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A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the ongoing lockdown by near- ly three more weeks, the Union Home Ministry on Wednesday issued a set of guidelines that virtually opens up the eco- nomic activities from April 20 across the country except in the “hotspots” areas. All banks, postal and insurance and all Government offices will also be start working with full-fledged operations after April 20. The 13-page guidelines allow opening up of industries, agriculture, truck movements of all kind of goods, and offices with strict social distancing norms from April 20 in all areas except those notified as “hotspots” of Covid-19 pan- demic. All those working in these premises will be required to cover their faces with masks or traditional clothes. Railways and civil aviations sector will remain under the purview of the lockdown and enjoy no exemption. No public trans- port, including cycle rickshaws, will be allowed to play on the roads, either. Educational insti- tutes, malls, cinema halls and sale of alcohol, tobacco, gutkha, and spitting on roads will be banned across India till May 3, the last day of the lockdown. In the guidelines issued to the States and Union Territories, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that the States and district admin- istration can add up restrictions subject to the situation on the ground. The circular also directs that all office in charges or CEOs of the companies should ensure the social dis- tancing norms, prevent gath- ering of more than five persons in office areas, ensure shifts and cleaning and sanitising of the premises. The State Governments will announce the notification of the designated hotspots on April 20 and no entry and exit will be allowed in these areas. The essential services will be delivered by the administration at the doorsteps. In the non-hotspot areas, after April 20, all medical facil- ities and allied institutions and medical shops, all agricultural, horticultural, including sales in mandis and movements of trucks for carrying all kind of goods, will be permitted. All banks, postal and insur- ance and all Government offices will be start working with full-fledged operations after April 20. However, the MHA circular said that all offices and industries and pri- vate organisations should ensure social distancing norms, sanitisation and shift-based working especially in IT sector. The office in charges should ensure that there should be no gathering of more than five persons in office premises and sanitization of premises and bathrooms on regular intervals in a day. Continued on Page 2 A s the country entered into the second phase of the 21- day lockdown on Wednesday with around 12,000 positive Covid-19 cases and 392 deaths, the Government has identified around 377 districts where it plans to intensify its virus con- tainment strategy even as around 400 districts across the States remained green zones where coronavirus has not stepped in so far. The identification of zones based on Covid-19 footprint comes amid Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan’s observation that the “next 2-3 weeks are going to be the most crucial in handling the Covid-19 pandemic particu- larly in India.” Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary Health Ministry, said at a Press briefing here that with a view to manage Covid- 19, every district has been divided into “Hotspot”, “Non- Hotspot districts with report- ed cases”, and “Green zone districts”. The criteria for segregation are based on reporting of more numbers of cases and speed of growth of cases. There has been steadily increase in cases with 1,118 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, taking the coron- avirus tally to 11,933. 1,343 people have recovered and 392 persons have succumbed to the dreaded virus. One person has migrated to another country. The large outbreak con- tainment strategies and cluster containment strategies have been planned in the designat- ed hotspots and non hotspots. These containment strategies describe how to delineate the containment zone and buffer zone. Continued on Page 2 T he speed with which the Covid-19 is sweeping across the world is seen from the fact that the deadly pathogen took 70 days to grip 1 million people and just 12 days to reach the 2-million count on Wednesday. This, despite the fact that most affected nations, includ- ing India, are in a state of com- plete lockdown as WHO cau- tions patience before lifting social distancing restrictions. Experts believe the true fig- ure of positive cases is much higher, with many people never tested because their symptoms are mild or because of a short- age of medical supplies. Continued on Page 2 A day after thousands of restive migrant workers gathered in front of the Bandra Railway Station demanding that they be allowed to return to their native places, the Mumbai Police on Wednesday arrested a social worker for his social media posts and booked a television journalist for his “incorrect” news leading to huge crowds in front the rail- way station on Tuesday evening. On a day when the inves- tigations by the police and cyber wing of the city police threw up new facts that sug- gested the incident might have been sparked by the alleged irresponsible acts by a social worker and journalist, the Bandra police arrested Vinay Dubey, a social activist from Airoli in Navi Mumbai and brought him to Mumbai. “He (Dubey) has been remanded to police custody till 21 April,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Abhishek Trimukhe said. Having taken serious cog- nisance of the crowds gathered suddenly in front of the Bandra Railway Station on Tuesday evening, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had ordered a thorough probe into the incident. In all, the Bandra police have filed three FIRs in con- nection with the incident. Continued on Page 2 C oronavirus cases in Delhi increased to 1,578 with death toll climbing to 32, said authorities on Wednesday. The Capital recorded 17 positive cases and two deaths in the past 24 hours. One more area, G, H and I blocks of Police Colony in Model Town, has been identi- fied as containment zone by the Delhi Government. With this the total number of contain- ment zones in the national Capital has reached 56. According to Delhi health bul- letin, no patient was reported under special operations and foreign travel history however seven cases were recorded with contact history. Forty patients have been discharged and one migrated. After a positive coron- avirus case is found in an area, that particular geographical location is sealed and is announced