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VIJAYAWADA, THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2021; PAGES 12 `3

www.dailypioneer.com

RNI No.APENG/2018/764698

Established 1864Published From

VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN HYDERABAD

*LATE CITY VOL. 3 ISSUE 198*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

New Collector of Prakasam district

assumes chargeSensex slips 85 pts;

Nifty ends marginally higherSam's rigorous training and research to

play terroristP4

P8

P12

In brief

SNV SUDHIRn VIJAYAWADA

Polavaram is not just a mega mul-tipurpose project — it also hasanother unique feature. Irrigationexperts have made special arrange-ments for the movement andmigration of aquatic species — dif-ferent varieties of fish, especiallyPulasa, that the river Godavari is asanctuary to.

The contracting firm MeghaEngineering and Infrastructure Ltd(MEIL) is on the verge of complet-ing the construction of a 252 meterlong fish ladder installed on one ofthe 52 pillars of the prestigious proj-ect.

The fish ladder designed by theCentral Inland Fisheries ResearchInstitute (CIFRI) has been taken upat an approximate cost of Rs 12crore so that the Pulasa, also known

as Hilsa, and other rare aquaticspecies can move about theGodavari easily without any hin-drance.

The 252 metres ladder has threevents at various levels of the spill-way so that the fish could movefreely even if water levels keepchanging.

Construction of this fish ladderhas assumed more significance inthe wake of the Pulasada, one of themost prized fish varieties, beingavailable only in Godavari waters inthe state and that too for a fewmonths in a year.

Due to the uniqueness in thetaste and availability in only a few

months in a year, Pulasa is alwaysexpensive.

People don’t mind spending anyamount to buy Pulasa in coastal dis-tricts. When the Polavaram damconstruction gained pace a fewyears ago, Pulasa lovers hadexpressed apprehensions over itsavailability as the dam regulates thewater availability.

The Ministry of Environment &Forests (MoEF) had also suggest-ed the state authorities find amechanism so that all the aquaticvarieties can move freely in theGodavari waters.

Pulasa (Tenualosa ilisha) fish iscaught only in Andhra Pradesh inboth the Telugu speaking states.Hilsa variety which is available inother coastal states as a sea fishassumes unique taste after itmigrates into sweet Godavari riverwaters which is then called as

Pulasa fish in local parlance. Thesea fish enters Godavari waters dur-ing floods and swims against thecurrent.

Pulasa is considered as one of thetastiest fish due to its distinctly softoily texture and is refreshinglyunique as the taste lingers in themouth for long. While murrel is afreshwater fish, Pulasa is a combi-nation of both sea and freshwaterfish.

In Andhra Pradesh, the sayinggoes ‘Pustelu ammi ayina Pulasatinocchu’, which means it's wortheating Pulasa by even selling thenuptials. Pulasa is available onlyduring July and September.

The price of a single fish weigh-ing around one kg ranges betweenRs 2,000 to Rs 4,000 depending onthe quality.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy on Thursday will virtuallylaunch the YSR JaganannaColonies project, where 15.60 lakhhouses will be constructed at a costof Rs 28,084 crore in the first phase,targeting completion of the entireproject by June 2023.

Like never before in any state,the government had distributedhouse sites to about 30.76 lakhbeneficiaries. Now the govern-ment is set to create anotherrecord by taking up the construc-tion of the houses, where in thefirst phase, 15,60,227 houses willbe constructed at a cost of Rs28,084 crore and the massive hous-ing project will be virtuallylaunched by the Chief Minister onThursday.

As promised in the election

manifesto, the YS JaganmohanReddy government targeted tocomplete the ‘Pedalandhariki Illu’scheme by June 2023.

In both phases, as many as28,30,227 houses will be con-structed at a cost of Rs 50,944crore, where in phase -1, 15.50 lakhhouses and phase-2, 12.70 lakhhouses will be constructed.

With regard to this, the ChiefMinister directed the authorities tocomplete the construction worksfor phase-1 by June 2022, the sec-ond phase works by June 2023. Ofthe 8,905 layouts in the first phase,11.26 lakh houses are being con-structed as YSR Jaganannacolonies. Similarly, construction of2,92,984 houses is being started forthe beneficiaries with their ownland along with 1,40,465 houses forthe beneficiaries with allotted land.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Much to the relief of the people,senior resident doctors in AndhraPradesh on Wednesday called offtheir boycott of duties and resumedservices, accepting the increase oftheir stipend from Rs 45,000 to Rs70,000, for the time being.

The Senior Residents had beguntheir boycott of duties on Tuesday,demanding a resolution to theirdemands pending for about twoyears.

These demands included a hikeof their stipend.

Medical and Health PrincipalSecretary Anil Kumar Singhalinformed that the stipend forSenior Residents was hiked to Rs70,000.

He made it clear that there are

about 350 Senior Residents onCovid duty in the state and theincreased stipend would be appli-cable to them alone.

Singhal said the government wasdiscussing the demand of juniordoctors across the state. He said thatthe government was looking intothe demand to increase the stipendfor 800 PG doctors in the state.

On Wednesday afternoon, mem-bers of the Senior Resident DoctorsAssociation, along with represen-tatives of the AP JUDA were invit-ed for talks at the Secretariat withChief Secretary Aditya Nath Dasand Singhal, along with DME MRaghavendra Rao, said the SRDAvice president Dr Bhanu Teja. Hesaid that the demands were heardin a positive atmosphere and pro-posals were made by the

Government for the same. Duringthe discussion they raised a fewobjections and clarificationsregarding the proposals.

He said that the Chief Secretaryassured the doctors that theirissues would be brought to thenotice of the Chief Minister and asolution would be found withinseven days. “It’s the norm to waitfor the GO to be released beforecalling off any agitation.

However, in view of patients andthese times of pandemic, the per-sonal assurances of the ChiefSecretary and respecting the appealfrom Health Secretary, both SRDAand APJUDA have jointly decidedto postpone the boycott for oneweek and resume duties withimmediate effect,” said Dr BhanuTeja.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Pointing out that work of theJagananna Saswatha BhoomiHakku-Bhoomi RakshaSurvey has slowed downdue to the prevailing Covidsituation, Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy onWednesday directed offi-cials to complete the com-prehensive land survey in thestate by June 2023.

Directing higher officials toensure regular review meetings areconducted on the progress of the

survey, the Chief Minister askedthem to work with dedication and

coordination to com-plete the project

before the dead-line.

Jagan chaireda review meet-ing onJ a g a n a n n a

S a s w a t h aBhoomi Hakku-

Bhoomi RakshaSurvey at the camp

office here where he said that toensure no problems arise in the way

of the survey in remote areas andforest areas. He asked officials tomake alternative arrangements asthere will be signal problems atthese locations.

The Chief Minister said the reg-istration process should be contin-ued in Secretariats. He directedofficials to expedite comprehensiveland survey in urban areas andarrange all the required facilities forit. Once the survey is completed,clear titles will be given and therewill not be a chance for land dis-putes, Jagan pointed out.

After CS word, senior residentdoctors call off boycott ‘for now'

Work on JaganannaColonies starts today

Google says new ITrules not for searchPNS n NEW DELHI

US-based Google LLC has con-tended that India's new IT rules fordigital media are not applicable toits search engine, and urged theDelhi High Court on Wednesdayto set aside its single judge orderwhich applied them on the com-pany while dealing with an issuerelated to removal of offendingcontent from the internet.

The single judge's decision hadcome while dealing with a matterin which a woman's photographswere uploaded on a pornograph-ic website by some miscreants

and despite court orders the con-tent could not be removed inentirety from the World WideWeb and "errant parties merrilycontinued" to re-post and redirectit to other sites.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Pateland Justice Jyoti Singh issued noticeto the Centre, Delhi government,Internet Service ProvidersAssociation of India, Facebook, thepornographic site and the woman,on whose plea the single judge's rul-ing had come, and sought theirresponses to Google's plea by July 25.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court has asked theCentre to place on record all rele-vant documents and file notingsreflecting its thinking culminatingin the COVID-19 vaccination pol-icy, and the purchase history tilldate of all jabs including Covaxin,Covishield and Sputnik V.

The top court also asked theCentre to specify the steps beingtaken by it to ensure drug availabil-ity for mucormycosis or black fun-gus.

Besides, it directed all states andUnion Territories within 2 weekstheir stand on providing free vac-cination.

A special bench of Justices D YChandrachud, L N Rao and SRavindra Bhat said: While filing it'saffidavit, UoI shall also ensurethat copies of all the relevant doc-uments and file notings reflectingits thinking and culminating in thevaccination policy are also annexedon the vaccination policy.

"Hence, we direct the UoI to fileits affidavit within 2 weeks, thebench said in its May 31 orderuploaded on Wednesday on itswebsite.

The bench asked the Centre toensure that each issue dealt by it inthe order is responded to individ-ually.

The complete data on theCentral Government's purchasehistory of all the COVID-19 vac-

cines till date (Covaxin, Covishieldand Sputnik V). The data shouldclarify: (a) the dates of all procure-ment orders placed by the CentralGovernment for all 3 vaccines; (b)the quantity of vaccines ordered ason each date; and (c) the project-ed date of supply, the bench said.

The top court's order came insuo motu case on COVID-19 man-agement.

The bench also sought data onthe percentage of population thathas been vaccinated (with one, andboth doses), as against eligiblepersons in the first three phases ofthe vaccination drive.

This shall include data pertain-

ing to the percentage of rural pop-ulation as well as the percentage ofurban population so vaccinated, itsaid, adding that an outline for howand when the Central Governmentseeks to vaccinate the remainingpopulation in phases 1, 2 and 3,shall also be given.

The bench noted that the Centreits May 9 affidavit stated that everystate/UT shall provide vaccina-tion free of cost to its populationand said that it is important thatindividual governmentsconfirm/deny this position beforethe apex court.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Conditions are ripe for the south-west monsoon to make an onsetover Kerala on June 3 after miss-ing its normal onset date, theIndia Meteorological Department(IMD) said on Wednesday.

It said spatial rainfall distribu-tion has increased over Kerala andthe westerly winds have strength-ened in the lower levels over thesouth Arabian Sea.

According to the satelliteimagery, there is an increase incloudiness over the Kerala coastand adjoining southeast ArabianSea.

"The conditions are likely tofavour in further enhancement inrainfall activity over Kerala dur-ing next 24 hours. Hence, themonsoon onset over Kerala islikely to take place during thesame period," the IMD said.

The normal date for arrival formonsoon over Kerala is June 1.The IMD had predicted thatmonsoon would hit Kerala onMay 31 with an error margin ofplus or minus four days. But onMay 30, it said conditions werenot ripe for the monsoon to hitKerala the next day.

Monsoon is expected to be nor-mal this year, the IMD said.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy’s top aide and Rajya SabhaMember V Vijayasai Reddy onWednesday created a flutter withhis remarks on shifting the execu-tive capital to Vizag.

Responding to a query during aninteraction with reporters in Vizag,Vijayasai Reddy said the ongoing

hearing in the Andhra PradeshHigh Court on theGovernment’s three-cap-ital formula has gotnothing to do withshifting of the executivecapital to Vizag.

He said that a ChiefMinister can functionfrom anywhere. VijayasaiReddy recalled before shifting to

Vijayawada, the then chief minis-ter N Chandrababu Naidu had

operated from Hyderabad.Vijayasai Reddy’s comments

come even as the High Court isexpected to resume hearing acluck of petitions filed against the

YSRCP government’s decisionto have three capitals from August.

SC directs Centre to submit alldetails of its vaccination policy

Apex court:Policy for 18-44yr olds ‘irrational’PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre's policy of givingfree vaccination to the 45-plusage group and a having paidsystem for those below, is"prima facie arbitrary and irra-tional", the Supreme Court saidtoday in its detailed order on theissue. Flagging several otherloopholes, the court asked theCentre to review its vaccinationpolicy and "place on record aroadmap of projected avail-ability of vaccines till 31December 2021".

The government has said itwill vaccinate the eligible pop-ulation by December this year-- an announcement that hasbeen met with much scepticismby critics and opposition parties.

Calling the issue of vaccina-tion "absolutely crucial", thecourt said currently people inthe 18-44 year age group are notjust getting infected, but suffer-ing from severe effects of theinfection, "including prolongedhospitalization and, in unfortu-nate cases, death".

Jagan sets officials June ’23 target tocomplete comprehensive land survey

Conditions ripe foronset of monsoonover Kerela on June 3

Jagan will soon start functioningfrom Executive Capital: Vijayasai

A special ladder at Polavaram to preserve Pulasa

Make your village‘corona free', win Rs 50L: Maha govt

The Maharashtra government on

Wednesday announced a"corona free village" contest

with an aim to encourage steps tocurb the spread of COVID-19 in rural

areas of the state. Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray recently lauded

efforts made by some villages to stemthe spread of the viral infection andannounced the "My Village Corona

Free" initiative. Prizes will be given tothree village panchayats doing good

work in COVID-19 management ineach revenue division. The first prize

will be of Rs 50 lakh, second of Rs 25lakh and third of Rs 15 lakh, the

minister said. There are six revenuedivisions in the state.

Israel sees probablelink between Pfizer

vax and myocarditis

Israel’s Health Ministry said on

Tuesday it had found thesmall number of heart

inflammation cases observed mainly inyoung men who received Pfizer’s

COVID-19 vaccine in Israel were likelylinked to their vaccination. Pfizer hassaid it has not observed a higher rate

of the condition, known asmyocarditis, than would normally be

expected in the general population. InIsrael, 275 cases of myocarditis were

reported between December 2020 andMay 2021 among more than 5 millionvaccinated people, the ministry said in

disclosing the findings of a study itcommissioned to examine the matter.

Lockdown 2020:Over 8,700 peopledied on rail tracks

Over 8,700 people were mowed

down on railway tracks in2020 even though passenger

train services were severely curtaileddue to the nationwide coronavirus

lockdown, with officials saying manyof the victims were migrant workers.

The Railway Board shared the data onsuch deaths for the period betweenJanuary and December 2020 in its

reply to a question by MadhyaPradesh-based activist Chandra

Shekhar Gaur under the Right toInformation Act. "Based on the

information received from the StatePolice, 805 people suffered injuries

and 8,733 people died,” it said.

Justice Arun Mishratakes over as

NHRC chief

Former Supreme Court judge justice

Arun Mishra on Wednesday tookcharge as the new chairperson of

the National Human RightsCommission, official sources said. Thepost of the NHRC chief had been lyingvacant since justice H L Dattu, ex-chief

justice of India, had completed histenure in December 2020. "Justice

Arun Mishra today joined as the newchairperson of the National Human

Rights Commission. One panelmember has also joined," the sourcessaid. Justice Mishra, who joined as an

apex court judge on July 7, 2014,demitted office in September 2020.

Justice Dattu had joined the NHRC onFebruary 29, 2016 after retiring as the

CJI on December 2, 2015.

22

2

2

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` 50, 300 (10 gm)

`̀ 00

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

02THURSDAY | JUNE 3, 2021

` 76, 600 (1kg)` 44800

EGG RATES

GOLD

VIJAYAWADA 510

HYDERABAD 456

VISAKHAPATNAM 355

RREETTAAIILL PPRRIICCEE `̀55..1100

SILVER

VIJAYAWADABULLION RATES

`̀//110000

CHICKEN RATES

Dressed/With Skin `167

Without Skin `190

Broiler at Farm `115

`̀//KKGG

(IN VIJAYAWADA)

India has the second largestroad network in the world,next only to that of the US.

However, it is several notch-es down in terms of quality,engineering of roads, andavailability per lakh popula-tion.

On an average, India’s roadavailability of 7.7 lane kilome-tres per lakh population iswell below that of advancedcountries, particularly com-pared to 49 for Japan and 114for the US.

Based on the per capitatravel needs of each citizen, alower number indicates con-gestion on the Indian roads.Added to this, India accountsfor 17.4 % of the global pop-ulation with only 1% of vehi-cles. So, more Indians dependon other non-conventionaland non-mechanised trans-portation, bringing a varietyof means on the roads.

This mixed vehicles trans-port system makes navigatingIndian roads difficult andincreases the chances ofhuman error.

Indian roads are also noto-

rious for haphazard traffic. Interms of overall road accidentsand resultant fatalities perlakh population, India is,therefore, one of the worstperforming countries in theworld.

In 2019 alone, India report-ed over 6% of the global acci-dents with 1.51 lakh fatalities.About 70% victims were rel-atively younger lot agedbetween 18-45 years. Amongthem, the most susceptibleones are pedestrians, bicyclistsand other two-wheeler riders.As each life, especially prema-turely lost, causes humon-gous and un-compensabletragedy, the issue of roadsafety deserves utmost consid-eration.

While looking into causesof road accidents, all the usualsuspects are there namely;human error, negligent andrash driving, faulty roaddesign, sub-optimal road con-ditions, and mechanical fail-ures.

The casualty load increas-es due to two- wheeler ridersnot wearing proper helmets,

and unfastened seat belts incase of four wheelers.Accidents are also on thehigher side in India as most ofour fleet sans advanced safe-ty/security features such asspeed governors, air bags,seat belts and breath-analyser-based vehicle immobilisersetc.

Although there isincreased awareness to rec-tify faulty designs, the curseof bad road design (blindspots, lack of signals and sig-nage), poor maintenance ormechanical failures (run-ning unfit or overloadedvehicles) are still widelyprevalent.

Multi-type transportation

on most of the Indian roads,narrow carriageways andinadequate spaces for walk-ing and crossing the roads,on top of it reckless drivingare major contributory fac-tors. Thus, the road usersand service providers (con-struction and maintenanceagencies) both are responsi-ble for the poor record ofroad safety in the country.

Lack of proper account-ability, diffused responsi-bility of multiple agencies,and deficient attention onthis subject do not improvethe ground situation.

In order to take the bullby horns, the UnionMinistr y of Surface

Transport has come out witha four-E strategy consistingof engineering, enforcement,education and emergencyresponse. Road Safety Dayawareness has been extend-ed to a fortnight/month.These are welcome mea-sures. However, it is neces-sary that every day shouldbe considered as the RoadSafety Awareness Day andfrom early childhood theconcept needs to be incul-

cated. In addition to the central

government, various stategovernmental agencies suchas police, excise, transport,roads, medical and healthdepartments are involvedin ensuring road safety andproviding urgent responsein case of mishaps.

There is a need to makeclear-cut demarcation of thejurisdiction of police sta-tions/trauma centres etc.,on various stretches ofnational and state highways.Results would depend onthe effective implementa-tion of the strategy, includ-ing taking states on board.

It is worthwhile to laud theefforts made by Tamil Naduby considerably improvingthe safety on the roads.

Tamil Nadu has demon-strated that by paying prop-er attention to the issue ofroad safety and taking cor-rective actions in coordina-tion with all the concernedagencies, the authorities canreduce the frequency ofaccidents and casualties.

This model can as well beevaluated/adopted by otherstates.

In view of the above dis-cussion, there is a need tostrengthen policy and insti-tutional framework of roadsafety in the country.

In order to provide prop-er focus, the Supreme Courthas constituted an expertcommittee. The DistrictRoad Safety Committeesheaded by the local memberof Parliament have beenconstituted by the Ministryof Surface Transport.

Several states have alreadyset up the State Road SafetyAuthority. The efficacy ofthe State Road SafetyAuthority and the DistrictRoad Safety Committeesdepends on the interesttaken by the chairpersons.

This institutional mecha-nism is necessary, but notsufficient unless comple-mented by some otherreforms. First, a model RoadSafety Bill should be sharedwith the states.

Second, the District Road

Safety Committee shouldbe made accountable for allaspects of road safety with-in their jurisdiction.

A senior officer may bedesignated as the DistrictRoad Safety Commissionercharged with enquiring intocauses and follow-up actionon the serious road acci-dents (involving loss of life)that have taken place in thedistrict.

Third, strict enforcementof relevant rules and direc-tions of the district commit-tee. Appropriate technolo-gies and tools should beidentified and provided tothe district level committeefor various enforcementactivities.

Fourth, incentive-basedgrants must be given tostates for reducing accidentsand improving other roadsafety parameters.

In order to demonstratethat India respects and val-ues each life, we should takenecessary action to meetwith international road safe-ty standards.

DR SHAILENDRA JOSHI, Advisor of Telangana govt and former

chief secretary of Telangana

India accounts for 17.4 % of the globalpopulation with only 1% of vehicles. So,more Indians depend on non-conventional and non-mechanisedtransportation. This mixed vehiclestransport system makes navigatingIndian roads difficult.

Road accidents: causes and containment measures

Seafood exports from Statecontract by 15.82 pc in one yearSNV SUDHIRn VIJAYAWADA

The Covid pandemic and slug-gish overseas markets havecast a shadow over the seafoodsector in Andhra Pradesh, withthe state managing to export2,79,992 metric tonnes (MT) ofmarine products worth Rs15,831.74 crore (US$ 2,154.55million) during fFinancial Year2020-21. This is a significantcontraction of 15.82 percent invalue, compared to the previ-ous year.

In FY 2019-20, AndhraPradesh exported seafoodworth Rs 18,807 crore, mark-ing a decline of 15.82 percentin Rupee terms in 2020-21.

As per Marine ProductsExports DevelopmentAuthority (MPEDA) USA,China and the European Union(EU) were the leadingimporters, while frozen shrimpretained its position as themajor export item followed byfrozen fish.

USA continued to be themajor importer of AndhraPradesh origin seafood.Seafood worth Rs 11,185.49crore was exported to the USAalone followed by China at Rs2,030.87 crore.

The situation in the overseasmarket was the main factorthat had impacted the seafoodexports from Andhra Pradeshand other coastal states in thecountry. AP had always con-

tributed the lion's share inIndia's total annual seafoodexports.

