ˆ ˆ˙ + ( , ˘ -./ · 2020. 5. 18. · from different States for resum-ing full services,...

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A s the country on Monday entered the “lockdown-4 phase”, State Governments largely reactivated economic activities, including markets, saloons, private taxis, autos, even inter-State movement of passenger buses and vehicles. But malls, metro rails, domes- tic and international flights, colleges, schools, religious political gathering remained in the prohibited list. Different States have given leeway to economic activities in the green and orange zones and narrowed down their enforce- ment of lockdown guidelines to only containment zones. Some States, like Karnataka and West Bengal, have permitted open- ing of salons and barber’s shops where close contacts with the customers is possible. In con- trast Delhi has not allowed bar- ber shops, spas and salons to open yet. Telangana too has allowed salons to open and permitted bus services within the State. Walmart-owned Flipkart said it is awaiting advisories from different States for resum- ing full services, including in red zones, a day after Home Ministry’s guidelines on lock- down 4.0 were released. Parks and sports complex- es will be open with the norms of “social distancing” but step- ping out of homes between 7 pm and 7 am, except for essen- tial services will be prohibited. Taxis and cabs will be allowed but only 2 passengers at a time in a car. The Government and private offices too were allowed to work with restricted staff. Centre has allowed States for inter-State passenger bus and vehicle bus services with the mutual consent. The move will greatly ease public trans- portation and is likely to come to immediate help mitigate the plight of migrant labour on the roads due to the nation-wide lockdown entering 54th day. The night curfew, between 7 pm and 7 am, will continue in all zones. Hotels, restaurants and other hospitality services, except for the running of can- teens in bus depots, railway sta- tions and airports, will not be allowed. Maharashtra, the worst affected State in the country and particularly its Capital Mumbai with nearly 20 per cent of coronavirus cases in the country, will not experience relaxations in major part of the city. Saying Mumbai is still a Covid-19 red zone, authorities have not eased restrictions and warned people about strong action against violators in the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown. Taking a rather relaxed view of coronavirus situation, Karnataka has allowed major concessions for re-starting eco- nomic activities. Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, however, said people from four States — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala — will not be allowed entry into the State till May 31. I n the wake of huge move- ment of migrants from across the States, the Indian Council of Medical Council (ICMR) on Monday revised its testing strategy mandating all patients of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) to be tested for the Covid-19 regardless of travel or contact history. Frontline workers involved in containment and mitigation of Covid-19 will also be tested. This comes even as the Government has maintained that there is no community transmission in the country. Testing has been one of the concerns in India’s manage- ment of the Covid-19. Many experts have said India’s testing strategy is too restrictive. According to new strategy, no emergency procedure (including deliveries) should be delayed for the lack of test. But the sample can be sent for test- ing simultaneously if the per- son showed symptoms pre- scribed in the guideline. Beside the earlier cate- gories of individuals fitting the testing criteria, the ICMR said asymptomatic direct and high- risk contacts of confirmed cases be tested once between day 5 and day 10 of coming into contact. “All hospitalised patients who develop ILI (influenza like illness) symptoms, symp- tomatic individuals with his- tory of international travel in the last 14 days, symptomatic contacts of laboratory con- firmed cases, symptomatic healthcare workers, patients of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI), symptomatic ILI within hotspots and con- tainment zones to be tested for the Covid-19,” the ICMR said. ILI case is defined as one with acute respiratory infection with 38 degree Celsius fever or more than that and cough. SARI patients are those with acute respiratory infection and 38 degree Celsius fever or more and requiring hospi- talisation. I ndia crossed a dubious mile- stone in the spread of coro- na cases on Monday when its overall count crossed 1,00,000 cases with 3,155 deaths as the deadly virus continued to spread across the country with alarming speed. With around 4,641 new cases, the country ‘s total stood at 1,00,340 cases. New cases were still coming in from different states and the overall coutn could go up. According to the data from the States, the highest number of confirmed cases in the coun- try are from Maharashtra at 35,086, Gujarat at 11,746, Delhi at 10,054, Rajasthan at 5,505, Madhya Pradesh at 5,326 and Uttar Pradesh at 4,605. Maharashtra followed by Tamil Nadu were the two top contributors of new cases on Monday. They were followed by Gujarat, , Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in that order. Maharashtra reported 2,033 cases and 51 deaths tak- ing its overall tally to 35,086. They were followed by Tamil Nadu which chipped in with 536 cases and three more death, taking its overall count to 11,760 and 82 deaths. Madhya Pradesh reported 259 new cases and 4 death to take its overall count to 5,236 and 252 deaths. Uttar Pradesh recorded 141 new cases and no death, while West Bengal reported 149 new cases and 6 deaths. Even as India crossed 1 lakh mark on the first day of the Lockdown 4 on Monday, the Government found solace in the fact that at 7.1 cases per lakh, the Coronavirus ratio is lowest in world. “In terms of confirmed cases per lakh population, India has so far about 7.1 cases per lakh population vis a vis approx 60 cases per lakh population for the world as a whole,” said an official from the Union Health Ministry. D espite lockdown restric- tions, a sensational shootout took place in Ayodhya on Monday in which two persons, including a rep- resentative of BJP MP Lallu Singh, were killed. The incident took place when Lallu Singh’s representa- tive Jai Prakash Singh report- edly called a panchayat at Paliya Pratap Shah village under Haringtonganj Block of the district on Monday morn- ing. Reports confirmed that several villagers were present as Singh was also sitting pradhan of the village. The situation took a violent turn when history sheeter Nanha Yadav, opened fire at Singh after some heated argu- ments. Agitated with the firing, the villagers also opened fire with their weapons in which Nanha Yadav died on the spot. Singh was rushed to District Hospital where seeing his condition to be “critical”, his supporters staged demonstration asking him to be shifted to Trauma Centre at KGMU. However, before the authorities could take any decision, Singh also succumbed at the hospital. Local police registered a case and were making further inves- tigation. sIn another incident in Ayodhya, body of Mansaram, having his history-sheet with Maharajganj police station, was found buried under the sand on the banks of Saryu river in Salempur Majha on Monday. The body was two days old and the police arrested Mahesh Verma, a property dealer and three of his accomplices in this regard. D elhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on the first day of lockdown 4.0 on Monday emphasised on the importance of gradual revival of econom- ic activities with certain relax- ation and a few restrictions amid corona in the national Capital which saw 1,0054 pos- itive cases. The CM announced open- ing of shops in markets on an odd-even basis and running of buses with only 20 passengers, but said Metro services, schools, colleges, cinema halls and saloons will remain closed. Addressing an online media briefing here, Kejriwal said, “We have to gradually move towards opening the economy. We used the lock- down period to make arrangements to deal with Covid-19.” People boarding buses in the city will have to be screened first, he said, adding that four- wheeler vehicles, including taxis, will be allowed with only two passengers. O n the day one of lockdown 4.0, heavy vehicular traffic was witnessed on Monday at the Delhi-Gurugram and Delhi-Noida borders. There were long queues of vehicles at Delhi-Noida border on Monday morning. The Delhi Traffic Police advised people to avoid cross- ing border via Kalindi Kundi and DND without an e-pass as the Uttar Pradesh Police was allowing vehicles only with movement pass. Noida: Thirty-one people test- ed positive for Covid-19 in UP’s Gautam Buddh Nagar on Monday, pushing the total cases to 286 in the district. Chinese smartphone maker Oppo has suspended operations at Noida factory after its six workers were found infected by Covid. A t least nine new cases of Covid-19 infection were reported in Jharkhand on Monday – one each from Hazaribag, East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum, Dhanbad, Gumla and Garhwa, and three from Latehar, health officials said. Monday's test reports take the total count of coron- avirus cases in State to 232, they added. Most of the Covid-19 sus- pects who tested positive in the past fortnight are migrant workers, officials said. The nine Covid-19 cases reported on Monday are also of mostly migrant workers, they added. The man, who tested positive in Hazaribag, worked at a Pav Bhaji stall in Mumbai, sources said. He may have got infected in the Maharashtra capital itself, they added. "Nine cases were reported on Monday. Most of them are migrant workers who returned home recently," said Health Secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni. Kulkarni said that at least 93 migrant workers who returned from other states have tested positive since May 5 – a statement that clarifies how the return of migrant workers was causing an upward trend in the Covid-19 trajectory here. The number of contain- ment zones in Jharkhand have also increased from 33 to 63 in the course of a fortnight, offi- cials said. They added that 25 red zones have been identified across the country, and pas- sengers traveling to Jharkhand from these zones will be put in Government quarantine for tests. They will later be allowed to stay in home quarantine. According to National Health Mission (NHM), at least 127 of the 232 patients here – more than 50 per cent– have recovered from the viral infection and discharged from hospital. Interestingly, most of them did not show any of the Covid-19 symptoms during their treatment, said doctors from Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi. While 117 of the 232 cases reported in Jharkhand by Monday evening are in the age bracket of 11 to 30 years, 78 are in the age bracket of 31 to 50 years, the NHM report said. At least nine children, below the age of 10 years, have been infected by the virus in Jharkhand so far, the report added. The Government has col- lected samples of around 40,000 suspects so far, and tested 35,000 of them, an NHM bulletin said. As many as 1552 samples were tested on Wednesday and nine of them came out positive, the bulletin further said. C hief Minister Hemant Soren on Monday announced major relaxation from restrictions in lockdown 4.0, including opening of liquor shops and resumption of inter- State and intra-State taxi ser- vices. Private offices and book- stores will also open during this period, he said. In a video released by the Chief Minister's Office, Soren said that the Government has planned the relaxations in accordance with the guide- lines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). "While we fight this virus, it is also our responsibility to focus on the economy. Private offices, liquor stores and factories will open during lockdown 4.0," said Soren. Since CBSE students will soon appear for examinations, the Government has decided to keep all the bookstores open during this period, said Soren. The CM also announced resumption of e-commerce ser- vices in lockdown 4.0. Construction activities, which came to a standstill since the lockdown was imposed, will also resume, he added. Warehouses, godowns, ser- vice centres of electrical appli- ances will also be functional during this phase of lockdown, Soren said. "All other activities which were permitted earlier will also continue. Agriculture, transportation of goods and sale of essential items will con- tinue," he said. The services, however, will not be permitted in contain- ment zones across the State. The number of containment zones in Jharkhand has increased from 33 to 63 in the course of a fortnight, officials said. More than 1 lakh people live in these containment zones here, they added. The opening of liquor stores assumes significance due to its economical aspect, sources said. The revenue earned from sale of liquor has come down to zero in Jharkhand since the nationwide lockdown was imposed in wake of Covid-19 pandemic, officials said. Last month, Chief Secretary Sukhdeo Singh told The Pioneer that the State's focus at present was to check the spread of the virus. He had admitted that the Excise rev- enue was zero during the lock- down period – an added bur- den on a State that is already suffering from lack of funds in its coffers.

Transcript of ˆ ˆ˙ + ( , ˘ -./ · 2020. 5. 18. · from different States for resum-ing full services,...

Page 1: ˆ ˆ˙ + ( , ˘ -./ · 2020. 5. 18. · from different States for resum-ing full services, including in red zones, a day after Home Ministry’s guidelines on lock-down 4.0 were

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As the country on Mondayentered the “lockdown-4

phase”, State Governmentslargely reactivated economicactivities, including markets,saloons, private taxis, autos,even inter-State movement ofpassenger buses and vehicles.But malls, metro rails, domes-tic and international flights,colleges, schools, religiouspolitical gathering remained inthe prohibited list.

Different States have givenleeway to economic activities inthe green and orange zones andnarrowed down their enforce-ment of lockdown guidelines toonly containment zones. SomeStates, like Karnataka and WestBengal, have permitted open-ing of salons and barber’s shopswhere close contacts with thecustomers is possible. In con-trast Delhi has not allowed bar-ber shops, spas and salons toopen yet.

Telangana too has allowedsalons to open and permittedbus services within the State.

Walmart-owned Flipkartsaid it is awaiting advisoriesfrom different States for resum-ing full services, including inred zones, a day after HomeMinistry’s guidelines on lock-down 4.0 were released.

Parks and sports complex-es will be open with the normsof “social distancing” but step-ping out of homes between 7pm and 7 am, except for essen-tial services will be prohibited.Taxis and cabs will be allowedbut only 2 passengers at a time

in a car. The Government andprivate offices too were allowedto work with restricted staff.

Centre has allowed Statesfor inter-State passenger busand vehicle bus services withthe mutual consent. The movewill greatly ease public trans-portation and is likely to cometo immediate help mitigate theplight of migrant labour on theroads due to the nation-widelockdown entering 54thday.

The night curfew, between7 pm and 7 am, will continuein all zones. Hotels, restaurantsand other hospitality services,except for the running of can-teens in bus depots, railway sta-tions and airports, will not beallowed.

Maharashtra, the worstaffected State in the countryand particularly its CapitalMumbai with nearly 20 percent of coronavirus cases in thecountry, will not experiencerelaxations in major part of thecity. Saying Mumbai is still aCovid-19 red zone, authoritieshave not eased restrictions andwarned people about strongaction against violators in thefourth phase of the nationwidelockdown.

Taking a rather relaxedview of coronavirus situation,Karnataka has allowed majorconcessions for re-starting eco-nomic activities. Chief MinisterBS Yediyurappa, however, saidpeople from four States —Maharashtra, Gujarat, TamilNadu and Kerala — will not beallowed entry into the State tillMay 31.

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In the wake of huge move-ment of migrants from across

the States, the Indian Councilof Medical Council (ICMR) onMonday revised its testingstrategy mandating all patientsof severe acute respiratoryinfection (SARI) to be testedfor the Covid-19 regardless oftravel or contact history.Frontline workers involved incontainment and mitigationof Covid-19 will also be tested.

This comes even as theGovernment has maintainedthat there is no communitytransmission in the country.

Testing has been one of theconcerns in India’s manage-ment of the Covid-19. Manyexperts have said India’s testingstrategy is too restrictive.

According to new strategy,no emergency procedure(including deliveries) should bedelayed for the lack of test. Butthe sample can be sent for test-ing simultaneously if the per-son showed symptoms pre-scribed in the guideline.

Beside the earlier cate-gories of individuals fitting thetesting criteria, the ICMR said

asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts of confirmedcases be tested once betweenday 5 and day 10 of cominginto contact.

“All hospitalised patientswho develop ILI (influenzalike illness) symptoms, symp-tomatic individuals with his-tory of international travel inthe last 14 days, symptomaticcontacts of laboratory con-firmed cases, symptomatichealthcare workers, patients ofSevere Acute RespiratoryInfection (SARI), symptomaticILI within hotspots and con-tainment zones to be tested forthe Covid-19,” the ICMR said.

ILI case is defined as onewith acute respiratory infectionwith 38 degree Celsius fever ormore than that and cough.SARI patients are those withacute respiratory infection and38 degree Celsius fever or more and requiring hospi-talisation.

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India crossed a dubious mile-stone in the spread of coro-

na cases on Monday when itsoverall count crossed 1,00,000cases with 3,155 deaths as thedeadly virus continued tospread across the country withalarming speed. With around4,641 new cases, the country ‘stotal stood at 1,00,340 cases.New cases were still coming infrom different states and theoverall coutn could goup.

According to the data fromthe States, the highest numberof confirmed cases in the coun-try are from Maharashtra at35,086, Gujarat at 11,746,Delhi at 10,054, Rajasthan at5,505, Madhya Pradesh at 5,326and Uttar Pradesh at 4,605.

Maharashtra followed byTamil Nadu were the two topcontributors of new cases onMonday. They were followedby Gujarat, , Madhya Pradesh,Delhi, Rajasthan, UttarPradesh, West Bengal, Bihar,Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh

in that order. Maharashtra reported

2,033 cases and 51 deaths tak-ing its overall tally to 35,086.They were followed by TamilNadu which chipped in with536 cases and three more death,taking its overall count to11,760 and 82 deaths.

Madhya Pradesh reported259 new cases and 4 death totake its overall count to 5,236and 252 deaths. Uttar Pradeshrecorded 141 new cases and nodeath, while West Bengalreported 149 new cases and 6

deaths.Even as India crossed 1

lakh mark on the first day ofthe Lockdown 4 on Monday,the Government found solacein the fact that at 7.1 cases perlakh, the Coronavirus ratio islowest in world.

“In terms of confirmedcases per lakh population, Indiahas so far about 7.1 cases perlakh population vis a vis approx60 cases per lakh population forthe world as a whole,” said anofficial from the Union HealthMinistry.

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Despite lockdown restric-tions, a sensational

shootout took place inAyodhya on Monday in whichtwo persons, including a rep-resentative of BJP MP LalluSingh, were killed.

The incident took placewhen Lallu Singh’s representa-tive Jai Prakash Singh report-edly called a panchayat atPaliya Pratap Shah villageunder Haringtonganj Block ofthe district on Monday morn-ing. Reports confirmed thatseveral villagers were present asSingh was also sitting pradhanof the village.

The situation took a violentturn when history sheeterNanha Yadav, opened fire atSingh after some heated argu-ments.

Agitated with the firing, thevillagers also opened fire withtheir weapons in which NanhaYadav died on the spot. Singh

was rushed to District Hospitalwhere seeing his condition tobe “critical”, his supportersstaged demonstration askinghim to be shifted to TraumaCentre at KGMU. However,before the authorities couldtake any decision, Singh alsosuccumbed at the hospital.Local police registered a caseand were making further inves-tigation.

sIn another incident inAyodhya, body of Mansaram,having his history-sheet withMaharajganj police station, wasfound buried under the sandon the banks of Saryu river inSalempur Majha on Monday.The body was two days old andthe police arrested MaheshVerma, a property dealer andthree of his accomplices inthis regard.

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on the first day of

lockdown 4.0 on Mondayemphasised on the importanceof gradual revival of econom-ic activities with certain relax-ation and a few restrictionsamid corona in the nationalCapital which saw 1,0054 pos-itive cases.

The CM announced open-ing of shops in markets on anodd-even basis and running ofbuses with only 20 passengers,but said Metro services,

schools, colleges, cinema hallsand saloons will remain closed.

Addressing an onlinemedia briefing here, Kejriwalsaid, “We have to graduallymove towards opening theeconomy. We used the lock-down period to make arrangements to deal withCovid-19.”

People boarding buses inthe city will have to be screenedfirst, he said, adding that four-wheeler vehicles, includingtaxis, will be allowed with onlytwo passengers.

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On the day one of lockdown4.0, heavy vehicular traffic

was witnessed on Monday atthe Delhi-Gurugram andDelhi-Noida borders.

There were long queues ofvehicles at Delhi-Noidaborder on Monday morning.

The Delhi Traffic Policeadvised people to avoid cross-ing border via Kalindi Kundiand DND without an e-pass asthe Uttar Pradesh Police wasallowing vehicles only withmovement pass.

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Noida: Thirty-one people test-ed positive for Covid-19 in UP’sGautam Buddh Nagar onMonday, pushing the total casesto 286 in the district. Chinesesmartphone maker Oppo hassuspended operations at Noidafactory after its six workerswere found infected by Covid.

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At least nine new cases ofCovid-19 infection were

reported in Jharkhand onMonday – one each fromHazaribag, East Singhbhum,West Singhbhum, Dhanbad,Gumla and Garhwa, and threefrom Latehar, health officialssaid. Monday's test reportstake the total count of coron-avirus cases in State to 232, theyadded.

Most of the Covid-19 sus-pects who tested positive in thepast fortnight are migrantworkers, officials said. Thenine Covid-19 cases reportedon Monday are also of mostlymigrant workers, they added.The man, who tested positivein Hazaribag, worked at a PavBhaji stall in Mumbai, sourcessaid. He may have got infectedin the Maharashtra capitalitself, they added.

"Nine cases were reportedon Monday. Most of them are

migrant workers who returnedhome recently," said HealthSecretary Nitin MadanKulkarni. Kulkarni said that atleast 93 migrant workers whoreturned from other states havetested positive since May 5 – astatement that clarifies how thereturn of migrant workers wascausing an upward trend in theCovid-19 trajectory here.

The number of contain-ment zones in Jharkhand havealso increased from 33 to 63 inthe course of a fortnight, offi-cials said.

They added that 25 redzones have been identified

across the country, and pas-sengers traveling to Jharkhandfrom these zones will be put inGovernment quarantine fortests.

They will later be allowedto stay in home quarantine.

According to NationalHealth Mission (NHM), atleast 127 of the 232 patientshere – more than 50 per cent–have recovered from the viralinfection and discharged fromhospital. Interestingly, most ofthem did not show any of theCovid-19 symptoms duringtheir treatment, said doctorsfrom Rajendra Institute ofMedical Sciences (RIMS) inRanchi.

While 117 of the 232 casesreported in Jharkhand byMonday evening are in the agebracket of 11 to 30 years, 78 arein the age bracket of 31 to 50years, the NHM report said. Atleast nine children, below theage of 10 years, have beeninfected by the virus inJharkhand so far, the reportadded.

The Government has col-lected samples of around40,000 suspects so far, andtested 35,000 of them, an NHMbulletin said.

As many as 1552 sampleswere tested on Wednesday andnine of them came out positive,the bulletin further said.

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Chief Minister HemantSoren on Monday

announced major relaxationfrom restrictions in lockdown4.0, including opening of liquorshops and resumption of inter-State and intra-State taxi ser-vices. Private offices and book-stores will also open during thisperiod, he said.

In a video released by theChief Minister's Office, Sorensaid that the Government hasplanned the relaxations inaccordance with the guide-lines issued by the Ministry ofHome Affairs (MHA). "Whilewe fight this virus, it is also ourresponsibility to focus on theeconomy. Private offices, liquorstores and factories will openduring lockdown 4.0," saidSoren.

Since CBSE students willsoon appear for examinations,

the Government has decided tokeep all the bookstores openduring this period, said Soren.The CM also announcedresumption of e-commerce ser-vices in lockdown 4.0.Construction activities, whichcame to a standstill since thelockdown was imposed, willalso resume, he added.

Warehouses, godowns, ser-vice centres of electrical appli-ances will also be functionalduring this phase of lockdown,Soren said. "All other activitieswhich were permitted earlierwill also continue. Agriculture,transportation of goods andsale of essential items will con-

tinue," he said. The services, however, will

not be permitted in contain-ment zones across the State.The number of containmentzones in Jharkhand hasincreased from 33 to 63 in thecourse of a fortnight, officialssaid. More than 1 lakh peoplelive in these containment zoneshere, they added.

The opening of liquorstores assumes significance dueto its economical aspect,sources said. The revenueearned from sale of liquor hascome down to zero inJharkhand since the nationwidelockdown was imposed in wakeof Covid-19 pandemic, officialssaid. Last month, ChiefSecretary Sukhdeo Singh toldThe Pioneer that the State'sfocus at present was to checkthe spread of the virus. He hadadmitted that the Excise rev-enue was zero during the lock-down period – an added bur-den on a State that is alreadysuffering from lack of funds inits coffers.

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One female adult bison wasfound dead in National

Park Betla taking the total casu-alty of bison to three in threeweeks beginning April 29 whenthere was the first death of afemale bison followed by anoth-er death of a male bison on May4 and this latest death of femalebison on May 17.

Head of the forest force (HoFF) cum principal chief con-servator of forest (PCCF) ShashiNandkeolyar confirming thethird death of the bison in thispark said they are making all outefforts to keep our bison herd

safe but casualty strikes whichpoints towards some deadlybacterial infection gripping thepark.

He said it is yet to be knownas to what this bacterial infec-tion is and how it has so grippedthe bison here.

HoFF said the latest onehad acute respiratory distresswherein the team that was fol-lowing it had noticed this femalebison was struggling for breath-ing as it was opening mouth fre-quently perhaps to inhale oxy-gen but its lungs failed it.

Nandkeolyar said thisfemale bison had one morehighly worrisome symptom and

it was blood coming out fromits one nostril.

