HYDERABAD  WEDNESDAY  OCTOBER 23, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 16  LATE CITY EDITION FOREIGN INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS WITHDRAW `82,000 CR FROM INDIA This is the highest outflow of funds in a single month. The FIIs offloaded equities worth `2,261 crore on Monday alone, provisional data showed LARGE INVESTORS SHIFTING FOCUS TO CHINA? INDIAN MARKETS TANK AMID SELL-OFF According to market watchers, Indian stocks may be falling out of favour with FIIs, which are reportedly re-routing their funds to Chinese stocks. The foreign investors’ focus seems to have turned to Beijing after President Xi Jinping announced his plan to create a ‘high-quality market’ that gives the best bang for investors’ buck, followed up by a stimulus package unveiled this month | P10 ■ ■ Amid the massive sell-off, the Indian stockmarkets tanked on Tuesday, with the Sensex falling 930.55 points, or 1.15%, to settle at 80,220.72 Data showed the market cap of BSE-listed firms shrank `9,19,374 crore to `4,44,45,649 crore ($5.29 trillion) on Tuesday. This is interpreted as erosion of `9.19 lakh crore in investors’ notional wealth in a single day `61,973 cr REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE THE PREVIOUS HIGHEST MONTHLY FII OUTFLOW, RECORDED IN MARCH 2020 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 MODI, XI TALKS TODAY Telangana picks NIC to operate, Falcon 10 maintain Dharani for three years � `9.00 � HYDERABAD � MONDAY � JANUARY 22, 2024 FOUR OF SIX ABOARD PRIVATE JET SURVIVE CRASH IN AFGHANISTAN Four persons survived the plane crash while the condition of two others on board was not clear, Russia’s aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said PAGES 14 � LATE CITY EDITION LING PLANE STOPPED IN GAYA FOR REFUEL AIR AMBULANCE WAS CARRYING A PATIENT and was en route from The jet was operating as a charter air ambulance at Gaya in Bihar for refuelling Thailand to Russia. It had a technical stopover in the mountainous Badaand was headed to Uzbekistan when it crashed and Pakistan. There were khshan province, which borders China, Tajikistan, the plane — all Russian four crew members and two passengers on board ■ ■ fate of two people is “Of the six people, tentatively, four are alive. The said. The crash being clarified,” Russian transport agency Rosaviatsia Fayzabad site is eight hours by road from provincial capital was accompanied by One of the two passengers was seriously ill. She an engine malfunction her husband. Some reports said the plane had THE TWO-ENGINE PLANE WAS BUILT BY FRANCE’S DASSAULT IN 1978 ■ KALABURAGI ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHA PURAM ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ ■ CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU KOCHI HYDERABAD LEADERS HECKLED Bilateral dialogue before BRICS Summit opens at Russia’s Kazan, says government Need to restore mutual trust to go back to status quo ante: Army Chief Gen Dwivedi Assam Cong chief injured in Rahul’s yatra P R A S A N TA M A Z U M D A R @ Guwahati We are trying to restore the trust. That will happen once we are able to see each other and reassure each other that we are not creeping into buffer zones that have been created Gen Upendra Dwivedi BILLION+ COUNTRIES India and China have a population of over a billion. “Anybody who is predicting developments of this century cannot leave India and China out of that equation,’’ External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said ECONOMIC TIES UP Economic ties are improving. China is India’s largest trade partner with $118.4 billion twoway trade in 2023-24. This was slightly higher than the bilateral trade between India and the US at $118.28 billion in the same year SETTING all speculation to rest on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping holding a bilateral meeting in Russia’s Kazan, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said it will be held on Wednesday ahead of the BRICS Summit. “I can confirm that there will be a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Jinping tomorrow,” Misri said. This will be their first meeting after bilateral relations went south following a bloody clash of soldiers at Galwan in eastern Ladakh in 2020. Their meeting will not only signal to the world that the BRICS grouping is more powerful than perceived but also show India in a much stronger collaborative position with the China, Russia, and Iran. Back home, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi pointed to trust issues with China, saying, “We want to go back to the status quo of April 2020. Thereafter we will be looking at disengagement, de-escalation and normal management of LAC... This has been