous conspiracy against the years in office was being judiciary. 2 seen in some quarters as an YSRCP supporters hold sway around Amaravati indication of its populari- ty. Vijayawada : As per reports Jaganmohan Reddy govern- these villages were merged The State government last The polls sprang a sur- emerging on Monday, the rul- ment to roll back its three cap- into either Tadepalli or year, when the first notification prise in the form of a ing YSRCP candidates also ital formula, which they say Mangalagiri municipalities. was issued, requested the SEC LeT planned hit record turnout of voters in bagged a majority of the pan- would jeopardise their for- Around 28 village panchay- secretary not to conduct elec- all the four phases held on chayats that come under vari- tunes. ats of the capital region cover tions in certain village pan- February 9, 13, 17 and 21. ous mandals around the It's been more than a year 24 revenue villages or 31 habi- chayats in the State including The polling percentage in Amaravati capital region in that they launched a sit-in tations in three mandals - those in the capital region, as on Hyd, says NIA all these phases was 81.67 Guntur district. and have been organising Thullur, Tadepalle, and they are either included or in per cent, 81.67 per cent, Polls to these panchayats protests daily. However, polls to Mangalagiri - of Guntur dis- the process of being included PNS n BENGALURU The case, initially regis- 80.71 per cent and 81.78 were keenly watched as the the panchayats of these trict. Of them, 19 are from into nearby municipalities/n tered in August 2012 in per cent respectively. farmers from the 29 villages of Amaravati villages were not Thullur, two from Tadepalli agar panchayats or being The NIA filed a supplemen- Bengaluru, pertains to a con- Amaravati have been staging held as the government wrote and six from Mangalagiri man- declared as new urban local tary chargesheet before a spe- spiracy hatched by members Sensex sinks 1,145 2 protests demanding the to SEC not to conduct polls as dals. bodies (ULBs). cial court here on Monday of proscribed terror organisa- points; against two terrorists of tions Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) Nifty drops below Pakistan-based terror group and Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami LeT for their alleged involve- (HuJI) to commit subversive 14,700 HC summons Sawhney, ment in a conspiracy to com- activities and wage a war State Cabinet mit subversive activities and against the government of wage a war against India, India, the NIA official said. Dwivedi over SEC's plea to meet today besides killing key personali- As per the chargesheet, the 8 PNS n NEW DELHI The High Court on Monday ties of the Hindu community duo had procured illegal arms heard the contempt petition Vijayawada: The Cabinet will in the country, an official said. and ammunition for targeted A divisional bench of the AP and directed the former CS meet here on Tuesday at 11 am The chargesheet was filed killings of important person- High Court on Monday sum- and Dwivedi to appear before where it is expected to finalise the against Dr Sabeel Ahmed of alities of the Hindu communi- moned former Chief Secretary it on March 22. dates for the Budget session and also Bengaluru and Asadulla Khan ty in Karnataka's Bengaluru TODAY Nilam Sawhney and Panchayat In its petition, the SEC discuss the Bills to be introduced. of Hyderabad under Sections and Hubli, Maharashtra's Raj Principal Secretary Gopala accused the Government of The southern zonal council of the IPC and the Unlawful Nanded and Telangana's ALMANAC Krishna Dwivedi to appear not following its orders given meeting of the states to be held at Activities (Prevention) Act Hyderabad to disturb commu- Month & Paksham: before it in person in a con- on December 18, 2020 to Tirupati in March and the VSP (UAPA), a spokesperson of the nal harmony and strike terror Magha & Shukla Paksha tempt of court case filed by the cooperate with him . protest are also likely to come up for country's premier investiga- in the society, the official said. Panchangam State Election Commissioner. 2 discussion. tion agency said. 2 Tithi : Ekadashi: 06:04 pm Nakshatram: Ardra: 12:31 pm Varavara Rao gets Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start any important work) ACB report finds irregularities in Durga temple Rahukalam: 03:23 pm – 04:50 pm 6-month medical bail PNS n VIJAYAWADA irregularities in some works security contract works. Yamagandam: 09:35 am – 11:02 am PNS n MUMBAI dition, Rao would face "accel- taken up by the engineering Many allegations were levelled Varjyam: 12:54 am – 02:33 am eration and intensification of Sleuths of the Anti Corruption section after the Krishna about the internal transfers in the Gulika: 12:29 pm - 01:56 pm The Bombay High Court on ailments" if he continued to Bureau on Monday submitted a pushkaralu. temple last year. The officials Good Time: (to start any important work) Monday granted interim bail remain in custody. detailed report to the government The ACB officials collected the noticed some officials were work- for six months on medical It noted that medical facil- on the checks they had conduct- details of the works during the ing in the temple for an extended Amritakalam: NIL grounds to ailing poet and ities at the Taloja prison's hos- ed at the Kanakadurga temple last five years and payments duration. Abhijit Muhurtham: 12:06 pm – 12:52 pm activist Varavara Rao, an pital in neighbouring Navi atop Indrakeeladri over the past made to contractors. They Meanwhile, Opposition par- accused in the Elgar Parishad- Mumbai were inadequate. Rao three days. noticed that sarees that some ties like the TDP, Jana Sena and BJP Maoist links case. is currently admitted in According to sources, the devotees had offered to the pre- came down heavily on VIJAYAWADA The court said it could not Nanavati Hospital, a private ACB officials found irregularities siding deity and stored in the Endowments Minister Velampalli WEATHER be a "mute spectator" and per- medical facility in Mumbai. in administrative activities of the sarees section had been replaced. Srinivas and Suresh Babu for the mit 82-year-old Rao's health He has been in custody temple during their searches. hard disks and records. they collected from the temple to Similarly, the officials also irregularities. Forecast: Sunny condition to deteriorate in since August 28, 2018, await- During the three day search, the The ACB officials recorded the Endowments Commissioner P noticed that records were not It's expected that the govern- Temp: 35/21 custody. ing trial in the case, which is ACB officials had inspected the statement of the temple Executive Arjuna Rao. maintained properly in the stores ment may take action against the Humidity: 52% A bench of Justices SS being probed by the National Executive Officer's peshi, the Officer MV Suresh Babu. According to sources, the section related to Prasadam and temple Suresh Babu as he is Sunrise: 06:38 am Shinde and Manish Pitale said Investigation Agency (NIA). sarees section, stores, administra- The officials submitted the ACB officials noticed 'recycling' free meals. The ACB officials responsible for the administrative Sunset: 06:20 pm there existed no doubt that tive section, engineering and report on the searches conduct- of Darshan tickets during Dasara noticed that the excess payment activities and the maintenance of Current Weather Conditions given his current medical con- 2 accounts sections and collected ed and documents, hard disks festival. They also found some was made for the sanitation and the temple. Updated february 22 , 2021 5:00 PM VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 23, 2021 vijayawada 02 VSP privatisation decision is conscientious, beneficial t’s ironic that some leaders workers to fight at every step The Modi government contemplates equal license raj was done away Modi does not want to prac- Why PSUs, including the who have been giving to protect their rights? with in PV tise vote bank politics. It’s VSP, are not able to attract emotional ‘Save Though the foundation partnership for both private and public Narsimha Rao’s not Modi’s policy to private investments and earn VisakhapatnamI Steel Plant’ stone for the steel plant was sectors. What did the country achieve by rule? TRULY hoodwink people, huge profits like the Maruti speeches are the ones who laid in 1971, why were suit- giving management of the PSUs to IAS Is it right to make false promises Udyog? have looted Vizag city in one able funds not allotted to it officials alone? Youth should be provided take recourse SPEAKING and discard them Why should the govern- way or the other. for the next seven years? to public funds once the purpose is ment invest in production Some of these leaders treat- Under whose regime, was with opportunities, Modi told the Niti Aayog without mobilising served. business and service sectors ed the steel plant as their per- construction of the steel plant Governing Council. internal resources The Modi government has instead of lodging its funds in sonal property and amassed stalled in 1985? Who wanted of the PSUs, without mod- set itself a policy objective to the public welfare sector, infra- crores of rupees. Some even to dispose of the Steel Plant ernising amenities and with- give the private sector a structural development, med- eyed lands of the steel plant, as scrap after Rs 1,500 crore launched the ‘Save VSP’ agi- decided to implement mea- out augmenting the produc- chance since the public sec- ical and education, housing while others have built huge was spent to build it? Why tation. sures like reorganisation of tion capacity? tor alone is not able to attract sectors or to provide drinking buildings on the Beach Road did TDP and Congress gov- Those who paved the way the business, promotion of We should question our- more investments into the water and other basic ameni- violating rules. ernments fail to allot captive for privatisation of many joint investments, modernisa- Y SATYA KUMAR selves whether is it proper to country. ties? Those who indulged in iron ore mines to the steel PSUs are now questioning the tion of the PSU, implement- BJP National Secretary shut doors on foreign invest- Maruti Udyog Corporation Disinvestment of public sec- nefarious deals left, right and plant? Modi Government. ing better marketing strata- ments ready to come to the chairman RC Bhargava, in an tor investments and pumping centre have been undertaking Who caused a loss of Rs It is not true that though gem, corporate style of man- IAS officials alone? Youth country on a large scale? interview, said that the car funds by private sectors does padayatras for the steel plant 1,100 crore to the steel plant the Centre gave the nod for agement, appointing experts should be provided with a Modi felt that tough deci- company sold 1.20 lakh units not mean the government and shedding crocodile tears. to satisfy Congress chairper- the steel factory in Kadapa on the board and so on. majority of the opportunities sions should be taken to cre- in 1993 upon its privatisation shirking its responsibility. The None of them will talk son Sonia Gandhi in the district, the then state govern- It is not limited to the steel and the private sector should ate world-class basic ameni- in 1992. It reached the stage Government is saddled with about who pushed VSP into name of Raebareli Wheel ment failed to allot suitable plant alone, but to many be respected as it is creating ties in the country, to improve of selling 18 lakh car units by the responsibility of coming to losses, or who drove people Plant? iron ore mines to it? PSUs in the country. wealth in the country, Modi living standards of common 2019-20 and achieved cash the rescue of downtrodden displaced by it onto the streets So-called leaders were The Minister for Major The Modi government told the Niti Aayog man, to inject momentum surplus of Rs 38,000 crore. sections and ensuring fruits of despite promising a job to silent when iron ore worth Industries told Parliament contemplates equal partner- Governing Council. into our economy and took Irrespective of the tough development reach them. each household. Who looted lakhs of crores was being that 70 PSUs were in losses as ship for both private and Is it not true that such decisions. He favoured competition from other play- This is the objective of the public funds by escalating exported instead of being of March 2019. The Modi public sectors. What did the Governments failed to use the encouraging MSMEs and ers, Maruti cars constitute 50 Modi’s government of mini- the tender value indiscrimi- allotted to domestic steel Government took a policy country achieve by giving economic and industrial start-ups. per cent of the total cars sold mum governance and maxi- nately? Who forced VSP plants; they have now decision on the PSUs. It management of the PSUs to capacity fully ever since Like previous regimes, in the country. mum administration.

Efficiency of Benami deals in Amaravati:... Vizag city contributes over Govt machinery Continued from Page 1 In an affidavit filed in the top on display... court, Justice (retd) Eswaraiah Continued from Page 1 said he had sought information 30% of AP's municipal tax from a suspended judicial offi- Elections were held for 13,097 cer regarding the benami sarpanches of which 2,197 transactions in a phone con- PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM up an awareness campaign (16.77 percent) were declared versation, which purportedly among property owners about elected without contest. pertained to corruption allega- Vizag city's urban local body, the series of incentives being Elections were held for tions related to land deals in the Greater Visakhapatnam offered by the government to 1,31,023 Ward Members of the state's new capital region. Municipal Corporation, gener- taxpayers. They were also which 47,459 (36.22 percent) The affidavit was filed in ates a staggering 30 percent of entrusted with the task of were elected unanimously. pursuance to the apex court's the total revenue collected by door-to-door visits to collect This in view of the January 11 direction asking 110 local bodies in Andhra tax and this enabled some Commission is reasonable as Justice (retd) Eswaraiah to Pradesh. people who were unable to visit compared to the unanimous clarify his stand with regard to on the basis of an application a notice to Justice Eswaraiah With the executive capital municipal offices for the same. elections of 1,980 out of 12,740 his conversation with the sus- for reopening and intervention and has caused undue harass- tag, GVMC would be sitting on Online payment of taxes also Sarpanches (15.54 percent) pended district munsif. filed by the suspended District ment to him. a pretty large cash pile, enhanc- boosted collections. and 44,448 out of 1,29,316 The Special Leave Petition Munsif Magistrate (S The High Court, in its order, ing its contribution to the state Under the new property tax Ward Members (34.37 per- was filed against the August 13 Ramakrishna) in an unrelated had requested former Supreme municipality tax collection. reform, the property tax would cent) respectively during the order of the High Court order- PIL pending there for seeking Court judge Justice RV The other major contributing be 0.1 per cent to 0.5 per cent elections held in 2013. A total ing an investigation into a pri- implementation of the Covid Raveendran to inquire into the ULBs are from Krishna and of the Capital Value for resi- of 2,26,67,604 voters of the vate phone conversation guidelines in the court build- matter. The plea said the for- Guntur with over Rs 100 crore. 880.36 crore, a share of 32.5 cient with slew of revenue dential structures, and 0.2 per 2,77,17,784 registered took between the petitioner and a ing and premises. mer HC judge, in the phone Visakhapatnam is the biggest percent. increasing measures. cent to 2 per cent for non-res- part in the gram panchayat suspended District Munsif The order for the enquiry conversation, had merely men- city in the state after bifurca- Till February 22 this year, Rs The Covid-19 pandemic has idential structures. The new tax polls. Magistrate of Andhra Pradesh, into the conversation was tioned his knowledge about tion of undivided Andhra 1,025 crore was already collect- hit the municipality tax collec- hike would be limited between Holding of elections had by terming the contents of the made by the High Court on allegations of misconduct and Pradesh and is also the most ed from property tax and water tion across the state. It fell far 10 per cent and 15 percent of also paved the way for release conversation to disclose a 'seri- the basis of the intervention terming such a conversation to populous. Urban local bodies cess sources of which Vizag short of the target set in the the existing rate. of funds through the Finance ous conspiracy' against the and without even issuing be a kind of conspiracy. mostly generate revenue from contributed Rs 261 crore, about financial year. According to the new prop- Commission, which is a pre- Chief Justice of the Andhra notice to the former judge, the The plea alleged that the property tax, water cess and 25.6 percent. The civic authorities also did erty tax reform, only Rs 50 is requisite. The elections have Pradesh, a senior sitting judge appeal said. transcript of the conversa- other heads. Visakhapatnam prepares an not levy two per cent interest levied as property tax for every witnessed an overall polling of the Supreme Court and The plea sought a stay of the tion, provided by While the proportional annual Budget of around Rs per month on late payment of house with a plinth area below percentage of 81.78 percent thereby to destabilise the judi- High Court's order for the Ramakrishna, was inaccurate demand for 2020-21 was Rs 4,000 crore. The state govern- property tax in order to 375 sq. ft. because the proper- under difficult and challeng- ciary, said the appeal. enquiry on the ground that it and hence, misleading with 2,704. 41 crore, the contribu- ment is planning to make the encourage payment. ty rights will be given only if ing circumstances such as the The former judge said the was unwarranted and illegal respect to various aspects of tion of Vizag was pegged at Rs Urban Local Bodies self-suffi- The department had taken taxes are paid. Covid pandemic, he said. High Court's order was made and has been passed without the talk. TDP supporters HC summons National positivity rate at 5.2 % Sawhney, PNS n NEW DELHI in a span of 24 hours. tion drive (February 21), "The number of beneficia- 31,681 vaccine doses were India has registered a record in ries being tested per million given. Of these, 24,471 bene- win made it a... Dwivedi over the number of Covid-19 every day has shown a consis- ficiaries were vaccinated across Continued from Page 1 officer who threatened to cumulative tests, with over tent and progressive increase. 1,429 sessions for the first encounter a TDP leader if SEC's plea 21.15 crore samples tested, India's tests per million stand dose (HCWs and FLWs) and "It was due to the fear and he did not stop demand- the Union Health Ministry at 1,53,298.4 as on date," the 7,210 HCWs received the sec- terror by YSRCP leaders and ing justice in Kuppam Continued from Page 1 said on Monday. The country's ministry highlighted. ond dose of the vaccine. total failure of the Election segment. He asked why national positivity rate is Till February 22, the Covid- Out of total 1,11,16,854 vac- Commission that there was the SEC was not able to The contempt petition said pegged at 5.20 per cent. 19 vaccination coverage was cine doses, 1,01,49,002 (HCWs 6 percent lower turnout take action against the the government was not LeT planned hit... Progressive countrywide 1,11,16,854 through 2,32,317 and FLWs) received the first compared to the previous officials who disconnect- implementing the HC orders expansion in testing infra- sessions, as per the provision- dose of vaccine and total gram panchayat polls," he ed power at the counting passed on November 3, 2020. Continued from Page 1 Hindu community in structure has played a crucial al report. These include 9,67,852 HCWs received the said. centres. Later the SEC filed an addi- Bengaluru, Hubli and Nanded role in the steep rise of testing 63,97,849 healthcare workers second dose of vaccine, the The TDP chief said that Indirectly referring to tional affidavit to make The NIA re-registered the case were planned, the official added. numbers, the ministry said. (HCWs 1st dose), 9,67,852 ministry said. It said 60.17 per his party would stage Saradapeetham's seer incumbent Chief Secretary in November 2012 and has filed The special NIA court in With 2393 testing labs in the HCWs (2nd dose) and cent of the total vaccine doses demonstrations in front of Swaroopananda, Naidu Adityanath Das a respon- chargesheets against 17 accused. Bengaluru convicted 13 accused country including 1,220 gov- 37,51,153 frontline workers are concentrated in seven all collectorates and then said, "A Vizag fake dent since Sawhney has LeT members Ahmed and in the case in September 2016 ernment laboratories and 1,173 (FLW 1st dose). states. Karnataka alone submit memoranda Swamiji would be able to retired. Khan were involved in a crim- and sentenced them to five private laboratories, the daily The second dose of Covid- accounts for 11.8 per cent demanding action against use the black magic to kill inal conspiracy, along with other years of imprisonment for their testing capacity has got a sub- 19 vaccination started on (1,14,043 doses). the election violations the TDP leaders. accused, in supporting and fur- involvement in offences under stantial boost. February 13 for those benefi- India's cumulative recover- resorted to by the officials, It was unfortunate that thering the cause of the terror the UAPA, IPC, Arms Act and "India's cumulative nation- ciaries who have completed 28 ies surged to 1.06 crore police and ruling party the Chief Minister was outfit in Saudi Arabia's Official Secrets Act. al positivity rate is presently days of the receipt of the first (1,06,99,410) and exceeded leaders in the panchayat making frequent visits to Dammam and Riyadh, the NIA A trial is continuing against pegged at 5.20 per cent," the dose. Vaccination of the FLWs the active cases by 1,05,49,355 polls. such a false Swami. Since spokesperson said. three accused who were named ministry said. A total of started on February 2. (71.3 times), the ministry Naidu asked the the CM was visiting him, They actively participated in in an earlier chargesheet, the NIA 6,20,216 tests were conducted As on day-37 of the vaccina- underscored. Election Commission the DGP and the IPS offi- meetings, where terrorist activ- official said, adding that further why it could not take any cers were also surrender- ities like targeted killings of investigation against six abscond- action against the police ing to the fake Swami". important personalities of the ing accused is underway. VIJAYAWADA Final tally has TDP... BULLION RATES Continued from Page 1 his home constituency GOLD Kuppam in Chittoor dis- ` 47, 190 (10 gm) Of the 13,092 notified pan- trict. Varavara Rao gets 6-month medical bail chayats across the 13 dis- Panchayat Raj Minister ` 10 tricts of Andhra Pradesh, Pedddireddy Ramachadra Continued from Page 1 It also dismissed the to the Taloja central prison past), would lead to the under- cate Indira Jaising, on how long SILVER polls were held for 13,081. Reddy, the architect of the Maharashtra government's where he was lodged as an trial or his relatives repeated- Rao was likely to live and what ` 74, 400 (1kg) YSRCP backed candidates strategy that ensured defeat The bench granted bail to Rao submission that after discharge undertrial, before he was shift- ly approaching courts for continued incarceration would ` 600 bagged 10,098 panchayats for Naidu in Kuppam, met for six months, while directing from the Nanavati Hospital, ed to the Nanavati Hospital, appropriate directions for deal- mean for someone who was 82 and TDP supported candi- Chief Minister YS him to stay within the jurisdic- Rao would be shifted to the would "certainly endanger his ing with deterioration of his years old. "How much life of dates could gain control of Jaganmohan Reddy on tion of the NIA court in the city prison ward of the state-run JJ life" and breach his funda- health if he is put back in cus- the undertrial now remains CHICKEN 2,100. Monday morning. He later during this period. Hospital in Mumbai. mental right to health and life. tody," the bench said."In the also assumes some signifi- RATES `/KG Significantly YSRCP slammed TDP for taking Rao will be discharged from "We are of the opinion that Rao's family had to approach said process, the possibility of cance," the High Court said. rebels bagged around 438 up fake publicity with dis- the hospital depending on his this court, as a constitutional court to get information on his casualty cannot be ruled out," "Admittedly, the undertrial is Dressed/With Skin `157 panchayats. Independents torted numbers boasting health condition and then court, cannot be a mute spec- health condition while in the court observed. about 82 years old, suffering Without Skin `178 (without backing of any that they have won 51 per- released on bail, as per the HC. tator to the undertrial (Rao) prison. It said Rao's medical reports from health ailments noted Broiler at Farm `108 political party) and those cent seats. While granting Rao bail on being sent to prison and then It also observed that while in the past pointed out that he above, requiring support from supported by BJP-Jana "Naidu tried to manage medical grounds, the HC dis- to government hospitals where Rao continued to suffer from suffered from several serious his immediate relatives in order Sena combine won 445 the system in vain. TDP missed NIA's argument that he his health deteriorates further. multiple ailments in the prison and age-related ailments. Some to have some semblance of nor- EGG panchayats. was rejected outright from was not entitled to relief on To be ultimately shifted to pri- and even contracted the of the reports had also men- malcy during whatever period RATES `/100 These polls resulted in a village level and met its humanitarian grounds. vate super-speciality hospitals, COVID-19 infection, he was tioned symptoms of dementia. of life now remains," it said. major embarrassment for nemesis and will soon fade However, the court imposed upon intervention of courts...," shifted to the Nanavati Hospital Therefore, his family will be The bench also took note of VIJAYAWADA 405 TDP supremo N out. The victory march of a host of stringent conditions the HC said in its 92-page only after HC intervention. able to provide the best care for the NIA's apprehension that HYDERABAD 478 Chandrababu Naidu as his YSRCP will continue in on his bail, including prohibit- judgement. "The undertrial's (Rao's) him, the court said. letting Rao go back home to party backed candidates the ensuing Municipal, ing him from establishing con- The bench said given the repeated admissions to govern- In its judgement, the HC Hyderabad on bail might result VISAKHAPATNAM 472 lost in majority of the pan- MPTC and ZPTC polls as tact with the co-accused in the material on record, it had con- ment facilities which have also referred to the submission in his or his associates resum- RETAIL PRICE `4.05 (IN VIJAYAWADA) chayats that come under well," he said. case. cluded that sending Rao back proved to be inadequate (in the of Rao's counsel, senior advo- ing "nefarious activities".

Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for any damage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only. Readers are advised and requested to verify and seek appropriate advice to satisfy themselves about the veracity of any kind of advertisement before responding to any contents published in this newspaper. The printer, publisher, editor and any employee of the Pioneer Group's will not be held responsible for any kind of claim made by the advertisers of the products & services and shall not be made responsible for any kind of loss, consequences and further product-related damages on such advertisements.

Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Phone: 040-23322341, Hyderabad Office: F-502, Diamond Block, Lumbini Rockdale, Somajiguda, Hyderabad - 500 082. Telangana. Printed at Sree Seshasai Enterprises, Plot No.19, IDA Balanagar , Hyderbad-500037, Medchal -Malkajgiri District, Telangana. Chief Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident Editor: B Krishna Prasad, AIR SURCHARGE of Rs 2.00. VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 23, 2021 vijayawada 03

Naidu’s 3-day visit to Kuppam from Results reflect CM's good Feb 25 to boost morale of cadre governance, says YSRCP PNS n VIJAYAWADA Following the massive defeat PNS n VIJAYAWADA tasted by TDP-supported can- didates in the recently conclud- Attributing the overwhelming ed panchayat elections in victory in panchayat polls to Kuppam Assembly constituen- Chief Minister YS cy, TDP chief N Chandrababu Jaganmohan Reddy's good Naidu is likely to visit his governance, YSRCP has said home constituency on the party-backed candidates February 25, 26 and 27 to have won 80.51 percent of boost the morale of the party seats and pushed opposition cadre ahead of the urban polls. TDP to just 16.05 percent. State Selection Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar met AP Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan here at Raj Bhavan Earlier, Naidu conducted a Speaking to the media here on Monday. The SEC explained the Governor about the recently concluded gram panchayat elections in the state. He also teleconference with party on Monday, Minister for informed the Governor about the ensuing polls for urban local bodies scheduled to be held on March 10. leaders in the constituency to Panchayat Raj Peddireddy take note of the factors that Ramachandra Reddy said that led to the setback in the YSRCP-supported candidates Kuppam constituency which had swept all four phases of he has been representing for the polls which indicates Civic polls crucial for all parties the seventh consecutive time. increasing support base of However, the party man- the party while opposition DHARWADA RAMA MOHAN RAO Sena-BJP claimed its support- TDP's future. They are going aged to win just 14 out of 89 TDP has further slipped into Focus on targeted goals, CM tells planning staff n HYDERABAD ers winning 138 seats. to be a do-or-die battle for the panchayats while the ruling ignominy. The TDP claimed getting 50 TDP, which fared miserably in YSRCP bagged a whopping Minister for Water Resources PNS n VIJAYAWADA patterns and ground reality of government should work in Municipal and municipal cor- per cent vote share. panchayat polls. The TDP is 75 panchayats. The party P Anil Kumar Yadav said that crops across the state. He said tandem with organisations such poration elections scheduled Surprisingly, both TDP and required to mobilise resources leaders say the party suf- TDP would have been confined Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan the data regarding the as World Bank, IMF, and for March 10 will be the acid YSRCP celebrated victory at for municipal polls. Because of fered defeat due to the 'mus- to single-digit seats had the Reddy on Monday instructed functioning of internet services UNESCO, he asked the officials test for the TDP, the Jana their party headquarters. its poor finances, the TDP is cle and money power' exer- YSRCP rebel candidates the Planning Department at government offices like to focus not only on collecting Sena, the BJP and the The YSRCP leaders feel that visible more in media than cised and the "misuse" of refrained from contesting. officials to focus on targeted Village, Ward Secretariats, data, but also on taking Congress. In all, 75 municipal- victory in the ensuing elections among the people. official machinery by the Criticising TDP chief N goals. RBKs, etc in villages should be measures after analysing the ities and 12 municipal corpo- to urban local bodies was a During the NTR regime, the YSRCP leaders. Chandrababu Naidu for cele- Reviewing the functioning of recorded on regular basis for data. The Chief Minister asked rations are going to polls on matter of prestige as they are TDP held sway in villages. But, He is said to have brating the victory in just 16 Planning Department, the Chief effective functioning. When them to regularly track the March 10. regarded as real test for Jagan under the Chandrababu's expressed ire over the local per cent seats, he derided Minister said that the officials apprised the Chief progress of works in achieving Unlike the panchayat polls, Government. Also, these polls regime, the TDP lost its grip leaders' failure to counter that Naidu will celebrate even responsibility of data coding Minister that state government the desired goals and also to the municipal polls will be reflect the performance of over villages. In the last the acts of the ruling party. booth-level victory in 2024 should be given to digital was supposed to meet the identify the mistakes and fought on parties' symbols. MLAs. If the YSRCP resorts to Assembly polls, the TDP lost Naidu told cadre in Kuppam polls. assistants at village and ward seventeen goals set by the correct them on regular basis. They will conclusively estab- hurling out threats, it will its grip over urban voters. assured them that he will visit He dared Chandrababu secretariats and it should be United Nations for sustainable He asked them to prepare an lish the urban voters' mood become counterproductive. The TDP will find facing the Kuppam at the earliest as the Naidu to step down and prove supervised by a mandal level development, he directed them action plan to felicitate the and highlights whether they True popularity of the financially-strong YSRCP a leaders underscored the need his statement of winning 41 employee. He asked the officials to partner with United Nations, volunteers on the eve of Ugadi. are happy or not with the YSRCP will be reflected in the Herculean task. for the same as the notification per cent seats in panchayat to consider codifying the e- its allied departments and global They should be felicitated with government. municipal polls. The future of The municipal polls are for MPTC and ZPTC elections polls. He said that TDP was cropping data of RBKs which organisations to achieve those awards like Seva Ratna, Seva The polls will decide the fate the YSRCP is dependent on going to pose a problem to the will be released at any time. rejected by people of helps in understanding crops goals. Stating that the state Mitra and good incentives. of the ruling YSRCP and the winning these polls because of BJP, which contested here and The TDP leader feel that Chandrababu Naidu's native opposition parties of TDP, high media influence in urban there in panchayat polls, forc- Naidu's visit will inject a place where only eight TDP- of distorting facts," he said. kashtam. Ramesh Kumar, he added. Jana Sena and the BJP. areas. ing it to contest in all wards. fresh dose of adrenaline to backed candidates recoded The Minister criticised Naidu The present elections were The winning streak of The YSRCP claimed that its Whether the corruption of The Jana Sena would have the cadre and help the party victory. "The same scenario for citing police atrocities as conducted in a peaceful way YSRCP will continue in the supporters bagged 9772 seats YSRCP MLAs would have any no option except to sever ties gain good dividends in the was found even in Kuppam as a reason for their defeat and and it was announced by ensuing municipal, MPTC in 13,097 panchayats, while the impact or not would be known with the BJP if it were to poll coming MPTC and ZPTC they are fed up with Naidu's termed polls conducted dur- none other than the State and ZPTC polls as well, he TDP claimed that its support- only after the elections. less number of votes than the elections which will be held politics. He must be ashamed ing TDP regime as Ravana Election Commissioner N said. ers won 1,850 seats. The Jana These polls also decide the NOTA option received. based on party symbols. File nominations only It’s a moral victory for TDP in lieu of deceased in panchayat polls: Lokesh PNS n VIJAYAWADA murdered. At some other candidates: SEC places, TDP-supported candi- PNS n VIJAYAWADA vided with face masks and TDP MLC Nara Lokesh on dates were not even allowed sanitisers/hand gloves. Social Monday asserted that their to file their nominations. State Election Commissioner distancing shall be strictly party leaders and candidates Even if they filed their nom- Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar observed, he said. fought courageously against inations, they were threatened said that notices were issued to Model Code of Conduct the atrocities and violations and attacked physically. They six recognised/registered par- came into force in the urban committed by the leaders of were forced to withdraw the ties to nominate candidates in areas from February 15, 2021 ruling YSRCP in the pan- nominations. In some places, place of deceased candidates and will remain in force till chayat elections. the nomination papers of the by 3 pm on February 28 for completion of election process, Lokesh said that the just TDP-supported candidates elections to urban local bod- said the SEC. He said that fly- Six arrested for illegally concluded panchayat elec- were snatched away and torn. ies slated for March 10. ing squads and static surveil- tions was a battle between the The police officials joined The SEC, along with the lance teams would be consti- people's democracy and Jagan hands with the YSRCP and Chief Secretary Adityanath tuted to implement MCC. transporting liquor worth `18.32L Reddy's autocracy in which terrorised the rival candi- Das and DGP Gautam D Magisterial powers will be eventually the people have dates," he alleged. Sawang, interacted via video- conferred on the officers head- PNS n VIJAYAWADA Cross Road in Vinukonda Krishna Reddy, T Suresh, B won. "When they felt defeat conference with the Collectors ing teams as per the propos- mandal of Guntur district. Veeraiah and Shaik Abdul The YSRCP might have was certain, the YSRCP and SPs on arrangements for als sent by the Collectors and Special Enforcement Bureau The truck was loaded with Razzak, all from Guntur district. got a few seats but it was the leaders disconnected power elections to urban local bod- DEAs directly to the (SEB) sleuths on Monday Bisleri water bottles and under- The kingpin, B Nageswar TDP which has won the elections on basis of oppres- supply to the counting cen- ies on Monday. Government in Law (Home- arrested six persons for illegal- neath them about 3,780 non- Rao, who was involved in two moral victory ultimately. sive Raja Reddy constitution tres. Then, they played As many as 56 candidates Courts-B) Department to ly transporting liquor. They duty paid liquor bottles were such cases and an I&O case In a statement here, Lokesh instead of democratic vicious games like threaten- nominated by six registered ensure strict enforcement of seized liquor bottles worth Rs loaded. The liquor bottles were earlier, is at large. praised the people for their Ambedkar constitution," he ing and sending out the political parties for urban local MCC, he said. 18.32 lakh, a mini truck, a car being transported from Goa The seized material is esti- unshaken trust in the demo- said. The YSRCP leaders' TDP candidates and agents. bodies' polls have passed away, Vulnerability mapping and and a motorcycle. state. mated to be worth Rs 18.32. cratic institutions and for unleashed created terror in This kind of electoral said the SEC. Withdrawal of identification of sensitive, Arif Hafeez, Joint Director, The accused were identified A case was registered and their impressive turnouts in the villages with their atroc- excesses and extremities nominations is allowed till hypersensitive and critical SEB, Guntur said that on a tip- as Y Ramakoteswara Rao the accused were handed over the elections. "This was ities, he alleged. had never been witnessed in March 3 till 3:00 pm. polling stations must have off, they intercepted a mini (Ramu) involved in four cases to the Vinukonda police, said despite the fact that the Jagan "In some places, the TDP- electoral history in the past," The authorised party func- been done by team of local truck at Cheekateegalapalem earlier, M Venkat Rao, N the JD SEB Arif Hafeez. regime had conducted the supported candidates were he said. tionary can issue fresh Form-B officials (Tahsildar, Municipal in favour of another candidate Commissioner and SHO). by withdrawing the previous SEC said that measures like Form-B issued in March 2020. CCTV Cameras / videography Sarpanch candidate men allege Ward-wise photo electoral / webcasting shall be taken up Miscreants rob visitors at gunpoint rolls of 12 Municipal Corpora- in select sensitive/hypersensitive biased counting, seek repoll ions and 75 Municipali- / troublesome polling stations ties/Nagar Panchayats were to build confidence among PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM Vizag district alleged that vote published with reference to voters, particularly in vulnera- counting was biased and again in Agency, take away vehicle January 1, 2019 and no inclu- ble areas and to curtail scope for As many as 700 supporters of despite having the support of sions, deletions or modifica- electoral malpractices. a sarpanch candidate staged a many voters, their candidate PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM vehicle on the ghat road near four-wheeler from Darakonda the passengers and also took tions shall be done to the rolls A call centre was set up in protest in front of the Vizag lost the election. Darakonda in GK Veedhi village to Vizag city in the early away the vehicle. already published. the Commission's office with District collector's office alleg- They alleged that the Armed dacoits robbing the mandal in Vizag Agency in hours on Monday. A gang of The victims said that the During the voting process, telephone No. 0866-2466877. ing rigging in the vote count- sarpanch candidate, Ramesh, visitors travelling in cars of the early hours on Monday. six armed dacoits stopped the dacoits were equipped with no voter shall be allowed into Complaints received in the call ing process. Elections were was announced winner first. their valuables continue on It is the fourth such inci- vehicle by placing boulders on sharp-edged weapons and polling station for casting vote centre are referred to the nodal held for 130 gram panchayats However, post recounting, his the ghat road of Vizag Agency. dent on the ghat road in the road and took away cash pistols. The passengers were unless he/she wears a face officers / district administra- in Vizag on Sunday. However, opponent was declared the A gang of dacoits looted the Vizag Agency in recent times. worth around Rs 32,000. For travelling to Vizag city with a mask. Polling personnel / tion for redressal. This will be the supporters of a sarpanch winner. The protestors passengers travelling in a car The police said that four the first time in the last four medical emergency case in a police personnel deployed at continued in the ensuing ULB candidate in Gandigundam demanded that the election be and even took away their people were travelling in a cases, the dacoits disembarked hired vehicle. polling stations shall be pro- elections. in Anandpuram mandal in conducted again. Peddireddy to represent state at Bhoomi pooja performed for Srivari temple in TN PNS n TIRUMALA southern zonal council meeting The ceremonious Bhoomi Sports competitions for TTD Pooja was performed on PNS n KAKINADA Southern zonal council Monday for the construction of employees commence Srivari Temple in Ulundurpeta State Government on Monday meeting will be held in of Tamil Nadu. Chief Minister The annual sports and games issued orders nominating Tirupati in March and of Tamil Nadu Palani Swamy 2021 for TTD employees Panchayat Raj Minister and TTD Chairman YV Subba commenced at the Parade Peddireddy Ramachandra Ramachandra Reddy is Reddy attended the ceremony. Grounds behind TTD Reddy as the member of the expected to represent After Sankalpam, Punyahav- Administrative Building on Zonal Council for the achanam, Ganapathi Pooja and Sunday. In the above 45-years Southern Zone. AP at the meeting Vishwaksena Pooja, the category of tug of war The southern zonal council Bhoomi Pooja was performed competition, Shanti team stood meeting will be held in Tirupati Council of states on March 4. amidst chanting of vedic hymns victorious and the Kalpana team Padmaja team emerged winner, in March and Ramachandra The Southern Zonal Council by pundits who placed four bagged the second position. In while Gangadevi team stood at Reddy is expected to represent Department, L Premachandra comprises states of Andhra bricks and performed special the below 45-years category, the second place. Andhra Pradesh at the meeting. Reddy as Adviser to assist the Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, pooja. Local MLA and TTD Government also issued Zonal Council for the Southern Tamil Nadu, Te1angana and Trust Board member orders appointing Ex-Officio Zone in the performance of its Puducherry as members and Kumaraguru, who donated for the ceremony. tees participated in the pooja. tion of the Srivari temple Apart from these temples, Principal Secretary to duties. UTs of Andaman & Nicobar the land for the construction of TTD Board member Meanwhile, Kumaraguru along with sub-shrines for office, potu, storeroom, walls Government, General Tirupati will host the 29th Islands and Lakshadweep as Srivari temple in Ulundurpeta, Sekhar Reddy, CE Ramesh donated 3.98 acres of land and Sri Padmavathi Ammavaru and parking area will also be Administration (SR) meeting of the Southern Zonal special invitees. made elaborate arrangements Reddy, some MLAs and devo- Rs 3.16 crore for the construc- and Sri Andal Godai. constructed for the temple. VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 23, 2021 telangana 04 IIT-Hyderabad researchers predict Kishan urges Gadkari to expedite RRR works lifetime of SARS-COV-2 droplets PNS n NEW DELHI ANUSHA PUPPALA face for significantly longer, Union Minister of State for n HYDERABAD about an hour. Of course, virus- Home G Kishan Reddy on es could still be alive in dried Monday urged Union Minister An interdisciplinary research droplets. This requires further for Road Transport and group of faculty at Indian research involving biologists.” Highways Nitin Gadkari to Institute of Technology- The longest drying times are expedite the work on the pro- Hyderabad (IIT-H) has predict- observed with the combination posed Regional Ring Road ed the lifetime of SARS-CoV-2 of low ambient temperature and (RRR) around Hyderabad by droplets on surfaces in different high relative humidity, while the notifying its southern part as a environmental conditions, such drying time progressively reduces national highway. as ambient temperature, relative as the humidity falls and the tem- The Union Minister, along humidity, and volume and com- perature rises. Researchers also with BJP vice-president DK Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy addresses the media in New position of droplets. found that for a fixed initial vol- Aruna and the party's OBC Delhi on Monday. BJP vice-president DK Aruna and BJP OBC Morcha president Under the same environmen- ume of the droplet, increasing the Morcha president L Laxman Laxman are also seen tal conditions, the drying time for initial contact angle increases the met Gadkari in New Delhi to n droplets on a smartphone screen drying time. submit a memorandum. Kishan The Union Minister, along The project is expected to cater is three times longer than that on This follows physical intu- Reddy, who is a Member of with BJP vice-president DK to about 40 per cent of the pop- a normal glass surface. ition, as a droplet with a smaller Parliament from Secunderabad, Aruna and the party's OBC ulation of the state. The RRR Respiratory infections such contact angle has a greater wet- urged Gadkari to consider sanc- Morcha president L will also provide connectivity to as the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreads ly as compared to pure water the Journal of Royal Society angle and the insoluble surfac- ting radius and surface area for tioning of two PIUs (Project Laxman met Gadkari in tourist places such as Yadadri. primarily by respiratory droplets droplets. Interface. tants is capable of accurately pre- the same volume resulting in a Implementation Units) for RRR. New Delhi to submit a Once this project is con- (size > 10μm) of saliva or dis- Increase in humidity will make By conducting a theoretical dicting the evaporation time larger interface area over which According to him, Gadkari memorandum. Kishan structed as an Access Controlled charge from the nose of an the droplet to take longer than an and numerical study, Dr under different conditions." the diffusion-driven evaporation assured the delegation that the Reddy, who is a Member Expressway, the travel time and infected person during cough- hour compared to a droplet Saravanan Balusamy, Dr Sayak “The time taken by saliva can occur. Thus, highly work will be expedited on the of Parliament from the vehicle operating costs for ing/sneezing. Fluid dynamics under a lower humid environ- Banerjee of the Department of droplets to dry also depends on hydrophilic surfaces may be less project subject to the land Secunderabad, urged the commercial and non-com- plays an important role in the ment that will dry-up in minutes. Mechanical and Aerospace the nature of the surface mater- susceptible to prolonged contam- acquisition process is complet- mercial vehicles will be reduced study of the life of these droplets Lower ambient temperature also Engineering and Prof Kirti ial on which it falls as it dictates ination in comparison to less ed on a fast track by the state Gadkari to consider by a great extent. Several indus- migrating in the air or deposit- increases the drying time of the Chandra Sahu from Department how far the droplet spreads out”, hydrophilic surfaces, which is government. The proposed sanctioning of two PIUs trial clusters, IT centres, logis- ed on surfaces. Spread of virus is droplet. of Chemical Engineering of IIT- said Dr Banerjee. somewhat a counter-intuitive RRR will traverse around (Project Implementation tic parks, pharma industries and minimal after drying of droplets The angle made by a droplet H showed that these ingredients Speaking about the findings of result. Hyderabad at an average dis- Units) for RRR. recreational facilities are expect- containing virus. on the surface (which is known delay the evaporation of respira- their study, Prof Sahu said, The study conducted by IIT- tance of 40 km to 50 km and it ed to be established around the The study focuses on various as “contact angle”) plays an tory droplets significantly as “While the lifetime of a small sali- H faculty shows the importance will have a length of about 340 highways like NH-65 (Pune- project road, which would pro- factors affecting the drying time important role in the drying time compared to pure water droplets. va droplet of size 1 nanolitre is of properly sanitising the contact km. The overall cost of the pro- Machilipatnam), NH-161 vide a big boost to the econo- of saliva droplets whereas earli- of the droplet and hence highly The work appears in the less than a 1 minute, a normal prone surfaces in different sea- ject will be Rs 16,003 crore. (Sangareddy-Nanded-Akola), my of Telangana. er studies were based on water hydrophilic surfaces may be less International Communications size saliva droplet of 10 nanolitres sons and air-conditioned indoor The northern and southern NH-765D (Hyderabad-Medak), The construction of the pro- droplets. susceptible to prolonged conta- in Heat and Mass Transfer, a takes more than 15 minutes to areas and advises following World parts of the proposed project NH-44 (Srinagar- ject road will also improve the Saliva droplets consist of salt, mination. leading journal in this field. evaporate at room temperature Health Organisation (WHO) will connect Sangareddy- Kanyakumari), SH-1 condition of the arterial roads protein (mucin), and surfactant Saliva droplets consist of salt, Dr Balusamy said "A simple and relative humidity of 50 per guidelines, such as wearing face Narsapur-Toopran-Gajwel- (Hyderabad-Ramagundam) and other link roads connected in addition to water. These ingre- protein (mucin), and surfactant classical theoretical model devel- cent. For high relative humidity, masks and maintaining social dis- Jagdevpur-Choutuppal- and NH-163 (Hyderabad- with the project which will dients delay the evaporation of in addition to water as reported oped in this study that takes into say of greater than 90 per cent, tance as the preventive measures Shadnagar-Sangareddy. Bhopalpatnam) will also be reduce the travel distance and respiratory droplets significant- in the earlier study published in account the dynamic contact the droplet stays live on the sur- for air transmission of Covid-19. Important national and state connected through this RRR. time. CAPSULE GRADUATE MLC POLLS Medak municipal One more accused of Bada Pahad Urs in CM ridiculed for picking up PV's daughter chairman greets Varni from Tuesday advocates’ murder held PNS n HYDERABAD n PV's grandson and BJP aunty of losing constituency. Medak MLA Nizamabad : The three-day leader Subhash alleges He alleged that KCR deceived PNS n MEDAK PNS n PEDDAPALLI Urs celebrations of the famous Bada Pahad Syed Shadulla Leaders belonging to all the KCR deceived their family the PV’s family with conspic- political parties launched a uous politics. “It is nothing but Medak Municipal chair- The police on Monday arrest- Hussaini Dargah will be held n TRS won’t win from Tuesday in Varni mandal tirade against TRS Chief and an effort of dividing the votes man Chandrapal, coun- ed the fourth accused in the Chief Minister K Hyderabad-Rangareddy- of Brahmins”, he alleged. cillors and constituency double murder of advocates, of Nizamabad district. Mahbubnagar even it Thousands of devotees from Chandrasekhar Rao for pick- Sitting MLC and BJP can- leaders greeted Medak who supplied car and two ing up the daughter of former fields KTR, says N didate for Hyderabad- MLA Padma Devender knives to the accused. The Telangana, Maharashtra and n Karnataka will be participating Prime Minister PV Narsimha Ramchander Rao Rangareddy-Mahabubnagar Reddy on her wedding police recovered a two-wheel- Based on the information in these celebrations. Due to Rao to gain political mileage. N Ramchander Rao alleged anniversary. Medak er used by one of the accused provided by the arrested Covid-19, celebrations were Congress, BJP and CPI have that KCR is going to make Municipal Chairman Chiranjeevi and his mobile Kunta Srinivas (A1), held in a simple manner last lashed out at the Chief alleged that the Chief Minister Sabha ticket or Governor’s PV’s daughter a scapegoat. He Chandrapal MLA accom- phone. Sivandula Chiranjeevi (A2) year, devotees were not Minister for picking up S gave the MLC ticket where post instead of MLC to Vani exuded confidence that BJP panied by councillors Based on the information and Akkapaka Kumar (A3), Vani Devi as the TRS nomi- TRS will not win. Devi if KCR has real love will win even if TRS working Vasant Raj, Kishore, provided by the arrested Kunta allowed to participate in the the police arrested Bittu celebrations. Officials are nee for Hyderabad- Revanth Reddy asked KCR towards the PV’s family. He president KT Rama Rao con- Samiuddin, Srinivas, Srinivas (A1), Sivandula Rangareddy-Mahbubnagar to field his family member if asked the TRS not to use the tests from the Hyderabad- leaders Madhusudan Chiranjeevi (A2) and Srinu, who supplied car expecting a huge turnout this and knives to the accused. year. Revenue department and Graduate MLC constituency he feels that the party would PV’s family for their political Rangareddy-Mahabubnagar Rao, Boddula Krishna, Akkapaka Kumar (A3), the Wakf Board officials have made elections. They alleged that win Hyderabad-Rangareddy- benefits. He asked Vani Devi constituency. Prabhu Reddy, Muthyam police arrested Bittu Srinu, elaborate arrangements for KCR picked up Vani Devi for Mahabubnagar Graduate to think twice before contest- CPI national secretary K Gowd, Madhu, , Srinivas who supplied car and knives to vide any evidence with them conduct of celebrations. the election where the TRS MLC constituency polls. He ing the elections on the TRS Narayana stated that KCR Reddy, Venkat Reddy the accused. related to the case for forging Banswada RDO Rajeshwar definitely loses. asked Vani Devi not to be part ticket. On the other hand, has given the ticket to PV’s and others went to her Additional DCP (Admin) ahead in the case investigation, Goud and Varni tahsildar Vittal Congress working presi- of the KCR’s conspiracy. PV’s grandson and BJP leader daughter to get an edge over home in Hyderabad gave Ashok Kumar is the main which is underway under the supervised the arrangements. dents A Revanth Reddy and Ponnam Prabhakar asked NV Subash alleged that the the BJP after facing a drub- bouquets and wished the investigation officer in the case. supervision of Pramod Kumar, Ponnam Prabhakar have the TRS to give the Rajya TRS gave the ticket to his bing in the recent elections. couple. People have been urged to pro- DIG Karimnagar Range.

