HYDERABAD  FRIDAY  JANUARY 21, 2022  `9.00  PAGES 28  LATE CITY EDITION 19-YEAR-OLD GIRL FLIES SOLO AROUND WORLD IN 155 DAYS BAD WEATHER, VISA ISSUES VEX 90-DAY TARGET Rutherford will find herself in the Guinness World Records book after setting the mark that had been held by 30-year-old American aviator Shaesta Waiz since 2017. Her global flight in her ultralight Shark plane was supposed to take three months, but relentless bad weather and visa issues kept her grounded sometimes for weeks on end, extending her adventure by 2 months Belgian-British pilot Zara Rutherford has set a world record as the youngest woman to fly solo globally in a small aircraft 52,000 KM, 41 COUNTRIES, 5 CONTINENTS ■ ■ In her trek of more than 52,000 km (28,000 nautical miles), she stopped over in five continents and visited 41 nations During her flight using visual flight rules (going on sight only), she steered clear of wildfires in California, dealt with biting cold over Russia and narrowly avoided North Korean airspace 18-year-old TRAVIS LUDLOW IS THE YOUNGEST TO FLY SOLO GLOBALLY IN A SINGLE-ENGINE PLANE CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Can’t box merit in narrow performance definitions: SC on OBC quota 37.6 30.9 28.6 (Numbers in %) 18.4 10.6 7.9 4.5 Africa ■ 22 3.6 3.3 1.2 1.2 Asia Dec-28 Dec Europe ■ 29 Dec-4 Dec North America ■5 Oceania Jan-11 Jan ■ 12 1 South America 2 3 Jan-18 Jan 4 5 6 WARY OF INTERIM ORDER ON EWS QUOTA 7 8 2,64,202 2,68,833 16.66% 2,71,202 16.28% 2,58,089 19.65% 2,38,018 14.43% 2,82,970 15.13% 3,17,532 16.41% 22,775 2.05% 27,553 2.48% 33,750 3.84% 37,379 3.24% 58,097 5.03% 90,928 6.43% 1,17,100 7.74% 1,41,986 9.28% 1,59,632 10.21% 1,79,723 13.29% 1,68,063 10.64% 1,94,720 11.05% 52.3 15 16 17 18 19 20 Virus spreading to remote corners E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi OVER 3 lakh more Covid-positive case were reported in the country on Thursday morning, but the ratio of deaths and active cases stayed low when compared to the disastrous second wave because of the ongoing vaccination drive. On the flip side, data shows that the virus is now travelling to new territories as there is a progressive increase in districts with more than 5% positivity rate (TPR). Smaller cities and towns have been particularly affected, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said. About 11 states and Union Territories have more than 50,000 active Covid cases, while 515 districts reported a weekly case positivity rate of over 5%. SWIFT RESPONSE ARMY IN TOUCH WITH PLA TO GET BACK TEEN NATIONWIDE JAN 19 JAN 20 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths JAB-O-METER TAKE YOUR SHOT 2,82,970 3,17,532 1,88,157 2,23,990 441 491 TELANGANA JAN 19 JAN 20 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths 3,557 1,773 3 4,207 1,825 2 January 19 62,39,005 doses January 20 60,79,373 doses TOTAL DOSES 1,60,32,25,244 The national TPR stood at 16.41% on Thursday The Centre . has retained TN, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Delhi on its list of “states of concern”. On April 30, 2021, there were 3,86,452 new cases, 3,059 deaths, 31,70,228 active cases and 2% of the eligible population fully vaccinated. As against that, 3,17,532 new cases were logged on January 20, 2022, 380 deaths, 19,24,051 active cases, and 72% people fully vaccinated, indiE X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Guwahati THE Indian Army on Thursday contacted the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) through hotline, a day after BJP leader and Arunachal Pradesh MP Tapir Gao said a 17-year-old Indian boy was abducted by Chinese cating how jabs are life savers. “In this third surge of Covid, we are currently not witnessing severe illness and deaths due to high vaccination uptake. This shows that vaccines save,” ICMR head Dr Balram Bhargava said. With Kerala reporting 46,387 new cases (TPR 40.22%), the state government imposed fresh restrictions, including allowing only essential services to operate on the next two Sundays — January 23 and 30. In neighbouring Karnataka, the fresh case count was close to 48,000, of which 30,540 were in Bengaluru alone. However, there was positive news from Maharashtra, as it decided to open schools for offline teaching in classes 1 to 9 from Monday because of the declining viral load. soldiers. A defence spokesman tweeted: “Indian Ar my immediately contacted PLA through hotline. Assistance from PLA has been sought to locate and return him as per protocol.” The statement also comes in the wake of the Congress tar- Tourism projs: TS pulls up defaulting lessees, says pay up or face action EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad TOURISM and Culture Minister V Srinivas Goud has ordered officials to recover dues payable to the Telangana government by lessees operating hospitality and tourism projects in government lands, which were leased to them in the undivided Andhra Pradesh under Public Private Partnership (PPP) model to develop tourism. The Minister held a review meeting with tourism and legal officials in Hyderabad on Thursday where , officials informed him that in the erstwhile State, many valuable government lands were given on lease to companies and individuals to develop tourism projects to attract domestic and international tourists to the city . He asked the officials to issue notices to those who have fallen in default in payments, stating Defaulters