0#1 ˘. 2 +%˜ -˚ˆ.ˆ-. / 0-.1 , !$ ˜@ #42*%˝& #*)#*D*D*)˚#%2 ... · ing Justices SK Kaul and...

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T en days after it junked a PIL on the plight of migrant workers, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed that no train or bus fare be charged from the migrant workers stranded across the country and they be provided food and water. Between then and now, dozens of migrant workers were mowed down by trains and buses or were found dead inside trains while returning to their home States. The SC, which passed interim directions, said all migrant workers who are stranded shall be provided food by concerned States and Union Territories (UTs) at places which shall be publicised and notified to them for the period they are waiting for their turn to board a train or a bus. A Bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said the orig- inating State shall provide meals and water at the station and during the journey while the Railways would provide the same to the migrant workers. It said food and water be also provided to them for travel in buses. The Bench, also compris- ing Justices SK Kaul and MR Shah, directed that States to oversee the registration of migrant workers and ensure that they are made to board the train or bus at the earliest. The top court said com- plete information in this regard should be publicised to all concerned. The court observed that it is presently concerned with the miseries and difficulty faced by the migrants workers who are trying to get to their native places. It said though there is no doubt that State Governments and UTs are tak- ing steps, several lapses have been issued in the process of registration, transportation and providing food water to the migrants Earlier, the apex court asked some questions from the Centre on the plight of migrant workers ranging from as to how long they will have to wait before going to their native places to who will pay for their travel and provide them food and shelter. The court asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appear- ing for the Centre, about the confusion over the payment of travel fare of stranded migrant workers and said that they should not made to pay for their journey back home. “What is the normal time? If a migrant is identified, there must be some certainty that he will be shifted out within one week or ten days at most? What is that time? There had been instances where one State sends migrants but at the bor- der another State says we are not accepting the migrants. We need a policy on this,” the Bench told Mehta. Continued on Page 2 A day after US President Donald Trump offered to mediate between India and China in what he termed a “raging border dispute,” New Delhi on Thursday virtually rejected the US proposal say- ing it was “engaged” with Beijing at diplomatic level to resolve the issue “peacefully.” Making the Indian stand clear, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, “Our engage- ment on the diplomatic front continues both in Delhi as well as in Beijing.” India and China, he said, have engagements both at the military level as well as diplo- matic levels. The two nations have signed several protocols on maintaining peace and tran- quility at the border. There are many agreements on this issue. “Our troops have taken a very responsible approach towards border management. They scrupulously follow the guidance provided by our lead- ership. At the same time, we will defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he added. The US President in a tweet message from Washington had said, “We have informed both India and China that the United States is ready, willing and able to mediate or arbitrate their now raging bor- der dispute.” Besides indicating that the LAC dispute was a bilateral issue and there was no need for third party interference, India on Thursday also said the two countries (India and China) have established a mechanism to resolve the situation peace- fully through dialogue. Sources also said talks at the local military level between commanders of the two armies are also on. In fact, more than seven rounds of talks were held in the last fortnight but could not achieve a break- through. The armies of India and China are involved in face-offs at four places for the last 25 days or so in Eastern Ladakh. The Chinese army has also intruded into the Hot Spring area near Galwan valley and reinforced its troop strength to over 5,000 in total at all the stand-off locations. Continued on Page 2 A joint team of security forces, aided by intelli- gence agencies, on Thursday prevented a repeat of Pulwama type “audacious” terror strike on the convoy of security forces by timely detecting a vehicle- borne Improvised Explosive Device (IED), fitted with at least 40-45 kg of explosives, in Ayengund area of Rajpora in Pulwama district. Police suspected involve- ment of local commanders of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) along with Hizbul Mujahideen behind the sinister plot to avenge recent killings of their top commanders, including Riyaz Naiko and Junaid Sehrai, in anti-terrorist operations in the Kashmir valley. According to official sources, the explosive-laden car, bearing a fake registration number JKO8B-1426, was det- onated by the Bomb Disposal Squad causing extensive dam- age to window panes of local houses in the area early Thursday morning. Late on Wednesday, sever- al residents were escorted to safer places before detonating the vehicle-borne IED. Continued on Page 2 N early 45-50 districts in six States — Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh after Rajasthan and Gujarat — are under attack of crores of desert locusts that entered from Pakistan last year. It is estimated that crops on 10-15 lakh acres have been affected across six States since December last year while the Government estimates around one lakh acres of cotton, sum- mer pulses and vegetables crops have been affected so far. The Ministry of Agriculture esti- mates that not much damage to crops is reported as sowing has not taken place in most of the areas and harvest of winter crops is over. The Shivraj Singh Chouhan Government in Madhya Pradesh is planning to declare the locust swarm attacks as natural disaster, fol- lowing a survey on the losses. Haryana on Thursday issued high alert in 10 districts for farmers while Odisha and Chhattisgarh also issued advi- sories to farmers. Delhi’s neighbouring region Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram have also issued advisories to this effect. Continued on Page 2 T he Karnataka Government on Thursday pitched for down scaling air travel from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, saying a large num- ber of people arriving from these States have tested positive for Covid-19 and it would be difficult to manage quarantine if more arrived. Karnataka Parliamentary Affairs Minister JC Madhuswamy said the Government has decided to “suspend” air traffic from these States. “People are coming from other States to Karnataka.... We have decided to suspend air traffic from five States, as cases here (Karnataka) may further increase,” he said. In the statement released later, he clarified that the Government has not sought a ban on flights emanating from these five States. “Karnataka has appealed to the Civil Aviation Ministry to take steps to lessen the air traf- fic to the State, with the sacred intention that there may not be adequate quarantine facilities, if there is huge turn out at a short span of time, he said. Domestic air travel resumed in the country only on Monday after nearly two months of Covid-19 induced lockdown with Karnataka stip- ulating seven days institution- al quarantine for passengers coming from seven States, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and MP. Continued on Page 2 C ongress on Thursday launched a massive social media campaign — Speak Up India movement — to draw attention of the Centre to the plight of migrant labourers and raise public support for their help. Blaming the Centre for turning a blind eye to the mis- ery of millions of helpless workers, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said the Congress has launched the campaign to provide a platform for the “voiceless”. The cam- paign was simultaneously launched on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, etc. In addition to Sonia, other senior Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and P Chidambaram, posted their messages on social media. Sonia, in her video mes- sage, charged that the Central Government has failed to address the immediate needs and concerns of the labourers and workers while many jobs were lost, workplaces were shut down, farmers were made to struggle to sell their crops due to the ill-conceived lockdown. She suggested the Centre to directly transfer cash to migrants and poor families and financial relief to MSMEs. “Put direct cash of 7,500 per month in the account of every family for the next six months and provide 10,000 immediately; ensure safe and free travel of labourers back home, employment opportu- nity and rations; and also increase the number of work- days under MNREGA to 200 days to facilitate jobs in vil- lages,” said Sonia. Continued on Page 2 D elhi, West Bengal and Kerala reported their biggest single day spike on Thursday and with Maharashtra recording yet another day of huge surge in number of cases and death it was the second consecutive day when the country record- ed biggest spike of 7,228 cases. Delhi reported 1,024 new cases and 13 deaths on Thursday and this is for the first time that the national Capital has reported more than 1,000 cases. Other than Maharashtra, only Gujarat, and now Delhi have reported 1,000 plus cases in a day. Delhi has now 16,281 confirmed cases with a death count of 316. After the development in Delhi, the Haryana Government decided to seal its borders with the national Capital. “We will keep our border with Delhi completely sealed due to increasing Covid-19 cases,” Haryana Minister Anil Vij said. After reporting between 2,000 and 2,200 cases for the three days, Maharashtra logged in 2,598 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, taking the total number of coronavirus cases almost to 60,000 in the State at 59,546. The toll in the State also rose to 1,982 after 85 casualties were reported in the last 24 hour. Reports said 36 new cases of coornavirus were reported in Mumbai’s Dharavi in the last 24 hours. The total number of cases rose to 1,675 on Thursday in the densely-populated area. West Bengal, which is bat- tling with coronavirus and destruction cause by Amphan cyclone, reported 344 new coronavirus cases which is the highest single-day spike in cases so far. The total number of cases in the State rose to 4,536, which includes 2,573 active cases and 1,668 dis- charges. Kerala is losing the initial advantage it had scored in the battle against the pandemic. The number of persons tested positive for coronavirus in the State on Thursday is an all time high, according to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Continued on Page 2 T he Delhi Government on Thursday issued an advi- sory asking authorities con- cerned to spray insecticides and pesticides on standing crops, vegetation, gardens and orchards to prevent an immi- nent attack by the swarm of locusts, informed Development Minister Gopal Rai in a tweet. “As the swarm of locusts flies in daytime, and rests dur- ing the night, it should not be allowed to rest at night,” the advisory read. Detailed report on P3 New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to all Chief Ministers on Thursday, and sought their views on extension of the ongoing nationwide lockdown beyond May 31, officials said. The telephonic conversa- tions of the Home Minister came just three days before the end of the fourth phase of the lockdown. The nationwide curbs was first imposed on March 25 to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, and has been extended thrice. F or the next few months, there has to be no group lunch, entry to the offices through multiple gates, no loi- tering through the corridors of Shastri Bhawan, Udyog Bhawan, Rail Bhawan, Sena Bhawan, Nirman Bhawan, etc, and above all no use of central air conditioning system for the Central Government staffers. These guidelines of Union Government will come into force when the lockdown imposed due to Covid-19 is diluted or lifted and the Government departments work in full strength. The Centre on Thursday issued a new set of guidelines which says centralised ACs may not be used for time being, if possible. While it has suggested that employees should take entry into the building through different gates in a staggered manner, it has also advised people to take stairs, or if using lifts, then physical distance of six feet has to be ensured. The rules also say that only four people can occupy lift for one travel and that the occupants should face the wall of the lift and avoid talking. While wearing of mask, use of soap and sanitisers at every interval is a must, the new office memorandum notified by the Health Ministry also says that the movement of “physical” receipts and files should be discouraged so as to avoid the infection through fre- quent touching of papers. As much as possible, employees should avoid using other employees’ phones, office para- phernalia like desks and tools and equipment. The guidelines ask the employees to avoid group lunches. It says that the lunch timing may be staggered as much as possible and has pro- hibited loitering and crowding in the corridors of the office premises.

Transcript of 0#1 ˘. 2 +%˜ -˚ˆ.ˆ-. / 0-.1 , !$ ˜@ #42*%˝& #*)#*D*D*)˚#%2 ... · ing Justices SK Kaul and...

Page 1: 0#1 ˘. 2 +%˜ -˚ˆ.ˆ-. / 0-.1 , !$ ˜@ #42*%˝& #*)#*D*D*)˚#%2 ... · ing Justices SK Kaul and MR Shah, directed that States to ... and workers while many jobs were lost, workplaces

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Ten days after it junked a PILon the plight of migrant

workers, the Supreme Court onThursday directed that no trainor bus fare be charged from themigrant workers strandedacross the country and they beprovided food and water.

Between then and now,dozens of migrant workerswere mowed down by trainsand buses or were found deadinside trains while returning totheir home States.

The SC, which passedinterim directions, said allmigrant workers who arestranded shall be providedfood by concerned States andUnion Territories (UTs) atplaces which shall be publicisedand notified to them for theperiod they are waiting for theirturn to board a train or a bus.

A Bench headed by Justice

Ashok Bhushan said the orig-inating State shall providemeals and water at the station

and during the journey whilethe Railways would provide thesame to the migrant workers. It

said food and water be alsoprovided to them for travel inbuses.

The Bench, also compris-ing Justices SK Kaul and MRShah, directed that States tooversee the registration ofmigrant workers and ensurethat they are made to board thetrain or bus at the earliest.

The top court said com-plete information in this regardshould be publicised to allconcerned.

The court observed that itis presently concerned withthe miseries and difficultyfaced by the migrants workerswho are trying to get to theirnative places. It said thoughthere is no doubt that StateGovernments and UTs are tak-ing steps, several lapses havebeen issued in the process ofregistration, transportation andproviding food water to themigrants

Earlier, the apex courtasked some questions fromthe Centre on the plight of

migrant workers ranging fromas to how long they will haveto wait before going to theirnative places to who will payfor their travel and providethem food and shelter.

The court asked SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta, appear-ing for the Centre, about theconfusion over the payment oftravel fare of stranded migrantworkers and said that theyshould not made to pay fortheir journey back home.

“What is the normal time?If a migrant is identified, theremust be some certainty that hewill be shifted out within oneweek or ten days at most?What is that time? There hadbeen instances where one Statesends migrants but at the bor-der another State says we arenot accepting the migrants.We need a policy on this,” theBench told Mehta.

Continued on Page 2

����� )*/��*01�

Aday after US PresidentDonald Trump offered to

mediate between India andChina in what he termed a“raging border dispute,” NewDelhi on Thursday virtuallyrejected the US proposal say-ing it was “engaged” withBeijing at diplomatic level toresolve the issue “peacefully.”

Making the Indian standclear, External Affairs MinistrySpokesperson AnuragSrivastava said, “Our engage-ment on the diplomatic frontcontinues both in Delhi aswell as in Beijing.”

India and China, he said,have engagements both at themilitary level as well as diplo-matic levels. The two nationshave signed several protocolson maintaining peace and tran-quility at the border. There aremany agreements on this issue.

“Our troops have taken avery responsible approachtowards border management.They scrupulously follow theguidance provided by our lead-ership. At the same time, wewill defend our sovereigntyand territorial integrity,” headded.

The US President in atweet message fromWashington had said, “We haveinformed both India and Chinathat the United States is ready,willing and able to mediate orarbitrate their now raging bor-der dispute.”

Besides indicating that theLAC dispute was a bilateralissue and there was no need forthird party interference, Indiaon Thursday also said the twocountries (India and China)have established a mechanismto resolve the situation peace-fully through dialogue.

Sources also said talks atthe local military level betweencommanders of the two armiesare also on. In fact, more thanseven rounds of talks wereheld in the last fortnight butcould not achieve a break-through.

The armies of India andChina are involved in face-offsat four places for the last 25days or so in Eastern Ladakh.The Chinese army has alsointruded into the Hot Springarea near Galwan valley andreinforced its troop strength toover 5,000 in total at all thestand-off locations.

Continued on Page 2

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Ajoint team of securityforces, aided by intelli-

gence agencies, on Thursdayprevented a repeat of Pulwamatype “audacious” terror strikeon the convoy of security forcesby timely detecting a vehicle-borne Improvised ExplosiveDevice (IED), fitted with atleast 40-45 kg of explosives, inAyengund area of Rajpora inPulwama district.

Police suspected involve-ment of local commanders ofJaish-e-Mohammad (JeM),Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) alongwith Hizbul Mujahideenbehind the sinister plot toavenge recent killings of theirtop commanders, includingRiyaz Naiko and Junaid Sehrai,in anti-terrorist operations inthe Kashmir valley.

According to officialsources, the explosive-ladencar, bearing a fake registrationnumber JKO8B-1426, was det-onated by the Bomb DisposalSquad causing extensive dam-age to window panes of local

houses in the area earlyThursday morning.

Late on Wednesday, sever-al residents were escorted tosafer places before detonatingthe vehicle-borne IED.

Continued on Page 2

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Nearly 45-50 districts in sixStates — Maharashtra,

Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, MadhyaPradesh after Rajasthan andGujarat — are under attack ofcrores of desert locusts thatentered from Pakistan last year.

It is estimated that crops on10-15 lakh acres have beenaffected across six States sinceDecember last year while theGovernment estimates aroundone lakh acres of cotton, sum-mer pulses and vegetables cropshave been affected so far. TheMinistry of Agriculture esti-mates that not much damage to

crops is reported as sowing hasnot taken place in most of theareas and harvest of wintercrops is over.

The Shivraj SinghChouhan Government inMadhya Pradesh is planning todeclare the locust swarmattacks as natural disaster, fol-lowing a survey on the losses.

Haryana on Thursday issuedhigh alert in 10 districts forfarmers while Odisha andChhattisgarh also issued advi-sories to farmers.

Delhi’s neighbouringregion Noida, Ghaziabad,Gurugram have also issuedadvisories to this effect.

Continued on Page 2

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The Karnataka Governmenton Thursday pitched for

down scaling air travel fromMaharashtra, Gujarat, TamilNadu, Madhya Pradesh andRajasthan, saying a large num-ber of people arriving fromthese States have tested positivefor Covid-19 and it would bedifficult to manage quarantineif more arrived.

Karnataka ParliamentaryAffairs Minister JCMadhuswamy said theGovernment has decided to“suspend” air traffic from theseStates. “People are comingfrom other States toKarnataka.... We have decidedto suspend air traffic from fiveStates, as cases here(Karnataka) may furtherincrease,” he said.

In the statement releasedlater, he clarified that theGovernment has not sought aban on flights emanating fromthese five States.

“Karnataka has appealed tothe Civil Aviation Ministry totake steps to lessen the air traf-fic to the State, with the sacredintention that there may not beadequate quarantine facilities,if there is huge turn out at ashort span of time, he said.

Domestic air travelresumed in the country only onMonday after nearly twomonths of Covid-19 inducedlockdown with Karnataka stip-ulating seven days institution-al quarantine for passengerscoming from seven States,including Maharashtra,Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthanand MP.

Continued on Page 2

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Congress on Thursdaylaunched a massive social

media campaign — Speak UpIndia movement — to drawattention of the Centre to theplight of migrant labourersand raise public support fortheir help.

Blaming the Centre forturning a blind eye to the mis-ery of millions of helplessworkers, Congress presidentSonia Gandhi said theCongress has launched thecampaign to provide a platformfor the “voiceless”. The cam-paign was simultaneouslylaunched on Twitter, Facebook,and Instagram, etc.

In addition to Sonia, othersenior Congress leaders,including Rahul Gandhi,

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and PChidambaram, posted theirmessages on social media.

Sonia, in her video mes-sage, charged that the CentralGovernment has failed to

address the immediate needsand concerns of the labourersand workers while many jobswere lost, workplaces were shutdown, farmers were made tostruggle to sell their crops dueto the ill-conceived lockdown.

She suggested the Centre todirectly transfer cash tomigrants and poor familiesand financial relief to MSMEs.

“Put direct cash of �7,500per month in the account ofevery family for the next sixmonths and provide �10,000immediately; ensure safe andfree travel of labourers backhome, employment opportu-nity and rations; and alsoincrease the number of work-days under MNREGA to 200days to facilitate jobs in vil-lages,” said Sonia.

Continued on Page 2

����� )*/��*01�

Delhi, West Bengal andKerala reported their

biggest single day spike onThursday and withMaharashtra recording yetanother day of huge surge innumber of cases and death itwas the second consecutiveday when the country record-ed biggest spike of 7,228 cases.

Delhi reported 1,024 newcases and 13 deaths onThursday and this is for thefirst time that the nationalCapital has reported more than1,000 cases. Other thanMaharashtra, only Gujarat, andnow Delhi have reported 1,000plus cases in a day. Delhi hasnow 16,281 confirmed caseswith a death count of 316.

After the development inDelhi, the HaryanaGovernment decided to seal itsborders with the nationalCapital.

“We will keep our borderwith Delhi completely sealeddue to increasing Covid-19cases,” Haryana Minister AnilVij said.

After reporting between2,000 and 2,200 cases for thethree days, Maharashtra loggedin 2,598 new Covid-19 cases on

Thursday, taking the totalnumber of coronavirus casesalmost to 60,000 in the State at59,546. The toll in the State alsorose to 1,982 after 85 casualtieswere reported in the last 24hour.

Reports said 36 new casesof coornavirus were reported inMumbai’s Dharavi in the last 24hours. The total number ofcases rose to 1,675 on Thursdayin the densely-populated area.

West Bengal, which is bat-tling with coronavirus anddestruction cause by Amphancyclone, reported 344 newcoronavirus cases which is thehighest single-day spike in

cases so far. The total numberof cases in the State rose to4,536, which includes 2,573active cases and 1,668 dis-charges.

Kerala is losing the initialadvantage it had scored in thebattle against the pandemic.The number of persons testedpositive for coronavirus in theState on Thursday is an all timehigh, according to ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Continued on Page 2

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The Delhi Government onThursday issued an advi-

sory asking authorities con-cerned to spray insecticides andpesticides on standing crops,vegetation, gardens andorchards to prevent an immi-nent attack by the swarm oflocusts, informed DevelopmentMinister Gopal Rai in a tweet.

“As the swarm of locustsflies in daytime, and rests dur-ing the night, it should not beallowed to rest at night,” theadvisory read.

Detailed report on P3

New Delhi: Union HomeMinister Amit Shah spoke to allChief Ministers on Thursday,and sought their views onextension of the ongoingnationwide lockdown beyondMay 31, officials said.

The telephonic conversa-tions of the Home Ministercame just three days before theend of the fourth phase of thelockdown.