our stand since April 2020.” Gen Dwivedi was delivering the Colonel Pyara Lal Memorial Lecture on Indian Army’s Decade of Transformation in Delhi. He felt that both sides need to reassure and convince each other to move forward with the subsequent phases of disengagement. This newspaper had on Monday brought out the trust concerns with China as several sources said there was nothing on the ground to suggest China was willing to blink. The new agreement addresses two key friction points, Depsang and Demchok. The military has remained consistent in its interpretation of the disengagement processes from areas such as Galwan, Gogra, Hot Springs, and the north and south banks of Pangong Tso, while also asserting that this does not affect India’s claim over the LAC alignment. According to sources, previous disengagements were carried out on the principle of mutual and equal security with no prejudice , to either side’s claims over the LAC. However, the standoff at Depsang remains significant, as Chinese troops have blocked access to Patrol Points (PPs) 10, 11, 11A, 12, and 13, which cover an area of approximately 952 sq km. These PPs, located east of the strategic SubSector North road, are not directly on the LAC but lie within Indian territory Sub-Sec. tor North is crucial due to its terrain, which allows large-scale armoured operations. @ Hyderabad THE state government has deB K A R T H E E K @ Hyderabad cided to engage the services of over the THE state government is likely to hand the Nation Informatics Centre ent sysintegrated land revenue records managem tem, the Dharani portal, to the National Informat(NIC) for the operation and of the ics Centre (NIC) as the tenure of the contract the land private agency that is now maintaining maintenance of Dharani por. records ended recently infrastructure related to IT consulNIC provides tal with a contract period of state tancy and services to the Union and governments. three years initially, consecration ceremony | temple for the extendaby the Seating arrangement s being given final touches at the Ram The five-member committee appointed related to state government to look into the issues ble by two years. Dharani arrived at this decision. that the TNIE “We will be recommendingportal tostate governbroke the story on Dharani one of in Principal Secretary, ReveNIC,” the Dharani thisment hand overmembers told TNIE.22, 2024apreport dated January raised the committee nue, Navin Mittal issued orBefore coming to power, the Congress ng prehensions over private companies maintaini ders to this effect on Tuesday . Chief sensitive public data. Before assuming power, Reddy alleged that the Minister (ILRMS). Accordingly As per orders, the transition System A Revanthsubcontract to another private , foreign agency had given a nds about . Consecration ceremony to be the government company He also expressed serious concerns period set by attended by thousa Telangana Technology Servland records being only in digital format. airport at 10:25 am and reach AI drones election manifesto, the ConLucknow N A M I TA B A J PA I @ is two months by 11 am. Till noon, deployed ices In its 2023 Assembly an advanced version of the with an exten(TGTS) bring signed a contract the temple gress promised to take part in AYODHYA is all set for the Ram the PM will land records system, named “Bhumata”. The (forsion of one month of variousexist-CCTV agreement with TerraCIS party the More than will start the puja at 10,000 was temple consecration on Mon- events and said that this was because the Dharani portal will cameras l ceremony that 12.05 pm till 12.55 pm. He day in a granding contract with TerraCIS, and merly IL&FS and lacked a redressa plagued with issues Technologies the drones by thousands spend about 3.5 hours in will be attended mechanism. temple town till 2:10 pm. Ac- equipped with of on Dharani is likely is learnt that the 20 2018, for opand watched live by crores the private firm currently Ltd) Iton Aprilcommittee the d by 15 other Yajmans artificial people worldwide. Most of the companie to recommend that the state government repeal sociupdate land guests are already in Ayodhya, from different portal. power of and maintenance of maintaining the sections ofweek- intelligence eration collectors to of applicatiorecords. durPM will take the , ns received technology , which is on the cusp of becom- ety the Notably a majority in fi- have been the most prominent long rituals to culminate ing one of Dharani nwasu a l — C h a k s h u dur- in the ing the bi-weeklygovernmentday “Prajavanevolve portal The grievance isyearstofrom for three planning i” are a l r i t designed deployed the spiritual destinations on land-related. Unmilan (opening of Ayodhya global