MPEDA chairman KSSrinivas says that in China,container shortage, increasedfreight charges, and Covid test-ing on seafood consignmentshave caused market uncer-tainties.

In the USA, scarcity of contain-ers made it difficult for exportersto execute orders in time. Closureof the Hotel, Restaurant and Café(HoReCa) segment also affectedthe demand.

In Japan and the EU, Covid-induced lockdowns made theretail, restaurant, supermar-kets and hotel consumptionsluggish.

On the production side,there were reduced fish land-ings due to less number of fish-ing days, slow logistic move-ments and market uncertain-ties.

Scarcity of workers in fish-ing and processing plants,paucity of containers at sea-ports, increased air freightcharges and limited flight avail-ability affected exports, espe-cially of high-value chilled andlive products.

India's seafood exports toostood at 11,49,341 MT worthRs 43,717.26 crore - US$ 5.96billion - during FY 2020-21,registering a contraction of10.88 percent in volume ascompared to a year earlier.

In 2019-20, India exported12,89,651 MT seafood worthRs 46,662.85 crore (US$ 6.68billion), marking a decline of6.31 percent in rupee termsand 10.81 percent in dollarvalue in 2020-21.

"The pandemic drasticallyaffected seafood exports dur-ing the first half of the year, butit revived well in the last quar-ter of 2020-21. Also, the aqua-

culture sector performed bet-ter during this fiscal by con-tributing 67.99 percent ofexported items in dollar termsand 46.45 percent in quantity,

which is 4.41 percent and 2.48percent higher, respectivelywhen compared to 2019-20,"said MPEDA Chairman KSSrinivas.

USA continued be majorimporter of Indian seafoodPNS n VIJAYAWADA

USA, with imports of2,91,948 MT, continues to bethe major importer of Indianseafood with a share of 41.15percent in dollar terms. Exp-orts to the USA grew by 0.48percent in rupee value butdeclined by 4.34 percent and4.35 percent in quantity andDollar terms, respectively.

Frozen shrimp remainedthe principal item exported tothe USA while exports ofVannamei shrimp showed anuptick of 6.75 percent inquantity. However, its importof Black Tiger shrimps de-creased by 70.96 percent and65.24 percent in quantity andDollar terms, respectively.

China, with an import of2,18,343 MT of seafood worth939.17 million dollars, rem-ained the second largest mar-ket with a share of 15.77 per-cent in dollar earnings and 19percent in quantity terms.

However, exports to China

declined by 33.73 percent and31.68 percent in quantity anddollar terms, respectively.Frozen shrimp was the majoritem of exports to Chi-na,accounting for a share of 46.64percent in quantity and 61.87percent in dollar earnings.

EU, the third largest desti-nation with a share of 13.80percent in dollar value,imported frozen shrimp asthe major item. However,export of frozen shrimp to EUcountries decreased by 5.27percent and 6.48 percent inquantity and dollar value,respectively.

Exports to South East Asiahad a share of 11.17 percentin dollar value. However, itdeclined by 2.56 percent inquantity and 5.73 percent indollar earnings. Shipmentsto Japan, the fifth largestimporter with a share of 6.92percent in Dollar terms, grewby 10.52 percent in quantitybut declined by 2.42 percentin dollar value.

AP reports 12,768new Covid casesPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh recorded12,768 fresh cases of coron-avirus, 15,612 recoveries and98 deaths in the 24 hours end-ing 9 am on Wednesday.

The number of activeCovid-19 cases dropped to1,43,795, the latest bulletinsaid.

The cumulative positivecases now increased to17,17,156, recoveries to15,62,229 and deaths 11,132,it said.

East Godavari reported2,703, Chittoor 1,551,

Anantapur 1,506 and WestGodavari 1,052 fresh cases in24 hours.

The remaining nine dis-tricts added less than 900cases each.

The daily Covid-19 toll was15 in Chittoor, 10 in SPSNellore, nine in WestGodavari, eight each inAnantapur, East Godavari andVizianagaram, seven each inGuntur, Prakasam andSrikakulam.

Visakhapatnam saw six,Krishna five, Kadapa andKurnool four fresh fatalitieseach in a day.

Jagan willsoon start...Continued from Page 1

“The Chief Minister canwork from anywhere andthere are no restrictions onthe place of work. Forinstance, ChandrababuNaidu had worked fromHyderabad before shifting toVijayawada. I can’t give you aparticular date, but I can tellthat shortly the governmentwill start functioning fromVizag, which has beendeclared as the executive cap-ital. The CRDA cases beingheard by the High Court hasnothing to do with the ChiefMinister starting functioningfrom the executive capital-Vizag,” the MP said.

A special ladder at Polavaramto preserve Pulasa...Continued from Page 1

“Along with the pillars, this fishladder installation is alsoalmost completed. This ladderwill help movement of allaquatic species, includingPulada that are naturally avail-able in that region. Upon theadvice of MoEF, we haveapproached Central Inland

Fisheries Research Institute(CIFRI) that hadgiven the designof this ladder,”state irriga-tion depart-ment execu-tive engineerK Balakrishnatold The Pioneer.

Hilsa swims 90 km from Bay

of Bengal to Sir Arthur CottonBarrage at Dowleswaram for

12 hours and transformsinto a tasty variety. Amatured Hilsa laysnearly 0.1-2.0 millioneggs in freshwater and

after one year it reachesinto a size 40-60 cm prior

to their migration into fresh-water.

Google says new IT rules not for searchContinued from Page 1

The court said it was not goingto issue any interim order atthis stage after Google told thebench that it was an interme-diary, but not a social mediaintermediary, and sought pro-tection against any coerciveaction for non-compliance ofthe template or guidelines laiddown by the single judge.

The global technology gianthad also sought removal of theobservation by the single judgethat it was a social mediaintermediary.

Google contended that thesingle judge, in his April 20judgement, "mischaracterised"its search engine as a 'socialmedia intermediary' or 'signif-icant social media intermedi-

ary' as provided under thenew rules.

"The single judge has misin-terpreted and misapplied theNew Rules 2021 to the appel-lant's search engine.Additionally, the single judgehas conflated various sectionsof the IT Act and separate rulesprescribed thereunder, and haspassed template orders com-bining all such offences andprovisions, which is bad in law,"it has said in its appeal againstthe April 20 judgement.

According to the templateframed by the single judge,when such matters related tooffending content come beforea court and it is satisfied thatan immediate redressal wasrequired at the interim stage, itmay issue a direction to the

website where the objectionalmaterial is hosted to removethe same forthwith and maxi-mum within 24 hours ofreceiving the judicial order.

"A direction should also beissued to the website or onlineplatform on which the offend-ing content is hosted to pre-serve all information and asso-ciated records relating to theoffending content, so that evi-dence in relation to the offend-ing content is not vitiated, atleast for a period of 180 days orsuch longer period as the courtmay direct, for use in investi-gation," the court had said.

It had also said a directionshould be issued to the searchengine(s) to disabled access tothe offending content by 'de-indexing' and 'dereferencing' it

in their listed search results andthe intermediary ought tocomply with such a directionwithin 24 hours of receivingthe same.

"The directions issued mustalso mandate the concernedintermediaries, whether web-sites/online platforms/searchengine(s), to endeavour toemploy pro-active monitoring byusing automated tools, to iden-tify and remove or disable accessto any content which is exactlyidentical to the offending contentthat is subject matter of the courtorder," it had said.

The single judge order hadalso said for a direction toremove or disable access to anoffending content to be effec-tive even within India, a searchengine must block the search

results throughout the worldsince no purpose would beserved by issuing such an orderif it has no realistic prospect ofpreventing irreparable harm toa litigant.

It also directed the police toensure the offending contentwas removed and directionswere also issued to searchengines, like Google, Yahooand Bing, "to globally de-indexand de-reference" the offendingcontent from their search results.

It asked search engines toendeavour to use automatedtools, to proactively identifyand globally disable access toany content which is exactlyidentical to the offending con-tent, that may appear on anyother websites/online plat-forms.

Work on Jagananna Colonies...Continued from Page 1

The Chief Minister had earli-er said that new towns willemerge with these layouts anddirected the authorities tofocus on the infrastructurefacilities with an expenditure ofRs 32,909 crore.

The government is spendingRs 4,128 crore on drinkingwater, Rs 22,587 crore on roadsand drainage, Rs 4,986 croreon power supply, Rs 627 croreon Internet connectivity andRs 567 crore on other facilities.

Each house with a uniformdesign is built on 340 squarefeet with a bedroom, hall,kitchen, bathroom and porch.Also, each house is providedwith two fans, two tube lights,

four bulbs, and an overheadwater tank. The mapping andregistration required for theconstruction of houses havealready been completed andGeo-tagging works are in thefinal stages.

In the current scenario, theeconomic situation in wake ofthe second phase of Covid-19,construction will provide 21.70crore man-days of employ-ment to labourers. Also, large-scale construction work willprovide employment tomasons, rod vendors, carpen-ters, electricians, bricklayersand cement sellers.

In another gesture, while theprices of building material areskyrocketing, the governmenthas taken the initiative keeping

in view of the poorer sections,to provide the material ataffordable prices. Reverse ten-dering was done to supplyquality materials below marketprice so as not to burden thebeneficiaries.

The government has set upwarehouses at the village andmandal level to store cementand other materials for theconstruction works. The gov-ernment is procuring 69.70lakh metric tonnes of cement,7.44 lakh metric tonnes ofsteel, 310 lakh metric tonnes ofsand, and other materials forthe initial construction. Thegovernment will also provide20 metric tonnes of sand freeof cost from nearby sand rigsfor the construction works.

SC directs Centre...Continued from Page 1

Further, if they have decidedto vaccinate their populationfor free then, as a matter ofprinciple, it is important thatthis policy is annexed to theiraffidavit, so that the popula-tion within their territories canbe assured of their right to bevaccinated for free at a Statevaccination centre.

"Hence, we direct each ofthe State/UT Governments toalso file an affidavit within 2weeks, where they shall clari-fy their position and put onrecord their individual poli-cies, the bench said.

It listed the matter for fur-ther hearing on June 30.

On May 31, the top courthad highlighted digital dividebetween rural and urban Indiaand posed searching queries tothe Centre on mandatory reg-

istration on CoWIN forCOVID jabs, vaccine pro-curement policy and differen-tial pricing, saying the policymakers must have ears onground to effectively deal withthe unprecedented crisis.

Asking the Centre to "smellthe coffee" and ensure thatCOVID-19 vaccines are avail-able at the same price across thenation, the top court had advisedthe government to be flexiblewith its policies to deal with thedynamic pandemic situation .

The top court had, howev-er, hailed the Centre andExternal Affairs Minister SJaishankar for the efforts todeal with the pandemic saying,The idea is not to criticize orpull down anybody. Whenthe EAM went to the USA andentered into the dialogue, itshowed the importance of thesituation .

Jagan sets officials June ’23..Continued from Page 1

He said Village / WardSecretariats should be pre-pared to provide all types ofservices to the people andasked officials to ensure alltypes of certificates includingbirth and death certificatesare provided in Village/ Wardsecretariats.

“Training programme man-uals should be made availablein digital format so that the staffcan download them anytime

and clear their doubts.Usermanual and frequently askedquestions should also be madeavailable in digital format,” theChief Minister said.

He said that all trainingactivities for staff of secretari-ats should be made available indigital format and a digitallibrary be readied.

The officials informed theChief Minister that 70 base sta-tions have been set up till nowand all of them are workingperfectly. They said that more

ground stations will be set upwith the help of Survey of Indiaand as many drones as need-ed will be used. The pilot pro-ject of the survey has almostbeen completed and it will beconducted in 4,800 villages inthe first phase. They said theywill complete the comprehen-sive land survey in those vil-lages and purification ofrecords will be done fromDecember, 2020 to March,2021 and then the draft will beprinted.

03THURSDAY | JUNE 3, 2021

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Representatives of the AndhraPradesh Ahle-Sunnat WalJamaat on Wednesday askedChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy to initiate measures forthe protection of Wakf lands byappointing a panel led by astate-level special officer, spe-cial officers in all districts andconstitute a Tribunal to resolveWakf land disputes.

APASWJ State co-convenerAltaf Ali Raza wrote a letter tothe Chief Minister regardingencroachments of Wakf landsin all the 13 districts of thestate.

Altaf Ali Raza said thatrecently, Deputy ChiefMinister and Minister forMinorities Welfare AmzathBasha had conducted a meet-ing on Wakf lands andreviewed the situation. He saidthat the Minority WelfareDepartment conducted a sur-vey of Wakf lands whichshowed thousands of acres ofsuch properties were in theclutches of encroachers.

Altaf Ali Raza lamented thatearlier governments did nottake any measures towardsreclaiming Wakf lands fromencroachers. He recalled thathundreds of acres of Wakflands in the State were stuck inlitigation which effectively wasblocking the government andWakf Board from developingthese assets and thereby gettingany income.

Welcoming the decision ofAmzath Basha to demolish allillegal structures erected onWakf lands, Altaf Ali Razaurged the Chief Minister to ini-tiate measures to free theselands from the clutches of

encroachers. He demanded appointment

of state level special officercommittee, IPS and IAS offi-cers as special officers in dis-tricts to free encroached Wakflands. He also demandedestablishment of the WakfTribunal to resolve disputesabout Wakf lands in the State.

Claiming that 90 percent ofWakf lands were in the clutch-es of politicians and influentialpersons, Altaf Ali Raza urgedthe Chief Minister to initiatemeasures transparently to pro-tect Wakf lands for the welfareof Muslims who had support-ed YSRCP in the elections.

Vande Bharat flights fromVijayawada airport resumePNS n VIJAYAWADA

International passenger flightservices resumed from theVijayawada Airport atGannavaram from Tuesday,after being suspended fromApril 3 following a surge inCovid-19 cases.

The airport mainly servicesflights to and from Muscat,Kuwait and other Gulf coun-tries as well as Singapore.

The first flight, Air IndiaExpress Flight No IX250 —Dubai to Vijayawada — land-ed at 6:19 pm on Tuesday.

Airport director GMadhusudhan Rao said thatVande Bharat flights haveresumed and as part of this, aflight from Dubai carrying 65passengers along with threeinfants landed at Gannavaram

Airport at around 6.10 pm. “Asthe flight was started at shortnotice, the passenger strengthwas minimal,” MadhusudhanRao said.

He said that all the passen-gers were carrying valid Covid

negative certificates taken 72hours before boarding theflight. Madhusudhan Rao saidthat all Covid protocol was fol-lowed after the arrival of thepassengers from Dubai.

Test kits and other equip-

ment were kept handy. Also,medical teams will conducttests on passengers who wouldonly be allowed to leave the air-port premises after getting anegative test report, the airportdirector said.

He said that there were notransport issues for the passen-gers to reach their destinationas airport taxis and privatetaxis were available since theyhave been given exemptionfrom the Covid-induced 18-hour curfew.

Madhusudhan Rao said thatthey would operate about tenflights from four differentplaces namely Dubai, Muscat,Kuwait and Singapore tillOctober until further instruc-tions were given from thesuperior authorities to increasethe number of services.

Special panel, Tribunalsought to protect Wakf lands

Army doc urges Rajnath tojunk Raju’s ‘hurtful’ letterPNS n VIJAYAWADA

A medical practitioner fromVijayawada on Wednesdaywrote to Defence MinisterRajnath Singh, claiming thatallegations by YSRCP rebelMP K Raghurama KrishnamRaju against KP Reddy, thesuperintendent of the ArmyHospital, Secunderabad, havehurt sentiments of families ofDefence personnel.

Raju, in a recent letter toRajnath Singh, sought actionagainst the Army Hospitalsuperintendent, alleging thathe had hatched a conspiracyagainst him during his stay atthe Army Hospital for medicalexamination as ordered by theSupreme Court.

“The Member of ParliamentK Raghurama Krishna Rajuwrote a letter levelling allega-tions against the ArmyHospital, Secunderabad where

he was admitted for medicalexamination as per SupremeCourt guidelines. Hailing froma Defence family and as a doc-tor, I would like to bring toyour notice that the baselessallegations levelled by himagainst a serving officer of theArmy Hospital have seriouslyhurt the sentiments of thedefence families,” said DrAmbati Radhakrishna.

He pointed out that ArmyHospitals follow the guide-lines and protocols issued byGovernment of India and also

followed the directions issuedby the Supreme Court in thisparticular case.

Dr Radhakrishna added thatthe doctors work hard and ren-der great services to people inthe forefront with limitedresources and manpower dur-ing the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The government canappropriate action against anydoctor if he/she commits anymistake. But the baseless alle-gations with malafide intentionby the MP against an officer inservice and making them pub-lic is quite disturbing thedefence families,” DrRadhakrishna wrote.

“I, as a member from adefence family, request you sirto not to entertain any suchpeople who intentionally try todemean the defence forces fortheir political gains,” DrRadhakrishna said in his letterto Rajnath Singh.

‘Dead' womanreturns homePNS n VIJAYAWADA

Negligence of the staff ofGovernment GeneralHospital, Vijayawada surfacedonce again on Wednesdaywhen they were found to haveinformed a family that theirloved one had passed awayand handed over a body forthe last rites.

On May 12, a womannamed Girijamma fromJaggayyapeta was admitted tothe GGH, Vijayawada after sheshowed symptoms of Covid-19.

On May 15, the hospitalstaff informed her husbandGaddaiah that his wife haddied. Following this, Gaddaiahwent to the hospital, claimedher body and conducted the

funeral. Meanwhile, on May23, Gaddaiah's son Rameshdied of Covid in a Khammamhospital. His body was alsocremated.

To the surprise of all thefamily members and theneighbours Girijammareturned home on Wednesday.

Tracing the sequence ofevents revealed that on May15, the hospital staff handedover the body of somebodywho looked like Girajamma toGaddaiah.

While receiving the body,Gaddaiah did not look careful-ly at the body since he wasafraid of contracting Covid,and failed to notice that it wasa different person altogether.

Now the hospital authoritieshave started an investigation.

Jagan urged to hireHindi teachers in APPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Hindi S evasadanMahavidyalaya, welcomingimplementation of NewEducation Policy in theState , requested ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy to initiate measurestowards sanctioning Hindiposts in schools, junior anddegree colleges for the pro-motion of national languageHindi.

HSM founder and gener-al secretary S Gaibuvallisaid that Hindi is the nation-al language which wouldcreate employment opportu-nit ies for the youth atnational level hence the stategovernment should takemeasures for the promotionof Hindi helpful to the stu-dents.

Gaibuvalli alleged that theprevious government

neglected Hindi languageby not sanctioning teacherposts in Adarsha, Gurukuland Welfare schools in thestate and a similar situationprevailed in junior anddegree colleges.

He stated that about 800Hindi departments werefunctioning in various for-eign universities and recent-ly the French governmentprovided facilities to learnHindi as an optional lan-guage.

Gaibuvalli said that HSMsubmitted a memorandumto the Chief Minister seek-ing sanctioning of Hindipost graduate teachers,junior lecturers and degreelecturer posts in all types ofgovernment schools, juniorand degree colleges underNew Educat ion Systemimplementation and soughtfulfilment of their demands.

Jagan regime has landed Stateinto debt-trap: Kala Venkatrao PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP Politburo member K KalaVenkatrao on Wednesdayexpressed concern that AndhraPradesh was on an irreversiblepath of destruction justbecause the people trustedand bestowed power on aparty full of unethical andunprincipled persons.

Venkatrao alleged that theYSRCP Government waspushing the State into a debttrap by taking huge loans in thename of welfare programmes."The situation was slippinginto such a dangerous positionthat new debts were beingtaken just to serve the oldones," he said.

In a statement here, theTDP leader said in just twoyears, the Jaganmohan Reddyregime had taken loans worthRs 1.65 lakh-crore but therewas no creation of any produc-

tive assets. "The YSRCP government

has pushed the State into asevere debt trap with its hope-less and reckless policies in thelast two years. The State hasbecome synonymous withdebts and atrocities. The finan-cial decline and lawlessness hasrisen side by side," Venkatraoalleged.

He claimed that over 90 percent of the so-called welfareprogrammes were being con-tinued only with the help of

new loans. They were notable to spend any funds on thedevelopmental activities.

The TDP leader said thatAP's growth rate had fallenfrom 11.2 percent to 3 percentsince Jagan took over as theChief Minister. "The State nowstands in third place in farmersuicides. The Government wasgiving just Rs 14,000 in thename of Amma Vodi but itwas taking back Rs 36,000through 'Nanna buddi' by sell-ing liquor at high rates," theTDP leader alleged.

He said that just Rs 10,000was given to the fishermen butsubsidies for boats, nets andice boxes were removed. Loansof Rs 2 lakh with Rs 1 lakhsubsidy were stopped. Theweavers were being givensmall benefits but not subsi-dies on yarn, colours andother raw material, Venkatraoalleged.

Lokesh for legalfight over exams PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP national general secretaryNara Lokesh on Wednesdaydemanded the outright cancel-lation of Class X andIntermediate examinations inAndhra Pradesh on the lines ofthe Central Government can-celling Board examinations atthe national level.

Lokesh objected to ChiefMinister YS Jaganmohan Reddynot taking proactive steps to pro-tect AP students just like PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hadtaken the decision to cancelClass XII in view of the contin-uing threat from Coronavirus.

Addressing a virtual meetingwith students, parents and stu-dent associations, Lokesh saidthe Prime Minister was findingtime to hold review meetings onstudents' issues but Jagan wasnot bothered. "The PrimeMinister held a review with

experts, academicians and topofficers on the threat to studentson account of Covid-19, butJagan has never held such ameeting till now and was neverinclined to seek the opinion ofexperts," Lokesh said.

He alleged that the ChiefMinister "was however busyround the clock making plans toloot money from liquor, sandand other activities".

Lokesh threatened to launchanother legal struggle on behalfof the students if the governmentdoes not change its arrogant andadamant attitude.