The nationwide curbs wasfirst imposed on March 25 tocontain the spread of the novelcoronavirus, and has beenextended thrice.

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For the next few months,there has to be no group

lunch, entry to the officesthrough multiple gates, no loi-tering through the corridors ofShastri Bhawan, UdyogBhawan, Rail Bhawan, SenaBhawan, Nirman Bhawan, etc,and above all no use of centralair conditioning system forthe Central Governmentstaffers. These guidelines ofUnion Government will comeinto force when the lockdownimposed due to Covid-19 isdiluted or lifted and theGovernment departmentswork in full strength.

The Centre on Thursdayissued a new set of guidelineswhich says centralised ACsmay not be used for time

being, if possible. While it hassuggested that employeesshould take entry into thebuilding through different gatesin a staggered manner, it hasalso advised people to takestairs, or if using lifts, thenphysical distance of six feet hasto be ensured. The rules alsosay that only four people canoccupy lift for one travel andthat the occupants should facethe wall of the lift and avoid

talking. While wearing of mask, use

of soap and sanitisers at everyinterval is a must, the newoffice memorandum notifiedby the Health Ministry alsosays that the movement of“physical” receipts and filesshould be discouraged so as toavoid the infection through fre-quent touching of papers. Asmuch as possible, employeesshould avoid using otheremployees’ phones, office para-phernalia like desks and toolsand equipment.

The guidelines ask theemployees to avoid grouplunches. It says that the lunchtiming may be staggered asmuch as possible and has pro-hibited loitering and crowdingin the corridors of the officepremises.

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Agroup of 350 Indiannationals, mostly medical

students, who were stranded inBangladesh, on Thursdayreturned home through thenorth-eastern frontiers, thefirst such land-crossing sincethe Covid-19 outbreak in theregion.

The Indian nationals,mostly from the northeasternstates, crossed the borderthrough the three checkpointson the borders with Meghalaya,Assam and Tripura.

“This is the first land cross-ing of our nationals fromBangladesh during the pan-demic,” Indian HighCommissioner in Dhaka RivaGanguly Das said as she saw offthem at one of the three checkposts on India-Bangladesh bor-ders. The Indian HighCommissioner visited theIndian nationals going toTripura through the Akhaura-Agartala Integrated Check Postand interacted with them.

Patna/New Delhi: Would theybe allowed to enter with slip-pers? What would happen whenthe plane takes off? Would theybe safe? The questions racedthrough the minds of 10migrants on Thursday as theyreadied to fly home from NewDelhi to Bihar, an unforgettablefirst flight made possible by thegenerosity of their employer, afarmer in the national Capital.

Getting through airportformalities was intimidatingbut they had help from an offi-cial who guided them till theplane. Excited, nervous and a lit-tle panicky as they settled intheir seats, many closed theireyes as the plane taxied and thentilted sharply at take-off, NaveenRam, among the 10 workerstaking their debut flight, toldPTI after landing in Patna.

Some of them put theirheads down on the table in frontas the plane steadied in the skies,not daring to look out of thewindow even when the flightlanded, Naveen said.

All 10 farm workers, stuckin Delhi because of the coron-avirus forced lockdown, belongto Samastipur in Bihar. Theyhad never dreamed they wouldget on a plane but they didthanks to Pappan Singh, amushroom farmer in Delhi'sTigipur village, who boughttheir tickets.

Recounting the experiencesof the morning, one which theywill remember all their lives,Naveen said people at the Delhiairport were looking at themwhen they entered carrying jutebags and wearing slippers.

"We were not well-dressedlike others. We didn''t knowwhat we should do next afterentering the airport because itwas our first experience of trav-elling in a plane. We took thehelp of an airline official," the27-year-old said.

A reporter from PTI, whichfirst reported their story, helpedarrange for an official to escortthem through the airport andcomplete the formalities.

Naveen, too, did not lookout when the plane was takingoff and landing.

"We had been wanting tomeet our families for sometime but could not do sobecause of the lockdown, Noneof us had ever thought that wewould be going home in aplane one day," he said.

But that was not the end ofthe thrilling ride for the group,catapulted to national news at atime when migrant stories aremade of arduous journeys bat-tling hunger and heat on foot,cycle, bus or train.

Several mediapersons werewaiting to interview them whenthey landed at Patna after the6 am flight from Delhi, saidNaveen's fellow traveller and co-worker Jitender Ram.

"We never expected to getso much attention. Yesterday,my friend phoned me, saying hewas watching me on a newschannel. We will always remem-ber such a wonderful experi-ence," Jitender said. PTI

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With no let up in the grow-ing curve of fatalities and

infections, 85 more people suc-cumbed to Covid-19 and 2,598others tested positive for thepandemic in various parts ofthe State on Thursday.

On a day when the totalnumbers deaths rose from1,897 to 1,982 and infectedcases jumped from 56,948 to59,546 in Maharashtra, coron-avirus claimed 85 more livesand left 2,598 people infected,in a clear indication of the pan-demic had slowly begin topeak in the State.

With 18,616 patients havingbeen discharged from varioushospitals, the State healthauthorities pegged the totalactive cases in the state at 38,939.

For the last three days,there have been a total of 287deaths in Maharashtra. OnMay 26 (Tuesday) the state hadwitnessed 97 deaths, whilethere were 105 deaths onWednesday. Thursday’s Covid-19 toll is 85.

Of the total deaths report-ed on Thursday, Mumbaiaccounted for 38 deaths, whilethere were 10 deaths in Pune,nine in Satara, seven inSolapur, five in Akola, four inVasai-Virar, three inAurangabad, two in NaviMumbai, one each in Raigad,Jalgaon and Nanded.

Of the dead, 60 were menwhile 25 were women. Fortyfive of them were aged over 60years, 31 were from the agegroup 40 to 59 years and 9 wereaged below 40 years.

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From Page 1“Instead of loans, provide financial

relief to the small and medium industryso that crores of jobs are saved and thecountry progresses,” she added.

Highlighting her party’s efforts tohelp the poor and the needy, Sonia men-tioned that Congress workers across thecountry have been persistently makingall efforts to provide relief adding that theState units of the Congress are taking allnecessary measures to send migrantsback home without any cost.

Sonia said the entire country suffereddue to the lockdown but Prime MinisterNarendra Modi-led Government is yetto realise it.

On the same platform, Rahul Gandhiattacked the Modi Government for mis-conduct during the lockdown and saiddue to Covid, there has been a storm inthe country today, the poor people arehurt. “The workers have to travel day andnight on the roads. Small businesses arethe backbone, which is closing. In sucha situation, the people of the countryneed money, not debt, Rahul.said.

From Page 1Interestingly, India has

taken up the locust issue withPakistan ,but there has been noresponse from Pakistan yet.

According to LocustsWarning Organisation of theMinistry of Agriculture, thebigger problem will come oncethe present swarms breed. Anadult female locust lays 80-90

eggs thrice in her three-monthlife cycle. If left uncontrolled,a swarm can grow exponen-tially to 40-80 million locustsper square kilometer.

Farmers are worried as thepest could damage their sum-mer kharif crops during thepeak season of July-August-September. Farmers have beenadvised to play loud music todrive the insects away and savecrops. Locusts don’t attack ani-mals or humans but can dev-astate crops and other areas ofgreenery.

LWO’s Deputy DirectorKL Gurjar said there being nocrops in the fields, the locustshave moved across Statesattracted by green cover. “Thebigger problem will come oncethe present swarms breed. Anadult female locust lays 80-90eggs thrice in her three-monthlife cycle. If left uncontrolled,a swarm can grow exponen-tially to 40-80 million locustsper square kilometer,” officialssaid. The locusts will start lay-ing eggs after the monsoonstarts and continue breedingfor two more months, withnewer generations rising dur-ing the growth phase of thekharif crop.

The first swarms weresighted along the India-Pakistan border in Decemberlast year months ahead of theusual time of arrival.

The Ministry ofAgriculture on Wednesdayinformed that locust control

operations have beenstepped up in affectedStates to combat themenace. So far, 89 firebrigades for pesticidespray; 120 survey vehi-cles; 47 control vehicleswith spray equipmentsand 810 tractor mount-ed sprayers have beendeployed for effectivelocust control. It willalso deploy drones inthe work.

From Page 1The Chinese are objecting

to the construction of a bridgeat the strategically important250 km road running parallelto the LAC in the Galwan val-ley. However, India has main-tained that the road is wellwithin its territory and doesnot violate the LAC in any way.

The Chinese have builtbunkers on its side close to theLAC besides bringing forwardheavy vehicles like armouredpersonnel carriers and increas-ing aerial vigil through morehelicopter sorties.

Amidst the temperaturerising at the LAC due to thesetransgressions, Chinese envoyto New Delhi Sun Weidong onWednesday said “communica-

tion” was the way forward toend the eyeball to eyeball con-frontation at the border.

His Government in Beijingalso said the same day the sit-uation on the border was “sta-ble and controllable” addingboth the countries have prop-er mechanisms and commu-nication channels to resolve theissues through dialogue andconsultation.

From Page 1The Bench, questioning him

over the travel-fare for themigrants, said, “In our country,the middlemen will always bethere. But we don’t want mid-dlemen to interfere when itcomes to payment of fares.There has to be a clear policy asto who will pay for their travel.”

At the outset, Mehta sub-mitted a preliminary report andsaid between May 1 and 27 total3,700 special trains have beenrun for carrying migrant labour-ers and many have been shiftedby road to bordering states. Hesaid 91 lakh migrant workershave been shifted to their nativeplaces till Wednesday.

Questioning the delay overtransportation of migrants, theBench said it is a major problemand many have been waiting forweeks after their registration forjourney to their native places.The top court said food needsare to be provided to the migrantworkers by the originating Stateor the Centre, as the question ofreceiver state providing the foodwould come only after theyreach there.

A different Bench of thesame apex court has ten days agorefused to entertain a PIL con-tending that the court cannot

stop migrant workers fromwalking on the roads or on rail-way tracks.

“How can anybody stopthis when they sleep on tracks?There are people walking andnot stopping. How can we stopit?” the Bench had observedwhen the petitioner pointed tothe Aurangabad accident inwhich 16 migrants were runover by goods train when theywere asleep on the track.

The three-judge Bench, in aU-turn of sorts, stated it wastime “to extend a helping handto these migrant labourers”.

The SC has faced much crit-icism for not taking up themigrant issue even as severalHigh Courts made scathingobservations against theGovernments over the plight ofthe migrant workers.

Terming it as humantragedy, the Madras High Courthad said,”One cannot controlhis/her tears after seeing thepathetic condition of migrantlabourers shown in the mediafor the past one month.”

The Andhra Pradesh HighCourt was equally forthcomingon this matter. “If at this stage,this court does not react andpass these orders, this courtwould be falling in its role as aprotector and alleviator of suf-fering. Their pain has to be alle-viated at this stage,” it said. From Page 1

On Thursday, Srinagarbased local teams of NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA)and sleuths of central intelli-gence agencies also visited thespot to carry out their separateassessment. Forensic teams ofJammu & Kashmir police alsolifted different samples to carryout investigations in the cases.

Briefing media persons inSrinagar, Inspector-General of

Police Kashmir range, VijayKumar said, “The terrorists ofHizbul Mujahideen (HM) andJaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)supported by IED experts ofLashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) wereworking together to replicatethe Pulwama type terror attackin which 40 CRPF personnelhad sacrificed their lives onFebruary 14, 2019”.

Kumar said, “The policewere receiving inputs since aweek that HM and JeM ter-rorists were planning to launch

a big suicidal strike againstsecurity forces using car bomb.When the input matured onWednesday, we developed itand multiple security checkpoints of Army, CRPF andJammu and Kashmir policewere activated in Pulwama”.

He further said that lateWednesday when the sus-pected car reached a securitycheck point the security forcesfired some warning shots, butthe terrorists turned the caraway and fled.

From Page 1During the media interac-

tion, Madhuswamy also saidthe existing restrictions onentry of people by road fromMaharashtra, Tamil Nadu andGujarat into Karnataka wouldcontinue until further orders.

"...Because large number ofpeople who have come fromthese states have tested positiveand it wll be difficult to man-age quarantine if more peoplecome. Until some people whoare currently in quarantine gohome after their quarantineperiod ends, we have decidedto stop (arrivals) by imposingrestriction," the Minister added.

Karnataka had on May 18barred entry of people fromMaharashtra, Gujarat andTamil Nadu, which haveCOVID-19 cases in five figures.

The government is likely todecide on allowing trains fromthese states once the servicesresume on June 1.

From Page 1Joint Director, Agriculture

Department, AP Saini in theadvisory issued on Wednesdayasked the authorities to organ-ise awareness programmes forpublic and farmers to preventthe attack of locusts in thenational Capital. It asked theauthorities to carry out sprayingof pesticides chlorpyrifos andmalathion. Also, Delhi’s forestdepartment is considering cov-ering the saplings in its nurserieswith polythene to protect themagainst the desert locust attack.

“It is not possible to coverthe trees. We will at least coverthe saplings in the nurseries,”Principal Chief Conservatorof Forests Ishwar Singh said.

“Covering plants withpolythene can also counter-productive during this heat. So,we will do this only when weknow for sure that the swarmof locusts is headed towardsDelhi,” the official said.

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Guwahati: One more person died due to floods inAssam on Thursday, which inundated nine districtsaffecting nearly three lakh people and destroyingover 21,500 hectares of farmland, an official bulletinsaid here.

Flood water has receded from two districts. OnWednesday, 11 districts were flooded affecting 2.72lakh people, according to the Assam State DisasterManagement Authority (ASDMA) bulletin.

A total of 2,94,170 people are now reeling underthe impact of the deluge in Dhemaji, Nagaon, Hojai,Darrang, Nalbari, Goalpara, West Karbi Anglong,Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts, it said adding thatwater has receded in Lakhimpur and Barpeta.

The ASDMA bulletin said the first wave of theflood this monsoon have so far claimed two livesin worst-hit Goalpara district where 2.01 lakh peo-ple were affected.

The Brahmaputra river is flowing above the dan-ger marks at Neamatighat in Jorhat district andKopili in Nagaon, it said. The NDRF and SDRF haverescued 492 people in Goalpara, West KarbiAnglong and Hojai districts. PTI

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The number of containmentzones in the district has

increased to 63 from 45 onThursday with new additionsin the Gurugram district. Thedistrict administration added18 areas in the district to therevised list of containmentzones, while Dev JewelleryShop, Ashok Vihar, NandiDham, Chhotu Ram Chankwas de-notified after no Covid-19 cases were reported fromthere in the last 28 days.

However, based on the rec-ommendations of theContainment Review

Committee, DistrictMagistrate, Amit Khatri, in afour-page order, 60 contain-ment zone have been set up inGurugram block, 2 in Pataudiand one in Sohna. Thus a totalof 63 containment zones havebeen made in the district.

Meanwhile, health officialshave detected 30 new positivecases of coronavirus onThursday including one death.With this, the total number ofpositive cases reached 367 inGurugram including 171 activecases and 193 discharged fromhospitals.

According to the healthdepartment officials, at leastone Covid-19 case has been

reported in the last week fromeach of these new areas. As perthe district health bulletin,

most of the persons recentlyinfected with the coronaviruswere people working in smallfactories, security guards, anddomestic helpers who reside inhigh population density areas.Most of them had contractedthe virus after coming in con-tact with a Covid-19 patient.

Of the 83 cases reported onMay 26 to 28, Eight are the con-tacts of a high-risk a con-firmed case in Rajendra Parkarea and Eight from Sector-18and Sarhoul village, five fromsector-10A, Four from GandhiNagar, three health workers,three from Shankar Chowk,two from Dundahera, twofrom BSF camp Bhodsi and one

each from Gandhi Nagar, HariNagar, Ganga vihar, Ashokvihar, Acharyapuri, Jyoti Park,Sector-14, Chakkarpur, BasaiEnclave and 12 police person-nel who were posted in borderareas like Kapashera,Dundahera and Udyog viharwas also infected from the virus.

“As per the guidelines ofthe ministry of health andfamily welfare, we havedeclared the same number ofbuffer zones along every con-tainment zones. The review ofthese containment zones willtake place only after no casewould appear in the next 28days,” a health official said.

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In order to deal with possiblelocust attack, the Delhi

Government has issued advi-sory asking authorities to sprayinsecticides and pesticides oncrops, vegetation, gardens andorchards.

Cabinet Minister GopalRai on Thursday said that inview of the increasing threat oflocusts in north India, theagriculture department of the

Delhi Government will runawareness programmes tomake the people and farmers ofDelhi aware of this new threat.

“There are many northIndian states which are wit-nessing a massive locust attackand keeping in mind the situ-ation the Delhi government hasissued this advisory. Alerts anddirections have been sent to therevenue commissioners, DMsand MCD commissionersregarding the matter,” he said.

The officials have beeninstructed to work proactivelyto ensure preparedness to dealwith locust attack as not onlythe agriculture sector but hor-ticulture sector like vegeta-tion, plants, gardens, orchardetc has also been affected by thelocust attack, he said.

It may be noted that Indiais battling the worst desertlocust outbreak as swarms oflocusts first attacked Rajasthanand have now spread to Punjab,

Gujarat, Maharashtra andMadhya Pradesh.

Rai also tweeted the circu-lar issued by the Delhi gov-ernment saying that all con-cerned authorities are advisedto take preventive measures tocontrol and eradicate thelocusts to avoid devastatingeffect on standing agriculturaland horticultural crops, vege-tation, plants, gardens, orchardetc. in Delhi.

“As the swarm usually fly in

day time, and rest during nighttime therefore the locustsshould not be allowed to restespecially during night,. Itdirected that awareness pro-grammes be organised for thepublic and farmers to preventand control any such invasionby locusts in Delhi,” it said.

The circular also said thatthe authorities may carry outspraying of insecticides or pes-ticides during the night.

Sensing the gravity of the

matter, states have stepped inand taken preventive measuressuggesting farmers to spraytheir crops with a solutionbased on neem seeds extractmixing with water or they canalso spray their crops withneem-based pesticides availablein the market by mixing withwater.

The centre has also steppedin to help states in dealing themenace.

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The Delhi Police on Thursdayfiled 12 chargesheets in a

Delhi court against 541 foreignnationals from three countriesfor attending Markaz atNizamuddin in national capitalby violating visa conditions,indulging in missionary activi-ties illegally and violatingGovernment guidelines, issuedin the wake of Covid-19 out-break in the country.

The police filed thechargesheets before

Metropolitan MagistrateArchana Beniwal who put upthe matter for consideration ofthe charegsheets on June 25.

Till date 47 charge sheetshave been filed against 915 for-eign nationals in the case.

According to thechargesheet filed on Thursday,42 of the accused are fromMalaysia, 85 from differentparts of Kyrgystan and 414from different parts ofIndonesia.

According to thechargesheets, all the foreign

nationals have been booked forviolating visa rules, violatinggovernment guidelines issued inthe wake of Covid-19 pandem-ic and regulations regardingEpidemic diseases Act, DisasterManagement Act and pro-hibitory orders under section144 of Code of CriminalProcedure.

They have also been for theoffences under sections 188(Disobedience to order dulypromulgated by public servant),269 (Negligent act likely tospread infection of disease dan-

gerous to life), 270 (Malignantact likely to spread infection ofdisease dangerous to life) and271 (Disobedience to quaran-tine rule) of the Indian PenalCode and relevant sections ofthe Foreigners Act.

The Centre has cancelledtheir Visa and blacklisted them.The foreign nationals have notbeen arrested yet.

Earlier, the police had filed20 charge sheets against 82 for-eigners from 20 countries onTuesday and 15 on Wednesdayagainst 294 from 14 countries inthe case.The 294 foreigners

belonged to countries, includingMalaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh,Nepal, Sri Lanka and severalAfrican nations.

Out of the 82 foreignerscharge sheeted earlier, four ofthe accused were fromAfghanistan, seven each fromBrazil and China, five from US,two from Australia, Kajahstan,Morocco, UK, one each fromUkraine, Egypt, Russia, Jordan,France, Tunisia, Belgium, eightfrom Algeria, 10 from SaudiArabia, 14 from Fiji and six eachfrom Sudan and Philippines.

After being exposed to a

large gathering in March amidthe COVID-19 or coronaviruslockdown many members ofTablighi Jamaat from MarkazHazrat Nizamuddin were takenout by the authorities andlodged in different quarantinecentres in Delhi. Some of themwere sent to the centres a fewdays later after being detainedfrom various mosques.

The other members weredirectly taken to quarantinecentres to contain the spread ofCOVID-19. At least 9,000 peo-ple, including the foreignnationals participated in the reli-

gious congregation inNizamuddin. Later, many of theattendees travelled to variousparts of the country.

According to police, theseforeign nationals had enteredIndia on tourist visa and hadparticipated in the gathering atMarkaz illegally.

Besides, violating the pro-visions of visa, these foreignnationals also led to a situationwhere a highly infectious diseaseCovid-19 infection spread andthreatened the lives of theinmates and the general publicat large.