map. ing the previous BRS govern- ahead grievance went live. the integrated the aday itregistration system in Dharani . public eyes) — of the deity of Monday’s Decorated with some land records management system so that the After entering the 3,000 kg flowers, confet- to implementsanctoru m, ceremony is live to run from pillar to post. ment wentnot forcedon October 29, 2020. sanctum Integrated fluttering saffron ti and the PM will remove the 3,000 kg flags emblazoned with Land Records Management After the contract expired blindfold from the idol of flowers the symbols of Treta DRAMATIC scenes unfolded in Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra on Sunday as Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah was assaulted and left with a bleeding nose. W h e n t h e yat r a bu s reached Jamugur ihat in Sonitpur district, about 60 people gheraoed the bus, according to the Congress party. When Borah got down from the bus, he was beaten up. Those who tried to save the state Congress chief were also thrashed, party leaders claimed. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh criticised Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for the yatra’s troubles in the state. He said the CM became nervous from the day a group of women left the venue of a “government programme” to meet Gandhi and take photos with him. On January 18 when the yatra entered Ass a m ’ s Nakacha ri from Nagaland, dozens of women, Yug, the holy city has who g athspread its arms to welcome ered to colsome 7,000 distinguished guests lect forms for a government led by Prime Minister Narenscheme, left their queues to dra Modi. greet Gandhi. Monday dawn will be marked leaders alleged Congress by ‘Mangal Dhwani’ made Gandhi and other party leadthrough 50 musical instruers were heckled on Monday ments of different states. It will AP/PTI by a crowd who gathered continue for two hours from 10 near the yatra bus and chantam till the commencement of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Modi, ed the consecration ritual. Modi’ slogans. Modi will land at Ayodhya Speaking at a public meeting later, Gandhi said, “Around 20-25 BJP workers carrying sticks came in front of our bus; when I came out from the bus, they ran .” away , On Monday Gandhi was to visit a Vaishnavite monastery betwen 8-9 am, but was denied per mission. The monastery asked Gandhi to reach there only after 3 pm, saying his visit in the morning would disturb the programmes being planned in connectio n with the Ram temple consecration. Y E S H I S E L I A N D M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi DHARANI LIKELY TO BE HANDED OVER TO NIC M A N DA RAV I N D E R R E D DY PTI Ayodhya set for Lord Ram’s homecoming Russian President Vladimir Putin embraces Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their meeting on the sidelines of BRICS Summit at Kazan on Tuesday | Iran Prez seeks support to end conflict in bilateral talks tional North South Corridor. Discussions were also held on Afghanistan and humanitarian PRIME Minister Narendra assistance provided to the peoModi on Tuesday held bilateral ple there. “Had a very good meetings with Iran’s new Presi- meeting with the President of dent Masoud Pezeshkian and Iran, Mr Masoud Pezeshkian. DAYS Russian President We reviewed the full TO GO Vladimir Putin upon range of relations behis arrival in Kazan, tween our countries. ahead of the 16th We also discussed All our efforts BRICS Summit. ways to deepen ties in THINKEDU give priority to “Prime Minister futuristic CLAVE CON sectors,” Modi had his first-ever humanity; India is Modi later said. ready to provide E X the S R E A bilatmeeting with PresiAs for P R E S first D all possible is dent Pezeshekian after eral, Shabbirminority welfare Putinadvisor to that joked cooperation to govt on he won the elections in Russia-India ties are Hyderabad: The Congress has end Ukraine war Ravi as appointed Iran. The two leaders so strong Dr Mallutive of the TS that he felt special representa government at Delhi and Mohd Narendra Modi, spoke about the need ModiAli would underShabbir as advisor to the ST, on prime minister to de-escalate tensions standgovtand public affairs, SC,| P6 minority welfare BC,his comments in West Asia. Iran without a translator. Sharmila targets YSRC in Ukraine, Modi sought India’s help in the resoOn the war in1st act as APCC chief YS Sharmila lution of the conflict as it was said, “I have been in on Sunday took president and oath as APCCtouch with acquainted with leaders across Putin. I wouldimmediately after,peaceful want a launched a scathing attack on the ruling and her YSRC led the world,” Foreign Secretary resolution keepingbyin brother Mohan Jagan Chief Minister YSmind