"Can the CM and hisMinisters give any guarantee forthe lives of students if the examswere held? The legal fight wouldbe continued to get supportfrom the courts to save the stu-dents. Already, the CM's mind-less decisions have caused seri-ous harm and thrown the aca-demic year haywire," he said.

Decision to vaxNRTs welcomedPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh Non ResidentTelugu Society (APNRTS)president Venkat S Medapati,on behalf of all the APNRTS,thanked Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy for pro-viding Covid vaccination toemployees and students goingabroad.

He said NRTs must registertheir passport number insteadof Aadhaar number in the vac-cine certificate when they arevaccinated. "Else, NRTs wouldface difficulties in goingabroad as per the regulationsof the respective countries," hesaid.

Further, NRTs and studentsbelow the age of 45 shouldinclude their passport, validvisa (job, business, dependentor student), employment offerletter for new appointments orletter from employer to rejoin,confirmation of admission forstudents (I-20) to the docu-ments required for vaccina-tion.

Medapati said that the ChiefMinister has asked the Uniongovernment to make changes

in the Covid software so thatthe NRTs, who had been vac-cinated by furnishing theAadhaar number earlier, willget a fresh certificate with thepassport number included.

APNRTS president said thatthose working abroad andstudents pursuing higher edu-cation had come back to theirhometowns and stayed for along time due to the coronapandemic and to return tothose counties corona vaccina-tion certificate is mandatoryfor all of them.

However in India, Covidvaccines are not given to thosebelow 45 years of age. Whenthe issue was brought to thenotice of the Chief Minister,who was already reviewing thematter, directed the authoritiesto vaccinate employees goingabroad, their accompanyingfamily members and studentsgoing for higher educationbetween the ages of 18 and 45.

The 24/7 helpline APNRTSoperates is always available tothe NRTs. The helpline num-bers are 0863 2340678,WhatsApp number 8500027678.

Wife of formerCS SV Prasaddies of Covid

PNS n Vijayawada

Within 24 hours of formerchief secretary of undividedAndhra Pradesh SV Prasadpassing away due to Covid onTuesday, his spouse Lakshmialso died of the virus in theearly hours of Wednesdaywhile undergoing treatment,according to the family mem-bers.

In fact, SV Prasad, hisspouse and two sons – Saileshand Vardhan – tested positivefor coronavirus recently.

The former chief secretary,along with his spouse, wasinitially admitted to a privatehospital in Somajiguda fortreatment. Subsequently, theirsons were also admitted tothe same hospital.

The health condition of thetwo sons was stated to be sta-ble.

TDP chief N ChandrababuNaidu expressed shock.

‘Rent Authority’ in each district soonCabinet approves Model Tenancy Act, Written agreement a must now

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Union Cabinet onWednesday approved theModel Tenancy Act, aiming tobring about wide-rangingreforms, including setting upof separate rent authorities,courts and tribunals in everydistrict to protect the interestof both the owner and tenant.

Under the Act, for residen-tial premises, tenants willhave to submit a securitydeposit of maximum twomonths' rent, while in case ofcommercial property, sixmonths rent will have to bedeposited.

States and union territoriescan adopt the Model TenancyAct (MTA) by enacting freshlegislation or they can amendtheir existing rental laws suit-ably.

The government said that itis expected to give a fillip toprivate participation in rentalhousing as a business modelfor addressing the huge hous-ing shortage in the country.

The Act mandates for writtenagreement for all new tenan-cies, which will have to be sub-mitted to the concerned dis-trict 'Rent Authority'.

The government said thatthe MTA will be applicableprospectively and will notaffect existing tenancies. Rentand duration of tenancy will befixed by mutual consentbetween owner and tenantthrough a written agreement.

According to the Act, iftenant fails to vacate thepremises let out on rent inaccordance with the tenancyagreement, he or she will beliable to pay the landlord twicethe monthly rent for the firsttwo months and then fourtimes till the latter continues tooccupy the said premises.

"If the landlord fails tomake any refund, he shall beliable to pay simple interest tothe tenant at such rate as maybe prescribed from time totime on the amount which hehas omitted or failed torefund," it stated.

If there is any disputeemerges between the ownerand tenant, they will have tofirst approach 'Rent Authority'.If any party is not satisfied withthe Rent Authority's order,'Rent Court' can be approachedand then 'Rent Tribunal'.

Union Housing and UrbanAffairs Minister Hardeep SinghPuri said that the move will helpoverhaul the legal frameworkwith respect to rental housingacross the country. During apress conference, Puri said thataccording to the Census 2011,more than 1 crore houses werelying vacant in urban areasacross the country.

Making the 1 crore vacanthouses available on rent willcomplement the vision ofHousing for All by 2022', theminister said.

Asked about the reasonbehind large number of hous-es lying vacant, an official inthe ministry said that mostowners do not want to givetheir property on rent, fearingthat tenants will not vacate it,

and they will illegally occupythe property.

"With the Model TenancyAct, there would now be asense of security among own-ers as roles of both the ownerand tenant have been definedin the Act," the official toldPTI.

The Act says that no land-lord or property managercan withhold any essentialsupply to the premises occu-pied by the tenant.

According to the ministry,tenants will not be evictedduring the continuance oftenancy agreement unlessotherwise agreed to in writ-ing by both the parties.

Under the Model TenancyAct, unless otherwise agreedin the tenancy agreement, thelandlord will be responsiblefor activities like structuralrepairs except those necessi-tated by damage caused bythe tenant, whitewashing ofwalls and painting of doorsand windows, changing andplumbing pipes when neces-

sary and internal and exter-nal electrical wiring and relat-ed maintenance when neces-sary.

On his part, the tenant willbe responsible for drain clean-ing, switches and socketrepairs, kitchen fixturesrepairs, replacement of glasspanels in windows, doors andmaintenance of gardens andopen spaces, among others.

"Where the landlord pro-poses to make any improve-ment in or construct anyadditional structure on anypremises, which has been letout to a tenant and the tenantrefuses to allow the landlordto make such improvement orconstruct such additionalstructure, the landlord maymake an application in thisbehalf to the Rent Court," theAct stated.

Tenant will not carry outany structural change or erectany permanent structure inthe premises let out on rentwithout the written consentof the landlord, it also stated.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Maganti Ravindranath , theson of former MP fromAndhra Pradesh, MagantiBabu, has been found dead ata hotel in Hyderabad.

Ravindranath, who wasstaying at the star hotel inBanjara Hills for the last fewdays, was to vacate the hotelroom on Tuesday. When hedid not come out of his room,the hotel staff tried to contacthim. As there was no responseto the repeated knocks on thedoor, they alerted the policewho rushed to the hotel andbroke open the door.Ravindranath, aged around 30years, was found lying on thefloor. He was rushed to a hos-pital, where he was declaredbrought dead.

The police have shiftedthe body to the government-run Osmania Hospital forautopsy after registering acase of death under suspi-cious circumstances. Furtherprobe is underway.Ravindranath was said to besuffering from liver cirrhosisand had come to Hyderabadon May 28 for treatment.

Maganti Babu’sson found deadin Hyd hotel

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad residents were infor a pleasant surprise onWednesday when a rare sunhalo was seen in the sky. Alsoknown as the '22-degree circu-lar Halo', it is an unusual opti-cal solar spectacle that happenswhen the rays of the sun ormoon get refracted throughthe hexagonal ice crystals inthe cirrus cloud. This is alsoknown as the KaleidoscopicEffect. When visible aroundthe Moon, it is called a moonring or winter halo.

According to the UK-basedAtmospheric Optics, the Halophenomena happens when thelight is reflected and refractedby ice crystals and may split intocolours because of dispersion.

"The crystals behave likeprisms and mirrors, refractingand reflecting light betweentheir faces, sending shafts of

light in particular directions.Atmospheric optical phenom-ena like halos were used as partof weather lore, which was anempirical means of weatherforecasting before meteorolo-gy was developed. They oftendo indicate that rain will fallwithin the next 24 hours, since

the cirrostratus clouds thatcause them can signify anapproaching frontal system,"Atmospheric Optics explained.

The Halos are the collectiveglints of millions of crystals thathappen to have the right orienta-tion and angular position to directtheir refracted light into your eye.

Hyd sees 220 halo around Sun

Vax for TSstudents going abroadfrom June 5PNS n HYDERABAD

A separate facility for vacci-nation of students goingabroad for higher educationis proposed to be launched bygovernment in Institute ofPreventive Medicine (IPM),Narayanguda, Hyderabad.

An online slot bookingsystem for convenience ofthese students is being devel-oped and will be rolled out onJune 4.

Link for this facility will bemade available athttps://www. health.telan-gana.gov.in

Vaccination slots will beavailable from June 5.

04THURSDAY | JUNE 3, 2021

PNS n KAKINADA

Income has drastically fallen atLord Sri Venkateswara Swamytemple at Vadapalli due toCovid-19 effect. Usually, theshrine echoes to OmkaraNadams as 50,000 to 1,00,000devotees wait in the queues onSaturdays, bringing donationsto a tune of several crores ofrupees. All of this remains athing of the past

The Executive Officer,priests, staff offering eternallamp and incense are closingthe temple early. VadapalliVenkanna, a ‘light-hearted’god, is going to be alone inCorona's difficult times today.Development work going on inthe temple has come to astandstill due to paucity offunds.

Kaliyuga deity SriVenkateswara Swamy is said tobe a self-made red sandal-

wood idol. SwayambhuVenkateswara Swamy has onlythree temples in AndhraPradesh - one is TirumalaTirupati Venkateswara Swamy,the second at Upamaka ofNakkapalli mandal inVisakhapatnam district andthe third is Vadapalli temple inEast Godavari district .

Devotees come to the tem-ple every Saturday and makeseven rounds. Thus, aftercompleting the circumambula-tions for seven consecutiveSaturdays, offerings are madeto the Lord. Devotees are con-fident that their wishes wouldbe fulfilled if they do so.Devotees not only from the two

Telugu states but also from allover the country arrive here onFriday night. On Saturday,after completing the circum-ambulation and receiving dar-shan, one receives alms atNithya Annadanam and onceagain goes to see Swami withdevotion.

But the temple has beenlanguishing for the past oneyear due to lack of devotees.The temple was completelyclosed for 78 days from April,2020. A limited number ofdevotees were then allowed in.However, the priests closedthe temple again as the stafftested positive for Corona andthe cases in the villageincreased. Thus, the number ofdevotees to the templedecreased. Revenue in crores ofrupees fell to thousands.Meanwhile, Covid second wavestarted back in March thisyear. The temples were com-

pletely closed. Swami's annualwedding with 5 lakh devoteesalso seemed to be completelysecluded. The marriage tookplace only with 20, 30 priestsand Vedic scholars in atten-dance. And, there were at least500 to 1,000 people for Swami'sNitya Kalyanam. It was alsoheld in seclusion.

The Nithya Annadanamcaters to 10,000 people fromMonday to Friday and morethan 40,000 to 70,000 peopleon Saturdays, Sundays andholidays. The present templecourtyards look vacant. Theshops were closed. Eventually,the people in the village are noteven coming out.

Priestly worship is beingperformed at the temple forone hour in the morning andone hour in the evening only.Swami Kalyanam also takesplace in solitude. This led tocomplete drop in revenue.

G.SEKHAR BABU

n NELLORE

Everyone in the State is havinga harrowing time during theongoing corona second wave.The poor are being forced topool money beyond to sustaintheir lives and go to corporatehospitals for medical treat-ment. The hospitals are collect-ing exorbitant fees for treatmentand in the end are only return-ing corpses to the attendants. Ithas become commonplace inNellore city.

In a recent incident, a corpo-rate hospital KIMS allegedlycollected Rs 5.5 lakh from apatient only to hand over hiscorpse to his relatives. Close onthe heels of this incident, anoth-er such case has come to light inNellore city.

Family members of the vic-tim lodged a complaint with IVTown police after which the hos-pital management appeared tohave come to a compromise,fearing media coverage. It islearnt that the hospital manage-ment agreed to refund the treat-ment cost in return for with-drawal of complaint by the vic-tim’s family.

This is the case in many cor-porate hospitals such as Lotus,Reach, DSR, Padmavati,Narayana, Medicare, Apollo,Vijaya and Vijaya Care in Nellorecity which have obtained licenceto admit Covid-19 patients. But,only a handful of incidents havecome to light.

The failure of the concernednodal authorities in taking actionhas led to disputes betweenpatients’ relatives and hospitalowners, leading to tension. Inaddition, patients have manydoubts about the medical ser-

vices provided in the respectivehospitals.

In the case of corona patients,the hospitals are not acceptingArogyasri and are not issuingbills for the money paid. Theyare accepting only cash and notaccepting online payment. Thisis the situation in every hospital.This is an open secret and onewonders how it is happeningwithout the knowledge of healthofficials and the coordinators.

Laburu Swarnalatha, wife ofLaburu Mallikarjuna, who isthe sarpanch of Chinatopu vil-

lage in Thotapalligudur mandal,was admitted to another corpo-rate hospital AIMS at Pogathotain Nellore city for corona treat-ment on May 13.

However, when the victiminformed her relatives that thetreatment was not being givenproperly and that the oxygensupply was being cut off atnight, the relatives questionedthe hospital staff and they repliedthat there was nothing like that.

The hospital staff informedthe relatives that the patient'scondition was not good and

when the relatives rushed to thehospital and saw that the meterreading was 40. When theycame to know that oxygen sup-ply was removed, the relativesinformed the staff who then con-tinued oxygen supply.

Meanwhile, although the vic-tim was given oxygen after anargument, the patient died. Thevictims alleged that the hospitalmanagement killed the patientbecause they questioned theway they treated the patient.

Relatives of the victim rushedto the hospital and questioned

the staff. The hospital manage-ment immediately lodged acomplaint with the police in thewake of the incidents that tookplace the previous day and theday before. With this, a largenumber of police personnelwere deployed at the hospital.

Attempts were made to takethe issue to the notice of higherofficials.

Angry relatives staged aprotest in front of the hospital.Srinivas Reddy, brother of thedeceased, lodged a written com-plaint with the city police stationthat his sister Swarnalatha haddied due to negligent attitude atthe hospital.

PNS n ELURU

The district authorities tookaction against the privatehospital for treating coronapatients without permission.The authorities earlier tookaction against three hospitals.In the latest case, Sri Star MultiSpeciality Hospital at RamaRaopet, Tadepalligudem, hasbeen booked. Additional DM &HO made a surprise visit to thehospital with her staff andseized the hospital after athorough inquiry in thepresence of local tahasildarAppa Rao. According toofficials, the hospital treated apatient from Ganapavaram.

Corporate hospitals collectinghefty charges from Covid patients

‘Hospital negligence killed my sister’PNS n NELLORE

AIMS Hospital MD Dr MuraliShankar Reddy, Dr SK SandhaniBhasha and his younger brotherKailasam Srinivasa Reddy havebeen blamed for the death of awoman Leburu Swarnalatha.

Kailasam Srinivasa Reddy, a brotherof deceased, alleged that thenegligence of AIMS Hospital MDDr Murali Shankar Reddy, Dr SKSandhani Bhasha led to his sister'sdeath. Addressing the media onTuesday, he said he complainedagainst the doctors in the Police

station and demanded stern actionagainst them. He alleged that thehospital management had lootedRs 2 lakh from them at the time ofjoining his sister who was sufferingfrom Covid. The hospitalmanagement later demanded Rs2.5 lakh again.

Hospital bookedfor treatingCovid patientsans permission

Covid hits Vadapalli Venkanna’s coffers

PNS n KADAPA

The Kadapa MunicipalCorporation is the only urbanlocal body in Chief MinisterYS Jagan Mohan Reddy'snative district where the realestate business has registereda boom. This is the reason whyillegal layouts are mushroom-ing everywhere on the city out-skirts. Some investors whothink that the Kadapa districtcentre would be developed bythe Chief Minister, are buyingagricultural land under theMunicipal Corporation andresorting to preparing layoutswithout permission.

Kadapa city is spread overan area of 164 sq.km. Themunicipal corporation, whichhas a population of 3 lakh, hada new Council on March 18. Atthe first General Body meetingof the Kadapa MunicipalCorporation, Mayor SureshBabu said action would betaken against illegal layouts.

The mayor declared official-ly that there were about 180illegal layouts within theKadapaMunicipal Corporationlimits . But so far no action hasbeen taken against them.According to the MunicipalAct, those constructing struc-tures close to the main road-ways in the city must leave atleast 5 feet setback. But this isnot being implemented any-where in the city.

Land conversion is required

for layout of agricultural lands.The landlord has to pay a fixedamount to the Government forconverting agricultural landinto non-agricultural land.

Illegal layouts are being con-structed in violation of theseregulations. Also, all construc-tions in the city should be donewith the planning depart-ment’s approval of theMunicipal Corporation.However, this is not being fol-lowed. Cases should be regis-tered against those who actcontrary to government regu-lations. But, so far not a singlecase has been registered.

Meanwhile, only 21 per-sons have applied for layoutsorting so far. Space for a 33-foot road, open space,drainages and public purpose

would have to be set aside inthe layout.

Some realtors are trickinginnocent people without set-ting up connecting roads nextto ponds. The governmentextended the LRS (LayoutRegulation Scheme) tillDecember 31 last year. In thiscontext, the authoritiesreviewed the situation. Withthis, some are waiting for achance again even after thedeadline.

Meanwhile, officials warnedthat buying plots in unautho-rised layouts would ultimate-ly go against buyers.Corporation officials havealready informed the ? author-ities about the registration oflayouts that were not permit-ted.

Realty:180 illegal layoutsidentified in Kadapa city

VASIREDDY RAVICHANDRA

n GUNTUR

Sand has sparked a controver-sy in the ruling party in Gunturdistrict. Management of a sandreach in Pedakurapadu con-stituency of Guntur district isthe bone of contention amongthe ruling party leaders. In thisregard, the registration of acase against the ruling partyleader of the district on theorders of the party elders hasbecome debatable.

The government has madechanges in the sand policy inAndhra Pradesh. The existingpolicy was lifted and the reach-es were allotted to privatecompanies and the reach inquestion was handed over to JPcompany. As part of this, JPCompany representatives vis-ited the Sand Reaches inPedakurapadu constituency ofGuntur district.

This was not to the liking ofthe local YSRCP leader, whohad hitherto mined unofficial-ly by keeping the reach occu-pied, and attacked the JPCompany representatives whocame to the sand reach.

The attack took place onMay 14 at the sand reach. Noaction was taken against the

local police though the JPCompany representativeslodged a complaint with themas the attackers belonged to theruling party.

It is learnt that JP Companyrepresentatives took the mat-ter to the notice of SajjalaRamakrishna Reddy,Government Advisor.

Sajjala took the issue ofattack on JP company repre-sentatives seriously. Authoritieswere ordered to register casesand take action against the per-petrators of the attack or thoseattempting to obstruct thesand reaches.

A case has been registeredagainst Kancheti Sai, a key fol-lower of YSRCP key leader and

MLA Namburu Shankar Raoin Pedakurapadu constituency,at Sattenapalli rural police sta-tion. The case was registeredunder Sections 323, 506, 431IPC.

Sai was called to the stationand sent on station bail.Amravati station CI Vijayakumarwas sent to the Vacancy Reserve(VR) on a cause of unresponsive-ness, even though JP companyrepresentatives complained thatthey had been attacked. It islearnt that a departmentalinquiry is underway against thepolice personnel.

It remains to be seen howmany turns the sand tornado inthe ruling party as a wholewould take.

Management of sand reachsparks a row in ruling party

PNS n GUNTUR

In a brutal incident, uniden-tified assailants pouredpetrol on a sleeping manand set him on fire atKottanagireddypalli villagein Nuzendla mandal ofGuntur district onWednesday morning.

Karlakunta Guravaya, 71,of the village, was sleepingoutside his house whensome unidentified personspoured petrol on him andburnt him alive.

Family members called108 for help. He was rushedto Vinukonda GovernmentHospital where doctorsreferred him to GunturGeneral Hospital as his condi-tion turned critical. However,he was rushed toNarasaraopet GovernmentHospital by an ambulancewhere he was pronounceddead upon arrival.

The body was shifted toVinukonda GovernmentHospital for post-mortemexamination. The police regis-tered a case following a com-plaint lodged by the family-members. Investigation is on.

Man burnt alive

Recognizing the need for oxygen at the AmalapuramGovernment Area Hospital, Minister Pinipe Vishwaroopspoke to Cairn Energy and Vedanta and asked them to comeforward to help. In response, the companies on Wednesdayhanded over 30 oxygen cylinders to AmalapuramGovernment Area Hospital with a capacity of 50 litres and20 oxygen cylinders to S Yanam PHC

PNS n GUNTUR

Guntur Urban SP AmmiReddy has been abruptly trans-ferred. He was replaced by ArifHafeez as the new SP whoassumed charged Urban SP onWednesday. The new SP wasearlier working as GunturRural & Urban SEB ASP. Thisis his first post as an SP.

Arif Hafeez is an IPS officer

of the 2015 batch. His father isa retired police officer. Beforeand after the elections, hecracked down on liquorsmuggling in the districtf rom G o a , Kar n at a k a ,Telangana and other states.

Ammireddy, who came toGuntur as Ur b a n S P o nJu n e 1 5 l a s t y e a r, h a sb e e n t r ans fe r re d w i t h -i n a y e a r.

Arif Hafeez takes over asGuntur Urban district SP

PNS n ONGOLE

Praveen Kumar, who hasbeen appointed as the 36thCollector of Prakasam District,took charge in his chamber atPrakasam Bhavan onWednesday. He later addressedthe media and thanked ChiefMinister YS Jagan MohanReddy for appointing him asthe District Collector ofPrakasam district.