Aggigundalau at Cheruvugattu National Science Day to BJP, Cong candidates file Nalgonda : Aggigundalu (Firewalking), a ritual in which devotees walk on coal fire, be celebrated at GITAM nominations for MLC polls during Sri Parvathi Jadala Ramalingeshwara Swamy n n Jatara celebrations at PNS PATANCHERU PNS HYDERABAD president Mallu Ravi, former Cheruvugattu of Narketpally MP Anjan Kumar Yadav mandal in Nalgonda district, National Science Day (NSD) Cong leader Several candidates filed their accompanied Congress candi- attracted thousands of was celebrated every year on nominations on a penultimate date Chinna Reddy while fil- devotees on Monday. the February 28 to commem- Feroz Khan day Monday of filing of nom- ing nomination at the GHMC Amid chanting of Vedic hymns orate the discovery of the inations for the Graduate MLC office for Hyderabad- by the temple priests, the ritual Raman Effect by Sir to join BJP? elections to be held for two Rangareddy-Mahabubnagar was conducted at the hillshrine Chandrasekhara Venkata constituencies--Nalgonda- constituency. Revanth Reddy in the early hours of Monday. Raman. He went on to receive PNS n HYDERABAD Khammam-Warangal and Premender Reddy filed his after filing nomination asked Aggigundalu would be the Nobel Prize for this discov- Hyderabad-Rangareddy- nomination for Nalgonda- the graduate voters to ensure considered as one of the key ery in 1930. The day is cele- on Science and Technology’ presentation on February 13 Another Congress leader Mahabubnagar --on March Khammam-Mahabubnagar the victory of Chinna Reddy. rituals of annual jatara. As per brated to mark the importance ahead of National Science and 14. Feroz Khan, too, will join 14. BJP candidate N constituency at Nalgonda On the other hand, the tradition, the farmers also of contributions made by sci- Day. The topics --‘Life during Meera Venkatesh, former the BJP, according to Ramchander Rao filed his town. Telangana BJP chief Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) offered castor seeds and entists towards the develop- Covid-19, ‘Online Teaching: Director, Physical and sources. He had contest- nomination for Hyderabad- Bandi Sanjay Kumar, former chief Prof Kodandaram filed millets cultivated by them to ment of the nation and the Benefits and limitations and Chemical Sciences, ed from the Nampally Rangareddy-Mahabubnagar minister and Telangana BJP his nomination for Nalgonda- the fire ignited for world as a whole. The theme Social Ethics, Morals and International Atomic Energy Assembly constituency constituency at the GHMC Core Committee member Khammam-Warangal con- Aggigundalu. The devotees for National Science Day 2021 Values’. Agency (IAEA), and former on the Congress ticket. head office. Party leaders-- Mothkupally Narsimhulu and stituency at Nalgonda collec- competed to walk on the coal is ‘Future of STI: Impact on In all, 121 students across head, Radio Pharmaceuticals Feroz Khan has reported- Perala Sekhar Rao and others were present. Speaking torate office. New Democracy fire with bare foot by bearing Education Skills and Work’. the country responded to this Division, BARC, will deliver ly held discussions with Anthony Reddy participated. on the occasion, Bandi Sanjay State secretary Potu Ranga the palanquin of presiding Schools of Science and contest and 88 manuscripts the guest lecture on ‘Science Telangana BJP chief Earlier, Ramchander Rao went said that Chief Minister K Rao, TJS leaders Badruddin, deities of Goddess Parvathi Technology, Gandhi Institute were accepted for considera- and its progress in India’ on Bandi Sanjay Kumar, it is to the GHMC office in a mas- Chandrasekhar Rao confined Gopal Reddy, P Srisail Reddy, and Lord Jadala Ramalinge of Technology and tion. A team of faculty evalu- March 1, followed by online learnt. According to BJP sive rally from Barkathpura to a farmhouse instead of solv- Ratan Rao, Dharmarjun, Bairi shwara Swamy on their Management (GITAM), ated the manuscripts and they oral presentation by contest sources, Feroz Khan may party office. ing the problems of the people. Ramesh, Gopagani Shankar shoulders. Hyderabad, have been organ- had shortlisted 38 students winners. Later, prizes will be join the BJP in a couple of However, Telangana BJP TPCC working president A Rao, Sridhar and others par- ising ‘All India Essay Contest from 14 states for online oral distributed to them. days. general secretary Gujjula Revanth Reddy, TPCC vice- ticipated. This trust helps in performing marriages of poor girls Beware of Corona, TADURU KARUNAKAR in the village, the youth of the Moved at these develop- n KARIMNAGAR village floated the trust with the The trust was ments, the youth of the family cautions Collector objective that the girl child in was forced to think about giv- Moved at the plight of poor the family should not be a bur- floated in ing birth to Maa Voori PNS n SANGAREDDY families in performing mar- den. The decision is helping the Kondayyapalli Mahalakshmi. The trust riages of girls in the families, save girl child movement in a deposits Rs 10, 000 – Rs 5000 District Collector M youth of a village floated a trust big way. Rendla Srinivas was village of contributed by the trust and Hanumantha Rao urged the called Maa Voori Mahalakshmi the founder of the trust while equal sum by the family - in the people of the district to be vig- on Sri Rama Navami day in Anganwadi activist Madupu Gangadhara name of the girl child the ilant following the rise in the 2018 to assist the families finan- Govindamma officiated as the mandal of moment the girl was born in a number of Corona cases in cially in celebrating girl child’s chairperson of the trust. The family in the village under the some states, though the num- weddings. trust has I Aruna, M Sunita, P Karimnagar Sukanya Samrydhdhi Yojana. ber of cases has come down in The trust was floated in Madhu, Gopu Raju as mem- The relevant passbooks would Telangana. Kondayyapalli village of bers. The trust has been func- district be given to the family members. People should not neglect Gangadhara mandal of tioning with the financial sup- The trust has plans to deposit taking precautions assuming Karimnagar district. There port of the villagers settled in Rs 50,000 in the name of the girl that they are out of Corona are 300 families in the village, Bhiwandi, Mumbai and Gulf breadwinner in the family left the father. Another family from conditions on the other. child in the future provided the threat. It is suggested that that even after taking the vac- whose population is put at countries. The trust was float- for Bhiwandi. The father did the village has two daughters in In another incident, a person donors come forward and the people should undergo tests if cine, wearing a mask, sanitis- 1300. The majority of the vil- ed to mitigate the plight of the not even visit the village at least it. The bread winner in the fam- from the village who was in the financial position of the trust they find Corona symptoms. ing and keeping physical dis- lagers migrated to either families having girl children. once as the girl turned 18 years ily has debt-ridden having cel- dire straits could not perform improves, according to Beneficiaries, who registered tance should be followed. He Bhiwandi or Mumbai or A weaver from the family and did not support the fami- ebrated two weddings in the the wedding of the daughter, Revandla Srinivas, the trust for the vaccine, were told that urged the people to take all Gulf countries in search of with two girl children went to ly financially. Therefore, the vil- family. He took the extreme who married someone from a founder. In 2018, the trust the vaccine was safe and that precautions to keep Corona at livelihood. Bhiwandi in Maharashtra for lagers pooled money and per- step of committing suicide different caste. Feeling deposited funds in the name of they should be vaccinated at bay and cooperate with the Spurred some unsavoury greener pastures. The eldest formed the marriage of the girl caught in debts on one hand ashamed, he took the extreme eight girls, while nine girls the hospital that was allotted government to prevent the incidents that had taken place daughter was aged 10 when the fulfilling the responsibility of and unable to face the miserable step of committing suicide. were benefited in 2019. to them.The Collector clarified spread of the virus. VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 23, 2021 nation 05 PM opens treasure chest

