tirupati l saturday l january 29, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION BCCI relents to pressure, to host ranji this season Board secretary Jay Shah confirms plans to start the Ranji Trophy as Covid numbers have started dropping in major cities Group stages in feb-mar, knockouts in june importance of hosting the event For the first time in its history, the Ranji Trophy will be held in two phases. The group stage, involving 38 teams and six groups, is likely to begin on February 13 and run till March 18 in six cities before the IPL break. The knockout stage is expected to be played in June after the BCCI works out the schedule and venues keeping the south-west monsoon in mind ■ ■ Domestic players have not played long format cricket since March 2020, though it is the feeder system that allows young talents to develop their red-ball skills. It is the most challenging format Besides, hundreds of players who don’t have IPL income, are dependent on Ranji Trophy for their livelihood | P11 38 teams compete for the ranji trophy 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 govt staff No SC yardstick RTC unions to joinmay be hit strike, bus services set on promotion quota for SC/STs E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada ever, the order left it to the states to assess the inadequacy The Supreme Court on Friday of representation of SC/ST to refused to lay down the yard- promotional posts taking into stick for determining the inad- account relevant factors. equacy of representation for The bench also said that a regranting reservation in promo- view should be conducted retions for Scheduled Caste/ garding the data for the purScheduled Tribe candidates in pose of determining inadequacy government jobs while reitof representation and proerating the need for emviding reservation in propirical data to arrive at motion, but left it to the the decision. government to decide However, the data the time period for so collected must not such a review. be for a group in a The petitioners had service but for a cadre sought clarity on sevin which promotions eral issues, mainly on Cadre data have to be made, a how the adequacy of gathering three-judge bench representation is to be comprising justices L deter mined. During “Cadre, which Nageswara Rao, Santhe hearing, the Centre should be the jiv Khanna and B R had suggested diluting unit for Gavai said. A cadre is the criteria for quota in collection of part of a group. promotion by doing quantifiable “State is obligated away with the requiredata, would be to collect quantifiable ment of quantifiable meaningless if data as per the court’s data pertaining data to establish inadjudgment in M Nagaequacy of representato the raj (2006) and Jarnail representation of tion of SCs/STs. Singh (2018). CollecIt had told the bench SC/STs is with tion of data has to be reference to the that even after 75 years for each category of of Independence, SCs/ entire service,” posts for the entire STs have not been the bench said service,” the court brought to the same ruled. The verdict came on a level of merit as the forward batch of petitions that urged classes. “If you don’t lay down the court to clarify norms for a definite decisive ground that reservation in promotions. the states and union will follow, The judgment primarily laid there’ll be a multitude of litigadown the principle for provid- tions,” Attorney General K K ing quota in promotion. How- Venugopal had said. K a n u S a r d a @ New Delhi express read Jagan launches Amul project in Anantapur Vijayawada: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the Jagananna Palavelluva - AP Amul Project in Anantapur district virtually on Friday. The State government signed two MoUs with Amul for the purchase of milk for Balamrutham and Anganwadi children | P4 SC respite for 12 Maha BJP legislators New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday set aside the one-year suspension of 12 BJP MLAs from the Maharashtra Assembly and said this could only have been in place for the monsoon session in July 2021. The court also termed the suspension unconstitutional and arbitrary | P7 going live Bad bank to buy `50K cr NPAs in Ph-I E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e Anantha Nageswaran appointed new CEA The Centre has appointed Dr V Anantha Nageswaran as the Chief Economic Advisor. Nageswaran, an academic and former executive with Credit Suisse Group AG and Julius Baer Group, succeeds K V Subramanian, who demitted office in December 2021 | P10 States must have a say on IAS deputations: Jagan E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Andhra Pradesh on Friday “wholeheartedly” welcomed the proposed amendments to Indian Administrative Service (Cadre) Rules, 1954, but sought to retain the State’s right to issue no-objection certificates (NoCs) to officers going on Central government deputation. