Is KCR's Pet Project 'Dalit Bandhu Scheme' On Income Tax Radar?

The unique branded welfare scheme 'Dalit Bandhu' by Telangana Chief Minister KCR is now on income tax radar. The unplanned project will cost much to the beneficiary and create hassles to avail this opportunity.

Surprisingly, the much-hyped Dalit Bandhu scheme launched at Vasalamarri village in Yadadri Bhongir district amidst much fanfare by the Chief Minister has led to a sort of festive atmosphere in the village. People are waiting for the transfer of Rs 10 lakh per family into their bank accounts.

However, this much-hyped scheme is now under IT lens. The IT department is examining if this scheme would add more people to the tax net. Sources in the department said that they are trying to assess if the beneficiaries will have to file IT returns or not.

They feel that as per the existing IT Act, the rebate of tax is available for those whose income does not exceed Rs 5 lakh per year. This rebate is available under Section 87A of the Act. Top officials of the Income Tax department told #KhabarLive that this scheme being the first of its kind in the country and promises money to be given to each family which would be above IT limit it may fall under the category of Income Tax net.

There is no Central Act to exempt the beneficiaries of the welfare schemes under which they get huge monitory benefit from the tax net. Generally, the welfare scheme benefits launched by the State and Union governments do not exceed Rs 5 lakh. Moreover, the CM said that this benefit would be over and above the existing benefits like pensions, etc, which they are enjoying now. 

If this scheme falls under the tax net, then they may even become ineligible for certain other welfare schemes like white ration card, etc.

The sources point out that to deposit more than Rs 49,000 in bank, one must furnish PAN details. If the TS government deposits Rs 10 lakh in each beneficiary's account without PAN, it could create new legal problems.

The IT officials asserted the State government should seek tax exemption to deposit Rs 10 lakh into the beneficiary account from the Union government. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍Save Nizamia Tibbi College’s heritage structure In Hyderabad

The trending slogan on social media 'Save the heritage structures in Hyderabad' makes everyone to get wakeup for the cause,  in this attempt the oldest structure near Charminar is getting neglected, that is Nizamia Tibbi College.

Neither the department of AYUSH nor the state government is taking interest in restoring the heritage building to its former glory.

The recent rains have exposed the state government’s apathy towards conserving a heritage structure like Shifa Khana Unani (Government Nizamia General Hospital and Nizamia Tibbi College) sparking fears about its survival.

The college building is in a dilapidated condition. Nearly every wall is damaged and cracks have developed at many places and the plaster of ceilings has started peeling.
The college has a history that dates back to 1810 when it was started by an Afghan scholar, Sajida Begum Majid.

Later, it was renovated and developed into a splendid structure in 1938 by the seventh Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan. However, despite it being a heritage structure, its preservation is being grossly neglected by the authorities.

Secretary Old Boys Association of the college Dr Zainulabedeen Khan claimed that it has become extremely unsafe to move inside the building as plaster keeps falling from the ceilings. The situation has remained the same for the past several years. Neither the department of AYUSH nor the state government is taking interest in restoring the heritage building to its former glory.

He said that the southern side of the structure is in bad condition and needs immediate attention. He complained that despite several reminders both authorities are not willing to focus on renovation and restoration of the structure. #KhabarLive #hydnews 

‍Telangana CM ‍KCR's Dalit Outreach Raises Political Dust Ahead Of Huzurabad By-Election

The Huzurabad Assembly constituency in Telangana is witnessing an intense political bickering between ruling TRS and the opposition parties over an ambitious scheme announced by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to woo Dalits.

The Dalit Bandhu scheme, aimed at providing financial assistance to identified Dalit families and promote entrepreneurship among them, has raised the political temperature in the state even before the announcement of the bypoll schedule by the Election Commission.

With the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government going ahead with the launch of Dalit Bandhu as a pilot project in the Huzurabad constituency, the opposition parties have dubbed it as a poll stunt and questioned KCR's concern for Dalits.

The Chief Minister has defended his move for implementation of the scheme on pilot basis in Huzurabad saying there is nothing wrong if TRS was looking to derive political mileage from this.

Citing the Chief Minister's statement, some NGOs have moved the Election Commission of India and even the high court seeking directions to stop the scheme.

Social activist Akkala Suresh Kumar has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) at the Telangana High Court challenging Dalit Bandhu's implementation in Huzurabad.

He argues that the government should start implementation of the scheme in any the 16 Assembly constituencies reserved for Scheduled Castes in the state.
By-election to Huzurabad, which is an open Assembly seat, is likely to be held soon.

The seat fell vacant last month with the resignation of former minister Eatala Rajender. He also quit TRS to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has already decided to give him the ticket for the bypoll.
Rajender's resignation from TRS and Assembly came after he was dropped from the Cabinet by KCR following allegations of land encroachment.