The collector said that hewould work for the implemen-tation of welfare and develop-ment schemes provided to thepeople without corruption andwould serve the people trans-parently. He said the focuswould be on Ramayapatnamport, Pula Subbaiah Veligondaproject, Amul Milk pilot pro-

ject and other issues in the dis-trict. Praveen Kumar, a 2006IAS batch from Bihar, previ-ously worked as the DistrictCollector of Visakhapatnamand West Godavari.

After assuming charge,Collector Praveen Kumar helda meeting with government

medical officers and doctors atthe Prakasam BhavanCollector Conference Hall onCovid management measuresand discussed the impact ofcorona virus in the district,management of Covid centers,treatment of victims and vac-cination process.

New Collector of Prakasamdistrict assumes charge

Rajagolla Ramesh Yadav from Proddatur in Kadapa dis-trict met Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy onWednesday and thanked the latter for his assurance to offerhim MLC post in Governor’s quota. In the last municipalelections, Ramesh Yadav contested for the post of ProddaturMunicipal Chairman. However, after the election, the chair-manship was given to a social category other than his own

PNS n POLAVARAM

Irrigation Minister AnilKumar Yadav has directed theauthorities to expedite thePolavaram project works toprovide water to Kharif 2022t.He reviewed the progress ofthe Polavaram project as partof his visit to Polavaram onWednesday.

He said the Polavaram pro-ject head works were 73.45 percent complete, the main dam75.03 per cent, connectivitypackage 61.22 per cent, leftcanal connectivity 51.73 percent, right canal connectivity72.81 per cent, left main canal70.09 per cent and right maincanal 91.69 per cent. He

ordered a speedy completionof all the works.

He directed the officials toprovide electricity, clean waterand toilets in the L&D colonyby June 15. He suggested thatplans be drawn up to complete3,905 houses in Taduvai villageby August and review theprogress of works once everyten days. He earlier personal-ly inspected the works of thePolavaram project. PolavaramMLA Tellam Balaraju, PolavaramProject Special Officer Anand,Polavaram Project Engineer-in-Chief C.S. Narayana Reddy, chiefengineer B. Sudhakar Babu,Chief Engineer, Quality Control,R Satish Kumar and other offi-cials were present

Minister inspectsPolavaram works

PNS n TIRUPATI

Suspended Judge Ramakrishna,who was arrested on charges oftrying to incite hatred amongpeople against the constitu-tionally elected government ofAndhra Pradesh and CM Y SJagan Mohan Reddy underSection 124A of IPC, was shift-ed from Chittoor Jail to PilerSub Jail by the Jail authoritiesfollowing the orders of HighCourt Chief Justice AKGowswami here on Wednesday.

The Judge's son, VamsiKrishna, has complained tothe High Court about the threatbeing posed to his father from

a suspicious fellow prisoner inthe same barrack and he report-ed about a knife found in thebarracks of the Chittoor jail inwhich Judge Ramakrishna washeld as an undertrial prisoner.Based on the judge son's com-plaint and plea, the High Courtordered to shift the Judge toPiler Sub Jail.

Suspended Judge shifted

from Chittoor Jail to Piler

nation 05

THURSDAY | JUNE 3, 2021

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre has amended itsrules barring officers who hadworked in intelligence andsecurity related organisationsfrom publishing sensitive infor-mation by adding new clauses,including the conditions thatthey can't share any material on"domain of the organisation" orits personnel.

The Central Civil Services(Pension) Amendment Rules,2021, dated May 31 and noti-fied late Tuesday, also statesthat they need to take priorpermission from the "head ofthe organization" for publish-ing such material. In the earli-er 2007 rules, permission wasto be taken from the head ofthe department.

Twenty-five organisations,including the IntelligenceBureau (IB), Research andAnalysis Wing (RAW), theCentral Bureau of Investigation(CBI) as well as the Special

Protection Group (SPG) andthe Border Security Force(BSF), are covered under therules.

All employees would have togive an undertaking to thehead of organisation that theywould not publish sensitiveinformation, failing which theirpension can be "withheld orwithdrawn", the amendmentstates.

According to the CentralCivil Services (Pension)Amendment Rules 2007 that

was notified in March 2008, theemployees are already barredfrom publishing any sensitiveinformation, "the disclosureof which would prejudiciallyaffect the sovereignty andintegrity of India".

The amended provision nowreads, “No government servant,who, having worked in anyintelligence or security-relatedorganization…shall, withoutprior clearance from the headof the organisation, make anypublication after retirement, of

any material relating to andincluding domain of the organ-isation, including any referenceor information about any per-sonnel and his designation,and expertise or knowledgegained by virtue of working inthat organization”.

There was no mention ofdomain of the organisationand reference to any personnelin the 2007 rules.

"Domain may be taken tomean core area or core areas ofthe working of an organisa-tion," an official explained.

The amended rules specifythat they cover governmentservants who have worked inany “Intelligence or Security-related organisation included inthe Second Schedule of theRight to Information Act, 2005(22 of 2005)”.

When the RTI Act wasincorporated in 2005, 18organisations were in Scheduletwo and their details could notbe subjected to the transparen-

cy law. From 2008 to 2011, thenumber rose to 25 after theinclusion of the elite SPGguarding the prime minister,the CBI, the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA)and the Defence Research andDevelopment Organisation(DRDO).

Allaying fears expressed insome sections of the media,government sources said theintention of the government is“always to safeguard nationalinterests”.

"An erroneous and mislead-ing narrative is sought to becreated with regard to therules, which were designed toremove any confusion regard-ing existing restrictions on thesubject," they said.

The sources added that a fewintelligence and governmentofficials who had worked inintelligence or security-relatedorganisations had in the past“publicly expressed themselvesby means of writing or speak-

ing, revealing specific knowl-edge and sensitive informationgained by virtue of havingworked in that organisation”.

Stating that the order wasissued to bring clarity on theissue, the sources said, "By nomeans do these rules deny anysuch former official fromexpressing his/her views. Infact, it makes it easier for themto do so, given that they cannow contact the Head of theirformer employer organisationand seek clarification onwhether the proposed materi-al is sensitive or non-sensitive."

The 2007 rules had barredemployees from publishingmaterial including "sensitiveinformation, the disclosure ofwhich would prejudicially affectthe sovereignty and integrity ofIndia, the security, strategic, sci-entific or economic interests ofthe state, or relation with a for-eign state or which would leadto incitement of an offence"after their retirement.

Eight new flying trainingacademies will be set up

in five airports with an aimto make India a global pilottraining hub, the Ministry ofCivil Aviation said onWednesday. The fiveairports -- Belagavi andKalaburagi in Karnataka,Jalgaon in Maharashtra,Khajuraho in Madhya

Pradesh and Lilabari in Assam -- have been carefully chosen sincethey have minimal disruption due to weather issues and civil ormilitary air traffic, it stated. The establishment of these eightacademies is aimed at making India a global flying training hub andto prevent the exodus of Indian cadets to foreign academies, itstated. Additionally, these academies will also be designed to caterto the flying training requirements of cadets in India's neighbouringcountries, it mentioned. and Skynex," the ministry said.

8 new flying training academiesto be set up in 5 airports: Govt

Two tigresses, rescued froma tiger reserve in Madhya

Pradesh about a year ago andkept at an animal ward, havenow been released into thewild, a senior forest officialsaid. The two felines are over3 years' old now. They wererescued as cubs from thebuffer area of the Sanjay Tiger

Reserve in Sidhi and brought to Baheraha ward of the BandhavgarhTiger Reserve in Umaria, an official release quoting Principal Chiefconser-vator of Forest, Wildlife, Alok Kumar said on Tuesday evening.After being kept at the Baheraha ward for about a year, they have nowbeen shifted to the Sanjay Tiger Reserve (in Sidhi district) and theSatpura Tiger Reserve (Hoshangabad), he said. Based on therecommendation of wildlife experts, the tigresses have been releasedinto the wild for their free and natural movement, he said.

Two tigresses rescued oneyear ago released into wild

India's apex drug regulator haswaived the requirement of

testing every batch of foreign-made COVID-19 vaccines bythe Central Drugs Laboratory,Kasauli and post-launch bridg-ing trials for such firms, a movethat will bolster availability ofvaccines. The decision by the

Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) comes in the backdrop of Pfizerand Cipla putting forth similar demands during negotiations to supplyimported vaccines to India. These exemptions have been made in light ofthe huge vaccination requirements in India in the wake of the recentsurge of COVID-19 cases and the need for increased availability ofimported vaccines to meet national requirements, according to DCGI. "Ithas been decided that for approval of COVID-19 vaccines in India forrestricted use in emergency situation which are already approved forrestricted use by US FDA, EMA, UK MHRA, PMDA Japan.

Norms for clearing foreign-made COVID-19 vax eased

Eight people, including three chil-dren, have been killed when a

double-storey house in Tikri villagehere collapsed after an LPG cylinderexplosion, police said onWednesday. Seven people havebeen grievously injured in theTuesday night incident and theyhave been rushed to Lucknow forbetter treatment, officials said. "The

LPG cylinder exploded in the house of one Nurul Hasan around 10pm on Tuesday which led to the double-storey house to collapse.Eight people died in the incident while seven others were seriouslyinjured," District Magistrate Markandey Shahi said. The deceased havebeen identified as Nisar Ahmad (35), Rubina Bano (32), Shamshad(28), Sairunisha (35), Shahbaz (14), Noori Saba (12), Meraj (11) andMohammad Shoeab (2). Superintendent of Police, Santosh KumarMishra said personnel of the force immediately reached the spot afterreceiving information of the incident on its helpline.

LPG cylinder explosion leadsto house collapse, 8 dead

INDIA CORNER

Retd officials barred from publishing sensitive info

Patnaik writes to all CMs, pitchesfor vax procurement by Centre PNS n BHUBANESWAR

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik onWednesday wrote to all thechief ministers in thecountry,urging them to build aconsensus over procurement ofthe COVIDvaccines by theCentre for distribution amongthe states.

In the letter, Patnaik wrotethat no state is safeunless allthe states adopt vaccination asthe topmostpriority and exe-cute it on war-footing.

"The only way to protectour people against future-waves and provide them witha hope of survival isvaccina-tion," Patnaik wrote in the let-ter that he shared onTwitter,tagging all the chief ministers.

"But this cannot be a battleamong the states to competeagainst each other to procurevaccines," he added.

Patnaik noted that after theCentre announced phase 3 ofthe vaccine policy, allowingvaccination for everyoneabove the age of 18 andopened procurement for thestates and private sector, thedemand increased.

"Many states have floatedglobal tenders for vaccineprocurement. However, it isquite clear that the globalvaccine manufacturers arelooking forward to the UnionGovernment for the clear-ances and assurances," he

said. "They are unwilling to get

into supply contracts withthe State government. Whilethe domestic vaccine manu-facturers are having supplyconstraints and are not able tocommit required supplies,"the chief minister said.

Patnaik said that underthese circumstances, the bestoption available is for theCentre to centrally procurevaccines and distribute themamong the state so that thepeople are vaccinated at theearliest.

"At the same time, the exe-cution of the vaccination pro-gramme has to be decen-tralised and States allowed theflexibility to determine theirown mechanism to ensureuniversal vaccination," hementioned.

For example, many hilly

areas cannot access the inter-net and therefore online reg-istration has to be flexible, hesaid.

Patnaik said that he hasalready raised the matter withthe Centre and also spoken toa few chief ministers.

"However, I would respect-fully suggest that all the StateGovernments should come toa consensus on this issue forearly resolution of this prob-lem. We should act fast beforeany third wave comes and cre-ates further havoc," he said.

Maintaining that theCOVID-19 pandemic is thegreatest challenge that thecountry is facing since theIndependence struggle,Patnaik urged the chief min-isters to come together in thespirit of cooperative federal-ism, setting aside the politicaldifferences.

SIT fails to record MP ex-CMKamal Nath's statementPNS n INDORE

A Special Investigation Team(SIT) probing the 'honey trap'case in Madhya Pradesh onWednesday could not record astatement of state Congresspresident Kamal Nath as hewas not available in Bhopal, anofficial said.

The 'honey-trap scandal,which came to light in 2019,was an organised racket where-in a gang used to lure rich andhigh-placed people usingyoung women and later black-mail them threatening torelease objectionable contentsuch as intimate videos andscreenshots of social mediachats. The young women werebrought to Bhopal throughtrafficking, police had said.

Nath had claimed in anonline press conference onMay 21 that he possessed a pendrive/CD of the honey trapcase, following which a noticewas served to him by the SITto record his statement underthe CrPc sections.

"Nath had already informedin writing that he will be in

Delhi on Wednesday as per hispre-decided programme andtherefore won't be able torecord his statement,"Narendra Saluja, the mediacoordinator of the formerMadhya Pradesh chief minis-ter, told PTI.

A senior SIT official alsosaid as Nath was not availablein Bhopal, his statement onpossessing the pen drive of thehoney trap incident could notbe recorded.

The official said no freshdate was given to Nath torecord his statement.

Investigators had arrested fivewomen and their driver fromBhopal and Indore inSeptember 2019 in connectionwith the 'honey trap' case.

At that time, the KamalNath-led Congress govern-ment was in power in MadhyaPradesh.

Police had filed a chargesheet in the case in a court inIndore on December 16, 2019.

As per the charge sheet, theorganised gang used to luredrich and high-placed peopleusing young women traffickedto Bhopal.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Education experts and stake-holders believe the bigger chal-lenge before the CBSE now iscoming up with a fair evalua-tion criteria for class 12 stu-dents whose exams have beencancelled and demanded thatthe policy is notified soon.

The experts hailed the deci-sion to cancel the board examswhich were earlier postponedin view of the second wave ofCOVID-19 pandemic.

Given the current situation,it is the right decision to can-cel the CBSE Board exams.There is no way we couldhave held exams without com-promising the safety of chil-dren. While we welcome thedecision, we hope the modal-ities would be worked outquickly in consultation withstakeholders, they said.

"Since class marks areimportant factor that affectsstudents' career, we expectCBSE to ensure students don'tget affected with the method-ology of awarding marks," saidPraveen Raju, Co-Chair, FICCIARISE, a collegium of stake-

holders aimed at promotingquality education.

In a meeting chaired byPrime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday, it was decid-ed that the CBSE will take stepsto compile the results of class12 students as per a well-defined objective criteria in atime-bound manner.

"The next step is equally crit-ical and crucial in terms ofdeciding the process and cri-teria based on which the chil-dren's performance will begauged. This should be donekeeping in mind that many ofthem make that extra effortduring the last mile and hence,

should be given due advan-tage," said Charu Wahi,Principal, Nirmal BhartiaSchool.

According to VishnuKarthik, CEO, The HeritageSchools, the decision on can-cellation of board exams hasprovided some clarity andassuaged stress levels amongstudents and parents but thechallenge now is for the CBSEto arrive at an alternative cri-teria to determine grade 12marks.

"Any delay or any confusionon the new grading criteria willlead to more confusion andstress among students.

CLASS 12 BOARD EXAMS

Experts: Challenge to decidecriteria; yet, must be done

Book Baba Ramdev for sedition, sayspetition filed in Bihar courtPNS n MUZAFFARPUR

Baba Ramdev has beendragged to court by a residentof this north Bihar town, whohas prayed that the yoga gurube booked for sedition in thewake of his alleged disparagingremarks against modern med-icine and its practitioners.

The petition was filed in thecourt of the Chief JudicialMagistrate by Gyan Prakashthrough his counsel SudhirKumar Ojha, himself a seriallitigant who remains in thenews for petitions against toppoliticians, Bollywood starsand foreign heads of state.

The petition filed before thecourt of Acting CJMShailendra Rai here has

dubbed Ramdev's utterancesas "fraudulent", and soughtinvoking of IPC sections per-taining to sedition and cheat-

ing besides the DisasterManagement Act.

The matter will be taken upfor hearing on June 7.

Ramdev, the founder of thePatanjali Group, is in the eyeof the storm over uncharita-ble comments against theallopathic system of medicine,including coronavirus vac-cines.

The Indian MedicalAssociation has been up inarms against the yoga guru fordenigrating the tireless ser-vices rendered by doctorsduring the COVID-19 pan-demic to which many medicalpractitioners have also suc-cumbed.

His known proximity withthe BJP notwithstanding,Ramdev's comments havebeen met with disapproval bymany leaders of the party inpower at the Centre.

Guj cancels boardexams for class 12PNS n AHMEDABAD

Taking a cue from the Centre'sdecision to scrap the CBSE class12 board exams amid the contin-uing COVID-19 pandemic, theGujarat government onWednesday decided to cancel theupcoming state board exams forclass 12 students.

The state government hadrecently announced that the class12 board exams for students ofgeneral and science streams willbe conducted from July 1 byadhering to the COVID-19 pro-tocol.

"The state government decid-ed to scrap the exams for class 12of the Gujarat Secondary andHigher Secondary Board(GSHSB) after taking into con-

sideration the Centre's decisionto scrap the exams for class 12students of the CBSE given thecoronavirus pandemic," stateEducation MinisterBhupendrasinh Chudasama toldreporters after attending aCabinet meeting in Gandhinagar.

Approximately 1.40 lakh stu-dents of science stream and 5.43lakh students of the generalstream were expected to appearfor the board exam.

"As Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday announced thecancellation of the CBSE examfor class 12 in the larger interestof students, our government hasalso decided to cancel the stateboard exam, which was sched-uled to start from July 1,"Chudasama said.

PNS n BHAVNAGAR

A 70-year-old man wasmauled to death by a leopardin Gujarat's Bhavnagar districtonWednesday, a forest depart-ment official said.The inci-dent took place in Padhiyarkavillage underMahuva range ofthe Shetrunji wildlife divisionin Greater Gir area, ChiefConservator of Forest(Wildlife), Junagadh,Dushyant Vasavada said.

"The village sarpanchinformed the beat guard about-the incident around 6.20 am. Thebody of Bhanabhai Baraiya was

found in a plantation area.Cages have been put up to traptheleopard," he said.

There have been several casesof human-animal conflict inforested areas of Gujarat in therecent past.

Between 2015 and 2019, leop-ards attacked 718 people indiffer-ent parts of the state and out ofthem, 67 died, the governmenttold the state Assembly in Marchthis year.

Gujarat: Elderlyman mauled todeath by leopard

MP 'HONEY TRAP' CASE

We are committed tosustain normalcy andpeace in JK: YK JoshiPNS n UDHAMPUR

The security situation in Jammuand Kashmir has by and largebeen peaceful and the Army iscommitted to ensure that thecivil administration operates ina fear-free environment,Northern Army commanderLieutenant General Y K Joshihas said.

Lt Gen Joshi, who is aKargil war hero, said synergised,ethical and precision operationsby security forces have dealt asevere blow to the 'tanzeems'(terrorist groups), the terrornetwork operating in the unionterritory and their leadership,both local and foreign.

"The security situation inJammu and Kashmir has byand large been peaceful, barringa few incidents, where terroristsin order to vent their frustrationhave targeted soft and vulner-able parts of the citizenry," thecommander told PTI in aninterview.

"The 'tanzeems' have beenleft rudderless without effectiveleadership and there is a dearthof arms, ammunition and other

war-like stores, especially auto-matic weapons," he said.

The result is, terrorists areresorting to low-scale standoffattacks and avoiding directgunbattles, Lt Gen Joshi said.

Terrorists "are avoiding apitched battle when contact isestablished with security forces",he said.

Lt Gen Joshi said that recruit-ment of local youths by terrorgroups has more or less beenrestricted and is in only threedistricts of south Kashmir.

"There has been a percepti-ble difference within theKashmir Valley where NorthKashmir has started to savourthe benefits of peace", he said.

Another initiative of securi-ty forces, which has begun toyield results is the surrender oflocal terrorists, indicative thatthere is a drastic loss of tractionamongst the youth who arebeing forced to take up arms,the commander said.

"We are committed to sustainnormalcy and peace in Jammuand Kashmir, allowing the civiladministration to operate in a'fear-free' environment," he said.

The Left did some path-breaking work in its earlydays. Operation Barga, theland reform programme,which gave a big blow to feu-dal agriculture, was one suchprogramme. It managedcommunal harmony well.Barring a few skirmishes, nocommunal riots were report-ed from the Left-run States.It did instill in common peo-ple that they had a place inIndian society, but it all fiz-zled out soon.

It doesn’t take too manyfollies to kill you in politics.A single blunder is enoughto push you out of the game.The Left has shot itself in thefoot many a t ime. ItsPolitburo became a club ofbhadralok out of sync withreality. It became deaf to newvoices and failed to adapt toIndian conditions.

In 1977, the Jyoti Basu-led Left dispensation cameto power in West Bengal andwent on to rule for 34 years.Its major election plank wasto punish policemen andthe Congress netas whoindulged in excesses in thename of countering theNaxalbari movement. TheHaratosh Chakravarty com-mittee was appointed, whichrecommended action against

certain individuals andpolicemen. Not only noaction was taken againstthose involved and evenindicted policemen weregiven promotion. The rea-son was, of course, that theLeft wanted to show that itwas mainstream and hadnothing to do with theultras. It abandoned the verypeople who were part oncepart of it. No efforts weremade to bring them into themainstream. The CPI(M)-led Government in WestBengal was using the Centralarmed forces and even seek-ing help from Israel to crushthe tribal movement inLalgarh.

The final blow in WestBengal came whenBuddhadeb Bhattacharyatried to forcibly acquire 997acres of agricultural land inSingur. Thereafter, the Leftbecame a relic of the past.

What Buddhadeb did inBengal, Pinarayi Vijayan isdoing in Kerala. There isanger among the farmersagainst the land acquisitionsin Kerala. The Governmentis evicting farmers andacquiring land. The cadresare helping it by burningmakeshift shelters of theprotesting farmers. In a typ-

ical emperor style, Vijayanignominiously shunted outKK Shailaja from his newCabinet. But he might endup wiping the Left from theState instead.