as the containment zone to contain the spread of the virus. To check virus spread, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said earlier, “We have pre- pared a 5-point plan after talk- ing to experts on how to con- trol coronavirus and to make sure Delhi is ready to fight corona — this is the 5T plan.” T he Delhi Government has partnered with “CallDoc” app to launch 24x7 free online medical consultation services in the national Capital to help patients connect with doctors remotely through the mobile application for their non-emer- gency medical needs. Through this, the Delhi Health Department said the patients can easily consult with the general physicians as well as specialists from home at any time convenient to them. Announcing this collabo- ration, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that more than 100 doctors are offering their services for free to provide hassle-free consultations to patients. Detailed report on P2 T he Delhi Police on Wednesday booked Tablighi Jamaat chief Maulana Saad Kandhalvi and others under culpable homicide — not amounting to murder for holding religious gathering at Nizamuddin Markaz last month flouting social distanc- ing norms— after attendees dies of Covid-19. Sources said the Delhi Police Crime Branch will decide whether to arrest Saad after recording his statement. Earlier, in an audio message, Saad had said he was in self- quarantine after several hun- dreds who visited the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamudddin Markaz tested positive for coronavirus. Continued on Page 2 U S President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced halting America’s funding of the World Health Organization while a review is being con- ducted to assess its role in “severely mismanaging and covering up” the spread of the deadly coronavirus. The Trump administra- tion has accused WHO of tak- ing side with China in the coro- navirus outbreak that has brought America’s economy to a standstill. While China and EU coun- tries have slammed the US President’s decision, UN chief Antonio Guterres said it “not the time” to reduce resources for the WHO as it is fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. Covid, which originated from Wuhan in China’s Hubei province in November, has so far killed over 1,19,000 people globally, including more than 25,000 in the US. “Today I am instructing my administration to halt fund- ing of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization’s role in severely mismanaging and cov- ering up the spread of the coronavirus. Everybody knows what has gone on there,” Trump said at his daily White House news conference on Covid. Continued on Page 2 A mid the gloom of a massive economic slowdown trig- gered by the coronavirus out- break, India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday predicted that southwest monsoon would be normal at 100 per cent of the long period average this year. The IMD also came out with new reference dates for ‘onset’ and ‘withdrawal’ of monsoon across the country. The date for the onset of mon- soon in Kerala remains the same — June 1. The date for Chennai will be June 4, Panjim June 7, Hyderabad June 8, Pune 10, Satara 10, Vizag 11, Mumbai 11, Cuttack 12, Puri 13, Surat 19, Nagpur 15, Kolkata 11, Jamshedpur 14, Bhopal 15, Gaya 16, Sonepat 30 and Jammu 30. The monsoon will reach the national Capital on June 27. “We will have a normal monsoon this year. Quantitatively the monsoon rainfall during the monsoon season 2020 is expected to be 100 of its long period average with an error of +5 or -5 per cent due to model error,” said Madhavan Rajeevan Nair, Secretary with the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES). He said the weather department has revised the onset and with- drawal dates of the monsoon from this year. Rajeevan, who along with IMD Director, General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, released the first stage long- range monsoon forecast, said both El Nino and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), the ocean warm- ing phenomena that influence the quantum of rainfall that India gets during the southwest monsoon, are neutral this year. Continued on Page 2 F aced with an economy bat- tered by the coronavirus outbreak and resultant lock- down, the Modi Government has decided to focus on start- ing the wheels of the rural economy to provide livelihood support to millions of daily wagers, farm labours, and migrant workers. The Union Home Ministry’s latest guidelines allowed farming operations and farm workers in the field from April 20. To provide an impetus to the rural economy, the Government has allowed construction of roads, irriga- tion projects, buildings and industrial projects in rural areas; works under MNRE- GA, with priority to irrigation and water conservation works; and operation of rural Common Service Centres. The guidelines allowed agencies engaged in procure- ment of agri-products, includ- ing MSP operations, permis- sion to function during the extended lockdown period. The guidelines give operation permission to mandis operat- ed by the Agriculture Produce Market Committee or as noti- fied by the State Government as well as direct marketing operations by the States or industry directly from farmers or Farmer Producers Organisations. The Government asked State Governments to promote decentralised marketing and procurement of farm com- modities at village level. As har- vesting of rabi crops like wheat is underway, the Government has allowed inter and intra- State movement of harvesting and sowing related machines like combined harvester and other agriculture and horti- culture implements. Continued on Page 2 Noida: A residential society and a housing sector in Noida were on Wednesday removed from the list of coronavirus hotspots in Gautam Buddh Nagar, while seven more places were added to the list. Ahmedabad: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has decided to run the state adminis- tration without meeting anyone for next one week after a Congress MLA whom he met on Tuesday tested positive for coronavirus. Rupani’s health is fine and he will run the state and he will run the state administration through tech- nological facilities. New Delhi: The Union Government’s mobile app Aarogya Setu, developed for tracking coro- navirus patients, has become the world’s fastest app to reach 5 crore downloads in just 13 days, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said on Wednesday. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015
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Page 1: 6T` RTeZgZeZVd e` cVdf^V `_ 2acZ] #! - Daily Pioneer