The Forum for Good Governance, an NGO, recently urged the Election Commission of India to stop the implementation of the Dalit Bandhu scheme in Huzurabad.

Forum secretary M. Padmanabha Reddy, in a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, stated that due to various reasons, the by-election has become a prestige issue for the ruling party. There is a general feeling that the result of this by-election will have an impact on the next Assembly elections.

"I am not a saint living in Himalayas. I am a politician and I am introducing this scheme in Huzurabad for electoral gains only - what is wrong with it," the letter quoted the Chief Minister as saying at a recent party meeting.

Last week, KCR held a day-long meeting with 450 Dalit representatives from Huzurabad to discuss the implementation of the scheme.

He stated that by making the scheme a success in Huzurabad, it should be made a torchbearer for the Dalit community in the entire country. He claimed that the Telangana Dalit Bandhu Scheme is being implemented to remove economic disparity and also social discrimination of the Dalits.

KCR desired that with the financial assistance given under the scheme, the Dalit community should develop itself as a business community by selecting industries, employment, and business of their choice.

Under the scheme, financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh each will be provided to eligible beneficiaries from Dalit community.

Under the first phase, 100 families from each of the 119 Assembly constituencies will be identified. The government has announced an allocation of Rs 1,200 crore for the scheme.

At a meeting to welcome some leaders of the BJP and the Congress into the TRS on July 30, KCR had reiterated that the government would implement the scheme at any cost.

"Opposition parties are worried about their fate as the scheme will be implemented all over the state. It was supposed to be launched last year, but got delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic," he had said, adding that the government is ready to spend Rs 1 lakh crore on the scheme.

He attributed the birth of several schemes in Telangana to the deep study of the lives of sections that could not benefit from development in the past.

"You need a heart to understand their plight and how they missed out," he argued.

Over the last 2-3 weeks, the Chief Minister held a series of meetings to discuss the modalities for ‘Dalit Bandhu'.

The opposition parties, however, questioned KCR's concern for Dalits. Both the Congress and the BJP reminded him of his promise made before 2014 that a Dalit will be the first Chief Minister of Telangana.

"Why not a single leader from the 18 per cent strong Dalit community was considered for the CM's post," asked state BJP chief Bandi Sanjay.

He also wanted to know what happened to KCR's promise of 3-acre land for every Dalit family and to solve the issue of ‘podu' lands tilled by the tribals.
Congress leader Dasoju Sravan wants to know what KCR did for Dalits in last seven years.

"This scheme has been announced with an eye on the by-elections. If he is really sincere in improving the socio-economic conditions, why the government is failing every year to spend the funds allocated under the SC ST Sub Plan," asked Sravan.

This Dalit outreach by the TRS chief comes at a time when there is a feeling that the backward classes are moving closer to BJP.
Rajender, who was associated with TRS since its inception, is a leader from the Mudiraj community, a backward class. Given the huge popularity he enjoys in Huzurabad, he is likely to pose a big challenge to the ruling party in the by-election.

Bandi Sanjay and another BJP MP D. Arvind are from Munnuru Kapus, one of the BC communities KCR relied for support over the last seven years.

Some political analysts also see this Dalit outreach in the context of two other key political developments -- Revanth Reddy taking over as the president of Congress party in the state and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's daughter Y.S. Sharmila launching her political party in Telangana.

"Dalit Bandhu has surely made heads turn in Telangana and across the country. Proposal to allocate Rs 10 lakhs per family might surely help alleviate poverty from those selected families. However, there are potential risks associated due to political implications," said political analyst Palwai Raghavendra Reddy.

He is of the view that selecting only 100 families per village will surely alienate other Dalits and economically backward sections. Unless KCR and TRS culls potential risks, road ahead will be filled with many political potholes, he observed.
Opposition parties, on the other hand, are pushed on to the backfoot on the issue of Dalit welfare.

"Both the BJP and Congress will have to make extremely convincing arguments for them to counter the advantage KCR and TRS has with Dalit Bandhu," he added. #KhabarLive #hydnews 

Why GHMC 'Underground Power ‍Cables' Still Hangs In Hyderabad?

The official apathy and internal differences among service providers and lack of accord about the pricing pattern led to delays for over 10 years to start the GHMC's underground powrr cable ducting project in Hyderabad.

If executed, the project could have saved crores of rupees of public money over the years apart from traffic snarls due to road cutting.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has been sitting for a decade on an underground duct project that would spare lakhs of motorists from road digging operations and improper restoration of carriageways after road cutting works. Though the High Court, a decade ago, directed the corporation to remove the overhanging cables and shift them underground, the project could hardly see any progress till date.

If executed, the project could have saved crores of rupees of public money over the years apart from traffic snarls due to road cutting. In fact, the project was planned in such a way that the road digging would not have been required for 10 years.