Smriti Irani buys land for Assam ahead of polls

in Amethi PNS n DHEMAJI region and neglected connec- tivity, health, education and CRPF DEPLOYMENT PNS n AMETHI Opening the coffers of his industry, he alleged. government for election- "I had come earlier to Union Minister Smriti Irani bound Assam, Prime Minister Gogamuk in the state's north West Bengal not on Monday bought a plot of Narendra Modi Monday bank and said that Assam land in Amethi to make a slammed the successive and the northeast will become house for herself and, in an Congress dispensations that the new growth engine of the apparent dig at Congress ruled the country since country and now we see this singled out, says EC leader Rahul Gandhi, said Independence gor the belief bear fruit," he said. no MP from here ever made "neglect" of the state and the The prime minister said PNS n NEW DELHI entities. This practice is going the constituency his home. northeast for decades. due to sustained efforts by the on since the late 1980s, it Without taking names, On his third visit to Assam Assam government more The Election Commission on observed. she said the history is witness in a month, Modi, whodedi- than 20 engineering colleges Monday said that central The Commission was to the fact that no Amethi cated to the nation three havebeen set up. police forces are being sent to responding to certain reports MP ever built his house and major projects in the petrole- Referring to the new all poll-bound states and not claiming that central forces stayed here. umsector worth over Rs 3,222 National Education Policy specifically to West Bengal, were being specifically sent to "The people of Amethi crore, enumerated steps taken (NEP),he said its emphasis on stressing that it is a routine West Bengal. always wondered if their MP bythe state government led by teaching in local languages practice for several decades. During the 2019 Lok Sabha would ever reside here after Sarbananda Sonowal and the will helpchildren from even In a statement, the poll elections also, central forces building his house,” she centreover the past few years poor families become doctors panel said the CPFs are rou- were sent to all states and UTs, claimed while talking to for its balanced growth. and engineers. tinely sent to all the states and and the same has been done in reporters. Irani had won He also inaugurated Modi said hardly 40 per UTs where Lok Sabha or all assembly polls. the 2019 Lok Sabha elections Dhemaji Engineering College cent families in Assam had assembly elections are to take "In the instant case also, the from Amethi after defeating and laid the foundation stone cooking gas connections till place, for advance area dom- CPFs have been sent to all the the then MP, Rahul Gandhi. for Sualkuchi Engineering 2014 despite the state being ination, especially in the crit- four states namely Assam, “During the 2019 Lok Collegewith initial project therun up to the state polls on had gifted a bouquet of devel- door nahi aapke darwaaze par rich in oil and natural gas and ical and vulnerable sectors. Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Sabha polls, I had promised cost of Rs 45 crore and Rs 55 February 7 when he laid the- opment projects worth about hai' (Delhi is not far now, it refineries. Almost entire pop- It said these sectors are Bengal and the UT of that I would make my house crorerespectively in this town foundation of and dedicated Rs 10,000 crore to the state. stands at your doorstep," he ulation of the state has now identified by meticulous Puducherry where assembly here and do all my work on the northern bank of the to the nation infrastructure- "Those who ruled for told a massive gathering. been covered under the advance reviews and concrete elections are to take place," the from here. For this I have got Brahmaputra. projects involving Rs 9,310 decades since Independence The previous governments Ujjwala Yojana and one crore feedback from various sources, statement said. a plot of land registered," she He had unleashed a major crore. believed Dispur was too dis- adopted "step-motherly" women have benefited, he including political parties and It also said that the or added. development offensive in Again, on February 18, he tant from Delhi. 'Dilli ab approach to the north bank said. EC official likely to issue INDIA CORNER Mayawati terms guidelines for CRPF deployment UP budget India will enhance capabilities Kolkata : Deputy Election been asked to prepare CBI visits Abhishek's Commissioner Sudip Jain, PowerPoint presentations on ‘disappointing' who is in charge of West their preparations for the elec- sister-in-law in coal theft case in defence manufacturing: PM Bengal, will be visiting the state tions," a poll panel official PNS n LUCKNOW on Friday to oversee the pre- told on Monday. Jain may team of CBI visited the PNS n NEW DELHI the effective implementation abroad," he said. But now, the paredness for the upcoming also meet officers transferred residence of TMC MP BSP president and former of the Union Budget's provi- country is working hard to assembly elections, officials to the different departments, AAbhishek Banerjee's Uttar Pradesh chief min- India is working hard to sions in the defence sector, change the situation and also said. mainly in the administration sister-in-law Menaka Gambhir ister Mayawati Monday enhance its capabilities and the prime minister listed a to enhance its capacities and During his visit, Jain is and the in Kolkata on Monday to termed the state govern- capacities in the defence- series of measures taken by capabilities at a fast pace, the scheduled to hold meetings police, during his visit to examine her in connection ment's budget "extremely manufacturing sector at a his government to boost self- prime minister asserted. with district magistrates, police West Bengal, the official said. with the coal pilferage case, disappointing", saying it fast pace, Prime Minister reliance in the defence sector "Before independence, we superintendents and other "There have been several officials said. Two woman just has promises for peo- Narendra Modi said on and rued the fact that the used to have hundreds of senior officials of the state, they shuffles in the administration officers of the CBI examined ple but nothing to address Monday, noting that there country is amongst the ordnance factories. In both said. "Mr Jain is scheduled to as well as in the police depart- Gambhir for nearly three hours unemployment. The were hundreds of ordnance biggest defence importers in the world wars, weapons at come this Friday to have a look ments recently. Mr Jain may at her residence off Eastern Adityanath-led BJP gov- factories before independence the world. large scale were exported at the overall preparedness for meet them as well as ADG Metropolitan Bypass after a notice was served to her on Sunday, they ernment presented a Rs with large-scale weapons "An India that has the from India. But for various the assembly elections. He will (Law and Order), senior police said. The officers of the CBI's anti-corruption branch sought to ascertain 5.5-lakh crore budget for export from the country in capacity to reach Mars could reasons, this system was not also take stock of the law and officers, and the Chief her financial accounts, sources said. Gambhir is the sister of Abhishek's 2021-22 in the Assembly both world wars but this sys- have made modern weapons strengthened as much as it order situation in the state. The Secretary and Home wife Rujira Banerjee who told the CBI earlier in the day that she will be with a target of making tem was not strengthened. also, but it became an easy should have been after inde- district administrations have Secretary," he said. available for examination in connection with the case at her residence in Uttar Pradesh self-reliant. Addressing a webinar on way to import weapons from pendence," he said. Harish Mukherjee Road between 11 am to 3 pm on February 23, they added. Abhishek, the Trinamool Congress's Diamond Harbour MP, is the nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The CBI had registered an FIR in November last year against the alleged kingpin of the pilferage racket Manjhi alias Lala, Eastern Coalfield Ltd General Managers Amit ‘Kerala govt had sent letter Suspected IED Kumar Dhar (of then Kunustoria area now Pandaveswar area) and UP govt presents Jayesh Chandra Rai (Kajora area), besides ECL Chief of ecurity Tanmay in Nowgam Das, Area Security Inspector, Kunustoria Dhananjay Rai and SSI and to Centre on deep sea fishing’ security in-charge Kajor area Debashish Mukherjee. It is alleged that accused Lala is involved in the illegal mining and theft of coal from Rs 5,50,270-cr budget destroyed leasehold mines of ECL in Kunustoria and Kajora areas, ources said. PNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM that the firm had submitted a concept note to the state gov- PNS n SRINAGAR In what could spell fresh ernment regarding this. trouble to the Left government Chennithala, at a press meet Security forces destroyed Rs 335-cr black money found in Kerala, opposition leader here, said the government was a suspected object, Ramesh Chennithala on well aware that the project believed to be an IED, during raid on Pune firm Monday released a copy of the submitted by the company found by a patrol party he Income Tax Department state's letter to the Centre was for deep sea fishing, which on the Srinagar- has detected about Rs 335 regarding a US-based firm, had been denied by Chief Baramulla highway near Tcrore undisclosed income with whom he alleged that it MinisterPinarayi Vijayan and Nowgam area of the city after it raided a Pune-based had earlier entered into a pact had specifically mentioned Fisheries Minister J on Monday, police said. business group engaged in for deep sea fishing. that the company was interest- Mercykutty Amma for the Central Reserve Police packaging and sale of tobacco In the purportedletter sent ed in innovative technology last two days. Force (CRPF) personnel, products and related items, the in December, 2019, state development for the upgrada- "They have been saying that patrolling the Srinagar- Central Board of Direct Taxes PNS n LUCKNOW get speech from a laptop, Principal Secretary K R tion and promotion of deep the Chief Minister and other Baramulla highway, said on Monday. The searches, Khanna said the target was Jyothilal wanted the Centre to sea fishing in the state of ministers concerned were not found a tin can by the which were launched at 34 With a target of making to make Uttar Pradesh verify the credentials of the Kerala. aware about the firm and its busy roadside at locations across Maharashtra Uttar Pradesh 'atmanirb- "atmanirbhar" and ensure all EMCC International, the US- In the letter, addressing project. Then, how did the Nowgam, a police offi- on February 17, led to the seizure of "unaccounted" cash of har', the Yogi Adityanath round development of the based firm. Joint Secretary, Ministry of government send such a letter- cial said. Rs 1 crore, it said. "Profit on un-recorded transactions of sale government on Monday state. The official, in the letter, External Affairs, he also said to the Centre?" he asked. of real estate amounting to Rs 9 crore has been accepted by presented a Rs 5,50,270.78 This is the Adityanath the assessee," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the crore budget for financial government's first paper- body that frames policy for the Income Tax Department, said year 2021-22 in the state less budget. The budget for in a statement. "Total undisclosed income amounting to Rs Assembly. 2021-22, is also the last bud- Fuel prices: PIL in MP HC claims 335 crore has been detected so far," it said. The group is With Assembly elections get of the present Puducherry development based in Pune's Sangamner area and its entities are largely in the state less than a year Adityanath government discrepancy in ethanol tax engaged in packaging and sale of tobacco and related away, the budget includes before the next UP products, generation and distribution of power, sale of new schemes of Rs Assembly polls. PNS n JABALPUR 5 to 7 per cent but the levy FMCGs, and real estate development, the CBDT added. 27,598.40 crore, with infra- The budget makes a pro- charged from consumers is as unfortunate, says Gehlot structure development bag- vision of Rs 101 crore for the A Public Interest Litigation was high as 25 to 35 per cent per litre ging the lion's share. under-construction airport filed in the Madhya Pradesh of petrol and diesel, which PNS n JAIPUR The budget presented by in Ayodhya which will be High Court on Monday seeking means the buyer ends up pay- Surge of Corona cases in Finance Minister Suresh named 'Maryada reduction in fuel prices, with the ing Rs 4 to Rs 5 extra as tax. With the Narayanasamy gov- Kumar Khanna, in the pres- Purushottam Sriram petitioner claiming that con- Oil companies blend 6 to7 ernment losing power in Kerala: TN steps up vigil ence of the chief minister, is Airport, Ayodhya' after Lord sumers have to pay high levies percent of ethanol in petroland Puducherry, Rajasthan Chief over Rs 37,410 crore more Ram and also earmarks Rs for mixing of ethanol in petrol diesel per litre under the Minister Ashok Gehlot on ith neighbouring than the previous year's 2,000 crore for increasing and diesel. Petitioner Manish National Policy on Biofuels, he Monday accused the BJP of Kerala and four budget size, making it the the number of airstrips at Sharma, coordinator of NGO said, adding that fuel pumps do grabbing power by destabil- Wother states in the largest fund allocation in the the Jewar Airport in Noida Nagrik Upbhokta Margdarshak not mention the ethanol details ising Congress governments. country witnessing a surge state. Reading out the bud- to six from two. Manch, told tax on ethanol was in the purchase bill. The Congress government in daily Coronavirus cases, in Puducherry fell on the Tamil Nadu government Monday after Chief Minister on Monday said surveillance V Narayanasamy resigned in districts bordering Kerala SURGE IN COVID INFECTIONS ahead of the confidence vote has been intensified and it sought by him in the has been made mandatory Assembly after his govern- for all returnees by flight to Officials ascribe to people not following norms ment was reduced to a has been their modus compulsorily undergo RT-PCR test. The state health department PNS n CHANDIGARH is the main reason behind the ic first hit the country last year, minority due to a spate of operandi in all Congress continues to aggressively test for the virus and is involved in surge in cases in the state," said SBS Nagar had emerged as one resignations of party MLAs ruled states. We saw this in tracing the contacts, as it is determined to further bring down With Punjab witnessing an Rajesh Bhaskar, Punjab's nodal of the hotspots. However, later and a DMK legislator over Karnataka, MP and now in the cases, Health Secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan said. Expressing increase in the number of officer for COVID-19. the authorities successfully man- the past few days. Puducherry. They tried it in concern over non-co mpliance by people, including those who COVID-19 cases, health officials Officials stressed that people aged to contain infections. In a tweet, Gehlot said, Rajasthan but people of gather for political rallies, he appealed to the people not to lower on Monday ascribed the should shed the casual Punjab Health Director G B “What has happened in Rajasthan taught them a les- the guard as five states in India have recorded an increase in upswing to people not adhering approach. They said some stu- Singh said, "We have sent a team Puducherry is most unfortu- son,” he said. cases. "Wearing of masks and maintaining social distancing to safety guidelines like wearing dents and teachers testing pos- of experts to SBS Nagar to see nate and yet another case of Gehlot accused the BJP of should strictly be followed. It was noticed during certain political masks and maintaining social itive for coronavirus in Shaheed why the cases are on the rise in how BJP is destabilising undermining democracy in meetings that the cadres did not wear face masks or follow distancing. active cases on February 21 Bhagat Singh Nagar, Ludhiana the district." Congress governments to the country. social distancing. Such an offhand attitude could lead to According to the state health stood at 3,019 as against 2,101 and other districts has also con- The state health department grab power through unethi- “The people are watching unpleasant consequences," he said and pointed out to an department data, Punjab has on February 1, an increase of 44 tributed to the infection tally. has also sent some samples for cal means. First, they creat- what tactics BJP is adopting incident in Amaravathy district in Maharashtra where a family recorded daily cases between per cent, the data showed. Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar genome testing to the Institute ed problems in running the and the party will be taught has been infected by the virus. Maharashtra, Punjab, 200 and 350 for the last several "People are not following has the highest number of active of Genomics and Integrative administration through the a lesson by electorates in the Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, apart from Kerala have days. It added almost 5,000 COVID-19 safety precautions cases in the state at 583, accord- Biology, Delhi to check for the Lieutenant Governor and next elections in recorded a surge in daily new cases of COVID-19. cases in a period of 21 days start- like wearing masks and main- ing to health department data. possibility of another strain of now this has happened.” Puducherry,” the chief min- ing February 1. The number of taining social distancing which When the COVID-19 pandem- the virus, he said. “Luring Congress MLAs ister added. VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 23, 2021 06