Nandkeolyar said from noother orifice there was any suchdischarge or oozing of bloodexcept from one nostril and thissymptom was not found in twoprevious death of the bisonhere.

Sources said the other twobison which died had severe res-piratory trouble and their lungswere found ‘marbled’ by a notedvet surgeon C Deb.

D S Srivastava secretaryNature Conservation Societysaid “This third death of thebison has shaken all wild lifelovers. What is this happening?

Where is the field director Y KDas?”

Srivastava said, “ I have astrong conviction that it is a verydifficult time for Betla bison andI and like many other wild lifelovers are ready to be a part ofsave bison fight” but adding offi-cers in PTR must come outclean about things prevailing inBetla. Charging the present dis-pensation of the PTR withspending more time in hidingthe ground reality from topbosses of the forest and envi-ronment department down tomedia persons Srivastava said,“It is nearly three weeks whenthe first death of the bison

occurred and no one knows thefate of test report of the samplesof the carcasses.”

Srivastava said test reportought to have been procured onan emergency scale as any morespread of it will threaten thewhole of bison here, which thelast countable species is left inJharkhand.

HoFF said they are plan-ning to send in two IFS officersV S Dubey and AbhishekKumar to Betla to assist theteam there in this fight forbison there. Nandkeolyar saidthese two officers have bache-lor of veterinary science degreeto their credit.

Ranchi: Union Minister ofCoal and Mines PralhadJoshi on Monday said thatthe government hasannounced an investmentof Rs 50,000 crores under“Aatma Nirbhar BharatAbhiyan” to create anddevelop infrastructure facil-ities for Coal India. It willhelp CIL achieve 1 billiontonnes coal production tar-get by FY 2023-24. It’s alsoan opportunity for CIL toopen up new mines andincrease coal production toreduce country’s coalimports saving valuableFOREX. He expected thatCIL will substitute 100 mil-lion tonnes of coal importannually in near future.

Joshi reiterated that theGovernment of India doesnot intend to privatize Coal

India Ltd. Instead, theGovernment is strengthen-ing CIL and will continue todo so.

He further added thatCIL has a coal reservewhich will last for over 100years. Recently, theGovernment has allotted16 new coal blocks to CILto help it fuel the Indianeconomy.

He reassured the CoalIndia family that theGovernment is proud ofCIL and it will onlystrengthen it in the days tocome. PNS

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They had started their jour-ney on truck from Delhi

hoping to reach their home atPindrajora in Bokaro, but itwas their bodies that reachedtheir home district Bokaro by11 special ambulances onMonday afternoon.

The bodies of 11 migrantlabourers, who were killed and4 others, who got injured bya speeding truck in UttarPradesh's Auraiya districtwere brought to Bokaro bydistrict administration, saidDC Bokaro Mukesh Kumar.

Eleven ambulances with11 bodies reached Bokaroaround 2:30 pm, where DCBokaro Mukesh Kumar andother district officials receivedthem and sent them to theirvillages at Kherabera andBabudih under Gopalpurpanchayat in Chas, Bokaro inambulances, DC officials said.

The four who wereinjured identified as UmeshKalindi,Yogeshwar Kalindi,Nirodh Kalindi andDhananjay Kalindi, belonged

to two villages Kherabera andBabudih.

Bokaro DDC, RaviRanjan Mishra, Additional,Collector Vijay Kumar Gupta,Chas Civil SDO Sashi PrakashSingh Dy superintendent ofpolice Bhagwan Das andsenior officials were present atthe village and handed overthe bodies to their familymembers. These 11 peoplebelonged to the villages ofKherabera and Babudih ofBokaro district.

The labourers, working ina Delhi, left for their home dis-trict on truck. Exhausted,they slept on the truck nearAruiya district, not knowingthat this would be the last

journey. Only four from the group

of 15 survived, but wereinjured. As information pro-vided by villagers, three ofthem were standing awayfrom the truck.

At least 25 migrantlabourers were killed and 33others injured when a truckcarrying them collided with aDCM in Auraiya. Most of themigrants were coming fromRajasthan and were natives ofBihar, Jharkhand and WestBengal,officials said.

Reports said the incidenthad taken place near Mihaulivillage under Kotwali policecircle around 3.30am onSaturday.

Bokaro: For a noble mis-sion, Rotarians Chas RotaryClub donated blood forpatients, particularly chil-dren. A blood donationdrive was organised byRotarians on Red CrossBlood Bank’s premiseswhere members of the clubdonated blood. Over 33 units ofblood were collected, informedRotarian Herbansh Singh Saluja.

Usually, patients sufferingfrom Thalassemia require bloodtransfusion twice a month andowing to the lockdown in place tocombat spread of coronavirus,reserves at blood banks are low,said Saluja.

Saluja urges citizens to comeforward to donate blood. “Blooddonation is the pious work. It savesthe life of a person. The donatorreceives many blessings for thiskind act. Donating blood is thehighest form of service of human-ity, at the same time the donatorgets fresh blood and becomeshealthier,” he added.

Any healthy individual agedbetween 18 and 60 years andwhose weight is above 50 kg withmore than 12.5 dg/ ml

Haemoglobin contain in the bloodcan donate their blood once inevery three months, he said.

Saluja is also popular as ‘BloodMan’, recently felicitated withnational honoured at Odisha forhis work done in the field of blooddonation in several part of thecountry including Jharkhand.

42-year-old Saluja has broughta new consciousness and aware-ness towards blood donation;himself he has donated bloodmore than 33 times so far. He hasarranged more than 5000 units ofblood through the blood donationcamps especially in giving life tochildren suffering from tha-lassemia in the district.

He has always been workingtowards blood donation. It has alsobeen honoured by various socialorganizations in the past for theircommendable work. PNS

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During the critical situa-tion caused due to

COVID-19, ChinmayaVidyalaya, Bokaro has come upwith a unique initiative toteach the students at home dur-ing the school closure period.The school has developed itsown Learning ManagementSystem (LMS) where the teach-ers teach the students throughnotes, audio and video lectures

of the topics planned, informedSanjeev Kumar PRO ChinmayaVidyalaya.

After completing the day’slearning, assignments were alsoprovided to the students. Theycan clear their doubts throughthe LMS only by asking ques-tions to their respective teach-ers, he said adding “the teach-ers are available onlinethroughout the school hours toanswer the queries from stu-dents.”

DALTONGANJ: Daltonganj police dis-covered a man afflicted with senile demen-tia in lock down. The man ( name withheldfor privacy) 76 had walked out of the housefrom Jail Hata leaving his equally older wifeto plunge in all sorts of anxieties and wor-ries for him.

The Alzheimer struck man left hishouse on May 16 remained untraced for thewhole night but on May 17 police foundhim in a drainage.

SP Palamu Ajay Linda said a requestcame to him to locate this Alzheimer man.It was a real difficult task but his boys didnot lose heart and assured him that theywould get him and they finally got him.

Linda said, “I asked SDPO SadarSandip Kumar Gupta to drive his team inhis search. Gupta did this. There was nonook and corner of the town where thisman was not being looked for.”

Messages were flashed on the wirelesssystem too said Linda.

Gupta said, “I put on the job my ASIof police Nabi Ansari who with his teamwent searching him. Ansari did not disap-point us. He got him. We all felt relieved.Our SP LInda was too happy to hear thisdiscovery of this old man suffering fromsenile dementia.”

Ansari said, “I went to a dalit mohalla.I showed his photograph to a girl there. Thegirl called her mother who broke this newsto me that there is an old man sitting in thedrainage like a stone.”

Ansari said, “I went there. He looked aman from different world. All blank, hun-gry and exhausted. But, he was the man weall were looking for. His photographmatched with his face.” PNS

DUMKA: TheDumka Cyber cellpolice on Mondaybusted a gangallegedly involvedin online fraudsby arresting itstwo members.

All the twoare qualifiedyoung men who hadallegedly been running afake customer care cen-tre in Dumka — a plat-form used by the accusedto pose as verificationagents of banks.

They used to alleged-ly steal the database ofbank account holdersfrom the unauthorisedonline shopping websitesand then identify theirtargets.

The accused wereidentified as AshokBhandari 23, and RohitKuka Mandal,25 resi-dents of Kabadindha inDumka district.

In their mid-25s,the accused used to makefake verification calls topeople posing as staffersof a customer care centreto get the details of theirdebit and credit cards.

Police also recoveredATM Cards - 07 Pieces,mobile phone-05 piece,

Cash rupees - Total2,47,000 (Two LakhForty Five Thousand)one motorcycle (JH04L-7723, Suzuki Gixxer),onepassbook, (VananchalGramin Bank) and onepiece of Laptop (of DELLcompany) from them.

Disclosing themodus operandi of theaccused, the DySP RamSamad said that theaccused used to call thedebit and credit cardholders on the pretext ofsolving various technicalproblems related to thecards or telling them thattheir cards could beblocked if they did notshare their details.

Mufassil police sta-tion registered a case(70/20)dated under sec-t i o n419/420/467/468/471/34,SC has been registered inthe Act and 66B / C / D/ IT Act. PNS

Ranchi: A workshop on the useand related aspects of emer-gency medical equipment wasorganized by the team of BokaroGeneral Hospital in theOccupational Health Center inthe scenario of Covid-19 at theOccupational Health Center ofBSL. The programme was inau-gurated by Dr AK Singh,Director-in-charge of BGH. Onthis occasion, Director (Medicaland Health Services) Dr AKMishra, Joint Director DrBibhor Sharma and other pre-ferred doctors and personnelwere present.

The workshop was orga-nized with the aim of makingthe practitioners ofOccupational Health Centeraware of the latest informationon Covid-19, the Senior DeputyDirector (Medical and HealthServices) Dr. RK Gautam andhis team shared detailed infor-mation related to Covid-19,Emergency Medicine Regardingthe method of use of equipment,role of occupational health cen-ter, cardio-pulmonary brainresuscitation etc. Presentingteam members included Dr.Rabindra Kumar, Dr. AbhijeetDaam, Dr. Gautam Saha,Nursing Sister Subhra RoySengupta and OT AssistantSurendra Sharma.

The participants in the pro-gramme were welcomed byDr.T. Pachal, moderated by SMThakur and the vote of thanksextended by Sudhir Bhanu. Dr.D Rajak, Dr. SA Ansari, Dr. SSPrasad and Surendra Pandeyactively participated in makingthe program a success & knowl-edge sharing. PNS

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The steel city on Mondayreported a fifth Covid-19

positive case. The man who hasbeen tested for coronavirus pos-itive had returned from Ranchivia truck. He directly got himselfadmitted at MGM MedicalCollege and Hospital and was inthe isolation ward ever sincereturning here and finally hisswab test was tested positive. Theperson is a resident of Sidhgora.

A senior district official con-firmed about the detection of thenew case, and confirmed that theperson tested Covid positive is aresident of the steel city.

"The man who has been test-ed for coronavirus positive onMonday afternoon is a resident

of steel city and had returnedfrom Ranchi on May 15. He did-n’t go to his house but ratherwent directly to the hospital fortest. He was in the isolation wardof the MGM Medical CollegeHospital ever since returninghere and finally his swab test wastested positive," said the official.

He informed the patient inquestion has been shifted fromthe medical college hospital's iso-lation ward to the TMH's Covidward late in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, the first positivecase of Covid-19 has also beenreported from West Singhbhumat Chaibasa. The youth is of 22year old and had returned fromChennai on May 14.

Meanwhile, with theenforcement of fourth phase oflockdown, the administrationhas become tough but takinginto custody those violating

lockdown norms.Jamshedpur Notified Area

Committee (JNAC) special offi-cer, Krishna Kumar said thatpeople have the tendency tomove out of the house and whencaught give lame reasons forgoing to buy vegetables or gro-ceries, which come under essen-tial items. However, at all theintra-city checkpoint barricadeshave been erected since the firstphase of the lockdown and itcontinued today with police and

magistrates check-ing passes of peo-ple. We have madesure that all thecommercial areasto ensure that noshops, barringessential ones, areopen,” he said.

Moreover, theadministration has

made it mandatory for everyoneto wear mask (either three-lay-ered or made of cloth) if they areoutside their homes. And thoseviolating this rule are beingbooked by police.

An official informed that ifanyone found roaming withouta mask will be booked under sec-tion 269 (negligent act likely tospread infection of disease dan-gerous to life), 270 (malignantact likely to spread infection ofdisease dangerous to life), 188

(disobedience toorder duly pro-mulgated by publicservant) of IPC.

“We warnedseveral personswho were foundwithout masks.They were going tobuy essential com-modities but notwearing mask inSakchi area. Wehave warned themthat the police willregister FIRsagainst them foroffence under sec-tion 188 (disobe-dience of orderduly promulgatedby public servant)of the Indian PenalCode”, said thepolice official.

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Ranchi is on its way movingfrom Red to Orange zone,

clearing the way for restartingeconomic activity as the num-ber of active coronavirus caseshas come down to 13. OnMonday seven patients recov-ering from disease were dis-charged. As per district admin-istration figures, out of total 105Covid 19 patients, 90 haverecovered from disease, whiletwo persons have died due toinfection.

Ranchi DeputyCommissioner (DC) RaiMahimapat Ray said, “Due toteam work of district adminis-tration officials, doctors andpara medics, 90 patients haverecovered from disease. Therecovery rate of patients ismuch higher than many dis-tricts in country.”

The first case of transmis-sion of disease in State Capitalwas traced on March 31, when

a Malaysian woman staying inHindpiri area was found withthe infection. The womanmember of Tablighi Jamaat(Islamic missionary move-ment) had come from Delhicarrying the virus. The districtadministration then to checkthe spread of disease declaredHindpiri as containment zonesealing the area, deployingcentral security forces andstarting other preventive mea-sures.

The Centre on mid-Aprilon the basis of infection clas-sified districts in three cate-gories—Red, Green andOrange. According to the gov-ernment’s classification, therewere 130 districts out of atotal of 733 that were put in thered zone. Sources said thatred zones are defined consid-ering a host of parametersincluding the number of posi-tive cases in the district, therecovery rate, the doublingrate, the extent of testing andsurveillance feedback from thedistricts and the density ofdisease clusters etc.

While some businesses andactivities that require mass

gatherings like cinema halls,shopping malls, sports, reli-gious, social and political gath-erings, clubbing, schools, col-leges, training institutes andinterstate travel by air, road orrail have not been permitted inany of the zones, several otheractivities have been allowed ingreen and orange zones. Ranchiwas only district in State whichwas put in red zone while oth-ers were in orange and greenzones.

As the district administra-

tion is planning to restart eco-nomic activities in Ranchi ameeting between DC and blockprogramme officers was held atDC office. DeputyCommissioner Rai issuingdirectives asked them to restartMGREGA work so that vil-lagers and migrant workerseconomic condition improves.The DC said that by May 30,digging of pits under BirsaHarit Gram Yojana has to be

completed. The Ranchi districtadministration has set a targetof plantation of fruit bearingplants in 810 acres of land.

Also under Nilamber-Pitamber Jal Samridhi Yojana(water scheme) digging of pitsand other irrigation works hasto taken-up. Also under VeerShahid Poto Ho Khel VikasYojana (sports scheme) identi-fication and sanctioning ofwork has to start.

With thousands of migrantworkers returning to the stateamid coronavirus outbreak,the Soren government in firstweek of May launched threeschemes to generate 25 croreman-days for MGNREGA toenable the workers earn wagesas well as bring in a long-termplan to provide steady incometo the poor households.

The district administra-tion meeting was attended bydeputy development commis-sioner Ananya Mittal, directorDRDA Seema Singh, DistrictProgramme officer Ritu Rajand others.

While on one hand num-ber of active Covid 19 cases hascome down and variousschemes has been launched tore-start economic activities,the district administration isalso working to check thespread of disease. The Ranchidistrict administration onMonday distributed faceshields, masks and glovesamong the volunteers workingat highly containment zoneHindpiri. The DC on the occa-sion also asked volunteers tomaintain health hygiene.

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The District Legal ServicesAuthority (DLSA), Ranchi,

is providing home delivery ofpsychotropic drugs to patientssuffering from mental illness-es – an initiative aimed athelping such mental healthpatients who cannot move outof their houses during thelockdown, DLSA officials saidon Monday.

DLSA has launched a con-tact number on which patientscan send their prescriptionover WhatsApp and avail thefacility, DLSA SecretaryAbhishek Kumar said. "Oncethe patient sends his or her pre-scription, we get the medicinedelivered to their doorsteps," headded.

However, this facility isonly available for people under-going treatment at the RanchiInstitute of Neuro-Psychiatryand Allied Sciences (RINPAS)in Kanke. "We have also deliv-ered medicines to patients liv-ing in far off rural areas like

Sonahatu, Chanho and Tamar,"said Kumar.

The initiative, he said, wasprimarily aimed at helping thepatients living in rural areas aspsychotropic drugs are noteasily available in semi-urbanand rural areas. "We only pro-vide medicines that are men-tioned in prescriptions," saidVicky, a DLSA volunteerinvolved in home delivery ofpsychotropic drugs.

The lockdown has trig-gered relapses in many mentalhealth patients and also causeda spurt in cases of maidenepisodes of depression and

anxiety disorders, said doctors.This initiative, they said, willprevent relapses and may alsoprove to be a godsend for peo-ple with suicidal tendencies.

Senior Consultant at RIN-PAS, Dr. Siddharth Sinha said,"This initiative by DLSA iswell-meaning. The lockdownhas triggered a spurt in men-tal disorders and relapses havealso become common. Theaccessibility to psychotropicdrug makes the fight much eas-ier for people suffering frommental health issues anddependent on medications."

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Normalcy returned toHindpiri area on Monday

after two-day consecutive vio-lence. On Monday there wereno reports of violence from anyparts of area while districtadministration has tightenednoose on people violating thelockdown rules. On Saturday,violence erupted at Hindpiriarea after dispute between localpeople and CRPF on trivialissue.

The violence escalated aftera former ward counselor of areawas beaten up by police as heallegedly protested againstsecurity forces action.

The CRPF deployed in thearea resorted to lathi-chargeand fired rubber pallets to dis-perse the crowd. However, the

locals started pelting stones onCRPF personnel from the darkafter switching off the lights intheir houses. The situation wasbrought to control after senioradministrative officials inter-vened. However, on Sundayviolence returned at Hindpiriarea as once again the localclashed with security forces asCRPF personnel were askingpeople to follow social dis-tancing. Kotwali DSP AjitKumar Vimal was injured inthe incident.

Ranchi police have identi-fied some youths behindSaturday and Sunday violenceat Hindpiri area but the policeis yet to take action againstthem. Sources said that policeis to lodge FIR against someyouths who were behind theincident.

Ranchi SDM, LokeshMishra said, “The police have

identified some youths behindthe Saturday incident. We have

interrogated several personsto gather information about theperson who triggered violencein the area.”

Mishra said that districtadministration has also gonethrough CCTV camerasinstalled in the area. Hindpiriis the largest containment zonein Jharkhand and the CRPFwas deployed in the area toimplement the lockdown strict-ly.

The SDM also said that theno relaxations will be given topeople at Hindpiri area as thearea falls in containment zoneeven during the Eid festival.Mishra said, “As per Ministryof Home Affair directivesissued during lockdown tocheck the spread of disease allreligious places/places of wor-ship will be closed during lock-

down. Religious congregationsare strictly prohibited.”

Sources said that throughthe normalcy has returned atHindpiri the area has becomechallenge for Soren govern-ment. Hindpiri has turned outto be a hub of coronavirus casesin the state.

When coronavirus caseswere first reported in Hindpiri,the nurses and medical staffwere not only prevented by thepeople from entering the areabut were misbehaved with.The state government insteadof acting tough negotiated withthe residents who at their willallowed police personnel andmedical staff in their locality.Last month the district admin-istration to enforce lockdownrules strictly deployed CRPFpersonnel.

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Jharkhand's Planning-cum-Finance and Food and

Civic Supplies Minister andJharkhand State CongressCommittee (JPCC) ChiefRameshwar Oraon, onMonday, said the State has tospend more to deal withthis global epidemic, whilethe revenue collection hascome down due to the lock-down, the states will have toborrow more. He alsopraised the State’s perfor-mance in fight againstCOVID-19.

Oraon said that the per-mission was sought toincrease the mandatory fis-cal deficit under the FRBMat the rate 3 to 5 per cent ofthe state's GSDP by somestates including Kerala andTelangana, which the UnionFinance Minister, in a mediaaddress on Sunday informedthat she permitted the statesto increase mandatory fiscaldeficit.

"This is only the per-

mission of the Center, it willnot bring any financial bur-den on the Center, but whenthe Central Governmenttalks about reforms, then themost improvement shouldhave been that had theCenter would raise its bor-rowing limit and with thatborrowing, it further lends to

states, it would have been abig reform. Because the costof borrowing of the states ishigh, that is, they have toraise money at higher inter-est rates, which increasestheir liability more, while theCenter gets the loan at verylow rates and with this loanthe states get the money in

the form of debt. Then the states would be

charged about two per centless interest.

This would haveincreased the fiscal deficit ofthe Center, but what reallymatters is not the combinedfiscal deficit and the burdenof interest on the states. In

April, Kerala has had toraise debt at 8.96 per centand Nagaland at 8 per cent,which is a huge burden onthe states, and the states arealso grappling with the prob-lem of reduction in revenuecollection during the cri-sis," said Oraon.

The JPCC Chief saidthat Jharkhand has alsostood in the struggle with theGovernment of India to pre-vent the infection of Coronavirus.

"In light of the instruc-tions given for lockdownfour, there is a need forrestriction in Jharkhand asthe migrant laborers contin-ue to come here.

They have to follow thetule of social distancingpatiently because they arecoming from infected areas.It is difficult to get a lot ofexemption, but like in thepast, work will continue inthe areas of brick manufac-turing industry, MNREGA,agriculture sector to createemployment opportunitiesin rural areas," he added.

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The Bokaro district admin-istration is using a tech-

nology based system calledSARAL- Safe Arrival &Accommodation of Labourersto track and facilitate incomingpopulation of migrant labour-ers and students stranded atvarious places across the coun-try.

The dashboard was putinto use on May 1 when theMinistry of Home Affairsissued guidelines stating thatpeople stranded in any part ofthe country can travel back totheir native places. As of onMay 18, as many as 9,622 peo-ple have been registered andtracked through the system.

“The mapping has enabledus to track the movement of themigrants and also find outfrom where exactly they arereturning. From safe arrivals toquarantine as well as move-ment of the workers, every-thing has been plannedthrough this process,” saidBokaro Deputy CommissionerMukesh Kumar.

From locating those stuckin other cities, to classifying

them as per their profession,arrival points and consequentsurveillance, SARAL is helpingthe authorities track it all. It isalso providing real time data ofevery migrant returning to theCity.

The system is not onlyhelping the administration isknowing where the migrantsare returning from but is alsofacilitating them in keeping atrack of the block or panchay-at the individual is going to and

further enabling them in keep-ing a strict vigil upon return.

The mapping of the incom-ing population in every pan-chayat of every block of Bokarodistrict has been done to planthe logistics and health mea-sures in advance. At ninecheckpoints across the City,trained volunteers have beenstationed with a relevant ques-tionnaire which is being filledby the incoming migrants for

further scrutiny and analysis.A skill profiling of those

coming back has also beendone. To ensure financial secu-rity, the home comers are alsobeing asked that once theirhome quarantine is over, if theyare willing to work withMNREGA or not. In thisregard, a job card will also beissued to the individual post thequarantine.

“The biggest challengeeven after lockdown 4.0 will be

of accommodating those com-ing home. In this regard, thedatabase of skilled workerslike carpenters, plumbers, elec-tricians will further be sharedwith the Bokaro IndustrialArea Development Authoritywhich has about 250 compa-nies working under it.Labourers from others statesworking here have also left sothese companies too willrequire man power. There arehigh chances that the migrantscould be fairly accommodatedhere,” added Kumar.