The ducts would also have freed the city from overhead hanging cables. Officials claimed that the project would save crores of rupees that go into recarpeting and repair of roads. The corporation had even identified 40 main roads to lay underground ducts. The plan was to give space in these ducts on rent to companies and agencies to run their cables.

A pilot project was cleared from the regional transport authority (RTA) office in Khairatabad to NFCL junction near Punjagutta Crossroads and another stretch from RTC Bhavan to VST office in Musheerabad for another five kilometres under the footpath. However, the project has not seen the light of the day due to apathy of civic authorities.

Internal differences among service providers and lack of accord about the pricing pattern led to delays for over 10 years. The GHMC on its own has begun to lay a common underground duct from Masab Tank to Shaikpet for a stretch of about 15 km.

However, this was put to dust by the authorities after executing similar works in prime stretches including Banjara Hills.
A senior GHMC official, requesting anonymity, said previously negotiations were also held with telephone companies and cable operators to form a consortia and lay ducts, but the project did not materialise. He said the corporation had not been given any new permission for digging roads during the monsoon for several years.

However, the official said the corporation had been repairing potholes and re-carpeting roads on a regular basis to facilitate commuters. When asked if the corporation could save hundreds of crores of rupees if the underground duct project was executed and why the civic body had already spent Rs 180 crore just to fill potholes in the last five years, the official refused to comment on the issue. #KhabarLive #hydnews 

‍‍Why ‍‍Fake Online Crowdfunding Tarnish Fastest Growing Concept In India?

The great Indian loot of crowdfunding is at its peak nowadays. Be it a pandemic help or medical emergency help or an NGO help, or anything getting murkier day after day with the indulgence of fraudsters and machinery system.

A fundraiser on a popular fundraising platform called for donations to support a woman trying to save her 3-year-old baby battling cancer. The campaign said that the little boy was suffering from acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. The post mentioned that the baby was diagnosed with blood cancer in April and that the mother was a teacher who did not have the money to afford the expensive treatment. The campaign also mentioned that Rs 30 lakh was the estimate for the treatment. The campaign also had multiple photos of a baby boy in a hospital bed and one in which the baby was seen wailing.

Sai Charan Chikkulla, a volunteer based out of Hyderabad has been actively working since the pandemic, trying to help patients with oxygen and beds in hospitals. On July 9, Charan received the link to this particular campaign and was asked to help verify if it was genuine. Following which he tried to reach out to the creator of the campaign via Twitter, but to his surprise found that he was soon blocked. Another person on Twitter mentioned that an account (@rakhisingh81) was blocking all those who posed questions to her about this particular campaign. When TNM looked up the handle on Twitter, the account had its tweets protected and the account’s timeline was restricted. Another account (RiyaSingh_1993) which was also promoting the campaign enthusiastically, also restricted its tweets when people began calling them out.  

Charan wrote to the fundraising platform to alert them of the possible discrepancies. In his mail, a copy of which #KhabarLive has, Charan mentioned four reasons why the campaign is likely to be fraudulent. The reasons included absence of hospital and billing information. He also mentioned that the handle promoting the campaign on Twitter was blocking all those reaching out with queries. Another observation mentioned was that the target of the campaign was initially set for Rs 10 lakh, but was later increased to Rs 30 lakh. Charan’s mail however, did not evoke any response. A reminder was sent to the fundraising platform on July 11, but he still didn’t get a response.

Interestingly, the campaign was soon stopped by the platform and a message on the campaign page read, “This campaign has stopped and can no longer accept donations.” The campaign had already managed to raise Rs 27.74 lakh out of the Rs 30 lakh target that was set.

When #KhabarLive asked Milaap about this particular fundraiser, the platform said that the fundraiser was reported by a few users on their page. “Our trust and verifications team re-investigated this, including a physical visit to the hospital. We found the facts mentioned pertaining to the treatment and hospitalization as misleading. We immediately paused the fundraiser and have sought explanation from the family. The family contested our decision with alternate information, and hence we formally sought an explanation via our legal channels, as is our process to ensure authenticity. In case of no response to our legal notice within stipulated time, donors will be informed about the events that transpired through an update and donations will be refunded. We will also report the fundraiser to law enforcement and pursue legal remedies available to serve as a deterrent.”

Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj, an independent journalist and documentary filmmaker had recently taken to Twitter to call out a person who had started fundraising campaigns. She got to know about this fundraiser through someone who sent her the link. Deepika, like Sai Charan, often helps amplify campaigns and also reaches out to people who start these fundraisers for more details. Speaking to #KhabarLive, Deepika said, “Someone had sent me the link to this fundraiser. I got in touch with this man from Hyderabad and that is when he told me he had lost his job and that he was struggling to feed his young daughter. I asked him for supporting documents and he said he would share them with me.”