www.dailypioneer.com facebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/ PAPER WITH PASSION Questioning pullback COVID returns? Contrary to expectations, active cases are on SINGH the rise, especially in Kerala and Maharashtra from Afghanistan BHOPINDER he new year had brought relief to India from the pandemic and, as late as February 11, the country had been consistently following a declining slope of COVID-19 Tactive cases with the load dropping to 1.41 lakh and 33 States and Union Territories Personal experience should guide Biden while deciding on US troop reporting less than 5,000 active cases. This, combined with the world’s largest vac- cination drive in the country, had given people the hope that we would soon be see- withdrawal commitments and imperatives in Afghanistan ing the end of the outbreak that had crippled our ailing economy and resulted in major n January 3, 1973, 30- salary cuts, job and business losses and long periods of isolation and mental dis- year-old Joe Biden got tress for millions of Indians. However, last week seems to have dashed all hopes of elected for the first recovery from the contagion as we are seeing a surge in Coronavirus cases again. time to the United OStates (US) Senate. On January India has reported close to 87,000 infections in 27, 1973, just 24 days later, a face- the last seven days, with the highest addition on saving “Agreement on Ending the Sunday when the country saw 14,264 fresh cases War and restoring Peace in within a span of 24 hours. More worryingly, India Vietnam” was signed with full knowledge among the belligerent now has all three Coronavirus variants that have parties of what was inevitable. caused a massive resurgence of cases globally, This sham “peace accord” i.e. B.1.1.7 that was first discovered in the UK, enabled the battle-weary US B.1.351 which is dominant in South Africa and P.1 troops to withdraw and the last troops were airlifted on April 30, from Brazil. These have a unique collection of muta- 1975 — later that day, the US ally tions, which make them spread more readily or in southern Vietnam capitulated cheat vaccine immunity. Even though there has and its leader Thieu was left fum- been a spike in daily cases in Chhattisgarh, Madhya ing: “The US did not keep its promise to help us fight for free- Pradesh, Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala and dom. It was in the same fight that Maharashtra are the major worrying factors as they are bearing the brunt of the new the US lost 50,000 of its young strains, with over 74 per cent of the nation’s active cases in the two States. men.” Then US President Gerald While in the last month, the average weekly cases in Kerala have fluctuated between Ford argued about opening the doors to South Vietnamese who 34,800 and 42,000, weekly positivity in the State has ranged from 13.9 per cent to had fought on the US side. President, Biden was personal- Barack Obama heeded the ence does not hold good, as vet- 8.9 per cent. In Maharashtra, too, in the last four weeks the cases have increased from However, the young Biden insist- ly entrusted the task of yet counsel of his Generals, who ted by history. Blind adherence 18,200 to 21,300 and weekly positivity has increased from 4.7 per cent to eight per ed that the US had “no obligation, another troop pullout, this suggested otherwise. to commitments without cent. The areas of concern are mainly in suburban Mumbai where the weekly cases moral or otherwise, to evacuate time from Iraq (Biden had ear- In 2021, President Biden assuming inevitabilities will foreign nationals”. Biden’s youth- lier voted for authorising mil- has inherited Donald Trump’s deligitimise the cost in terms of have risen by 19 per cent. In Nagpur, Amravati, Nashik, Akola and Yavatmal, the week- ful bravado aside, the US troops’ itary force in 2002, then as the decisions for complete with- lives lost, resources and ratio- ly cases have increased by 33 per cent, 47 per cent, 23 per cent, 55 per cent and 48 withdrawal from the unpopular Chairman of Senate drawal of US troops from nales invested in the last 20 per cent, respectively. This has led to experts warning that the new strains could be war did not end as scripted in the Committee on Foreign Afghanistan and Somalia years, besides affording a terror- highly transmissible and dangerous and could even cause re-infections in people who purported “peace accord”. Relations). This withdrawal of where, yet again, the “enemy” in based sovereign. A recent have developed antibodies to the virus. In fact, AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria has In 1995, the US troops 1,50,000 troops when the the form of Taliban (and affili- bipartisan US Congress- escorted out the final remnant of “enemy” was clearly not defeat- ates) and Al-Shabab, respective- appointed Afghan Study Group warned that herd immunity is a “myth” in the country because at least 80 per cent the UN peacekeeping force from ed, was to prove fatal. It creat- ly, is waiting menacingly. has concluded a damning people need to have antibodies for the whole of the population to be protected. So what Somalia even as local militiamen ed a sudden vacuum and the BIDEN MUST BE Somalia withdrawal has already assessment of the Taliban’s own it effectively means for a poor country like ours, which is highly populated and where were firing upon the withdraw- Al-Qaida metastasized into happened and the ravaged ter- commitments towards condi- a large part of the populace does not have medical insurance, is that we cannot let ing force. Banalities from the UN ISIS and, within a couple of GUIDED BY HIS ritory is again left precariously tionalities so far, and fore- Secretary General, that efforts to months, the “caliphate” had MEMORY AND poised. Afghanistan as the hub warned of impending bloody our guard down till we have seen the last of this pandemic. Either we follow the rules bring peace and aid to Somalia emerged over most of the of regional/global terror has an civil war, therefore suggesting or suffer yet another surge of the dreaded pandemic. The choice is ours. would continue, flew in the face Syrian-Iraqi swathes. A new EXPERIENCES OF altogether different portent at the abandonment/extension of of the ground reality of advanc- dimension of global terror, THE EARLIER stake. Clearly the deadline for the May 1 timeline. Biden ing militias. Over 100 UN peace- regional upheaval and reli- complete withdrawal of the must be guided by his memo- PICTALK keepers and 42 US troops had gious extremism was born — WITHDRAWALS troops by May 1, 2021, is star- ry and experiences of the ear- died before the final withdraw- all fingers pointed towards a AND THE ing in the face for the force of lier US withdrawals and the al. Importantly, the nemesis of the premature withdrawal of US about 2,500 troops (down from subsequent costs to the US. Its UN/US force i.e. ruthless warlord troops, among other factors. SUBSEQUENT 1,00,000 in 2011) and the con- global interventions have rarely General Aidid was still alive, and Importantly, Biden had then COSTS TO THE US. flated “peace agreement” with succeeded, however, leaving gaining ground. Expectedly, personally punted on one of the the Taliban that underwrites mid-course has always made General Aidid soon declared most controversial, sectarian ITS GLOBAL such a withdrawal, remains situations worse. Timing is himself the President of Somalia and irresponsible locals, Nouri INTERVENTIONS routinely and supremely violat- everything and, as things stand and a full-fledged civil war broke al-Maliki, to manage the show ed. The surge of marauding in Afghanistan, currently it out. By now, Biden was no longer in the absence of US troops. HAVE RARELY Taliban towards an embattled looks ominous. Biden must a wet-behind-the-ears Senator The troops had to return to Iraq SUCCEEDED, AND Kabul continues and herein to rethink withdrawal commit- and had already run for the 1988 in 2014 to undo the damage of LEAVING assume that 2,500 US troops ments and imperatives in Democratic presidential nomina- what was clearly a wrong deci- would be able to withstand pres- Afghanistan — personal expe- tion. Also, as a longtime member sion to withdraw. Around the MID-COURSE HAS sures that a one-time composi- rience should advise him so. of the US Senate Committee on same time, Biden was pushing WORSENED tion of 1,00,000 could not — let (The writer, a military Foreign Relations, the immedi- hard for a similar scale-down of alone the situation when even veteran, is a former Lt ate impact of troop withdrawal the US troops in Afghanistan SITUATIONS this miniscule element departs Governor of Andaman & from Somalia would not have with a limited mandate of as planned — is disastrous. Nicobar Islands and been lost on Biden. counterterrorism, like proposed The practical logic of Puducherry. The views Cut to 2011. By now the Vice- in Iraq — however, President “counterterrorism level” pres- expressed are personal.) LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SOUNDBITE A fisherman fishes through a hole in frozen Walden Pond in Massachusetts AP INVOLVE PRIVATE PLAYERS IN VACCINATION We are correcting Sir—It is worrying that the number of Govt has failed to control fuel prices the faults of the COVID-19 infection cases is again on the previous regimes. If Harvesting votes rise and States like Maharashtra and Kerala the common man is unable to cope with. the policy is accurate, are the worst affected. With new mutants Even if we consider the previous destiny would be The BJP and the AAP, besides other satraps, of the deadly virus invading India, it Governments’ failure to reduce the dependence perfect. Connectivity, seems that our vaccination programme will on the import of crude oil, what's about the huge health, education and infrastructure are wooing Jat farmers in western UP fall flat as against these new strains there tax imposed by both Centre and State developments were ignored by the are no vaccines developed yet and if it starts Governments at present? While the Centre claims previous Governments. t’s obvious for a party that has its origins in a mass movement to use a similar to rapidly spread, then we will be facing a the fuel prices are deregulated, but it is only in Prime Minister opportunity for expanding its base. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which rules the crisis more devastating than the first wave theory. — Narendra Modi roost in Delhi, is now envisaging prop roots in the heartland of western Uttar Pradesh of infection. The oil price decontrol is a one-way street I in India — when global prices go up, it is passed For rapid vaccination, the Government On February 26, (UP), also called Jatland, riding on its support for the farmers’ agitation. However, on to the consumer, who has to cough up more must involve private players, else the 117,000 doses of the road to power in the politically sensitive State is no cakewalk as, unlike in Delhi, spread of infection will supersede the rate for every litre of fuel consumed. But when the Pfizer vaccines will here religion, regional, caste and traditional loyalties matter in elections. These fac- reverse happens and prices go down, the arrive in the country of vaccination and recoveries.The he sky-rocketing prices of petrol and diesel Government — almost by default — slaps fresh and the vaccines will tors play a decisive role at the hustings. Besides, if the anti-incumbency factor comes Government should ask the private com- are also driving up the prices of essential panies to divert their funds under the taxes to ensure that it rakes in extra revenues, be administered to into play in next year’s Assembly elections, Tcommodities — as a consequential effect. even as the consumer, who should have ideal- medical staff Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for The common man, already battered by the regional parties rather than the AAP are more like- the cause. Rapid and mass vaccination is not ly benefited by way of lower pump prices, is treating Coronavirus patients ly to harvest it. Furthermore, any possible expan- adverse effects of COVID-19 pandemic and strin- short- changed and forced to either pay what he's starting February 27. possible without private participation. gent lockdown, has been put into unprecedent- sion of the party will be at the cost of satraps like Further, instead of developing differ- already paying, or even more. The key benefi- South Korea PM ed hardships by this price rise. The rising prices ciary in this subversion of price decontrol is the —Chung Sye-kyun the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), SP and BSP who count ent vaccines for different mutations, the sci- of commodities on the one hand and loss of entists must try to develop a single vaccine Government. The consumer is a clear loser. on their traditional vote banks. These regional play- income on the other, is a double whammy that I reached the top which should work against all the present N Sadhasiva Reddy | Bengaluru two in Bigg Boss ers will never allow an “outsider” to dent their vote strains and also future possible mutants. and surprisingly I am banks. Even if the AAP forges an alliance with these Also, all States must cooperate in terms of ranks that the Chinese Army does not care middle age should walk. It helps in main- logistics and resource sharing in fighting the not sad that I have parties, they will most likely not offer it the for the martyrdom of its soldiers, unlike taining the cholesterol level and burning not won. I am more “winnable” seats, certainly not at the expense of pandemic. All the States who are failing to India which honours its martyrs. extra body fat. However, it is seen that control the spread of the pandemic must than happy that I their vote bank. These exchanges and clashes at the many people even take doctors’ advice for have played the game gracefully. be penalised heavily and, if required, the friction points are more of a perception granted and do nothing to control their Meanwhile, what leaves the BJP concerned after Centre should impose President’s Rule cit- Singer battle rather than being a stage for “war”, blood pressure and sugar levels except tak- —Rahul Vaidya the Red Fort siege on Republic Day is that the agi- ing extraordinary situation or health emer- and it is more prudent to accept and lead ing medicines. tation focus has shifted from Punjab’s growers to gency. On the other hand, people must take swiftly with changing scenarios instead of Lifestyle diseases are very common all necessary precautions like wearing of Life has always thrown the Jat cultivators of western UP and Haryana. The BJP well understands that if the hiding the facts, ignoring the truths and these days and lakhs of people die because challenges. Haryana masks, sanitising their hands, maintaining of it. The urban lifestyle and extreme work strong Jat community decides not to favour the party in the UP Assembly polls, its social distancing to keep the infection at bay. bearing the brunt later. has three spinners who Such instances by the Army and pressure has given us a convenient life but chances of retaining power would be next to impossible. It is for this reason that the We cannot act carelessly at this juncture, it’s have already played administration might lower the morale of has taken a toll on our health. for India. I always knew BJP leaders, including Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan and many Ministers in the Yogi a question of life and death. The cause of concern is that lifestyle M Raghuraman | Mumbai soldiers, which is evident on the Chinese that if I get an Adityanath Government, are wooing influential khap leaders. They will definitely leave side, but India is leading with high emo- diseases are irreversible and if a person falls opportunity, I must make it count. no stone unturned to make the situation favourable for the party. On the other hand, SHAME ON CHINA AND THE PLA tional quotient and the morale of our prey to these, s/he can lead a healthy life Cricketer only by taking precaution and medicines. AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal recently met farm leaders over Sir —This refers to the editorial ‘Chinese Army personnel is high as ever. It was also —Rahul Tewatia evident during the recent disengagement While COVID-19 has devastated our lunch to discuss the ongoing protest against the Centre’s farm laws. He will also checkers’ (February 20). Finally, the Xi lives, it was witnessed that those having Jinping-led Chinese administration admit- dialogue. The morale of our soldiers is We have decided to address a Kisan Mahapanchayat in Meerut on February 28 to show solidarity with much higher than that of their Chinese co-morbities were more vulnerable. launch a mass registration ted the loss of four soldiers during the Lifestyle diseases coupled with COVID are the farmers. The AAP has already revealed its ambition by announcing that in the Galwan Valley faceoff with India in June counterparts. and awareness pro- Nischai Vats | Sultanpur dangerous. gramme for construction next two years, it will contest elections in six States including UP and Uttarakhand. last year. It is a matter of shame for China N Soumik | Bhubaneswar that it took the PLA eight months to recog- workers and labourers Well, there is no harm in trying one’s luck but whether the party is able to leave any ALL MUST WALK FOR HEALTH so that they can avail welfare schemes. real imprint or would end up as an “also-ran”, only time will tell. As of now, its prospects nise the demise of its soldiers and that must have sent an indication down to its Sir —It is not only for the elders to jog and Send your feedback to: Delhi Deputy CM don’t seem too promising, at least not in UP. walk but even yongsters and people of [email protected] —Manish Sisodia VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 23, 2021 07 www.dailypioneer.com facebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/ FIRSTCOLUMN Time for Govt to make MUST REDUCE MONEY POWER IN POLITICS a clear-cut choice UTTAM GUPTA What is needed is political will and a consensus on reforms in the electoral system If the Centre allows gas producers to charge what they want, one shudders to even think of where the fertiliser and power subsidy bill will reach he State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is forming a new Twholly-owned subsidiary company with the objective of sourcing, marketing and trading KALYANI SHANKAR natural gas. The company is already into explo- unding is vital for a political party and more so for one that is ration and production of gas (besides crude oil) not in power. The Congress Party is going through a severe finan- which it sells to a variety of industries manufac- cial crunch and has sought help from its Chief Ministers and office- turing fertilisers, power, chemicals, petrochem- F icals, CNG, gas for household consumption and bearers. The forthcoming Assembly elections in Kerala, Assam, West so on. Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry have increased pressure on the So what has prompted it to set up a sepa- party, which is in power only in Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, rate company solely for the purpose of trading Chhattisgarh and Puducherry. The cash crunch in the ‘Grand Old Party’, and marketing of gas? It is not a simple case of which was in power for 56 years, is because of various reasons. It business restructuring, but an attempt to circum- has been receiving fewer funds for the last six years because of a vent control on the price of gas imposed by the perception that the Congress is unlikely to resume its primacy. Second, Union Government. To understand how it seeks to do so, let us have a look at the extant pricing the BJP has overtaken the Congress since 2014. Third, it is facing structure. a leadership crisis and fourth, regional parties are also vying for dona- Under the pricing guidelines effective since tions. Fifth, any party’s funding from private donors depends on pub- November 2014, for all domestic supplies from IF THE CENTRE lic trust. Earlier the Congress had fund managers in each State, but fields given under the New Exploration and FEELS THAT this system has collapsed now due to central control. Licencing Policy (NELP), as also blocks given on A HIGH PRICE TO The party is in need of funds to run State units, headquarters, nomination to ONGC and Oil India Limited GAS PRODUCERS pay salaries to the staff, for election campaigns, for building a new (OIL) before the NELP, the price — call it nor- IS THE ONLY WAY mal price — is a weighted average of prices at four TO MAKE THEM party office and so on. In 2018, it touched rock bottom and launched international locations in the US, the UK, a 40-day booth committee fundraising programme in October appeal- DELIVER MORE Canada and Russia. It is revised every six SUPPLIES, THEN IT ing for funds. In fact, the Congress had to resort to crowdfunding. months in a financial year and the current price, SHOULD REMOVE ing (set by none other than the receive price on an escalating scale to stick to price regulation. For the from October 1, 2020, is $1.79 per million Btu ALL CONTROLS ON Centre itself) and selling at a high- with a minimum of $4 per million same reason, it exercises control (British thermal unit). er market discovered price. Put Btu and maximum, hitting any over the allocation of gas. Of the Also, under a special package for deep/ultra- FERTILISERS, simply, the Government’s initial level depending on the demand- total supply, 31 per cent is given to deep, high-pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT) POWER AND SO ON decision to put a cap on the price supply scenario. Is this what the power, 24 per cent to fertilisers and fields announced in March 2016, the supplies are AND LET THEM gets nullified by its subsequent Modi Government had planned 22 per cent is allotted for city gas. allowed a market-based price, subject to a ceil- ADJUST AS PER action of allowing an affiliate of the for? Since then, nothing has changed as ing which is linked to the prices of alternate fuels, MARKET FORCES. gas producer to bid. It may be worthwhile to go to warrant a move towards market- including fuel oil, naphtha and LNG. The cur- IF IT CAN’T, The supplies from fields given back to 2014 when it had under- based pricing. Neither has the rent ceiling price is $4.06 per million Btu, known IT SHOULD under the Open Acreage Licencing taken a review of the gas pricing Government done away with con- as the “premium” price, the applicable price is REGULATE GAS Policy (OALP) (introduced in July formula finalised by the then UPA trol on urea’s MRP nor do States PRICES AND Some of the most popular fundraising methods for political par- arrived at based on competitive bidding — in 2017) are already eligible for mar- Government (January 2014) which have any plans to shed supply of which earlier, affiliates of gas producers were not STRICTLY ADHERE ket-based pricing. This also applies could not be implemented in view free power to key constituents. ties are individual and corporate funding. The BJP’s phenomenal abil- allowed to participate. If the discovered price TO THE NOVEMBER to unconventional hydrocarbons of impending general elections. In this scenario, if the ity to capture a massive chunk of corporate donations is closely con- exceeds the ceiling, then the buyer pays only the 2014 GUIDELINES such as shale gas, coal bed methane Then Team Modi had categorical- Government allows gas producers nected to the Congress’ sharp deceleration and financial woes. The ceiling price. From October 2020, the bar on par- (CBM) from the fields awarded ly rejected market-based pricing, to charge what they want, one BJP has been occupying the pole position for long in tapping corpo- ticipation of affiliates of the gas producing firm under the NELP. Further, supplies arguing that domestic supply of gas shudders to even think of where the rate contributions, even when the Congress was in power, with the was removed. This means that the producer can from the so-called marginal fields being far short of demand, this fertiliser and power subsidy bill will saffron party allegedly cornering 90 per cent of the funding. buy its own gas (albeit through its affiliate) and (a total of 149) previously with the would result in high price, which reach (every one dollar per million In recent years, the Modi Government has introduced three sig- sell it to third parties at a higher rate thereby cir- ONGC and OIL and recently auc- users, particularly the fertiliser Btu hike in gas price increases urea cumventing the ceiling price. Reliance Industries tioned to private entities, also industry, power and city gas — they subsidy by about `4,000 crore nificant changes in political funding and parties can now receive for- Limited (RIL), which produces gas from the KG- qualify for complete freedom of account for nearly three-fourth of annually). To accommodate the ris- eign donations. Any company can give any amount of money to a D6 field in the Krishna Godavari basin, did pre- pricing. Now, gas companies are total gas use — can’t afford. In fer- ing subsidy, it may have to further political party and third, any individual, group of people or firm can cisely this. In an auction on February 5, offer- building pressure on the tilisers, bulk of the gas is used for loosen the already relaxed fiscal donate money anonymously to a party through electoral bonds. These ing 7.5 mmscmd (million standard cubic meter Government to alter the mecha- producing urea, whose maximum deficit trajectory, outlined by the bonds have been available since January 2018 and the gap in cor- per day) of new gas from this field, its subsidiary nism of fixing even the normal retail price (MRP) is controlled at Finance Minister on February 1, for porate donations between the BJP and the Congress is growing wider. Reliance O2C Limited bought 4.8 mmscmd at a price applicable to supplies from a low level to make it affordable to the next five years (6.8 per cent of Whatever be the reason, such a major gap in political contributions price of $4.06 per million Btu and sold it for $6- fields given under NELP and nom- farmers. The excess cost of supply the Gross Domestic Product in 7 per million Btu to GAIL India Limited (Ltd), ination blocks to the ONGC and is reimbursed as subsidy to man- 2021-22 gliding down to 4.5 per between the ruling and the main Opposition party is not good for democ- Shell and others. OIL before the NELP. The Ministry ufacturers. If gas is priced high, cent in 2025-26). racy. The ONGC wants to do a repeat of what of Petroleum and Natural Gas had with the MRP remaining The Government needs to The Congress received `139 crore as donations during 2019- Reliance has done by forming a wholly-owned agreed to look into this and even unchanged, this will result in high- make a clear-cut choice. If it feels 2020, according to an Election Commission (EC) report. It is still the subsidiary which will buy any new gas coming set up a committee. That was in er subsidy, which the Government that high price to gas producers is second most prosperous party but far behind the BJP. According to from the former’s deep/ultra-deep fields such as October, 2020 when an idea was wants to avoid. the only way to make them deliv- the Congress’ constitution, the lawmakers and workers are supposed KG-D5 also in the KG basin (projected at about mooted to fix a floor price linked Likewise, States want to pay er more supplies, then it should to pay one per cent of their income to the party but this does not 15 mmscmd) and in turn, sell it to firms such as to the Japan-Korea Marker (JKM) less on power subsidy even as they remove all controls on fertilisers, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd — a benchmark index used to order a big slice of it to be supplied power and so on and let them happen. It needs to encourage its members to donate more and emu- (MRPL) at a price much higher than $4.06 per determine LNG tariff in North Asia at low tariff or even free to farm- adjust as per market forces. If it late Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who, in 2020 was the highest indi- million Btu. Being a company whose majority is The writer is a —with a discount. This would ers and poor households, unrelat- can’t, it should regulate gas prices vidual donor and had given `3 crore to the party fund. A political party owned by the Centre, any decision by the New Delhi-based have yielded a floor of $4 million ed to cost. and strictly adhere to the may acquire funds through donations during rallies, relief funds, the ONGC Board could not have been taken with- policy analyst. Btu. These overarching considera- November 2014 guidelines — The views expressed sale of coupons and other miscellaneous allocations. However, if poll out its prior approval. In other words, the Centre are personal. Putting all the pieces together, tions weighed heavily on the rul- annulling all subsequent modifica- expenses are cut there is no need for a party to collect huge funds. is amenable to the gas producer breaking the ceil- one gets a sense that gas firms will ing dispensation when it decided tions. The EC has a long list of suggestions including reforms of polit- ical parties, auditing of accounts, checking black money and cap- ping of anonymous donations to 20 per cent. Several panels have POINTCOUNTERPOINT recommended poll reforms. This included the Goswami Committee (1990), the Vohra Committee (1993) and the Law Commission. One I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO REFUSED TO DO ITEM LOVED YOUR DANCING IN THIS ITEM NUMBER of the suggestions was State funding. The need of the hour is elec- NUMBERS AND BIG HERO FILMS WHICH MADE THE IN THE FILM RAJJO. YOU ARE A GREAT PERFORMER toral reforms and it is time to push through these reforms to cleanse ENTIRE ‘BULLYWOODIA’ GANG TURN AGAINST ME. AND A GREAT DANCER KANGANA. the electoral system so that money power becomes less. What is needed is political will and a consensus on reforms. —ACTOR —ACTOR (The writer is a senior journalist. The views expressed are KANGANA RANAUT SWARA BHASKER personal.) India must migrate to ‘happy fuels’ for a sustainable future Energy independence needs to be a major focus area to shape the country as a DESH, i.e. having Development, Energy, Security and Harmony oday, human societies year, is going to be a pivotal solar and wind energy with tribute to more diverse and effi- hydrogen is a zero-emission increased social responsibility. have a wider array of moment for the world to agree zero carbon emissions compris- cient energy infrastructure, the multipurpose fuel used for If we are to match the pace Toptions towards making on actionable steps to prevent es just 10 per cent, the rest Centre has focused on pioneer- long-term energy storage and of energy development in the lifestyle and economic choices. the catastrophic warming of being biomass, urban and ing initiatives like the helps decarbonise transport, world, following a super-con- But it is becoming increasing- our planet. India, being the industrial waste power. A International Solar Alliance heating and industrial process- scious approach and methods ly clear that all our choices need world’s fourth-largest carbon desired change in the energy and new initiatives like ‘One es such as steel and cement need to be adopted. We must to remain within the 1.5º emitter with a population of 1.3 mix will depend on innovative Sun, One World, One Grid’, making. With huge renewable develop a vision with a target Celsius Paris Agreement goals, KARNATAK billion people, requires signif- technologies, growing energy World Solar Bank and so on. potential, India has a tremen- to become energy independent for shaping our pathways ASHUTOSH icant strides in greening its demand, strong wind and solar Technological progress is dous opportunity to explore the by 2047; develop a hybrid responsibly and leaving a clean- energy ecosystem with more resources, policy support and on the cusp of making decar- green hydrogen route to kick- model i.e., blending of conven- er environment as a legacy. All sustainable and benign tech- growing investments to ensure bonisation economically viable. off energy transition. tional and renewable energy too often, investments in the nologies, including fast track- smart, reliable, clean and independence and a solid India’s story on solar energy The Centre, in the recent sources and formulate an environment are seen as costs ing the adoption of renewable affordable energy to over a bil- action plan is required to grad- encapsulates the economic Budget, announced the estab- action plan. There must be but the reality is that spending resources for propelling socio- lion people with an energy con- ually migrate from the use of argument to switch to cleaner lishment of a Hydrogen aggressive implementation for on green initiatives now would economic development. sumption rate growing faster fossil fuels to renewable sources of power generation. Mission, which is a step in the achieving scale and affordabil- be the biggest cost saving of all Our country’s transition than all major economies in the sources, including the usage of The most recent auction for right direction. Several initia- ity, plus energy efficiency must times. It is high time we realised to a fully sustainable energy sys- world. hydrogen in the energy sector. solar energy received bids of a tives to convert coal to gas are be a Key Performance Area of that the economy is a subset of tem shall be enabled by the One of the key success This will ultimately lead us record low of `2 per unit indi- underway and migration to the organisations. Schools, col- the environment and not vice push for cleaner energy and indicators of any country is to the basket of “Happy Fuels” cating that the transition to an hydrogen economy needs to be leges, civil society and organi- versa and a green recovery will decarbonising the energy sec- positive balance of payments i.e., a fuel bringing happiness to economy with net-zero emis- ramped up in the same way. sations should partner and provide thriving economics tor, which accounts for a quar- with exports in surplus to self, society and the nation by sions can both be viable and Significantly, businesses engage Generation Next in and a safer planet for everyone. ter of global emissions, will be imports. Our economy is large- way of being economical, envi- sustainable. Green hydrogen as must maintain a balance to pro- making a change for a better World leaders have come vital for the same. ly dependent upon the import ronment friendly, safer with an energy resource is gaining tect, sustain and enhance tomorrow. together on the need to counter The writer is Member, Fossil fuels make up 75 per of oil which is to the tune of more affordability and better momentum. Already major human and natural resources Energy independence the challenges of climate Appellate Tribunal for cent of India’s energy mix (with `7.5 lakh crore annually (15 per reach. developed countries have for- that will be needed in the needs to be a major focus area change and the COP-26 Electricity. coal as the major contributor), cent of the total import bill). To reduce petroleum use, ayed in this area, with Japan future. Organisations are to shape India as a DESH i.e., The views expressed International Climate Summit, are personal. while the spectrum of renew- Reduction in this will go a long greenhouse gas (GHG) emis- being the leader. Produced required to shift from wealth having Development, Energy, scheduled to be held later this able power including hydro, way in fostering India’s energy sions, air pollution, and con- from renewable energy, green creation to value creation with Security and Harmony. VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 23, 2021 Money 08