A SARAL app is also underprocess which will be put in thepublic domain soon with thename, contact number anddetails of the individual’s pan-chayat stating the area of exper-tise. This will give free accessto the public who can get intouch directly with the electri-cian, plunber, mechanic andothers and avail their services.

The system has beendesigned by engineering stu-dents Abhishek Kumar andChitransh Lodhaand two aspi-rational district fellows postedby the Ministry of HomeAffairs- Aaditya Mohan andAditya Arun.

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Former Chief Minister RaghubarDas has written to Chief Secretaryof the State to exempt cloth mer-chants of East Singhbhum fromlockdown that has been enforceddue to spread of coronavirus.

In his letter, Das mentionedthat a delegation of JamshedpurThok Vastra Vikreta Sangh hadmet him on May 18 and hadshared with him the crisis beingfaced by the traders due to lock-down. The delegation had said thatthey are unable to sustain a livingdue to lockdown. The traders arenot even able to pay salaries of theirworkers.

Das said that though EastSinghbhum is under Orange Zonestill the shops have been asked toclose down. He said that similaron the lines of Odisha and WestBengal, the traders of EastSinghbhum should be allowed tooperate. He requested theGovernment to allow the shop-keepers to function.

Meanwhile, expressing deepconcern over the death due tohunger in Jharkhand, Das hasdescribed it as a proof of state gov-ernment's inefficiency. He has

demanded that strict action shouldbe taken by registering a murdercase against the person responsi-ble for the death of two consecu-tive daughters in Jharkhand.

Das has said that the CM ispatting his back daily through themedium of media and making bla-tant announcements, but the gov-ernance system is slipping from hishand day by day. The agility andfurtherance that the state govern-ment should show during thelockdown is only seen superficial-

ly but the reality is different.“On April 3, a 17-year-old

Dalit Upaso of Sangrampur villagein Gola of Ramgarh died of hunger.This series of deaths from hungercontinues. This time, on May 16,five-year-old daughter NimliKumari of Jagal Bhuiyan died inHesatu village of Donki panchay-at of Manika block of Latehar dis-trict.

Like Upaso's death, efforts areon to hide the cause of Nimmi'sdeath. It is being said that the girlhas died due to heat stroke, whilethe family members are describingthis death as starvation. It is saidthat Nimmi's family did not havea grain of food to eat at home.

On one hand, adequate rationis being supplied by the CentralGovernment to the poor, on theother hand the State Governmentis not able to provide ration to thepoor, because of which people arestarving constantly,” he said.

He said that Upaso andNimmi's starvation death is not anormal death. It is a kind of mur-der of the daughters of Jharkhandat the hands of the state govern-ment. Never before has such ascene of government apathy andcarelessness been seen.

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Page 4: ˆ ˆ˙ + ( , ˘ -./ · 2020. 5. 18. · from different States for resum-ing full services, including in red zones, a day after Home Ministry’s guidelines on lock-down 4.0 were

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The Congress on Mondaysaid the fiscal stimulus

package announced by theGovernment is “hopelesslyinadequate” given the gravity ofthe economic crisis as itamounts to only �1.86 lakhcrore, which is 0.91 per cent ofthe GDP.

The party sought a revisedand comprehensive packageof 10 per cent of the GDP.

Senior Congress leader andformer Finance Minister PChidambaram said the stimu-lus package has left several sec-tions like the poor, migrants,farmers, labourers, workers,small shopkeepers and middleclass high and dry.

"In our view, a fiscal stim-ulus of �1,86,650 croreamounting to barely 0.91 percent of GDP will be totallyinadequate given the gravity ofthe economic crisis and the diresituation in which people findthemselves," he said.

Chidambaram said mostanalysts, rating agencies andbanks have placed the size ofthe fiscal stimulus between 0.8to 1.5 per cent.

On Sunday, former UnionMinister and Congress leaderAnand Sharma accused thegovernment of misleading peo-ple with its "trickery, fakery,quackery" and said the eco-nomic measures announcedby the Centre amounted toonly 1.6 per cent of India''sGDP, i.e. worth �3.22 lakhcrore instead of �20 lakh croreas claimed by the prime min-ister.

"We express our thoroughdisappointment and requestthe government to reconsiderthe stimulus package andannounce a revised and com-prehensive fiscal stimulus pack-age of not less than �10 lakhcrore of real additional expen-diture equivalent to 10 percent of GDP," Chidambaramsaid at a press conference

through video-conferencing.He also accused the

Government of being oppor-tunistic by pushing reforms. Itis bypassing stakeholer con-sultation, legislation and dis-cussion in Parliament on thepackage and this will be strong-ly resisted and challenged in theHouse, he added.

"I think the Government isdeliberately sideliningParliament. A meeting of theParliamentary Committeeshould at least be held to dis-cuss the fiscal stimulus pack-age," the Congress leader said.

"If there is a genuinereform that takes economyforward, we will support it butwe will have to read the fineprint," he said.

"The Government is beingopportunistic. They are justannouncing what one personor one group of persons thinkis right without thinkingthrough the consequences.Editorials and articles todaypoint out downside of some ofthe announcements,"Chidambaram noted.

"You can''t fool all the peo-ple all the time. This fiscal stim-ulus package is inadequate," hesaid.

The former finance min-ister said "we note with deepregret" that the fiscal stimuluspackage has left several sec-tions high and dry, includingthe bottom half of the popula-tion (13 crore families),migrant workers, farmers,landless agricultural labour,daily-wage non-agriculturallabour, workers who have beenlaid off or retrenched andthose in unorganised or unreg-istered businesses or units whohave lost their jobs.

He said the self-employed,who have no work, seven croreshopkeepers, lower middleclass families, who have runout of cash and are forced toborrow, and the 5.8 croreMSMEs have also been left outin the package.

He said the Congress hasanalysed the contents of thefive tranches and in its con-sidered opinion except for 1.86lakh crore of additional expen-diture, the rest of theannouncements are includedalready in budget expendi-ture, front loading of somebudgeted expenditure, regula-tory measures, a number of liq-uidity measures, medium tolong term plans or schemesand proposed reforms.

Chidambaram said therecan be no fiscal stimulus to theeconomy without additionalexpenditure over and above thebudgeted expenditure and thishas been acknowledged by thefinance minister.

Thus the true value of fis-cal stimulus package will beknown when we know what isthe additional borrowing in2020-21, he said.

"The truth cannot be hid-den for long." To a question onfear of rating agencies down-grading India, the formerfinance minister said he doesnot think rating agencies runthe country.

"Every country in theworld is in distress, practical-ly every country in Europe isfacing a recession. If ratingagencies downgrade us, theywill have to downgrade everyEuropean country too.

"This is an unnecessaryfear. We will have to face thatsituation. As long as our for-eign exchange reserves arehigh, inflation is under control,we are on the right path,demand grows and GDP picksup, why would a rating agencydowngrade us," he asked?

Chidambaram also notedthat it is not the time to worryabout fiscal deficit and if addi-tional expenditure turns out tobe another �10 lakh crore andadditional borrowing is Rs 10lakh crore.

Obviously fiscal deficit willgo up but that should not be amatter of worry, he added.

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Vice President and RajyaSabha Chairman Venkaiah

Naidu on Monday underlinedthe need to adopt new ways ofliving in corona times andsuggested a 12-point frame-work for this new normal todeal with the virus by learningform the lessons so far taughtby the pandemic. He stressedon the need for new attitudestowards life and humanityamidst indications of the viruslikely to stay for longer thanearlier expected.

“Live differently and livesafe,” he put forth his mantra ina lengthy Facebook post hoursafter the announcement of lock-down 4.0 with restrictions sub-stantially relaxed.

He dealt with the philo-sophical and moral issuesthrown by the COVID-19 con-tagion saying life can’t be livedin isolation and the virus out-break highlighted the inter-connectedness of lives. He said,“What affects one person any-where affects everyone every-where, be it the disease or econ-omy.”

Giving an account of thenature of life ‘Before Corona’,Naidu stated that man emergeda loner in his quest for happinessand material advancementreducing the family and thesociety to being mere adjunctsand his confidence bordering onarrogance made him believethat he can live alone and all byhimself, unmindful of the livesof others.

“Stacked with better tools tofight the epidemics than whenthe pestilence struck humanityearlier and empowered withgene editing, ArtificialIntelligence, big data etc, manwas seeking to play God,” he

stated.On the life ‘After Corona’,

Naidu noted that it has shakenthe fundamentals of living byoneself and highlighted theneed for living in harmonywith nature and fellow humans.“The invisible microbe onceagain proved that life can changevery quickly. It brought into fullplay the uncertainty that can co-sail with life,” he pointed out.

“Uncertainty continues tohaunt the people. Uncertainty isthe known source of anxietywhich can lead to psychologicalissues,” he said even as he sug-gested adopting a new normalof life by staying calm and con-fident.

Naidu stressed that thecorona challenge is more a civ-ilizational issue than that of indi-vidual lives and new norms andethos of living should be evolvedto save the present civilization.

Noting that life can’t be livedfor long in confinement, he wel-comed the new relaxations forlockdown 4.0 even as he recalledhow people living with HIVvirus had no vaccine for longtime and had to change habits.Similarly, Naidu urged the peo-ple to learn to cope with coro-na virus by changing the habitsand attitudes towards life andfellow humans.

He suggested a 12-pointnew normal of living duringcorona times that includesamong others living in harmony with the nature andfellow beings; knowing thatsafety and security of lives areinterconnected, rationally analysing the impact of everymovement or action on thespread of virus, not responding impulsively to the situation,strictly adherence to the behavioral changes ushered inso far like wearing mask, main-taining physical distance andensuring hygiene besides preventing stigmatisation andreplacing the sense of collective helplessness by the spirit of thevirtue of living interconnectedwith shared destiny.

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The Khadi and VillageIndustries Commission

(KVIC) is going to get a bigpush after Union HomeMinister Amit Shah’s direc-tion to buy only swadeshiproducts in all canteens ofcentral paramilitary forces.This decision will also impactthe production and sales ofKVIC which will be fulfillingthe majority of supplies atthese stores, apart from lot ofjob opportunities to peopleacross the country, said VinaiKumar Saxena, Chairman,KVIC.

“India has taken the firstbig step towards becomingAatmanirbhar (self-reliant).Immediately after PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s callfor encouraging local products,the Home Minister Amit Shahhas taken a lead and has madeit mandatory for all canteensand stores of paramilitaryforces to sell only “Swadeshi”products through Khadi andVillage Industries Commission(KVIC). The move will opengreat employment opportuni-ties for farmers, unemployedyouths and lakhs of peoplealready engaged with cottageand village industries,” saidKVIC in a statement.

Saxena lauded the decisionof the Home Minister sayingthis would provide a big boostto the cottage and villageindustries sector apart from theMSMEs units. “This decisionwill directly benefit lakhs ofpeople engaged with manu-facturing of various villageindustries products. With thisorder over 10 lakh personnel ofthe various paramilitary forceswill be added to KVIC’s con-sumer base. As a goodwillgesture, the KVIC has alsoimmediately decided to supplyproducts to the CAPF canteensat a small margin of 3% only asagainst the 20% margin inother cases,” Saxena said.

Notably, there are 20 mas-ter bhandars of these forces

across the country with annu-al turnover of over �1,800crore. The KVIC is likely to getmajor share of the totalturnover. At present, KVIC hasregistered 17 products for thesupply to CAPF canteens.These include Khadi NationalFlag, eatables like honey, pick-les, edible oils, agarbatti, papad,

amla products and cotton tow-els etc Further, a list of 63 newproducts like Khadi clothes,woolens, cosmetics like herbaloils, shampoo, soaps, facewash, tea and coffee and oth-ers has been submitted to theCAPF canteens by KVIC to beincluded in supply list at thesestores.

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Country's liquor manufac-turers have welcomed the

Indian Army’s decision to pur-chase only India-made productsin the Canteen Stores includingIndian alcoholic beverages.

In a letter to the head ofCanteen Stores Department(CSD), the Confederation ofIndian Alcoholic BeverageCompanies (CIABC), the apexbody of the Indian alcoholic bev-erage industry, stated: “ArmedForces have been among the firstto respond to the PrimeMinister’s appeal to go local andhave decided to purchase onlyIndia-made products in CanteenStores. We compliment ArmedForces for this step as this willhelp India create world class

products, so vital for it to becomea global economic force."

CIABC Director GeneralVinod Giri said that Indianalcoholic beverage industry iscoming of age with internation-ally acclaimed single maltwhiskies like Amrut, Paul John,Rampur etc. “However, thesebrands need support andencouragement from theGovernment to become globalhousehold names. Hence, adecision by CSD, the largestpurchaser of alcoholic productsin India, to sell only Indian-made products is truly a water-shed moment for the Indianindustry. This will give themscale to compete globally, andspur them to innovate and pro-duce even better products,” headded.

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HRD Minister RameshPokhriyal 'Nishank' on

Monday released the reviseddatesheet for the pendingCBSE exams for both classes10 and 12, which will now beheld from July 1-15 with strictdistancing norms in place.

The exams were post-poned due to the nationwide lockdownimposed on March 25 to con-tain the spread of COVID-19.

While class 12 exams willbe conducted across thecountry, the class 10 examsare only pending in NorthEast Delhi, where they couldnot be held due to the law andorder situation in the wake ofprotests against the amendedcitizenship act.

The schedule has beendecided in order to ensurethat the board exams arecompleted before competitive examinationssuch as engineering entranceJEE-Mains, which is sched-uled from July 18-23, andmedical entrance exam NEET,which is scheduled on July 26.

"The class 10 exams willbe staggered on four dates,starting July 1. The first paper will be ofSocial Sciences, while thenext day students will berequired to appear in Scienceexam," CBSE Controller ofExamination SanyamBhardwaj said.

"On July 10, exams will beconducted for both courses ofHindi, and on July 15 for bothcourses of English," he said.

On health guidelines forstudents, Bhardwaj said, theywill be required to carry own sanitiser bottles and wearmask to their examinationcentres.

"Parents will have toensure their ward is not sick

and candidates will have tostrictly follow physical-dis-tancing norms," he said.

The class 12 date sheethas two sections - one forexams in Northeast Delhiand the other for examsacross the country.

In North East Delhi,Physics exam will be held onJuly 3, Accountancy (July 4),Chemistry (July 6), English(July 8) and Political Science(July 14).

On July 15, four class 12exams have been scheduled inNorth East Delhi --Mathematics, Economics,History and Biology.

For class 12 exams acrossthe countr y, the HomeScience exam will be held onJuly 1, followed by bothcourses of Hindi the nextday.

The class 12 BusinessStudies exam has been scheduled for July 9 followedby Biotechnology on July 10,and Geography on July 11.Sociology exam will be heldon July 13.

The board was not able toconduct class 10 and 12exams on eight examinationdays due to the coronavirusoutbreak.

The board had last monthannounced that it will onlyconduct pending exams in 29subjects which are crucial forpromotion and admission tohigher educational institutions.

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Apart of Krishi Bhawanbuilding in Central Delhi

has been sealed after an officialin the Ministry of Fisheries,Animal Husbandry andDairying tested positive forCOVID-19. The official worksas a personal secretary in theDepartment of AnimalHusbandry and Dairying.

"The entire office premis-es will be thoroughly sanitisedas per extant guidelines in thisregard on May 19 and May 20,apart from the daily sanitisationthat takes place," according toan official memorandum. Theofficers have been asked towork from home for the nexttwo days. The office will reopenon May 21, it said.

All those who had come indirect contact with the

COVID-19 patient have beenadvised to get themselves homequarantined and to also getthemselves tested after fivedays. They will be allowed toattend office only after beingtested negative for COVID-19,it added. The remaining staffwill be called from May 21 onrotation as per the instructions

of the Ministry of HomeAffairs.

Besides the Fishery,Animal Husbandry andDairying Ministry, KrishiBhawan also houses severalother ministries including agri-culture, food and consumeraffairs, rural development andpanchayati raj.

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Why the NovelCoronavirus is more fatal

to men than women? Is thereany link between prostratecancer in men and Covid-19?Is a protein receptor abnor-mally grown in prostrate can-cer patients is being used by thevirus to enter the lungs andattack lung tissue of men?

These are some of the per-tinent questions that a team ofresearchers from UniversityCalifornia Los Angles HealthSciences is exploring to helpimprove better clinical out-comes for men afflicted withCoronavirus.

In the UCLA-led clinicaltrial, researchers will suppressmale hormones using theFDA-approved medicationknown as degarelix, to tem-porarily shut down the pro-duction of TMPRSS2 andblock the virus from enteringlung tissue.

The decision came afterresearchers noted that the pro-tein receptor called TMPRSS2which is abnormal in abouthalf of all prostate cancerpatients plays a role in the

development and progressionof prostate cancer.

The UCLA researchersbelieve that the virus uses thissame receptor to enter thelungs and attack lung tissue.The receptor is regulated bymale hormones in prostatecancer, and researchers believeit may also be regulated in lungtissue by male hormones.

The phase 2 trial will assessif temporarily suppressingmale hormones will reduce theseverity of COVID-19 illnessby helping patients get out ofthe hospital faster, decrease theneed for intubation andimprove mortality.

The UCLA-led study isbeing conducted at theVeterans Affairs Greater LosAngeles Healthcare Systemand other VA sites across thecountry.

"It's becoming pretty clearthat men are more likely thanwomen to die from COVID-19and we think there is a con-nection between prostate can-cer research and our under-standing of COVID-19research," said principal inves-tigator Matthew Rettig, pro-fessor of medicine and urolo-

gy at the David Geffen Schoolof Medicine at UCLA andmember of the UCLA JonssonComprehensive Cancer Center.

"It's kind of like a lock andkey," explained Rettig, who isalso the chief of hematol-ogy/oncology at the VeteransAffairs Greater Los AngelesHealthcare System.

"If the virus was the keyand its receptor is the lock,then the virus inserts into thelock and can gain entry intothe lung while the male hor-mones makes that lock moreaccessible to the virus. By sup-pressing the male hormones,it's kind of like putting a pieceof masking tape over the lockso that the key won't fit in."

"We're hoping this (theresearch) will not only helpmen with COVID-19 get outof the hospital faster, but ulti-mately, see less men dyingfrom the virus," said Rettig.

Recent data from NewYork City, the epicenter ofinfections in the United States,show that men are not onlyinfected in greater numbers, but they are alsodying at nearly twice the rateof women.

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Veterans of 1972 batch ofGroup A CRPF Cadre offi-

cers have written to HomeMinister Amit Shah seekingaction against IPS officer andInspector General of Jammuand Kashmir Police VijayKumar for making casualcomments about CRPF's role inthe Valley.

During a recent reviewmeeting held by Jammu andKashmir Police DirectorGeneral, Kumar had said thatCRPF is not working well in theUnion Territory.

At the meeting for reviewof the local police, armed forcesand CAPFs collaborating inanti-terror operations in J&Kon April 29, Kumar hadallegedly said “CRPF is notworking well.”

“Here (In J&K), JKP gen-

erates intelligence,Army/Rashtriya Rifles carryout the operations and CRPF’sname is inserted just likethat...This I know, I have beenin CRPF,” the letter quotesKumar to have asserted duringthe meeting.

“This statement is not onlycontrary to the facts, but alsobelies the valorous sacrificesmade by the Force, a consis-tent track record of excep-tional performance, and lau-rels earned by the Force in themost difficult anti-terror oper-ations in Jammu and Kashmir.76 gallantry medals given atthe Republic Day of 2020 area testament to the sweat, bloodand martyrdom of brave menand women of CRPF,” the vet-erans said stated to buttress theparamilitary’s role in anti-ter-ror operations in the Valley.

The retired officials ofCRPF who have put in 35-40

years of service further said,“Singular lack of leadershipand maturity demonstratedby IGP Vijay Kumar, and hisfactually incorrect and hurtfulcomments, have caused con-sternation in the Force per-sonnel. Ignoring this incidentto let it pass would be evenmore hurtful and memories ofdisrespect will never fadeaway.”

“..a visible action fromyou would go a long way inrestoring the morale and con-fidence of the Force, repair thedamage caused by immatureand disrespectful commentsby Vijay Kumar, IGP Kashmir.It will also be a powerfulreminder to all to work togeth-er as a cohesive, collaborative,respectful and unified team towipe out the virus of terror-ism,” the group 35 veteranswho are signatories to the let-ter asserted.

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The Centre on Mondayundertook in the Delhi

High Court that it will followits standard operating proce-dure (SOP), including givingpriority to pregnant women,while repatriating Indiannationals stranded in SaudiArabia since the COVID-19outbreak.

The undertaking was givenbefore Justice Vibhu Bakhru byAdditional

Solicitor General ManinderAcharya and central govern-ment standing counsel JasmeetSingh who appeared for theMinistry of Home Affairs.

The high court noted theundertaking and bound thegovernment to the statementmade by it. The order camewhile disposing of a PIL by theUnited Nurses Associationseeking directions to the Centreto bring back 56 pregnantnurses stranded in SaudiArabia due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

With regard to the associ-ation's plea for bringing backthe pregnant nurses by via

special chartered flights, thehigh court said it was not giv-ing any such direction "as stepshave been The high court said,"It is expected that theGovernment would take

all necessary steps, withinthe limitation of the resourcesavailable, to operate flights tobring back Indian citizens whoare stranded overseas."

It also observed that "it isnecessary to ensure within the

category of persons who are tobe accorded priority, a higherpriority be accorded to personswho are in medical distress vis-à-vis persons who are other-wise hale and hearty but arestranded due to the expiry oftheir visa or other reasons".

The United NursesAssociation, represented byadvocate Subhash Chandran,

had also sought a directionto the MHA to "strictly follow"its SOP which states that pri-ority has to be given to peoplewith medical emergencies,including pregnant women.

The association claimedthat many of the pregnantnurses are in their thirdtrimester and therefore, require"medical and psycho-socio sup-port".

The petition had alsoclaimed that these women arestaying alone in Saudi Arabia asfamily status visa was not pro-vided to staff nurses like them.

The association had soughta direction to the Centre tobring back the stranded preg-nant nurses in the secondphase of 'Vande Bharat Mission'between May 19 and May 23.

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Page 5: ˆ ˆ˙ + ( , ˘ -./ · 2020. 5. 18. · from different States for resum-ing full services, including in red zones, a day after Home Ministry’s guidelines on lock-down 4.0 were

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As part of the initiative to put astop to the spread of coron-

avirus cases in Chennai,TamilNadu's major hotspot, authoritieshave switched over to a new phe-nomenon by name Herd Masking.A group of officials led by Dr JRadhakrishnan, former secretaryto the department of health whohas been appointed recently as thespecial officer for tackling Covid-19 in Chennai are on a mission tomask the unmasked.

Those in containment areas inChennai who come out of theirhouses without wearing face masksare issued masks byRadhakrishnan and his team ofofficials. “Our aim is to reduce thenumber of persons who areexposed to the virus spreading thispandemic. Over the last few daysmy team of officials have distrib-uted more than two lakh face

masks,” said Radhakrishnan.Radhakrishnan, who is a vet-

eran in fighting natural disastersand experienced in rescuing andrehabilitation of persons affectedby tsunami, cyclones and floodswant the wearing of mask to bemade compulsory in the State. “Itis possible for a coronavirus afflict-ed person to infect 10 persons andhence we should make it manda-tory to wear face masks,” saidRadhakrishnan.

Meanwhile political TamilNadu saw the fighting between theruling AIADMK and theOpposition DMK reaching newheights. MK Stalin, president,DMK, alleged that Tamil Nadu

Government has been left cluelessin controlling the coronaviruspandemic.