Despite waiting for several hours, Deepika never got the documents. “I realised this was a red flag. I soon realised there was another campaign too on Milaap that was started by the same person. Twice when I tried to reach out to him, he did not answer the call. From experience I knew these were red flags. Also, one of the two campaigns started by him had already raised around Rs 40,000 by then.,” added Deepika.

“The fact that the campaigns did not have supporting documents and that the man’s daughter’s age was mentioned differently in different places, made me more suspicious. I immediately reached out to Milaap and alerted them. The platform tried to verify the details and as they failed to do so, they mailed me saying that the campaign was closed and that the donors were all refunded their money,” explained Deepika.
In response to Deepika’s mail, Milaap’s representative responded saying, “Given the evidence in place as well as the organizer being non responsive despite multiple follow ups to seek clarification, we have deemed this fundraiser as misleading with an intention to defraud the platform and donors.

Therefore, as the campaign is found to be fraudulent, we have refunded the donations made with immediate effect as per protocol.”
#KhabarLive tried to reach out to the man who had started the campaign on Milaap to find out why he had abandoned the campaign and become unresponsive during the course of the campaign.

Speaking to #KhabarLive, the man said, “I had started two campaigns on Milaap. One for myself as I was in a financial crisis, and another campaign to raise money for my friend Raju. He was in need of money, and as I too didn’t have enough, I started a campaign for him. While the campaign was going on, we mortgaged some gold that Raju and I had and we raised the needed money. Hence, I just left the Milaap campaign without closing it.”

When asked if he later managed to find a job, he said he found a job in an automobile showroom in Hyderabad and that’s where he is presently working. He also said this was the first time he had started a campaign to raise funds. “Whatever details were asked by Milaap, I provided them the same. I got around Rs 40,000 from them,” he added.

Charan and many other such volunteers have noticed such red flags in several other campaigns. “It takes a lot of time and effort to verify these crowdfunding campaigns. I have identified nearly six fraudulent campaigns in the last few weeks. In some cases, we check with the concerned hospital and in some cases- we crosscheck with the patient or their relatives.
We also came across cases wherein someone not even related to the patient was found raising money in their name. The patient wasn’t even aware of such a fundraiser that was underway.”

Deepika felt that the onus of checking the veracity of these campaigns should lie with the fundraising platforms. “It is impossible for people to individually check these campaigns. Platforms need to verify documents and only then put out campaigns,” said Deepika.

Fundraising platforms

Over the years, several financing and fundraising platforms have become popular among those hoping to crowdfund. Crowdfunding campaigns to raise money for COVID-19 treatment, cancer, transplants, accidents, education, flood relief etc are the most commonly visible campaigns on these platforms.

#KhabarLive reached out to three popular platforms to find out if they had a mechanism in place to verify fraudulent campaigns. Here’s what we found:

Ketto

Ketto hosts around 5000 campaigns on a monthly basis. While the platform offers a “zero platform fee” option, it relies on voluntary contributions. The platform also has a service-based model wherein they assist campaigners with content, photographs, videos and promote it as ad campaigns. Customers are charged anything between 5% to 13% of the funds raised.

According to Ketto, they reject approximately 23% of campaigns because the campaigners failed to provide additional proofs and documents.

Throwing light on the platform’s efforts to identify and eliminate fake campaigns, Varun Sheth CEO& Co-founder, Ketto.org said, “At Ketto, our endeavour is to provide a seamless experience to both campaigners and donors to help them raise funds for their projects. All the campaigners are required to go through a stringent verification process, a campaigner needs to submit legal identification proof, documents supporting the cause, a cost estimation letter, etc. Once the documents are uploaded, a dedicated team authenticates the campaign based on the submitted legal identity proofs.”

“In case we are not satisfied with the submitted proofs we ask for additional proofs, videos, and pictures to support the cause. If the campaigner fails to provide the same, the campaign will be removed from the platform and a refund will be initiated to all the donors. It is imperative to note that the donor’s money is completely secured with Ketto. We constantly thrive on minimizing imposter campaigns.”

The platform encourages donors to support a cause if they personally know or trust the campaigner and are sure about the cause. Donors are also allowed to ask questions about the project using available features on the fundraiser page.

Impact Guru

This platform mentioned that they transfer funds only to the personal bank accounts of patients or family members of the patient against verified bills.

The platform also mentioned that they have a 5-step due diligence process in place.
1) OTP verification for campaign creations
2) KYC and medical documents verification
3) Hospital verifications through in-person visits or telephone calls.
4) Fund transfers to hospital/healthcare services companies.
5) PAN/ KYC verification for fund transfers to personal bank accounts.

A spokesperson from the company also mentioned, “We continuously keep evaluating how to improve our processes to make them even more robust. Our processes are more advanced than most crowdfunding platforms in international markets.”