Rupee surges Global shares mostly 16 paise to close at 72.49 SensexSensex sinkssinks 1,1451,145 points;points; lower as investors against USD wary over stimulus PNS n TOKYO heralds hope for export-reliant regional economies. NiftyNifty dropsdrops belowbelow 14,70014,700 Global shares were mostly Japan's benchmark Nikkei lower on Monday, with Japan's 225 gained 0.5 per cent to fin- benchmark rising but most ish at 30,156.03. South Korea's others slipping despite hopes Kospi dipped 0.9 per cent to During the afternoon for a recovery from the coro- 3,079.75. Australia's navirus pandemic with the S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.2 session, markets started global rollout of vaccines. per cent lower to 6,780.90. PNS n MUMBAI France's CAC 40 slipped 1.1 Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell to drift lower and traded in per cent in early trading to 1.1 per cent to 30,319.83, The rupee gained 16 paise 5,708.39, while Germany's while the Shanghai Composite to settle at 72.49 against red as amid fresh concerns DAX dove 1.3 per cent to dropped 1.5 per cent to the US dollar on Monday over the increase in the 13,816.87. Britain's FTSE 100 3,642.44. Japan began admin- supported by sustained declined 1.1 per cent to istering vaccines for COVID- foreign fund inflows and number of Covid cases 6,554.12. U.S. shares were to 19 last week. It was the last of expectation of improved open lower, with the future the Group of Seven industri- macro-economic data. contributed to the fears contract for the Dow industri- al nations to get started, begin- At the interbank forex als sliding 0.7 per cent to ning with health workers. market, the local unit that the economic impact 31,224. The S&P 500 Prospects for further ship- opened at 72.58 against will be much larger than future fell nearly 1 per cent to ments of vaccine remain the greenback and wit- 3,865.12. uncertain, according to Taro nessed an intra-day high earlier estimates Benchmarks rose in Japan Kono, the Japanese minister of 72.29 and a low of but fell in South Korea, tasked with overseeing the 72.58. It finally ended at Australia and China. Investors effort. Vaccination drives are 72.49 against the remain focused on the future set to start soon in other American currency, regis- of global economies badly hit Asian nations, such as tering a rise of 16 paise by COVID-19 and when and Malaysia, Vietnam and the from its previous close. On whether there will be enough Philippines. Investors remain Thursday, the rupee had stimulus to fix it. focused on the future of glob- settled at 72.65 against But the U.S. USD 1.9 trillion al economies badly hit by the American currency. economic package proposed COVID-19 and the potential The forex market was shut by President Joe Biden also for more stimulus to fix it. on Friday on account of Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, advanced 0.04 per cent to 90.40. "Rupee gained strength amid PNS n MUMBAI lower at 49,744.32. The broader "India markets opened on a cerns over the increase in the growth companies reliant on steady FII inflows and NSE Nifty sank 306.05 points or flattish note tracking mixed Asian number of COVID-19 cases con- easy borrowing," Solanki added. expectation of improved Extending its losses for the fifth 2.04 per cent to finish at market peers with China trading tributed to the fears that the eco- Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in macro-economic data. straight session, equity bench- 14,675.70. in losses as PBoC kept interest nomic impact will be much larg- Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul India's GDP data is fore- mark Sensex plummeted 1,145 Dr Reddy's was the top loser rates unchanged while Japan was er than earlier estimates, he ended on a negative note, while cast to show that economy points on Monday, tracking heavy in the Sensex pack, shedding trading with marginal gains," noted. Tokyo traded with gains. Stock expanded in Q3 FY21 losses in index majors Reliance around 5 per cent, followed by said Narendra Solanki, Head- "Also, the major western mar- exchanges in Europe were also after 2 consecutive quar- Industries, HDFC and TCS amid M&M, Tech Mahindra, Axis Equity Research (Fundamental), kets failed to provide any support trading in the red in mid-session ters of contraction," said negative cues from global mar- Bank, IndusInd Bank and TCS. Anand Rathi. as it opened to trade in red with deals. Meanwhile, the global oil Saif Mukadam, Sharekhan kets. On the other hand, ONGC, During the afternoon session, equity investors growing concern benchmark Brent crude was by BNP Paribas. The 30-share BSE index ended HDFC Bank and Kotak Bank markets started to drift lower and about rising bond yields in recent trading 0.66 per cent higher at 1,145.44 points or 2.25 per cent were the gainers. traded in red as amid fresh con- weeks which could hurt high- USD 62.55 per barrel. L&T wins large contracts in Exim Bank MEA to discuss MONEY MATTERS extends LoC power transmission segment worth USD 50 socioeconomics CEAT opens all-women operated PNS n NEW DELHI In West Bengal, orders have been received to supply and mn to Maldives PNS n MUMBAI customer service centre Engineering and construction install high voltage distribution yre maker CEAT on major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) systems in certain districts on PNS n MUMBAI The Ministry of External TMonday announced the on Monday said its power a turnkey mode, the company Affairs (MEA) will be holding opening of all-women transmission and distribution said adding that another order Export-Import Bank of a three-day conference operated customer service business has bagged large to construct 220kV and 132kV India (Exim Bank) on focused on geoeconomics dur- centre Shoppes at Bhatinda domestic and overseas con- transmission lines has been Monday said it has ing the coming weekend, ties between India and north- in Punjab and said it plans tracts across its spectrum of won from the state transmis- extended a line of credit which will have India's Foreign ern neighbor China and to set up such outlets pan- offerings. sion utility. (LOC) worth USD 50 Minister S Jaishankar among attempts are on to reach agree- India in the next few Though the company did voltaic projects in Gujarat, the The business has won a 400 million to the Republic of speakers, the organisers said ments to contested border months. The all-women CEAT Shoppes include women workforce for not specify the exact value of company said in a statement. kV substation order in Tamil Maldives for financing of on Monday. lines which became ugly last all service-related assistance to customers. This also includes the contracts, as per its speci- L&T is one of the leading Nadu. This project is aimed to defence projects in the The conference, being held year resulting in face-offs at icy manual jobs like wheel changing, balancing and operating various fication a large contract ranges EPC players globally in the meet the future load growth of country. An amendatory along with the think-tank heights. Retired diplomat machinery to service a vehicle, the company said in a release. CEAT between Rs 2,500 crore and Rs renewables space with a track the Coimbatore region and to agreement for repurpos- Pune International Centre, Gautam Bambawale, who has had earlier this month said that these service outlets will work as 5,000 crore. record of having built some of strengthen the evacuation sys- ing an existing LOC of will also see senior represen- served as Indian Ambassador full-fledged customer service centres. At the time of the global crisis The Power Transmission & the largest solar plants. tem of an upcoming pumped USD 40 million to include tatives from the governments to China till 2018 and is also due to the pandemic, many people have lost their jobs but with this Distribution (PT&D) Business The company said it has storage power plant. road projects in Maldives of Australia, Japan, Mauritius, the event convenor, told initiative, CEAT Tyres is opening avenues for women and creating of Larsen & Toubro has also received a 765kV double In Qatar, it said the business was also signed between Maldives and Bhutan speak- reporters that the event has more employment opportunities. The first of such Shoppes has secured two engineering, pro- circuit transmission line pack- has won an order to install line Exim Bank and Maldives ing, they said. representation from across been opened in Bhatinda, north India followed by introduction of 10 curement, and construction age in Rajasthan through a connected current limiting government last week, a It can be noted that the the world and will steer clear Shoppes in the next few months across India, it said. (EPC) orders to establish more project specific transmission reactors for the first time in the release said. conference comes amid frosty of politics. than 400 MW solar photo- company. country's network. Voda-Idea launches premium CIL inks pact with CRIS for Myshubhlife VOD service on Vi Movies gets $ 4mn odafone Idea on VMonday sharing of coal freight data from Patamar announced the launch of Premium PNS n NEW DELHI the entire coal supply matrix details. "For faster and cus- PNS n MUMBAI Video On Demand through rail mode, according tomised automated access to Mobile app-based lender (PVOD) service on State-owned Coal India on to the company. It will pro- data, through Freight MyShubhLife (earlier Vi Movies and TV Monday said it has signed a vide precise details of load- Operations Shubh Loans) has raised App, in partnership pact with the Centre for ing, weighment and unload- Information System (FOIS) USD 4 million (about Rs with Hungama, as Railway Information Systems ing along with turnaround of Indian Railways, which 29 crore) in a funding the telco looks to strengthen its OTT play. The PVOD market in (CRIS), a wing under the rail- time of rakes, it added. would help Coal India round led by Singapore- India is "premature but promising" as the Indian audience ways ministry, for monitoring Primarily, it is a hand- ...monitor movement of coal based Patamar Capital continues to be price-conscious and choosy, Vodafone Idea FAA orders United to the movement of rakes laden shake of freight operation laden rakes and coal despatch and some of its existing (VIL) said in a statement adding such models are changing in with fossil fuel and coal information between the net- activity, the company on investors. the new post pandemic era as consumers explore alternate despatch activity. works of CIL and CRIS Monday entered a Memor- Myshubhlife offers options of entertainment from comfort of their homes. The inspect Boeing 777s The first-of-its-kind data regarding Coal India's rail andum of Understanding loans, savings products company said Vi Movies and TV Pay per view model a natural sharing offers Coal India Ltd movement of coal, the com- with Centre for Railway like insurance, SIPs, e- extension of its entertainment offerings. The current offerings PNS n SAN FRANCISCO The plane with 231 passen- (CIL) a bouquet of benefits pany said, adding that it also Information Systems," the gold, and e-filing taxes. allow users to watch content at no extra cost as per their gers and 10 crew on board that help it in rationalising includes other logistics PSU said in a statement. recharge or post-paid plans. Federal aviation regulators landed safely, and nobody have ordered United Airlines aboard or on the ground was to step up inspections of all reported hurt, authorities said. Boeing 777s equipped with the The Federal Aviation After plunging to 16-yr low, yields soar 31 bps type of engine that suffered a Administration FAA Expect domestic PV industry catastrophic failure over Administrator Steve Dickson PNS n MUMBAI spike in the yields and urges lakh crore, up from the revised crore but the combined gross Denver on Saturday. said in a statement Sunday that the central bank to rein them estimate of Rs 10.5 lakh crore. debt borrowing jumping to growth in double digits in ’22 United said it is temporari- based on an initial review of The massive spike in 2021-22 in. The combined gross bor- Rs 23 lakh crore and net inch- ly removing those aircraft from safety data, inspectors “con- borrowing target at Rs 23 lakh The report expects the rowings of the Centre and ing down to Rs 18.1 lakh crore. ata Motors expects service, as meanwhile Boeing cluded that the inspection crore, has led to a 31 basis Centre's gross borrowing in states are seen at Rs 22.1 lakh The current fiscal is an Tdomestic passenger recommended grounding air- interval should be stepped up points rally in benchmark this fiscal year to touch Rs 13.9 crore this year, higher interesting year with the two vehicles industry to grow in craft with that model engine for the hollow fan blades that bond yields to well over 6 per lakh crore, higher than the than the revised esti- halves having diametrically double digits in 2021-22 until the Federal Aviation are unique to this model of cent since the announcement revised estimate of Rs mate of Rs 21.5 lakh opposite narratives. During on the back of continued Administration sets an inspec- engine, used solely on Boeing of Budget, and RBI needs to 12.8 lakh crore, and crore, and net at Rs April-September(H1), bond robust demand momentum tion regime. 777 airplanes.” Boeing said it contain the same by reining in net borrowing at 18.4 lakh crore, up yields were mostly below 6 per driven by shift towards per- Pratt and Whitney, maker of supported decisions by the the short-sellers, says a report. Rs 11.6 from Rs 17.8 lakh cent (the lowest borrowing sonal mobility in the after- the engine, said it was sending Japan Civil Aviation Bureau The Reserve Bank's assidu- crore, according cost in the past 16 years) on the math of COVID-19 pan- a team to work with investiga- and FAA to suspend operations ous support to the Centre's to the report. back of effective yield manage- demic, coupled with a low tors while coordinating with of all 777 aircraft powered by debt management has ensured The report ment by RBI. However, all this base effect, according to a airlines and regulators. The Pratt and Whitney 4000-112 that in the first half of 2020- also sees gross changed after the Budget when top company official. Despite uncertainties over increasing com- announcements come a day engines. 21 the borrowing cost for the borrowings the government upped its bor- modity prices and supply of semiconductors, Tata Motors expects its after United Airlines Flight It said there were 69 of the Centre was the lowest in past of the rowing programme for the growth in the upcoming fiscal to be better than that of the industry. 328 had to make an emergency engines in service and anoth- 16 years as bond yields were Centre current fiscal and announced "There is a momentum which continues on the demand side because landing at Denver International er 59 in storage. below 5.75 per cent, the inching an aggressive one for 2021-22 of the shift towards personal mobility. That will remain till everybody Airport after its right engine “We are working with these report by SBI Research down to and with just over a month left gets vaccinated. We don't know when everyone will get vaccinated," blew apart just after takeoff. regulators as they take actions said on Monday. Rs 12.1 in 2020-21, the market is still Tata Motors President – Passenger Vehicle Business Unit Shailesh Pieces of the casing of the while these planes are on the It primarily blames lakh crore expecting a consolidated bor- Chandra told PTI. Still people will be cautious and therefore there is engine, a Pratt and Whitney ground and further inspec- short-sellers, who are wor- next fiscal rowing amount of more than this gravity towards personal mobility, he said. PW4000, rained down on sub- tions are conducted by Pratt ried over the large bor- year, and net Rs 2.5 lakh crore, notes the urban neighbourhoods. and Whitney," it said. rowing plans, for the sudden at Rs 9.2 lakh report. 9