“The Government hasannounced that the 10th Standardexamination will be held from June1. How is it possible to have theexamination at this critical junc-ture? What is the need for con-ducting examination during thetime of Covid-19,” asked Stalin ina release on Monday.

T R Balu, MP and DMK’s NewDelhi face , said that the trancheof announcements made by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andFinance Minister NirmalaSithraman will not help in address-ing the problems faced by the poorin the country.

“The announcements weremeant for the rich and powerfulstrata of society. The Centre hasmailed miserably in handling thecoronavirus pandemic,” said Baluat Chennai.

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On the first day of the fourthphase of lockdown,

Karnataka has announcedmany relaxations but said theState will not allow peoplefrom four Covid -19 hit Statesto enter Karnataka. Further theState also announced ease oflockdown norms and lifts sev-eral restrictions.

In a press conference inBengaluru on Monday, ChiefMinister BS Yediyurappa hasannounced that Karnatakawill not allow entry of peoplefrom Gujarat, Maharashtra,

Kerala and Tamil Nadu tillMay 31 as a precautionarymeasure to contain the spreadof the deadly coronavirus.

He announced easing ofmany restrictions whichinclude operation of cabs,buses, opening of shops andallowing trains withinKarnataka from Tuesday.

According to Governmentsources Chief Minister hastaken this decision to give aboost to the economy of theState which has taken a beatingat the time of Covid-19 lock-down. Yediyurappa said trainsand state corporation buses willrun within Karnataka andshops will be allowed to open.

“Strict lockdown measureswill be followed in containmentzones and economic activitieswill be permitted in otherareas. Sundays will be totallockdown across the State,” he

said. Yediyurappa announcedthat strict lockdown measureswill be in place in containmentzones. He said all economicactivities will be permitted inthe State except for red zones.

According to ChiefMinister only 30 people wouldbe allowed to travel in the busesand wearing of face masks andmaintaining physical distanc-ing are mandatory. He said busfares will not be increased andinter-state transport would notbe allowed, except in emer-gency cases.

Auto and taxis were alsogiven green signal to get on toroads, but there should be onlythree passengers, including thedriver. In maxi-cabs, the max-imum number should be fourpassengers, including driver.

The State has also allowedparks to open up for the pub-lic, though gyms and golf

course will remain shut. Allshops that are standalone, inde-pendent shops can open acrossthe city, except for the ones inmalls. Salons will be allowed tooperate from Tuesday withfresh guidelines on their oper-ations.

The Centre on Sundayextended the nation-wide lock-down for another 14 days tillMay 31 and warned of strictaction under the DisasterManagement Act and IndianPenal Code if the fresh guide-lines are not followed. This isthe fourth time the lockdownhas been imposed in the coun-try.

The nationwide lockdownwas first imposed for 21 daysstarting March 25 and thenextended on April 15 and lateron May 4 with an aim to haltthe spread of novel coron-avirus.

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More than 200 farmers,most of them in loin-

cloth, the traditional wear ofTamil Nadu farmers, stageda demonstration in front ofthe district collector’s officeat Tiruchirappalli onMonday to give vent to theirdisappointment and dismayover the tranche ofannouncements worth �20lakh crore made by UnionFinance Minister NirmalaSithraman during the lastfour days to rejuvenate theeconomy.

Disregarding theGovernment order onassembly of people and socialdistancing norms, the farm-ers singing folk songs high-lighting their woes and wor-ries assembled under thescorching sun and shoutedslogans against the State andcentral Governments. “Theseries of announcements

made by the FinanceMinister are mere hog-wash. It is not going to savethe farmers from theimpending disaster. Youplease wait for some moretime and you will see manyfarmers committing suicidein Tamil Nadu,” AyyakkannuPonnusamy, president ofSouth Indian River InterLinking Association who ledthe agitation told ThePioneer.

“Considering the factthat 85 crore people in Indiaare dependent on agriculture,the Government should have

allocated a compensation of�20,000 per acre for the losscaused due to the nationwidelockdown. This means thatan amount of �14 lakh croreshould have been set apart tocompensate for the loss suf-fered by the farmers. Butwhatever allocation theFinance Minister has made isfar below the expectation,”said Ayyakkannu.

He said the FinanceMinister should consider allfarmers (small, medium andbig) as one irrespective of

the size of the farm theyown and provide

�20,000 per acre as com-pensation for the loss suf-fered by the farmers due tolockdown.

“The agitation was atotal success as many peopletook part in it irrespective ofthe weather and the fear ofcoronavirus. We will sittogether later this week todecide about the futurecourse of action,” saidAyyakkannu.

But KattumamnnarkoilKannan, vice president,Cauvery Delta Farmers

Association, said that themeasures announced by theFinance Minister would go along way in resolving theproblems faced by the farm-ers.

“The important thingabout the announcementsby the Finance Minister isthat only real farmers wouldbe eligible for farm loansnow. What was happening inTamil Nadu till now was thehijacking of farm loans byprivate financiers. Theywould usurp all loans meantfor farmers at the rate ofseven per cent interest andoffer loans to farmers at therate of 20 per cent interest.

This system will go withthe reforms ordered by thefinance minister,” saidKannan. But he expressed hisreservations against disbur-sal of more loans because it would end upmaking the farmers moredebt-ridden.

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Though the coronaviruscases in Tamil Nadu regis-

tered an increase on Mondayand took the total number ofpersons tested positive in theState till date to 11,760, therewas a sense of relief on the faceof Dr C Vijaya Baskar ,Minister of Health who briefedthe media late evening.

“We have tested 11,760coronavirus positive cases inthe State till Monday. Today536 persons were tested posi-tive across the State. Out ofthis, 46 persons were those whoreturned to the State fromMaharashtra. Chennai alonetested 364 coronavirus caseswhich took the total number ofcases in the capital city to7,270,” said the Minister. Hesaid the death toll was 81 withthree more persons succumb-

ing to the pandemic tillMonday evening.

Dr Baskar said that 3,37,841 samples have been testedand 61 laboratories are func-tioning on a round-the-clock-basis in the State.

“This is the highest num-ber of samples tested anywherein the country and we have thelargest number of labs,” said theMinister.

The day also saw the dis-charge of 234 persons from var-ious hospitals in the State mak-ing the total number of dis-charges in the State 4,406.“This means that there are7,270 active coronavirus casesunder treatment in the State.Our mortality rate is the low-est in the country and these fac-tors are encouraging,” said DrBaskar.

He also said that the lastten days saw an average of

12,536 samples being tested inthe State. “This is also thehighest number in the countrywhich further proves that theState is tackling the situationeffectively,” he said.

Dr J Radhakrishnan, vet-eran IAS officer, who is incharge of entire Chennai regionas the special officer for tack-ling Covid-19 pandemic saidthat aggressive testing was onin Greater Chennai. “We havetested almost one per cent ofthe population in the metrop-olis which is an achievement.

The spike in the number ofcases is due to the massive test-ing undertaken by my team ofhealth professionals and rev-enue officials who are helpingthem,” Dr Radhakrishnan toldThe Pioneer. He said he wasconfident of bringing down thenumbers to naught in comingdays.

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Jammu & Kashmirpolice personnel,

playing a crucial role incontaining spread ofcoronavirus, have beenadversely affected espe-cially in Kashmir valley.

In the last two days, at least55 police personnel includinga top ranking officer have test-ed positive only in Anantnagdistrict.

On Monday, 3 morepatients admitted in the ChestDisease hospital died taking thetotal tally of deaths due toCovid-19 to 16 while 106 freshcases of coronavirus weredetected, 12 from Jammu divi-sion and 94 from Kashmir val-ley.

The highest number of 59cases were detected inAnantnag on Monday. Out ofthese, 36 were police personnel.19 cops were tested positive inAnantnag on Sunday.Meanwhile, 12 cases each test-ed positive in Srinagar andKulgam. Among them fivedoctors also tested positive inSrinagar.

According to media bul-letin on novel coronavirus,“two patients, died at Chest dis-ease hospital in Srinagar while106 fresh cases were detectedtaking the total tally of positive

cases to 1,289 inJammu &Kashmir”. Outof 1289, 665cases are activepositive while atotal number of609 cases haverecovered inJammu &

Kashmir.According to official

sources, a 65-year-old femalefrom Kulgam, admitted inSMHS Hospital, tested positiveon Monday morning and soonafter she was admitted to CDHospital she died after suffer-ing a major cardiac arrest.

Another 70-year-old manfrom Hillar Anantnag died atCD Hospital Srinagar, follow-ing his multiple proceduresand comorbidities includingCovid-19 at SMHSHospital.Another cancerpatient, tested positive, died inChest disease hospital Mondayevening, official sources said.

In Jammu division, Poonchdistrict reported two cases ofcoronavirus. One of them wasidentified as governmentemployee of the health depart-ment. Meanwhile, 10 othercases detected in Jammu divi-sion were stranded passengerswho were screened atLakhampur and tested positivewhile they were kept underadministrative quarantine.

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Thiruvananthapuram: KeralaChief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan,here on Monday, said 29 newcoronavirus cases in the statehad raised the number of peo-ple under treatment to 130. “Ofthese, 21 came from abroad, 7from other states,” Vijayan said.

Stating that 630 peoplehave tested coronavirus positivein the state, the Chief Ministersaid 67,316 people were underobservation in homes and 473in hospitals. The total hotspotareas have risen to 29.

On lockdown easing,Vijayan said, “The public trans-port will be allowed within thedistrict and in buses only 50 percent seating capacity will bepermitted. IANS

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Eighty-four new Covid-19cases, majority of them

with travel history to Mumbai,emerged in the past 19 hours inKarnataka, which is the high-est single day rise, taking thestate's tally to 1,231, accordingto an official, here on Monday.

In addition to 54 patientswho visited Mumbai, two hadtravelled to Solapur and one toRaigad in Maharashtra. Totalcases with Maharashtra contactwere 57 out of 84. Of all thecases, 58 were men and 26women.

Of the 1,231 cases, 672 areactive, 521 got discharged and37 died from Covid-19.

Nowadays, Karnataka isregularly posting the highestsingle-day rises, beating earli-er maximums.

On Monday, cases spikedin Raichur, Bengaluru Urban,Gadag, Yadagiri, UttaraKannada and Mandya. UntilSunday, Raichur was a greenzone without a case.

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Ending the long wait, theJammu & Kashmir

Government on Monday noti-fied Jammu & Kashmir Grantof Domicile Certificate(Procedure) Rules, 2020.

These Rules prescribe theprocedure for issuance ofDomicile Certificate whichhas been made the basic eligi-bility condition for appoint-ment to any post under theUnion Territory of Jammu &Kashmir following amend-ments in the Jammu &Kashmir Civil Services(Decentralization andRecruitment) Act, 2010.

Under the Domicile Rules,Permanent Residents of theerstwhile State of J&K in whosefavour Permanent ResidentCertificate (PRC) has beenissued by the competentauthority before 31.10.2019shall be eligible for receivingtheir Domicile Certificates onthe basis of PRCs alone and noother additional documentshall be required for such res-idents.

Kashmiri migrants canalso get the Domicile certificateon production of either a PRCor Certificate of registration ofmigrant. Further there may bebonafide migrants andbonafide displaced personswho have migrated but havenot registered with the reliefdepartment. In order to facil-itate such persons, the ReliefDepartment shall be making aspecial limited provision to

apply before the Relief &Rehabilitation Commissioner(Migrant), for registration forthe purpose of issuance of adomicile certificate only, withany one of the many docu-ments, such as 1951/1988 elec-toral roll, proof of employ-ment, ownership of property,proof of registration in otherstates/UTs as a migrant or adisplaced person or any otherdocumentation which wouldhave made him/her eligible forgrant of PRC before 06-08-2019.

As a result of the new rulesand procedure, West PakistanRefugees (WPRs), SafaiKaramcharis and Children ofWomen married outsideJammu and Kashmir who wereearlier deprived shall also benow eligible for DomicileCertificate. West PakistaniRefugees were part of theParliamentary electoral rollbut not that erstwhile stateelectoral roll. They will now becovered under the 15 year res-idence rule or their childrenunder the 7 year/ class 10/12rule.

In addition, all those per-sons and their children whohave resided for 15 years inJammu & Kashmir or havestudied for seven years andappeared in class 10th or 12thexamination in an education-al institution in the UT are eli-gible for grant of domicile.Children of CentralGovernment officials, All Indiaservice Officers, officials ofPSUs and Autonomous body

of Central Government, PublicSector Banks, Officials ofStatutory bodies, Officials ofCentral Universities and rec-ognized research institutes ofthe Central Government, whohave served in the Union ter-ritory of Jammu & Kashmir fora total period of ten years willalso be eligible for Domicilestatus in the UT.

Besides, all those migrantsand their children who are reg-istered with Relief andRehabilitation Commissionerwill be granted Domicile cer-tificate. Children of those res-idents of Jammu & Kashmirwho reside outside the UnionTerritory in connection withtheir employment of businessor other professional or voca-tional reasons have alsobecome eligible for grant ofdomicile status.

The rules provide a simpleand time bound procedurefor the issuance of theDomicile certificate so that noone is put to any inconve-nience. There shall be a time-line of 15 days for issuance ofthe certificate after which theapplicant shall be free toapproach an AppellateAuthority.

The decision of theAppellate Authority shall bebinding upon the issuingauthority and the orders of theAppellate Authority are to becomplied within seven days,failing which the defaultingofficer shall be liable for apenalty of ��50,000 out of hissalary.

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In a bid to effect a micro-surveillance of the corona-

hit areas and at the same timeafford a thin life line to agasping economy BengalGovernment has sliced thecontainment zones into threesub-divisions.

Announcing the deci-sion Chief Minister MamataBanerjee on Monday saidthat the containment zoneswould henceforward bedivided into ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’sub-zones.

Declaring that Bengalwill not impose curfew buttoo will continue the lock-down till May 31, the Chief

Minister said “the contain-ment zones in Bengal will besub-divided into three zones:Zone A- which will be theaffected zones, Zone B- orthe buffer zones, and Zone Cthat are - clean zones,” adding“we are however not infavour of imposing curfew aswe don’t want to use thatword for our state.”

While in A zones therewill be complete shutdownwith no activity the zone Bswill have partial relaxations.Zone C will get completerelaxations, she said addingeven in such zones the peo-ple will have to maintainsocial distancing and all otherprotocols they are required tofollow.

The State which alreadyhad allowed opening of road-side food stalls, mobile shops,electronic shops etc would let

big shops open from May 21she said adding the vendorsmarket too will be allowed toopen from May 27 --- “butwith some restrictions andprotocols.” She said the streetvendors would be allowed toopen their shops on “odd-even basis so as to avoidcrowding” of the sidewalks.Hotels too would be allowedto function with social dis-tancing norms but restau-rants would remain shut tillfurther orders, she said.

On the migrant workers’issue she said the State gov-ernment was handling thecrisis with utmost sensitivitypaying for the fares or arrang-ing for their travel back homeadding “about 2-3 lakh peo-ple had been brought back inbuses and trains,” Banerjeesaid referring apparently tothe allegations brought by the

BJP that the StateGovernment was not doingenough to bring back themigrants.

Swelling on the issueState BJP president Dilip saidthat “the State Government isignoring the plight of themigrant workers. They arenot bringing them backthough the Centre is readywith trains.”

He asked, “when UttarPradesh can requisition 400trains, Bihar, Jharkhand andother States too can takeback their workers in hugenumbers why should Bengalshirk its responsibility?”

Earlier senior leaderRahul Sinha demanded atleast 1000 trains to bringback the workers. “The ChiefMinister has said that she hasrequisitioned 105 trains thatwill bring back workers till

June 15. This means thatthese workers will have toremain stranded for anotherone month or so. Besides howmany people can be broughtback in 105 trains. There is aneed of at least 1000 to 1200trains to evacuate the haplessworkers,” he said.

Attacking TrinamoolCongress for dismissing thecentral package as a lip-ser-vice, Ghosh said that “theChief Minister and her partyhad wanted cash in theirhands so that the State canparty with that fund as theydid with the funds sent forAila and Bulbul cyclones…This time Modiji (PrimeMinister) was cautious aboutseeing the money go into thepocket of the people whoneed it. This is the reasonwhy this government is angryon the Centre.”

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With cyclone Ampan crystallisinginto a super cyclonic storm

threatening large parts of coastalBengal the State Government went ona high alert suspending ferry servicesin all districts and transporting vul-nerable villagers to safer areas, sourcesaid.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeewho called an emergency meeting oftop officials said the “Government istaking all necessary precautions likeit did on earlier occasions to minimisethe damage.”

Bengal Home Secretary AlaponBandopadhyay said “the entire statemachinery is prepared to deal with thesituation” adding disaster manage-ment teams were being sent to thehigh risk areas like North and South24 Parganas and East Midnaporeincluding the coastal town of Digha

a much sought after tourist destina-tion. The Government had arrangedfor shelters following social distanc-ing norms the Home Secretary saidadding National Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF) teams hadbeen put on high alert to con-duct rescue and relief opera-tions

High alert had been issued in two24 Parganas, particularly theSundreban areas and East Midnapore,he said adding senior officials werecamping in the stated areas.

Super cyclonic storm Amphan ishurtling towards Digha at a highspeed of about 180 kmph weatheroffice said adding during landfallsometime on Wednesday the windspeed could be around 140-160 kmph.In fact a day before on Tuesday thewind speed could be around 60-80kmph, weather office sources said.

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The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) onMonday predicted heavyrains in Kerala on account of

the extremely severecyclonic storm'Amphan' over westcentral and adjoining

central parts of South Bay ofBengal moving north-northwestwards, following whichthe State DisasterManagement Authority(SDMA) placed 13 of the 14districts under yellow alert.

Yellow alert means peo-ple and authorities have to becautious as heavy rainfallcan be expected. Only thecapital district has been leftout from the yellow alert onMonday.

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In two major developmentsthat would help the State

Government tackle the coron-avirus situation in the State dur-ing the lockdown-four period,the State-run MMRDA onMonday handed over the 1026-bed Covid Care Centre-2(CCC-2) facility created on theMMRDA ground at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) here,even as eight companies ofCentral Armed Police Forces(CAPF) arrived in Maharashtrato help the State police inenforcing the lockdown-4strictly in the coming days.

Mumbai MetropolitanRegion Development Authority(MMRDA) Commissioner R ARajeev handed over the newCCC-2 with quarantine and iso-lation facility with treatment fornon-critical Covid-19 patients atBKC exhibition ground in north-central Mumbai toBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation’s CommissionerIqbal Singh Chahal in the pres-ence of chief minister UddhavThackeray, deputy ChiefMinister Ajit Pawar, seniorCongress minister BalasahebThorat and other senior minis-ters and bureaucrats on Monday.

At the new facility, there arein all 1,026 beds. In each of the18 wards created at this facility,

there are in all 504 cots (28 cotsin each ward) with Oxygen sup-ply facility to the patients. In nineother wards, there are in all 522cots ( 58 cots in each ward). Inaddition, there are 10 ICUmobile beds.

The BMC has appointed 13doctors, eight nurses and 14ward to manage this CCC-2facility at MMRDA ground.

Spread over 1 lakh sq feet,the Covid Care Centre-2 hasbeen created at the MMRDAground in a record 14 days. Thework, which started on May 2,was completed on May 16.

Jupiter Hospital, Thane as apart of its CSR activity has pro-vided the design and technicalguidance for the construction ofthis hospital, while MMRDA hasborne the cost of constructingthe hospital. It will be a full-fledged hospital with the facili-ties of pathology labs to conductgeneral blood tests of patients.

Meanwhile, eight compa-nies of the Central ArmedPolice Forces (CAPF) arrived inMaharashtra on Monday toassist the state police with theCovid-19 duties

Announcing this, HomeMinister Anil Deshmukh saidhere: “While 5 companies –each with 1 20 highly-trainedpersonnel - will be deployed infrom tomorrow, five others shallbe spread across the State.”

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Page 6: ˆ ˆ˙ + ( , ˘ -./ · 2020. 5. 18. · from different States for resum-ing full services, including in red zones, a day after Home Ministry’s guidelines on lock-down 4.0 were

It may take some more time for theCOVID-19 pandemic to be broughtfully under control in our country andto be eventually eliminated but one thingis clear, Coronavirus is certain to result

in a re-ordering of India’s federal structure andrelations between the Union and the States.While a united national effort is on to tack-le the virus, there are a few discordant voic-es here and there that question the UnionGovernment’s right to issue directions to theStates. The nation has never witnessed sucha national health crisis ever before and, there-fore, Constitutional and other legal provisionsthat exist to deal with an emergency of thiskind will, inevitably, have to be deployed. Thismeans that the “unitary tilt” that is there inthe Constitution becomes rather pronouncedin circumstances such as these.

BR Ambedkar, the Chairman of the draft-ing committee of the Constitution, dwelt onthe nature of the Indian federation vis-à-visother bodies, especially in emergencies, in hisconcluding remarks on November 25, 1949,in the Constituent Assembly. He said thatthere was an allegation that there was toomuch centralisation and that the States hadbeen reduced to municipalities. He said thisview was not only an exaggeration but wasalso founded on a misunderstanding of whatthe Constitution sought to achieve.

The basic principle of federalism is thatthe legislative and the executive authority ispartitioned between the Centre and the States,not by any law to be made by the former butby the Constitution itself. This principle isembodied in the Constitution. Therefore, hesaid, the charge that centralisation is defeat-ing federalism must fail. The second chargewas that the Centre had been given the powerto override the States. Ambedkar said he“admitted” to this charge and explained thatthe overriding powers do not form the nor-mal features of the Constitution. He said,“their use and operations are expressly con-fined to emergencies only.”

He obviously had in mind not only thearticles in the Constitution regarding theproclamation of an emergency among otherthings but also the powers vested in the Centrein the Union List and the Concurrent List inthe Seventh Schedule to make laws to dealwith emergency situations. For example, item23 under the Concurrent List in the SeventhSchedule gives the Union Government thepower to make law with respect to “preven-tion of the extension from one State to anoth-er of infectious and contagious diseases orpests affecting men, animals and plants.”

In the light of this epidemic and the coor-dinated national effort that is on, one can seethe Disaster Management Act (DMA) as onewhich enables the Centre to evolve a nation-al policy and a plan of action to handle thecurrent COVID-19 crisis.

This Act defines a disaster as “a catastro-phe, mishap, calamity or grave occur-rence…..” Several of its provisions, includingSections 6, 10 and 35, empower the Centre

to take charge when a disasterstrikes, issue directions andensure compliance.

The orders issued by theUnion Home Secretary, who isalso the chairperson of theNational Executive Committee,regarding the lockdown and themeasures to be taken to imple-ment the same, flow from theseprovisions of the DMA. Forexample, in his March 29 order,the Home Secretary referred tothe movement of a large numberof migrants in different parts ofthe country and violation oflockdown measures on maintain-ing social distance and said thatin case of any violation of thesedirections, the States and UnionTerritories should take necessaryaction. The order also made itexplicitly clear that the districtmagistrates and the superinten-dents of police in the districts“will be personally liable for theimplementation of these direc-tions and lockdown measuresissued under the above-men-tioned orders.”

This, to ensure that theorders are not flouted becausegenerally, the district magistratesand superintendents of police aredrawn from the Central servicesand they are well acquainted withthe consequences of non-compli-ance in these matters. Apartfrom the provisions in theConcurrent List and the DMA,the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897,also arms the Centre with pow-ers to handle such epidemics.

However, the State of WestBengal took objection to the

Centre’s decision to send inter-ministerial Central teams toassess the situation on theground in some districts thatwere suspected to be COVID-19hotspots in the State. Somepolitical parties, too, joined themurmur and complained aboutthe Union Government’s atti-tude. However, the Centre’sdecision to take charge of theoverall operations vis-à-visCOVID-19 is in line with theConstitutional scheme devisedby Ambedkar and his colleaguesseven decades ago.