The Left is caught in aquagmire. It missed the “his-toric opportunity” to have aLeft Prime Minister. Its lead-ers fail to see things from anIndian perspective. Rather, itborrowed the template fromChina, for which it is oftencriticised. The Chinesegoods and ideas don’t last inIndia. It made little effort tounderstand the Indianmindset. It couldn’t take onthe Right-wing; in anostrich-like manner it neveraddressed the question ofreligion in politics. In fact,its vote bank shifted to theBJP. It contemplated a justsociety based on human dig-nity but never bothered toeven ban the man-pulledcarriages in Kolkata.

Not many Left leadersare visible today. In the eraof TV, your presence mattersmore than your work. Andright, now its presence andwork are both suspect.

(The writer is a columnistand documentary f i lm-maker. The views expressedare personal.)

The second wave of the Corona pandemic may be waning but its scare remainsintact. After it first came to light in late 2019, the origins and its spread ofNovel Coronavirus have been a subject of study. It is being probed by vari-

ous agencies around the world. Many conspiracy theories of its origin have beendoing the rounds ever since some figment of imaginations others not. One plau-sible theory is that it came from the Huanan seafood and wildlife market in Wuhan.Another attributed to Wuhan virology lab in Wuhan. It was said that it leaked from

a Coronavirus lab in China that was working ordeveloping the virus strain. So where did it comefrom? The latest findings by the US Intelligence sug-gest that it was indeed a lab leak that led to thispandemic on a global scale. It refutes the theoryof it originating at the Huanana seafood and wildlifemarket. The revelations are the result of ongoinginvestigations by the US and the UK agencies thatare trying to connect the dots. Some startling factshave come to light. They give insight into the spreadof SARS-CoV-2, the official name of NovelCoronavirus.

The story goes that three miners were entrust-ed to clean an abandoned copper mine in Moijang way back in 2012. They hadto work in the knee-deep filth of bat excreta and urine. All three fell sick. Threemore men replaced them and also fell sick. Three of the six men died. They hadthe same symptoms that we now associate with Corona. The bat excreta, takento the Wuhan lab, revealed that the fungus on the fleece was in the lungs of thedead miners. Later, three researchers also died, and somehow the virus leakedout. We would never know. A conspiracy theory doing the rounds suggests thatCorona spread in the countries which were competing with China— the US, theUK, and India, you name it. One thing is for sure, Coronavirus does not have ances-tral history. Yet another study, by a British professor and a Norwegian scientist,claim that Chinese took a natural Coronavirus “backbone” found in Chinese cavebats and spliced a new “spike” onto it to make it a military-grade. Remember, theChinese Premier never wore a mask or protection while visiting Wuhan. Of course,China also suffered in Wuhan but then all bomb makers lose a finger or two.

The CBSE Class XII examinations stand cancelled for 2021 on account of thesecond surge of COVID-19. For the health and safety of the students, explainedPrime Minister Narendra Modi. A formula will be arrived at to “assess” the can-

didates and give them marks. Will anyone fail in such a situation? The question isrhetorical, but underlines some contrarian issues with the manner in which the coun-try tackles student examinations. The announcement has been met with glee all around.After the CBSE Class X exams were cancelled a couple of months ago, the possi-bility of holding XII exams was already doomed. The “mood” for the exams was notthere. The social media was crowded with messages for cancelling them. Myriad

reasons were given for not taking the exams. The“results” will take some weeks coming. Those whowere planning to go abroad for undergraduate stud-ies or were ready for a fall term admission will bethe most troubled. If the foreign universities do notextend the deadline for the results, they stand tolose a term. Will students who apply for admis-sions after getting their XII results have no prob-lem taking IELTS or TOEFL or GRE? What aboutCOVID and lack of vaccination?

Those looking for domestic admissions haveto wait to see if there is to be a common entrancetest. If not, how can a university assess a student

on the basis of marks not obtained through an examination? What about admis-sions to IITs and medical colleges that require an entrance test? The circumstancesfor the now-cancelled XII exams would be the same for these tests too, won’t they?The top-of-the-class students would be the most affected by the contrived resultsand most of them would not want to waste more time by appearing in a re-examin the future. If anything, the cancellation may have created an “exam-class” divideof sorts. There is such a brouhaha over 14 lakh students appearing in the CBSEXII whereas close to a crore appear in the state boards and nobody is talking aboutthem. There is a National Education Policy and yet CBSE, ICSE and state boardsdish out a decentralised fare. There was a need for a centralised decision-makingin times of the pandemic. One question that escaped being asked is: Why were notthe CBSE XII exams not held this February? They were held in February 2020, weren’tthey, when nothing was known about COVID-19 and there was no vaccine either?Nearly 16 lakh students appeared for the NEET exam last September and none ofthem encountered a COVID-inappropriate situation at the exam centres. It is truethat an exam can be deferred or cancelled if the circumstances are adverse. But tobegin discussing the holding of the exams with the idea of cancelling them? Or, forthat matter, what about vaccinations for and safety of students of those state boardsintent on holding the examinations?

Exam muddle

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

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THURSDAY | JUNE 3, 2021

06

The genesisWhere did the virus come from, after all?

The debate, and the confusion, persist

As it seems, the Communists are themselves to blame for the deep fallthat they find themselves in, from Tripura to West Bengal

PICTALK

The MV X-Press Pearl, left, is pulled by a naval vessel at Kapungoda, off Colombo PTI

GYANESHWAR DAYAL

Thanks to COVID, student exams for the senior secondary-level have become a maze

Left politics wanesbut ideology stays!

Kerala was the first Statein the world to have anelected LeftGovernment. It may

well be the last in India; the twostrongholds of the Left Bengaland Tripura have already fallen.Today, Kerala is the only statewhere the Left is in power. It israre for any party to repeat theterm but the Left has done itand must be happy about it.

However, their happinessmay be short-lived. The Left hasdone everything to decimateitself and make it irrelevant toIndian politics. Though Itwould be too early to write itsobit, one thing is for sure; thereis something wrong with theLeft. When the CPI loses itsnational party status and theCPM holds on to it, it should bea cause of concern for the Leftleaders, the win in Keralanotwithstanding.

Fifteen years back, the leftalliance had 59 seats. That hascome down to five, four cour-tesy DMK. The political punditsmay be worried about theCongress, but it is the Left thatis a politically endangeredspecies right now. The Leftparties that should have been atthe forefront to voice people’sconcerns are nowhere on thestreets. The Left is silent onunemployment, rising prices,privatisation, crony capitalism.The concern for the poor is atthe core of the Left ideology.The Left should have made bigstrides in times of economicmeltdown and communal dis-traught but that is not happen-ing.

The Left has not able tostrike the right chord withpeople. This is bad for Indiandemocracy. In our democracy,there is a place for all shades ofpolitical ideologies — Right,Left and Centre, even fringes.The burnout of the Left leaveslarge sections of society rud-derless and voiceless. Tribals,Dalits, the downtrodden, land-less laborers, peasants wholooked up to the Left have toseek mentors. The Left is toblame itself for its currentstate. It turned against the verypeople it was supposed to pro-tect and nurture.

SOUNDBITEPERSONAL DATA SECURITY MECHANISMSir — Several developed and developingcountries have formulated their own set ofrules in protecting the privacy and datasecurity of the citizens. In contrast, in Indiathe bulk of the social media platforms likeFacebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and the oth-ers are owned by foreign entities, which aregoverned only by profit motive. In theabsence of a personal data protection act yetto see the light of day, it makes them diffi-cult to control.

In this respect, the Government gavethem prior notice on February 25, 2021, tocomply with the changes of the IT Rules,2021, in terms of bringing traceability as ameans to identify the originator of the mes-sage. The compliance period has elapsed butthey still do not seem to mend their ways.

Moreover, disseminating of fake newsin a partisan manner, aiding and abettingrumours are similarly grave threats tonational security.Several cases of data leak-ages such as Cambridge Analytica episodein 2018 are a case in point. The world hasalready moved ahead, to enact stringent lawsto protect their citizens privacy.

When the rules made by them are arbi-trary and users are only given the optionof opting in or opting out, safeguarding thedata of citizens is of paramount importance, even as private social media platforms havebecome an intrinsic part of public life

Moreover , the right to freedom is notabsolute, and many instances of hate speech, unethical comments , rumours and so on,which at times try to outrage the modestyof an individual ,have been found circulat-ing in social media. So, it is pertinent on thepart of the Government to enact firm lawsin order to curb the malpractices that theseforeign firms often resort to.

Vijay Singh Adhikari | Nainital

WRONG TO BAR HOTEL PACKAGESSir — This refers to the editorial “Gold dig-gers" (June) 2. It was wrong on the part ofthe Government to bar hotels in associationwith hospitals offering a vaccine packagewith a starting price of `.2,599, whichincludes overnight stay, dinner and other

luxuries. The Government must understandit is a new vaccine programme and people’shealth centres alone cannot handle the hugeprogramme at a time when it has claimedthat all the eligible people would be vacci-nated by the end of this year.

Since the Government has allowed theRWAs and the corporates to assist residentsand employees for vaccination by collabo-rating with private hospitals; the hotels toocould have been allowed to offer vaccinepackages.

There is a small section of people whoare ready to pay for such a package and thiswould help the Government to free up thespace for those who cannot pay for the vac-cination. Some youngsters may also wantto take their parents to such hotels to getthem vaccinated and also make them feel

happy for a day or two during this grimtime. What the Government should haveensured is that the private hospitals do notforce people to go to hotels with whom theyhave tied up and also they don't come inthe way of the Government's free vaccina-tion programme. Incidentally, a travelagency in Delhi has been offering a 21-dayMoscow vaccine-cum-holiday packagewhich includes two shots of Sputnik V vac-cine, the first one being given on the fol-lowing day of arrival in Moscow. Thesepackages are booked by the super rich. Isthe Government allowed to ban suchpackages?

N Nagarajan | Secunderabad

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Thankfully, the Supreme Court came to therescue of two Telugu TV channels — TV5and ABN — on whom sedition charges were

slapped on account of their reportage of theCOVID-19 pandemic in Andhra Pradesh andstayed coercive action against them. It felt thatit was “time to define the limits of sedition” anddecided to examine the constitutionality of thiscolonial-era provision (Section 124A) in the IPC.

By no stretch of imagination can criticismof the management of the COVID-19 pandem-ic, be it by the Union Government or by a StateGovernment, be construed as a seditious activ-ity. The apex court expressed its exasperationand concern over the discriminate use of the sedi-tion law against critics, journalists, social mediausers and activists for airing COVID-related griev-ances. More seriously, it took note of those seek-ing help to gain medical access, medical oxy-

gen and drugs being threatened or charged withsedition. There are any number of instances ofcitizens being subjected to the rigours of this lawfor saying or doing nothing more than what theyare entitled to say or do as free citizens of a freecountry. The incarceration of human rightsdefenders on unsubstantiated sedition chargesin the Bhima Koregaon case is just one instanceamong so many. In this context, it must be saidthat the mainstream media have not taken thecause of these fighters for justice and freedomas their own.

The citizens are left to suffer the conse-quences of leaving it to the governments and theiragencies to decide what constitutes seditiousactivity using such “subjectively interpreting’terms as ‘hatred’, ‘contempt’ and disaffection”and frame the charges accordingly. What isextremely problematic is that criticism of theGovernment or the ruling party is often miscon-strued, obviously with intent, and denouncedas “anti-national” or “seditious” for political rea-sons. The false equation of the Government’s orthe party’s interest with the nation’s interestbrings critics within the reach of the sedition law.It is reasonable to argue the case for the aboli-tion of a law that fetters free speech and dissentwhich are at the heart of democracy.

G David Milton | Tamil Nadu

Junk the sedition law

My fellow Americans,this was not a riot.This was a massacre.Among the worst inour history,

US President— Joe Biden

The time to act isnow. This is a timewhen we allunderstand that thereare going to be manyurgent health challenges in the nexttwo decades.

Union Health Minister— Harsh Vardhan

I can’t thank Madhurienough for makingme so comfortable onset. Never felt I wasworking with a supersuper super STAR.

Actor— Sanjay Kapoor

I was abducted byIndian agents andgiven shock with aTaser gun wheneverI resisted.

Fugitive diamantaire

— Mehul Choksi

Ideally, in the longrun if they want to

pursue with the Testchampionship, a

best-of-three finalwould be ideal — a

three-match final as culmination oftwo and a half years of cricket

around the globe.

Indian coach

— Ravi Shastri

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

THE POLITICALPUNDITS MAY BEWORRIED ABOUT

THE CONGRESS, BUTIT IS THE LEFT THAT

IS A POLITICALLYENDANGERED

SPECIES RIGHTNOW. THE LEFTPARTIES THAT

SHOULD HAVE BEENAT THE FOREFRONTTO VOICE PEOPLE’S

CONCERNS ARENOWHERE ON THE

STREETS. THE LEFTIS SILENT ON

UNEMPLOYMENT,RISING PRICES,PRIVATISATION,

CRONY CAPITALISM

Dealing with COVID,the Uttar Pradesh way

THE GOVERNMENT HAS DECIDED TO CANCEL THECLASS XII CBSE BOARD EXAMS. WE HAVE TAKEN A

DECISION THAT IS STUDENT-FRIENDLY. — PRIME MINISTER

NARENDRA MODI

Predictions were once being made that coro-navirus cases in Uttar Pradesh wouldexceed one lakh a day in May. On the con-trary, the state has done a phenomenal job

by bringing down daily case-count to just 1,497 onMay 31 after the 38,000-peak on April 24. With morethan 4.84 crore people having been tested for thecoronavirus, the state has been strictly following thetrack-treat-test protocol responsible for an impres-sive 96.6 per cent recovery in active covid cases.

Every day, more than three lakh people are test-ed for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus; UttarPradesh became the first state to test 3.7 lakh peo-ple a day. Its Triple-T strategy is being effectivelyimplemented in its 97,941 villages. This door-to-door inspection model has helped bring down thecase fatality rate, winning applause from WHO.Under this, 1,41,610 teams and 21,242 supervisorshave been deployed to ensure that every suspect-ed case is tracked to the last mile.

Each two-member team is responsible for test-ing covid-symptomatic individuals using RapidAntigen Test (RAT) kits; those who test positive areisolated and given a medicine kit with clear-cutinstructions. Since the objective is to eliminate thechain of virus transmission, the Rapid ResponseTeam (RRT) also tests all contacts of the covid-pos-itive patients using RT-PCR. This ensures that nocontact is left untraced. Irrespective of the fallingcases, this strategy continues to be implemented withfull vigor.

The RRT also educates people about the ben-efits of adhering to covid-appropriate behaviour.Symptomatic people are instructed about thequarantine and isolation protocol. The surveillancecommittee is also responsible for facilitating quar-antine facilities in the schools, community centresand village health centres for all those who cannotafford home isolation. This micro-planning, door-to-door inspection and concurrent follow-up andmonitoring strategy stands at the core of theCOVID-19 resolution in the state. IntegratedCommand & Control Centres (ICCC) and covidhelpdesks have been set-up in every district to pro-vide free teleconsultation services to both covid andnon-covid patients, cutting down the need for hos-pital visits.

While in the first wave the demand for LiquidMedical Oxygen (LMO) was restricted to 300 MT,it escalated to more than 1,000 MT a day in the sec-ond surge. The shortage was met by incoming oxy-gen express trains and tankers airlifted by the airforce; 20,000 oxygen concentrators were also pro-vided for the same. The government decided to set-up 300 permanent oxygen plants. Under the state'soxygen transport and tracking model, oxygen hubshave been established and a dashboard called'OxyTracker' has been developed which tracks thetankers on real-time basis, thereby increasingtransparency and efficiency. A plan is in action forestablishing a state-wide oxygen grid all the wayfrom Saharanpur to Deoria.

Three large hospitals have been set-up — a 500-bed hospital in Shilpgram, a 750-bed COVID-ded-icated hospital in Varanasi and a 255-bed hospitalin Lucknow; the number of L2 and L3 beds havebeen increased to 80,000. To reduce the responsetime in critical covid cases, 350 advanced life-sup-port ambulances have been added to the transport

fleet. District-wise, six oxygen plantsare already functional and runningin Ayodhya while 18 are in process;in Aligarh, 161 ventilators, 246 oxy-gen concentrators and 85 ambu-lances were allocated to deal with thesecond covid surge. In Mathura dis-trict, 96 additional ventilators and 32covid-dedicated ambulances weredeployed.

Curbing vaccine hesitancy, thestate has successfully vaccinatedmore than 1.80 crore people. BothCovishield and Covaxin are availablein all 75 districts which in itself is anachievement considering reports ofvaccine shortages in various states.As a part of its measures to protectchildren from the third covid wave,parents having children less than 12years of age are being given specialdiscounts as an incentive to get inoc-ulated. This will serve dual purpose;not only will it encourage people toget vaccinated but also provide anadditional protection to childrenwho are not yet eligible to take theCOVID-19 vaccine.

To ensure compliance, two nodalofficers in every large district and anofficer in the smaller ones have beenassigned to monitor covid protocolincluding quarantine and isolation;gram panchayats and mohallaman-dals have also been roped in for thesame. With rising cases of black fun-gus, a 12-member team has beenallocated for providing training andtreatment guidelines for affectedpatients. With myriad steps taken,the number of active COVID-19cases have reduced by 2,72,956 from3,10,000 on April 30 to 37,044 on

May 31 — in a matter of a month.Out of the number of active cases,20,762 are in home isolation. Thisreduction in active cases has provid-ed a breather to the healthcareworkers also. What makes this fall incases even more laudable is that thisdecline has come despite a softerlockdown imposed in the state vis-à-vis a harder lockdown in otherstates; industrial activity and essen-tial services continued to functionapart from the vaccinations andmedical emergencies which wereexempted from the curfew. TheTriple-T strategy ensured that for allreduction in cases, the livelihoodsremained secured; by keeping theindustries up and running, the daily-wage workers werenot forced tolose out on their wages.

As per the current data, two dis-tricts have become covid-free whilein 16 others, the case numbers havedeclined to a single-digit. In 53 dis-tricts, the case-count has come downto less than 100, with only four dis-tricts having more than a hundredcases. Real-time monitoring andground visits by Chief Minister YogiAdityanath and aggressive cam-paigning against the highly conta-gious virus have helped UttarPradesh in tiding over this crisis.Despite being infected by the virushimself, the Chief Minister toured 30districts of Lucknow, Moradabad,Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Varanasi andAyodhya involving people in the mit-igation strategy and seeking theiropinions. He has been on footthroughout the surge-monitoringand ensuring that the vaccination

centres are well-quipped to carry outthe vaccination drive on a war-footing.

Behind every successful modelis the relentless and untiring leaderwho makes sure that policies carriedout on the ground mirror those writ-ten on paper. By educating the pub-lic about the importance of vaccina-tion and disease prevention,Adityanath has left no stoneunturned in restricting the virus.

The state's scientific and welfare-centric covid strategy has helped inaverting what could have been oneof the most horrifying humanitari-an crises of unfathomable magnitude.No wonder, despite having a popu-lation of 24-crore people, the dailycovid-case count has dwindled to1,497 in comparison to 18,600 casesin Maharashtra (with a population of12 crore), 28,864 in Tamil Nadu (7-crore population) and 19,894 inKerala (3-crore population).

With its eyes on the third wavenow, the government is taking allnecessary steps to establish dedicat-ed paediatric ICUs in every districtand a 100-bed PICU ward in eachmedical college. The goal is to pro-tect children from the ghastly virusas they remain vulnerable on accountof not having been vaccinated. Theamalgamation between the Triple-Tmodel, partial corona curfew andadequate vaccination push hashelped reduce the heavy covid case-load in Uttar Pradesh.Foresightedness and preparation arekey to a pandemic and UttarPradesh's 'Yogi model' exhibits thatperfectly.

The Triple-T model implemented by the State has brought down the daily positivityrate from 16 per cent to merely 0.5 per cent. Other states must follow suit

GIRIJA K BHARAT SALONI GOEL

WITH MYRIADSTEPS TAKEN,

THE NUMBER OFACTIVE COVID -19

CASES HAVEREDUCED BY

2,72,956 FROM3,10,000 ONAPRIL 30 TO

37,044 ON MAY 31— IN A MATTER

OF A MONTH. OUTOF THE NUMBER

OF ACTIVE CASES,20,762 ARE IN

HOME ISOLATION.THIS REDUCTIONIN ACTIVE CASESHAS PROVIDED A

BREATHER TO THEHEALTHCARE

WORKERS ALSO

The second wave of COVID-19 hit India hard, stretchingits health care infrastructure to the limits. Even the youngerand fitter, hitherto believed to be relatively immune to the

virus, have suffered its full fury. Obviously, the vaccination pro-gram needs to be expedited and the not so is to be better pre-pared for likely onslaughts in the future, whether the third wave,other versions of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome(SARS), or other viral infections. As they say — "winter is com-ing". Studies are linking climate change and rapid urbanisa-tion to occurrence of infectious zoonotic diseases transmit-ted from animals to humans. Global warming is impactingmigration patterns of wildlife, and advancing their proximity and

interaction with human populations. The first reported detec-tion of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China in December, 2019, is beinglinked to close interaction between human beings and wild ani-mals in the live-animal markets of Wuhan. The causal linkbetween COVID-19 and climate change are still part of a widerdiscourse but it is gaining wide attention.

The larger discourse is climate change is bringing vector-borne communicable diseases such as malaria, dengue, lymeand tick-borne encephalitis. As is the case of COVID-19; directattribution is complex though several studies support the link.It is estimated that rise in malnutrition, malaria and diarrhoeacould add to a million deaths each year between 2030-2050.The rise in dengue transmissions on account of climatic fac-tors has also been documented in several Asian countries includ-ing China, Bangladesh, and India. Studies have reported thatclimate change facilitated spread of the West Nile virus inEuropean countries.