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With an aim to createawareness about men-

strual hygiene with the help ofcivil society organisations,Department of Women andChild and Delhi Commissionfor Protection of Child Rights(DCPCR) launched “MenstrualHygiene Campaign” onThursday on the occasion of‘Menstrual Hygiene Day’.

Cabinet minister MinisterRajendra Pal Gautam inaugu-

rated the campaign. In this week-long cam-

paign, DCPCR will reach out toeast and northeast districts ofDelhi will distribute sanitarynapkins to women and adoles-cent girls living in various JJclusters, the Government saidin a statement.

Through this campaign,the focus will be to ensure par-ticipation of not just womenbut also men in this conversa-tion around menstruation andwomen’s health, it said.

“Awareness regarding men-

strual health and hygiene needsto begin at the level of the fam-ily. Due to various socio-eco-nomic barriers, women espe-cially adolescent girls living inslums and JJ clusters have bareminimum access to clean toi-lets and sanitation,” Gautamadded.

The minister further saidthat the aim through this cam-paign is to not only distributesanitary napkins but to also cre-ate awareness among familiesregarding menstrual hygiene.“We need to get rid of the stig-

ma which is attached to men-struation to have a societywhere both men and womenhave equal participation inpublic life,” he said.

In India, there is a lot ofstigma around menstruation.Women are not allowed accessto public spaces if they men-struating. In many cases, girlshave to drop out of school orwomen have to quit their jobdue to lack of clean toilets andsanitation facilities which isessential during menstruation,”it added.

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Days after four employees ofNew Delhi Municipal

Council (NDMC), the civicbody has sealed the entire build-ing on Thursday and directed allthe officers and employees towork from home for next twoday and be available on mobileand email all the times.

In view of the employeesworking in accounts and com-mercial department of NDMC,reported corona virus (Covid-19) positive, the civic body hasdecided to seal the entire head-quarters building in PalikaKendra, according to state-ment issued by NDMC.

“NDMC civil engineeringdepartment (building mainte-nance division) and publichealth department have carriedout an extensive disinfectiondrive in Palika Kendra andShaheed Bhagat Singh Placeoffices. This disinfection drivewill continued carry out forthree times a day for next twodays,” it said.

A team of 20 health work-ers lead by NDMC officials ofpublic health department

sprayed 100 liter disinfectant byKnapsack machines, it said,adding that one per cent sodi-um hypochlorite solution wasused to disinfect the buildingand surroundings.

A senior NDMC officialsaid that at least 4,000 litreswater with bleaching throughwater tanker were used. Thisexercise has been carried out inaddition to daily disinfection ofbuilding by civil engineeringdepartment through out-sourced agency, he added.

The Covid-19 cell ofNDMC is being intimated thedistrict authority to carry outthe contact tracing as per stan-dard operating procedure (SOP ) for the staff of PalikaKendra and Shaheed BhagatSingh Place .

It is also directed to allpeople who were in close con-tact with affected person /employees to observe homequarantine procedure andreport to district authority incase they become symptomatic.

The civic body has alsoadvised all affected employeesto inform director (welfare) incase any help is required.

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Municipal Corporationshave reported mosquito

breeding in 2,644 householdsin the national Capital and2,675 legal notices issued thisyear for various violations,according to data released bythe South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC).

The dengue breedingcheckers have checked 3988968houses and also issued challansto 59 numbers of office and res-idential premises till May 23.

Also, the number of peoplesuffering from dengue in Delhihas reached to 52 this year.Meanwhile, no further spike incases of malaria and chikun-gunya reported.

According to the data, thenumber of people diagnosedwith malaria and Chikungunyastand at 39 and 18 respective-ly.

Out of total dengue cases,18 patients who diagnosedwith the disease belong toDelhi while 23 patients tracedhere were from different statesand other 11 patients did notprovide their address.

A senior SDMC officialsaid that all the preventivesteps have been taken to reducethe cases. “The key to preven-tion of Dengue is ensuringthere is no clean stagnant waterin homes and around, whichdoes not allow the Aedes mos-quitoes to breed, and thereforedengue cannot spread,” he said.

Dengue mosquito larvaebreed in clear, standing waterwhile those of malaria mos-quito thrive even in dirty water.Doctors have advised people totake precautions and ensurethat there is no breeding ofmosquito larvae around them.They have urged people towear full-sleeves clothes anduse mosquito nets.

The malaria parasite istransmitted by femaleAnopheles mosquitoes, whichbite mainly between dusk anddawn. According to WorldHealth Organisation malaria iscaused by the protozoan para-site Plasmodium.

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New Delhi: The Delhi HighCourt Thursday allowed shift-ing of 955 foreign nationals,who had participated in thereligious congregation atNizamuddin Markaz event,from institutional quarantine toan alternate place of accom-modation.

A bench of Justices VipinSanghi and Rajnish Bhatnagar,which conducted the hearingthrough video conferencing,disposed of two petitions filedby various foreign nationalsand said all of them will beshifted from government’squarantine centers to nine des-ignated places in the nationalcapital as suggested by them.

The high court’s order cameafter the Centre, Delhi govern-ment and Delhi Police did notobject to the suggestion of peti-tioners’ counsel for shifting theforeigners to alternate accom-modation and that the financialburden will be borne by thecommunity, Tablighi Jamaat.

The high court had earliersought response of the author-ities on a plea seeking releaseof 916 foreign nationals, whohad participated in the religiouscongregation at NizamuddinMarkaz event and are held ininstitutional quarantine sinceMarch 30 despite being testednegative for COVID-19. Later,another similar petition wasfiled by various other foreignnationals.

The Revenue Department,in a status report filed throughDelhi government standingcounsel Rahul Mehra andadvocate Chaitanya Gosain,gave its no objection for shift-ing the foreign nationals.Similarly, Delhi Police andCentre also verbally recorded

their no objection for it.The high court was also

informed that 47 charge sheetshave been filed against theforeign nationals as of now inthe trial court.

Senior advocate RebeccaJohn and lawyer AshimaMandla, appearing for the peti-tioners, had sought that all for-eign nationals who have beentested negative for Covid-19and are in quarantine bereleased and sent to alternateplaces of accommodation andsubmitted the list.

The Delhi Police had ear-lier told the high court that ithad neither arrested nordetained anyone in the caselodged against members ofTablighi Jamaat for participat-ing in the religious congrega-tion at Nizamuddin Markazevent during the Covid-19lockdown.

The petitions had chal-lenged a May 9 order of Delhigovernment’s Department ofRevenue which had directed forhanding over of 567 foreignnationals, presently held in insti-tutional quarantine, to the cus-tody of Delhi Police after beingtested negative for the virus.

The petitioners had saidthe order is ultra vires to theright to equality before law and

right to life and liberty.The plea said FIRs were

lodged by the Delhi Police inrelation to the Markaz congre-gation against unknown per-sons.

It said the Delhi govern-ment’s Revenue Department’sorder directing for handlingover custody of 567 foreignnationals under institutionalquarantine to the custody of theDelhi Police, upon being test-ed negative for Covid-19, isprima facie illegal and unten-able in law.

After being exposed to alarge gathering in March amidthe Covid-19 or coronaviruslockdown many members ofTablighi Jamaat from MarkazHazrat Nizamuddin were takenout by the authorities andlodged in different quarantinecentres in Delhi. Some of themwere sent to the centres a fewdays later after being detainedfrom various mosques.

In April, Covid cases inDelhi spiked after hundreds ofmany Tablighi Jamaat mem-bers, who had attended a largecongregation in Nizamuddin,tested positive.

The other members weredirectly taken to quarantinecentres to contain the spread ofCovid-19.

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A20-year-old man wasarrested for allegedly dri-

ving rashly and misbehavingand threatening a couple afterramming his car into theirs inDelhi’s Connaught Place.

The driver of the offendingvehicle has been identified asPiyush, a resident of DefenceColony. Police has also recov-ered the car being driven at thetime of incident from the pos-session of the accused.

According Eish Singhal,the Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), New Delhi dis-trict, the incident took place onWednesday.

“A couple going towardstheir home reached the MintoRoad traffic signal, OuterCircle, at around 6:40 PM anda car being driven in a rash andnegligent manner hit their car,”said the DCP.

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Thanks to a cyclonic circu-lation, monsoon will keep

its date with India contrary tothe earlier forecast of a slightdelay. The southwest monsoonis likely to make an onset overKerala on June 1, the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) said on Thursday.

This is because conditionsare becoming favourable formonsoon winds to advance asa low pressure area is expect-ed to develop over the ArabianSea between May 31 and June4. The IMD had in its onsetdate forecast on May 15 saidthat the monsoon is likely to hitthe southern state on June 5,four days after its normal onsetdate. The normal onset ofmonsoon over Kerala is June 1.

However, a cyclonic circu-lation over the Bay of Bengal islikely to help in the progress of monsoon.

“A low pressure area islikely to form over southeast

and adjoining east centralArabian Sea during May 31 toJune 4. In view of this, condi-tions are very likely to becomefavourable from June 1 foronset of southwest monsoonover Kerala,” the IMD said.

It is also likely to intensifyinto a cyclone but may not impact India’s west coast,IMD said. According to theIMD, the country is likely toreceive normal monsoon thisyear. “With the strengtheningof westerlies and increase inconvective clouds, the south-west Monsoon has further

advanced into some parts ofMaldives-Comorin area, somemore parts of south Bay ofBengal, remaining parts ofAndaman Sea and AndamanNicobar Islands,” it said.

Another low pressure area islikely to form over southeast andadjoining east-central ArabianSea, close to the Indian coastbetween May 31 and 4 June.

“Scattered low and mediumclouds with embedded intenseto very intense convection layover southeast and west centralArabian Sea,” IMD said in itscyclone bulletin for Thursday.

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Nearly 30 groups in India,ranging from big industry

players to individual acade-mics, are trying to develop vac-cines to fight coronavirus,Principal Scientific Adviser KVijayRaghavan said onThursday.

Of these 30, 20 are work-ing at a good pace, he said.

“About 30 groups in India,big industry to individual aca-demics are trying to developvaccines to fight COVID-19 ofwhich 20 are keeping a goodpace,” VijayRaghavan said at amedia briefing here.

He said vaccine develop-ment currently takes nearly10 years, but the aim the worldover is to find a vaccine forcoronavirus in a year even as he

added that “till today, we havenot observed any change in thevirus that alters its fundamen-tal properties.”

He said designing newdrugs is a “very very big chal-lenge” and just like a vaccine ittakes a very long time.

“Most attempts fail andthus you have to try a lot,” saidVijayRaghavan.

He said start-ups andacadamics have also got intodeveloping vaccines and spec-ified that four categories of vac-cines can be there.

For instance, MRNA vac-cines, in which a component ofgenetic material of the virus isinjected. Our body translates itinto viral protein and developsimmune system when the virus

attacks. Another is standardvaccine in which weak versionof the virus is used while yetanother uses protein codingregion of the virus is attached tothe backbone of another virusto develop vaccine, he said.

The scientist further elab-orated that virus protein isdeveloped in the lab and is usedwith another stimulant whileseveral companies are trying todevelop it on the backbone offlu vaccine, it is in late pre-clin-ical trial stage and may be byOctober, pre-clinical trialwould conclude.

“Indian companies are col-laborating with foreign com-panies. Academics are also try-ing to develop the vaccines.The logistics of making the vac-cine available to everyone willbe a big challenge,” said

About the drugs, he said,drugs attack the virus chemi-cally after it infects. This is a bigchallenge, as the virus uses ourmachinary to replicate. A drughas to be designed to attackonly the virus.

“It has to attack the virus anearly stage. There are two broadcategories of drugs which canbe developed. It can be repur-posed drugs or new drugs.“Designing of new drugs is amajor channel.

“In India, in addition toour science agencies, the CSIRand AICTE have embarked ondrug discovery hackethonwhere students are trainedwith info on how to do com-putational drug discovery, theywill get access to expensiveequipment.

“As for testing and diagno-sis, a new kind of test is likelyto come up for testing of virusparticle presence. Several nucle-ic acid tests have been devel-oped, variations of RTPCR testshave been developed. Thenthere are antibody tests.

“If sensitivity and speci-ficity of antibody tests are high,they can be used to test at indi-vidual level. Otherwise, theycan be used for communitysurveillance purpose,”explained the scientist.

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With no letup in the coro-navirus cases whose

numbers have crossed over1.60 lakhs and with over 4,000mortalities, Dr KVijayraghavan, PrincipalScientific Adviser on Thursdaysuggested that five measuresshould be taken to preventspread of Covid-19 , till the timeits vaccine is developed. Theseare maintaining hygiene, sur-face cleaning, physical distanc-ing, tracking and testing in theabsence of drugs and vaccine,he said at a Press briefing here.

“The disease spreads asour immune response takes alittle longer and the virus bythat time overwhelmes us. Thevaccine is given to those whoare not infected, that’s why safe-ty is important. It usually takes10 to 15 years to develop vac-

cines at a cost of 200-300 mil-lion dollars.

However, the five stepssuggested by the senior scien-tist to keep the covid-19 at bayelude densely populated coun-tries like India which has mostof its people living belowpoverty line, people have poorhygiene habits because of manyreasons and have the lowestCovid-19 testing rate per mil-

lion in the world.The migration of workers

as well as arrivals of strandedIndians from abroad coupledwith the easing of the lockdownhas just added to the mountingtally of the cases.

In fact, experts say that thecases are likely to witness sharpspike in near future. Dr VRavi, Head of Neurovirology,National Institute of MentalHealth & Neuro Sciences(NIMHANS) and nodal officerin the Karnataka Health TaskForce for COVID-19 cautionedthat there will be a spike inCOVID-19 cases afterLockdown 4.0 ends which isafter May 31, 2020.

“The country has not yetwitnessed the spike in cases.The numbers will go up fromJune onwards after Lockdown4.0 ends on May 31, and therewill be community spread,” he

said as per a report.Dr Ghanshyam Pangtey,

professor at the medicinedepartment at Lady HardingeMedical College had told anews agency that once thevirus covers up to 30 per centof population, possibly in thenext four to five months, thesituation will become very dif-ficult to handle with the limit-ed resources.

According to the UnionHealth Ministry, number ofcases under active medicalsupervision is 86,110. So far, atotal of 67,691 people has beencured. In the last 24 hours,3,266 patients were foundcured. This takes our totalrecovery rate to 42.75 per cent,said a statement issued here bythe Ministry. Also, India’s fatal-ity rate is much lower than theworld average of 6.36 per cent,it said.

����� )*/��*01�

Principal Scientific AdviserDr K Vijayraghavan on

Thursday said the RT-PCR test— the gold standard in India—looks for viral genetic materi-al but soon a test that detectsthe viral particle’s presence ison the anvil.

“As for testing and diagno-sis, a new kind of test is likelyto come up for testing of virusparticle presence. Severalnucleic acid tests have beendeveloped, variations of RT-PCR tests have been developed.Then there are antibody tests.

“If sensitivity and speci-ficity of antibody tests are high,they can be used to test at indi-vidual level. Otherwise, theycan be used for communitysurveillance purpose,” said DrVijayraghavan, at a media brief-ing here.

Dr VK Paul, member of theNiti Ayog and chairman of theEmpowered Group 1 said thatat least 20 Indian companies arenow producing diagnostic kits.“India will be able to produce5 lakh indigenous kits daily byJuly,” he said, adding the man-ufacturers will be able to exportafter the domestic demandsare fully met.

Till last month, India hadbeen heavily dependent onother countries as it had beenimporting the testing kits.

However, now the local man-ufacturers too have jumped inthe fray in a big way.

To bring the scientists andlaboratories in touch with pri-vate firms to produce millionsof testing kits, including around10 million rapid antibody teststhat offer quick results is beingdone under the project calledConsortium for affordable andrapid diagnostics (CARD),spearheaded by the NITIAayog and the CentralGovernment’s Department ofBiotechnology.

The first goal of projectCARD will be to churn out atleast 10 million or 1 crore

rapid antibody tests for Covid-19 by July 2020.

The final aim is to makeIndia a diagnostic export pow-erhouse by the end of 2020. Italso seeks to bolster India’scapabilities in manufacturingreagents, probes, primers, andother components needed fordiagnostics.

“The final frontier for thefight against Covid-19 is sci-ence and technology. The baseof our institutions of scienceand technology, bio-tech andpharma industry is strong. Theentire infrastructure is engagedin the war against Covid-19,”said Dr Paul.

����� )*/��*01�

HRD Minister RameshPokhriyal Nishank on

Thursday interacted withHeads of more than 45,000Higher Educational Institutionsacross the country throughWebinar hosted by NationalAssessment and AccreditationCouncil (NAAC), Bengaluru.

While lauding the initiativestaken by NAAC at this time ofthe pandemic, Pokhriyal calledupon the HEIs in the country totreat the current situation as anopportunity to overcome limi-tations in the system.

He called upon the educa-tionists, students, parents toswitch-over to the onlinemethod and make the most ofthe situation so that the acad-emic session of the studentsand the HEIs are not inter-rupted. He said there is anurgent need to improve andenhance the Online ecosystemin India & educators shouldcontribute to enhance the reachso that online education reach-es even the rural areas.

The Minister addressedand Interacted with a galaxy ofAcademicians comprising par-ticipation from ViceChancellors/Registrars/Professors/IQAC heads/Principals/Faculty from across the Nation.

In the hour long interactionand address, the Union Ministerreflected on various issues andconcerns raised by educationistsrelated to Academic Calendar,Online Education, examina-tions, Fees, Mental health of stu-dents, problems of students,fellowships, NEET, entranceexaminations etc. He dweltupon at length on the initiativestaken by the Government withregard to Swayam Prabha,Deeksharambh, Paramarsh anda host of other special initiativestaken during the pandemicperiod.

He also urged all HigherEducational Institutions to takepart in NAAC accreditationprocess. He reiterated that thePrime Minister of India ShriNarendra Modi is very con-cerned about the well being ofHigher Educational Institutions

and assured of all help in fur-thering the academic activitiesof student fraternity.

The Union Minister askedall Universities to constitute aspecial cell which will beempowered to address theissues of students related to aca-demic calendar and examina-tions arising out of special cir-cumstances due to Covid 19.

He said that a task force hasbeen created in UGC andNCERT to resolve the differentissues of students. Nishankassured that Ministry is committed to provide all assistance to students in thetime of crisis.

During the interaction theUnion Minister highlightedthe process of how the new ses-sion will be commenced, at thesame time he specified that thepriority will be given to thesafety of the students.

He called educational fra-ternity as Corona Warriorsbecause in this extraordinarysituation they are workinground the clock to providequality education to students.

����� )*/��*01�

Aforensic team of NationalInvestigation Agency

(NIA) has reached Pulwamawhere a car fitted with an IEDwith an estimated 40-45 kg ofRDX was blasted in situ by thebomb disposal squad early on Thursday.

A Pulwama-like terror plotis being touted to have beenaverted by destroying theexplosives-laden vehicle andthe forensic team lifted varioussamples from the incident sitefor scientific testing and analy-sis into the type of explosivesand detonators fitted into theIED, sources said.

While the case has notbeen handed over the NIAofficially, the investigation islikely to be taken over by thefederal anti-terror probe agencysoon, they said.

According to preliminaryinformation gathered by theagencies, the car was driven by

a Hizbul Mujahideen terroristwho escaped after initial fire-fight with the security forces.The Santro car had a fakenumber plate and the registra-tion number was that of a twowheeler registered at Kathua ofJammu zone.

Initial inputs suggest aPakistan-based terrorist of theJaish-e-Mohammad, Walid,who is an expert in fabricatingIEDs, could have been involvedin developing the bomb for det-onation by the occupants of thenow destructed car.

The pattern is similar toPulwama-I in which Pak ter-rorist groups JeM and LeThad planned and helped in fab-rication of the IED which wasblasted by a local boy whoacted as a fidayeen andrammed the Maruti Eeco carpacked with explosives on aconvoy of the CRPF inFebruary last year killing 40paramilitary men and injuringseveral others.

New Delhi: BJP nationalspokesperson Sambit Patra hasbeen admitted to a privatehospital in Gurugram after heshowed symptoms of Covid-19,sources said. He is admitted tothe Medanta hospital inGurgaon, hospital sources said.

The BJP leader has shownsymptoms of Covid-19, asource said. Patra is one of themost visible BJP faces on newschannels. He is also very activeon social media and postedseveral tweets on Thursday aswell. PTI

New Delhi: The BJP onThursday accused the Congressof “seeking benefit from chal-lenges” the country is facingcurrently, and said the opposi-tion party is indulging in “polit-ical slander” which is “unfor-tunate but expected”.

Senior BJP leader andUnion Minister Smriti Irani’shard-hitting counter attack onthe Congress came after oppo-sition party president SoniaGandhi took a swipe at theModi Government, saying theentire country has heard thecries of pain of migrants exceptthe Centre.