Milaap

Milaap says it has been recording around 20,000 campaigns on an average every month. They have raised around Rs 1400 crores for more than Rs 4,70,000 needs across India.

The platform does not charge any fees on donations. They rely on voluntary tips from users.
When asked about how often the platform comes across fake campaigns, Anoj Viswanathan, Co-founder, President, Milaap said, “Everyday, we see anywhere between 500 to 800 fundraisers set up on the platform. We carefully review each and every active fundraiser on the platform to ensure they comply with our T&C as well as provide sufficient information and supporting evidence for their needs.

This review process ensures that an overwhelming majority of fundraisers which raise any amount are safe and legitimate; fraudulent and misleading campaigns make up less than 0.05% of all fundraisers.”  

“Apart from our own internal teams and processes, Milaap also proactively listens to the larger community of users by providing them the option to report a fundraiser anytime via the website or social media if they are misleading or suspicious in nature. All such reported fundraisers are carefully investigated again and if legitimacy is not established, donors are informed and refunded of their donations.  With each fraudulent case, our systems are also constantly improved to minimize these in future,” added the co-founder.

The platform not only removes fundraisers found to be fraudulent but also reports such fundraisers to law enforcement and pursues legal remedies available to serve as a deterrent.  
Highlighting some of the other features, Anoj said, “We also have several parameters in place to ensure donation helps the intended beneficiary and the funds are utilized for the cause intended. For example, we prefer to transfer money to treating hospital’s accounts for medical ailments. We transfer funds against relevant documents, bills/invoices, and that an update is posted on the campaign page to inform donors. Also, a live ticker on the fundraiser page shows the funds collected, the number of donors and supporters and options to directly get in touch with the campaign organiser for any clarification.” 

Fundraising platforms have been a real blessing for several campaigners hoping to raise money for an unaffordable surgery or any other expenditure.

Several campaigns have been successful in raising huge amounts for the intended purpose. Seeing the success of such campaigns, and the ease of making quick money without any real effort, fraudulent people too are increasingly starting fake campaigns and fundraisers.

Donating and supporting genuine fundraisers is necessary. To ensure this happens, it is important that fundraising platforms put out campaigns only after thorough verification of credentials of the campaigner. The onus must lie on the platform.

Charan rightly summed up saying, “Urging donors to be careful while donating is a dangerous precedent. Because it will cause fear among the good-hearted people who genuinely support campaigns.

It is impossible to ask people to verify each campaign before donating. Fundraising platforms must have dedicated teams to do deep verification of all the credentials, documents and other details before launching a campaign.” #KhabarLive

‍‍‍‍Why Medical Device Industry Beckons Investors In Telangana?

Despite the pandemic, many global med-tech companies brought COVID-specific product designs and specifications from the US to India to collaborate with Telangana manufacturers. The Telangana medical devices market is expected to grow from USD 11 billon to nearly USD 50 billion by 2025.

There is no doubt that Covid-19 has had severe implications on almost all sectors of the economy including the medical device industry. Although there was an all-round and immediate stimulus provided for Covid-related medical devices, the sector as a whole had to face loss of sales and revenue, at least for some duration.

According to the Medical Technology Association of India, because of Covid-induced de-prioritization and decline in elective surgical procedures and treatments, there was a 50 to 85 per cent fall in revenue during April-June quarter last year. The overwhelming disruption triggered by the pandemic had not only led to supply chain snags, but the increased cost of freight movement further hurt the industry. Given the Telangana manufacturers’ dependency on foreign components, this was a particularly critical factor.

However, notwithstanding these challenges, from the standpoint of investment, the Telangana medical device industry has remained vibrant and conducive to both foreign and domestic investment even during this period.

Although it may seem counter-intuitive, the fact that foreign investment in the sector shot up by 98 per cent y-o-y in 2020, almost doubling in the year of the pandemic as compared to the previous year attests to the long-term robustness of the Indian medical device sector and the confidence that foreign players repose in the domestic economy.

In fact, in the last five years (2015-2020), the country has received USD 600 million with major investments coming from Singapore, United States, Japan and Europe. And among medical device categories that most attracted these investments have been equipment, instruments, consumables and implants.

In May last year, when the sector was navigating through the first phase of rough Covid waters, Japanese investors had displayed interest in setting up a manufacturing base for in vitro diagnostic device (IVD) and medical electronics in the country during their discussions with Association of Manufacturers of Medical Devices Of Telangana (AMeDT).

In fact, as part of the initiative, Telangana is eyeing 200 joint ventures with foreign investors for nearly USD 2 billion and above as well as with 50 MNCs for the same amount, apart from looking to forge 1200 technical collaborations with Telangana investors for nearly USD 5.7 billion. Similarly, a number of global med-tech companies did bring COVID-specific product designs and specifications from the US into India to collaborate with Telangana manufacturers.