����� ��������

Aday after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi extended

the ongoing lockdown by near-ly three more weeks, the UnionHome Ministry on Wednesdayissued a set of guidelines thatvirtually opens up the eco-nomic activities from April 20across the country except in the“hotspots” areas. All banks,postal and insurance and allGovernment offices will also bestart working with full-fledgedoperations after April 20.

The 13-page guidelinesallow opening up of industries,agriculture, truck movementsof all kind of goods, and officeswith strict social distancingnorms from April 20 in all areasexcept those notified as“hotspots” of Covid-19 pan-

demic.All those working in these

premises will be required tocover their faces with masks ortraditional clothes. Railwaysand civil aviations sector willremain under the purview ofthe lockdown and enjoy noexemption. No public trans-port, including cycle rickshaws,will be allowed to play on theroads, either. Educational insti-tutes, malls, cinema halls andsale of alcohol, tobacco, gutkha,and spitting on roads will bebanned across India till May 3,the last day of the lockdown.

In the guidelines issued tothe States and UnionTerritories, the Ministry ofHome Affairs (MHA) said thatthe States and district admin-istration can add up restrictionssubject to the situation on the

ground. The circular alsodirects that all office in chargesor CEOs of the companiesshould ensure the social dis-tancing norms, prevent gath-ering of more than five personsin office areas, ensure shifts andcleaning and sanitising of thepremises.