Amount due Prasad’s IMAX Theatre `27.45 cr Jala Vihar `6.51 cr Snow World `15.01 cr Expotel Hotel `15.13 cr Daspalla Hotel `5.67 cr Prajay India Syndicate `5.58 cr (Shamirpet Golf course) Trident Hotel `75.05 cr that water and power supply would be cut if they do not fall in line. The lands were given on lease to Prasad’s IMAX Theatre at Necklace Road, Expotel Hotel at Lower Tank Bund, Trident Hotel in Madhapur, Daspalla Hotel in Jubilee Hills, Jala Vihar at Necklace Road and a Golf Course in Shamirpet, just to name a few. The officials informed the Minister that while some companies and individuals were successfully running the projects by paying lease and State’s revenue share (ADP) as enshrined in the lease agreements, there were some individuals who had turned litigant and were approaching courts with malafide intentions, enjoying possession of government land and not developing them. The officials have apprised the Minister of the dues pending and by whom, and how it was causing a loss by crores of rupees to the State exchequer. Srinivas Goud has asked officials to initiate legal action against those who defaulted on their payments and to send notices to them warning them of discontinuation of civic services if the lessees fail to clear their dues. He also said that he would bring the issue to the notice of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and as per the latter’s directions, discussions would be held with the lessees before further action is taken. midst of a pandemic and any delay in the recruitment of doctors would impact the ability to manage the pandemic. “Due to this, we hold that the reservation for OBC candidates in the All India Quota seats for UG and PG medical and dental courses is constitutionally valid,” the bench said. Citing the delay in TS extends Covid curbs till Jan 31 E N S @ Hyderabad THE Telangana government has extended Covid-19 restrictions till January 31. Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar issued orders to this effect on Thursday The State government ini. tially imposed restrictions up to January 10 and later they were extended up to January 20. In its first GO on January 1, 2022, the government prohibited rallies, public meetings, mass gatherings of all types, including religious, political and cultural events. Wearing face masks, maintaining physical distance, frequent sanitisation and screening at entry points with IR thermometers/thermal scanners are mandatory . TS POLICE ARREST INT’L DRUG PEDDLER TONY FROM MUMBAI IN a major breakthrough in their effort to end the drugs menace, Hyderabad police have arrested Chukwu Ogbonna David alias Tony, the kingpin of one of the major international drug rackets, in Mumbai and brought him to the city on Thursday The . Nigerian has been living in Mumbai since 2013 even after the expiry of his visa. The police also arrested nine of the 13 high profile businessmen in Hyderabad who were “consumers” of the drug supplied by Tony . According to Hyderabad Police Commissioner CV Anand, the police have evidence that Tony has been supplying drugs to people of affluent sections in the city. He also named nine of the 13 businessmen, most of them from posh Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills, and said efforts were on to arrest the remaining persons. The evidence has been culled out from the confession of Tony . In fact, the arrest of two interstate peddlers Imran Babu HIGH-PROFILE ARRESTS Telangana police produce Nigerian drug pedlar Tony before the media in Hyderabad on Thursday | R V K RAO Shaik and Noor Mohammad Khan by North Zone and Punjagutta police helped the police obtain information on their master Tony’s whereabouts. Taking the assistance of Mumbai police, North Zone Task Force apprehended Tony “Tony’s two agents . came to Hyderabad on the eve of New Year and were picked by the police on January 6,” the Commissioner said. Tony after settling down in , Mumbai, was initially into garments business but was drawn to drugs smuggling attracted by the huge profits some of those who were known to him were making at that time. CONTINUED ON P4 Maskless motorists ride past a mural creating awareness on precautions to be taken to prevent spread of Covid-19 in Hyderabad on Thursday | S SENBAGAPANDIYAN EXPRESS READ SKEWED PRIORITY BCCI has time for everything but not for Ranji Trophy THE Indian cricket board (BCCI) is on verge of cancelling the Ranji Trophy for a second successive domestic season citing a short window available up to the start of IPL in April. It’s bizarre considering the same board managed to host two IPLs overseas successfully , two Test series last year, and part of IPL at home during peak of second wave, and not to mention host of white-ball domestic events. Yet that the BCCI has failed to find a convenient window seems outrageous. The cancellation of the event will be a big blow for the next rung of up and coming cricketers. This will also hit hundreds of players and match officials financially for the second consecutive year. The BCCI is the only board the world over to not conduct its first-class tournament last season and failure to List of nine persons arrested under Sec 27 of NDPS Act: Niranjan Kumar Jain, a contractor and a resident of Himayath Nagar, Hyderabad Shashwat Jain, construction business, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad Yagyanand Agarwal, spices business, Gowlipura, Hyderabad Dhandu