Gandhi also urged theCentre to unlock its coffers tohelp those affected by the coro-navirus-induced lockdown.Reacting strongly to Gandhi’sremarks, Irani said, “It is unfor-tunate that when the nationneeds to stand united againstthe Covid-19 pandemic, certainpolitical parties are seekingbenefit from challenges thecountry faces”.

The Union Minister assert-ed that Governments acrossStates, including those ruled bythe Congress, are “witness to andhave benefitted” from the Rs 1.76lakh crore ‘PM Garib Kalyan

Yojna’. The scheme has support-ed some of the weakest segmentsof our society, she added.

“In this hour of crisis, theCentre and States, including dis-trict authorities, have convergedtheir efforts. And for theCongress at this time to indulgein political slander is unfortu-nate but expected,” Irani said.The Congress president in avideo message, posted as part ofher party’s ‘Speak Up India’campaign launched onThursday, also demanded thatthe Government should provideRs 7,500 to each needy familyfor the next six months. PTI

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Three days ahead ofLockdown-4 to end, Cabinet

Secretary Rajiv Gauba onThursday held a meeting withChief Secretaries of States, and13 Municipal Commissionersand District Magistrates of mostCovid-19-affected cities.

These 13 cities, includingDelhi, Mumbai, Chennai andKolkata, are having 70 per centof the positive cases in India.

The meeting is seen impor-tant as Prime MinisterNarendra Modi will address thenation on May 31, Sundaythrough his radio talk Mann KiBaat. As Prime Minister’saddress is not fixed on otherdays, it is widely expected thathe will announce the way for-ward after May 31, the day theLockdown-4 regulations ends.

“The meeting bears signif-icance as these 13 cities are con-sidered to be the worstCoronavirus-affected locationsand constitute about 70 per

cent of the positive cases in thecountry. The 13 focus cities areMumbai, Chennai, Delhi / NewDelhi, Ahmedabad, Thane,Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata /Howrah, Indore (MadhyaPradesh), Jaipur, Jodhpur,Chengalpattu and Thiruvallur(Tamil Nadu). The measurestaken by the officials and thestaff of the municipal corpo-rations for the management ofCovid-19 cases were reviewedin the meeting,” the CabinetSecretariat said in a statement.

Health Secretaries of theStates also attended the high-level meeting chaired byGauba. The Cabinet Secretarystressed for the containment ofzones and demarcating theseareas geographically for imple-mentation of strict protocols toprevent the pandemic. He also

urged the States to doubling ofthe tests on people.

“Centre has stressed thatcontainment zones are to be geo-graphically defined based on fac-tors like mapping of cases andcontacts and their geographicaldispersion. This would enable indemarcating a well definedperimeter and enforcing thestrict protocol of lockdown.Municipal corporations candecide if residential colonies,mohallas, municipal wards orpolice-station areas, municipalzones, towns can be designatedas containment zones, asrequired. The cities were advisedthat the area should be appro-priately defined by the districtadministration and local urbanbody with technical inputs fromlocal level,” the CabinetSecretariat maintained.

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Even as Italy, Belgium andFrance have stopped usage

of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ)amid WHO’s concerns over itssafety aspects, India onThursday reiterated that it willcontinue to use it as it has beenrecommended as prophylaxiswith full responsibility, and asper the clinical protocol thedrug might be used for thera-peutics also.

“Several trials have beendone on the use of HCQ, it isalso being done in India. Ourexperience so far is that as perthe current guidelines for itsuse by frontline workers, itsbenefits outweigh any risks.More research will throw lighton new aspects, on the basis ofwhich further decisions will betaken,” said Dr VK Paul, NitiAayog member, at a routinePress briefing here.

Paul also mentioned a fewmore medicines and therapies,which are in advance stage oftrial for Covid-19 which hasinfected over 1.60 lakhs andkilled over 4,000 people.

He said,”On the drug front,we tried many medicines,including oral medicine

Favipiravir, plant-based medi-cine ACQH, Itolizumab (Alsoused for arthritis) BCG vaccineMicro-Bacterium W,Convalescent Plasma, Arbidol,and HCQ besides Ramdesivir.Eight vaccine candidates arebeing tried.”

ICMR Director GeneralDr Balram Bhargava too hadsaid India would continue touse HCQ as prophylaxis despiteits suspension from the soli-darity trial of Covid-19.Scientists are studying thesedrugs and therapies, both inand out of the solidarity trial.

On May 26, WHODirector General TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus hadannounced “a temporarypause” in clinical trial of HCQon Covid-19 patients, while thesafety data of the anti-malariadrug was being reviewed.

This had prompted thethree of the countries hardesthit by coronavirus infections toput a break on the large trialof the drug .

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New Delhi: Dr KViijayraghavan said If we wantto develop vaccine in oneyear, than parallel processinghas to be done. “Hundred vac-cines are being tested, insteadof one. Simultaneously, wehave to go fast on the regula-tory process without com-promising quality. We have tohave manufacturing capabili-ty without compromising ourstandard immunising pro-gramme.”

He added we have to havea distribution system ready.“This will require investmentof 2 to 3 billion dollars, whichis currently being done by theworld. Our vaccine manufac-turing is top class, of the threestandard immunising vac-cines, two are produced inIndia.” PNS

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In an effort to make availablemore resources available for

Covid-19 relief works,Maharashtra Governor BhagatSingh Koshyari on Thursdayannounced a series of auster-ity measures, including a freezeon new capital works and can-cellation of Independence Dayreception in Pune, to reducethe expenses of Raj Bhavan.

The Governor issuedinstructions to the staff at theRaj Bhavan to undertake vari-ous measures in the currentfinancial year to reduce theexpenditure.

Among other things, theGovernor has decided to put onhold undertaking of capitalworks on the Raj Bhavanpremises. “There will not beany new major construction orrepairing works in Raj Bhavan.Only ongoing works inprogress will be continued andcompleted,” a Raj Bhavanspokesperson said.

According to thespokesperson, theIndependence Day Receptionto be held on August 15, 2020at Raj Bhavan in Pune will becancelled.

Similarly, Raj Bhavan hasdeferred the proposal to pur-chase of new car for its use.“There will be no new regularrecruitment in Raj Bhavan

until further orders,” thespokesperson said.

In another austerity mea-sure, the Raj Bhavan has decid-ed to discontinue until furtherorder.the practice of offeringgifts and mementos to VVIPs.“The practice of welcomingVIP visitors with bouquets willbe discontinued. Guest houserooms in Raj Bhavan shouldnot be decorated with vases andflower-pots,” he said.

The Governor wouldhenceforth hold meetings andinteractions with Vice-Chancellors and various offi-cers via video conference toavoid any expenses on travel.

“It is estimated that thesemeasures will save nearly 10 to15 percent of the budget of theRaj Bhavan in the currentfinancial year,” the spokesper-son said.

“The Governor has alreadycontributed his one monthsalary and further pledged 30%of his salary for one year to thePM CARES Fund for COVID– 19,” the spokesperson said.

“In the Governor’s estima-tion, these austerity measureswill be a small but significantcontribution to save resourcesthat can be used to reduce thesufferings of the people in thebackdrop of the situation arisenbecause of the Corona VirusDisease,” Raj Bhavan said in astatement issued here.

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There was no respite for Tamil Nadu or Chennai on Thursdayas the number of persons tested positive for coronavirus in

the State reached 19,372. The State saw 827 persons testing positive for the pandem-

ic and 12 persons succumbing to the disease. The death tally inTamil Nadu due to coronavirus reached 145 with Chennai alonerecording 106 fatalities.

The medical bulletin issued by the Government of Tamil Nadusaid there were 8,679 active covid-19 afflicted persons in the Stateas on Thursday. “Till date, 10, 548 persons have been cured ofthe pandemic and discharged from hospitals. A total of 4,34 625persons have been tested till Thursday,” said the bulletin.

Chennai with 12, 762 positive cases topped the table whileChengalpattu (933), Thiruvallur (863), Cuddalore (443) close-ly followed the capital city. Dr C V Krishnaswamy, south India’slead physician closely tracking the pandemic said that there wasno reason to be panic about the numbers. “Its when the deathrate exceeds the prescribed norms we have to be worried. As ondate, the death rate in India and tamil Nadu is well below themandatory figure. Though we are testing many persons positivefor the pandemic, we should note that the recovery rate is oneof the bests in the world,” said Dr Krishnaswamy.

Tamil Nadu Government despite the covid-19 pandemic suc-ceeded in signing Memorandum of Understanding with someof the global brands like Daimler, Vivid Solaire, Salcomp PLCto set up manufacturing plants /expansion of ongoing operationsin the State.

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Liquor outlets in Kerala(except those in hotspots)

were reopened on Thursdaymorning and started sellingspirits to tipplers who havebeen without their daily quotaof drinks for the last twomonths.

According to TPRamakrishnan, the State’sExcise Minister, liquor is beingsold through 265 outlets ofKerala State BeveragesCorporation (Bevcco), 36 out-lets under the Consumerfed,576 bar hotels, and 291 beerparlours.

Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan told reporters that2,25,000 persons made use ofthe BevQ App which wentoperational on Thursdaymorning and purchased liquorthrough on-line mode. “Therewere some hiccups during ini-tial hours but the ExciseDepartment told me that it hasbeen rectified. A complaintregarding a fake App has beenregistered and the State policeheadquarters is probing theallegation. If found genuine, we

will initiate legal proceedingsagainst those responsible forsuch fake campaign,” said thechief minister.

Customers were asked tobook their choice of drinksthrough BevQ, an App devel-oped by a Kochi-based start upcompany to streamline andregulate the sale of liquor. Thebooking was opened from 6 amon Thursday and saw hecticactivities, according to FaircodeTechnologies Pvt Ltd whichdeveloped the App.

The two-minutes longtrial-run of the BevQ app heldon Wednesday saw 20,000 cus-tomers placing orders for thedrink of their choice. TheBevQ became operational at 6am and would continue till 10pm every night. The liquorwould be sold between 9 amand 5 pm.

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As the face off continuebetween Indian and

Chinese troops at four pointsalong the Line of ActualControl (LAC) in Ladakh andSikkim, around hundredChinese students studying inMysore University at Southerncity of Mysuru will fly back toChina in June as the Universityhas decided to hold examina-tions for them earlier thanscheduled to facilitate theirevacuation from India.

These Chinese students arestudying InformationTechnology courses in MysoreUniversity, one of the oldestuniversities in the country.They are set to leave India fol-lowing China’s appeal to its cit-izens to return to their home-land.

In response to an appealfrom the collaborative univer-sity in Central China for hold-ing examinations early in viewof special fights arranged for theevacuation of Chinese citizensfrom India, the University,which had earlier scheduled theexamination from June 10 to15, agreed to hold it from June1 to 6. These students are fromCentral China and studyingMS (Information Technology)and MS (Software Engineering)courses specially designed forthem as per an MoU and beingrun since past 10 years.

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The City of Joy may gettransformed into a “hot

city” in the coming decades notbecause of any ‘page three’ fac-tor but because of the large-scale destruction ofKolkata’s green cover, expertssay.

With about 5,500 treesfelled by the super cyclonethat his the city after 283 yearsKolkata may witness a climatechange of sorts getting robbedof about more than 5 lakh kilosof oxygen, experts at JadavpurUniversity say.

While Kolkata lost about5,500 trees the iconic BotanicalGardens in Howrah saw about1,000 trees getting damaged.The Pagla Gaach (Mad tree)and the Kalpa Brisksha— theonly surviving species of theirkind in the world — atBotanical Gardens too havesuffered some damage, sourcessaid.

“It is irreparable loss con-sidering as well the fact thatSunderbans — 100 miles downsouth near the sea — has lostabout 1.5 lakh trees meaningthereby that Kolkata will getthat much less protection in thenext cyclones,” said Partho

Bhowmick an expert.The double whammy is

the “loss of trees coupled withcarbon emission creating acondition for the cyclones tovisit the city more regularly andthe loss of green cover inSunderbans (on the verge of the sea) denying theregion the natural speed break-er for the cyclones,” said DPMitra an environmental expert.

“Even if you plant trees ata brisk pace which is unlikelyto happen understanding thebureaucratic velocity of workthe trees that will be plantednow will take at least 10 years— if we plant some fast grow-ing trees — to grow to a levelthat can at least half-mange thesituation,” said a Sutapa Saha agreen cover expert.

Normally it takes 15 to 20years for a tree to reach a statewhere it is able to absorb a goodamount of carbon dioxidebesides providing oxygen. Afull-grown tree absorbs about20-25 kg of CO2 which is ahuge amount.

Considering the fact thatan individual requires about750 kg of oxygen one should besurrounded by about 10 trees.

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The Bengal Governmentwants the lockdown to be

extended by two weeks beyondMay 31, sources at the State sec-retariat Nabanna said quotingthe office of the Chief Secretary.

According to sources theState Government has alreadycommunicated its views to theCentre notwithstanding thefact that most establishmentssave malls, cinema halls, restu-raunts and educational insti-tutions have been fully or par-tially functioning in the State.

The State Government hadalready allowed resumption ofbus and auto-rickshaw ser-vices with limited passengersfrom Wednesday.

Meanwhile even as trainloads of migrant workers rolledin at various stations in BengalCongress leader in Lok Sabha

Adhir Chowdhury onThursday slammed theMamata Banerjee Governmentfor lackluster handling of themigrant workers issue failing torealise the plight of those stuckin other states for months.

“Why the State is cold-shouldering the issue ofmigrant workers who are lan-guishing in other States with-out food and shelter… Why theState Government has not cre-ated facilities for the migrantworkers who are coming inhordes from other States…How the state can be so insen-sitive towards its own citi-zens?” Chowdhury a five-timeMP from Behrampore askedwondering why the ChiefMinister was so worried about‘shramik trains’ coming toBengal when already the workers are returning tothis State in hordes by busesand trucks.

“The workers are comingback in hordes in buses andtrucks, paying for the fare byselling whatever they had and

here the State Government issimply looking the other way.Why this Government is soinsensitive towards the plight ofthese poor and hapless peoplesuffering for the past severalmonths?” he asked wondering“where is a difference betweenpeople coming in trains andthose coming buses.”

Chowdhury’s commentscame on a day when about 25trains entered Bengal bringingback several thousand workersto Burdwan, Malda, Dankuni,Purulia, Birbhum and Bankura.

Elsewhere another instanceof alleged “insensitivity” raisedmany an eyebrow when BengalBJP president Dilip Ghoshtermed the incident of a toddlerplaying besides its dead moth-er’s body at Muzaffarpur rail-way station a “minor event.”

The Bengal opposition par-ties have pulled up Ghosh forhis “insensitive comments” say-ing he was only reflecting theviews of his party which wasonly an “attendant of the rich.”

Condemning Ghosh for

his alleged cavalier ways seniorTrinamool Congress MPSaugato Roy said “less saidabout this man is the better. Heis foul in his mouth and insen-sitive too. He is better suited asa wood-cutter.”

CPI(M) politburo memberand former MP Md Salim said“one can only express sympa-thy for the ruthless personwho calls the heart-rendingscene of a toddler trying toawaken its dead mother in aRailway Station --- particular-ly at a time when the migrantworkers are dying a hundreddeath every day --- a ‘minorincident’.”

He said, “the rest of the BJPleadership think that Modi isthe only God and Ambanis andAdanis are the only humanbeings … and the remainingpeople are animals. What canyou expect from them… TheModi Government with thehelp of the leaders like DilipGhosh has failed to savehumankind but successes inkilling humanity.”

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The Union Territory of Jammu &Kashmir has now joined the club

of States with over 2,000 plus cases ofcoronavirus.

On Thursday, a total number of115 cases were detected while onemore patient died due to covid-19 inKashmir valley, taking the death tollto 27.

According to media bulletin, outof 115 fresh cases, 101 were report-ed from Kashmir division while 14cases were reported from Jammu divi-sion. The final tally of coronaviruscases stood at 2,036.

Out of these, 1,150 are activecases. A total number of 301 cases areactive in Jammu and 849 in Kashmirdivision. A total number of 859patients have recovered so far.

According to the media bulletin,the highest number of 45 cases werereported from North Kashmir districtof Kupwara followed by 16 cases fromBaramulla, 11 each from Srinagar andBudgam in Kashmir valley. Majorityof these positive cases were returneesarriving in Jammu & Kashmir via dif-ferent modes of transport. A total

number of 228 active cases in Kulgamdistrict and 167 in Kupwara contin-ue to remain a cause of worry forhealth administrators in Kashmirvalley.

On the other hand, Jammu divi-sion reported a total number of 14cases on Thursday. Five travelersand three locals tested positive inJammu while three travelers inKathua tested positive. One caseeach was reported from Reasi,Poonch and Udhampur districts ofJammu division.

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Even four days after the resumption of domesticair-operations and that too truncated manner, the

flights are being operated in and out of the GVKMIAL-managed Chhatrapati Shivaji MaharajInternational Airport (CSMIA) in Mumbai at halfthe capacity, if the flights-passengers ratio is goingby. As many as 52 scheduled flights — involving 26departures and 26 arrivals— flew in and out of theMumbai airport – catered to a total of 5,583 pas-sengers — comprising 4,255 departed passengers and1,328 passengers who arrived in Mumbai.

“CSMIA today saw a total of 52 scheduled flightswhich include 26 departures and 26 arrivals. CSMIAconnected to 16 sectors which were operated by 05airlines. CSMIA connected to 16 sectors which wereoperated by 05 airlines. Today, CSMIA catered to atotal of 5,583 passengers which include 4,255 pas-sengers at departures and 1,328 at arrivals,” a CSMIAspokesperson said.

“The highest passenger load capacity was seenon the Bhubaneshwar route departing out ofCSMIA. The first flight departed to Ranchi at 6:00hrswhile the first flight arrived at 8:10hrs fromLucknow which was operated by Air Asia India andIndiGo, respectively,” the CSMIA spokespersonadded.

An analysis of the flights-passenger load rationon Thursday revealed that on an average 107 pas-sengers flew in and out of Mumbai — in 52 flights(26 flights each to and from Mumbai). In 26 flightsthat departed from Mumbai, there were an averageof 163 passengers, while mere 51 passengers arrivedin Mumbai on Thursday from other destinations inthe country.

On the first day of resumptions of flight oper-ations at CSMIA on Monday, as many as 47 flightsbelonging to seven airlines had flown in and out ofthe Mumbai airport catering to 4852 passengers.While 3852 had departed from Mumbai (an approx-imate 150 passengers), 1100 (an approximate 47 pas-sengers) had arrived in Mumbai.

On the second of resumption of flight operationson Tuesday, 44 flights operated with 4,224 passen-gers from the CSMIA on Tuesday. While 3114 pas-sengers (124 passengers per flight) departed fromMumbai, 1110 passengers ( 58 passengers perflight) arrived in Mumbai.

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Amaravati: Despiteintensive containmentmeasures, fresh Covid-19 cases continue tosurface in AndhraPradesh with unfailingregularity. On Thursdaythe state reported 54positive cases, whichincludes four personsthat had travel historiesto the Koyambedu mar-ket in Chennai.

With the additionof 54 new cases over thepast 24 hours, the state's

tally jumped to 2,841,the state nodal officerreported at 10 a.m., onThursday. While therehas been a decrease inthe proportion of caseswith a Koyambedu con-nection, the number ofcases related toreturnees from otherstates are continuing tosome extent.

On Thursday, only4 of the 54 positive caseswere found to have aKoyambedu connec-

tion. While Nellore dis-trict reported two cases,1 case was reportedfrom Chittoor andGuntur districts respec-tively.

The Koyambedumarket which has sincebeen closed, was identi-fied as one of the biggestspreaders of Covid-19cases in neighbouringTamil Nadu, where pos-itive cases tally has longcrossed the 18,000-mark. IANS

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After some intense physicalshowdown between theIndian and Chinese sol-diers at the Line of Control(LAC), attempts are now

being made by Beijing to dial down theconflict. A Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesperson said recently that the sit-uation at the border with India is “over-all stable and controllable” and that bothcountries have “proper mechanismsand communication channels” toresolve the issues through “dialogue”and “consultation.” China’s apparentattempt to de-escalate tensions at theborder is as quintessential a leaf fromits strategic playbook as its attempt toescalate it in the first place. A few famil-iar patterns apropos earlier suchendeavours cannot be missed.

The timing of the flare-up is, per-haps, the most predictable one. A pan-demic-stricken world has beenbrought down to its knees and Indiahas surpassed China’s Coronavirustally. It has now climbed into the top10 countries worst-hit by the pandem-ic. To recall, in 2014, when Chinesetroops intruded deep into the Indianterritory even as Premier Xi Jinpingwas on a State visit to India, it baffledmany. Why would Beijing do that? Ifanything, it only harmed the purposeof the ongoing bilateral talks. By now,China’s strategic charade of mixingwrong signals with publicly-percepti-ble good intentions is all too known.Physical assertion with an intention tosend a political message that pointssouth, deliberate obfuscation to pre-vent perception build-up, interna-tional grandstanding and the choice ofan opportune time — all of this col-lectively constitute the MiddleKingdom’s new approach to heightentensions. But there is a marked simi-larity that runs across modern China’sstrategic behaviour.