The State Governmentswill announce the notificationof the designated hotspots onApril 20 and no entry and exitwill be allowed in these areas.The essential services will bedelivered by the administrationat the doorsteps.

In the non-hotspot areas,after April 20, all medical facil-ities and allied institutions andmedical shops, all agricultural,horticultural, including sales inmandis and movements oftrucks for carrying all kind ofgoods, will be permitted.

All banks, postal and insur-ance and all Governmentoffices will be start workingwith full-fledged operationsafter April 20. However, theMHA circular said that alloffices and industries and pri-vate organisations shouldensure social distancing norms,sanitisation and shift-basedworking especially in IT sector.The office in charges shouldensure that there should be nogathering of more than fivepersons in office premises andsanitization of premises andbathrooms on regular intervalsin a day.

Continued on Page 2

����� ���������

As the country entered intothe second phase of the 21-

day lockdown on Wednesdaywith around 12,000 positiveCovid-19 cases and 392 deaths,the Government has identifiedaround 377 districts where itplans to intensify its virus con-tainment strategy even asaround 400 districts across theStates remained green zoneswhere coronavirus has notstepped in so far.

The identification of zonesbased on Covid-19 footprintcomes amid Union HealthMinister Dr Harsh Vardhan’sobservation that the “next 2-3weeks are going to be the mostcrucial in handling the Covid-19 pandemic particu-larly in India.”

Lav Agarwal, JointSecretary Health Ministry, saidat a Press briefing here thatwith a view to manage Covid-19, every district has beendivided into “Hotspot”, “Non-Hotspot districts with report-ed cases”, and “Green zonedistricts”.

The criteria for segregationare based on reporting of more

numbers of cases and speed ofgrowth of cases.

There has been steadilyincrease in cases with 1,118new cases reported in the last24 hours, taking the coron-avirus tally to 11,933. 1,343people have recovered and 392persons have succumbed to thedreaded virus. One person hasmigrated to another country.

The large outbreak con-tainment strategies and clustercontainment strategies havebeen planned in the designat-ed hotspots and non hotspots.These containment strategiesdescribe how to delineate thecontainment zone and bufferzone.

Continued on Page 2

����� ���������

The speed with which theCovid-19 is sweeping

across the world is seen fromthe fact that the deadlypathogen took 70 days to grip1 million people and just 12days to reach the 2-millioncount on Wednesday.

This, despite the fact thatmost affected nations, includ-ing India, are in a state of com-plete lockdown as WHO cau-tions patience before liftingsocial distancing restrictions.

Experts believe the true fig-ure of positive cases is muchhigher, with many people nevertested because their symptomsare mild or because of a short-age of medical supplies.

Continued on Page 2

������������ ��

Aday after thousands ofrestive migrant workers

gathered in front of the BandraRailway Station demandingthat they be allowed to returnto their native places, theMumbai Police on Wednesdayarrested a social worker for hissocial media posts and bookeda television journalist for his“incorrect” news leading tohuge crowds in front the rail-way station on Tuesdayevening.

On a day when the inves-tigations by the police andcyber wing of the city policethrew up new facts that sug-gested the incident might havebeen sparked by the allegedirresponsible acts by a socialworker and journalist, theBandra police arrested VinayDubey, a social activist fromAiroli in Navi Mumbai andbrought him to Mumbai.

“He (Dubey) has beenremanded to police custody till21 April,” DeputyCommissioner of PoliceAbhishek Trimukhe said.

Having taken serious cog-nisance of the crowds gatheredsuddenly in front of the BandraRailway Station on Tuesdayevening, Maharashtra ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackerayhad ordered a thorough probeinto the incident.

In all, the Bandra policehave filed three FIRs in con-nection with the incident.

Continued on Page 2

������� ���� ��� ���������

Coronavirus cases in Delhiincreased to 1,578 with

death toll climbing to 32, saidauthorities on Wednesday. TheCapital recorded 17 positivecases and two deaths in the past24 hours.