The Constitution vestsresiduary power with the UnionGovernment as also the powerto override the States in anemergency. According to KCWheare, a noted Constitutionalauthority, the IndianConstitution establishes a systemof Government which is quasi-federal. It is “a unitary State withsubsidiary federal features ratherthan a federal state with sub-sidiary unitary features.” IvorJennings, too, concluded that theIndian Constitution “is a feder-ation with a strong centralisingtendency.”

In his concluding remarks,Ambedkar was emphatic withregard to the tilt towards astrong Centre in certain contin-gencies. He said that in the opin-ion of the vast majority of thepeople, the residual loyalty of thecitizen in an emergency must beto the Centre and not to the con-stituent States. For, it is only theCentre that can work for acommon end and for the gen-

eral interests of the country as awhole. Herein lies the justifica-tion for giving to the Centre cer-tain overriding powers to beused in an emergency. “After all,what is the obligation imposedupon the constituent States bythese emergency powers? Nomore than this that in an emer-gency, they should take into con-sideration alongside their ownlocal interests, the opinions andinterests of the nation as awhole. Only those, who have notunderstood the problem, cancomplain against it.”

When one reads theseobservations of Ambedkar, onerealises the depth of his under-standing and his foresight. Heknew his country and his peo-ple very well. He could anticipatethe problems that could arise ina national emergency in a coun-try that is as diverse as India.Currently, 42 political partiesrun the States and UnionTerritories and are tugging indifferent directions with regardto the plans to fight this epidem-ic. Only a strong centralisingforce with adequate consulta-tions (the Prime Minister hasheld several rounds of discus-sions with the Chief Ministers)between the Union and theStates can help tackle this prob-lem. We owe it to our foundingfathers for creating theConstitutional mechanism tocope with this pandemic andnational emergency.

(The writer is an author spe-cialising in democracy studies.Views expressed are personal.)

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���������������������������� ���������������������������������%������������������������������������������,����� �����������������%������������������������������� ����������(�������������(����������������������������������� �������!��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ������������� ��������$��������������� ������������ ���������������������2,�������������������� ������� %������� ������� ��� ���� ���� ���������� ���� ����%�����������������������������������������(��������������������

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Sir — The COVID-19 pandem-ic has led to the dilemma of lifevs livelihood for Governments,Central and States, as well as thecitizens. The problem is exacer-bated due to the absence of basicincome and food security facili-ties for migrant workers. Withmost workers taking a trainhome, the migrant crisis willcome to haunt the country’sdevelopment paradigm as theseworkers are the wheels of theurban economy.

Moreover, according to the2011 census, there were 45 croreinternal migrants, who account-ed for 37 per cent of the popula-tion. In this context, the Centre’splan to roll out the one nation, oneration card scheme is welcome.This programme is meant for thewelfare of migrant workers. Butloopholes remain. The packageprovides for the distribution offoodgrains only. It does little toaddress the plight of those worstaffected. And it’s not just a mat-ter of losing livelihoods. Workershave lost lives in an attempt toreunite with their family.

Gautam SR Bhopal

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Sir — The Union Governmenthas taken the right decision tovest greater powers with the

States by allowing them to decideon the reopening of all commer-cial activities. The onus is now onthe State Governments to preparea roadmap for a safe resumptionof the economy on the one hand

and devising COVID-19 manage-ment strategies on the other.

It’s a do-or-die situation notonly for the Central and StateGovernments but also for thepeople of this country. Citizens

must exercise voluntary safety tokeep the spread of the disease incheck. They must venture out oftheir homes only when necessary.

The succour is that awarenessregarding the need to maintainsocial distancing has grown. Sincethere is no cure for the virus andthe economy, too, cannot be keptin limbo, people must cooperatewith the Government by follow-ing all safety protocols. In theabsence of any cure or vaccine, wewill be living a dangerous life. Anylaxity on our part and we willhave to pay a huge penalty.

Katuru Durga Prasad RaoHyderabad

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Sir — It will be good if the Statesagree to open up public transport.The general public needs publictransport, including buses, metro,cabs and auto rickshaws. But atthe same time, the safety of thecitizens, too, will have to beensured through social distancingand other guidelines.

SwetaVia email

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The pandemic and the resultant lockdowns puta temporary stop to economic activitiesacross the globe, impacting millions of peo-

ple and their livelihoods. The Asian DevelopmentBank (ADB) estimates this loss to be around $4 tril-lion, which is nearly five per cent of the global GrossDomestic Product (GDP). As a young, developingnation with 65.97 per cent of the population stillresiding in the villages, the pandemic not only test-ed India’s economic resilience but also exposed thegrowing urban-rural divide and income inequali-ty. As we continue to step up our fight against theCoronavirus, we are certain that the post-pandem-ic world would be different from what we left behind.The rebuilding exercise should, therefore, begin withrural India — where, as Mahatma Gandhi said, “Thesoul of India lives.”

Rural India has always found it challenging tounleash its economic potential due to a variety offiscal and social factors. A major reason among themis the continued unavailability of reliable power. Percapita electricity consumption in rural areas stillremains significantly low due to erratic power sup-ply. Research data show that there is a strong pos-itive correlation between economic development andelectricity consumption. For example, China start-ed growing at double digit when the demand andconsumption of power in rural areas doubled andthe small-scale businesses expanded rapidly.Similarly, rural India, too, has a growing demandfor reliable electricity but due to supply side con-straints, this demand remains partially unfulfilled.

How do we address the challenge and ensurereliable power for all? We must strengthen the last-mile power delivery system, which is largely dom-inated by State-run Distribution Companies (DIS-COMS). But as DISCOMS continue to remaintrapped in mounting losses and operational ineffi-ciencies, last-mile power delivery has taken a back-seat. The DISCOMs, therefore, need to streamlineand strengthen their distribution networks withgreater focus on enhancing customer satisfaction,timely complaint redressal, regularised billingprocesses and transparency in finances at all levels.Addressing challenges such as power theft and billinginadequacies can help DISCOMS enhance theirdelivery efficiency.

In addition, the proposed amendments to theElectricity Act, 2003, particularly the unlicenced sub-distribution and payment security mechanism, willboost private sector investments in the distributionsector, reduce their losses and strengthen operationalefficiencies of DISCOMS. Private investments willnot only help DISCOMS deal with financial stressbut will enhance the quality of services and healthycompetition. This will ultimately have a transfor-mative impact on last-mile power delivery andensure access to reliable power for rural households.

India is home to abundant non-conventionalenergy sources such as solar, water and wind thatcan be effectively harnessed to supply reliable elec-tricity to rural households and micro-enterprises.Renewable energy provides low-cost power mod-els and can be deployed even in remote areas despitethe geographical barriers. Expansion of renewableenergy-based mini-grids in rural India can be fur-ther incentivised and be provided additional poli-cy support for generation and distribution of elec-tricity at affordable rates to rural households.

Mini-grids serve as the primary source of elec-

tricity in regions where grid-connectedpower has not found its way yet. A recentsurvey on the impact of COVID-19 inmini-grid villages of Uttar Pradesh (UP)and Bihar revealed that 90 per cent of therural households trust mini-grids for reli-able power supply. However, despitemini-grids becoming a trusted source ofreliable electricity for rural India, theyoften run the risk of reverse migration ofcustomers to centralised grids when thenecessary infrastructure is available.

This concern, however, can beaddressed by integrating mini-grids withcentralised ones to provide enhancedaccess to electricity supply. A fully-inte-grated power system is an optimal solu-tion for electrifying un-electrified villageswith reliable power. Integrated power sup-ply models can minimise the cost by intro-ducing efficient planning, investmentand operation of assets with significanteconomies of scale. Ghana, for example,built an integrated grid, providing powerto 85 per cent of its urban population and41 per cent of the rural population.Integrated power systems can speed up therural electrification process and ensurereliable supply.

The health and economic crises trig-gered by the pandemic clearly underlinethe significance of providing reliablepower for all critical rural infrastructuresuch as health centres, micro-enterprisesand schools. Productive uses of energysuch as for irrigation, small businesses, tai-loring, food storage and so on will furtherensure adequate livelihood options forrural communities with greater econom-ic resilience.

How will reliable electricity helprural India rebuild its economy?

Rural healthcare: This is a key areathat will lead to a new economic revolu-

tion in the post-pandemic world. India’shealthcare preparedness was found to beinadequate during our fight against theCOVID-19 pandemic. Primary healthcentres, which approximately serve 65 percent of the rural populations, need to bemodernised with state-of-the-art infra-structure, especially uninterrupted powersupply. Reliable supply can provide cru-cial support to critical functions of thesehealth centres, especially during medicalemergencies. The survey also revealed thata majority of the rural households dependon community health centres for theirmedical needs. Inadequate and irregularsupply of electricity may affect theirfunctioning with critical implications forrural populations. Electrifying and mod-ernising the health centres will, therefore,be a key step towards rebuilding the econ-omy and reshaping the lifestyle of ruralpopulations. Millions of dollars can besaved if rural populations have access tohigh quality healthcare services. This willnot only have a lasting economic impacton health delivery but will lead to bettersocial outcomes such as improved healthand hygiene.

Modernising agriculture: Farmingremains the primary source of livelihoodfor nearly 65 per cent of Indians. Yet, agri-culture productivity is significantly low inIndia and accounts for only 15.4 per centof the GDP. The growth in agriculture hasbeen moderate in the past decade at near-ly three per cent per annum. Critical func-tions such as irrigation, harvesting, post-harvest handling and storage, all requirereliable power supply. In regions whererainfall is scanty, groundwater is themain source of irrigation. Electricitydemand in rural India is majorly drivenby irrigation. Villages with access to elec-tricity have seen an uptick in agricultur-

al productivity with availability of low-costirrigation technologies. For example,rural households that would sell paddy ata low price earlier sell hulled rice as thereis an electricity-powered rice huller in thevillage. These are few of the examples ofthe transformative impact of reliableelectricity supply. Modernising agriculturewill unlock myriad employment andbusiness opportunities for rural India.

Big push to micro and small busi-nesses: Formalisation of the rural econ-omy is an essential step in providing nec-essary infrastructural support to buddingmicro and small businesses. Reliableelectricity supply encourages creationand expansion of new businesses in ruralareas and can potentially open the doorfor greater economic activity and invest-ments. Villages with access to reliable elec-tricity have already seen the emergence ofmicro enterprises such as training centresfor computer skills, coaching institutes andtravel agencies. The income levels ofhouseholds engaged in small business havewitnessed a steady increase, too. These arereplicable models that can be extended toother villages and reliable power can helprural India unleash its economic poten-tial.

As we seek to rebuild the rural econ-omy, reliable electricity will play a crucialrole in promoting micro-enterprises,doubling farmer incomes and creating sus-tainable job opportunities. The cumula-tive impact of improved healthcare, mod-ernised agriculture practices and rise inrural enterprises will be significant and willenable rural India’s transformation into ahub of economic activity. A new India iswaiting to be born out of the COVID-19pandemic.

(The writer is Chief Executive Officerof Smart Power India)

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���������.����������������������������������� ������������������������������������������������#���������(����� ����������������������� ���������������������(���������� �1������������������������������������@�� �������������������������������������������������������������������1��������� �����������������������(��������������������������������������#���������(��������������������� �.������ ������������ �������(��������.��������������������� ����������� ����������������������� ����� ������������������������ �������������������1��������������������� ��������(�������������������������� ������ ������������������������������������ �������������������������������������#������������������������������������������#������� ����� ���.�������� ����������������������������������������������4�� �����������������������������*��������� �������������������4��������4�����������������������������������.����������� ������������ ���.���������������������������������������������������������������#�������������������������������������(E������������������������������������#���������������������������������������������

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In the last week of April, the ForeignMinisters of Brazil, Russia, India,China, and South Africa (BRICS)

held a video-conference to discussBRICS’ handling of COVID-19.Around a week later, the UnitedNations Security Council (UNSC)Chair, Estonia, criticised the council’sapproach to COVID-19. The criticismcomes at a time when the US andChina have stalled any contagion res-olution to be passed. BRICS membersRussia and South Africa backedChina’s bid to block discussions in theUNSC in late March. The events in theUNSC and the discussions in theBRICS are a mismatch. BRICS repre-sents 43 per cent of the world’s popu-

lation while the UNSC is the premierforum for all discussions and collec-tive action against threats to peace andsecurity around the world. COVID-19has not spared any country, developedor developing, which begs the ques-tion, does China truly support multi-lateralism on the world stage?

In October 2019, US PresidentDonald Trump in the United NationsGeneral Assembly (UNGA) said: “Thefuture doesn’t belong to globalists. Thefuture belongs to patriots.” The state-ment echoed what he said a year ear-lier while addressing the UNGA: “Wereject the ideology of globalism and weembrace the doctrine of patriotism.”The US, under the Trump administra-tion, has had a mixed history of aver-sion towards multilateralism, whichstarted with Trump’s election campaignbased on the notion of “AmericaFirst” (also his campaign slogan).

The US has more than one mil-lion COVID-19 cases, which is thehighest in the world. Trump has notshied away from criticising China, andalso the World Health Organisation,(WHO) going as far as calling it “…China’s PR agency.” The statement

came after the US decided to put onhold all funding for the WHO. Themove has raised questions regardingUS priorities in the competitionagainst Beijing: America First vs mul-tilateral cooperation. Critics of theTrump administration do agree thatthe WHO was deferential to China atthe start of the crisis but holding outon the funding seems to defeat the pur-pose, as it gives China more sway inglobal multilateral forums. The sus-pension of funds might or might notbe removed later but the Trumpadministration’s proposed budget for2021 calls for voluntary contributionsto be reduced by half for the WHO.

The US’ reason for stalling theUNSC resolution is that it wants“transparency” added into the Frenchand Tunisian “compromise” resolutionon COVID-19. The other way the USis considering for passing the resolu-tion is a refashioned language forma-tion on transparency along with drop-ping any reference to the WHO.China is using this opportunity toblock any resolution on COVID-19.The US and Chinese Ambassadors tothe UN were involved in a twitter spat

accusing each other of irresponsiblehandling of the pandemic.

The Trump administration hasquestioned its global commitments, asmentioned above, which has led toChina taking the lead. China has start-ed contributing more to the UN andhas used this to put its top CommunistParty officials to fill its leadership posts.Chinese nationals now head a quarterof the UN’s specialised agencies. TheUS backing out of the Human RightsCouncil, suspending funding to theWHO, might lead to ceding ground tothe Chinese. Although there is lowconfidence in China’s role as a globalleader but in the future, a clash of lib-eral values with the Communist Partyof China’s interest and values cannotbe ruled out.

Can BRICS fill the void left by theUS? There are two reasons as to whyBRICS cannot fill the US’ shoes. Thefirst one is, BRICS when it was formu-lated was seen as an intersection ofSouth-South cooperation. The group-ing was perceived to bring aboutnoticeable changes to the existingsecurity paradigm and bring notablechanges to the world order. A group-

ing like BRICS fuelled hopes for a mul-tipolar world, but it is not what meetsthe eye when it comes to China’s per-ception of a multipolar world.

China’s strategies and motivationare inspired by its rich history of inter-nal warfare, strife, and foreign occu-pation. The Stratagems of WarringStates (an ancient Chinese text ofmanipulation and warfare) explainsthat the natural world is hierarchical,and systems without a rule are tran-sitional. This is the opposite of whatBeijing claims when they say that theylook forward to a multipolar worldwhere the US is the first amongequals. Chinese officials in the UN andother public forums since 2005 havespoken a lot about da tong, which hasbeen translated as a “commonwealth”or “an era of hierarchy” but, the bet-ter translation of da tong is “an era ofunipolar dominance.”

The second reason is the tensionson the India-China border. Multiplesoldiers on both sides have beeninjured during a skirmish along theboundary in North Sikkim near theNaku La sector. Added to this, in lateMarch, it was reported that China had

deployed underwater drones and shipsin the Indian Ocean Region (IOR),which are capable of conducting sub-marine and anti-submarine operations.The takeaway from this particular inci-dent is China’s increasing capabilitieswhen it is looking to expand its pres-ence in the IOR. In both cases, theIndian Army and the Navy respective-ly declined to comment to the press.

China’s credibility has been underthe scanner as a future global leaderdue to the accusations of mismanage-ment of handling COVID-19. Theaggressiveness on the Line of ActualControl and the IOR and the US aver-sion to multilateralism put India in atight spot. During the G-20 video con-ference in March, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi called for structuralreform of the WHO. India has beenapproached by Taiwan to support itsbid to participate in the World HealthAssembly, which is the WHO’s parentorganisation. China is not in favour ofTaiwan’s participation in the WHOmeeting in Geneva on May 18. The cri-sis created by COVID-19 has pushedliberal values to its limits and has ledto an anti-globalisation wave world-

wide. Taiwan has been able to pushback against COVID-19 effectively.The methods and practices could beused globally but it might not be pos-sible as China intervenes in globalforums and opposes its inclusion.

The New Development Bank ofBRICS has loaned $15 billion to boostthe grouping’s economies. Furtheron, a Vaccine Research andDevelopment Centre is being consid-ered by the grouping to find a cure forCOVID-19. The initiatives by BRICSare commendable but the problemsbetween India and China, along withBeijing’s ambitions and interventionsin global forums, curtail its effective-ness to provide alternate solutions,especially when BRICS is supposed tofacilitate the Global SouthCooperation. India should start con-sidering BRICS just as an economicinterest group, in light of recent eventson the border and the IOR, while notallowing China to use the grouping asa strategic device to promote retool-ing of global fora like the UN.

(The writer is a Research Associateat the VIF. The views expressed are per-sonal)

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Europe reopened more wide-ly on Monday, allowing

people into the Acropolis inAthens, high-fashion boutiquesin Italy, museums in Belgium,golf courses in Ireland andbeer gardens in Bavaria. Chinaannounced it will give $2 bil-lion to the fight against thecoronavirus.

As nations carved out anew normal amid the pan-demic, Chinese President XiJinping told the World HealthOrganization’s annual meet-ing that the money will be paidout over two years to helprespond to Covid-19, whichhas killed hundreds of thou-sands and devastated nationaleconomies. He said the fundswill especially support efforts indeveloping countries.

Xi’s address came amidsharp tensions between Beijingand President Donald Trump,who has suspended U.S. fund-ing to WHO and accused it offailing to stop the virus fromspreading when it first surfacedin China. Health and HumanServices Secretary Alex Azarrepresented the US at the meet-ing, held online this year.

WHO announced it willevaluate the response to theoutbreak “at the earliest appro-priate moment,” after a watch-dog body found possible short-comings in the UN agency’shandling of the crisis.

New infections and deathshave slowed considerably inEurope, where some countriesstarted easing lockdowns amonth ago. Many nations arepreparing to open their bordersnext month, trying to sketchout the rules for a highlyunusual summer tourist season.

Germany’s foreign ministerwas discussing the options withcolleagues from 10 largelysouthern European countries.

More than 4.7 million peo-ple worldwide have tested pos-itive for the coronavirus andover 3,15,000 deaths have beenreported, according to a tally byJohns Hopkins University.Those figures are believed tounderstate the true dimen-sions of the outbreak becauseof limited testing, differences incounting the dead and con-cealment by someGovernments.

The US has reported almost90,000 deaths, and Europe hasseen over 1,60,000 dead.

Greece reopened theAcropolis and other ancientsites, along with high schools,shopping malls and mainlandtravel. Paving stickers wereused to keep visitors apart.Tourists were local, for thecountry still has a 14-day quar-antine for arrivals, and travel toGreek islands remains broad-ly restricted.

Authorities are keen toreopen Greece’s vital tourismsector, following a warning thatthe country is likely to suffer theworst recession in the 27-nationEuropean Union this year.

Greece’s beaches reopenedover the weekend during aheat wave with strict social dis-tancing, but buses from Athensto the coast were crowded.

In Belgium, more studentsreturned to school, hairdressersbegan clipping locks again,and museums and zoosreopened, all with strict reser-vation systems to avoid over-crowding. Hoping to make themost of the sunny weather,open-air markets started sellingspring fruit and vegetables.

Golf courses and gardenstores reopened in Ireland, butHealth Minister Simon Harrissaid he is nervous because the

virus hasn’t gone away. If Ireland can get the next

three weeks right, “we as acountry will find a way to livesafely alongside the virus,”Harris told RTE radio.

Churches in Italy and at theVatican resumed public Masses.Guards in hazmat suits took thetemperatures of the faithfulentering St. Peter’s Basilica,where Pope Francis celebratedan early morning Mass in a sidechapel to commemorate the100th anniversary of the birthof St. John Paul II.

Across town, the Rev. JoseMaria Galvan snapped on latexgloves and a face mask beforedistributing Communion to adozen parishioners at hisSant’Eugenio parish.

In Milan, theMontenapoleone district ofluxury boutiques reopened,but few if any shoppers were insight. The area is home tosuch fashion houses as Armani,Versace, Ferragamo, Fendi andBottega Veneta, but its cus-tomers are mostly foreigners,and travel to Italy remainsseverely restricted.

At Milan’s City Hall, hun-dreds of open-air vendorsprotested the failure of the city

to come up with rules for non-food stands to reopen.

Portuguese Prime MinisterAntonio Costa took his morn-ing coffee at a Lisbon cafe andwas having lunch at a restau-rant with the speaker of par-liament as officials encour-aged people to support localbusinesses. Costa told reporters“we can’t return to our old lifeas long as the virus is around”but said the economy mustcome back to life.

In France, authorities wereconcerned after about 70 infec-tions popped up in the coun-try’s schools since they startedreopening last week. Francereopened about 40,000preschools and primary schoolslast week, with classes cappedat 15 students.

The WHO has been drawninto a blame game between theUS and China over the spreadof the virus. Trump claimsChina mishandled the out-break early on, but China hasdefended its record.

The EU and other coun-tries have called for an inde-pendent evaluation of theWHO’s response to the pan-demic “to review experiencegained and lessons learned.”

Xi said that China hadprovided all relevant outbreakdata to WHO and other coun-tries, including the virus’sgenetic sequence, “in a mosttimely fashion.”

“We have shared controland treatment experience withthe world without reservation,”Xi said. “We have done every-thing in our power to supportand assist countries in need.”

Xi said he also supports theidea of a comprehensive reviewof the global response toCOVID-19, which “should bebased on science and profes-sionalism, led by WHO andconducted in objective andimpartial manner.”

The 11-page review of theWHO’s response by an inde-pendent oversight body raisedquestions of whether its warn-ing system for alerting theworld to outbreaks was ade-quate, and it suggested mem-ber states might need to“reassess” WHO’s role in pro-viding travel advice to coun-tries.

China reported just sevennew cases on Monday but kepttighter social-distancing rulesin parts of the northeasternprovince of Jilin after a cluster

of cases of unknown originturned up.

Moscow health officialssaid 77 people died of thevirus in the Russian capital inthe past 24 hours, the highestdaily total so far. With over290,000 infections, Russia issecond only to the U.S. in thenumber of cases, but interna-tional health officials questionRussia’s low official death toll ofabout 2,700.

In India, people trickledoutdoors after the governmentextended a nationwide lock-down to May 31 but easedmany restrictions. Small shopsand other businesses reopenedin places, including the capital,New Delhi. At the same time,India recorded its biggest sin-gle-day coronavirus surge withover 5,200 new cases, alongwith 157 deaths.

In Brazil, President JairBolsonaro greeted hundredsof supporters — and joinedsome in performing push-ups— who gathered to back hisopen-the-economy drive.Bolsonaro has played down thevirus even as it has sweptthrough Latin America’s mostpopulous country, leaving over16,000 dead.

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Clashes broke out in HongKong’s legislature Monday

for a second time this month asa pro-Beijing lawmaker waselected as chair of a key com-mittee that scrutinizes bills,ending a prolonged struggle forcontrol with the pro-democra-cy camp.