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said the State governments are in a Jab-o-meter @ Mumbai Nearly a year after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced it in 2021 Budget, India’s first bad bank is set to go live. All regulatory approvals have been secured to set up the National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARCL) and India Debt Resolution Company (IDRCL), SBI chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara said on Friday. SBI is one of the stakeholders in the bad bank. The bad bank has two legs – NARCL to identify, aggregate and acquire stressed assets from lenders, and IDRCL to handle the debt-resolution. A total of 38 non-performing accounts worth `82,845 c r o r e h av e been identified for transfer to NARCL, said Khara. In the first phase, 15 accounts of `50,000 crore will be transferred to NARCL before March 31. NARCL will transfer these to IDRCL, which will look for domestic or overseas buyers in an attempt to resolve bad loans. NARCL will try to acquire assets on a 15:85 cash and security receipts (SRs) ratio. It means the lenders will receive 15% upfront cash payment and the remaining in the form of SRs guaranteed by the Government of India for their face value. The guarantee is for `30,600 crore. If the bad bank can’t sell the loan or sells them for a loss, the SRs (valid for five years from the date of issue) will be used to make good the difference between what the lender was supposed to receive and what NARCL was able to raise. The Public Transport Department (APSRTC) employees’ associations have decided to take part in the ongoing agitation of government staff and also the indefinite strike call given by the PRC Struggle Committee from February 7. Speaking to mediapersons along with the PRC Struggle Committee leaders here on Friday, NMU general secretary Srinivasa Rao and Employees Union general secretary Damodar said that all the RTC unions are ready to go on indefinite strike from February 7 and opera- Take your shot Jan 27 49,69,805 doses Jan 28 48,98,149 doses Total doses 1,64,96,32,220 NATIONWIDE Jan 27 Jan 28 Fresh cases 2,86,384 2,51,209 Recoveries 3,06,357 3,47,443 Deaths 573 627 statewide Jan 27 jan 28 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths Samples tested majestic nandi The Nandi Circle in Tirupati looks majestic under the sunlight on Friday I Madhav K 13,474 12,561 8,742 9 12 41,771 40,635 10,290 ‘60% of kids got 1st dose’ Over 60% of children aged 15-18 years have received their first dose of Covid vaccine, said Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya Omicron curve will flatten by first week of March: Expert G Janardhana Rao @ Visakhapatnam Omicron has been spreading faster than expected in the country Its transmissibility is . more as R-value of Omicron is more than 1%. The Omicron curve, however, will flatten by the end of February or the first week of March. If Omicron stays longer, the situation will be worse as there are chances of virus getting more mutations, according to former Andhra Medical College principal and ex-Covid nodal officer Dr PV Sudhakar. Speaking to TNIE, Dr Sudhakar said though Omicron is more rampant, it is less serious compared to the delta variant. The virus is not going below pharynx and limited to the upper respiratory system. It has proved to be advantageous and anti- bacterial drugs are not required to treat Omicron cases. Only symptomatic treatment is good enough for Omicron. The infected people are recovering within five days, he said. However, there should not be any room for complacency. Since the virus is less severe, people are not getting tested. They are taking paracetamol tablets and moving freely, which is very dangerous because they are infecting other people. This trend is not good for public health, he observed. Elaborating further on the virus spread, he said those who recovered from Omicron will have antibodies for three months and then they should get a booster dose of vaccine. According to experts in the US, the infection associated immunity is more strong than the vaccine associated immunity. Post Covid care is important to reduce morbidity and improve the quality of life, he advised. Dr Sudhakar attributed the surge in daily count in the State during the third wave, particularly in Vizag, to large gatherings for shopping ahead of the festival season and non-adherence of Covid protocol. tion of bus services will be stopped. Asserting that the RTC unions will play a crucial role in the agitation, the leaders said the transport employees were not benefited with the merger of the corporation with the State government. The PRC Struggle Committee leaders did not attend talks for the third day even as Ministers Botcha Satyanarayana and Perni Venkataramaiah (Nani) and Government Advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy waited in the Secretariat for them. The Ministers Committee faulted the union leaders for their P5 rigid stance on the issue.  No room for complacency over Covid There should not be any room for complacency. Since the virus is less severe, people are not getting tested. They are taking paracetamol tablets and moving freely, which is very dangerous because they are infecting other people. This trend is not good for public health, said Dr PV Sudhakar, former principal of Andhra Medical College and ex-Covid nodal officer better position to assess which all IAS officers could be deputed to Central government service, after considering the professional and personal requirements. Jagan said he wholeheartedly welcomed the Central Government proposal to amend the rules that would ensure the smooth and seamless functioning of the government at the Centre. “I strongly believe that States would benefit immensely from such well-functioning depart- ‘IAS officers play key role in development’ IAS officers form the most important part of the State Government, providing leadership to departments and various projects. Officers are assigned responsibilities considering their experience to handle critical projects, Jagan said ments at the Centre. Further, more IAS officers at the Centre will help the State in pursuing various issues pertaining to the State with the Central government,” the Chief Minister said. Drawing attention to Point-B and Point-C in the proposed amendment to Rule 6(1) of IAS (Cadre) Rules, the chief minister, however, said the change in leadership made according to these two points would derail critical projects taken up by the P4 State.