It is reasonable to say that the pandemic has yet againexposed civilisation's vulnerability to forces of nature. Repeatedwaves of viral diseases such as the Middle East RespiratorySyndrome (MERS) and SARS have been hitting us. The trendcreates uncertainties about the future of society, reversing yearsof progress on poverty, healthcare and development as a whole.The pandemic has driven home our vulnerability to infectiousdiseases and their potential to escalate into pandemics, leav-ing catastrophic results in their wake.

Going forward, apart from strengthening the vaccinationdrive, there is an urgent need to develop policies to improvepreparedness for them in the future. Early Warning Systems(EWS) are increasingly gaining importance in the toolkit fordisaster preparedness and management. Research needs tobe better financed to develop robust EWS tools. Nearly $70million are spent worldwide, but only 10 per cent of it are spenton research on diseases that affect 90 per cent of global pop-ulation: the so-called 90-10 gap. Initiatives like Grand Challengesin Global Health (GCGH) are attempting to bridge the gap.Simultaneously, we need to strengthen coordination betweennatural and social scientists to enable translation of scientificfindings into public health policies and practices.

The ongoing pandemic provides sufficient evidence thatenvironmental, health, and development issues need to beaddressed comprehensively through international policies anddevelopment initiatives, strengthening rationale for theSustainable Development Goals framework for development.

(Girija is Director, Mu Gamma Consultants Pvt Ltd. Saloniis Specialist, Climate Change with NITI Aayog. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

Class Twelfth is in testingtimes. The class 12thkids are going through a

tussle between their mind,heart and the world. Theydon't know what awaits them;they don't know what othertests they have to qualify beforemaking themselves a part ofthe adult society.

The teenage-adolescencetrauma has been enough thatnow they have to deal with anuncertain future. The compet-itive twelfth class is what mostof us have faced, but I wouldsuggest that this pressure startsfrom earlier grades.

The pressure to choosethe right career path, suitablesubjects and future clarity isalready on the move, increas-ing multi-folds as we reach 18.

The research for this arti-cle made me go through theexperiences of the 2021 batchand made me nostalgic for the

anxiety I went through duringthis time. The questions of,what will happen if I fail?Have I chosen my passion?How will my family react if myresults are not very good? If Idon't perform now, is mycareer over? These uncertain-ties, mentally stress, anxietieshave only increased with thepostponementof board examsdue to Covid-19.

There are differences in theexperiences of students fromcities, optional subjects andexamination boards. Someoneappearing for IIT JEE is eager-ly waiting for exams to occur,irrespective of online or offlineconditions. Some are fearing itand want it to be done only inonline mode or cancelled.Some are relaxed and justhappy to be home with theirloved ones. Akshat fromIndore says, "When I wastaught online throughout the

year, why should I give theexams offline?"

There is a section of 'wellto do' families who can sendtheir children for higher stud-ies outside India. However,due to the untimely expectedavailability of twelfth boardresults, many dropped theirplans to study overseas. Thestudents of small cities facedlittle fear of corona becausethere were not many cases thatwould make them fearful.

The students who werekept shielded under the pretextof board exams now had toface the brunt of real-life prob-lems. If someone got infectedwith the virus, they had to takecare of the family; they had todeal with mental stress withinthe limited space of the house;there was limited interactionwith peer group due to restrict-ed movement. The differentexamination board came up

with variety in their exam for-mat; in West Bengal, the 10thboard exams have shifted toAugust. When CBSE has askedfor getting the internal assess-ment done and promotingclass 10th students, it would bedifficult for class 10th studentsof West Bengal to move to anyother part of the country orworld. For class 12th,

Chattisgarh Board has devisedan exclusive system to allowstudents to take home questionpapers and answer sheets andsubmit them before the decid-ed date. Some opinion on thisstep is contradictory, Prachifrom Raipur says, it is unfairfor those who have workedhard throughout the year.

The online system of

learning is not very practicalfor many students. Harshitafrom Delhi says it was difficultto concentrate in class, letalone learn from them. Manyteachers found it difficult toteach from newly introducedonline tools. The limed inter-action between student andteacher has diminished thecordial connection; hencemany under-confident andshy students could not asktheir doubts after class.Unfortunately, some studentswere unable to afford onlinecoaching classes to improvetheir results.

There is a shortage of thevaccine in the country, vacci-nating the students and theexam staff on priority. Butmany class 12 students will notturn 18 before their exams andhence are out of the vaccinecoverage. Everyone has anopinion about what and when

an exam should happen inclass 12 but are we prepared totest them without ensuring theactual learning is the questionwe need to ask our system.

The students are fearful,so are parents of the futureand their capabilities. Theschools should be the centrefor counselling and psycho-logical support. The wave offear in young minds is areflection of our educationsystem that reflects our soci-ety, which in turn relies onassessments. The class 12thexams become a matter of lifeand death. This is a timewhen we can overhaul oursystem in benefit of students.As a progressive society, wecan make them empathetic,rather than competitive.Otherwise, we will still be leftwith an education system,that relies on tests rather thanlearning.

THURSDAY | JUNE 3, 2021

07

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FIRSTCOLUMN

PREPAREDNESS IS IMPERATIVE

The EWS rationale should be appliedto pandemics for better containment

RAJAT ARORA

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Rajat Arora is an interventional

cardiologist andDirector at YashodaGroup of Hospitals,

Delhi-NCR. The viewsexpressed are personal.

Dealing with Class XII Boards in COVID times

AANEHI

MUNDRA

SHUBHANG

RATHI

Aanehi is PhD Researcher,Centre for South Asian

Studies, School ofInternational Studies,

JNU. Shubhang is director,Rathi Public School,Morena. The views

expressed are personal.

The teenage-adolescence trauma has been enough; now they have to deal with an uncertain future

CONGRATULATIONS, STUDENTS OF CLASS 12 FOR MAKING YOUR VOICES HEARD. AFTER ALL THEUNCERTAINTY AND STRESS, — CONGRESS GENERAL SECRETARYPRIYANKA GANDHI VADRA

THURSDAY | JUNE 3, 2021 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

Pharmaceutical firm VenusRemedies Ltd (VRL) has recordeda 61 per cent increase in annual

sales at Rs 548.12 crore in thefinancial year 2020-21. In fiscal year2019-20, VRL's annual sales stood atRs 339.33 crore. Capitalising on itsexecution of large export orders evenin the face of COVID-19 constraints,VRL's annual sales grew to Rs548.12 crore in 2020-21, a companystatement said on Wednesday. Thecompany reported a net profit of Rs61.77 crore for the year ended March 31, 2021. The company'sEBITDA grew by 59 per cent in FY 2020-21 to reach Rs 73.40crore, as per the statement. Saransh Chaudhary, President, GlobalCritical Care, Venus Remedies said that while the world reeledunder the adverse impact of the pandemic, VRL rose to theoccasion by catering to the requirements of COVID-19 patientsthrough medicines addressing the problem of blood coagulationand other critical care antibiotics.

Drug major SunPharmaceutical Industries onWednesday said it has

entered into a licensing agreementwith Ferring Pharmaceuticals tocommercialise innovative obstetricdrug Caritec in India.One of thecompany's wholly-ownedsubsidiaries has entered into a license agreement with FerringPharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd -- a subsidiary of Switzerland-basedFerring Pharmaceuticals -- to commercialise a room temperaturestable formulation of the obstetric drug Caritec in India, SunPharma said in a regulatory filing.The drug is indicated for theprevention of excessive bleeding in women after vaginal orcaesarean childbirth, it added.As per the agreement, Sun Pharmais granted rights for co-marketing of the drug in India in theprivate market under the brand name Caritec.Ferring hasdeveloped the drug and received approval from the DrugsController General of India (DCGI) for introducing the medicine inIndia, Sun Pharma said.

Sun Pharma, Ferring ink pactto introduce obstetric drug

With the number ofcoronavirus infectionsdeclining in the country,

industry chamber FICCI hassuggested the government tofollow a graded approach inunlocking economic activities.

It said any unit that is able tocreate an isolation bubbleshould be allowed to operate at all times even if it does not

qualify as essential. The chamber said the ferocity of the secondwave highlighted that waiting too long to impose restrictions canresult in a surge of cases thus putting immense strain on medicalinfrastructure. Learning from the first and second coronaviruswaves, "FICCI suggests a graded approach to permissible economicactivity which balances lives and livelihoods", it said in a letter toCommerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. It said that thereshould be surveillance testing on a continuous basis, even ifnumber of cases come down sharply.

FICCI suggests graded approachto unlock eco activities

The Event & EntertainmentManagement Association(EEMA) has written to Prime

Minister Narendra Modi seekinghis intervention to revive theevents management industrythat has been crippled by thecoronavirus-induceddisruptions.In a letter to theprime minister, the industry body has sought his help as nearly 97per cent of its members are broke and badly need to raise capital ordebt to survive. "We wrote to the Prime Minister on May 27,seeking his intervention to revive the events management industryas we are bursting at the seams with almost no revenue for morethan a year now. "During April-October of 2020, we were completelyshut, We began work from last November but by February 2021again we were thrown back to the brink," Roshan Abbas, thepresident of EEMA, told PTI on Wednesday. He said the associationhas over 1,000 registered members who have retrenched 50 to 80per cent of their workforce since last April.

Event & Entertainment bodyseeks support amid Covid

Venus Remedies posts 61 pcincrease in FY21 annual sales

PNS n NEW DELHI

India's exports grew by 67.39per cent to USD 32.21 billionin May driven by healthygrowth in sectors such as engi-neering, petroleum productsand gems and jewellery, even astrade deficit widened to USD6.32 billion, according to gov-ernment data released onWednesday.

Exports in May last yearstood at USD 19.24 billion andin May 2019 it was at USD29.85 billion, the commerceministry's preliminary datashowed.

Imports in May rose by68.54 per cent to USD 38.53billion, from USD 22.86 billionin May 2020. In May 2019,imports stood at USD 46.68billion.

"India is thus a net importerin May 2021 with a tradedeficit of USD 6.32 billion, anincrease of 74.69 per cent overtrade deficit USD 3.62 billionin May 2020 and reduction by62.49 per cent over trade deficit

USD 16.84 billion in May2019," the ministry said.

The country's merchandiseexports in April had jumpednearly three-fold to USD 30.63billion, even as the trade deficitwidened to USD 15.1 billion.

Oil imports during May thisyear rose to USD 9.45 billion,as compared to USD 3.57 bil-lion in May 2020. In May

2019, it stood at USD 12.59 bil-lion.

Exports during Apr-Maythis year have jumped to USD62.84 billion, as against USD29.6 billion in the same periodlast year. It was USD 55.88 bil-lion in Apr-May 2019, the datashowed.

Imports during Apr-May2021 was USD 84.25 billion, up

from USD 39.98 billion inApril-May 2020. In Apr-May2019 it stood at USD 89.07 bil-lion.

In Apr-May 2021, oilimports aggregated at USD20.32 billion, up from USD8.24 billion in Apr-May 2020.In Apr-May 2019 it was USD24.16 billion. Exports of engi-neering, petroleum products

and gems and jewellery inMay stood at USD 3 billion,USD 3.51 billion and USD 1.9billion respectively.

Commenting on the data,Trade Promotion Council ofIndia (TPCI) FounderChairman Mohit Singla saidthat the fall in the import ofnewsprint, transport equip-ment and iron and steel is awelcome trend towards self-reliance, as it shows that thegovernment's import substitu-tion strategy has stronglyworked for these sectors.

The Engineering ExportPromotion Council (EEPC)said that shipments in the sec-tor saw a substantial year-on-year rise in May primarily onaccount of low-base due tostrict lockdown in the samemonth last year.

"We expect the order bookof exporters to remain strongin the current financial yeargiven the demand trend fromkey markets such as US, Chinaand Europe," it said in a state-ment.

Exports jump 67 pc to $32.21 bnin May; trade deficit at $6.32 bn PNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensexslipped 85 points onWednesday, tracking losses inITC, HDFC twins and Infosysamid a mixed trend in globalmarkets.

The 30-share BSE indexended 85.40 points or 0.16 percent lower at 51,849.48, whilethe broader NSE Nifty inchedup 1.35 points or 0.01 per centto 15,576.20.

ITC was the top loser in theSensex pack, shedding nearly3 per cent, followed by TechMahindra, Axis Bank, AsianPaints, TCS, HCL Tech, HDFCand Kotak Bank.

On the other hand,IndusInd Bank, PowerGrid,Reliance Industries, Bajaj Autoand Maruti were among thegainers.

"Ahead of the MPC policy,domestic market continuedits volatility with a mixed bias.Selling was witnessed in finan-cials, IT and FMCG stocks butit reduced towards the close oftrading," said Vinod Nair, Headof Research at Geojit Financial

Services.Weakness across US and

Asian markets also added tothe negative trend, he noted.

"PSU banks attracted buy-ers in hopes that the govern-ment will soon finalise the listfor privatisation. In the poli-cy, RBI is expected to focus oneconomic growth by maintain-ing the status quo on policyrates and ensuring liquiditywhile keeping an eye on theinflationary pressure due to

rising commodity prices," Nairsaid.

Elsewhere in Asia, boursesin Shanghai and Hong Kongended in the negative territo-ry, while Tokyo and Seoulrose.

Equities in Europe weretrading with gains in mid-ses-sion deals.

International oil bench-mark Brent crude was trading0.98 per cent higher at USD70.94 per barrel.

Sensex slips 85 pts; Niftyends marginally higher

PNS n MUMBAI

The Reserve Bank's rate-set-ting panel, Monetary PolicyCommittee (MPC), began itsthree-day deliberations onWednesday amid expectationsof a status quo on benchmarkrate mainly on account ofuncertainty over the impact ofthe second wave of COVID-19pandemic.

Moreover, the fears of firm-ing inflation may also refrainthe MPC from tinkering withthe interest rate in its bi-monthly monetary policy out-come to be announced onFriday.

The RBI had kept key inter-est rates unchanged at the lastMPC meeting held in April.The key lending rate, the reporate, was kept at 4 per cent and

the reverse repo rate or the cen-tral bank's borrowing rate at3.35 per cent.

M Govinda Rao, ChiefEconomic Advisor, BrickworkRatings said the better-than-expected GDP numbers pro-vide the much-needed comfortto the MPC on the growth out-look.

However, with the imposi-tion of partial lockdown-likerestrictions to contain the virusspread in several parts of thecountry, the downside risk ongrowth recovery has intensi-fied, he said.

"Hence, the RBI is likely tocontinue with its accommoda-tive monetary policy stance.

Considering the risk of infla-tion emanating from the ris-ing commodity prices andinput costs, Brickwork Ratingsexpects the RBI MPC to adopta cautious approach and holdthe repo rate at 4 per cent," henoted.

Dhruv Agarwala, GroupCEO, Housing.com, Makaan-.com and Proptiger.combelieves the RBI can maintainits accommodative stance inlight of the economic impactof the second wave ofCOVID-19, without endan-gering its key goal of keepinginflation under control.

Reviving growth hasbecome an important objec-tive due to the economic dam-age caused by the recent lock-downs, he said, and added theRBI should also consider pro-

viding more liquidity to theNational Housing Bank toenable the stability of housingfinance companies, which inturn will allow the real estatesector to expand.

Shanti Ekambaram, GroupPresident – ConsumerBanking, Kotak MahindraBank was of the view that inthe current environment, thechoices before the MonetaryPolicy Committee may belimited.

"With the second phase ofthe pandemic impacting con-sumption and growth, theMPC will likely maintain sta-tus quo on policy rates, con-tinue with an accommodativepolicy stance and ensure ade-quate liquidity in the system– all in an effort to stimulategrowth. While it will keep one

eye on inflation levels on theback of rising global com-modity prices, it currentlywill focus on supporting eco-nomic growth," Ekambaramsaid.

According to SandeepBagla, CEO of TRUST AMC,"It is expected to be a nochange policy, with continuedeconomy friendly soft interestrate bias."

The RBI annual reportreleased last week has alreadymade it clear that "the con-duct of monetary policy in2021-22, would be guided byevolving macroeconomicconditions, with a bias toremain supportive of growthtill it gains traction on adurable basis while ensuringinflation remains within thetarget."

PNS n NEW DELHI

The demand for eggs, whichhad fallen during January-February due to the bird fluoutbreak, has bounced backwith rise in consumption ofkey poultry commodity toboost immunity amid the sec-ond wave of the COVID-19pandemic, according to gov-ernment officials and industryexperts.

The revival in demandamid tight supplies after birdflu outbreak and a sharp rise inpoultry feed cost have led to anincrease in retail prices to Rs 6-7 per egg depending on theareas. But farm gate rates havenot gone up commensurate torise in input cost, affectingfarmers, they said. Egg isamong the protein-rich foodsprescribed for COVID-19patients and is the cheapestsource of protein available topeople, experts said.

"There is a trend in increasein consumption of eggs in thelast few months. Egg has the

highest 11 per cent proteincontent," O P Chaudhary, JointSecretary in the AnimalHusbandry, Poultry and DairyMinistry, told PTI.

Another official in the min-istry said it is difficult to esti-mate a monthly rise in egg con-sumption. However, he saidIndia's annual consumptionhas increased to 86 eggs perperson in 2019-20 from 79eggs per person in the previous

year. Indian Broiler GroupManaging Director GulrejAlam said the poultry industrywas impacted badly duringApril-May 2020 last year due tothe lockdown as demand forboth eggs and chickendeclined. However, he saiddemand revived between Juneand December last year.

Alam said the demand gotagain impacted in January-February this year due to bird

flu outbreak. In June 2020,monthly consumption stood ataverage 7 eggs per person,which fell to 4 eggs per persondue to bird flu scare.

"After March, the demandhas bounced back to average 7eggs per person as demand foreggs as immunity boostercaught the minds of peopleduring the second wave of thepandemic," he said.

The demand for eggs ismore in urban areas whencompared with rural areas.When the urban demand rises,prices automatically go up,said Praveen Garg, ZonalChairman at National EggCoordination Committee.

"Egg is still the cheapestsource of protein today. At aretail price of Rs 7 per egg, youare getting 11 per cent protein.In no other source of protein,you will get this much proteinat just Rs 7. Therefore, there isgood demand for egg," saidPrasanna Pedgaonkar, generalmanager of poultry-focusedVenky's.

Demand for eggs bounces back amid Covid

PNS n NEW DELHI

Industry chamber Assochamon Wednesday recommendedthe government to extendrelief measures such as regu-latory easing, wage support,and interest subsidy for theMSMEs which are reelingunder the severe impact ofCOVID 19.

As the states are in theprocess of easing lockdowns,the trade and industry wouldneed all-around support topick up their business threadagain, it said.

It has suggested that the sur-plus funds of ESIC (EmployeesState Insurance Corporation)should be used for providingwage support measures/stim-ulus packages for the employ-ees. "This is time to supportand spend without giving too

much focus on the fiscal para-meters. I am sure, the RBI andthe government are constant-ly working on innovative solu-tions to keep infusing cash intothe system despite under-standable revenue pressures,"it said.

It added that the govern-ment and the RBI should'consider an interest subven-tion scheme with validity tillMarch 31, 2022, especially, forthe micro and small businesssegment. For providing reliefto the worst-hit hospitalitysector, the chamber suggestedallowing GST Input Creditfor restaurants.

"For giving a much-need-ed boost to the realty sector, ithas recommended reductionin stamp duty as also proper-ty tax by half at least for threeyears," it said.

PNS n MUMBAI

Pre-owned luxury cars deal-ership, Boys and Machines onWednesday announced itsforay in south India marketwith a brand showroom inHyderabad.

The Gurugram-basedfirm, which started opera-tions in 2020, currently haspresence across Delhi/NCR,Mumbai and Kolkata. Withdemand for pre-owned sportscars only growing, the compa-ny is focused on growing itspresence across India andbeyond the traditional sportscar markets of Mumbai andNew Delhi, Boys andMachines said in a release.

The company said it aims toexpand its network to eight

cities by the end of 2021.Akash Chaturvedi, CEO,

Boys and Machines said, “Thenew dealership in Hyderabadmarks yet another milestonefor our young company on itsjourney of growth.

There is a huge and grow-ing appetite for pre-ownedluxury sports cars acrossIndia and with our presencewe aim to offer a superiorexperience for customerstrading in pre-owned cars.”

The Hyderabad dealer-ship, which will be Boys andMachines' fourth showroomin the country, and the first inSouth India, will be spreadout across 3,500 square feetand primarily focus on high-end sports luxury cars, itsaid.

Boys and Machinesannounces foray inSouth Indian market

Assocham seeks interestsubsidy to help industry

TVS Srichakra,SCS contribute Rs 6 cr to TNPNS n CHENNAI

TVS Srichakra, TVS SupplyChain Solutions and TVSMobility on Wednesdaysaid they havejointly con-tributed about Rs six croreworth of medical equip-ment and facilities to pro-duce oxygen to fightagainstCOVID-19.

In a statement, the threecompanies said they wouldprovide 400 oxygen concen-trators, two oxygen-produc-ing facilities at the RajajiGovernment Hospital,Madurai, and atthe Govern-ment Medical College,Tirunelveli. TVS SCS MD RDinesh, who called onChief Minister M K Stalin,handed over Rs 2 crore tothe Chief Minister's PublicRelief Fund.

Some of the initiativestaken by the companiesinclude-- setting up of acontrol room and help deskto be in constant touchwith the company employ-ees to assist them if theyhave contracted the conta-gion.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Mortgage player CapitalIndia Home Loan aims todouble its asset book to over Rs250 crore by the end of the cur-rent fiscal.