In its strategic playbook, it avoids“strength” and attacks “weakness.” Asthe world reels under the Corona pan-demic, China seems to have con-trolled the spread of the virus and hasnow resorted to practising aggressivebehaviour, thus rattling other countries.It has waged conflicts on multiplefronts. Border tension with India alongthe LAC has escalated; two new munic-ipal districts to control the disputedParacel and Spratly islands has beendeclared; military confrontation withMalaysia and Vietnam in the SouthChina Sea, too, has been launched.Besides, China has approved a contro-versial legislation in Hong Kong toundermine its autonomy. This, in clearviolation of the initial terms of agree-ment between Britain and China thatthe former’s autonomy shall be pre-

served until at least 50 years. Furthermore, there’s an obvi-

ous cold war 2.0 on with the US.Wolf warrior diplomacy hasbeen launched world over as apre-emptive effort to counter crit-icism and questions of account-ability. It is also resisting a glob-al call for an unbiased probe intothe origin of the Coronavirus.Above all, Xi has called upon thePeople’s Liberation Army (PLA)to “prepare for war.” All suchinstances have come to testChina’s strategic transition into a“great power.” As countries lookinward to deal with their eco-nomic, political and strategicproblems arising due to thespread of the virus, China con-siders this as its moment to testthe limits of “power transitionhypothesis.” But in many ways,how China acts during the pan-demic will define its futurecourse as a “great power.”

In the ongoing standoff withIndia, too, traits clearly point tothe aforementioned test-of-its-power transition. China hasopened multiple fronts of conflictalong the LAC; at least one ofthem is a hitherto uncontestedregion, the Naku La Pass in northSikkim. There are a few otherpeculiarities that set the ongoingborder flare-up apart from ear-lier skirmishes. The number ofPLA troops camped near theLAC is estimated to be some-where in between 5,000 and10,000.

Although India has matchedChinese encampments andnumbers, this is perhaps a newhigh of troop build-up by the lat-ter in the absence of any unilat-

eral aggression by the former.The military build-up andChina’s refusal to recede is gearedtowards “political signalling”than to “protect” an apparentincursion into India. This subtlepackaging comes at a time whenIndia is scrambling to improveborder infrastructure and con-nectivity in border areas. In thecurrent context, the strategicimportance of the Darbuk-Shyok-DBO road, that bringsIndia within an eight kilometrerange of the strategically impor-tant Karakoram Pass, cannot beoverstated.

Steps from either side pointto a long-drawn confrontation.While the two sides match introop numbers that mirror eachother, certain factors suggestthat neither side will be too quickto withdraw from strategic posi-tions. Chinese troops remainentrenched in bunkers alongwith a fleet of heavy vehicles andmonitoring equipment.Helicopter movement close tothe LAC has also been monitoredby the Indian side. India, too,scrambled two fighter jets alongthe LAC in Ladakh. Besides,Army Chief MM Naravane paida visit to Leh, the headquartersof 14 Corps in Ladakh, for asecurity review of the sensitivesector amid tensions. Perhapsthis suggests that the best way toresolve the present standoff isthrough established mechanismat the military and governmen-tal level, howsoever ineffectivethese mechanisms may be.

Chinese behaviour alongthe LAC points to a familiar pat-tern vis-a-vis India. Just like its

traditional medical practiceacupuncture, it is pressing certainpoints. Its assertions may oftenbe intended to solve a deeper ora different issue. In the presentcase, unprovoked assertionsalong the LAC can be linked toa few decisions taken by India inrecent times, which may haveperturbed China. Among themis the Indian Government’s deci-sion to implement three impor-tant recommendations relating toborder infrastructure that wasmade by the ShekatkarCommittee in 2016. Specifically,the work on the Sela tunnel (con-necting Tezpur in Assam toTawang) is in full swing. Oncecompleted, it will provide all-weather connectivity to animportant frontier with China inthe Kameng sector. Such projectsare also on to connect ZanskarValley and Ladakh. The Nimu-Padam-Darcha road being con-structed across the SinkunlaPass could have have been pointsof concern for China, too.

Other factors that couldhave perturbed Beijing includeNew Delhi’s decision to changeFDI norms for countries sharingland border with India. Thiscould potentially impact howChina invests in India. The vir-tual presence of two BJP MPs atthe swearing-in ceremony ofthe Taiwanese leader has alsoirked Beijing. Lastly, India’s sup-port to the global call for aWHO-led probe into the originof the Coronavirus is a cause, too.

From India’s point of view,the transgressions, includingones at previously uncontestedpatrol areas, like the Naku La

Pass, point towards a wider con-flicting arc. To that end, Chinesestrategy along the LAC has pre-ferred horizontal to vertical esca-lation, where scaling up of con-flict at the local level has been thepreferred strategy.

India’s options in the currentstandoff are limited. First, andperhaps the most likely way toresolve the tension, is by repeat-ing the Doklam strategy. Itshould resolutely wait until bothsides decide to de-escalate.However, under no circum-stances should India negotiate onsettled areas like the Naku LaPass. This will not only increasethe possibility for China to hor-izontally escalate against Indiabut would also dilute India’ssacrosanct nature of “sovereign-ty” apropos a modern state. Thisis precisely what makes the cur-rent standoff different and morefraught than previous ones. Sinceboth sides have laid claim to anew area as their “sovereignpart”, possibilities of de-escalationare high. India can press otherweak points of China to compeldesired State behaviour if LAC istoo sensitive a matter. Adoptingthe Indo-Pacific strategy to charta future strategy in Asia as anemerging global power is a low-hanging fruit. Among othersteps, raising a global pitch onChina’s other interests or deci-sions that run counter to Indianinterests can be considered. It is,perhaps, time to turn a new pagein dealing with China.

(The writer is deputy director, KIIPS, Bhubaneswar,and research fellow, ICWA, New Delhi)

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Sir — Swarms of locusts havebeen destroying crops acrosswestern and central India. Thisis the worst such attack in threedecades. With a speed of 150 kmper day, these creatures havebeen rampaging farms acrossUttar Pradesh, Rajasthan,Maharashtra, Gujarat and otherStates. Concerns about themharming farm output have beenraised. The solace is that with theharvest season over, rabi cropshave not been affected and mostmonsoon-fed crops are yet to besowed. But this does not meanthat they are harmless.

Cotton, summer pulses andvegetables have already sufferedin some regions. With agriculturefields remaining bare right now,the insects have made their wayto urban areas. This poses anoth-er set of problems. TheGovernment is using specialisedspraying machines and plans areon to deploy 60 specialised insec-ticide sprayers to kill the swarms.But what is needed is for us toshift to sustainable policies for anequitable future.

ShikhaVia email

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Up in the sky” (May 27).The Uddhav Thackeray-ledMaharashtra Government has

said that the Centre “arbitrarily”took the decision to allowdomestic flight operations andthat “no consultation” was madewith the State. Meanwhile, theCivil Aviation Ministry has said

that Maharashtra, like all otherStates, agreed to allow domesticcivil aviation operations.

In an email response to theCentre, the MaharashtraGovernment has said that

restrictions on the movement ofpeople and transport are inplace in important cities such asMumbai and Pune. Politicalblame games aside, such a bigdecision should have not beentaken by the Centre before con-sulting the States.

MN Musaeed Jogeshwari Mumbai

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Sir — Bollywood actor SonuSood deserves all the praise forarranging buses for the migrantworkers so that they reach theirhome States safely. His team haseven set up a toll-free number.In personal capacity, he hasbeen doing what theGovernment — both Centraland States — had promised todo. To see a member of the filmfraternity take such decisivesteps during the outbreak of adeadly virus is unusual. It is tobe seen if his colleagues, manyof whom hold immense wealth,follow his example?

Babu Tanda RampurUttar Pradesh

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Owing to the lockdown necessitated by theCOVID-19 pandemic, the Centre hasdeferred the National Population Register

(NPR) updation exercise and the first phase ofCensus 2021, both of which were scheduled to startin April. Census operations in India had hithertobeen conducted in an unbroken chain since 1881.The only exceptions were in Assam in 1981 due toStatewide protests against illegal immigration fromBangladesh and in Jammu and Kashmir in 1991 dueto law and order problems.

India’s census, comprising house listing oper-ations, where all the houses, irrespective of use, areidentified and population enumeration, is one of thelargest administrative exercises undertaken any-where in the world. In the present context, givenhow the virus is spreading its tentacles, it is imprac-tical to send census enumerators to households tocollect and validate any information.

The census-NPR debate: Before the pandem-ic struck, the emphasis on conducting a joint cen-sus and NPR updation exercise, riding on the houselisting operations, had faced considerable debate andcriticism owing to the recently-enacted CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) intertwined with theGovernment’s open commitment to the NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC).

Linking of the census and NPR raises techni-cal and operational questions. In 2011, the NPRtagged to the house-listing schedule had serious cov-erage issues, with about 60 million people missing.The fact that the NPR data is certainly not requiredfor targetting purposes, the question that arises thenrelates to its utility since it is collected at enormousphysical and financial costs when Aadhaar-basedbiometric identification numbers with higher cov-erage are already available. Moreover, since theGovernment has not revealed the existing NPR topublic scrutiny, all insistence on its accuracy is mere-ly a conjecture, validating apprehensions over theNPR being the base for the NRC. The census-NPRdebate has become intertwined with other contro-versies over official Government data. This has por-trayed the present decade as disastrous for publicdata in India and warrants an urgent response touphold the integrity and credibility of our statisti-cal institutions.

The political economy of official data and har-nessing ICT: Experiences from recent years suggestthat the Government itself shied away from accept-ing various official statistics on employment, con-sumption, sanitation, and so on, owing to the inabil-ity of the Government, NITI Aayog and otherdepartments to produce credible reports on accountof method and comparability, adhering to the con-sistent macro picture. Apart from concealment andpostponement of Government reports, if andwhen these are released, they are done so with mul-tiple disclaimers.

As a result, the entire process makes the reportsvirtually unusable. This is further amplified by bla-tant withholding of administrative data often man-aged by big private consultants. For several years,not much has been done to fix this lacuna.

To reform the Indian statistical system, the pre-sent Government prepared the Draft NationalStatistical Commission (NSC) Bill, 2019. This Billis aimed at empowering the NSC to effectively for-mulate policies, priorities and standards on statis-tical matters. Further, a Five-year Vision 2019-2024for the National Statistical System has been publishedby the Ministry of Statistics and ProgrammeImplementation (MoSPI). The NITI Aayog on its

part has proposed a National Data andAnalytics Platform (NDAP). These effortsdemonstrate a growing acknowledge-ment of the need for the use of digital tech-nology, which would democratise accessto holistic and coherent publicGovernment data on a real-time basis.

Thus, going forward, it appears thatthe era of Industry 4.0, ArtificialIntelligence (AI), blockchain and gigeconomy would require extensive utilisa-tion of ICT. This would enable quick andsmooth harnessing of new sources of data,including payroll data, GIS data and bigdata generated using mobile communica-tions, social media interactions and dig-itally-enabled transactions.

A departure from the past censusexercise for census 2021 is that these oper-ations will be carried out with handhelddevices for prompt scrutiny and transferof data to secure centralised servers.While this is certainly a progressivemove, India must further take a cue fromthe experience of many countries intheir responses to COVID-19 to tackledata-related exigencies concerning citizensregistries.

In the US, the ongoing census 2020(https://2020census.gov/) operations havebeen made fully online, ensuring account-ability and credibility. Importantly, this hasmade the exercise open, inclusive andincorporative of citizens in these challeng-ing times. No wonder, the census exercisein the US appears more as a celebrationon social media, where its citizens areproudly enrolling and actively participat-ing, whereas, in India, the whole exercisedisplays apprehensions and policy vacu-um.

There is no time to lose. The existinginitiatives by the Government on harness-ing ICT, such as Pro-Active Governanceand Timely Implementation (PRAGATI),Digital India and JAM Trinity, need to beleveraged to carry out and continue thehistoric census exercise of 2021, as well as

to restore the credibility of our statisticalinstitutions.

COVID-19, data and the State:There is no denying that the pandemic canonly be fought with real-time informationand aggregated data collected using cut-ting-edge technology and with the use ofthe internet, phones, ICT, location dataand so on. This will help in the manda-tory surveillance of each citizen in theextended lockdown period to enforce thenecessary social distancing, isolation,tracing, delivery of essential services andwelfare, the functioning of the economyand society and, more importantly inensuring health and medical facilities.

This calls for a full-fledged citizen dig-ital literacy programme under DigitalIndia, utilising the lockdown time to hand-hold each citizen. In other words, the timefor ensuring universal digital literacy,learning and application is now or never.During the pandemic, the amount of con-structive and willing enrolment and sup-port from each citizen, community, pri-vate sector and civil society, which willprovide for such universal enumerationand registry by the Government, will beenormous and worth attempting. For now,the fallout of non-withdrawal of theState’s power over data and surveillanceremains a valid yet distant worry.

The way forward: The fight againstthe pandemic has taught us the real impor-tance of data and statistical systems witha robust ecosystem for innovation andaccountability. Empowerment of theseverely-underfunded and understaffedIndian statistical system requires urgentand large investments in technical andhuman resources.

Also, a real-time and dynamic data-base of unemployed, migrant and infor-mal sector workers would immensely helpin aiding the most vulnerable and mar-ginalised sections that are excluded fromany support from the Government in theabsence of their up-to-date registry. This

would, in future, help to avoid situationslike the current plight of internal migrantstrekking along the highways to reach theirhome villages and small towns, in the faceof the transportation and economic lock-down.

The census provides migration dataat the district and town level, so holdingit every five years instead of the presentdecadal system should be considered.Organising an intercensal survey, as donein many countries, can also mitigate thisdeficiency in the Indian data system to alarge extent.

Improving the credibility of officialstatistics would take a broad consensusand effective leadership. Disentangling theoverlapping functions of statistical bod-ies like the NSC and MoSPI and creatingcoherence and cohesiveness in theirduties and responsibilities is required.

To enable evidence-based policy-making, planning and implementation,adapting ICT at par with global standardsis required by the system of official sta-tistics in India. A universal digital Indiapush now can lay the foundation of real-time data and modern architecture. Thiswill go a long way in realising the visionof ‘New India’ and a $5 trillion economy.Further, postponement of NPR and onlydoing the first phase of the 2021 censuswork will be a logical step to ensure thatthe timeline for the population count inMarch 2021 is not altered. The challengesfor data, posed by the pandemic, CAA-NPR-NRC and the reluctance of theGovernment to release official data, needsto be tackled urgently. Besides this, theNSC should be made an independent anddynamic body led by professionals toensure availability of credible, accessibleand legible statistics to empower policy-makers with quality data to make India theworld guru.

(Kumar is Director, IMPRI andMohanan is former acting Chairperson ofthe NSC and mentor, IMPRI.)

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Every morning I wake up to a fewmessages on Sayfty’s social mediapages. Usually, these are requests

for help and read like, “I know a girlwho is facing domestic violence (DV),please can you help?” One person asks,“Hey, do you help in the lockdown too?I have been going through domesticviolence for four years and it’s beenhorrible.” My team and I get busy sup-porting victims of domestic violence,getting them the help they need.

More than 90 countries are underlockdown with four billion people con-

fined to their homes. However, little domost people realise that for millions ofwomen, “home” is not a safe place dur-ing a lockdown. As the world scram-bled to flatten the Coronavirus curve,the DV curve surged across the globe.In France, DV cases increased by 30per cent while in Argentina, emer-gency calls regarding DV increased by25 per cent, Cyprus and Singaporehelplines registered an increase in callsof 30-33 per cent. The UK, US, Spain,India and other countries, have all wit-nessed a rise in violence at home.

Lockdowns have trapped womenand girls with abusive partners. Theyare isolated and cut off from supportnetworks and resources. Victims are nolonger able to pick up the phone andcall for help because they are beingwatched by the abuser constantly.They are unable to step out of that doorand seek support.

The truth is that DV has persist-ed in our homes for generations. A factmost of us choose to ignore. DV, like

all forms of abuse, is about power. Andduring this pandemic, men are usingviolence to control women’s minds,bodies, economic capacities andmobility. It is a deliberate action car-ried out against the victim with a senseof entitlement over their bodies. Andnothing can or should justify violenceagainst women/girls.

So, what have countries done sofar to address DV during this pandem-ic?

France is offering hotel rooms forvictims of abuse. The Government willpay for 20,000 hotel nights for victimsand put in place approximately 20counselling centres at stores across thecountry in order for women to be ableto seek help when they run errands.

In Germany, the Green Party’sparliamentary leader, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, said she feared for the lives ofthousands of women trapped with vio-lent partners and called on theGovernment to free up money for safehouses.

In Greece, officials said they werestepping up a campaign to helpwomen cope with problems clearlyemerging from the issue of confine-ment.

A prosecutor in Trento, Italy, hasruled that in cases of DV the abusermust leave the family home and notthe victim.

In India the National Commissionfor Women has launched a WhatsAppnumber (+91 7217735372) to facilitatequick and increased reporting, takingcognisance of the increase in violence.

So, the big question is, what cana citizen do as a bystander?

Now more than ever, bystanderintervention is vital. Each one of us,even under a lockdown, can activelyintervene online or in the offlinespace if we see someone experiencingharassment or violence. Here are fiveways that can help citizens speak out,identify, engage or respond to a situ-ation of domestic abuse.

Delegate: Which means get help

from someone else. For example, inIndia, you can dial 100 for the policeor 181 to connect to the women’shelpline number after checking withthe person facing harassment or abuse.

Delay: Wait for the incident to beover and then check in with the per-son harassed or abused. You can callthe person, message them or useanother creative way to check on themlike through a chat feature on an onlinegame and so on.

Distract: Is to use an indirectapproach to de-escalate the situationand divert the attention of the abuseraway from the violence to give the vic-tim a break. A common way to do this,if the incident is happening in yourneighbourhood, is to ring the bell andask to borrow something, like a cup ofmilk. The famous #RingTheBell cam-paign by Breakthrough is a classicexample of how to distract an abuser.

Document: You can documentthe violence using your phone or acamera. Remember, while document-

ing the incident, try to film undercov-er and give the videos and photos tothe person facing the violence. Consentis important. Let them decide what todo with it.

Direct: Speak up when you see aincident of DV. You can do so by nam-ing the behaviour. You can say,“Domestic violence is a crime.” Namewhat you see. “It looks like she is phys-ically hurt and very scared.” Ask theabuser a question, “Why are youbeating her?”

A word of caution: When inter-vening, please ensure your own safe-ty first. If you don’t feel safe interven-ing, get help. Be vigilant. DV, most ofthe time, is occurring behind closeddoors and is less talked about. In factin India, less than 14 per cent ofwomen who have experienced phys-ical or sexual violence seek help.

While a majority of us are follow-ing the shelter-in place order, manyfirst responders like postal workers,garbage collectors, food delivery staff

are out and about through neighbor-hoods doing their jobs. They may havean opportunity to detect violence andreport to the authorities. If you knowof someone facing violence, ask themhow they would prefer to connect? Stayin touch with them through creativeways. Once you have safely establisheda way to connect, help them find a DVshelter or a helpline number. Thinkthrough a safety plan with the victim.One safety plan does not fit all. Abuse,harassment and violence is different ineach incident. Each situation is uniqueand will require a different interven-tion.

These are difficult and unusualtimes for all. While we are physicallycut away from each other, don’t let thatprevent you from raising your voiceand using your resources for anotherpandemic called gender-based vio-lence. When will we try to flatten thispersistent curve?

(The writer is founder and CEO,Sayfty)

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+����+����Minneapolis: Violent protestsover the death of a black manin police custody rocked aMinneapolis neighborhood fora second straight night as angrycrowds looted stores, set firesand left a path of damage thatstretched for miles.

The protests that beganlate Wednesday and stretchedinto Thursday morning werethe most destructive yet sincethe death of George Floyd,who was seen on video gaspingfor breath during an arrest inwhich an officer kneeled on hisneck for almost eight minutes.In the footage, George pleadsthat he cannot breathe before heslowly stops talking and mov-ing.

Minneapolis Mayor JacobFrey appealed to the governorto activate the National Guardand asked for calm. “Please,Minneapolis, we cannot lettragedy beget more tragedy,” hesaid on Twitter.

Protests also spread toother US cities. In California,

hundreds of people protestingFloyd’s death blocked a LosAngeles freeway and shatteredwindows of California HighwayPatrol cruisers.

Pockets of looting contin-ued Thursday at Minneapolisstores where windows anddoors were smashed. Televisionstation KSTP reported somefires at businesses burned withno firefighters on the scene. Aliquor store employee displayeda gun as he stood among thedebris of broken bottles andbeer cans inside the business.