One more area, G, H andI blocks of Police Colony inModel Town, has been identi-fied as containment zone by theDelhi Government. With thisthe total number of contain-ment zones in the nationalCapital has reached 56.According to Delhi health bul-letin, no patient was reportedunder special operations andforeign travel history howeverseven cases were recorded withcontact history.

Forty patients have beendischarged and one migrated.

After a positive coron-avirus case is found in an area,that particular geographicallocation is sealed and isannounced as the containmentzone to contain the spread ofthe virus.

To check virus spread,Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalhad said earlier, “We have pre-pared a 5-point plan after talk-

ing to experts on how to con-trol coronavirus and to makesure Delhi is ready to fightcorona — this is the 5T plan.”

������� ���� ��� ���������

The Delhi Government haspartnered with “CallDoc”

app to launch 24x7 free onlinemedical consultation servicesin the national Capital to helppatients connect with doctorsremotely through the mobileapplication for their non-emer-gency medical needs.

Through this, the DelhiHealth Department said thepatients can easily consult withthe general physicians as wellas specialists from home at anytime convenient to them.

Announcing this collabo-ration, Delhi Health MinisterSatyendar Jain said that morethan 100 doctors are offeringtheir services for free to providehassle-free consultations topatients.

Detailed report on P2

������� ���� ��� ���������

The Delhi Police onWednesday booked

Tablighi Jamaat chief MaulanaSaad Kandhalvi and othersunder culpable homicide —not amounting to murder forholding religious gathering atNizamuddin Markaz lastmonth flouting social distanc-ing norms— after attendeesdies of Covid-19.

Sources said the DelhiPolice Crime Branch willdecide whether to arrest Saadafter recording his statement.Earlier, in an audio message,Saad had said he was in self-quarantine after several hun-dreds who visited the TablighiJamaat congregation atNizamudddin Markaz testedpositive for coronavirus.

Continued on Page 2

����� � �������

US President Donald Trumpon Tuesday announced

halting America’s funding ofthe World Health Organizationwhile a review is being con-ducted to assess its role in“severely mismanaging andcovering up” the spread of thedeadly coronavirus.

The Trump administra-tion has accused WHO of tak-ing side with China in the coro-navirus outbreak that hasbrought America’s economy toa standstill.

While China and EU coun-tries have slammed the USPresident’s decision, UN chiefAntonio Guterres said it “notthe time” to reduce resourcesfor the WHO as it is fightingthe Covid-19 pandemic.

Covid, which originatedfrom Wuhan in China’s Hubeiprovince in November, has so

far killed over 1,19,000 peopleglobally, including more than25,000 in the US.

“Today I am instructingmy administration to halt fund-ing of the World HealthOrganization while a review isconducted to assess the WorldHealth Organization’s role inseverely mismanaging and cov-ering up the spread of thecoronavirus. Everybody knowswhat has gone on there,” Trumpsaid at his daily White Housenews conference on Covid.

Continued on Page 2

��� ��������� ��������

Amid the gloom of a massiveeconomic slowdown trig-

gered by the coronavirus out-break, India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) onWednesday predicted thatsouthwest monsoon would benormal at 100 per cent of thelong period average this year.

The IMD also came outwith new reference dates for‘onset’ and ‘withdrawal’ ofmonsoon across the country.The date for the onset of mon-soon in Kerala remains thesame — June 1. The date forChennai will be June 4, PanjimJune 7, Hyderabad June 8,Pune 10, Satara 10, Vizag 11,Mumbai 11, Cuttack 12, Puri13, Surat 19, Nagpur 15,Kolkata 11, Jamshedpur 14,Bhopal 15, Gaya 16, Sonepat 30and Jammu 30. The monsoonwill reach the national Capitalon June 27.