The legislature’s HouseCommittee, which vets billsand decides when to presentthem for a final vote, had beenwithout a chairperson for morethan six months. The centralgovernment in Beijing criti-cized deputy chairperson andpro-democracy lawmakerDennis Kwok for deliberatelydelaying matters and causing a

backlog of bills that affect pub-lic interest.

Kwok was replaced Fridayby Chan Kin-por, who wasappointed by the legislature’spresident to preside overMonday’s election. After scufflesand shouting matches led toChan ejecting most of the pro-democracy lawmakers, the elec-tion took place, with pro-Beijinglawmaker Starry Lee winningeasily. Her election will likelyspeed up the passing of a con-troversial bill that would crim-inalise abuse of the Chinesenational anthem. Hong Kong’sleader, Carrie Lam, said lastweek that passing the bill was apriority for the government, andthe bill will be presented to thecommittee on May 27.

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The gunman in a deadlyattack at a military base in

Pensacola, Florida, lastDecember was meticulous in hisplanning and had been radical-ized overseas for at least fiveyears, US officials said nMonday.

The FBI learned of the con-tacts between the gunman,Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani,

and an al-Qaeda operative afterbreaking the encryption on cell-phones that had previously beenlocked.

Attorney General WilliamBarr and FBI Director ChrisWray held a news conference toannounce the developments inthe shooting late last year at thePensacola Naval Air Station, inwhich a Saudi Air Force officerkilled three US sailors andinjured eight other people.

Alshamrani, who was killedby a sheriff ’s deputy during therampage at a classroom building,was undergoing flight training atPensacola, where members offoreign militaries routinelyreceive instruction.

The Justice Department hadpreviously asked Apple to helpextract data from two iPhonesthat belonged to the gunman,including one that authoritiessay Alshamrani damaged with a

bullet after being confronted bylaw enforcement. Wray said FBIagents were able to break the encryption without the helpof Apple.

Law enforcement officialsleft no doubt that Alshamraniwas motivated by jihadist ide-ology, saying he visited a NewYork City memorial to theattacks of Sept. 11, 2001, over theThanksgiving holiday weekendand posted anti-American and

anti-Israeli messages on socialmedia just two hours before theshooting.

Separately, al-Qaeda’sbranch in Yemen, released avideo claiming the attack.

The branch, al-Qaeda in theArabian Peninsula, or AQAP,has long been considered theglobal network’s most dangerousbranch and has attempted tocarry out attacks on the USmainland.

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The WHO is “irreplaceable”and needs enhanced

resources especially to providesupport to the developingcountries facing the “devastat-ing” impact of Covid-19, UNchief Antonio Guterres said onMonday, amid criticism of theglobal health agency’s han-dling of the pandemic.

The Secretary-General saidthe entire United Nations fam-ily “stands” with thousands ofits colleagues at the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO)who are working around theworld to support the memberstates in saving lives and pro-tecting the vulnerable, withguidance, training and essen-tial testing, treatment and pro-tective equipment.

Guterres also voiced concernover the “devastating” impact theoutbreak will have as it spreadsacross the developing nations.“The WHO is irreplaceable. Itneeds enhanced resources, par-ticularly to provide support todeveloping countries, whichmust be our greatest concern. We

are as strong as the weakesthealth systems,” Guterres saidwhile addressing a virtual eventof the opening of the 73rd WorldHealth Assembly, which super-vises the WHO.

The US has strongly criti-cised the WHO for its handlingof the pandemic, with PresidentDonald Trump halting fundingto the WHO. Trump hadlaunched a scathing attack onthe Geneva-based WHO, say-ing it has been “China-centric”and has been “wrong” on a lotof things about the virus.

Guterres reiterated his com-ments made last month follow-ing Trump’s attack and saidthere will be a time, once thepandemic has been controlled,to look back fully to understandhow such a disease emerged andspread its devastation so quick-ly across the globe, and how allthose involved reacted to the cri-sis. The UN Chief emphasisedthat “now is not that time” andnow is the time for unity, for theinternational community towork together in solidarity tostop this virus and its shatteringconsequences.”

�����$����������� �����2�$�&����������� �������������� ���������������2��� �������&����# �+� ��&$$������$��������+��7�������� %�

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An antibody from a patientwho recovered from SARS

has been shown to blockCovid-19 infection in a labo-ratory setting, researchers saidon Monday in another poten-tial breakthrough in the searchfor coronavirus treatment.

Scientists based inSwitzerland and the UnitedStates previously isolated theantibodies from the patient in2003, following the SARS out-break that killed 774 people.

They experimented with25 different types of antibod-ies — which target specific pro-tein spikes on viruses - to seeif they could prevent cellsbecoming infected with Covid-19. Both SARS and thepathogen which causes Covid-19 are coronaviruses, thoughtto have come from animals,and so their structures aresimilar.

The researchers identifiedeight antibodies that couldbind to both Covid-19 and theinfected cells.

One candidate, known asS309, was shown to have “par-ticularly strong neutralisingactivity” against Covid-19.

By combining S309 withother less potent antibodiesthey were able to target differ-ent sites on the virus’ proteinspike, thus reducing its poten-tial to mutate.

The Covid-19 pandemichas seen hundreds of trials foreffective treatment launched,including some involving theuse of antibodies from recov-ered patients.

While there were no exper-iments on humans in the study,published in the journalNature, its authors said theirfindings represent “proof-of-concept” that antibodies fromSARS can prevent severeCovid-19 infection and spread.

“These results pave theway for using S309- and S309-containing antibody cocktailsfor prophylaxis in individualsat high risk of exposure or as apost-exposure therapy to limitor treat severe disease,” they wrote.

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The global coronavirus pan-demic has created a huge

need for health care in the US, but it also is deliveringa devastating financial blow tothat sector.

Covid-19 worries have keptpatients away from doctors’offices and forced the post-ponement and cancellation ofnon-urgent surgeries. The pan-demic also has shut down largeportions of the American econ-omy, leaving many would-bepatients without insurance orin a financial pinch that makesthem curb spending.

All of this has forced hos-pitals, health systems and doc-tors to lay off staff, cut costs and hope a return to normalarrives soon.

“You couldn’t ask for aworse situation, really,” said JoeAntos, an economist with theAmerican Enterprise Institute.

Health care provided thebiggest drag on the US econo-my in the first quarter.Spending on care fell at anannual rate of 18 per cent, thelargest drop for that sector among records goingback to 1959.

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ACommission of the IranianParliament on Monday

tasked the government to cre-ate a “virtual embassy” inPalestine.

Parliament’s NationalSecurity and Foreign PolicyCommission approved a pre-viously drafted motion bill,which obliges the IranianForeign Ministry to lay thegroundwork for the creation of“the Islamic Republic’s VirtualEmbassy in Palestine” withinsix months and submit theresults for approval to the cab-inet, reports Xinhua news

agency.On May 12, Iranian law-

makers approved “a double-urgency motion” which, incase of turning into law, wouldoblige the Iranian Government to take certainmeasures against “hostile mea-sures” of Israel.

One of the articles of themotion endorsed by theCommission states that “thehistoric land of Palestinebelongs to the originalPalestinian people”.

The approvals of theCommission should be turnedinto a law by Parliament for itsenforcement.

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The UK’s “historic” newstrategy for visas and immi-

gration, which is pitched as apoints-based system estab-lished on skills rather than thecountry of origin, returned tothe House of Commons onMonday.

The Immigration andSocial Security Co-ordination(EU Withdrawal) Bill 2020,which was tabled in March buthad its progress slowed downdue to the coronavirus crisis,forms the basis for the UK’s

post-Brexit plans once theEuropean Union (EU) freemovement rules come to aclose at the end of the year.

“This historic piece of leg-islation gives the UK full con-trol of our immigration systemfor the first time in decades andthe power to determine whocomes to this country,” said UKHome Secretary Priti Patel,who is leading the charge onthe new strategy.

“Our new points-based sys-tem is firmer, fairer, and simpler.It will attract the people we needto drive our economy forward

and lay the foundation for ahigh wage, high skill, high pro-ductivity economy,” the Indian-origin minister said.

Under the new system, tobe enforced from January 1next year, the magic number ofpoints required to apply towork and stay in the UK will be70. These will accrue in incre-ments of 20 or 10 based on pro-fessional skills, English lan-guage proficiency, a job offerfrom an approved sponsor andsalary levels between GBP20,480 and GBP 25,600 orabove.

Kabul: A suicide bomber in astolen military Humvee target-ed a base in eastern Afghanistanbelonging to the country’s intel-ligence service early on Monday,killing at least nine members ofthe force, Afghan officials said.The Taliban claimed responsi-bility for the attack.

At least 40 members of theforce were wounded in theattack near the city of Ghazni,the provincial capital ofGhazni, according to ArifNoori, the spokesman for theprovincial governor. Eight ofthe wounded were in criticalcondition and were transferredto the capital, Kabul, for furthertreatment, Noori added.

Earlier reports had sevendead but Tariq Arian,spokesman for the Afghan inte-rior minister, confirmed the lat-est casualty tolls. According toNoori, the bomber used a stolenmilitary Humvee full of explo-sives, detonating it as heapproached the main entrancegate to the base. Talibanspokesman Zabihullah Mujahidsaid the insurgents were behindthe attack in Ghazni province,where the Taliban control mostof the countryside and therural areas. AP

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Page 9: ˆ ˆ˙ + ( , ˘ -./ · 2020. 5. 18. · from different States for resum-ing full services, including in red zones, a day after Home Ministry’s guidelines on lock-down 4.0 were

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China’s commerce Ministrysays it will take “all neces-

sary measures” in response tonew U.S. restrictions onChinese tech giant Huawei’sability to use American tech-nology, calling the measures anabuse of state power and a vio-lation of market principles.

An unidentified spokesper-son quoted Sunday in a state-ment on the Ministry’s websitesaid the regulations also threat-ened the security of the “glob-al industrial and supply chain.”

“The U.S. uses State power,under the so-called excuse ofnational security, and abusesexport control measures tocontinuously oppress and con-tain specific enterprises of

other countries,” the statementsaid. China will “take all nec-essary measures to resolutelysafeguard the legitimate rightsand interests of Chinese enter-prises,” it said.

Under the new rules, for-eign semiconductor makerswho use American technologymust obtain a U.S. license toship Huawei-designed semi-conductors to the Chinesecompany.

Chip design and manufac-turing equipment used in theworld’s semiconductor plants ismostly U.S.-made, so new ruleaffects foreign producers thatsell to Huawei and affiliatesincluding HiSilicon, whichmainly designs chipsets used insmartphones and wireless base stations.

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India’s largest sugarcane grow-er, UP, has achieved record

output of 122.28 lakh tonnes ofsugar in the current sugar sea-son 2019-20 (October-September), as on May 15while 46 mills are still operat-ing. On the other side, pro-duction has declined over 43per cent in Maha, till May 15,as compared to the corre-sponding period of the previ-ous year. India’s sugar produc-tion has declined by nearly 19per cent as on May 15, while 63mills are still in operation, theIndian Sugar Mills Association(ISMA) said on Monday.

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Aviation stocks on Mondayfell up to 7.3 per cent after

regulator DGCA said all sched-uled commercial passengerflights have been suspended tillMay 31 midnight.

Shares of InterGlobeAviation dropped 7.27 per cent and those of SpiceJet fell 4.92 per cent on the BSE.

The Directorate General ofCivil Aviation (DGCA) said“foreign and domestic airlinesshall be suitably informedabout the opening of their operations whether inter-national to or from India ordomestic, respectively, in due course”.

All commercial passengerflights have been suspended inIndia since March 25, when thelockdown was imposed to curb the spread of the novelcoronavirus.

The National DisasterManagement Authority(NDMA), the nodal depart-ment, has announced lock-down 4.0 till May 31 to checkthe spread of the novel coronavirus.

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Shares of multiplex and hoteloperators on Monday

cracked up to 14.5 per centafter the countrywide lock-down was further extendedtill May 31.

Shares of INOX Leisuretumbled 14.49 per cent and

those of PVR tanked 12.54 percent on the BSE.

Besides, Chalet Hotelsplummeted 13.38 per cent,Indian Hotels CompanyLimited plunged 8.04 per cent,EIH Associated Hotels 5.83per cent, Wonderla Holidays4.91 per cent and Lemon TreeHotels 4.78 per cent.

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Bank stocks were the worsthit among the BSE sectoral

indices on Monday in a weakbroader market where the BSEbenchmark crashed 1,069points. IndusInd Bank was thetop laggard in the Sensex pack,cracking 10 per cent, RBLBank dropped 9.55 per cent,Federal Bank 9.47 per cent,City Union Bank 8.41 per cent,Axis Bank 7.55 per cent, ICICIBank 7.44 per cent, SBI 6.61 percent, HDFC Bank 5.83 percent and Kotak Mahindra Bank5.47 per cent.

The BSE bankex index fell6.69 per cent. “With the stim-ulus package announced by theGovernment, not seen as ade-quate considering the need ofthe hour and with infectionscontinuing unabated, the mar-kets ended down by around 3.4per cent, in spite of positiveglobal cues.

“Most measures may beseen as a long term positive and

markets were more worriedabout the immediate impact ofthese measures. With concernsabout rising NPAs, financialswere most affected,” said VinodNair, head of research at GeojitFinancial Services.

The BSE benchmark closed1,068.75 points, or 3.44 per centlower at 30,028.98. Banks werethe biggest contributors in themarket crash on Monday.

“Banking stock witnessedselling pressure on the back ofsuspension of new bankruptcycases for one year, declared ina stimulus package by theFinance Minister,” said VishalWagh, Research Head, BonanzaPortfolio Ltd. Seeking to pro-vide relief for the coronaviruspandemic-hit economy.

The Government will pro-vide various relaxations underthe insolvency law, includingsuspending fresh proceedingsfor up to one year, exemptingCOVID-19-related debt andcoming out with a specialframework for MSMEs.

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Sending out a strong message,Union Minister Nitin

Gadkari has said theGovernment will considerremoval or demotion of offi-cials whose indecisiveness isobstructing highway works asmany such projects have alsobeen impacted by the coron-avirus-induced lockdown.

“Enough of warning hasbeen given to officials sitting onfiles and not taking decisions.A large number of our highwayprojects are suffering due tothis.

It is time that such officialswho despite being promotedand empowered to take deci-sions be demoted or removedand give chance to those whowant to perform,” Gadkari toldPTI in an interview.

To make up for the losses incurred in terms ofhighways projects and to bringthem on track, the RoadTransport, Highways andMSME Minister Gadkari hasalready fixed a target to buildroads worth �15 lakh crore inthe next two years.

Earlier, the Minister, hadreviewed 740 highway pro-jects totalling 28,304 km from16 states and has asked officialsand stakeholders to fast-trackthese.

The projects were worthabout �5 lakh crore. “Despite

cautioning repeatedly.I have found that a large

number of officials speciallyproject directors and regionalofficers of National HighwaysAuthority of India (NHAI)who have been empowered totake decisions on projects up to�50 crore on the spot, keepflooding the head office withqueries obstructing work,”Gadkari said.

He said though he was notin a position to provide the exact number of suchqueries, but said the number is“huge”.

“I have come to a conclu-sion that it is time to take actionagainst these officials andremove them or demote them.Project Directors and RegionalOfficers were given rights.

They are afraid of takingdecisions... Taking responsi-bility and sending each andevery query to us. Those whodo not exercise their rights,have no right to continue...There is no justification forthem to hold the position,” theMinister said.

NHAI has about 175 pro-ject directors and 25 regionalofficers across the country.

The Minister said theNHAI has resumed 95 percent of work on war-footingnow with permission to startconstruction activities whileadhering to guidelines.

On the NHAI arbitration

conciliation, he said: “In 22 out24 ongoing cases adjournmentwas sought by NHAI officialsand I have directed theChairman to expedite it.Hopefully things will be fast-tracked now. “Performanceaudit of each and every officialwill be done.

Those found not perform-ing up to the mark will beshown the exit through com-pulsory retirement as also saidby the Prime Minister.However, good work willequally be rewarded.”

The Minister said hisMinistry was conducting per-formance audit and termed itmore important than financialaudit.

The Minister had earliersaid in case of stalling of pro-jects on account of court or tri-bunal orders, NHAI and theHighways Ministry will puthoardings and banners inform-ing people behind the reasonsfor delays.

The issue of timelyapproval of Extension of Time(EOT) and change of scope(COS) was particularly raisedby the Contractors/Concessionaire during a recentmeeting saying timelyapprovals would help in facil-itating lending by banks.

An online portal “GATI”was also launched to fast-trackdecision making and make theprocess transparent.

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The demand for personalcare products and kitchen

appliances saw a meteoric riseon ecommerce platforms as theGovernment allowed sale ofnon-essential items acrosszones (barring containmentspots) from Monday.

Paytm Mall saw a 50 percent surge in sales for groom-ing products from tier II and IIItowns. There was almost a 50per cent jump in the sale ofshavers, trimmers, epilators,hair straighteners and stylingproducts and hair dryers,among other products.

“We think the demand forthese products is set to rise fur-ther over the next few weeksand post that it would remainconsistently high,” said SrinivasMothey, Senior Vice President,Paytm Mall.According to AnujSingh, Chief MerchandisingOfficer, Best Price, WalmartIndia, when the lockdown wasimposed, they saw a spike incategories like sanitizers, per-sonal wash, staples, and homecleaning products.

“With non-essential cate-gories opening up, we expectsome pent up demand in smallkitchen and home applianceslike irons, kettles, pressurecookers, and fans,” said Singh.

The new guidelines forlockdown 4.0 have paved theway for a broader resumptionof economic activities acrossmost parts of the country.”AtSnapdeal, we are ready andequipped to now start servingcustomers all across India.

New Delhi: Under AtmaNirbhar Bharat package,Government of India hasdecided that food grains will beprovided free of cost at the rateof 5 Kg per month for twomonths i.e. May and June 2020,to about 8 Crore migrant

labour who are not coveredunder NFSA or State schemePDS cards.

The total estimated cost ofabout �3,500 Crore for imple-mentation of this scheme willbe fully borne by Governmentof India.

All India Allocation offood grains under this schemeis 8 Lakh Metric Tonnes(LMT).

Delivery of food grainsunder this scheme has alreadystarted by Food Corporation ofIndia (FCI).

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Joining arch rival Zomato,food delivery platform

Swiggy on Monday announcedto lay off 1,100 employees,nearly 14 per cent of its work-force, spanning across gradesand functions in the cities andhead office over the next fewdays as Covid-19 continues tohurt its business across verticals.

All impacted employeeswill receive at least threemonths of salary, irrespective oftheir notice period or tenure,

Sriharsha Majety, Co-founderand CEO, Swiggy, told employ-ees in a virtual town hall meet-ing.”For every year they havespent with us, we will be offer-ing an extra month of ex-gra-tia in addition to their noticeperiod pay, working out tobetween 3-8 months of salary depending on thetenure,” said Majety.

Swiggy said if someone’snotice period is three monthsand they’ve spent five yearswith the company, they will geteight months of salary.

The company will inform

those being laid off in one-to-one video calls.

Swiggy said it is also goingto scale down or shut downadjacent businesses that areeither going to be highlyvolatile or will not be highly rel-evant for the next 18 months.

“The biggest impact here ison the Cloud kitchens business,with many unknowns aboutvolumes through the year.Since the onset of Covid-19, wehave already begun the processof shutting down our kitchenfacilities temporarily or per-manently.

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Registering its displeasureover no stimulus for the

trading community, theConfederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT) has askedFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman to reconsider theeconomic package andannounce measures to sup-port the trading community.

In a statement, the traders’body said that it has resentedwith deep regret that one of thelargest and most committedsegments of the trading com-munity in the country hasbeen omitted in wide reachingannouncements of the eco-nomic package.

The traders’ body has writ-ten to Sitharaman to come upwith measures for aroundseven crore retail traders in thecountry.

It has also sent similarcommunication to HomeMinister Amit Shah, Defence

Minister Rajnath Singh,Commerce Minister PiyushGoyal and Textile MinisterSmriti Irani.

In the letter, CAIT hassaid that the traders of Indiahave stood firmly with theGovernment and the people ofIndia in these troubled times toensure continuous supply ofessential commodities but nowthe traders feel that the Centrehas let them down.

It reiterated that at thetime of lifting of lockdown, thetraders will have to meet vari-ous financial obligations likepayment of salary to employ-ees, payment of GST, IncomeTax and other levies, EMIs,bank interest on loans andvarious other incidentalexpenses among others.

“All such circumstanceswill land the traders in turbu-lent time of financial crisisand it is expected that inabsence of any handholding ofthe traders by the traders.

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Cautioning that movementof goods and essential sup-

plies will be impacted if theGovernment fails to announceimmediate relief for trans-porters, AIMTC on Mondaysaid that on the ground, the sit-uation is deteriorating withevery passing day and it isgoing to result in another majorcrisis. The All India MotorTransport Congress (AIMTC)is the apex body of trans-porters and represents about 95lakh truckers and entities.

The coronavirus turmoil

and the nationwide lockdownhave taken the road transportecosystem to dreadful levels,AIMTC said pointing out thatabout 30 per cent vehicles seenon the roads, those engaged intransporting essential suppliesand delivering loaded stock, arebeing run majorly by owner-drivers and small operators.

“The movement of trucks,containers and other freightvehicles will not only affect themovement of goods from oneState to another, will also affectimport-export. This will affectthe supply of both essential andnon-essential items. TheCentral Govt has announcedan economic relief package forvarious sectors in 5 phases torevive the slowing economydue to the coronavirus epi-demic. However, the CentralGovernment did not take careof this sector while announcingthe relief package,” AIMTCPresident Kultaran Singh Atwalsaid.

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Walmart-owned Flipkarton Monday said it is

awaiting advisories from dif-ferent states for resuming fullservices, including in red zones,a day after Home Ministry’sguidelines on lockdown 4.0were released.

According to Union HomeMinistry’s order on Sunday, “allother activities will be permit-ted, except those which arespecifically prohibited” underthe fourth phase of the lock-down that ends on May 31.

However, in containmentzones, only essential activitieswill be allowed.

States and union territo-ries, based on their assessmentof the situation, may prohibitcertain other activities in var-ious zones or impose suchrestrictions as deemed neces-

sary, the order had added.”Postthe Government of India’sguidelines last evening, we areawaiting the advisories fromdifferent states. We will con-tinue to work in accordancewith the directives from theGovernment and local author-ities while serving customers,sellers through our safe supplychain,” a Flipkart Groupspokesperson said.

The spokesperson addedthat the company is workingwith lakhs of MSMEs and sell-ers across India to providethem with constant counseland help with their businessreadiness, and is followingsafety and health procedures atits facilities and for supplychain and delivery staff.“Our seller support team is pro-viding on-ground support tosellers to help them resumeoperations swiftly.

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American brokerageGoldman Sachs expects

the Indian economy to contractby 5 per cent in FY21, makingit the worst performance by thecountry ever. The brokeragesaid the GDP will contract bya mind-boggling 45 per cent inthe June quarter as comparedto the January-March periodon an annualised basis, becauseof the continuing lockdownwhich is chilling economicactivity, before recovering later.

A slew of watchers areexpecting a contraction in theIndian economy in FY21, someeven after the �20 lakh crorestimulus announced by theGovernment. Goldman wasearlier expecting a 0.4 per centcontraction before revising itdown to a level it shares withJapanese brokerage Nomura.

“The -5 per cent growth weforecast for FY21 would bedeeper compared to all ‘reces-

sions’ India has ever experi-enced,” its analysts wrote in the note.

The virus continues tospread in India, resulting in thepushing of the nationwidelockdown with gradual relax-ation of restrictions, while con-cerns among consumers andbusinesses continue, it said. Therebound from a quarterly per-spective will be very strong inthe September quarter, it said,expecting a 20 per cent growthin GDP over the level of June-end, but added that the samewill be gradual from then on.