Amid the violence, a man

was found fatally shotWednesday night near a pawnshop, possibly by the owner,authorities said.

Protesters began gatheringWednesday afternoon near thecity’s 3rd Precinct station, in thesouthern part of the city, wherethe 46-year-old Floyd died onMemorial Day as police arrest-ed him outside a conveniencestore on a report of a counter-feit bill being passed. Protestersalso skirmished with officers,who fired rubber bullets andtear gas in a repeat of Tuesdaynight’s confrontation. AP

Islamabad: Pakistan’s SupremeCourt on Thursday fixed thehearing of the Daniel Pearlmurder case for June 1, amonth after the American jour-nalist’s family filed an appealagainst the acquittal of theprime accused and British-born top al-Qaeda leaderAhmed Omar Saeed Sheikhand three others in the case.

Pearl, the 38-year-oldSouth Asia bureau chief for TheWall Street Journal, wasabducted and beheaded whilehe was in Pakistan investigat-ing a story in 2002 on thealleged links between the coun-try’s powerful spy agency ISIand al-Qaeda.

An anti-terrorism courtawarded death sentence toSheikh and life imprisonmentto three others. PTI

Karachi: A team of foreignexperts on Thursday recoveredthe missing cockpit voicerecorder from the debris of thecrashed Pakistan InternationalAirlines plane, nearly a weekafter one of the worst aviationdisasters in the country’s his-tory.

The domestic flight fromLahore to Karachi crashed in aresidential area near the JinnahInternational Airport here lastFriday, killing 97 people onboard. Two passengers mirac-ulously survived the crash.

The Airbus A320 aircraft ofthe national carrier had 91passengers and a crew of eightwhen it crashed into the JinnahGarden area near ModelColony in Malir on Friday,minutes before its landing.Eleven people on the groundwere also injured. PTI

Blantyre (Malawi): Manhuntshave begun after hundreds ofpeople, some with the coron-avirus, fled quarantine centersin Zimbabwe and Malawi whileauthorities worry they willspread COVID-19 in countrieswhose health systems can berapidly overwhelmed.

In Malawi, more than 400people recently repatriated fromSouth Africa and elsewherefled a center at a stadium inBlantyre, jumping over a fenceor strolling out the gate whilepolice and health workerswatched. Police and healthworkers told reporters theywere unable to stop them as theylacked adequate protective gear.

At least 46 escapees hadtested positive for the virus.

Some of those who fled toldreporters they had bribed police.

And in Zimbabwe, policespokesman Paul Nyathi said

officers were “hunting down”more than 100 people whoescaped from centers where a21-day quarantine is manda-tory for those returning fromabroad.

“They escape and sneakinto the villages … We arewarning people to stop shel-tering them. These escapees arebecoming a serious danger tocommunities,” Nyathi said.

Nearly all of Zimbabwe’s 75new cases this week came fromthe centers that hold hundredsof people who have returned,sometimes involuntarily, fromneighboring South Africa andBotswana.

The quarantine centers havebecome “our source of danger,”Health Minister Obadiah Moyotold a special parliamentarycommittee this week.

Both Zimbabwe andMalawi have fewer than 200

confirmed cases but regionalpower South Africa, wheremany in both countries go toseek work, has more than25,000. South Africa has themost cases in Africa, where thecontinent-wide total is nearly125,000.

Zimbabwe’s informationminister, Monica Mutsvangwa,on Wednesday told reportersthat the government is increas-ing security at the schools,colleges and hotels used asquarantine centers.

Government spokesmanNick Mangwana suggested thatsecurity officers guarding cen-ters with high walls and razorwire might be receiving bribesto allow people to leave early.

Zimbabwe’s government isalso worried about peoplecrossing porous borders andfailing to report at quarantinecenters. AP

Beijing: China’s parliament onThursday approved a new con-troversial security law for HongKong which would make it acrime to undermine Beijing’sauthority in the former Britishterritory.

China’s annual politicalseason, delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic ended onThursday with its legislature,much on the expected linesendorsing the new securitylaw for Hong Kong.

The new law, Chinese secu-rity agencies can for the firsttime open their establishmentand operate in Hong Kong.

The National People’sCongress (NPC), which endedits week-long meeting approveda host of bills on the last dayincluding the new security lawfor Hong Kong, state-runXinhua news agency reported.

The bill now passes to theStanding Committee of theCommunist Party and couldbecome law by August.

The full details of the billare not yet known.

The authorities in HongKong insist the law is essentialto tackle growing violence and“terrorism”, and that the terri-tory’s residents have nothing tofear from it.

Critics fear it could lead toHong Kongers being prose-cuted for criticising their or the

leadership in Beijing, joiningprotests or exercising theircurrent rights under local laws.

China’s move has alreadysparked a new wave of anti-mainland protest in HongKong, a former British colony,which was handed over toBeijing on July 1, 1997.

Clashes broke out again onWednesday, as Hong Kong’s

parliament debated a differentproposed law, which wouldmake it a crime to disrespectthe Chinese national anthem.

The NPC regarded as therubber stamp parliament for itsroutine approval proposals ofthe ruling Communist Party ofChina (CPC) unanimouslyapproved the law which HongKong political parties said

would be a death knell to its‘one country two systems’ andthe autonomy it enjoyed fromChina.

The law has beendenounced by the US, the UKand the EU as a blow to free-dom and liberty of HongKongers and affect the city’sstatus as an international busi-ness hub. PTI

United Nations: The numberof children living in poorhouseholds across low andmiddle-income countries couldincrease by 86 million to reach672 million by the end of 2020due to the economic fallout ofthe coronavirus pandemic,according to a new study.

The deadly virus has so farinfected 5,695,290 people andclaimed 355,692 lives globally,according to a tally by theJohns Hopkins University.

“The economic fallout ofthe COVID-19 pandemiccould push up to 86 millionmore children into householdpoverty by the end of 2020, anincrease of 15 per cent,” saidthe study conducted jointly bythe UNICEF and humanitari-an organisation Save theChildren.

The analysis highlightedthat without urgent action to

protect families from the finan-cial hardships caused by thepandemic, the total number ofchildren living below thenational poverty line in lowand middle-income countriescould reach 672 million byyear-end.

Nearly two-thirds of thesechildren live in sub-SaharanAfrica and South Asia andcountries across Europe andCentral Asia could see themost significant increase, up to44 per cent across the region.Latin America and theCaribbean could see a 22 percent increase.

“The coronavirus pan-demic has triggered anunprecedented socio-eco-nomic crisis that is drainingresources for families all overthe world,” UNICEF ExecutiveDirector Henrietta Fore said ina statement.

“The scale and depth offinancial hardship among fam-ilies threatens to roll backyears of progress in reducingchild poverty and to leavechildren deprived of essentialservices. Without concertedaction, families barely gettingby could be pushed into pover-ty, and the poorest familiescould face levels of deprivationthat have not been seen fordecades,” Fore said.

The organisations warnedthat the impact of the globaleconomic crisis caused by thepandemic and related con-tainment policies is two-fold —immediate loss of incomemeant families are less able toafford the basics, includingfood and water, less likely toaccess health care or education,and more at risk of child mar-riage, violence, exploitationand abuse. PTI

Washington: Congress hasvoted to toughen the USresponse to a brutal Chinesecrackdown on ethnic minorities,adding another factor to theincreasingly stormy relation-ship between the two countries.

The House passed a bipar-tisan bill on Wednesday thatwould impose sanctions onChinese officials involved in themass surveillance and detentionof Uighurs and other ethnicgroups in the western Xinjiangregion, a campaign that hasdrawn muted internationalresponse because of China’sinfluence around the world.

The measure already passedthe Senate and needs a signaturefrom President Donald Trump,who said this week he’ll “verystrongly” consider it amid U.S.Anger over China’s handling ofthe Covid outbreak and tensionover a Chinese plan to restrictcivil liberties in Hong Kong.

Both issues emerged, along

with other sore points in theChina-U.S. Relationship, asRepublican and Democraticmembers of Congress spoke insupport of the bill. No one spokeagainst it, and it passed by a 413-1 vote. “Beijing’s barbarousactions targeting the Uighurpeople are an outrage to the col-lective conscience of the world,”House Speaker Nancy Pelosisaid in a floor speech in supportof the bill. It was the first bill inhistory to pass with proxy votesafter House Democrats, overRepublican objections, adopteda measure allowing such votesin response to the coronavirusoutbreak.

Congress late last year votedto condemn the crackdown inXinjiang, where Chineseauthorities have detained morethan a million people — frommostly Muslim ethnic groupsthat include Uighurs, Kazakhsand Kyrgyz — in a vast networkof detention centers. AP

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Washington: Legislationextending surveillance author-ities that the FBI sees as vital infighting terrorism was throwninto doubt as President DonaldTrump threatened a veto andRepublican leaders and topliberal Democrats said theywould oppose it.

House Democratic leadersabruptly adjourned withoutconsidering the bill, hours aftersaying there would be a voteWednesday evening.

In between, Trump saidexplicitly for the first time thathe would veto the measure. Asimilar version of the legislationhad drawn bipartisan supportjust weeks ago.

“If the FISA Bill is passedtonight on the House floor, Iwill quickly VETO it,” Trumptweeted, using the acronym forthe Foreign IntelligenceSurveillance Act.

“Our Country has just suf-fered through the greatest polit-ical crime in its history. Themassive abuse of FISA was a bigpart of it!”

Trump had suggestedTuesday evening that he wouldoppose the measure, prompt-ing Republicans who oncebacked the deal to followTrump’s lead and sayWednesday that they wouldnow vote against it.

The leaders of theCongressional ProgressiveCaucus, which has about 70Democratic House members,also said they would opposethe legislation, saying it lackedcurbs on online surveillancewithout warrants. Combinedwith strong GOP opposition,the Democrats’ defiance ofHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi,D-Calif., suggested theremight be enough dissent to

sink the bill. It was unclear if

Democratic leaders would tryagain Thursday to hold a vote,or if they would skip a vote andtry to negotiate with the Senateon a final compromise.

“We cannot in good con-science vote for legislation thatviolates Americans’ funda-mental right to privacy,” saidthe progressive caucus’ leaders,Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Mark Pocan, D-Wis.

The legislation first passedthe House in March with broadbipartisan support afterAttorney General William Barrnegotiated a deal withRepublican and DemocraticHouse leaders.

But that consensus crum-bled Wednesday after theJustice Department came outagainst the bill, which was

amended by the Senate. TheJustice Department’s statement,by Assistant Attorney GeneralStephen Boyd, urged Trump toreject the bill.

Soon after, HouseRepublican Leader KevinMcCarthy, R-Calif., said it wastime to take a “pause” on thelegislation. The new impasseraised the potential for thesurveillance powers to remainexpired indefinitely. The pro-visions, which lapsed in March,allow the FBI to get a courtorder for business records innational security investigationsand to conduct surveillance ona subject without establishingthat they’re acting on behalf ofan international terrorismorganization.

They also make it easier forinvestigators to continue eaves-dropping on a subject who hasswitched cell phone providers

to thwart detection.Despite the sudden GOP

switch, Democratic leaders saidthey would move forward witha vote anyway, arguing thatvery little had changed since126 Republicans, includingMcCarthy, voted for it inMarch.

“Your flailing around tofind a rationalization for yourchange of vote is sad,” HouseMajority Leader Steny Hoyer,D-Md., told Republicans in aheated speech on the floor.

“The only thing that haschanged,” Hoyer said, “is thatDonald Trump has said voteno.”

With Republicans opposed,Pelosi needed to keep her cau-cus together to pass it. But los-ing the progressives — a groupof lawmakers who have longopposed surveillance laws —made that a lot harder. AP

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Beijing: Chinese officials haveclarified that those facingcharges for offences committedin Hong Kong will not be sentto China to face trial under thenew security law to firm upBeijing’s hold over the formerBritish colony.

China’s new national secu-rity law will be incorporated intoHong Kong’s legal system withbuilt-in protections for offend-ers, who will not be sent acrossthe border to mainland Chinato face trial, Hong Kong-basedSouth China Morning Postquoted sources as saying.

The new law permits forthe first time Chinese securityagencies to open their estab-lishments in Hong Kong.

However, the Hong KongBar Association has said China’sproposed new security law couldrun into problems in courts asBeijing has no legal authority toenact its national security law forthe former British colony.

The association alsoexpressed concern over sug-

gestions that mainland securityagencies would be set up to safe-guard national security withinthe city, saying it was “entirelyunclear” how that the arrange-ment would comply with Article22 of the Basic Law, which stip-ulates that Beijing departmentsnot to interfere in local affairs.

The new legislation estab-lishing and improving the legalsystem and enforcement mech-anisms for the Hong KongSpecial Administrative Region(HKSAR) to safeguard nation-al security is set to be passed byChina’s National People’sCongress (NPC) on Friday.

The bill is regarded as apolitical bombshell for the for-mer British colony as China hasdecided to bypass localLegislative Council to bringabout a new security law tailor-made to take control of HongKong which has been witness-ing mass protests by pro-democracy groups since lastyear demanding autonomy andfreedom from Beijing. PTI

3���$����������� �������� �����!������������27����� United Nations: The US and

China clashed over Hong Kongat the UN Security Council,with Washington calling ameeting over the controversialnational security law intro-duced by Beijing to tighten itscontrol on the former Britishcolony.

The US Mission to theUN on Wednesday saidWashington was “deeply con-cerned by actions taken by thePeople’s Republic of China(PRC) National People’sCongress that fundamentallyundermine Hong Kong’s highdegree of autonomy and free-doms as guaranteed under theSino-British Joint Declarationof 1984, which was registeredwith the UN as a legally bind-ing treaty and the Basic Law (ofthe Hong Kong SpecialAdministrative Region).

“This is a matter of urgentglobal concern that implicatesinternational peace and secu-rity, and warrants the immedi-ate attention of the UN SecurityCouncil,” the US Mission said.

The US mission addedthat the United States had

called for a virtual meeting ofthe Security Council onWednesday to discuss theseacts and China’s proposednational security law that wouldthreaten Hong Kong’s democ-ratic institutions and civil lib-erties. “Such actions confirmthe PRC’s contempt and com-plete disregard for its interna-tional obligations,” it said.

China’s Ambassador to theUN Zhang Jun hit back at theUS, saying Beijing categorical-ly rejects the baseless request ofthe US for a Security Councilmeeting. “Legislation onnational security for HongKong is purely China’s internalaffairs. It has nothing to do withthe mandate of the SecurityCouncil,” he tweeted.

The Chinese envoy addedthat “facts prove again andagain that the US is the trou-blemaker of the world.”

“It is the US who has vio-lated its commitments underthe international law. Chinaurges the US to immediatelystop its power politics and bul-lying practices,” the Chineseenvoy said. PTI

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US President Donald Trumpsaid on Thursday that coro-

navirus was a “very bad gift”from China to the rest of theworld, as America surpassed thegrim milestone of over onelakh COVID-19-linked deaths.

“All over the World theCoronaVirus, a very bad ‘gift’from China, marches on. Notgood!” Trump said in a tweet.

“We have just reached avery sad milestone with thecoronavirus pandemic deathsreaching 100,000,” he said.

The US reached the painfulmilestone of 100,000 coron-avirus-related deaths — thehighest in the world — onWednesday.

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British Prime Minister BorisJohnson’s top aide, Dominic

Cummings, might be guilty ofa “minor breach” of the legalregulation when he took ajourney during the coronavirusstay-at-home lockdown lastmonth, UK police concludedon Thursday.

Durham Constabularyfound the aide had committedno legal offence when he droveover 400-km from his Londonhome to his father’s farm inDurham, north-east England,at the end of March.

However, a second shortertrip to Barnard Castle on April12, which 48-year-old

Cummings said was to test his eyesight for an eventu-al longer drive back to London,may fall into the category of abreach but no retrospectiveaction would be taken againsthim.

“Durham Constabularyhave examined the circum-stances surrounding the jour-ney to Barnard Castle andhave concluded that theremight have been a minorbreach of the Regulations thatwould have warranted policeintervention. DurhamConstabulary view this asminor because there was noapparent breach of social dis-tancing,” a Durham policestatement said.

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Minneapolis (US): The mayorof Minneapolis calledWednesday for criminal chargesagainst the white police officerseen on video kneeling againstthe neck of a handcuffed blackman who complained that hecould not breathe and died inpolice custody.

Based on the video, MayorJacob Frey said officer DerekChauvin should be charged inthe death of George Floyd. Thefootage recorded by a bystandershows Chauvin with his knee onFloyd’s neck as Floyd gasps forbreath on the ground with hisface against the pavement. Theofficer does not move for at least8 minutes, even after Floydstops speaking and moving. AP

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An estimated 2.1 millionAmericans applied for

unemployment benefits lastweek despite the gradualreopening of businesses aroundthe country, bringing the run-ning total since the coron-avirus shutdowns took hold inmid-March to about 41 million,the government said Thursday.

The figures underscoredthe continuing damage to busi-nesses and livelihoods from theoutbreak that has now killed atleast 100,000 people in theU.S., more than the number ofAmericans lost in the Vietnamand Korean wars combined,and more than 33 times thedeath toll on 9/11. The U.S.unemployment rate was 14.7%in April, the highest since theGreat Depression.

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Japanese automobile majorNissan Motor Company on

Thursday said closure ofIndonesian and Barcelonaplants; reducing the number ofmodels; rationalising produc-tion capacities; cutting downfixed costs by 300 billion Yenare some of the measuresplanned to achieve sustain-able growth, financial stabilityand profitability by the end offiscal 2023.Company also saidit will be exiting South Korea,the Datsun business in Russiaand streamlining operationsin some markets in ASEAN. Ina statement the company saidthe scalable plan will shift thecompany’s strategy from its pastfocus on inflated expansion.

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Around 71 per cent ofIndians believe the

Government’s over �20 lakhcrore stimulus package willlead to economic recovery, astudy said.

The Centre earlier thismonth announced a megarelief package to mitigate theeconomic impact of theCOVID-19 crisis. A vastmajority (71 per cent) ofIndians either agree or strong-ly agree that the relief packagewill lead to economic recovery,the study by global marketresearch and data companyYouGov said.

The survey was doneonline by YouGov Omnibusamong 1,005 respondents inIndia between May 19-22,2020. It found that respondentsfrom tier-III cities are morelikely to view this packagefavourably (76 per cent) thanthose from tier-I cities (67 percent).

Further, only 15 per centseem unhappy with the pack-age. Dissatisfaction is the high-est among people from thesouth (21 per cent) as com-pared to the other regional res-idents, the survey said.Similarly, tier-I residents (21per cent) seem unhappier withthe offered benefits comparedto tier-II (14 per cent) and tier-III (10 per cent) residents.

Even though a majoritysupport the economic package,fewer than half see it benefit-ting them personally. From thevarious schemes, four in 10urban Indians (43 per cent) feelthey are most likely to benefitfrom the ‘increased publicexpenditure on healthcare’ andthe ‘reduction of TDS/TCSrates for non-salaried section’(40 per cent). One in three (33per cent) see themselves ben-efitting from the ‘extension ofcredit linked subsidy schemefor middle-income groups’,‘starting of online courses bytop 100 universities’ (31 per

cent) and ‘interest subsidy forsmall business under Mudra-Sishu loans’ (30%), it added.

Asked about the provi-sions that could benefit theunderprivileged (migrants andpoor, among others), majorityof respondents (61 per cent)believed ‘distribution of freefood grains’ is most likely towork to their advantage.

More than half (53 percent) were in support of ‘onenation one ration card’ provi-sion under which the govern-ment has allowed inter-stateportability of ration cards.

Although the Governmentbelieves the economic packagewill go a long way in realisingthe idea of a self-reliant India,only one-third (33 per cent) ofurban Indians think so, it said.

Some think this packagewill create new job opportuni-ties (21 per cent), while otherssee it giving a boost to thesmaller businesses (20 per cent)or the rural economy (17 percent), the study added.

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Benchmark indices defiedgravity for the second

straight session on Thursday asexpiry of May series derivativescontracts triggered across-the-board buying amid firm glob-al cues.

The 30-share BSE Sensexrallied 595.37 points or 1.88 percent to finish at 32,200.59.Similarly, the broader NSENifty climbed 175.15 points or1.88 per cent to 9,490.10.

L&T was the top gainer inthe Sensex pack, spurting 6.17per cent, followed by HeroMotoCorp, IndusInd Bank,HDFC Bank, Maruti, HDFC,Tata Steel and ICICI Bank.

ITC, SBI and Bharti Airtelwere the only laggards, slippingup to 0.83 per cent.

Benchmarks witnessed abroad-based rally on account ofshort-covering by market par-ticipants as May series futuresand options (F&O) contractsexpired at the end of the ses-sion, analysts said.

Further, domestic investorstook positive cues from mostglobal markets amid optimismover the reopening of majoreconomies across the world.