Vijayawada Tuesday February 23 2021 what’s brewing? Britney Spears makes Ted Cruz apologise Aaron Rodgers' marriage in Saturday Night Live's opener

aturday Night Live’s February 20 York Times documentary Framing Britney plans revealed after episode offered some high-profile Spears. The film chronicles the Piece of people the opportunity to apologise Me singer’s rise to fame and fall for their latest controversial from the public’s pedestal, lead- S actions — with a little help ing many fans to criticise how from Britney Spears, played Justin handled their surprise engagement by Chloe Fineman. breakup. The actress channels the pop star’s Britney’s first guest is aron Rodgers, 37, said during the virtual there to affirm to him recent Instagram videos, in which she Ted Cruz, played by Aidy doesn’t want to speech, later saying he want- what a great person he is, stares wide-eyed at the camera and Bryant, who arrives to the wait to marry ed to “thank my fiancée” they are both very mind- occasionally breaks out into dance, show wearing a Cancun T- fiancée Shailene towards the end! Our source ful of what makes each as she explains why she is the one shirt and holding a tropical A Woodley, 29! went on to spill the details other happy,” our insider hosting this apology tour. beverage. The Texas senator Aaron’s MVP on Aaron and Shailene’s revealed. “I started this show Oops You Did It is accused of abandoning his year only got better thanks long distance romance. Currently, Shailene is Again so people could apologise for state, which is currently in crisis to getting engaged to “There is some uncertainty working on a film in things they did wrong, because after due to energy outages from a Shailene. “It may seem quick on [his] return to Green Montreal, Canada the #FreeBritney documentary came winter storm, in order to for them to be engaged but Bay,” they told. where Aaron report- out, I’m receiving hundreds of vacation in Mexico with it is the right time for them “He wants to make sure edly jointed her for a apologies a day,” she tells the his family. Upon being and anyone that knows next season is intact and he romantic Valentine’s audience. called out by the pub- them both sees that the tim- wants Shailene to have the Day! The football star “Speaking of lic, he said it was his ing is right on target,” a final say in plans. So they followed Canada’s which, I’d like to daughters who source close to the NFL star are working together to get strict two-week quar- give a shout out wanted to take the tells a news agency. to a wedding and it will like- antine rules upon to our sponsor, trip, and that he “Aaron actually wants to ly happen before anyone entry. The couple the Notes app. obliged in order to get married pretty fast and thinks, they aren’t going to ordered food in and he Are you looking be a good father. furious if he had his choice, wait that long to get it done,” “quarantined at her to post a lame Clearly comparing he would like to do it this they also added. Back in place, but they spent apology 20 the situation to summer,” the insider noted. 2018, Aaron signed a four- time together when years late? Go her own plight Just days before Aaron year, $134 million contract she wasn’t on set.” through the with the public, confirmed he was “engaged” extension with the Green The actress has since motions with Britney told Ted, on the NFL Honors broad- Bay Packers, which also been spotted on-set but the Notes app.” “A s s o m e o n e w h o cast, reports began swirling included a $57.5 million sans an engagement The line is a was blamed for that he was dating the Big signing bonus. While it’s ring. Previously, anoth- not-so-subtle other people’s Little Lies star. unclear how the lovebirds er insider said the cou- dig at Justin problems from a While he didn’t name first linked up, the distance ple have “kept things Timberlake, who young age, maybe Shailene as he accepted an isn’t stopping them from private and low key,” and recently posted leave your award from the league, he moving ahead with their despite the distance, “they his own apology daughters out of beamed as he shared his big relationship. “She brings out continue to talk and see to his ex-girlfriend it because it news. “I got engaged,” he the best in him and is always each other when they can.” earlier this month could really after being called mess with their out in the New heads.” Rubina Dilaik declared as Roohi song Panghat: Janhvi Kapoor the winner of Bigg Boss 14 debuts her stunning and spooky avatars ubina Dilaik initially admit- n the new song, titled inspired from Amir Khusro’s ted that she had come on the Panghat, Janhvi is iconic verse. show Bigg Boss 4 to give a first seen dressed like The forthcoming horror- R chance to her marriage with I a bride in a red comedy is being helmed by Abhinav Shukla. From per- lehenga. She dances Hardik Mehta. A Jio Studios forming exceptionally well with co-stars Presentation, Roohi is being during the tasks to making us all cry Rajkummar Rao and Varun produced by Dinesh Vijan with her heart-breaking confession of Sharma in a palace but soon and Mrighdeep Singh the truth of her marriage, Rubina the party gets hijacked by Lamba. The film marks the Dilaik made her way in our hearts her ghost avatar as the place first-ever collaboration of since day one. From her journey as a turns creepy. Dressed in Rajkummar and Janhvi and strong contender to being the perfect black and wearing a crystal the second collaboration of wife, Rubina Dilaik has come a long crown with dark makeup, Rajkummar and Varun after way from the first episode. Janhvi looks stunning in this sharing screen space in the Towards the end of the show when avatar too. 2015 release, Dolly Ki Doli. Abhinav Shukla returned to celebrate The song is composed by Roohi, which is the first Valentine’s Day with her, he proposed Sachin-Jigar, who have also major Bollywood release to get married to her once again and given the vocals with Asees post lockdown, was set to the actress was clearly elated. After Kaur and Divya Kumar. The hit the cinemas in the first The film will also become nationwide to operate at full lines of the 2018 hit film completing her journey of over four whelmed with emotions. Walking lyrics are by Amitabh week of June last year, but the first film to arrive in the- capacity from February 1 Stree, which featured months in the house, Rubina Dilaik away with the trophy and a hefty price Bhattacharya. However, the the film had to be post- atres after the ministry of with Covid-19 safety proto- Shraddha Kapoor and was declared as the winner of Bigg money, Rubina Dilaik surely deserved opening line, Bahut Kathin poned due to the ongoing information and broadcast- cols put in place. Rajkummar Rao in lead Boss 14, and the actress was over- to win the show. Hai Dagar Panghat Ki, is coronavirus pandemic. ing allowed cinema halls The film is based on the roles.

FUN

ARCHIE CALVIN AND HOBBES

GARFIELD REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

NANCY

SUDOKU Yesterday’s solution

GINGER MEGGS

Rules l Each row and column can contain each number (1 to 9) exactly once. l The sum of all numbers in any row or column must equal 45. Follow us on @TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/ dailypioneer

Tuesday February 23, 2021

Seeking refuge in For a safe and hygienic FASHION AND ART tomorrow e all love to look Project’, it is aimed at cre- more about the ‘silai-walis’ us, a little bit of good, don’t we? ating circular solutions by who were successful in childhood that Sustainable is the Highly coveted utilising off cuts from past weaving fine hand-crafted we always carry designer outfits, seasons and breathing new dolls that one can’t take with ourselves! VIKAS BAGARIA, way to go this W expensive ones, life into them, infusing their eyes off from, he tells, “There is zero- jewelry that we them with the innocent “They are so good at what commercial sagac- founder of Pee Safe, decade and when see in fashion magazines quirks of growing up and they do, very wonderfully ity prevailing here, and more! Fashion, at the splendid creative spirit they used all the scrap it’s a social act! The talks about how the fashion labels take times, becomes so self- of childhood. “There is the without making use of any artisans are the pure consuming but for Genes blend of social enterprise exterior material because master curators for it. An pandemic has highlighted it up, it only Lecoanet Hemant, it is all here which brought us on then what’s the point of ideology is being pushed about making the country board for this project. going sustainable. Their to the pinnacle to expose the need of maintaining pushes consumers a better place through their Going ecological and green hand-work along with the consumers to ecological latest sustainability initia- is the new beckon. This judgment of the quality of integrity and social jus- hygiene and feels that it to make more tive in collaboration with was an inspiring move, we the efforts they added was tice. We barely talk two the NGO — Silai Wali. weren’t aiming for a mar- so spectacular! When you cents about social evolu- is high time that informed choices Happiness takes a new ket competition but rather take a look at those dolls, tion! Having said that, form as the apparel joins send a joint-message of it's highly different from sustainable fashion is feminine hygiene is for the planet. hands with the NGO to empowerment with the the traditional ‘putlis’, the the sign of the times make hand crafted dolls addition of hand crafted finishing is so good. The and an uprising is yet given equal The Pioneer's for a nostalgic trip back dolls,” shares Hemant ‘silai-walis’ managed to to take place. to our childhood Sagar, the co-founder of give them a contemporary- Moreover, this project is importance Shikha Duggal days! the apparel. cum-fresh outlook for an highlighting the unifi- Titled The dolls are made by individual to stop to defi- cation of different talks to Genes ‘The such inspiring women nitely take a glance at it. nationalities as the that we launch various Joy through a longstanding Additionally, they operate one who is initiating campaigns including, Lecoanet social campaign. so methodically while this venture is an Own the Red, in 2019, Talking walking all the way to Indian while the per- where for the first time Hemant attend their workshops in son who works ow many of we depicted the men- morning, it’s praiseworthy along is French us knew strual blood in adver- about their to witness such sheer hard- and few of the what a sani- tisements as red and work.” artisans are tiser really not the standard blue. new green Sustainability manifests Afghani H was before It is absolutely impera- in different forms and it refugees,” the pandem- tive to acknowledge initiative. pivots around taking the co- ic? And even if we did, and work on these little responsibility to better the founder con- it goes without saying things to make bigger planet and the communi- cludes. not many used it so fre- changes,” he says. ties that share it at every quently. In fact, for Not only this, but the step along the way. ‘The many, it was nothing growing demand of the Joy Project’ is another step but a medical luxury. youth insisted the hus- in Genes Lecoanet Hemant However, COVID- band-wife duo to commitment towards sus- 19 taught us the impor- launch their range of tainability through ‘closing tance and necessity of female condoms. “It the loop’ for their fabric sanitation and hygiene. was on the demand of waste. The donated post But long before this the consumers that we production fabric waste people like Vikas launched our female that is hand sewn by the Bagaria have already condoms ‘Domina’. artisans into dolls exempli- been working towards They are the ones who fying the ethos of the improving the sanitary encouraged us by say- GenesTribe. conditions with innov- ing that this is some- The Joy Project redis- ative products and thing they want to talk covers the joie de vivre, campaigns such as Pee about, we worked pure- innately present in all of Safe. ly on their demand,” he “In 2013, my wife says. and now the co- The credit of the suc- founder of Pee Safe suf- cess of the brand and fered from Urinary its campaigns has to be Tract Infection because given to the young and of using dirty public dynamic team that toilets while travelling. Bagaria has. “The very It was then that we reason behind such dif- Explore the innate realised the importance ferent ideas, campaigns of maintaining sanitary and products is that hygiene. That got us our team consists of thinking and we decid- extremely young and ed that the need of that energetic people. Their hour was for a toilet average age is around seat sanitiser spray 23-25 and if they are which is easy to carry given the freedom to beauty of wilderness and cheap enough to express themselves on here are more trees on flourishes. Of the tangible form of changing world. Textured buy. After a lot of social media, they our planet than there are nature and the intangible facet of fabrics and a dexterous reasearch, it was in make sure they make stars in the galaxy,” mar- its genesis. execution of darts and 2017 that we finally every post worth it. All vels Dame Judi Dench For women, hues of eucalyptus tucks are reminiscent of ventured into female our campaigns are in T in her documentary green, amethyst, dandelion yellow the structure of wild hygiene and intimate house and all the credit series My Passion for and cinnamon are seen in quaint mushrooms. Lichens leave hygiene for both men goes to the creativity of Trees. That makes the forest noth- silhouettes. The approach is clean, a graphic signature on the and women with an the team,” Bagaria ing short of a vast universe where also reflected in the campaign pieces in the form of intu- aim to improve the added. every orb is inexplicably linked to imagery. Think quiet details mim- itive typography. The clothes conditions in the coun- The unfortunate part the other. It is this morphology of icking the shapes and forms of the mark an innate exploration try regarding this id that the high of sani- an ecosystem that underlines the botanical world of the forest of the forest with a keen issue,” says Bagaria. tation has gone down essence of Genes Spring Summer ecosystem! Strappy dresses mirror eye on the often Although feminine again. “I believe we 2021! the natural silhouette of wild crocus overlooked. For hygiene has been a used to use more sani- Titled ‘A New Symbiosis’, the col- flowers. And signature poplin shirts Genes Spring taboo in the country tiser sitting at home lection explores the innate beauty are embroidered with motifs Summer 2021, for generations and not than we do now, but of the wilderness. The forest is inspired from the morphology of ‘A Ne w many people prefer to the good news is that made of infinite elements, each wild mushrooms. Contoured darts Symbiosis’ talk about it in open, the pandemic made interacting with the other in often and floral organza appliques add a celebrates the recent years has people concerned about mysterious ways. From embroi- new dimension to form and feel. morphosis seen a change. With the hygiene. I know deries that are inspired from the Whereas for the men, Genes and youth talking and dis- although awareness structure of lichens to layered brings the spirit of wilderness cussing such issues to regarding feminine prints resembling the cryptic pat- to their summer wardrobes. raise awareness and hygiene has grown terns on wild mushrooms, the Natural motifs play out in an create dialogue, the sit- immensely, it will still clothes tell the story of biological unexpected mix of colours. uation is definitely be some time till it blueprints of these organisms. Think warm peach, hazel yellows improving, if not more. becomes a household As we delve deeper, the fabric and lavender. Polo tees are diversi- interdependence. “Since the youth has topic. Even the budget and form reveal a nuanced slow- fied through fabric manipulation (The pricing of always been the drivers has given a concession ness. A place of respite, where techniques while classic shirts and the collection starts of change, our target to health and wellness, lichens and magnificent jackets are kissed by a light crocus from INR 2,000.) audience is also Gen Z and anything that trees make space for each flower print — a touch of sen- and the millennials. emphasis awareness other, effortlessly. Co- timentality in a They don’t beat around and increases access is existence takes on a the bush, they are a good thing. I am pos- new meaning and vocal, bold, upfront and itive it will also boost harmony prevails social media friendly the sector of feminine in its own natural about issues like sex, health because as long pace. menstruation and inti- as our women are Nourishment mate hygiene. This is healthy, our nation will is born out of exactly what we need. It remain healthy,” he that interde- is to target these people says. pendence and a conflu- ence VIJAYAWADA | TUESDAY | FEBRUARY 23, 2021 sport 11 Looking at bigger WTC win will be same as World Cup: Ishant picture rotation policy played three formats, I couldn’t scene, Ishant picked Jasprit have played 100 Tests. May be it Bumrah. would have taken a bit longer. I “I think I don’t want to take am only 32 and not 42.” one name. You are good and has merit: Anderson So does crossing Kapil Dev’s that’s why you play for India. But 131 Tests cross his mind? I think, after me, it is Jasprit “So we have to wait and “(Crossing) 131 will take a Bumrah, who will play most watch. As seam bowlers, we long time. I only want to think matches for India. have to be prepared to bowl as about qualifying for the World “I think he has to lead the best we can in any given con- Test Championship (WTC) way and also it will depend on dition. If it swings, it’s great final. This is my World Cup how he speaks to youngsters, and if it does not, we still have where if I win, I can have the take them under his wings, a job to do,” Anderson said. same feeling that others had grooms them.” He felt that the pink SG while winning the ODI world For fast bowlers to blossom, Test ball that he bowled with Cup.” one needs to understand their during the net sessions, swung Ask him about Jimmy skill sets and plan accordingly. more than its red counterpart. Anderson playing at 38 and if he “(Navdeep) Saini has pace, “Look this is the second could continue till that age, he (Mohammed) Siraj has con- pink Test in India and first in laughs. “I will go one game at a trol. You have to understand February so we don’t know time. You never know what people’s strength. Skill sets are how it would behave.” comes next. Yes, I am more pro- different and if you tell Saini to He urged critics of the fessional about my recovery bowl one area and Siraj to hit much-debated rotation policy now. Earlier, I would train hard 140k, then you are not doing jus- to look at the “bigger picture”, but didn’t focus on my recovery. tice to their strengths,” he considering the massive As you grow older, you need to explained. amount of cricket to be played recover well to bowl long spells, As a parting shot, Ishant PTI n AHMEDABAD by the England team in the take care of your body.” added: “As long as I can main- coming days. On who will be the leader of tain the intensity in my game, I eteran fast bowler James England did not play the pack once he leaves the will play for India.” VAnderson is pretty sure Jonny Bairstow and Mark that the newly laid track at the Wood in the first two Tests but Motera Stadium will be have brought them back for devoid of any grass for the the final two games as part of PTI n AHMEDABAD years? “It is difficult to say who ple of seasons of IPL helped him Fit again Umesh upcoming Day/Night Test a rotation policy while first- understood me the most as all reach the milestone quicker against India even though choice keeper Jos Buttler is n the cusp of becoming of them understood me really HUNDRED IS JUST A than many others? there is a nice green cover on back home after the opening only the second Indian well. But more than the captain NUMBER FOR ME. IT'S LIKE “I normally treat this as a it at the moment. Test. The idea is to help play- Opacer after the legendary understanding me, it was always HOW I PLAYED MY 99TH blessing in disguise. It’s not that added to squad The third Test under ers cop up with life inside the Kapil Dev to play 100 Tests, important as to how I under- MATCH, WITH THE SAME I don’t want to play white ball as lights will start from bio-bubble. Ishant Sharma on Monday stood the captain,” Ishant said that’s what is the job of a sports- PTI n AHMEDABAD cleared his fitness test and has Wednesday and for England’s “You have got to try and attributed his remarkable during a virtual press conference FEELING, SAME INTENSITY man but if he is not playing, been added to the squad for premier fast bowler, he does- look at the bigger picture. longevity in the game to under- ahead of the third Test against AND SAME what does he do? At best he can acer Umesh Yadav was on the last two Tests of the ongo- n’t expect it to behave much The idea was if I missed that standing what the “captain wants England, beginning here on AGGRESSIVENESS, I WILL train.” PMonday added to India’s ing Paytm India-England Test differently from the second one, that would give me the from him”. Wednesday. GO INTO MY 100TH MATCH. For him, it was important squad for the last two Tests series,” said the BCCI in a Test track at the Chepauk best chance of being fit and Ishant made his Test debut “That’s very important. I DON'T PLAY FOR that he forgets what’s not there against England after he statement. “Shardul Thakur which India won by 317 runs. firing for the pink-ball Test,” as a gangly 18-year-old in What does the captain want and be grateful for what he has. passed a fitness test, while has been released from the “The pitch, it has got grass Anderson said during virtual Bangladesh when Rahul Dravid from me specifically. If those NUMBERS, I PLAY TO WIN. “I didn’t want my Test crick- Shardul Thakur was released squad to take part in the Vijay on it but I am pretty sure it’s press conference. was the captain and subse- things are clear, communication et to get affected because of my to compete in the ongoing Hazare Trophy,” it added. not going to be there when we Former players, especial- quently was led by Anil Kumble, becomes easier,” said the man —ISHANT SHARMA non-selection in ODIs. I should Vijay Hazare one-day Yadav had suffered was a turn up on the match day,” ly Kevin Pietersen, have crit- Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat who has 302 wickets from 99 (ON HIS MOTIVATION AS HE be grateful that I am at least play- Championship. calf muscle injury during the Anderson said with a wry icised ECB’s thought process, Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane dur- Tests so far. GOES INTO HIS 100TH TEST) ing one format,” he said. “Team India fast bowler Melbourne Test against smile during a virtual confer- saying the board must play its ing the last decade and half. Does he think that being “May be it helped me in Umesh Yadav appeared for a Australia in December, ruling ence with British media on best players in a big series like So which captain under- dropped from white ball squads completing 100 Tests. Having fitness test on Sunday, 21st him out for the rest of that Sunday. this against India. stood him the best in all these and also missing out on a cou- said that, I don’t think had I February at Motera. He has series. Stokes has ability to put bowlers on back foot: Thorpe ‘Game may change session wise in D/N Test’ PTI n AHMEDABAD “We can’t say what (will) ty session wise, who knows the PTI n AHMEDABAD Thorpe also hinted that all players trouble the batsmen and what ball might turn in the begin- including Zak Crawley, who was ruled out he game may change ses- will not, there will be a lot of ning here. ngland assistant coach Graham Thorpe of the first Two tests due to an injury, are Tsion wise in the third Test, things (that) we will have to see, “Who knows if the spin- Eon Monday said Ben Stokes should not available for selection. reckoned Ishant Sharma on we don’t know how we will ners come to play in first two forget that he has the ability to put “He (Crawley) is looking fit and I think Monday, as India and England have to tackle all these things, sessions, but under lights, when bowlers on the back foot as he tried to play we have probably got a full complement dive into an uncharted territo- there will be dew...” there is dew, the ball does not down the star all-rounder’s apparent of players to pick from, so he (Crawley) will ry made up of pink balls, new Ishant, who is standing on swing, but skids and comes struggles against seasoned Indian off-spin- be certainly in the mix, and his injury stadium, newly laid strips and the cusp of playing his 100 onto the bat. ner Ravichandran Ashwin. seems to have healed for me, watching him floodlights of different make. Tests, said each bowler will “Then, spinners are not in Stokes was dismissed thrice by Ashwin in the nets,” said Thorpe. India will take on England have to take responsibility ses- the game and fast bowlers are, in the first two Tests in Chennai. The The assistant coach also said that the in a day-night Test at the sion wise. so it depends on the situation power-hitter was, in fact, stifled quite seamers could have more impact in the Sardar Patel Stadium, the “How the wicket is here and how the ball and wicket is remarkably by the local favourite in the day-night Test despite the track being world’s largest cricket venue and how they (England) play, behaving at that time,” he said. second game. expected to favour slower bowlers. with a seating capacity of obviously under lights the ball The veteran pacer backed When asked about Ashwin’s command “It is possible, I mean without looking 1,10,000, from Wednesday. swings, but you will have to see the team’s batsmen to come on Stokes, Thorpe said, “It is a challenge. into it, the crystal ball, but I would imag- Asked whether the Indian the dew factor, so there will be good, saying they are capable of Ben actually has at times different styles ine that the ball generally does swing more bowlers would use the short- many things, and you cannot dealing with the conditions. of playing. He can build into an innings under the lights,” he reckoned. ball tactic during the twilight straightaway say that whether “I am sure our batsmen are as well. “They (India) don’t have a huge data- period, Ishant said, “That we fast bowlers will remain in the really capable enough to tack- “I think Ben also has that ability to put base of pink ball cricket in India, maybe get to know once we play at this game or the spinners. le all those things, how they a bowler on the back foot as well, that is the second one, so looking forward to it, ground, because it is renovat- “I feel the game will change need to go and build their something which he certainly should not it is a fantastic stadium. We have prepared ed I can’t really say anything session wise and each bowler innings, to go on through the forget.” as well as we can,” he added. now. will have to take responsibili- Test match,” he added. India-SA series Solskjaer not giving likely from March 7 Deadly Devon Sreesanth’s fifer keeps Kerala perfect up hope of catching NEW DELHI: The planned eight- Conway's third nineties score in as many innings match series between India and and 10 T20Is, picked up two for 41 against manding 153-run opening partnership Man City South Africa women is likely to helps Black Caps beat Australia by 53 runs Odisha on Saturday. after Bihar opted to bowl at the Just Cricket be held from March 7, which In reply, Kerala sealed the chase in 48.5 Academy. MANCHESTER: Ole Gunnar will mark the return of the AFP n CHRISTCHURCH was the pick of the Australian overs. Robin Uthappa (81 from 55 balls; The only blip was youngster Padikkal Solskjaer is not giving up home team to competitive crick- bowlers, taking 2/31. 8x4, 4x6) and Sachin Baby (76 from 83 missing a century by just three runs after hope that Manchester United et after almost 12 months. Devon Conway batting But the tourists could not balls; 6x4, 1x6) gave the start before Jalaj being castled by Rahul Kumar as he once can challenge Manchester City The series, comprising five Amasterclass inspired New dislodge Conway, whose 59-ball Saxena (31) and MD Nidheesh (13 not out again failed to convert his fifty. for the Premier League title, T20Is and three ODIs, is likely Zealand to a 53-run win over knock included 10 fours and from six balls; 1x4, 1x6) sealed the chase After Padikkal's departure, Samarth despite the scintillating form to be held in either Lucknow or Australia in the opening T20 three sixes, helping the Black with seven balls to spare. took charge with Krishnamurthy Siddharth of the league leaders. Kanpur in a bio-bubble, a BCCI International in Christchurch on Caps bounce back. This was Kerala’s second successive win who chipped in with a quickfire 76 (55 City have soared 10 points official said on Monday. A 22- Monday. Conway said he was “pret- in Group C but they remained second in balls; 5x4, 4x6) to propel them to a huge clear of their local rivals thanks member Indian team has been Conway smashed an ty chuffed” with his career-best table behind Railways who thrashed Odisha 354/3. to an 18-game winning streak in picked for the contest. unbeaten 99 off 59 balls as the effort, even though he was by eight wickets at the M Chinnaswamy to In reply, Karnataka dismantled Bihar all competitions. With the fixtures of the Black Caps overcame a shaky stranded just short of a century be ahead by net run-rate. for 87 runs in just 27.2 overs with opener United’s own inconsistent series yet to be announced, a start to finish on 184/5 after los- after failing to take two runs off Defending champions Karnataka Sakibul Gani being their top-scorer (37), form has helped open up the Cricket South Africa (CSA) ing the toss and being the final ball. bounced back with a bang after their first- while eight batsmen failed to reach dou- gap, but the Red Devils beat source con- put in to bat. The frustrated Australians match loss with a 267-run rout of Bihar. ble digits. Newcastle 3-1 on Sunday to win firmed that In reply, the then suffered a horror show Skipper R Samarth led the charge with Prasidh Krishna was Karnataka’s for just the second time in six their team is set to tourists were all out early in their innings, as seam- an unbeaten 158 from 144 balls (15x4, 1x6), wrecker-in-chief (4/17) and had fine sup- league games. travel to India this for 131 after 17.3 ers Tim Southee and Trent while fellow opener Devdutt Padikkal port from Abhimanyu Mithun and Shreyas “We’ve got to be there just in week. “The Covid tests overs, with Black Boult tore through the top order. smashed a 98-ball 97 (8x4, 2x6) in a com- Gopal who claimed two each. case,” said Ole. “Every time we have been done, the team Caps spinner Ish Luckless debutant Josh get three points we’ve done our is ready to leave anytime,” Sodhi taking Philippe departed for two after job and that’s what we’ve got to the source said. 4/28 to give the sending a top-edge skyward. do and see what other teams do.” Both teams will have to hosts an early But old campaigners such as Two in two for Gujarat Bruno Fernandes and undergo a six-day quarantine edge in the skipper Aaron Finch and Glenn Marcus Rashford were again on which means they will get a five-match Maxwell also failed to deal with PTI n SURAT seven-wicket win over Tamil Nadu in target on a night United need- week of training before the series. the swinging ball and the tourists PTI n BENGALURU Group B match at the Holkar stadium. ed their star men to paper over series opener. Jhyewere soon 19/4. osts Gujarat recorded their second Andhra captain G Hanuma Vihari the cracks of another unconvinc- South Africa played recent- Richardson, fresh Mitch Marsh top-scored n a comeback trail after the end of his Hsuccessive win after they beat Goa by won the toss and sent Tamil Nadu in to ing performance. ly but India have not played from signing a with 45 and Ashton Agar con- Ospot-fixing ban, pacer S Sreesanth on eight wickets in an Elite Group A game bat and the bowlers did very well to dis- “We had to find a way to since the T20 World Cup in multi-million dol- tributed 23 a string of batting Monday picked up his first five-wicket haul here. miss the opponent for 176 in 41.3 overs. win it in the second-half. The March last year due to the lar Indian Premier failures gave New Zealand a in List A cricket in almost 15 years to help Gujarat had started their campaign Left-arm medium-pacer C Stephen first-half wasn’t up to the stan- Covid-19 pandemic. PTI League contract, comfortable win. Kerala pull-off a three-wicket win over with a three-wicket win over Chhattisgarh. (3/46), off-spinner Shoaib Mohammed dard that we wanted,” added Ole. Uttar Pradesh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Opting to bat at the Lalbhai Khan (3/24) and right-arm medium- “Maybe because of Newcastle, here. Contractor Stadium, Goa were bundled pacer Girinath Reddy (2/33) struck at maybe because of what we did The 37-year-old, who was not short- out for 159 in 45.4 overs, with Gujarat’s regular intervals to restrict a strong in the week. We asked them to Vaas resigns 3 days after being appointed SL bowling coach listed in IPL 2021 auction’s final list, slow-left arm spinner Hardik Patel (3/34) Tamil Nadu batting line-up, led by go again after a high-intensity returned figures of five for 65 in his first doing the bulk of the damage. Dinesh Karthik. game and it took us to half time PTI n COLOMBO Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) official Australian David Sakar follow- List A game in more than eight years. Gujarat then chased the target in 27.4 In reply, Hebbar was in cracking to get our legs and energy.” said. ing the team’s poor show against Sreesanth, who had returned to com- overs with half centuries from Priyank form and toyed with the opposition to A run of two wins in 14 n a dramatic turn of events, Sri “It is particularly disheart- South Africa and England in the petitive cricket last month after his life ban Panchal (57 not out off) and Bhargav attack to fashion a comfortable win. He games has left Newcastle just ILankan pace great Chaminda ening to note that in an eco- recent times. was overturned, opened his account by dis- Merai (57 off 55 balls). found an able partner in Ricky Bhui (52 three points clear of the drop Vaas on Monday resigned as the nomic climate such as the one Vaas incidentally was to missing opener Abhishek Sharma. In the other two league games, Baroda not out, 41 balls, 6 fours, 2 sixes) and zone, but Steve Bruce remains national team’s fast bowling facing the entire globe right leave for the West Indies with the He then returned in the death overs to rode on skipper Krunal Pandya’s unbeat- the duo added 114 runs for the fourth confident his side will survive. coach due to a pay dispute with now, Mr Vaas has made this team on Monday night to play dismiss UP under 300 with wickets of skip- en 127 to beat Tripura by six wickets, while wicket to power Andhra. “Fulham have had a good his board, barely three days sudden and irresponsible three matches each of the two per Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohsin Khan, Hyderabad defeated Chhattisgarh by In other matches, Jharkhand beat week and won a couple of after being appointed to the post. move on the eve of the team’s shorter formats and two Tests. Akshdeep Nath, and Shivam Sharma en seven wickets. Punjab by 2 runs in a nail-biting games, which at the bottom end Vaas resigned just before the departure, based on personal One of the country’s finest route to his only the second five-for of his encounter, while Madhya Pradesh lose of the table is big, but there are team’s departure for a tour of the monetary gain,” SLC said in a pacers, Vaas has also resigned List-A career. HEBBAR’S TON UPSET TN second consecutive game in span on 48 a few of us: Brighton, Burnley West Indies. statement. from his position as the SLC On his List-A return, the former India Indore: Ashwin Hebbar slammed an hours after Vidarbha beat them by 4 and maybe Crystal Palace look- “We could not agree to his It was only last week that Academy coach, a board official pacer, who has played 27 Tests, 53 ODIs unbeaten 101 and powered Andhra to a wickets. ing over their shoulders,” said terms so he resigned,” a senior Vaas was appointed to replace added. Bruce. AFP 12