The housing finance compa-ny promoted by NBFC firmCapital India Finance Limited(CIFL) had a loan book ofabout Rs 135 crore in thefinancial year ended March 31,2021.

"We have just closed thefinancial year and the loanbook should double during thecurrent financial year," CIFLChairman Harsh KumarBhanwala told PTI.

The loan book expected totouch Rs 250 crore by March2022, he added.

Capital India Home Loans isa new-age mortgage firm witha focus on premium loan offer-ings to home buyers.

Talking about NBFC busi-ness, Bhanwala said, the com-pany has changed its focusfrom mid-corporate to SMEand priority sector lending.

Despite difficulties in theeconomy due to COVID-19,

the company's has been able torein in its non-performingassets (NPAs).

CIFL -- promoted by S KNarvar -- has opened 7 moreoffices across the country. Thecompany is a technology-enabled SME finance plat-form, which partners withsmall and medium businesseswith customised finance solu-tions. It is also engaged in retailfinance, remittance and pay-ments solutions. Depending onthe market condition,

Bhanwala said, NBFC wouldbe raising resources to fundbusiness growth.

The company plans to raiseup to Rs 1,000 crore by issuingdebt securities.

The board of directors at itsmeeting held last weekapproved raising of funds, inIndian/foreign currency, of upto Rs 1,000 crore through theissue of non-convertibledebentures/bonds, medium-term notes and other debtsecurities.

Capital India Home Loanplans to double asset book

RBI's MPC begins deliberations amidst expectations of status quo

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

9

Thursday June 3, 2021avenues

FUN

tudying abroadtakes courage,money, com-prehensiveplanning andtimely imple-

mentation. PiyushBhartiya lists commonmistakes that studentsshould avoid while apply-ing

Studying abroad is adream most students seeand strive to fulfil.Independence, a highstandard of living, newcultures and customs arethe things that excitemany students. Besideswonderful life experience,studying abroad is highlybeneficial as it gives therequired start to thecareer in the form ofvaluable placements andpractical experience ofworking in numerousindustries. Because ofmany benefits, seekingforeign education is noteasy. It takes courage, alot of funds, comprehen-sive planning, and timelyimplementation.Therefore, foreign educa-tion is not everyone’s cupof tea.

Still, every year fromIndia, around 6 lakh stu-dents go abroad for seek-ing education, and thisdata is increasing at anaverage rate of almost 20per cent every passingyear. As studying abroadis not easy, many studentsmake usual mistakes insome areas. But, what arethose areas?

Applying with limit-ed renowned univer-sities

This is the area wheremost students commit amistake. Mistake of onlyapplying with limitedwell-known universities,thinking only these uni-versities could give therequired boost to theircareer. However, that isnot true. There are manyuniversities across theworld that do not fallunder lists of top univer-sities butgive qualityedu-

cation. These universitiesare full of noble laureateswho teach professionallyand make educationseekers understand thepractical applicability ofthe numerous subjects.Therefore, before apply-ing for the programme,an applicant should dothorough researchregarding different uni-versities of a country.Several websites help stu-dents by making themaware of the quality ofeducation of a universityand its true reputation.

Lack of details onhow to apply andpursue education

Another area whereeducation seekers gowrong is the procedure ofapplying for admission.Without adequate andgenuine information,applying for a course in aforeign university can bechallenging for a student,especially for non-techyones. Different foreignuniversities/schoolsfollow dif-ferentcomplicat-ed admis-

sion procedures. So manyformalities and submis-sions make it a rigorousprocedure, where it isprobable that a studentmay make certain mis-takes. Therefore, takingadmission in one can be aprocedure full of perplex-ity. Hence, it is necessaryto take proper assistance.One can take the assis-tance of a genuine con-sultancy/agency whosecore operation is to assiststudents in taking admis-sion to foreign universi-ties or of the people inthe relative/friend circlewho will tell you abouttheir practical experiencealong with assistance inthe application proce-dure.

Incomplete knowl-edge of the differentcourses

and programmes

Last but not the least,applicants lack informa-tion about differentcourses and programsbeing offered by severaluniversities. A foreignuniversity, consideringthe applications ofadmissions across theworld proffers a widevariety of courses.Knowing about all theprograms and courses auniversity offers, anapplicant can make thedecision out ofnumerousavailablealternatives.Sometimes, astudentmakes awrong choicedue to infor-mationabout lim-

ited

programmes or courses.Hence, it is of para-mount importance tohave complete knowl-edge about the pro-grammes of a university.

Seeking foreign edu-cation involves spend-ing your time andmoney and hence isdirectly linked with theoutcome. The entireprocess of selecting col-lege & course, alongapplication procedure isalways complicated, andprobable that an appli-cant may make somemistakes and hence it ishighly advised to seekmentorship for thesame. Best mentorswould be students fromyour target set of uni-versities.

Plan, implement

Besides doing in-depth research or takingthe assistance of gen-uine agencies/ consul-tancies, many ed-techplatforms are nowadays,helping out student withthe admission proce-dure, along with con-necting you withCurrent internationalstudents. From theapplication process totaking admission, theyassist the educationseekers in every stage.Therefore, it is recom-mended to go for the

process as per theplanning, budget andconvenience.

(The writer is Co-founder and CEO,AdmitKard)

he famous quote byJohn Dewey, “If wetaught the kids of todaylike we taught yester-day’s we rob them oftheir tomorrow” is per-

fect to describe the prevailing sit-uation of the Indian educationsystem.

The education handbook thatwe are using today was mademany centuries ago.

The authors of the ancienthandbook had no idea howunimaginably different the worldwould look like hundreds of yearslater. Though facts remain thesame, the acquisition of knowl-edge in today’s times happensthrough search engines instead ofexperiences, and therefore knowl-edge is no more the only respon-sibility of schools.Today’s millen-nial learners require an innova-tive skill set to be able to succeedin these dynamic times. Theyneed to create their own hand-book which is relevant to the cur-rent scenario and this can only beachieved by encouraging thelearners to question what exists,communicate effectively, work asa team and come up with out ofthe box solutions to today’s prob-lems. These skills have beentermed as the 21st Century SuperSkills by the United Nations.

21st century super skills

21st century super skills as

mentioned above, helps the learn-ers share their thoughts andideas, work in unison with others,think out of the box, and findsolutions to problems.

They might get a job for theirmark sheets and degrees but ifthey will be able to sustain it, willdepend on these skills.

They might find a friend by theclick of a button but if they willbe able to keep the friendship anddevelop long-lasting meaningfulrelationships will depend onthese skills. They might be able tofollow a procedure to make thou-sands of replicas of a product, butif they will be able to createsomething new or innovate, itwill depend on these skills.

They might all have their owndifferent set of problems but ifthey will be able to find differentsolutions to these problems willdepend on these skills.

The need of the hour is not tocreate mere responsible citizens

who can adapt to every changeanymore, it is to create responsi-ble leaders who can make thechanges wherever required.

Another nomenclature forthese skills as stated by theUnited Nations is “The 4 Cs” –Communication, Collaboration,Critical Thinking and Creativitythat a child must learn at an earlyage.

Edu-tech companies are look-ing to constantly works on creat-ing and curating effectiveresources that can help empowerthe learners with the necessaryskills needed to negotiate withtheir world today.

All these products are effectiveand provide opportunities tobuild one or more of these skillsin a fun, engaging and experien-tial way.

These teaching-learningresources are hand-picked fromaround the world to provide thebenefits of global education toour Indian learners in all parts ofthe country.

One of Saar, an edu-tech com-pany’s recent launch “The Home-Schooling Kit” is a unique compi-lation of 4 such programs andfocuses on the 4Cs and as thename suggests all this is done inthe comfort of their homes.

(The author, Priyali Aggarwal,is the Director, AcademicExcellence, SAAR Education (I)Pvt. Ltd.)

Make the right callS

S

The magic Cs educationsystem needs to amplify

enee Sen, actress and for-mer beauty queenSushmita Sen’s daughter,who earned her filmdebut in Kabeer Khuran’sshort movie Suttabaazi in

January 2021, is overjoyed to seeher movie get so much attention.The movie was aired on the BandraFilm Festival’s YouTube channelyesterday. The 14-minute shortfilm was screened in the ‘Quirky’section to much applause.

Amid the Covid crisis, a 19-year-old social media celebrity is con-fined at home with online lessonsand demanding parents. Diya's(Renee’s) recently acquired hobbyof smoking on the side providesthe only reprieve. The interestingmovie also features KomalChhabria and Rahul Vohra, inaddition to Renee Sen.

Talking about her debut film,Renee said, “I am so happy with allthe love this poignant short filmhas received. We shot this duringthe last lockdown, I am glad to seeso many platforms acknowledgingour hard work and showcasing thefilm. Bandra Film Festival is said tohave a good lineup of films and Ifeel humbled to be a part of thisfilm festival.Suttabaazi willalways be specialto me, I enjoyedevery bit of play-ing Diya. Thefilm has taughtme a lot, both atpersonal andprofessional lev-els. No matterwhat the situa-tion is, whether

it’s a good day or there are mess-ups on the set — I have to be ableto give the perfect shot, it has mademe a lot more goal-oriented.Working on this film has been veryfulfilling. I am very happy it hap-pened.”

Aside from Suttabaazi, the line-up featured two more fantasticmovies. A Decent Arrangement, amodern gem of humorous dramafeaturing Shabana Azmi, AdhirBhat, Diksha Basu, NavneetNishan, and Adam Laupus, direct-ed by Sarovar Banka, and FriedFish, Chicken Soup, and A PremiereShow, an unusual film — directedby Mamta Murthy, based inManipur, a conflict zone on thedistant India-Burma frontier.

The films are available on BFF’sYouTube channels for all to partakein and enjoy.

inger-turned-actressAmika Shail startedher journey as asinger in the realityshow Little Champsat the age of nine.

She stepped into acting andappeared in television series likeMadam Sir, Laal Ishq, Abhay,Balveer Returns, and Udaan.She was also seen inLaxmii alongside

Akshay Kumar.The actress, who made an

impressing OTT debut withMirzapur and Gandi Baat, willnow be seen in Chattis AurMyna on Disney + Hotstar.Directed by Shraddha Pasi, theseries revolves around the storyof 3 female friends who enter-tain people in villages withdance performances.

Walking us through her char-acter in the show, Amika shares,“I play the character of a girlcalled Dhaani who is also thesecond female lead of the series.All three girls are villagedancers but their personalitiesare quite opposite to each other.Dhaani is a naive village belleand lives in her fantasy land.Although she is a dancer, shedoesn’t want to pursue it as herprofession. She wants to getmarried and have a family,romance her prince charmingand live in her dream world.She even tried to convince herbest friend to give up her carrierambitions and get married. Soin all, it can be said that Dhaaniis a very bubbly, and full-of-lifekind of a person, who isn't veryambitious about her dancingcareer.”

The actress says she did facesome challenges initially, whileplaying the character ofDhaani, as it is very differentfrom the kind of person sheis in real life.

Sharing how the jour-ney went from singingto acting, the Mirzapuractress tells us, “Istarted singing at theage of 5. Since mymother is a singer, as achild, I was always inspiredby her. When I turned 5, Istarted training in classi-cal singing. My motherwas my first teacherand there was nolooking back. Igot into profes-sional singingafter I shift-ed toBombay,postmy

graduation. But before that, Iwas a part of a lot of realityshows. So Bombay was like sec-ond home to me, which I visitedfrequently to participate insinging reality shows like Sa ReGa Ma, Little Champs, AmulStar Voice of India, Bharat kiShaan, etc. It’s been more than7-8 years since I got intosinging. I have sung for movies,music albums, and I releasedmy own music albums as well. Ihave my own YouTube channelwhich has like 80k+ subscribers.So I was fully into music andthen acting happened acciden-tally. Now, it has been 2 yearssince I embraced this profes-sion. The acting journey beganwith a musical show.They needed asinger-actor forthat show andthey

approached me. I went for anaudition but did not get selectedthen. It was also because I wasnot ready as an actor at thattime. But yes, this was my firstbaby step into the world of act-ing and then I groomed myselffor it.”

With the rise of OTT plat-forms in the country, Amikasays she was fortunate enoughto be a part of a number of web-series like Mirzapur 2, MaskMan, Gandi Baat 5, and manymore. “I am looking forward tothe release of my shows, whichinclude Chattis aur Mayna onDisney + Hotstar, Video Call,and Nachaniya on 2 new OTT

platforms. Also, thekind of work that

I have beenpart of is

reallyamazing

and theactingjour-neyhasbeenfab-

ulous till now,” she adds.Many of us have been doing

various things during the lock-down, for Amika, it was watch-ing the latest web series. “I havespent a lot of time watching webseries on OTT platforms. Sinceshoots and gyms are bothclosed, there is nothing much todo. So I watch at least 1 webseries a day. It also helps me towork on my acting skills. Theentire period of lockdown wasvery frustrating for me. I am aworkaholic and I do not like sit-ting idle at home. But with nooption at hand, we had to waittill the unlock happened andshoot permissions were grantedby the government. I was elatedto be back on the sets and infront of the camera,” says she.

But as an actor who is just inthe initial years of their career,she sometimes feels that themost precious period of her lifeis going in vain due to the lock-down imposed. “We can’t shootand a lot of projects are on hold,and getting delayed because ofit,” she laments.

Amika is looking forward todoing roles that display her act-ing chops and as she is a ‘gym-holic’, she says she wants to do

roles that help display her fit-ness.

The Laxmii actresshas a few web series

lined up forrelease, details of

which shepromises toreveal soon.

S

Blooming gracefullywherever she's placedAfterimpressingfans andcritics alikewith herperformancesin varioustelevision andweb series,artiste AmikaShail is backwith a bagful.She talks toThe Pioneer'sK RAMYASREE aboutbalancing hersinging andacting career,what she hasbeen doingduring thelockdown, andmore.

t is a no-brainer thatCovid affects the lungs.However, the fact thatthe mortality rate isless in Covid, peopletook a sigh of relief.

Now, to add to the woes is theresults of a study done by UK-based researches who have foundpersistent damage in the lungs ofa Covid patient even aftermonths of recovery. Thesepatients reported breathlessnesseven after six months of recovery.

“I will call them residual dam-ages or post-Covid changes,instead of permanent damages,because long term follow ups arerequired for those patients whodeveloped lung complicationsduring Covid-19. But yes,changes have been found at threemonths follow ups. In lungs,fibrotic changes have been foundon repeat CT scans. Fibrosis isbasically a pathological woundhealing response. Wound healingresponse elicited during severeinflammation anywhere in thebody can lead to permanentdamage of the respective tissue ororgan, through a process of scar-ring called fibrosis,” Dr AshishGupta, Senior Consultant,Critical Care Medicine andInfectious Diseases, ApolloSpectra, tells you.

He adds that fibrosis leads toreduced tissue elasticity, causingorgan dysfunction where elastici-ty is required for normal func-tion (e.g., lungs, heart). So, justlike lung tissue, heart musclescan also develop fibrotic changesif there was active involvement ofheart during acute Covid-19.

Dr Charu Dutt Arora,Infectious Disease, Home Care,Critical Care Specialist andCovid Care Expert at Housepital,Sarvodaya Healthcare, agreeswith Gupta and says that it is adangerous post-Covid complica-tion since fibrosis (or scar tissue)is not elastic and non functionalfor oxygenation process.

Hence, patients have to supple-

ment oxygen from outside forlong time even post recovery.The main symptom, he says, isbreathlessness and low oxygenlevels.

“Weakness, lethargy, breath-lessness, chronic dry cough aresome of the worrying symptomsof progressive fibrosis post-Covid,” he says. Depending onthe severity of pneumonia,patients can develop fibrosisbetween two weeks and threemonths post recovery.

The surprising, or shall we sayworrisome, fact is that theseabnormalities weren’t visible inthe CT scan. “CT and MRI scanscan only inform about the pres-ence of ground glass appearancesor patches in the lung parenchy-ma. They let clinicians under-stand the lung pathology andcorrelate with the clinical symp-toms. But, the new technology of129Xe MRI throws light on thegas exchange and uptake of oxy-gen in the lungs. This function isuseful to understand the actualphysiological output of the lungs,specially in cases of post-COVIDor fibrosis where CT scan mightnot detect any abnormality,”Arora explains.

The Xe MRI scan can informabout the decreased oxygenuptake in the lungs to the blood-stream that results in long termbreathlessness or hypoxia.

“Xenon is a noble gas which is4.5 times heavier than air and itsspin is lower than Hydrogen orthe protons in the body tissues(Hydrogen is an integral part ofwater in the body & the relax-ation time of hydrogen is usedfor reading MRI signals).Researchers used hyperpolarisedinhaled Xenon-129 to increasethe MRI visibility of tissuechanges occurring at the alveo-lar-capillary interface,” Dr.Tejinder Kataria ChairpersonRadiation Oncology CancerCenter Medanta — The Medicity,explains.

However, he points out thatnot all patients will need Xe-MRIand that the Xenon MRI hard-ware is not yet commerciallyavailable. This is not all.However, proper research is lack-ing, doctors predic certain long-term effects of the complication.“Fibrotic changes in the lung,lead to reduced elasticity, andreduced scope for lung expansionduring deep breathing or exer-cise. So, it is easy to understandthat a person with lung fibrosishas reduced effort tolerance orless respiratory reserve, leadingto easy fatiguability with minimalexercise,” Gupta tells you.

But, level of symptomsdepends on the extent of lunginvolvement.

So, not all such persons will beseverely symptomatic. Also, thosewho do regular exercise will haveless severe aftereffects.

The good thing is that doctorssay even post-Covid lung andheart function can be improvedwith guided and regular rehabili-tative exercises and with regularhealthcare consultations.

“Depending on the severity oflung inflammation and damage,as well as patient comorbidities,duration of injury and genetics,patients can see improvement intheir lung function. Similar tohaving pneumonia, over time,patients’ lung function can recov-er. Looking at previous experi-ence with SARS and MERSCoronaviruses, studies followingpatients after developing pul-monary fibrosis showed that pul-monary lesions diminished overtime in some patients,” he opines.

Every day newfindings relatedto Covid-19 areadding to thelitany woes ofalreadypanickedpeople. Thelatest one isthe persistentdamage causedto the lungs ofCovid patients,even afterthree monthsof recovery. The Pioneer

speaks withdoctors to tellyou more.

I

R

RENEE'S SEN-SATIONAL

DEBUT

Longing to breatheproperly

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10

Thursday June 3, 2021

sport 11 THURSDAY | JUNE 3, 2021

PTI n NEW DELHI

He is still a bit angry aboutthat “unfair” loss in the

finals but Olympic-boundIndian boxer Amit Panghal(52kg) on Wednesday describedhis Silver-winning performanceat the Asian Championships asthe best of his career so far.

The 25-year-old boxer fromHaryana was the defendingchampion before he lost to oldnemesis, Uzbekistan’s reigningworld and Olympic championShakhobidin Zoirov in the finalof the event in Dubai.

The result read 3-2 infavour of the Uzbek and theIndian team’s protest, seek-ing a review of the bout’ssecond round, was reject-ed by the jury.

“This is by far thebest performance byme in the 52kgcategory. Ishould havewon that finaland I wasangry when Idid not,”Panghal, ther e i g n i n g

Asian Games champion, said.“I had given it my all and I

felt I deserved to win but it’s ok,it can happen. It was still waybetter than the last time I lost tohim. The score-line has nar-rowed down to 2-3, it was 0-5earlier,” he said referring to theworld championship final loss toZoirov in 2019.

“The contingent protestedagainst the decision, we couldhave been a bit more forceful butit’s ok, at least we tried,” he said.

Proud of his performancehe might be but Panghal saidthere are some chinks in the

armour that he has figuredand will iron out before theOlympics.

“I have improved butmy third rounds can be

better. I don’t think I landenough scoring punches

in the third round.I have improvedenough toensure thatmy f irstrounds startearly, I used

to hold backearlier,” heelaborated.

PTI nMUMBAI

India captain Virat Kohli is not tooconcerned about the limitedpreparation time that his team will

get for the World Test Championshipfinal against New Zealand as hebelieves that it has the requisiteunderstanding of conditions from itspast experience of playing in England.

India take on New Zealand in themarquee game at Southampton fromJune 18.

Currently, New Zealand areengaged in a two-Test series againstEngland, while India would be inquarantine after landing there, includ-ing three days of hotel quarantine.

“...Look, in the past we have land-ed in places three days prior even ina proper schedule and have had a hellof a series and hell of competition, soit is all in the head,” Kohli said in thepre-departure press conference.

Virat insisted that it was alsoabout the mindset.

“...It is not the first time we areplaying in England, we all know whatthe conditions are like,” he said.

“And even if you are used to theconditions, if you don’t enter the fieldin the right frame of mind, you aregoing to nick that first ball or you aregoing to find it tough to pick wick-ets,” added the superstar.

According to Kohli, his sidewould not have any issues even if itgets just four practice sessions.

“...We don’t have any issues evenwith four practice sessions headinginto the game, because we areabsolutely sure of what we can do asa team and we all have played inEngland.

“Whether it is with the Indianteam or India A as well, for the likesof (Mohammed) Siraj... so we are notbothered by that at all and we justwant to get there and make the mostof the opportunity at hand,” headded.

Kohli echoed coach Ravi Shastri’sthoughts about the World TestChampionship final holding a lot ofvalue.

“All of us take a lot of pride in

playing Test cricket, and the way, wehave progressed as a side is an exam-ple of what Test cricket means to us.So, for all of us as a unit, those whohave been part of the Test side formany years, this is like an accumu-lation of all the hard work,” he said.

India had lost the series in NewZealand last year and conditions inEngland are similar to the UK.

Asked what lessons India learntfrom the loss in New Zealand, Kohli

added: “Play better Test cricket. Thatis all. Conditions are the same for usas well as New Zealand.