the Vikram Misri said. humanitarian Reddy, and theIndia will crisis. TDP | P7 Modi also spoke about the extend all possible support for Chabahar port and the Interna- the peace process.” EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi 3 PRESENTS from behind and will apply ‘kajal’ on the eyes of the deity with a small gold stick. He will then show a mirror to Ram Lalla followed by a Mahaarti by illuminating 108 diyas to conclude consecration of Ram Lalla. The performance of the final ritual has been given a window of just 84 seconds of the most auspicio us ‘Mool Muhurt’ – between 12.29.08 pm P9, 10 and 12.30.32 pm. Over 3,000 kg of rich fragrancebearing flowers brought from Chennai will be used for decorating the sanctum santorum of the temple in Ayodhya JEEVAN REDDY’S CLOSE AIDE MURDERED E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Jagtial CONGRESS activist and former MPTC Maru Ganga Reddy (58), a close aide of ruling party MLC T Jeevan Reddy, was brutally murdered at Jabithapur village in Jagtial rural mandal of the district on Tuesday morning. According to the police, a land dispute was the reason behind the murder. Santosh, the accused who is a historysheeter, surrendered before the police later in the day . Soon after news of the murder spread like wildfire, a shocked Jeevan Reddy, along with followers, staged a dharna on Jagtial-Dharmapuri road in the town and lashed out at the Congress government. According to the police, Ganga Reddy was attacked, while he was going on a two-wheeler. A car hit his bike and later, he was stabbed multiple times, the police said. Family members rushed Ganga Reddy to the M Ganga Reddy Jagtial government hospital where the doctors declared him “brought dead”. While staging the dharna, Jeevan Reddy blamed the police for murder. He alleged that the accused had links with the local police. “Murder of Ganga Reddy is nothing but a threat to me,” Jeevan Reddy said. When Government Whip Aduluri Laxman Kumar met Jeevan Reddy to console him, the MLC expressed anguish over the law and order situation in the state. Jeevan Reddy told Laxman Reddy with folded hands: “meeku.. mee party ki oka dandam”. TPCC chief B Mahesh Kumar too called up Jeevan Reddy CONTINUED ON P4 and tried to pacify him. 40 more flights across India get bomb threats SHEKHAR SINGH & UJWAL J A L A L I @ New Delhi Rachakonda police and bomb squad search the school in Jawaharnagar School in TG targeted The CRPF school in Jawaharnagar received an anonymous bomb threat email late on Monday. After a thorough search, the police found nothing suspicious on the school premises or the CRPF campus and confirmed that the threat was a hoax | P2 HOAX bomb threats continued to keep the security agencies on their toes and inconvenience passengers on Tuesday as about 40 more flights received threat emails. Three CRPF schools, including the one in Rohini where an explosion happened two days ago, also received threats on Tuesday. On Tuesday, a CRPF school in Dwarka and another one Hyderabad also received hoax bomb threats. The emails, reportedly sent late in the night on Monday, indicated a potential bomb explo- sion in classrooms at 11 am on Tuesday. Officials said a detailed probe is underway, with senior officers of the CRPF, Intelligence Bureau, and Delhi Police reviewing the situation. Between Monday and Tuesday at least 70 flights belonging , to Air India, Vistara, IndiGo, and Akasa Air faced fresh 3 SCHOOLS TARGETED A CRPF school in Delhi’s Dwarka, another one in Rohini where an explosion happened two days ago, and a third CRPF school in Hyderabad also received hoax bomb threats through emails bomb threats through social media, bringing the total number of such threats in the past eight days to 160. Sources put the security threats for Air India at 13, Vistara 11, and Akasa Air 12 on Tuesday. Meanwhile, IndiGo said 23 of its flights—both domestic and international— were targeted on Monday and Tuesday. It said three Jeddahbound flights were diverted to Riyadh, Medina, and Doha. A Vistara spokesperson said that a few of their flights received security threats through social media. An Akasa spokesperson also confirmed receiving security alerts on Tuesday . ORDNANCE FACTORY BLAST Officials at the blast site of the Khamaria ordnance factory in Jabalpur, MP. Two persons were killed and 15 others suffered injuries; three are critical | PTI | P8 FOREIGN HAND TG aims to recreate ‘Miracle of the Han’ at Musi B K A R T H E E K @ Seoul One of the floating amenities developed on the Hangang river in Seoul, South Korea FOR being ranked among the global top five cities in terms of urban competitiveness, Seoul — the capital of South Korea — has undertaken the second phase of its