Joining its peers, the bro-kerage also said that the reformmeasures announced by theGovt will help growth only overthe medium term and are notexpected to have any benefit inthe near-term. In line with itspeers, the brokerage also saidthat the fiscal impact of thestimulus measures announcedby the Govt is very small at 1.3per cent of GDP.

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The rupee plummeted by 33paise to close at 75.91

against the US dollar onMonday, tracking weak domes-tic equities and foreign fundoutflows.Forex traders said ris-ing crude oil prices and con-cerns about the effectiveness ofthe fiscal stimulus packageweighed on investor sentiment.

“India’s rupee led lossesamong emerging-market cur-rencies in Asia on disappoint-ment over the Government’sstimulus announcements. Spot

USDINR is expected to findresistance around 76.50 onexpectation of foreign fundinflows at lower equity levels,”said Devarsh Vakil, HeadAdvisory, HDFC securities.

Market participants alsosaid that the extension of thenationwide lockdown couldweigh on the economic outlookof the country.

The Government onSunday extended the coron-avirus lockdown for two moreweeks with the fourth phaseproviding more relaxationsoutside the containment zones.

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Page 10: ˆ ˆ˙ + ( , ˘ -./ · 2020. 5. 18. · from different States for resum-ing full services, including in red zones, a day after Home Ministry’s guidelines on lock-down 4.0 were

Even though the desire to look beau-tiful is as old as history, the last few

decades have witnessed a raging obses-sion with appearances. Millennials arebecoming increasingly dissatisfied withthe way they look, and they are desper-ate to acquire a ‘designer body’ with per-fect looks. Most of these people look finebut they are deeply convinced thatsomething is wrong with their appear-ance and consequently, they sufferfrom social anxiety, depression, andpoor self-confidence. Exasperatingworkouts, measly diets and cosmeticsurgeries are fast becoming a norm asthis sizeable population works hard tofix its imagined ugliness and feel good.

What could have caused so manypeople to despise their normal bodies?Blame it on the prevalent global cultureof body shaming. We get multiplemessages everyday telling us that thereis something terribly wrong with ourbody: friends and family bantering usto lose some pounds of weight, actorsand models flaunting their specimenfigures and thousands of advertisementspersuading us to utilise their services inliving up to the most unrealistic stan-

dards of body image. Even small chil-dren are exposed to these bizarre stan-dards.

All this creates a vicious circle wherewe despise our appearance, criticiseother people for their physical imper-fections and then as a reaction, they starthating some aspect of their appearanceand mock at us for not being pictureperfect. Ultimately, we end up perpet-uating cycles of self-loathing and body

shaming. To break free, we need to ques-tion these bizarre standards of bodilyperfection. Physical beauty is short-lived— our bodies change over time and sodoes the perception of other peopleabout our physical appeal. Besides,there are many individual, societal andcultural variations in the standards usedto determine physical beauty.

More often than not, we think thatby changing our body and turning it

into a certain type will end all our wor-ries but, experience and research showsthat even those few who manage toattain such unreachable targets contin-ue to reel under fear and pain. Theanswer lies in changing how we look atour body, shoving off all the dysfunc-tional perceptions and beliefs we haveinternalised over the years aroundwhat constitutes a beautiful body.

Begin this healing journey by bold-ly rejecting messages that tell you todespise your body and look for ideas,words and stories around body accep-tance and love. It also includes identi-fying and silencing your inner criticwhich tells you time and again toberate your body. You must also edu-cate your family, friends, and acquain-tances in clear words that body sham-ing in any form is cruel and encouragethem to coalesce in bringing a changein your close circle. Going further, makea resolve to love your body as it is andframe some strong body positive mes-sages which you can repeat to yourselfevery day.

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"��������'��-203�����COVID-19 continues to spread in India. As of May 17, more than

88,000 cases have been diagnosed, and over 2,800 people havedied. To combat it, the Government is rapidly ramping up testing:the number of laboratories performing COVID-19 tests hasincreased from 19 in March, to 520 today. More than two milliontests have been performed across the country since the pandem-ic began.

Why is testing such an essential part of our country’s defencestrategy? One critical reason is that it is actionable now. And whilea vaccine may be over a year away, testing will continue to becrucial to the roll out of both treatments and vaccines once theyare available.

Testing allows infected people to be identified and isolatedquickly, so they can receive care and the chain of transmissioncan be broken. It also provides essential information to our pub-lic health decision makers.

The majority of confirmatory testing in India and across theworld has, to date, been performed using molecular tests. Theselook for genetic material from SARS-CoV-2 — the virus respon-sible for COVID-19 — in a sample from a person’s nose or throat.If it is present, they make millions of copies until the concen-tration is high enough to detect. The chemical reaction that dri-ves the copying process is called polymerase chain reaction, andso this type of test is known as a PCR test.

As the most accurate, gold standard frontline test, molecu-lar tests are most commonly used to confirm diagnosis of

COVID-19 in an individual.But they need to be performedin a laboratory by trained tech-nicians, as they need specialequipment and infrastructure.This limits the number of teststhat can be performed each day,and results are not immediate-ly available.

Rapid tests that can be per-formed outside of a laboratorywould enable us to reach morepeople, more quickly. Thesetests rely on our immune system:when we have a viral infection,our immune system recognisescertain molecules on the surfaceof the virus, known as antigens,and mounts an immuneresponse by producing antibod-ies to destroy it.

Antigen tests detect the anti-gens in a patient sample, but

development of an antigen test accurate enough for diagnosis ischallenging. Right now there are several antigen tests under eval-uation, but none yet in general use.

Antibody tests detect the antibodies that have been producedduring an infection. Due to uncertainties over how long it takesfor the antibodies to be produced and for how long they con-tinue to circulate after the infection is over, these tests cannotconfirm if the person is currently infected by SARS-CoV-2.

However, antibody tests are crucially important to find outhow many people in a particular population have already hadthe disease. Data from these tests can tell us how well our pub-lic health measures, like social distancing, are working. They alsotell us about the intensity and longevity of the pandemic, to helpguide public health decisions. A number of rapid antibody testshave been validated by the Indian Council of Medical Research(several of which are manufactured locally), and are already beingrolled out across 75 districts. In future, these tests could be usedto help inform deployment of vaccines.

Clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines and drugs also relyon testing, using molecular tests to check whether vaccines haveprotected people from the virus or whether new treatments havehelped infected people recover.

Testing is central to many aspects of the pandemic response,and countries that are implementing robust testing strategies areshowing how this vital tool can save millions of lives.

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"� ������� Watermelon isa refreshing and low caloriessummer fruit. It is made up ofaround 90 per cent water,which makes the fruit usefulfor staying hydrated in thesummer. It can also satisfy asweet tooth with its naturalsugars.

It also contains antioxi-dants. These substances canhelp remove molecules knownas free radicals, or reactivespecies, from the body. Thebody produces free radicalsduring naturalprocesses, such asmetabolism. Theycan also developthrough smoking,air pollution, stress,and other environmen-tal pressures.

The high water content inwatermelon and the othernutrients help promote ahealthy gut by preventing con-stipation and promoting regu-larity of bowel movements.

Watermelon juice may alsoreduce muscle soreness andimprove recovery time follow-ing exercise in athletes.

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Hypertension is one of themajor public health prob-lems in our country and its

prevalence is steadily increasingamong both urban and rural popu-lations. Given the fact that hyperten-sive patients often lack pronouncedexternal symptoms, the condition isconsidered a 'silent killer.' It is a sig-nificant risk factor for potentially dan-gerous conditions such as stroke, heartattack, heart failure, encephalopathy,and kidney failure.

High blood pressure is oftenmismanaged, and the approach totreating it as a disease rather than asa symptom of underlying problems isthe main reason. Modern medicineseeks to control high blood pressurethrough medications such as ACEinhibitors, Diuretics, Beta-blockers,Calcium channel blockers, amongothers. While these drugs do help incontrolling blood pressure and there-by lower the risk of heart attacks andstrokes, they do not address theunderlying cause of high blood pres-sure.

The naturopathic approachfocuses on ascertaining the character-istics of hypertension — vascularrelaxation, sodium sensitivity, auto-nomic dysfunction, arteriosclerosis,and addressing the underlying causevia lifestyle and dietary modifications,stress management and herbal sup-plementation. If you visit a natur-opath, they will order tests to checkyour kidney function, thyroid func-tion, or look for inflammatory mark-ers in the blood. Your cardiovascularrisk factors will also be assessed in-depth as they are usually associatedwith hypertension. Adiposity, insulinresistance, sleep apnea, and systemicinflammation are all considered in theworkup.

Dietary interventions: Dietarymodifications are among the most

commonly prescribed interventionsfor most lifestyle diseases, and hyper-tension is no different. Specific nutri-tional systems like the DASH diet andthe Mediterranean diet are among thefundamental strategies to controlhigh blood pressure and associatedconditions like Type II Diabetes,insulin resistance, and obesity. TheMediterranean diet comprises offresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains,nuts and legumes, with minimaldairy intake. The diet has a favorableeffect on hypertensive patients. Anumber of large scale studies haveshown significant reductions in boththe systolic and diastolic blood pres-sure measurements. The DASH dietpromotes a balanced nutritional sys-tem that supports a heart-friendlylifestyle. It focuses on a diet rich inwhole foods with an abundance offruits and vegetables, fat-free dairy

products, whole grains, nuts, beans,and vegetable oils. The programrestricts the consumption of foodsrich in saturated fats, including full-fat dairy and palm. Additionally,sodas, desserts, and foods with arti-ficial sweeteners are to be avoided.Compared to other dietary systemslike low carb diet, paleo diet, low fatand others, the DASH diet has provento have the most positive impact onblood pressure.

Stress management: Since stressand over-stimulation of the sympa-thetic nervous system play a signifi-cant role in hypertension, it is imper-ative to keep it in check. High-stresslevels can boost your blood pressureby stimulating your sympathetic ner-vous system, which leads to a seriesof cascading physiological effects,causing the constriction of blood ves-sels. Fortunately, it is possible to man-

age stress through a set of non-phar-macological interventions like med-itation, acupuncture, and biofeedback,all of which help bring down highblood pressure. Regular exercise alsohelps keep stress under check. Itreduces the level of stress hormoneslike adrenaline and cortisol, andstimulates endorphin production,elevating the mood and promotinganalgesic effects. Staying active canbring down your systolic blood pres-sure by up to eight millimeters of mer-cury.

Botanical supplements: Severalherbs can help promote healthyblood pressure. Hawthorn extractshave proven cardiovascular benefits,including anti-inflammatory andantioxidant properties. It also sup-ports healthy lipid metabolism,increases vasodilation and protects thelining of blood vessels in the body.Garlic is another herb that can regu-late the level of nitric oxide, reduceinflammation and act as an ACEinhibitor.

Indian snakeroot, also known asserpentine wood, has several anti-hypertensive effects. According to astudy published as early as in 1949,40 out of 50 participants who wereadministered the herb experienced anoticeable drop in blood pressure.Moreover, the herb's hypotensiveaction was perceptible for two weeksafter discontinuation in over 90 percent of the participants.

Although there are a number ofnatural treatments available to man-age blood pressure, the exact combi-nation of treatments is best decidedby a licensed and trained naturopath.A proper diagnostic work-up includesa physical exam, a complete medicalhistory, lipid profile, and lab testingto uncover the cause of hypertension.

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The world has come to a standstillbecause of the current pandemic. While

there might be partial relaxation in someareas, but in most of the areas, the lockdownhas extended. It definitely is crucial to pre-vent the further spread of the virus, butsomehow staying inside has played a toll onour mental and physical health — with nogyms to work out or a limited supply of foodresources — managing optimum health canbe tough, but with few tips and tricks, weall can maintain a healthy lifestyle.

It might be easy to run out of motiva-tion when you are preparing all the mealsat home that too with limited options. But,planning meals in advance can help youovercome the dilemma of what to cook andalso will prevent food wastage. Here aresome tips for stay-at-home diet:

Early morning: Start your day with aglass of lukewarm water, you can soak chia/flaxseeds/fenugreek seeds in the waterovernight. Refrain from having tea/coffeeon an empty stomach

Breakfast: A protein-rich breakfastwill keep you energised throughout the day.Consider eating eggs in the form ofomelette or sandwich. You can also have ragipaneer cheela, besan cheela, oats pancake,or cottage cheese toast. For extra doses ofvitamins, top your breakfast with somefreshly cut fruit slices.

Mid-meal: Sitting entire day at homecan be tough on your appetite and youmight feel really hungry at sometimes whilemight feel fuller at other. Keep fruitshandy for mid-morning cravings- say anapple orange, banana, or some grapes. Youcan also have a glass of vegetable juice

Lunch: Aim to consuming a whole-some lunch with aq balance of all foodgroups. You can have chapatis, rice, pulaoor khichdi as per your liking. Just keep acheck on the portion size. Include legumesor pulses in lunchtime along with raita/plain curd.

Evening snack: Snacking is the timewhere most of us go wrong by giving up tocravings and succumbing to unhealthyfoods. It's the best time to fix your eveningbinge with healthier options like a handfulof walnuts. Walnuts are not only crunchyand palatable, they house a whole packageof nutrients — from brain-boosting Omega-3 fatty acids to immunity-boosting vitaminE. You can also have roasted chana chaat,three-four pieces of paneer or roastedmakhana. Just sprinkle some crushed wal-nuts over these to add an extra flavour.Other options can be — trail mix, vegetablesticks, fruit smoothie, or baked vegetablecutlets.

Dinner: Keep your dinners light andfinish off early, say by 8 pm. You can havea bowl of vegetable soup (unstrained) witha wheat tortilla/chapatti. Paneer stuffedwheat roll is another great option.

Post dinner: You can have a cup oflukewarm milk with a pinch of turmeric andpepper. This golden drink will help boostimmunity and increase your body’s abilityto fight off infections.

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B�������������Practising yoga nidra: It is

best advised to maintain sleephygiene. An average adult shouldget at least seven to nine hours ofsleep. A proper sleep schedulestimulates balanced metabolism,hormonal balance, avoids palpita-tions, chronic diseases which aredirectly proportional to balancedblood pressure. It has been proventhat a 30 minutes session of yoganidra is equivalent to two hours ofquality sleep. yoga nidra helps torelax and rejuvenate. People whostruggle with sound sleep at night,stress or anxiety because of work,can indulge in the practice ofyoga nidra. Certain apps haveguided meditation and/or yoganidra as a part of guided medita-tion and promises to make your

experience worthwhile and prodi-gious. Yoga nidra thus releasesstress and hence keeps you fromhaving high blood pressure.

Measure your health parame-ters regularly: The symptoms ofhypertension are not often visible.Hypertension develops over a peri-od of time. And when you cannotnotice the symptoms clearly youuse certain IoT devices that canhelp in easily monitoring yourhealth. And monitoring yourhealth regularly gives you the cur-rent status that will help you makeamends, and move in the rightdirection. Because ignorance is notalways bliss!

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This year’s college graduateswon’t get to take their tri-

umphant walk across the stage.They won’t get to toss their capsamid a sea of classmates. Instead,they have to settle for online cer-emonies while their diplomas aremailed home. But at least oneaspect of the traditional gradu-ation ceremony is being salvagedfor the class of 2020: the celebri-ty keynote address.

As scores of colleges host vir-tual graduation ceremonies amidthe Coronavirus pandemic,many are recruiting famous fig-ures to give commencementspeeches over their laptopsinstead of the lectern. In the firstweeks of graduation season,schools have landed speechesfrom big names including TomHanks, Pharrell Williams andTom Brady. Others are promis-ing appearances from comedi-ans, authors, civil rights leadersand politicians.

At the same time, a growingnumber of companies are step-ping in with their own star-stud-ded events celebrating collegegraduates across the nation.

Facebook recently hosted a“Graduation 2020” event withcommencement speeches fromOprah Winfrey, Awkwafina, LilNas X and Simone Biles, amongothers. YouTube is offering a“Dear Class of 2020” celebrationheadlined by Barack andMichelle Obama, with addition-al speeches from Lady Gaga,Nobel Prize winner MalalaYousafzai and the K-Pop super-group BTS.

A separate online event willcelebrate graduates at historical-ly black colleges, with speechesfrom Barack Obama and a host

of other stars.It’s all meant to take the sting

out of losing such a memorablemoment. Schools started can-celling or postponing tradition-al ceremonies in March, to thedismay of graduates who hadhoped to celebrate years of hardwork. In their addresses, somespeakers have used the momentto offer a lesson on life’s curveballs and the need to adapt.

In a video message for TexasA&M University’s law school,actor Rainn Wilson told gradu-ates he was sorry they couldn’tshare “big group hugs and highfives and kisses on the cheek.” Buthe also said students can learnfrom that disappointment.

“It may also teach a veryvaluable life lesson not to takeanything for granted. To knowthat things can and will changeall the time,” Wilson said. “Theworld out there can be incredi-bly difficult and fraught, andplans change all the time.”

Tom Hanks, who survivedCOVID-19, told graduates atWright State University thattheir lives will forever be divid-ed into time before and after theCoronavirus pandemic, in thesame way that past generationshad their lives marked by wars.

“You have finished Wright

State during the great reset, thegreat reboot,” Hanks said in avideo message. “You chosenones are going to form the newstructures and define the newrealities, and make the newworld — the world after all thatwe have been through.”

Hanks’ message was deliv-ered as a surprise to graduates atthe Ohio school. Other collegeshave similarly kept quiet abouttheir celebrity speeches untilthey were shared online, includ-ing at Virginia’s Norfolk StateUniversity, which tapped singerand producer Pharrell Williamsto give a virtual address. “Evenif this is not the norm, you guysand girls still deserve all thepraise,” Williams said in hismessage. “You stuck it through,you made it and today’s your day.And man, you made it at a real-ly crazy time in life.”

Some colleges are keepingthe same speakers they previous-ly lined up for campus cere-monies, including at HarvardUniversity, which will offer amessage from Marty Baron, edi-tor of The Washington Post, andat Ohio State University, whichbroadcast a virtual address fromApple CEO Tim Cook.

The virtual celebrations havea different look from school to

school, with some preparingvideos that are recorded inadvance and then shared online.Others are holding live eventsover video conference, in somecases produced by companiespromising to replicate the tradi-tional graduation experience.

Some are passing up oncelebrity speeches, though, say-ing the online events aren’tmeant to be an exact replica ofthe campus event. At RiceUniversity, officials are hostingan online event with no guestspeaker. Instead, the schoolhopes to bring graduates back fora belated ceremony on campuswith the previously announcedkeynote speaker, New York Timescolumnist Nicholas Kristof. Andsome others are skipping onlineevents entirely. Officials at theUniversity of California,Berkeley, say they surveyed stu-dents and found it was their“clear preference” to pass on avirtual celebration and aim for acampus celebration later. A mes-sage from the university said it’s“too early at this stage of the pan-demic to finalise when and howwe will mark this milestone.”

Recently, a university inTokyo, Japan, used remote-con-trolled robots to hold a virtualgraduation. G%�

Just five months ago, on the NewYears’, we were making ourtravel plans for this year. While,

for some, it was their first solo tripto Vietnam or Japan, for others, itwas a honeymoon trip to Santorinithat they had on the cards. Forsome others, it was a fully spon-sored vacation by their work com-pany to Moscow, a part of theirincentive. Others were just lookingforward to a long-awaited mini get-away to Pondicherry or a girls’vacation to Goa. Everyone wasdreaming of taking time off of fromtheir busy schedules and flauntingphotographs on social media. Well,people did get some time off fromtheir offices but not in the manneranyone had imagined. An unimag-inable, total lockdown, where onecould not even venture out beyondone’s home, is what we got.

Now, with the Coronavirushaving stolen the limelight this year,changing our life entirely, we are leftwondering as to what is the futureof travel post this pandemic. Untila reliable vaccine is developed, thereis no assurance of reopening of theborders or travel allowances. Sohow long will it take for interna-tional travel bans to be eliminated?Will we be able to travel as freelyas we did earlier? Will onlinebookings be as hassle-free? Sincesocial distancing is here to stay, willairfares rise because of lesser num-ber of bookings per flight? Willdomestic travel see a spike? Evenif airlines start functioning again,how would the safety be ensured?

Experts suggest the followingchanges, which are set to becomea new normal in the world of trav-el:

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Experts suggest that since theindustry is currently on a completestandstill, to boost travel again postthe pandemic, a lot of emphasis onhealth, hygiene and safety will berequired. “Hotels, cruise compa-nies, airlines, attractions and morewill have to cater to these practicesand maintain social distancing insome ways. I don’t see it in full prac-tice (that is, six-feet apart), but con-sumers and companies will have tobe conscious of this,” says VarunChadha, CEO, TIRUN (RoyalCaribbean Cruises).

The industry will have to pri-oritise safety and hygiene at everystep to rebuild consumers’ confi-dence in travelling again. So howwill it be ensured?

Vikram Lalvani, Chief Officer,Revenue Management and Sales,Sterling Holiday Resorts Limited,suggests three things that travelcompanies should consider —what should we do for i) Guests; ii)Employees; iii) Suppliers/vendors?

He says, “We require a 360-degree ‘clinically’ hygiene pro-gramme, regularly, for the allemployees and guests. It shouldbegin with a well-designed proto-col for hygiene and sanitisation forgoing in-and-out of work for theemployees. All services or facilitiesshould be opened gradually — onestage after another while consider-ing all norms of hygiene and dis-

tancing for everyone involved.Hospitality brands, for a long time,should indulge in contact-less ser-vices or consider only organisingpre-planned/combo meals for cus-tomers to avoid contact with otherstaff members in the chain. Lastand most important, it is crucial toprove the efforts to customers to re-establish their trust. Customersbelieve what they see as they are justas humans as us and hence, com-panies should be transparent abouttheir hygiene protocols. Moreover,travel companies have an edge overhotels and can make stricter guide-lines for the guests and staff toadhere to the norms of social dis-tancing even during travelling.”

Since travel is not just limitedto commuting to and fro from aplace to another, how can visa andpassport application services ensurehealth safety and social distancing?

As per the guidelines pre-scribed by the World HealthOrganisation (WHO), as well aslocal authorities, both customersand employees at Visa ApplicationCentres will be subject to bodytemperature checks, face masks andgloves for protection. Centres arealso maintaining preventive mea-sures such as disinfecting high-con-tact surfaces, use of hand sanitis-ers, and social distancing practices.The ‘Visa At Your Doorstep’ is setto be the new normal.

Experts from VFS Global tellus that they are working on the fea-ture and post lockdowns, their staffwill visit the customer’s location of

choice (home, office, etc) to com-plete the visa application processand/or biometric enrolment ifneeded, while maintaining neces-sary health precautions.

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The journey from airports tohotel check-ins will see the mostimmediate and crucial transforma-tion — touchless travel, suggestexperts.

Since hygiene is the first prior-ity, Nishant Pitti, CEO and Co-founder, EaseMyTrip, suggests thatthe use of high-end digital optionswill become the “new normal.” Headds, “There will be more empha-sis on booking everything online,including more web check-ins,instead of standing in a queue to getthe boarding pass. Airports will alsohave to change their systems of col-lecting the luggage and checking aperson before immigration.”

Other changes in automationwould be biometrics, which havealready become a widely-acceptedsolution for identity verification

and will now become more wide-spread as physical fingerprint andhand scanners will be phased out.Touchless options like contactlessfingerprint, as well as iris and facerecognition, will come into play.There will be technology for touch-less data-entry such as gesturecontrol, touchless document-scan-ning and voice commands, some ofwhich are already being tested.Seating configurations in airplaneswill also have to change to ensuresafety and distancing.