And this confidence stems from the fact that the regulatory environment for medical devices sector in recent years has continued to evolve as more appealing and investor-friendly. Back in 2014, the government had recognized this sector as a sunrise sector under the Make-in-India campaign.

With the aim of encouraging all possible investment, the rules have allowed up to 100 per cent investments for both Greenfield and brownfield through automatic route into this sector.

Then in 2017, the Medical Devices Rules aligned the country’s regulatory structure with Global Harmonization Task Force (GHTF) guidelines stipulating a four-way risk-based classification of medical devices while also granting perpetual license to a manufacturer subject to fresh application and retention every five years.

From the foreign manufacturers’ standpoint, the 2017 rules did away with the erstwhile need for registration and now the appointment of a local authorized agent could facilitate imports into the country. Further, under the Medical Device Amendment Rules 2020 laying down mandatory registration with appropriate authority with different timelines for each class of equipment not only infuses transparency but also firms up quality assurance of the products.

In terms of the latter, the requirement for obtaining ISO 13485 certification further inspires confidence in the Indian medical device sector. Administratively speaking, the government established the National Medical Devices Promotion Council in 2018 with a view to further streamline and give directions to the domestic medical device sector.

Of course, this has to be evaluated against the increasingly unfavourable investment climate in other countries such as China in terms of raw material and labour costs, unfavourable trade policy, IP protection issues, low level of domestic technological base etc.

Foreign investor would do well to remember that the Atmanirbhar Bharat programme driving the self-sufficiency crusade of the government is not antithetical to foreign investment and holds tremendous opportunities for the latter.

From ever-increasing investment in medical device parks and clustering projects with the view to develop world class infrastructure and testing facilities to the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme allowing incentives on incremental sales on certain categories of medical devices, each of these offer prospects wherein foreign investors can also participate and reap dividends in the long term.

That the Indian Ambassador to the US cited the PLI scheme as one segment, among others, where US investors could contemplate investing demonstrates that India is actively seeking FDI into these domestic make-in-India programmes.

Furthermore, with med-tech and medical device startups making their presence felt along with several businesses reinventing themselves to manufacture Covid-related supplies in the last one year, this is another space where foreign investors can participate and indeed they have participated.

Along with telemedicine serving as one critical element driving the ‘healthcare revolution’ in the country, several new home-grown medical technology/device startups leveraging new-age technologies such as 3D printing, AI, smart sensors and robotics making hi-tech contactless health devices and many others – have attracted considerable amount of funds as foreign investment (and domestic investment) into their companies over the last one year or so. At present, there are an estimated 4000 health-tech startups operating in the country.

In all, the spirit of entrepreneurship displayed by Indian companies in recent times coupled with a proactive government making unprecedentedly high allocation to healthcare with its positive spill over effects for the medical device industry, spells a very bright future for this sunrise sector.

Investors, both foreign and domestic must not let go of this opportunity. Remember the Indian medical devices market is set to grow from USD 11 billon to nearly USD 50 billion by 2025. #KhabarLive #hydnews

Indian Squad's Passion, Patriotism, Hope And Desperation In Tokyo Olympics 2021

This is not a dampener. This is a reality check. While passion, patriotism, hope and desperation jostled for space on the Indian air waves one week into the Tokyo Olympics 2020, the air was also hanging heavy with a rather familiar déjà vu feeling about the whole exercise being largely a case of much ado about nothing yet again.

Late on a humid Friday evening at the Olympics, world champion Sifan Hassan, representing the Netherlands, appeared to be out of contention and altogether disinterested as she started and remained at the back of the field for the first half of the 5000m women’s heat in the track and field events. But a very subtle gear shift almost went unnoticed past the 2500m mark as she slowly made her way up midfield before appearing resigned to settle for seventh place until the penultimate lap.

On the seventh and final lap though, while her Kenyan and Ethiopian counterparts held steady ground at the front, Hassan quietly made her pitch for first and the finish line in such sublime fashion that they could only look on shocked, disgusted and most importantly, exhausted, as she gracefully moved past them and then into a league of her own.

Hassan, it turned out, had quietly executed a very stealthy and rather deceptive plan, building steadily and sure footedly, slowly at first and then with consistency, pushing past when it was time. This was only the first heat as she is expected to take part across three events.

As exhilarating as it was to watch, it was not easy to shake off the lingering feeling that India were continuing to miss a beat.

After all, what happened to the P.T. Usha’s of the country? What has happened to the next great hope? Where is the build up, the foundation, the steadiness, the consistency and the core, and the bench strength? The ceiling barriers are yet to be broken, once and for all and comprehensively at that as far as India at the Olympics are concerned.

This is not a dampener. This is a reality check.