“A huge EU stimulus planprovided a boost to European

shares while Asian shares wereaffected by the US-China diplo-matic issues. Indian marketsare banking on continuedresumption of economic activ-ities, inspite of still high num-ber of new infections.

“Further stimulus mea-sures are also expected to boostdemand in the economy andhelp the most impacted sectorsto recover.

Market is rising on theback of expectations whilethere has been little change inground realities,” said Vinod

Nair, Head of Research atGeojit Financial Services.

All sectoral indices endedon a positive note, with BSEcapital goods index surging5.11 per cent, followed by auto,industrials, finance, realty,bankex and metal.

Broader BSE mid-cap andsmall-cap indices rallied up to1.42 per cent. Global equitiesremained buoyant on eco-nomic recovery hopes, with US’Dow Jones closing above the25,000-level for the first timesince March.

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New Delhi: The Governmentof India has introducedPradhan Mantri Vaya VandanaYojana (Modified -2020), withmodified rate of pension forcitizens aged 60 years andabove. LIC of India is solelyauthorised to operate thisscheme. Pradhan Mantri VayaVandana Yojana (Modified-2020) is a Non-Linked, Non-Participating, Pension Schemesubsidised by the Govt of India.

This plan will be availablefor sale commencing from26/05/2020 for three financialyears i.e. upto 31st March,2023.

New Delhi: Despite fortnightdelay due to COVID, procure-ment touches 341.56 LMT surpassing last year’s totalby 25,000 tons Procurement ofwheat by the Govt agenciessurpassed last year’s figures of341.31Lakh Metric Tonnes(LMT) to touch 341.56LMT on24.05.2020.

Surmounting all impedi-ments created due to the spreadof Covid-19 virus and thecountry wide lockdown.

Wheat harvesting general-ly starts towards end of Marchand procurement commencesin the first week of April everyyear.

New Delhi: Western Railway istaking all best possible effortsto prevent the spread of Covid19 pandemic.

The real fight againstCorona pandemic is beingensured at various fronts overWestern railway in the form oftransportation of essentialcommodities through parcelspecial & goods trains, carry-ing lakhs of migrant labourers to their native States through shramik specialtrains.

Operation of special trainsfor general passengers, missionfood distribution for free mealsto needy & helpless persons &inhouse preparation of Masks,sanitizers, PPEs etc.

In order to step up pre-ventive measures against thecoronavirus infection, masksand sanitisers are preparedinhouse at all the six divisionsof WR.

These masks and sanitis-ers are used by not just railwayofficials and RPF who areinvolved in the day to dayworking of the freight andpassengers movements

But are also used by thelabourers, who are involved inloading and unloading ofgoods and parcel trains.

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Union Minister NitinGadkari on Thursday said

there is a need to decongest thefinancial capital as the dense-ly populated city is facing “dis-astrous consequences”, refer-ring to mounting coronaviruscases.

Gadkari, the road trans-port minister, also offered toallocate plots for Dharavi’s tan-neries along the upcomingMumbai-Delhi express high-way.In comments that comeamid reports that many includ-ing migrants battling hungerdue to the pandemic, Gadkarialso said that food warehous-es are overflowing and grains

are rotting as well.It can be noted that the

financial capital is the mostaffected in terms of number ofvirus cases, accounting for overa fifth of the overall COVID-19 infections in the country.

At present, there arereports of the medical facilitiesbeing close to being over-whelmed, even as the numberof patients continues risingfast in some localities like theDharavi slum, which alone hasreported over 1,600 cases.“There is a need to decongestMumbai, look at the disastrousconsequences that we are fac-ing. The population is verydense, which leads to a lot ofproblems,” Gadkari said speak-

ing at a webinar organised bythe Maharashtra StateCooperative BankFederation.Gadkari, who han-dles the MSME portfolio aswell, said there are 1.5 lakhpeople in Dharavi who workexclusively in the tanneries orleather trade and offered themspace next to the upcomingMumbai-New DelhiExpressway being executed bythe Central Government.

Stressing that decentrali-sation and decongesting is theneed of the hour, he said theMaharashtra Governmentshould approach the Centre forhaving a leather works clusteralong the expressway withinthe State.

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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Thursday

launched a facility for instantallotment of online PAN onfurnishing of Aadhaar details.

The Budget 2020-21 hadproposed to launch a systemunder which PermanentAccount Number shall beinstantly allotted online on thebasis of Aadhaar without fillingup the detailed applicationform as it sought to further easethe process of PAN allotment.In a statement, the CentralBoard of Direct Taxes (CBDT)said Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Thursday for-mally launched the facility forinstant allotment of PAN (onnear to real time basis).

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Foreign direct investment inIndia grew by 13 per cent to

a record of $49.97 billion in the2019-20 financial year, accord-ing to official data.

The country had receivedFDI of $44.36 billion duringApril-March 2018-19. Sectorswhich attracted maximum for-eign inflows during 2019-20include services ($7.85 bil-lion), computer software andhardware ($7.67 billion), telecommunications ($4.44 bil-lion), trading ($4.57 billion),automobile ($ 2.82 billion),construction ($2 billion), andchemicals ($1 billion), the theDept for Promotion of Industryand Internal Trade datashowed.

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As the country limps back to a senseof normalcy, I spoke with Balbir

Singh Dhillon, Audi India’s boss abouthow he believes the luxury car mar-ket in India will proceed. To start with,over two-thirds of Audi’s workshopsare open as are half of the showroomsthat are following all social distancingnorms. But Dhillon says that there arechallenges, not just social distancing,inside showrooms, but other normssuch as the rule in Chennai that carshowrooms cannot use air-condi-tioners. “There are some unique chal-lenges in some states”, he says.

But what about car sales? Not asingle unit was sold in April. In fact,one mustn’t forget that no cars couldeven undergo routine servicing. AudiIndia, like several other manufactur-ers, found itself in a slightly piquantsituation. “Well, each one of ourworkshops had customer vehiclesundergoing service and repairs. Ourfirst priority is ensuring that those getback to their owners as soon as pos-sible as we restart operations.” At thesame time, Audi India ran a specialservice scheme for ‘Covid Warriors’ toensure that Audi vehicles owned bythose on the frontlines of facing thevirus that originated in Wuhan are ser-viced or repaired on a priority basis.

As for sales, since all Audis, eventhose assembled in India, are madefrom parts shipped from abroad,Dhillon said that customs authoritiesare being slightly cautious and under-standably so. And despite some show-rooms opening up, several states arejust figuring out how to tackle thelockdown now. This, Dhillon believes,will lead to ever increasing levels ofdigitisation in the selling process.“Customers have been digital, but theyinitially researched the cars theywanted to buy and read reviewsonline. An average customer and hisor her family spends around 100 hoursbuying a car. Earlier, maybe a third of

the time was spent online and thenthere were visits to the showroom.Now that will go up to over half,maybe even two-thirds. We areenabling that with things like the Audi‘Virtual Showroom’ as well. Yet, dig-ital will not replace physical, that iswhy I believe the way forward is ‘phy-gital’, where digital showrooms andexperiences will enhance the physicalbuying process.”

But can the market recover fromthe virus-hit first few months of2020? Dhillon reckons, it will betough, as the industry already dealtwith a challenging 2019, where vol-umes fell 15 per cent. “The first quar-ter of the calendar year 2020 saw vol-umes continue to decline”, he admits.But he maintains a positive spin onthings going forward. “I believe thethought process will change, peoplewill start thinking on the lines of‘YOLO’ (You Only Live Once) and willwant to splurge on a luxury vehicle fordriving getaways.” He added that thesupply-side interventions by the gov-ernment, might not have any imme-

diate impact on sales but will have along-term positive effect.

“It would have been nice if thegovernment made some demand-side interventions such as a reductionof GST rates, which are still far toohigh in India. Rates between 43-48 percent coupled with registration chargesranging from 10-20 per cent havemeant that the luxury segment is justone percent of the overall car market.Even a slight reduction in these ratescould have proven to be a booster togrowth, but we must accept this andmove on. We have to continue to dowhat we do best, that is selling emo-tions, dreams and positivity”, Dhillontold this columnist, which is why hecontinues to believe in inculcatingbrand loyalty for Audi early on.

However, the higher charges onluxury cars has proven to be a hin-drance for the government’s ambitious‘Make in India’ project. While 90 percent of the Audis sold in India, suchas the best-selling A3 and A4 sedansand the Q5 SUVs are assembled inIndia, Dhillon admitted that localisa-

tion levels are low. “With more proac-tive policies we could have reached1,00,000 units easily but the system hasto work together for that. Suchnumbers would not only havemeant more manufacturing andlocalisation in India, but alsonewer technologies and productsfor us.”

The lockdown might bewinding down but the econo-my and sales are in tatters,Audi is not going to hold backfrom its previously plannedlaunch schedule for 2020.“Sure, there will be short-termadjustments such as a launchgetting delayed by a month or two,but there are no changes in plans.”And in other markets, as restrictionslift, sales have seen a bounce. In China.for example, the country where all thetroubles began, sales have stabilised tonearly the levels they were beforeeverything went haywire. Dhillonand his colleagues at Audi India arehoping the same will happen here aswell.

Shreyas Talpade’s first role was that of Sita for aschool play. The next year he played Draupadi in

the school version of the Mahabharata. This was, per-haps, the first sign of how versatile actor he would bein later years. From school dramas, street plays tomonologues and mimes — Shreyas wanted to learnand be a part of everything.

“From 1990 till 2005, I did nearly 2,500 shows invarious languanges and of different productions. Mylove for the stage was such that I didn’t want to missa single chance to be under the arc lights. WhateverI am today is because of theatre. It grooms you andbetters your craft like no other medium. Whatever lit-tle appreciation I get in my films today is all becauseof it,” reminisces Talpade.

The actor switched from theatre to television, andlater films. But in the midst of all his other work com-mitments, he was inspired to return to the stage withZee Theatre’s teleplay Typecaste. “I love the format ofa teleplay and that's the reason why I said yes to it. Ithink teleplay is a great experiment where we get ridof the proverbial fourth wall. It’s almost like shoot-ing for a film in an enclosed studio. These formatsare challenging but they need to be explored a lotmore,” says he.

Typecaste is an adaptation of a Marathi play calledPahije Jatiche by the famous playwright VijayTendulkar. The play is set in the 70s when the castesystem was not just prevalent but rigidly enforced inIndia. However, it shows how the context of the story

is relevant even today. Shreyasplays the role of Mahipat

Babruvahan, who becomesthe first from his caste andvillage to complete hismaster’s degree. Mahipat

has a dream of becoming aprofessor and the play show-

cases all he does to achievehis dream including

how he manages hislove interest.

“The script islayered, entertain-ing and has astrong social mes-sage. I have alwaysbelieved you cansay a lot withhumour,” saysShreyas.

The teleplayis available onTata Sky andAirtel Digital TVSpotlight. It also

stars AtulMathur, Aaditi

P o h a n k a rand Utkarsh

Students without seat partners, attend-ing school in shifts while wearingmasks, and carrying sanitisers along

with books, combining online educationwith physical and a focus on keepingsafe… Is this what schools in the recentfuture, whenever they reopen, look like?Since the world is all set to change withnew normal in every industry be it fash-ion, travel or education, the question is —what is the way forward? Educationistsshare that COVID-19 is likely to changethe face of education in the forthcomingyears and it will pave the way for newlearning trends.

Some of the suggestions that havecome forth from educationists include fre-quent health checks, temperature screen-ings, staggered arrivals and limiting visi-tors on campus

But there is also the emotional aspectto be looked after. The bond that childrenmake in school, while being away fromtheir parents, family or any kind of inter-vention, make them understand differentaspects of life while making them emo-tionally strong. So social need is onedomain which every school caters as itplays a very important role in shaping achild’s character, believes Shivani Gupta,a primary teacher of Gems ModernAcademy, Gurgaon. She says, “Multi-sen-sory experiences for a child are a verystrong force. S/he learns best not in a class,but over time with real life experiences. Ifeel the focus still remains the same, justthe strategies have changed because ofwhat is happening in the world. Now thesevalues are being taught using technology.”

Children are being prepared to dealwith the new normal. Short videos, PPTsand online discussions are being conduct-

ed to make them aware of the current sit-uation. Their inputs are asked on topicslike: What do they think can be done tostay safe? How important is it to maintainsocial distancing? Is there any need tochange the way we think? What should bechanged — our thinking or our actions?“Such topics ignite their critical thinkingand give them a chance to introspect theirviews. Once they believe in what they do,it becomes their habit,” Shivani tells us.

Group learning, which was widelyadopted before this pandemic, should nowbe replaced with a more engagingapproach, shares Beas Dev Ralhan, co-founder and CEO of Next Education IndiaPvt Ltd. “Schools should introduce indi-vidual activities and project-based learn-ing so that students can explore their inter-ests and learn at their own pace. Further,to make bonding among students andteachers, online discussions, debates andextempores should be conducted so thatthey can interact, present their views andstay connected. This, in turn, will ensurethat learning and holistic developmentdoesn’t stop no matter what,” says he.

What is a crisis worth if you don’t learnsomething from it? Well, Anju Wal, prin-cipal of Shiv Nadar School, Faridabad,shares that schools are re-imagining theteaching-learning process. At this moment,it is more important to do empatheticteaching than transact lessons online. Shesays, “An expression of love and care is

paramount to the digital learning formatin these unprecedented times. No one inthe education sector was certain how togo about the new norm of teaching digi-tally, but have evolved considerably andbettered the online experience for our chil-dren with regular improvements madethrough feedback, dialogue, and analysis.”

One thing is certain that educationinstitutions have made the most of the sit-uation. With e-learning, schools havelearned not put disproportionate focus onfacts, figures and bookish learning. WhatMeenal Arora, founder-director ofShemford Group of Futuristic Schools,feels is that this chaotic time is teachingus that a curriculum must be grounded instudents’ realities and cultivate empathy,creative and flexible thinking in stu-dents. “Teachers are trying to help childrenthink about their relationship with theworld around them through variousactivities. Parents have important roles toplay and their active participation isindispensable,” says she.

Educational needs of children arechanging at a very high pace. Subjectingthem to mathematical tables, mugging uppoems and memorising the names ofcolours is not going to help anymore. Theyneed to be exposed to ‘experiences’ nomatter how trivial. But with the currentscenario and online education becomingthe trend, this isn’t an option. So how canone focus on learning through real expe-riences in an untouchable world? Shivanifinds the optimistic viewpoint in a nega-tive situation as well. She feels that we canstill do a lot more than what we could dobefore the ‘stay-at-home’ orders. “Earlier,we were getting away from all the pleasuresof life, from family and happiness becauseof our fast-paced lives. Right now, we areactually saving that time and energy, whichcan be used in various other pursuits. Thisuntouchable time has actually brought uscloser to our families and has given timeto focus on the real experiences. As ateacher, I ask my students to connect withtheir grandparents as they can offer end-less stories and a huge amount of patienceto answer all those “why?” questions andhelp their mothers as psychology suggeststhat children learn and imitate behavioursby watching and listening, which meansthey can learn character traits such asresilience, determination and perseverancefrom mother,” shares she.

Anju tells us that even in these lock-down days, when they are digitally con-necting with the children, they are look-ing at the home as the laboratory of learn-ing and the parents as their co-partners inthe journey of teaching and learning. Evenagrees with Shivani and says, “There hasbeen no option but to deepen connectswith our parents and orient them seam-lessly and consistently to own our peda-gogy. We partner with them and usehomegrown resources to bring real-timeexperiences in this learning from home sit-uation.”

The global health crisis has also redi-rected the pedagogical approach towardsdigital learning tools and e-learning plat-

forms that offer learning experiencesclose to real experiences. “Subject learn-ing must be reshaped and amalgamatedwith short videos, DIY activities, audio-visual content and more. Students must beencouraged to explore and browse subject-related queries online, actively participatein discussions with subject experts andattend webinars,” says Ralhan.

Pankaj Kumar Singh, ManagingDirector of the Cambridge Montessoripreschool and day care pvt ltd, has a fewmore ways through which children can beexposed to real experiences. He says,“Design activities that integrate onlineinteractions with physical movement likegoing on a scavenger hunt, group stories,singing or music. Provide children with achoice of activities so that they can beempowered in making decisions over theweek, while ensuring a balance of activi-ties across curriculum learning areas. Forinstance, using a rubric to self-monitorprogress, apply techniques of the flippedclassroom. It’s where children engage inlearning experiences by collecting infor-mation, items, experimenting and thenshare through online format.”

Once the schools reopen, a few pre-cautionary measures will be taken and wecan still be on the path of learning. So howcan the children be taught about social dis-tancing in schools and no-touch culture?Rohan Parikh, director of The Green AcresAcademy, explains that children are nat-urally curious and are always looking toexplore and interact with their environ-ment. “The more practical solutions willbe to create a shift system so we have lesschildren in the building at one time. Keepseparate groups to contain any spread.There will be a huge burden on schoolsto manage and keep to these measures.Teachers will have to look for ways to cre-ate experiences within classrooms that aremeaningful and impart knowledge. Suchcreativity and working with limitedresources have been the way of teachersfor many years. I trust we will find thesolution,” says he.

Undoubtedly, the process has its ownchallenges but “a lot of training sessionsand workshops for everyone — teachers,students and even parents, can help a bit,”shares Meenal. “Using fun interactiveactivities, children can be taught to main-tain social distance. With constant coun-selling, we will be able to achieve a no-touch culture at school. It can be done byinstilling discipline and making childrenunderstand how they have to conductthemselves in the ‘new normal’ world. Thismay impact learning through real lifeexperiences a bit but we must remember— difficult times don’t last forever. This,too, shall pass soon,” she adds.

The future of education is all set tochange. And it’s true that nothing canreplace the physical touch and its impacton one’s memory. But as they say, the onlyconstant in life is change. The ones whodo not want to change will succumb andthe ones who maintain their sanity, staycalm and are willing to adapt this changewill survive this pandemic.

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Now that summers are here,ways to stay hydrated willtake centrestage. Water, for

obvious reasons is the first choice.Apart from that, one can try otherdrinks, salads, more carbs, coconutwater and more to remain hydrat-ed.

Here are some drinks with arefreshing twist.

The Oberoi has come up withGreen Rush by combining spinachleaves, green apple, celery sticks,cucumber and lemon juice. Youneed to blend all the ingredientsuntil smooth, add crushed ice,garnish with a celery stick andserve chilled.

It has several nutritional ben-efits. Cucumber is a great source ofantioxidants and provides hydra-tion to the body. Celery contains aplant compound called apigenin,which is anti inf lammator y,antibacterial, antiviral and anantioxidant. Spinach is a greatsource of iron and vitamin A andgreen apple provides both vitaminsA and C to the body.

Another drink that it has tooffer is Banana Spice Smoothie. Mixbanana, moringa leaves, coconutmilk, ginger, cardamom and cinna-mon. Blend the spinach andcoconut milk until smooth, add thebananas, ginger, cinnamon, andcardamom and blend again. Gingerhelps in reducing inflammation,aids digestion and helps the bodydetoxify naturally. Moringa helps inbalancing digestive system and inimproving eye sight. Banana is highin anti-oxidants and helps in mod-erating blood sugar levels. It is arich source of fibre and helps inweight loss.

Chef Anshu Raj, Caterspointsuggests Watermelon Basil CoconutLimeade to up your health game.Combine ripe watermelon, freshbasil leaf or soaked basil seeds withfresh lime, roasted cumin andcoconut water. Don’t forget the icecubes.

First take the watermelon, washit thoroughly, peel and chop inabout half inches cubes. Now takefresh coconut water and pour inmixer. Then add lime juice, basilleaves or soaked basil seeds and stirwell along with six to eight icecubes. Now add watermelon cubes.For an Indian flavour, you can addroasted cumin seeds which govery well with the mix. If you havea sweet tooth, you can add honeyto your limeade.

He shares another summerfavourite to beat the heat —Watermelon Mojito Cooler. AddSprite or sparkling water, mojito

syrup, lime juice and ice cubes inripe watermelon.

Take watermelon, wash it thor-oughly, peel the skin and cut intohalf inches cubes. Then take amixer, add Sprite or soda, limejuice and mojito syrup. If youdon’t have mojito syrup you canmake it at home with sugar, limejuice and crushed mint leaves.Add that to your cooler. Now addice cubes in a mixer and stir beforeadding watermelon. Pour the mix-ture in a tall glass and garnish withfresh mints .

Apart f rom keeping youhydrated, it helps you to fightheart problems, is good for hair,skin and your digestive system.

Vinayak Gupta, chef and part-ner at Beep, Agra shares animmune booster elixir which keepsone hydrated too. It can be madeby combining wheat grass, apple,carrot, celery stick, lemon, choppedginger, garlic clove (optional) andturmeric. Put all ingredients in ajar, juice them and drink immedi-ately. If you prefer the drink to bechilled, place all ingredients in thefridge for at least half an hourbefore processing

All these refreshing drinks willcertainly leave you wanting formore.