Vijayawada Tuesday February 23 2021 tollywood Check will break the barrier between mass cinema and Film with Ravi garu will class cinema: Rajamouli be a hilarious entertainer: ilmmaker SS the pre-release event of the Rajamouli, who is a Nithiin-starrer in Hyderabad big admirer of on Sunday evening. F Chandra Sekhar Check, co-starring Rakul Writer Prasanna Kumar Yeleti’s body of work, Preet Singh and Priya believes that the lat- Prakash Varrier, tells the ter’s Check will breach the story of a prisoner (played passionate about his barrier between mass cinema by Nithiin) who is serving The writer, whose craft and realizes that he and class cinema. “As soon as capital punishment. can deliver a super hit. Check’s teaser was dropped, I During his time in the bona fides include He was supposed to do felt the urge to catch it in the- prison, he learns chess a film with Venu Sriram atres as and when it opens. It from an old prisoner and sometime back but it has an interesting theme of a soon emerges as a player Nenu Local and Hello was shelved after the prisoner playing chess in a to beat while making a launch. He recommend- prison. case for his mercy peti- Guru Premakosame, ed my name to the film’s The audiences have been tion to be accepted by unit as a dialogue exposed to world cinema due the president. Yeleti tells us that Ravi Teja writer. I remember after to coronavirus and they are has directed it from Hello Guru hungry for different subjects his own script, while will be playing dual Premakosame went to now. Check is a subject on the likes of Posani floors, he invited me to such lines. I’m confident that Krishna Murali, n develop- his place and said that it will break the barrier Murali Sharma, ment for roles in the yet- we should work togeth- between mass cinema and Tripuraneni Sai Chand, I over a year, untitled out-and-out er. Admirers of Cinema class cinema. I believe that Sampath Raj, Ravi Teja’s Chupista Maava (CCM) different films from now on Harshavardhan, Rohit next with the and Nenu Local kept will attract the patronage Pathak and Simran successful writer-direc- entertainer which rolls telling me that my lead equivalent to that of mass Choudary have played sup- tor duo of Prasanna actors were an extension cinema,” the leading director porting roles. It debuts on the Kumar Bezawada and after the actor wraps of characters Ravi Teja observed. He was speaking at big screen this Friday. Trinadha Rao Nakkina played. In fact, during So the idea was to not was finally made official up Khiladi CCM promotions I said just smash a six but a over the weekend. that I like Ravi garu a monster one at it such People Media Factory lot and since I couldn’t that the ball deposits will jointly be produc- get him for my films, I outside the stadium. ing it with Abhishek to various reasons, he it’s tailor-made for the saw him in the lead The film is filled with Agarwal Arts, with the narrated another story actor,” the writer says, roles I’ve written. Now some six to seven hilari- filming set to com- which the actor green- while dismissing claims that I have him in this ous episodes and I'm mence after Ravi wraps lit 20 minutes into the that the actor will be film, I will do what I pretty sure that the up Khiladi with Ramesh narration. seen as a lawyer in the need to,” the writer audiences will roll in the Varma. “The project got film. The writer has declares with an air of aisles watching them. Speaking to us, delayed because of been in touch with the confidence. Also, for the people who Prasanna states that he COVID-19. It is an out- actor for over a couple He goes on, “When I have been missing the initially worked on a and-out entertainer and of years and cherishes started writing this film, Ravi Teja of Venky and period drama for the will see Ravi garu play- his bond with him. Krack didn’t make it to Kick, this untitled film actor but as it couldn’t ing dual roles. People “The story factor aside, the screens yet, and his will be a treat,”the writer be made who’ve heard the script he gives his nod to any- previous films failed to promises, signing off. due so far have told me that one who he believes is light up the box-office. - NG

Preeti Asrani Brahmi and Rahul Vijay to surprise with her performance in an anthology drama ew produc- in A: Makers tion houses Ticket Factory N and S Originals on Monday launched espite featuring in a string their maiden produc- of films like Uu tion venture with D Kodathara Ulikki Brahmanandam, Padathara, Gundello Rahul Vijay and Godari and Happy Naresh Agastya in Wedding, it was Malli Raava that the lead roles. helped Preeti Asrani to be Suma Kanakala noticed by one and all. The sounded the clap- actress later played the lead in board for the first Pressure Cooker, receiving good shot while Venu acclaim. Now, she is playing a Udugula directed it. key role in a thriller titled A. Written and directed Cashing in on the craze Directed by Ugandhar Muni by debutant Harsha and produced by Geetha Pulipaka, the film, an Minsala under the banner anthology, also fea- of Avanthika Productions, tures Divya Sripada, of Sam and Sethupathi the film is scheduled to Sri Vidya, Vikas, release on March 5. The mak- Uttej and Praanya P he Telugu dubbed version of and Ramya Krishna in lead ers said that Preeti, who has been Rao in supporting acclaimed Tamil film Super roles. paired opposite Nithin Prasanna, has roles. Deluxe, a crime black comedy- While Ramya and Samantha are got a meaty role and she will sur- Harsha Pulipaka T drama film with elements of sci- popular names here, Sethupathi has prise the audience with her terrific said, “Every living ence fiction and fantasy, will be won plaudits for his turn in the recently performance. The film’s trailer, creature needs the five as a filmmaker with Colour Photo, is pen- released in Telugu states this released box-office smash Uppena, released by Vijay Sethupathi senses of touch, sight, hearing, ning the dialogues, while Prashanth R Vihari April. The Tamil drama, directed by prompting P Madhu Babu of Siddeswara recently, has garnered smell and taste. The film’s story has been tapped to compose music. Thiagarajan Kumararaja, features the likes Vaishnavi Films to acquire the dubbing good response. is woven around them. The The film’s first schedule-of 13 days in of Vijay Sethupathi, Samantha Akkineni rights and give it a release. story and screenplay are honest Hyderabad-commenced on Monday. Later, and mirror the thought process the action will shift to Visakhapatnam and of today’s youngsters.” Puducherry. Sandeep Raj, who shot to fame

Teja announces Chitram 1.1 on his b'day s he celebrated his birthday amused with the offers this early point- on Monday, director Teja ed out. announced Chitram 1.1- That leaves us with the question on A sequel to his maiden direc- the status of his proposed project torial Chitram (2000). He Alamelu Manga Venkata Ramana with will be introducing 45 news Gopichand. It was to go in front of the faces with the film, a musical love cameras this month. The director clari- story. Speaking to us, he said, “It has a fied that it is on but delayed. similar story to that of Chitram. RP “For a long time we couldn’t get the Patnaik is scoring tunes right now and right actress for the film. The film once he gives the six songs, I will pro- depends a lot on her performance and ceed with the shoot. The film is set in we tapped someone who even allotted Hyderabad and I will complete the dates from June. Once the paperwork shooting formalities in 40 days. The regarding his participation is complet- male face has been locked, while in ed, an official announcement will be another couple of days I will reveal the made,” he noted. names of the leading ladies.” The director was flooded with fancy offers from various territories after the As soon as he made announcement. “All the area-wise dis- tributions rights have been sold. When the announcement, I asked the distribution parties why they are acquiring it at the mere area-wise distribution announcement, they said since it is Chitram 1.1 we are purchasing it. rights of the film have When I wanted to know what if the been sold like story is not good, they said I’m a mas- ter of the genre,” the director, clearly hotcakes