When USA lost one of the world’s greatest gymnasts in Simone Biles at the last minute in the all round team gymnastics event, they found a new champion in Suni Lee who claimed gold in the individual event to add to USA’s prowess as the fifth successive champion to take the gold at the Olympics. Great Britain were rewarded for staying with Tom Daley and his ten year Olympics history of medals finally yielding him a gold in the 10m platform men’s synchronized diving. Michael Phelps’s Olympics record is being challenged as is Mark Spritz’, unbelievably so, by Caeleb Dressler in the swimming events.

One could not help but cut back to the picture earlier in the morning as Hassan silently disappeared into the background as did Dutee from Indian minds.

At the fifth heat of the women’s 100m, a relatively diminutive woman lined up at the very end in lane 9. More exalted champions such as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce took their place in the middle. The commentator on air did not even bother to go to the end of the field to introduce the athletes and Dutee Chand remained largely incognito, finishing a rather lacklustre seventh in an eight women race and much behind her national record time. Finishing 45 out of 54 participants reminded one of the shoddy affair that passed for sports events at many a school.

Still Chand was at the Olympics. Getting here was a Herculean effort and could not draw comparison. But that summed up India’s campaign in a nutshell.

Getting here is everything and then being here is automatically translated to medal hope in the minds of a billion. Never mind the mental challenge of watching athletes around the world show up with a larger support staff and a more rounded practice and facilities behind them. Hurdles are often overlooked in the public eye.

After all, while the likes of Anurag Thakur and Kiran Rijuju can sing laurels of our athletes when they make progress, it could be argued that like India’s lamentably bleak Olympics history, much of India’s untapped sporting talent continues to remain hidden.

It can also explain the almost monotonous voice in which the electronic media were already talking medal even as family members of P.V. Sindhu and Lovlina Borgohain encouraged cautious optimism. “Going for gold” screamed the headlines even though both women were still only into the semi finals in their respective disciplines of boxing and badminton respectively and had to still get past one more opponent to throw the final gauntlet for gold.

Once over the euphoria on a rather quiet, less newsworthy Friday where the farmers protest and the opposition took a backseat, the overwhelming feeling returned once more at the end of another epic day at the Tokyo Olympics that it was better to read the list of who had made the leap ahead rather than read out the long list of Indian athletes who didn’t.

Why are India’s medal hopefuls over hyped before the Olympics and then reduced to less than a handful midway through the two week celebration of sport only for India to be able to count on one hand the number of medals returning home? What is wrong with this picture?

Consider the déjà vu. There lies the answer.

Consider this for comparison.

A billion plus strong nation and 128 athletes represent India. Australia boasts a train of over 450 athletes at the Tokyo Olympics and only has a population that is about 25 million. Yet Australia are sitting pretty at no.6 behind the Russian Olympics Committee with nine gold medals to their name against the leader China who have now leaped over Japan with eighteen gold medals. Australia have 22 medals by the end of a hot and muggy night at the Olympics. India, still just the one.

Missing the top spot in the headlines were the archery duo of Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das who were holding their respective ground in the women’s individual archery event and men’s recursive individual archery, heading into the quarterfinals. While their efforts are commendable, they still represent a tiny fraction of India’s athletes who made it to the Olympics which is a great feat in itself but also, an even more miniscule percentage of the population, which is blasphemous to say the least.

Women’s hockey also provided some hope and as rightly pointed out, a semi final place is a great place to be in a ten year development. The emphasis has to be on development.

On a day when the likes of P.V. Sindhu were being hailed, there was an out-of-touch-with-reality moment when actor R. Madhavan posted this reply to a picture of the Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Mirabai Chanu having food on the floor of her humble home back in Manipur:

“Hey this cannot be true. I am at a complete loss of words.”

Why, Madhavan? First of all, it has to be pointed out, there is nothing wrong with having one’s lunch on the floor. To put things in context here though, he should know better the plight of Indian sportspersons given that he has played a coach to one in one of his movies.

It certainly puts playing for honour and pride of the country in perspective. That is a school of thought that has been given much lip service but not much credence in the wake of introduction of a sporting culture such as the Indian Premier League.

But it highlights not just the humble conditions from which these sportspersons come from but also, of the great demands on them, sometimes on their own two legs and on their meagre resources to get as far as they do. Showering laurels when medals are won is easy. In that sense, walking that opening ceremony in Tokyo was already a dream too high but achieved. But what about those who made it on their own merit and great hard work but didn’t get far, like Dutee?

Often this is not a rags-to-riches story for many of these sports persons who achieve elite Olympics medal levels. Promises made to them – not incentives but rewards after they hit the spotlight – are not kept. Homes are denied, jobs going a-begging, their talent, experience and wisdom untapped as the governments fail to use their success as a slipstream to build a steady stream of athletes inspired in the wake of their accomplishments.