Evolving consumer demandsbased on health needs andchanging lifestyles have

resulted in changes in the foodindustry in recent years. To meetgrowing and changing consumerdemands driven by health andwell-being, the food industry isforced to come up with new,innovative concepts and foodproducts that are driven by the useof new raw materials. These areemerging out of super foods,which gained the attention of theconsumers over the last few years.

The increasing popularity ofsuper foods can be understoodfrom the fact that these raw mate-rials match with diet trends like“organic”, “all-raw”, “free-from”,“vegan”, “gluten free” and anincreasing desire to stay healthy.These new raw materials mightplay a role in meeting the newhealth needs in the backdrop ofCOVID-19 pandemic along withexisting epidemics of obesity, dia-betes, heart disease, auto-immunedisorders and cancers. These meritparticular attention when immunesystems are challenged and thereis rising awareness about theirimportance. The properties thatqualify a food as super are that itshould possess special health ben-efits which go beyond its nutri-tional benefits. While most superfoods are perceived to be exotic,expensive and difficult to find, thisis not really true. Actually they areall around us in legumes (soya,black beans), spices and herbs(turmeric, basil), vegetables (gin-ger, garlic, broccoli, kale, mush-rooms, avocado), fruits (berries,amla, olives), grains (quinoa, mil-lets). Some of the unsung Indiansuper foods are fox nuts(makhana), kokum, morenga, SeaBuckthorn, flax, soursop, basilseeds, and in-fact our entire spicebox.

It is only when a food getsrecommendations by health pro-fessionals based on research orother factors that it acquires a pre-mium status and is then posi-tioned as a super food. As a mat-ter of fact, the concept which wasmeant only to describe foods withhigher polyphenols and anti-oxi-dants has been revoked and hasbecome questionable.

In 2012 USDA has withdrawnthis term and does not supportclaims of super foods. The goal isto eat a variety, include all the foodgroups, in the right amount as apart of a healthy diet. Rising con-sumer awareness about the healthbenefits being offered is leadingthe industry to boost its demand.

Growing health consciousnessamong the consumers and risingnumber of new products are someof the major factors contributingto growth in this industry. Forexample leading multinationalfood companies are servingturmeric ginger laced beverages.Such trends are only expected togrow. Currently global super foodsmarket is dominated by NorthAmerica, with a growth rate of 9per cent followed by Europe andAsia-Pacific region.

Consumption in Asia-Pacificis driven by the growing affluenceof the middle-class population andrising health consciousness amongconsumers coupled with increas-ing acceptance of nutritious prod-ucts. However, the high prices ofsuch products restrain the growthof their demand. High rate ofurbanisation has radically changedthe lifestyle and resultant chang-ing diets of people are expected tohave a positive impact on thisgrowing market.

To cope with increaseddemands and the growing popu-larity of these foods, there is aneed to increase agricultural pro-

duction and productivity withmore environmentally friendlyagricultural practices. Until then,

it is likely that the demand mayexceed the supply and the priceswill go up making them assume a

further premium status on supermarket shelves. With the adoptionof new ground breaking innova-tions, it is possible to add valuein the areas of health, nutrition,consumption, and overall well-being. Organic, bio-dynamic cul-tivation, hydroponics and manymore advancements are some thefuture agricultural practises whichwill not only be good for ourhealth but the entire ecosystem.

The combination of suitableraw materials and inspiring foodtechnologies may guide and shapethe food sector of the future.Meanwhile the best practices thatemerge to enjoy these high valuefoods is to go back in post worldwar times and grow your own veg-etables, herbs and spices. Victorygardens (vegetable, fruit, and herbgardens planted at private resi-dences and public parks) supplied40 percent of fruits and vegetablesat one point in the US after thewar in 1919. Fruits of the war onCOVID could be the little victo-ry gardens with super foods allacross the country and may pavethe way to victory on the virus bybuilding our very own immunity.

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spectators, then probably have3 or 4 venues; there’s still a pos-sibility, we are all optimistic,”said the former spinner, who isalso thechairman ofICC’s CricketCommittee.

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Ending weeks of speculation,Cricket Australia on Thursdayconfirmed that India will make

the trip Down Under starting Octoberthis year for a financially criticalassignment comprising four Tests,ODIs as well as T20 Internationals.

Cricket Australia announced themuch-anticipated resumption of thegame after the Covid-19 pandemicwith a six-month home summerschedule, which will begin with a tourby Zimbabwe for a three-match ODIseries from August 9.

India will tour the country for aT20 series, which will begin onOctober 11 at Brisbane followed bymatches on October 14 (Canberra)and October 17 (Adelaide), the CAposted on its official website.

This is to be followed by the T20World Cup, the likelihood of whichgoing ahead is slim owing to the pan-demic. The CA did not even mentionthe event in its official scheduleunveiled on Thursday.

After the T20s, Virat Kohli’s menwill return for a four-Test series,beginning on December 3 atBrisbane. India are then scheduled toplay a Day/Night Test, as committedby BCCI President Sourav Ganguly,from December 11 to 15 in Adelaide.

The third and fourth Tests will beheld in Melbourne (December 26-30)and Sydney (January 3 to 7).

The ODI series is scheduled tobegin with a match on January 12 inPerth and it will be followed by con-tests on January 15 (Melbourne) and

January 17 (Sydney).“We are working closely with the

BCCI to deliver the eagerly anticipat-ed men’s and women’s tours, and weare looking forward to staging theimportant series against both themen’s and women’s New Zealandsides,” Kevin Roberts, CricketAustralia CEO, said in a statement.

The India women’s team willalso travel to Australia for an ODIseries with matches scheduled inCanberra (January 22), St Kilda(January 25) and Hobart (January 17).

Roberts hinted that if circum-stances dictate, there could be changes

in the schedule which also featuresseries against New Zealand (both menand women), West Indies and a one-off Test against Afghanistan(November 21-25).

“...But we’ll be doing everythingwe can to get as much internationalcricket in as possible this summer. Wewill communicate any changes to theschedule if or when they are required,”he added.

Cricket Australia also said that itwill continue to act in accordancewith public health advice andGovernment protocols to ensure thesafety of the public, players and sup-

port staff.“Australian cricket will survive

and thrive after the coronavirus pan-demic dissipates, just as we have afterworld wars, depressions, recessionsand the many other challenges thathave confronted us over the past 140-plus years,” he added.

AUS SCHEDULE AGAINST INDIAMen’s T20I SeriesFirst T20: October 11, the Gabba,BrisbaneSecond T20: October 14, Manuka

Oval, CanberraThird T20: October 17, AdelaideOvalMen’s Test SeriesFirst Test: December 3-7, the Gabba,BrisbaneSecond Test: December 11-15,Adelaide Oval (day-night)Third Test: December 26-30, MCGFourth Test: January 3-7, SCGMen’s ODI SeriesFirst ODI: January 12, Perth StadiumSecond ODI: January 15, MCGThird ODI: January 17, SCG.

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The much-delayed 36thNational Games, scheduled

for October-November in Goa,was on Thursday postponedindefinitely due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Indian OlympicAssociation (IOA) recentlyasked the Goa Government tohost the National Games asscheduled from October 20 toNovember 4 this year.

However, a spurt in thenumber of novel coronaviruscases has led to a postpone-ment.

“The National Gamesorganising committee hasdecided to postpone NationalGames due to Covid-19 pan-demic,” Goa’s deputy ChiefMinister Manohar (Babu)

Ajgaonkar, who also holds thesports portfolio, was quoted assaying in a statement shared byIOA President Narinder Batra.

“... Committee to holdmeeting in September end anddecide on fixing dates forNational Games. (Goa)Government to take advicefrom Union Sports Ministry,need four months advancenotice to organise games,”Ajgaonkar’s statement added.

The previous edition of theGames was held back in 2015in Kerala.

The upcoming Games, fac-ing uncertainty for long, wasoriginally scheduled forNovember 2018 but was post-poned to April 2019. However,due to the general election, theGovernment of Goa orderedanother cancellation.

With the Games infrastruc-ture nearing completion, thepostponement is set to bring inbig losses to the stateGovernment.

Last month, it had soughtclarification from the IndianOlympic Association over thefate of the Games in the wakeof the pandemic.

And there was hope for theGames to go ahead as sched-uled as the state was marked inthe green zone for quite awhile.

But a sudden spurt hasproved to be decisive.

Goa has so far reported 68confirmed cases for the novelcoronavirus.

There were concerns aboutathletes coming here from otherstates, including the ones badlyaffected by the pandemic.

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England’s white-ball captainEoin Morgan has cast

doubts on the T20 World Cupgoing ahead as per schedule,saying that hosts Australiawould be wary of risking a sec-ond wave of coronavirus out-break in the country.

Australia, who are sched-uled to host the T20 World Cupfrom October 18 to November15, has been largely successfulin containing the contagion bysealing their borders andimposing travel restrictions.“I’d be surprised if it goesahead,” Morgan wasquoted as saying by thePress Association.

“My reasons for thatwould be if you lookat how Australiahas handled thep a n d e m i c ,they’ve shutdown the bor-ders prettyearly, had a lim-ited number ofcases and deathsin comparison tothe rest of theworld,” he added.

Morgan said

going ahead, Australia, whichhas reported just over 7,100positive cases with more than6500 recoveries and 103 deaths,would be weighing theiroptions.

“Their biggest worry mov-ing forward — a small negativeto a huge positive — would bethey almost don’t know whatthe immunity would be like ifthe virus does have an out-break,” he added.

Morgan said that havingteams flying in from across theworld will come with the pos-sibility of a second Covid-19

outbreak in the country.“Having 16 teams

across several venues hasthe potential to expose

something,” Morgan said“It might only be

a handful of casesto be spread, butwhen you look athow quickly itescalates, youweigh up thechance of play-ing a World Cupor postponing it,(which is) prob-ably a biggerpositive,” headded.

����� )*/��*01�

Former India captain and Kings XI Punjabhead coach Anil Kumble is hopeful of the IPL

happening this year and is not averse to the ideaof conducting the cash-rich event withoutspectators due to the Covid-19 threat.

“Yes we are hopeful and optimistic that thereis still a possibility (to hold IPL this year) if wecan cram in the schedule,” Kumble said on StarSports show Cricket Connected.

“If we are going to have a stadium without

�!��� 0A)�A)�

The Premier League seasonis set to restart on June 17,

three months after it was sus-pended due to the coronaviruspandemic, British mediareported on Thursday.

No matches have beenplayed since Leicester’s 4-0 winover Aston Villa on March 9,with Liverpool just two winsaway from securing the title.

Top-flight clubs votedunanimously on Wednesday toreturn to contact training andwere meeting again onThursday to discuss issues suchas the restart date and therebate to broadcasters.

The BBC reported that thefirst two matches would beAston Villa vs Sheffield Unitedand Manchester City vsArsenal. Those matches are thetwo games in hand.

A full fixture list wouldthen be played on the weekendof June 19-21.

���� �� ��� The InternationalCricket Council (ICC) Board onThursday deferred a decision onthe fate of this year’s T20 WorldCup in Australia till June 10 asit continued exploring contin-gency plans amid a raging pan-demic.

The ICC also launched aninquiry into concerns over the“confidentiality” of its function-ing, which the Board felt hasbeen breached in the past fewdays.

“The Board also requestedthe ICC management continuewith their discussions withstakeholders in exploring vari-ous contingency options in lightof the rapidly changing publichealth situation caused by theCovid-19 virus,” the ICC said ina statement after the Board’s tele-conference.

It is learnt that most of thediscussion on the day was per-taining to classified information,including internal e-mails, beingleaked, an issue that outgoingchairman Shashank Manohar aswell as board membersaddressed.

“A number of Board mem-bers had raised their concernsover this issue recently and feltit required immediate attentionto ensure the sanctity and con-fidentiality of Board matters inline with the highest standardsof governance,” the ICC releasestated.

In fact, the ICC’s EthicsOfficer will be probing themedia leaks.

“There was unanimous

agreement to immediately initi-ate an independent investigationled by the ICC’s Ethics Officerand supported by global experts.The Board will be updated onthis by the ICC CEO at its nextmeeting on 10 June 2020,” it fur-ther stated.

It is understood that ICCboard discussed all options withregards to the World Cup butthere was no unanimity onwhether to go ahead with theWorld T20 as per schedule orpostpone it to 2021 or possibly2022, which for many is a prac-tical solution.

With Cricket Australiaannouncing their itinerary onthe day, which included T20matches in October, there arequestions as to why the WorldT20 cannot go ahead in such ascenario.

“If you look at theAustralian itinerary, India’s T20games are scheduled in mid-October before the start ofWorld T20. If you can play T20games in mid-October, why is itnot safe to play World T20,” asource told PTI.

But having a World T20 isnot only a health concern butalso about commercial viability.

If BCCI is unable to organ-ise the IPL in this window, itstands to lose �4000 crore,which certainly would be a bigblow.

Also Star, which is broadcastpartner of both the ICC andBCCI, will also need to be takeninto confidence with regards torejigging of the calender. PNS

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The use of saliva toshine the ball is a “dif-

ficult habit” to get over butIndia’s bowling coachBharath Arun says hewon’t mind an “externalsubstance” at its expense ifit is used across teams.

In the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, ICC CricketCommittee has decided toban the use of saliva as apart of health safety pro-tocol.

A lot of premier play-

ers and coaches now feelthat the use of externalsubstances should be

allowed to shine the ball inorder to maintain a bal-ance between the bat andball.

“As far as use of exter-nal substance is con-cerned, as long as it issame and uniform for allthe teams, why not try it,”Arun said.

“Use of saliva will bea very difficult habit to getover but we will make aconscious effort duringour training and practicesessions to get rid of thishabit,” he added.

������LegendaryEngland all-rounder IanBotham has said hewould have loved toplay against Indiancaptain Virat Kohli,saying he is theright guy to lead theIndian cricket team.

Speaking in anonline chat sessionwith Playwrite Foundation, Botham was quot-ed as saying by The Times of India: “Virat takesthe game to the opposition, he takes a stand forhis players. I would have loved to play againsthim. He is the right guy to take Indian cricketforward.”

Asked about all-rounders in modern daycricket, he said: “All-rounders can’t be manufac-tured, they don’t grow on trees. The workloadis double and it obviously takes a toll on yourbody. Just imagine Kapil… the amount ofbowling he did on those Indian pitches, whichhad very little to offer, that too in the scorchingheat of Chennai and Delhi. I can’t see anyone inthe present generation being able to do that,”Botham said.

Botham also rated Ben Stokes higher thanAndrew Flintoff, saying the 2019 World Cup andAshes hero is like him.

“Ben (Stokes) is better than a mile toFreddy (Flintoff). Ben Stokes is the closest ver-sion of me, he plays like me with his heart onhis sleeve. Flintoff was good but Stokes is justexceptional. He is the best cricketer in the worldnow.” IANS

����� 021A4*�

Pakistan fielding coach GrantBradburn and spin great

Saqlain Mushtaq were onThursday appointed as PCB’sHead of High PerformanceCoaching and Head ofInternational PlayerDevelopment, respectively, aspart of a restructuring of its pre-mier training facility.

Bradburn is presently thefielding coach of the Pakistan’smen’s national team, a role hetook in September 2018 follow-ing a successful coaching stint

with the Scotland national team.He will be responsible for

raising the overall standard ofplayer support personnel acrossall the high performance centresof the country.

Saqlain played interna-tional cricket between 1995and 2004 and will be respon-sible for identifying,developing andpreparing players sothat they can go onto become world-class cricketers.

S a q l a i n ,known for intro-

ducing the Doosra, in his firstfull year (1996) with the Pakistanteam established a record for themost ODI wickets in a calendaryear (65).

He then did even better thefollowing year, setting a mark(69) that still stands.

Saqlain has previouslyworked as a spin bowling

coach with Bangladesh,West Indies and England,apart from serving as a

consultant for PCB,Cricket Australia

and New ZealandCricket.

“It is an honour and a priv-ilege to represent Pakistan...I amdelighted to have been offeredthis exciting opportunity towork on skilful and excitingyoung cricketers and help themgrow in their careers.

“I am confident I will beable to translate all my knowl-edge and experience in theHigh Performance Centre andhelp the PCB raise the bar andset new benchmarks,” saidSaqlain.

The PCB will announceBradburn’s replacement in thenational team in due course.

����� )*/��*01��

The Table Tennis Federationof India (TTFI) will make a

fresh attempt to organise atraining camp at the end of Junebut top players includingSharath Kamal and G Sathiyanare not ready to travel anytimesoon as the situation remains“unsafe”.

After the Governmentallowed sports complexes toopen without spectators earlierthis month, the TTFI had writ-ten to the players to assemble fora camp in the first week of June.

However, none of the topplayers was keen to travel andtheir response will be on simi-lar lines when they receive thefederation’s letter for the secondtime.

“We should be looking at

July if at all. It is still too earlyto travel and things are not set-tling down. The cases continueto rise. Let there be some stabil-ity, until then we can keeptraining the way we have beenat home,” India’s highest-ranked

player at 31, Sharath said.World number 32 G

Sathiyan, who is based inChennai like Sharath, is happytraining in his home city underpersonal coach S Raman.

Asked the need for a train-ing camp at this juncture, TTFIsecretary general M P Singh saidthey are only acting onGovernment’s direction andchecking players’ availabilityfor June end.

“If the players think it isunsafe for June end also, it istheir choice and we respectthat. But we are only acting asper Government’s direction,”Singh said.

The plan is to have 16 play-ers (8 men and 8 women) train-ing under one roof and thevenue options are Delhi,Sonepat and Patiala.

���B� � Julian Nagelsmanslammed 10-man RB Leipzig fordefending like “a school team” inWednesday’s 2-2 draw at hometo Hertha Berlin behind closeddoors which cost them thechance to go second in theBundesliga.

Hertha forward KrzysztofPiatek equalised with a latepenalty to seal the draw and savethe blushes of goalkeeper RuneJarstein who had made a blun-der for Leipzig’s second goal.

However, Nagelsmann wasfurious that Leipzig conceded aweak goal from a corner withonly nine minutes gone whenHertha midfielder MarkoGrujic, on loan from Liverpool,fired home unmarked.

“We started well, but fellbehind because we defend a setpiece like a school team,” fumedNagelsmann.

“We simply did nothing,everyone is standing in position,yet he (Grujic) could finishwith his foot, in the box.

“This is the second time ina row in a home game that weconceded from a set piece,” saidNagelsmann whose team drew1-1 against Freiburg in their lasthome game.

“We have to blame our-selves for this. We’re happy thatwe scored another point, but I’mnot happy at all.”

The result leaves Leipzigthird in the table, two pointsbehind Dortmund. AFP

�!��� 0A)�A)

Roland Garros chiefs insist-ed on Wednesday the

French Open, delayed untilSeptember due to the coron-avirus pandemic, will have fansattending even if they still haveto abide by social distancingrules.

“In the autumn, we willplay Roland Garros with anoptimum spectator capacitywhich allows fans to respectsocial distancing,” Jean-Francois Vilotte, the director-general of the French TennisFederation (FFT), told AFP.

“The aim is that there willbe spectators but we will havethe capacity to organise RolandGarros whatever the optiondecided, including behindclosed doors.”

If fans are to be welcome at

the rescheduled tournament,then tickets would have to goon resale.

“We have set ourselves adeadline (for resale) ... but youwill not know it,” added Vilotte.

“It will be an exceptionaltournament anyway," he said,adding the organisation wasworking on holding a “post-poned tournament” and not a“downgraded” version.

In other words, juniors,singles, doubles and wheel-chair tennis events will still bestaged.

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Western Australia CricketAssociation (WACA) chief

Christina Matthews has lashed out atCricket Australia for choosingBrisbane over Perth as one of thevenues for the high-profile Test seriesagainst India in the summer.

Matthews said the newly builtOptus Stadium is better than theGabba in every way. Instead, Perth willbe hosting the low profile one-off Testagainst Afghanistan in November.

“All the metrics associated withcricket over the last two years see ussurpass Brisbane in every area,whether that’s crowds, broadcast rat-ings, even better rainfall at that timeof year, more corporate seats — justso many indicators — and a brandnew stadium,” Matthews was quotedas saying by Fox Sports on Thursday.

“When Australian cricket’s prima-ry objective is fans first, it is astound-ing that the 10,000 members who paymoney to support cricket year afteryear in this state are not afforded thenumber one Test team to tour thisyear.

“The last time (India tour of2014), we were told it was because ourvenue wasn’t good enough and if wesupported a new stadium, this wouldnever happen again. And here we areagain,” Matthews said referring to theold WACA stadium.

India played in Perth when theytoured last year (December 2018) withAustralia winning the second Test by146 runs to level the series.

The reinstatement of the Gabbacomes after support from none otherthan Australia captain Tim Paine.Australia have not lost there in morethan 30 years.

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