��������������?� �����

Given that the travel industrycontributes about nine per cent toIndia’s GDP and generates employ-ment for more than 12 per cent ofthe total workforce, an absolute halton its services is certainly a hugeloss for it. As per an analysis by theConfederation of Indian Industry(CII), the tourism industry is star-ing at an overall loss of �5 lakhcrore and job cuts impacting up tofive crore people. And the aviationsector, as Rikant Pitti, COO and

Co-founder, EaseMyTrip, suggestsis hit the hardest. This brings usback to our question — Will air-fares rise?

Rikant says, “The airlines oper-ate on thin margins and the currentsituation — lesser demand, socialdistancing within flights — can leadto a decrease in the load factor ofaircrafts, resulting in a naturalincrease in average break, evenfares. In addition, with more checksin place and frequent sanitisation,the turn-around time of flights willalso increase. The airlines willhave to forgo additional revenuethat they earned from beverage andsnack services. Considering allthese factors, the airfares are expect-ed to rise in order to compensatefor lower revenue generation andincreased costs. This should changeonly under the condition if govern-ment announces some relief pack-age for the travel sector and sup-port them in recovery.”

So what about personal finan-cial statements? How will the twobe balanced out?

Varesh Chopra, RegionalDirector, South Asia and MiddleEast, Cosmos Vacations, says,“There might be some permanentcutbacks and rationalisation onbusiness travel as it can find a vir-tual connect for a long time andcome back later. Leisure travelmay see temporary stress ondemand due to changed personalfinancial dynamics as well, but itwill never go out of vogue ordemand.”

��"��� ����� ��� �����Given the widespread reach of

the virus in Europe and America,Varesh points out that they will bethe first to bounce back and will notget preference over long haul trav-el but “only for a while.” He adds,“There will be a shift from so-called‘hot or bucket list’ destinations as

tourism businesses are going torethink strategies and travellers willhave to settle for spots with fewercrowds.”

A spokesperson fromMakeMyTrip also earlier suggest-ed that domestic travel is the firstarea, that they foresee, whichwill likely “show green shoots ofrecovery and could prove to be aforce multiplier for the industryto survive and recover from theimpact of the Coronavirus pan-demic.”

Nishant adds that travellerswould avoid visiting internation-al destinations, especially, theones which were heavily impact-ed by COVID-19 in short-termeven post recovery. He adds,“Instead, they would prefer smalldomestic destinations or prefertravelling through their own vehi-cle to nearby locations to avoidcrowds. The weekend and near-by hill station getaways are likelyto gain popularity. People arelikely to prefer homestay or smallresorts to ensure that they comein contact with fewer people.”

!��#���! ���� �Varesh lists some points,

which, in the longer run, willprove to be beneficial for theworld:��Over-tourism will no longer bea problem for some time. And itwill lead to more responsible andsustainable travel practices.��With pollution levels evident-ly reducing over cities across theworld, destinations will hopefullybecome cleaner, purer and green-er once again, having some perma-nency to it. This, in turn, would bean added travel incentive for globetrotters.�� It will give an opportunity tohitherto unknown or underratedbut good destinations and attrac-tions which will come to the foreand receive footfalls.��People will look for pristine andlesser-visited places with naturalbeauty, which are away from localcivilisation and commercialisa-tion.�� And overall, this will bring amuch-desired balancing effect ofthe tourism industry footprint onthe world and hopefully, keepemission levels down.

Considering all these points,even though the recovery willsurely take some time, especiallywith the international travel expe-riences, experts definitely see a sil-ver lining here as people are boundto get out of their homes after lock-down with a renewed desire to travel.

Ahead of InternationalTransphobia and Homophobia

Day, Arunabh Kumar, founder ofTVF, has a surprising anecdote forhis admirers. Many would notknow that he did one small cameoin Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om asa transgender. He was closely asso-ciated with Farah for a long time asan assistant for the film.

“A song shoot was going on andFarah has a habit of making veryinteresting and inclusive cameos inthe film. She asked if anyone was upto play the role of a transgender per-son in a scene for the film but thewhole set refused and there werealso people who made fun of theentire affair,” recollects Arunabh.

He took a strong stand againstthe on-going jokes of playing thecameo for the film and decided tostep in and played the role himself.He says, “I went up to Farahand gladly volunteered to playthe role. She thought I wasbrave and encouraged me. Iwent and did a proper makeup and costume and evenconnected with a friend ofmine who is a transgenderfor some small tips.”

Taking usthrough the shot,he adds, “I gotdressed andwalked onto theset. While therewere few gigglesthere was sud-denly the faintsound of anapplause startingfollowed bymore. I felthappy and confi-dent which helpedme to do the sceneconfidently aidedby Farahma’am’s bril-

liant direction”. Apparently, thescene was for one of the most pop-ular dialogues from the iconic film‘Ek chutki sindoor ki keemat tum kyajaano...’

Currently busy with his comicbook, Indusverse series and also forworking towards helping migrantsin India who are suffering due tolockdown, Arunabh feels thathumanity comes first.

Coming from a small town herecollects how his homosexualfriends were scared about disclos-ing their sexual preferences due tosocial structure. “I was taken abackas I have homosexual friends sinceI was in a hostel in my school days.I have seen how it has been verytough for them to get out of thecloset for the fear of beingridiculed,” says Arunabh.

He feels that as a society weneed to change our perspec-tive before we expect othersto change. “I have always

felt that the LGBTQIAcommunity has beenmarginalised and madeto feel alien. But on thecontrary, they are exactly

people like us and it’s abouttime that this taboo shouldvanish from the society. I

have had the fortune ofhaving friends from thiscommunity since schooland college days and itwas this proximity withthem in an everydayenvironment that mademe think of them just asany other human beingwith their own prefer-ences. I wish that the daymakes the communityfeel more inclusive in ourculture, art and lives.That is when we will beable to stop needing thisday,” he shares.

DOESN’T STOP7�����;��������������������������� ��� ����������;��������������������� �������!����������������� ������������������������������;������!����������!������������������������������ ������9C1���-30���8#8#* .122#"

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FLYING

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Premier League clubs willreturn to training in smallgroups from Tuesday

after the latest stage of ProjectRestart was approved onMonday.

Clubs unanimously votedto allow players to start social-ly distanced training in a bid tomeet the Premier League’s mid-June date to resume the season.

Contact training is notpermitted at this stage andcorner flags, balls, cones, goal-posts, playing surfaces andother equipment will be disin-

fected after each session.Testing for the coronavirus

has taken place at PremierLeague clubs over the last fewdays and will continuethroughout the training period.

“Strict medical protocols ofthe highest standard will ensureeveryone returns to training inthe safest environment possi-ble,” a Premier League state-ment said.

“The health and well-beingof all participants is the PremierLeague’s priority, and the safereturn to training is a step-by-step process.

“Full consultation will now

continue with players, man-agers, clubs, the PFA and LMAas protocols for full-contacttraining are developed.”

The training proto-cols were presented toplayers and managerslast week before beingrubber-stamped duringMonday’s video confer-ence call.

Other rules in phaseone include players not travel-ling with anyone to or fromtraining, while the use of pub-lic transport and team vehiclesis banned.

Newcastle were one of thefirst top-flight teams to issue

confirmation that players hadbeen tested at their trainingground.

The club said playerswould return on Tuesday,by which time all testresults would be known.

Players will be askedto use an app on a dailybasis to record any symp-toms.

“It’s been a really dif-ficult time, but I hope with thenews that phase one is about tostart,” Newcastle manager SteveBruce said.

“I must stress that phaseone looks as if it’s as safe as itcan be. I’m sure everyone will

be delighted that we’re tryingto make that effort.

“In phase one we’reallowed to train four to fivepeople on one pitch, so basical-ly a player has a quarter of apitch to work within, so socialdistancing is not a problem.We’ll train with eight to 10 ata time on two separate pitch-es. “Everything is in place inthe safety aspect. I’ve got noissues and I can tell the sup-porters the players and the staffare as safe as we possibly canbe.”

‘MAKING GOOD PROGRESS’The resumption of

Germany’s Bundesliga overthe weekend has raised expec-tations that the Premier Leaguecan follow suit.

But some Premier Leagueplayers remain concerned overreturning to work while thevirus is still uncontained, withBritain one of the countriesworst hit by the crisis.

Speaking to Good MorningBritain on Monday, Watfordcaptain Troy Deeney said:“Phase one is social distancingindividual training with acoach. That’s no problem, that’slike going to the park.

“Phase two will be nextweek six days of training, threeto six people training togetherwith contact and then six daysafter that you’re going into 11versus 11 and you can’t socialdistance with 11 verus 11.

“I would say 98 per cent (ofplayers) are very much awarethat phase one is very good, Iwould say 65-70 per cent ofpeople are concerned withphase two. I’d say even higherafter that.”

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��!�����#���� BatsmanAiden Markram on Mondayexpressed his desire to leadProteas in Tests but at thesame time insisted that it willnot be the end of the world forhim if he isn’t given top job.

After veteran batsman Fafdu Plessis resigned from cap-taincy across all three formats,Cricket South Africa (CSA)has been in a lurch, trying tofind a suitable leader for thelongest format of the game.

Quinton de Kock washanded the reins in bothwhite-ball formats but SouthAfrica’s director of cricket,Graeme Smith, ruled out thewicketkeeper-batsman for Testcaptaincy, prompting severalplayers to throw their hats into

the ring. “I’ve never given cap-taining my country too muchthought. It’s always been a shotin the dark for me. But now

that my name is the hat forpeople who are writing newsso to speak, it’s nice to be con-sidered. I’d love to do it and I’dprobably even give an arm anda leg to do it,” Markam wasquoted as saying by Sport24.

“I’ve said it before thoughthat it’s not the be-all and end-all for me. I don’t want tobecome desperate about it. I’dbe honoured and excited, butI’m not looking too much intoit,” he added.

The 25-year-old, who suc-cessfully led South Africa’sunder-19 team to World Cupglory in Dubai in 2014, hasemerged as one of the frontrunners to succeed du Plessisas the Proteas’ next Test cap-tain. “From a personal per-

spective, I really enjoy captain-cy and the responsibility asso-ciated with it,” said Markram.

“I’ve been able to watchand learn from various fran-chise captains as well as some-one like Faf. If it were to hap-pen (being named captain) itwould be great, but if not,there are plenty of strongleaders in the group thatwould definitely take the teamforward.”

Markram has featured in20 Tests for South Africa, butspent most of the 2019-20 sea-son sidelined with an injury,and he now is focussed oncementing his place in theside. “My main focus is to getback into the team and staythere,” he said. PTI

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Spanish clubs began trainingin groups of 10 players on

Monday, in line with healthprotocols, as La Liga takesanother step towards theplanned resumption of thecoronavirus-hit season nextmonth.

Barcelona confirmed thattheir squad was back on thetraining ground at 9:30am(0730 GMT), with picturespublished on their Twitteraccount showing several play-ers including Gerard Piqueand Sergio Busquets takingpart in the session.

Real Madrid players alsotrained at the club’s base on theoutskirts of the Spanish capital,as clubs begin the last steptowards being able to workwith their full squadstogether.

Spanish Governmentprotocol allows trainingsessions to be expanded byall clubs, even thosebelonging to areas thatare further behind in thecountry’s programme of de-escalation from a strict lock-down.

That means teams likeReal, Barcelona and AleticoMadrid are able to train ingroups of 10, despite bothMadrid and Catalonia remain-ing in phase 0 as two of Spain’s

worst-hit regions.“It is a ministerial decision.

It was very important that allteams could train in the sameway,” said Javier Tebas, thepresident of La Liga.

Tebas reiterated LaLiga’s desire to finishthe remaining 11rounds of matches in aseason that has beensuspended since mid-March.

He has circled June12 as the ideal date for match-es to return but admitted theexact timing will depend on thehealth authorities in Spain andthe trajectory of the virus.

“We are working so that(the return of La Liga) will takeplace from June 11-12, but weare working to be ready regard-

less of the date,” Tebas toldMovistar TV.

“It is the health authoritieswho will say when we start.

“I would like it to happenas soon as possible, but thetruth is that we do not have anideal date. We have to wait forthe green light from the healthauthorities.”

According to an officialstatement by the Governmenton Saturday, professional sportsclubs “may carry out completetraining sessions” while “com-plying with the correspondingprevention and hygiene mea-sures”.

The statement put themaximum number at 14 forgroup training but La Ligainformed clubs the limit wouldbe 10 on Monday.

��#������Australia’s two-time WorldCup winning captain Ricky Ponting sayssenior batsman Usman Khawaja wasaxed from the national team due to hisinconsistency but he is not willing towrite him off yet.

The 33-year-old Khawaja wasrecently left out of the Australia’s annu-al list of contracted players after he wasdropped midway through last year’sAshes. “I honestly think now he’s goingto find it difficult (to get back into theAustralian team) and I feel for him,”Ponting, who was recently involved withthe Australian team as a batting consul-tant, told ABC Grandstand.

“I’ve always felt he’s a very goodplayer and we probably never saw theabsolute best of him at internationalcricket. We saw glimpses of it, and dribsand drabs, but not the consistently goodplayer I thought he could have been forAustralia.”

Ponting, however, hoped thatKhawaja can score loads of runs in thedomestic cirucit and make an interna-tional comeback.

“One thing I know, you never writegreat players off. He’s got every oppor-tunity once domestic cricket does startthis summer, and all he can do is rep-resent Queensland, get a truck load ofruns under his belt and wait for anoth-er opportunity to come along.

“If it does I’m sure he wouldn’t letanyone down if he gets a chance to playagain.” PTI

��"���!�� Former Australian captain IanChappell feels India skipper Virat Kohli’spenchant for playing copybook cricketingshots and his incredible fitness make himthe world’s best batsman across formatsamong the current generation of cricketers.

“Of that group (including Steve Smith,Kane Williamson, Joe Root), Kohli is thebest in all three forms. That’s unquestion-able,” Chappell said on The RK Show, whichis hosted by Radhakrishnan Sreenivasan onYouTube.

“His record in all three forms is quiteunbelievable, particularly his record in theshorter forms.”

Chappell’s comments come after former

England batsman Kevin Pietersen said thatAustralia’s batting mainstay Smith wasnowhere close to Kohli.

Kohli, who has scored 70 internation-al hundreds and more than 20,000 runs,averages more than 50 in all three formats.

Explaining his reasons on why he feelsKohli is the best, Chappell said: “I like hisapproach to batting. We did an interviewwith him last time India were in Australia,and one of the things he talked about waswhy he didn’t play the fancy shots, the inno-vative shots of particularly T20 cricket.

“He said he didn’t want those to creepin his batting in the longer form of the game.

The best short-form player in the time Iplayed was Viv Richards, and he justplayed normal cricket shots but he placedthe ball so well he was able to score at a veryfast rate. And Kohli’s the same. He plays tra-ditional cricket shots, and he plays themreally well.”

Chappell also expressed his admirationfor Kohli’s captaincy.

“The one thing that stands out to meis that Kohli is the one (captain) that does-n’t fear defeat. He’s prepared to lose a gamein trying to win it. You’ve got to be that wayas a captain in my opinion. I like thatapproach,” the legendary skipper said. PTI

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Senior India pacer Ishant Sharma says fastbowlers will have to get used to the “new

normal” if the ICC decides to ban theuse of saliva to shine the ball owingto the Covid-19 pandemic.

The International Cricket Council(ICC) is reportedly considering the useof artificial substances on the ballinstead of saliva in the post Covid-19scenario, effectively legalising ball-tam-pering.

“We know there are talks of somechanges and adjustments in cricket, butI feel cricketers will have to get usedto the new normal, whatever thatis” said Ishant during anInstagram Live with his IPLfranchise Delhi Capitals.

“The ball may not shine asper your liking if you are notallowed to use saliva, or you mayhave to go and fetch the ballyourself during nets — but there

is no option but to get used to these things.“But honestly I don’t like to think about

these things too much. I feel it is importantto stay in the present and not look too farahead,” said the lanky pacer.

During the chat, Ishant also said he hasnot met a better coach than Ricky Ponting asthe Australian great made him feel wantedfrom the word go in his IPL comeback lastyear.

Ishant was bought by Delhi Capitalsahead of the 2019 IPL after he went unsold

in the previous auction.“He’s the best coach I’ve ever

met. I was very nervous when I wasmaking a return to the IPL last sea-

son. I was almost feeling like a debu-tante walking into the camp the firstday, but he gave me a lot of confidence

since the first day I arrived at the camp.“He just told me, ‘You’re a senior

player and you should help the youngsters.Just don’t worry about anything — you’remy first choice.’ And I think that bit of con-

versation really helped me,” Ishant recalled.

����!� Thomas Mueller expects BayernMunich’s showdown behind closed doors atclosest rivals Borussia Dortmund in a week’stime to decide who wins the Bundesliga title.

Goals by Robert Lewandowski andBenjamin Pavard sealed a 2-0 win for Bayernat Union Berlin on Sunday.

The result in Berlin maintained Bayern’sfour-point lead at the top of the table.Dortmund host Bayern on May 26 and Muellerexpects the potential top-of-the-table clash tobe a key factor in determining whetherMunich will go on to clinch an eighth straightleague crown.

“The match in Dortmund will decide howexciting and close it will be in the next fewweeks, that’s for sure,” said Mueller. FormerDortmund strikerLewandowski netted afirst-half penalty forBayern on Sunday forhis 26th league goalthis season, takinghim one closer toGerd Mueller'srecord of 40 in the1971-1972 season.

Aked if the Polecould overtake Mueller’s48-year-old record, Bayerncoach Hansi Flick said: “Itwon’t be easy, but he(Lewandowski) has the qual-ity. “If anyone can do it, he’sthe one.” AFP

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Singapore F1 organiserson Monday said it was

“not feasible” to hold therace behind closed doors,threatening further prob-lems for the coronavirus-ravaged season.

After 10 races werecancelled or postponed,Formula One bosses areaiming to begin the sea-son with two races inAustria in July, both with-out fans. Races in othercountries are also expect-ed to go ahead in closedvenues.

But the SingaporeGrand Prix, scheduledfor September, is a night-time street race aroundthe city-state’s waterfront,where it would be chal-lenging to keep spectatorsaway.

Organisers said theyhave been in talks withFormula One, theSingapore Governmentand others involved “toassess different possibili-ties” for holding the race.

But a spokespersonadded that “as theSingapore F1 race is astreet circuit, it is notfeasible to conduct therace behind closed doors”.

Ferrari’s SebastianVettel won last year’s race,which drew 268,000 spec-tators over three days, asubstantial portion ofthem coming from over-seas.

�!�?�� Bangladesh’s bowlingcoach Ottis Gibson has urgedMashrafe Mortaza to bid adieu tointernational cricket as he doesn’tsee the 36-year-old fast bowler inthe scheme of things for the 2023World Cup slated to be played inIndia.

Gibson, who joinedBangladesh in January this year,said that head coach RussellDomingo has to look at severalyounger bowlers to build a teamin the next three years.

“I think he (Mortaza) hashad an outstanding internationalcareer,” ESPNcricinfo quotedGibson as telling Bengali dailyProthom Alo on Monday.

“He has done himself and hiscountry proud. With the nextWorld Cup in 2023, any interna-

tional coach will now start to builda team. I am quite sure that’s whatRussell will be thinking.

“So he would want to see play-ers like young Hasan Mahmud,(Mohammad) Saifuddin, Shafiul(Islam) and Ebadot (Hossain.)We haven’t seen Ebadot in white-ball cricket yet. There’s Taskin(Ahmed) and Khaled (Ahmed)gets fit again. We have Hasan and(Mehedi Hasan) Rana. So there’sa lot of young cricketers in thecountry,” Gibson added.

According to Gibson,Domingo is now trying to build ateam for the future and that’s whyMortaza should now move on andcan advise country’s young fastbowlers in a different capacity.

“I think if Russell is now try-ing to build a team for the future,then I don’t know what partMashrafe will have to play in that.Perhaps now is his time, with allthat’s going on in the world, tomove on,” Gibson said.

“He (Mortaza) can find otherways to pass on his vast knowledgeand experience to the young guys.I don’t think he has to be on thefield to be able to pass on what hehas learned over his career. Heneeds to find other ways to pass onthat message,” he added. PTI

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Celtic were crowned champions for arecord-equalling ninth consecutive

season as the Scottish Premiership cam-paign was declared over on Monday.

Neil Lennon’s men were 13 pointsclear at the top of the table when the sea-son was stopped due to the coronaviruspandemic in March with eight gamesremaining for the majority of clubs.

Second-placed Rangers had a game inhand to try and cut that gap and were dueto face Celtic twice more before the end

of the season.“It is, of course, a real shame that we

were not able to see out the league in frontof our fans. However, no one can deny howdeserved this title is,” said Celtic chief exec-utive Peter Lawwell.

A ninth consecutive title matches therecord set by Celtic’s European Cup-win-ning side of the sixties and seventies andRangers’ dominant team that won nine ina row between 1988 and 1997.

“To be sitting here now as the man-ager of the nine in a row, and having playeda huge part in that, fills me with so muchpride,” said Lennon, who has been incharge for five of the nine straight titles.

“It feels wonderful and I’m so proudof the players. It’s an incredible record andto be part of that is something very spe-cial, and I think it’s thoroughly deservedas well.”

A points-per-game formula for deter-mining final league placings also sees bot-tom club Hearts relegated unless there isany progress in talks over league recon-struction.

Premiership clubs have previouslyrejected proposals for reconstruction, butHearts said they will put forward a newresolution and warned they may take legalaction if it is rejected.

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��"���!��The Sports Ministry onMonday gave its go ahead to theresumption of training in all sportscomplexes and stadia with imme-diate effect after the Governmenteased restrictions for the fourthphase of the coronavirus-forcedlockdown.

Sports Minister Kiren Rijijusaid activities can now be conduct-ed in all sports complexes and sta-dia, including those managed byprivate players, but only in accor-dance with the Ministry of HomeAffairs guidelines.

“I’m happy to informsportspersons and all concernedthat sports activities will be con-ducted in sports complexes andstadia strictly in accordance withMHA guidelines and that of theStates in which they are situated,”Rijiju tweeted.

“However, use of gyms andswimming pools are still prohib-ited,” he added.

According to ministry sources,sporting activities can resume infacilities and academies across thecountry, including those man-

aged by private entities likeTransStadia and JSW Group.

“Sporting activities can nowstart across the country, includ-ing in private facilities and thosemanaged by states but in com-plete adherence to MHA guide-lines,” the source said.

“There is no time frame onwhen to start. It entirely dependson individual players and NSFs.For example, our hockey teamsare based in SAI Bengalurusince the start of lockdown, soif Hockey India wants to startonfield training from tomorrow,they can do so,” he said.

The source, however, saidthat sportspersons joining thenational camps or SAI centresafresh will have to go throughmedical checkups and a manda-tory 14-day quarantine period.

“Not just SAI facilities, allprivate facilities and academieswill have to ensure medicalcheck ups of those wanting toresume training.” PTI

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?����������������%�%���"��������7����F� ��������������������������� 0�!����?���!�� Pakistan’s topbatsman Babar Azam onMonday played down com-parisons with Indian run-machine Virat Kohli, sayingit is not wise to do so asboth are “different” kind ofplayers.

“I think it’s better if youare not comparing. I havesaid that he is a differentkind of a player, and I ama different player,” Azamsaid a during a press con-ference.

“I am only striving tobat well and help my teamto victory every time I taketo the field.”

With consistent perfor-mances across three for-mats, the 25-year-old Azamhas been steadily rising upthe ranks in recent years,while the Indian captainKohli has already estab-lished himself as one of thegreats of the game.

Asked about the possi-bility of playing cricket

behind closed doors, Azamsaid they are already usedto it having played most oftheir homes series in near-empty stands in thegrounds of UAE for morethan 10 years.

“We know better thanother teams how it feels toplay without crowd havingplayed most of our cricketin Dubai in last 10 years.

“It’s not a great feelingfor fans and it’s not great forus also.” PTI

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