riverfront development, known as the Great Hangang Project (GHP). The South Korean model bears a resemblance to the Telangana government’s approach, as it has set an ambitious target of achieving a two-trillion-dollar economy by pursuing a similar riverfront development project. A delegation from the Telangana government, led by ministers Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Ponnam Prabhakar, which also included Chief Minister’s adviser Vem Narender Reddy, bureaucrats on October 29, 2023, the then government extended it another year — till October 29, 2024. The Project Implementation Committee, constituted by the state government, recently recommended handing over the operation and maintenance of Dharani to any government or public agency like NIC, CGG or TG-Online. With this, the government constituted another committee to identify a suitable Heroin worth `41 cr seized at RGIAagency. This committee InterHyderabad: Customs officials at the Rajiv Gandhi recomof heroin national Airport in Hyderabad seized 5.92 kg a mended the international market froman offiworth `41.4 crore in engaging the services to South African national on Saturday. According seizures of of NIC, under twothe Ministry of cial release on Sunday, this is onethebiggest years. Based on of heroin at the RGIA in the past interElectronics and Information passenger profiling and surveillance, the officers Zambia to cepted the woman travelling from Lusaka in her, officials Technology, for theher bagHyderabad via Singapore. Upon questioning operation sensed something was amiss and screened and maintenance heavy. A the gage. The baggage was noticed to be unusually of had physical examination revealed that the passenger within portal. concealed the contraband in her hand baggage, sources the inner layer and a black document folder, The officers seized the heroin and arrested the said. The CCLA and the IT deic passenger under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotrop partment will monitor the Substances Act. transiting of Dharani related issues from TerraCIS to NIC. and elected representatives, went around the Hangang (also known as the Han river) and explored the floating amenities built on it. A day after studying the Cheonggyecheon river restoration, the delegation examined the Han riverfront development by interacting with local administration and visiting the riverfront. The minis- ters observed that Telangana’s Musi river is somewhere between the Cheonggyecheon and Hangang rivers in terms of its condition, as it requires both revival and development. The Han river flows through the Seoul metropolitan area for around 50 km and is one of the primary reasons the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG), the capital city’s civic body initi, ated the GHP CONTINUED ON P2 . TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee injured his hand when he smashed a glass bottle | PTI Meet on Waqf turns ugly as TMC member smashes bottle P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi THE meeting of the Joint Committee on Waqf (Amendment) Bill witnessed high-voltage drama on Tuesday as Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee smashed a glass bottle during a heated exchange of words with BJP member and former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, injuring himself in the process. Banerjee was suspended for one day from the committee after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey moved a motion to suspend him for his unruly behaviour. The motion was backed by nine members while eight voted against it, following which chairperson and BJP Lok Sabha MP Jagdambika Pal issued the suspension order. The meeting was adjourned briefly following the incident and Banerjee, who hurt his thumb and index finger was taken away for medical aid. The incident took place when the panel was listening to the views of two Odisha-based organisations that included retired judges and lawyers. The opposition MPs including Banerjee questioned the organisation’s stake in the bill. According to a member, though Banerjee was given an opportunity to speak during the proceeding, he sought another turn to speak. However, Gangopadhyay objected to the repeated disturbances and a heated exchange erupted between the two. Sources claimed both MPs used abusive language and Banerjee grabbed a glass water bottle and smashed it on the table. A source told this paper that Banerjee lost his cool when Gangopadhyay allegedly made some remarks about his mother. “Both of them were talking in Bengali... Later, Banerjee said Gangopadhyay used derogatory language against his mother. H o w e v e r, G a n g o p a d hy ay claimed Banerjee started it,” said the source.