Surya Sumanth Reddy, contractor, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad Bandi Bhargav, business, Vikaspuri, Yerragadda Hyderabad Venkat Chalasani, business, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad Thamminedi Sagar, private job, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad Alghani Srikanth, office boy, Budvel, Rajendra Nagar, RR dist Godi Subba Rao, private job, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, a native of East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh WRITING ON THE WALL geting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Dear PM, how dare Chinese Army transgress into our territory again? Why is Govt not listening to the earnest appeal of its own MP?” said Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala. V E N K ATA K R I S H N A B @ Chennai the counselling process due to the pendency of this petition, the bench said: “The petitioners challenged the very criteria for the determination of the EWS, which would not only require us to hear the matter at length but would also entail us to hear all interested parties. We deem it necessary to allow the counselling session to begin with the existing criteria.” BIG CATCH P R I YA R AT H N A M @ Hyderabad 9 10 11 12 13 14 J A N U A R Y ■ Daily cases ■ Daily positivity rate 515 districts have test positivity rate of over 5%; toll low compared to second wave due to vax drive; Maharashtra to reopen schools nomically weaker section. While giving its detailed order on Thursday the bench not, ed that the country is still in the While dealing with EWS quota separately, the SC declined to pass an interim order staying the criteria. ”In matters involving challenge to the constitutionality of a legislation or a rule, the Court must be wary to pass an interim order, unless the Court is convinced that the rules are prima facie arbitrary,” it said 2,47,417 Trend of global new cases India’s daily case load ready upheld the constitutional validity of the OBC reservation while setting `8 lakh annual income limit for the quota for eco- 14.78% THE Supreme Court on Thursday reiterated the constitutional validity of 27% OBC reservation in all-India quota seats in the NEET for undergraduate, postgraduate and dental courses, noting that merit cannot be reduced to narrow definitions of performance in an open competitive examination. subsequent training and individual character. Crucially, open competitive examinations do not reflect the social, economic and cultural advantage that accrues to certain classes and contributes to their success in such examinations,” the court added. A bench of judges D Y Chandrachud and A S Bopanna in a brief order on January 7 had al- 13.11% The top court observed that certain classes may perform better in such examinations thanks to their social, economic, and cultural advantage. “Competitive examinations assess basic current competency to allocate educational resources but are not reflective of excellence, capabilities and potential of an individual which are also shaped by lived experiences, E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi Old yardstick for selection With India Test team entering a transition phase, sans Ranji Trophy the selectors will have to pick players based on white-ball cricket and red-ball performances from 2019/20 season do so this season too will reflect poorly on the organisational skills of the richest cricket board headed by a former captain. After BCCI was unable to host full-fledged domestic season in 2020/21, it included all the tournaments for the 2021/22 season. However, it did not have a window for the Ranji Trophy and it was to as late as January to accommodate the Syed Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Hazare Trophy with an eye on the IPL player auctions. While a third wave was not predicted at that stage, having held these white-ball events for the 2020/21 season in January-February 2021, the move to host them again within a year’s time raised eyebrows. And that decision is proving to be a big mistake. After Ranji was suspended on January 4, the BCCI was hopeful of starting it at least in February and finish the group stages before the IPL (on April 2) and conduct the knockouts after it. But finding even a 35day window for the group stages look improbable now as players have to enter bio-bubble for IPL by March 20. Also, there are no takers for splitting the event into two as there would at least be a five-month gap because of the IPL and the monP11 soon. Six AI flights to the US restored after 5G scare New Delhi: Air India on Thursday resumed six out of the eight Boeing 777 flights to the US, which were suspended over fears of the 5G rollout in the US would interfere with the aircraft’s radio altimeter. The remaining two services will resume on Friday. The decision comes after US aviation regulator FAA issued a fresh directive saying the 5G rollout would not affect the radio altimeters in certain types of aircraft | P7 4th arrest in Bulli Bai hate app case Mumbai: Mumbai police made their fourth arrest in connection with the Bulli Bai app case on Thursday. The app was used by right-wing extremists to demean and ‘auction’ Muslim women. The accused, Neeraj Singh, was arrested from Odisha by Mumbai police’s cyber cell. Singh is an MBA | P7 WITH THIS ISSUE CITY’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 28 PAGES, INCLUDING 16 OF INDULGE (TABLOID)