“Australian conditions shouldhave favoured Australians (but Indiawon). It’s how you look at the situ-ation. If you want us to board theflight from here, feeling like NewZealand’s got the edge, then there’sno point taking that flight.

“We are going to board thatflight knowing that we are at equalterms. And whichever team per-forms well session by session, hourby hour is going to win that cham-pionship.”

Kohli said he wants to enjoy theWTC final and not take any pressureof past losses in crunch games of ICCtournaments in England.

“We don’t want to take pressure.If we start thinking about it (the loss-es in 2017 Champions Trophy finalat The Oval and 2019 World Cupsemi-final at Old Trafford), we won’tbe able to perform. We want to enjoythe final without any pressure.”

No prep, no problem for Virat’s India

PTI n MUMBAI

India head coach Ravi Shastri onWednesday said the World Test

Championship final should be abest-of-three affair in the long runand not a one off match like hisside is set to play against NewZealand in the inaugural edition.

“I think ideally, in the longrun, if they want to pursue withthis Test championship, best ofthree final would be ideal. A threematch series as a culmination oftwo and a half years of cricket,”Shastri said in the pre-departurepress conference.

“But they need to finish off theFuture Tours Program (FTP) andthen start all over again. So one off

is one off, guys have earned theirstripes, and this is not a team thatis suddenly blossomed overnight.”

Shastri said the WTC final isa massive game.

“See, it is the first time that youhave a Test Championship final.When you look at the magnitudeof the game that’s going to beplayed, I think this is the biggest,if not the biggest ever, because it’sthe toughest form of the game.

“It’s a format that tests you. It’snot happened over three days orthree months, it’s happened overtwo years, where teams haveplayed each other around theworld, and earned their stripes toplay the finals so it’s one heck ofan event.”

WTC final should ideallybe best of three: Shastri

PTI nMUMBAI

Two India squads travelling to dif-ferent places at the same time

could become a norm in the men-tally draining world of bio-bubblesthat cricketers are forced to live inamid the Covid-19 pandemic, Indiacaptain Virat Kohli hinted onWednesday.

While the Kohli-led side leavesfor the WTC final against NewZealand and a five-Test series againsthosts England, a second string Indiasquad will soon be picked for the lim-ited-overs tour of Sri Lanka in July.

With bio-secure environmenttaking a toll on the players mental-ly, Kohli said they will be given breaksto recover from that and not just forworkload management.

“With the current structure andthe kind of structure that you’re com-peting inside for a long period of

time, it’s very difficult for the play-ers to stay motivated and find theright kind of mental space,” Kohlisaid in the pre-departure conference.

“You know just confined in onearea and just doing the stuff, day inday out when you’re dealing withhigh pressure situations. So, this (twosquads) will definitely become anorm for the future,” he added.

The Indian team had to quaran-tine for 14-days here and will do asoft quarantine upon arrival in UK.

Players around the world havespoken about challenges of playingtournaments after tournaments inbio-bubbles.

“Apart from the workloads, themental health side of things will alsocome into the picture big timebecause you don’t have an outlet atall,” said Kohli.

“In today’s day and age you lit-erally go into the ground, come back

to the room, and you have no spacewhere you can just disconnect fromthe game and just go out for a walkor go out for a meal or a coffee andsay, Okay, Let me refresh myself.

“Let me just get away from thegame a little bit so I think this is ahuge factor which should not beneglected. Because as much hardwork as we’ve done to create thisteam, you don’t want players fallingout because of the mental pressuresand not having the capacity or thespace to express themselves.”

Sitting beside Kohli, head coachRavi Shastri said the current sched-ules are punishing and the world ofquarantines is making players’ jobstougher.

“You are not just talking aboutthe World Championship. But if youwant to add that as well, you have toplay five Test matches in this envi-ronment in six weeks. It’s no joke.

“I mean even the fittest will needa break. More than the physical part,it’s the mental part, like he had (Virat)mentioned, you know you can bedestroyed mentally.

“Being asked to do the samethings day in day out and then go andperform. And it’s not easy to recov-er if, especially if you’ve had a badday. It’s important that you shuffle theguys around and keep them mental-ly fresh,” said the coach.

Like Kohli, Shastri too said thatplaying with two squads in differentlocations regularly is a possibility inthe long run.”

“Well you never know. At themoment it’s happening because of thecurrent situation and restriction intravel and things of that sort. But younever know. In the future if you wantto expand the game, especially in theshorter of formats, then it could bethe way to go.

Indian skipper dismissed talk about lack of preparation, past results against Kiwis to have impact on WTC final

AFPn LONDON

New Zealand opener DevonConway had a dream start

to his Test career as he scored anattractive hundred in his firstouting during the first Test of thetwo-match series againstEngland at the Lord’s.

Conway, who was born inSouth Africa, and even playedsome cricket for the Gautengteam, move to Wellington in2018. He was awarded a contractfor domestic cricket inWellington and it started anamazing career in cricket for theleft-handed opener. In March2019, he was named as theMen’s Domestic Player of theYear at the annual New ZealandCricket awards.

He became eligible to playfor Black Caps in August 2020and made his Internationaldebut in November 2020 in aT20I match against West Indies.

Recently, New Zealand

included him in their squad forthe England tour which consist-ed of two Tests against the hostsand the final of the WTC againstIndia.

On the eve of the first Test,Kiwi skipper Kane Williamsonhinted that Conway is slated fora debut at Lord’s.

Well, Devon Conwaystarred on his debut as he scoreda brilliant century in his maid-en Test off just 163 balls with 11fours to his name. This cameafter another debutant, England’sOllie Robinson had removedTom Latham for 23 and JamesAnderson got rid of KaneWilliamson for 13 runs.Robinson then accounted forRoss Taylor as well for 14 runs,leaving New Zealand 114/3.

As Devon Conway becamethe first batsman since SouravGanguly of India in 1996, toscore a century on his Testdebut at the Lord’s and 12th NewZealand batsman to do so.

OZ CRICKETERS TO RAISE FUND SYDNEY: Top Australian cricketers includingstar pacer Pat Cummins will participate in a12-hour gaming Live stream on Thursday toraise money for UNICEF Australia's IndiaCovid Appeal. The initiative will let fans watchthem on a Live stream when they talk aboutcricket in a bid to raise A$ 100,000.

WOLFSBURG HIRE BOMMELBERLIN: Former Bayern Munich andNetherlands star Mark van Bommel will coachWolfsburg after agreeing a two-year deal, theBundesliga club said on Wednesday.

HAMSIK TO SPEARHEAD SLOVAKIA BRATISLAVA: Midfielder Marek Hamsik willfeature at Euro 2020 as he was included inSlovakia coach Stefan Tarkovic's 26-mansquad along with Inter defender Milan Skriniar.

BARCA RECALL EMERSON BARCELONA: Barcelona continued its low-budget remodeling by recalling defenderEmerson Royal from loan on Wednesday inthe club's third new arrival in as many days.

PAK TO LEAVE ON JUNE 25 ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan cricket team'sdeparture to England to play 3 ODIs & 3 threeT20Is has been pushed back by two days afterthe PSL final was rescheduled for June 24.

ITALY INCLUDE RASPADORI ROME: Italy coach Roberto Mancini includeduncapped Sassuolo forward GiacomoRaspadori in his 26-man squad for the Euro2020 but drop Gianluca Mancini, MatteoPessina and Matteo Politano. Agencies

AP n PARIS

Alexander Zverev booked his spotin the third round at the French

Open for the fourth straight year onWednesday, seeing off Russian qual-ifier Roman Safiullin in straight sets.

The German sixth seed, a two-time quarter-finalist, trailed 1-3 in the second and third setsbut secured a 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 7-6 (7/1) victory.

The Russian qualifier put upa good fight but Zverev went for hisshots when it mattered and prevailedin straight sets.

Zverev had been pushed to fivesets in the previous round againstanother qualifier.

Swiss qualifier Henri Laaksonenupset 11th-seeded Roberto BautistaAgut in their second-round match.

It’s the first time that Laaksonenreached the third round at a majortournament thanks to his 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 win.

The 29-year-old Swiss had neverbeaten a Top 20 player before.

Norwegian youngster CasperRuud also continued his fine year byeasing past Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

The 15th seed, who won the titlein Geneva last month and has reachedthree other semi-finals on clay thisseason, next faces either SpaniardAlejandro Davidovich Fokina or the

Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp.In the women’s draw, 2019 run-

ner-up Marketa Vondrousova reachedthe third round with a 6-1, 6-3 winover wild card Harmony Tan.

But tenth-seeded BelindaBencic’s campaign at Roland Garrosended with a 6-2, 6-2 loss to DariaKasatkina while Katerina Siniakovasaved two match points to oust29th-seeded Veronika Kudermetova7-6 (7), 5-7, 7-5.

Bencic struggled with her servethroughout and was broken fourtimes by her Russian rival. The Swiss

player has never progressed past thethird round at the French Open in fiveappearances.

Kasatkina made it to the quarter-finals in Paris in 2018, but it’s the firsttime this season that she has won con-secutive matches on clay.

VENUS-COCO OUTThe new doubles partnership of

Venus Williams and Coco Gauff did-n’t go very far at the French Open.

The 40-year-old Williams and17-year-old Gauff lost to 13th-seed-ed Ellen Perez and Zheng Saisai 6-7

(5), 6-4, 6-3 in the first round.It marked the first time that

Williams had played a Grand Slamdoubles match with anyone but hersister. She and Serena Williams havewon 14 Grand Slam doubles titles.

Panghal still angry aboutdefeat in Asian C’ship final

Kohli, Shastri back different teams for different tours

New Delhi: Olympic-boundstar Indian javelin throwerNeeraj Chopra’s training-cum-competition stint in Europe,which will mark his return tointernational competition aftermore than a year, has beendelayed ‘by a few days’ as heawaits an authorisation letterfrom France.

The 23-year-old Indian,who hasn’t participated in anyevent since qualifying for theOlympics in March last year, wasoriginally set to leave for Franceon Monday to prepare himselffor the upcoming Tokyo Games.

“...Neeraj Chopra’s travelplan to France has been delayedby few days as India is current-ly placed as a high-risk countrywith Covid-19 infection andthus a person travelling toFrance requires an internalauthorisation letter issued byFrench Interior Ministry to trav-

el,” the Sports Authority of India(SAI) said in a statement.

“Even though Neeraj andhis team got their visa on Friday,he is yet to get the above-men-tioned authorisation letter.

“Accordingly, his travel planshave been rescheduled and SAIis in regular touch with officialsof MEA, who are further pursu-ing the matter with the IndianEmbassy in Paris. The requiredauthorisation letter by theFrench interior ministry isexpected soon,” it added.

However, an AthleticsFederation of India source saidthat he will be leaving onThursday. “He is still here andwill go on Thursday,” the sourcetold PTI.

The reigning Asian andCommonwealth Games cham-pion, will first travel to Francefor a training stint and thenreach Sweden. PTI

Neeraj training-cum competitionstint in Europe delayed by few days

Kolkata: Indian equestrianFouaad Mirza is yet to decidewhich one of his two horses willaccompany him to the TokyoGames and said he will pick theone carrying the best form lead-ing up to the time of submittingthe entry later this month.

Mirza has time till end ofthis month to choose betweenthe experienced geldingSeigneur Medicott and the spir-ited young mare Dajara 4 withwhom he had finished secondand third respectively to meethis Minimum EligibilityRequirement in the CCI 4*—Long Eventing competition.

“At the moment, I’ve notdecided. I’ll leave it late till thetime of submitting entry at theend of June. Both are carryingvery good form and it’s quite dif-ficult to choose at this stage,”Mirza said.

Mirza, who is currentlytraining in Bergedorf, a village

in north-west Germany, is onlythe third Indian equestrian tosecure an individual spot inEventing at the Olympic Games.

“It would be solely on thehorse’s form. I would choose theone carrying the best form lead-ing up to the time of submittingentry,” Mirza, a double AsianGames Silver medalist, said.

It would be a sweet selectionheadache for Mirza who had

ended India’s 36-year-old medaldrought at the Asian Games bywinning a Silver medal at Jakarta2018 astride Medicott who latersustained an injury.

“Initially they (vets) werevery doubtful about Medicottrecovery but he is a fighter andwe managed to get him back togood form. He’s in good shape,”Mirza said.

Talking about the youngmare Dajara who is five yearsyounger to Medicott, Mirzasaid: “She’s slightly less experi-enced but she has far morepotential. She’s a real, real excit-ing horse for the future.

“These two horses are verydifferent from the two thathelped India get the slot in2019. Having said that, they arethe two better horses that I’ve.”

For the Olympics, an eques-trian can qualify more thanone horse but for competitionthe rider has to choose one. PTI

AFP n PARIS

World number one NovakDjokovic hailed Naomi Osaka

as “brave and bold”, reacting to herwithdrawal from the French Open cit-ing her struggles with anxiety anddepression but admitted he wasn’t sur-prised she had been threatened witha Grand Slam ban.

“Look, I can understand her verywell, and I empathise with her, becauseI was on the wrong edge of the swordin my career many times with media.I know how it feels,” he said.

“I support her. I think she wasvery brave to do that. I’m really sorrythat she is going through painful timesand suffering mentally,” said Djokovicon Tuesday.

“This was, I must say, a very bolddecision from her side. If she needs totake time and reflect and just rechargethat’s what she needed to do, and Irespect it fully. I hope that she’ll comeback stronger.”

She was very braveto do that: Novak onOsaka’s withdrawal

Mirza will rely on form to choosehis horse for Tokyo Olympics

Zverev eases into 3rd round

Alexander Zverev plays a return to Roman Safiullin during their second round match AP

NEW ZEALAND ARECURRENTLY ENGAGED IN

A TWO-TEST SERIESAGAINST ENGLAND,

WHILE INDIA WOULD BEIN QUARANTINE AFTER

LANDING IN UK,INCLUDING THREE DAYSOF HOTEL QUARANTINE

French Open (Day 5)Live from 2:30pm ISTSTAR SPORTS NETWORK

Conway leads NZ with maiden ton

Devon Conway, left, hugs Kiwi teammateHenry Nicholls after his 1st century AP

shortpasses

12

Vijayawada Thursday June 3, 2021 tollywood

t is known news that south beautySamantha Akkineni is making herdebut in the digital world with theupcoming web drama The FamilyMan 2, which also has Priyamani andManoj Bajpayee. The web drama will

have Samantha play the role of terrorist Raji.It is said that the Rangasthalam actress went

through intense and rigorous physical trainingand transformation to essay the role of Raji asrealistically as possible. The fitness freak under-went hours of physical training every day andinvested her blood and sweat for this particularcharacter in the web series.

Sources close to the U-Turn actress revealedthat the actress tried her best to understand andbe as true to the character of Raji. The Majili girldid some intense research based on how her char-acter was to look like, on the screen. Sources evensaid that Samantha locked herself in a room for

three days and watched multiple doc-umentaries to get under the skin

of Raji.For the first time in her act-

ing career, SamanthaAkkineni will see her hold-ing a gun. The new seasonof The Family Man onAmazon Prime Video willpremier from June 4.

Samantha was lastseen playing the femalelead in romantic andemotional drama Jaanuin which she shared thescreen space with

Sharwanand. Currently,she is working for the

upcoming historicdrama

Shaakuntalam,helmed byGunasekhar ofRudhramadevifame.

Sam's rigorous training

I

AND RESEARCH TO PLAY TERRORIST

ocking star Yash isknown for his actiondrama KGF: Chapter 1,which was a block-buster at the boxoffice. Now, all eyes are

on its second part — KGF:Chapter 2. In the meantime,Yash’s act of kindness amid thestruggling times has won severalhearts. As the Coronavirus pan-demic continues to destroy thelives and livelihoods of millionsof people, KGF fame Yash yester-day took to his Twitter and

announced a donation of Rs5,000 each to all the 3,000 cineworkers who are affiliated withthe 21 crafts of the Kannada filmindustry. Earlier several actors of theKannada film industry likeShivarajkumar, Darshan, PuneethRajkumar, Upendra, Sudeep, andDuniya Vijay, Ragini Dwivedi,Harshika Poonacha, PranithaSubhash, and Bhuvan Ponannahave extended help in the pastfew months.

Rajadhani fame Yash

announced a total donation of Rs1.5 Cr as a relief to the Kannadafilm industry workers who havebeen affected by Coronavirus-induced lockdown. Yashdecided to divide the dona-tion amount into 3000parts so that each cineworker family will be get-ting Rs 5000 in their bankaccount. According toYash, the money will betransferred to the bene-ficiaries’ bank accountsdirectly.

Yash stands tall amid pandemic crisis

egastar Chiranjeevi’sunprecedentedcharitable act withthe establishment ofoxygen banks in alldistricts of Telugu

states and yellow media's not-so-great reportage onChiranjeevi’s philanthropicactivity turned a hot discus-sion point, lately.

At a time like this, someauthentic observers and ana-lysts have come up with a sen-sational fact. They haveadjudged that Chiranjeevi isthe biggest ever donor fromthe Indian film industry withhis charitable acts worth morethan Rs 150 crore.

According to them,Chiranjeevi has been runningblood and eye banks since1998. Right now, an estimatedcost for maintenance of ablood bank is Rs.6 crore perannum. Considering the cur-rent prices for maintenance

and the pre-vious

ones,

Chiranjeevi might have givenmore than Rs.80 crore forblood and eye banks so farfrom his hard earnings.

Chiranjeevi is buzzed tohave spent Rs.30 crore just forthe establishment of oxygenbanks in all districts. Theamount is set to have escalatedto Rs.50 crore that went intoprocuring the needy materialand for maintenance.

Besides, Chiranjeevi hascontinued to extend his help-ing hand to the victims of nat-ural disasters for the past fourdecades. To sum it all up,Chiranjeevi might have donat-ed more than Rs 150 crorefrom his own earnings, life-time.

Incidentally, they pointedthat Chiranjeevi’s contempo-rary legends like AmitabhBachchan and Rajinikanth,etc., have not spent even halfof Chiranjeevi's donations.

As per records, no actorsand technicians contributed tothat extent as Chiranjeevi has,for social service in the historyof 90 years of Indian cinema.Sonu Sood spent Rs.15 to 20crores from his own pockets.Later, he has been contributingto his best through the fundsraised from various sources.

All in all, Chiranjeevi standsas the biggest ever donor fromIndian cinema. As clearrecords are found for all hischaritable acts, they can also

be treated as official.

andamuriBalakrishna isundoubtedly oneof the biggestsenior heroes inthe south Indian

industry who commands alarge fan base. Legend star isknown to chant Sanskritslokas on stage which makethe audience spellbound.Earlier during theMemusaitham event, theNatasimham showed hissinging prowess lending hisvoice for the song NeekantiChoopulloni from action-drama Legend film.

The audience loved hisperformance that went viralon social media platforms.Recently, on the occasion ofhis late father, actor, andChief Minister of AndhraPradesh Nandamuri TarakaRama Rao — NTR’s birthanniversary, Balakrishna

came up with the idea ofreleasing his latest song SriRama Dandakam as a singer.Balakrishna gave a specialgift to his fans by crooning asong.

Now we hear reports com-ing in, that once again,Balakrishna has decided tocroon a song from his father’sfilm.

Sources say thatBalakrishna will croon a songsoon and it is not knownwhat song he has picked.

As of now, the Lion andPaisa Vasool star is busyworking relentlessly for hispeople in his constituency.

On the work front,Balakrishna is currentlyworking with Boyapati Srinufor the upcoming filmAkhanda which has PragyaJaiswal as the leading ladyand Srikanth is playing themain antagonist.

kiraNandan isthe talk ofTollywoodand is mostdiscussed

among movie lovers.Akira, son of PawanKalyan, is attractingall attention with histall and handsomepersonality andcharming looks. Forquite some time spec-ulation startedincreasing on Akira’son-screen debut butnothing is officiallyconfirmed.

Reports alreadyhave it that RamCharan is planning tolaunch Akira grandlyon his banner andChiranjeevi also helddiscussions withPawan Kalyan. In themeantime, PawanKalyan according tosources, asked Akira

to learn Carnaticmusic. It is knownthat Pawan learnedCarnatic music andduring his childhoodused to play music onhis violin. Pawanaccompanied Akira to

his music classes andat that time, he tooexpressed interest inlearning more ofmusic and starteddoing the same, muchto the delight of themusic teacher.

ilm makerGunasekhar’s previ-ous movieRudhramadevi thathad the brilliantactress Anushka

Shetty playing the titular role,was a hit at the box office.Apart from Anushka, the his-toric drama also had Baahubaliand The Ghazi Attack fameRana Daggubati and StylishStar Allu Arjun. CurrentlyGunasekhar is working withSamantha Akkineni for hisupcoming directorial ventureShakuntalam, which is a bigbudget drama and the shoot ofthe film has been delayed dueto the coronavirus pandemic.

With shooting stalled, we hearthat Gunasekhar is working on

the script for his next projectPrathaparudhra.Prathaparudhra was the lastking of the Kakatiya dynastyand is the grandson of QueenRudhramadevi. After the com-pletion of the script work,Gunasekhar will narrate thescript of Prathaparudhra to atop actor.

Sources say that the entireshoot of Shakuntalam will becompleted this year and willhave a pan-Indian release nextyear. Gunasekhar has alsopenned a script for the mytho-logical dramaHiranyakashyapa, the story of ademon god in which RanaDaggubati will be seen playingthe lead role. If everythinggoes as per plan, thePrathaparudhra will go on thefloors after Gunasekhar com-pletes the shoot of RanaDaggubati-starrerHiranyakashyapa.

Gunasekhar making mostof the pandemic break

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PK LEARNS MUSIC

ALONG WITH SON AKIRA

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Chiranjeevi highest ever

donor of Indian film industry

Balayya set to sing for his films?