Then four years later, it appears the names once again come out of the woodworks, the politicians bring out their patriotic Indian montages and the fans their tricolour and march alongside the sportspersons to unrealistic dreams and expectations.

The dismay is obvious.

The handful of aspiring shooters have had enough turmoil on the results board and back in the dressing room with enough ruffles over rifts between shooters and coaches. Manu Bhaker, who was expected to be the flag bearer in the end leading the medals tally, had a run in with her coach, Jaspal Rana, and thereafter with a rare malfunctioning pistol that hurt her chances in the 10m air pistol qualification event.

As news headlines kept screaming… “so-and-so crashes out,” “so-and-so crashes out”, and “so-and-so crashes out”, once again it highlighted the great disparity of how sports like cricket are given deliberate vantage point and therefore, focus, while it is hard even for seasoned journalists to extrapolate on the goings-on back in Tokyo simply because they have been fed and raised on a consumption of mainly one sport and also, then forced into specialized fields that earn their employers and themselves bread-and-butter. This is simply a fact of life, which some journalists have been candid and also, brave enough to admit openly.

One had to go deeper and read in order to learn why the nineteen year old Bhaker “crashed out” (visuals were not made available at the time). Not mentioned were her still impressive scores while she lost time while her pistol was being repaired as opposed to replaced with a spare because of the time it would take to make adjustments.

While the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) stated that India’s performance at the Tokyo Olympics was “inexplicable” and the sports authority talking about an overhaul, what is not easily forgiven is the repeated manner in which sportspersons find themselves in needless tangles, whether off the field like Mary Kom is in her final Olympics showdown, calling out the IOC over unfair judging, or the “usual suspects” (for want of a better term) of the likes of Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza calling foul of the AITA over selection muddles and confusion.

Where is the next generation? And where is the accountability? Where is the quiet pacing from the back of the field to make track steadily and then to take the finish line?

To think India lacks talent is appalling given that despite this sudden euphoria that comes out of the closets every four years – from the government and sports aficionados alike – India, despite its vast wealth, has very little infrastructure to show why there is no great grassroot level at which India’s budding talent is given ground on which to train.

Budget reels every February rarely do the untapped and underprivileged talent in the country little justice, leaving sports on the backburner. Between politics, nepotism and corruption, even existing infrastructure is elusive to these athletes in their four year long training that demands endurance and commitment of an extraordinary nature. The Olympics highlights this fact amply.

It is not enough that somehow, Dutee Chand is India’s only athlete in the track and field with hope and even she finishes at the end of the tail. While India’s hopes now rest on Sindhu and Lovlina and on the archers to wipe out the dim spotlight over the coming weekend, something is wrong with this picture and has been for a very long time. #KhabarLive

Fossil Park Proposed In Asifabad After Archeological Discovery In Telangana

A team of researchers recently found prehistoric tools in a limestone cave, along fossils that are around 6.5 crore years old in the district in Telangana.

A recent research project undertaken in Telangana’s Komaram Bheem Asifabad district revealed a new fossil site, adding to the collection of the already fossil-rich state. Researchers found gastropod fossils which, they say, lived around 6.5 crore years ago in the Ginnedhari forest range of Asifabad district. This discovery has led archaeologists and historians to demand a fossil park in the district. 

The team was led by Dr MA Srinivasan, General Secretary of Public Research Institute for History, Archaeology & Heritage (PRIHA). Forest Range Officer Thodishetty Pranay, who is also a member of PRIHA, conducted field surveys in the area to recognise and collect the fossils.
Speaking to #KhabarLive, Dr MA Srinivas said, “Mancherial and Asifabad are two districts in Telangana that are rich in fossils. In the south, Tamil Nadu has fossil parks but Andhra Pradesh and Telangana do not have a fossil park. There were plans to set up a fossil park in this area but it did not materialise. The government must consider the idea and take it up.” 

A fossil park is a site that is rich in plant, animal and even human fossils. Fossils can reveal very interesting details about lifeforms that existed on earth several millions of years ago, and help scientists study the process of evolution. Once fossils are found, geological research helps decide the age by studying the sedimentation process.

“For around a month, the members of the team have been surveying the area hoping to find fossils. The snail-like species has been identified as the Physa Tirpolensis by eminent paleontologist and retired Deputy Director General of the Geological Survey of India (GSI), Chakilam Venugopal Rao.” Interestingly, similar gastropod fossils were discovered three decades ago by a GSI official in Terpole village of Telangana’s Sangareddy district, from which Physa Tirpolensis— belonging to genus Physa— got its name.

Recently, the team also discovered a limestone cave in Asifabad with prehistoric tools including a hand-axe and a cleaver. 

“After the finding of a prehistoric limestone cave in the same region and now the fossils, the potential and importance for research in Asifabad is once again reiterated,” said Dr Srinivasan. #KhabarLive