“We will have a normalmonsoon this year.Quantitatively the monsoonrainfall during the monsoonseason 2020 is expected to be100 of its long period averagewith an error of +5 or -5 percent due to model error,” said

Madhavan Rajeevan Nair,Secretary with the Ministry ofEarth Sciences (MoES). Hesaid the weather departmenthas revised the onset and with-drawal dates of the monsoonfrom this year.

Rajeevan, who along withIMD Director, GeneralMrutyunjay Mohapatra,released the first stage long-range monsoon forecast, saidboth El Nino and Indian OceanDipole (IOD), the ocean warm-ing phenomena that influencethe quantum of rainfall thatIndia gets during the southwestmonsoon, are neutral this year.

Continued on Page 2

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Faced with an economy bat-tered by the coronavirus

outbreak and resultant lock-down, the Modi Governmenthas decided to focus on start-ing the wheels of the ruraleconomy to provide livelihoodsupport to millions of dailywagers, farm labours, andmigrant workers.

The Union HomeMinistry’s latest guidelinesallowed farming operationsand farm workers in the fieldfrom April 20. To provide animpetus to the rural economy,the Government has allowedconstruction of roads, irriga-tion projects, buildings andindustrial projects in ruralareas; works under MNRE-GA, with priority to irrigationand water conservation works;and operation of ruralCommon Service Centres.

The guidelines allowedagencies engaged in procure-ment of agri-products, includ-ing MSP operations, permis-sion to function during theextended lockdown period.The guidelines give operationpermission to mandis operat-ed by the Agriculture ProduceMarket Committee or as noti-fied by the State Governmentas well as direct marketingoperations by the States orindustry directly from farmersor Farmer Producers

Organisations.The Government asked

State Governments to promotedecentralised marketing andprocurement of farm com-modities at village level. As har-vesting of rabi crops like wheatis underway, the Governmenthas allowed inter and intra-State movement of harvestingand sowing related machineslike combined harvester andother agriculture and horti-culture implements.

Continued on Page 2

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Noida: A residential societyand a housing sector in Noidawere on Wednesday removedfrom the list of coronavirushotspots in Gautam BuddhNagar, while seven more placeswere added to the list.

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Ahmedabad: Gujarat Chief Minister VijayRupani has decided to run the state adminis-tration without meeting anyone for next oneweek after a Congress MLA whom he met onTuesday tested positive for coronavirus. Rupani’shealth is fine and he will run the state and hewill run the state administration through tech-nological facilities.

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New Delhi: The Union Government’s mobileapp Aarogya Setu, developed for tracking coro-navirus patients, has become the world’s fastestapp to reach 5 crore downloads in just 13 days,Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said onWednesday.

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In order to meet growingdemand for personal pro-

tective equipment (PPE), theIndian Railways on Wednesdaysaid that it plans to supply30,000 PPE to medical profes-sionals by April-end and1,00,000 till May, 2020.

The prototype coverallshave already cleared the pre-scribed tests with the highestgrades at the authorised‘Defence Research andDevelopment Organisation’(DRDO) laboratory at Gwalior,the ministry said in a statement.

“Doctors, medical profes-sionals, other health workersand care-givers of the IndianRailways are working tireless-ly to fight the Covid-19 disease.All these personnel are direct-ly exposed to the Covid-19 dis-ease when working amongst

infected patients. As a first lineof defence against contractingthe novel coronavirus, theyneed to be provided with a spe-cial kind of impervious cover-all that acts as a barrier to thevirus as well as other diseasecarrying fluids,” it said.

In order to fill the gap inavailability and requirements

of PPEs, Jagadhari workshop ofNorthern Railway had takenthe initiative to design andmanufacture a prototype PPEcoverall, it said, adding that theprototype coverall was testedby ‘Defence ResearchDevelopment EstablishmentLaboratory’ of DRDO atGwalior, authorised for con-

ducting such tests.“Since each such coverall

can only be used once they arerequired in very large num-bers. As the incidence ofCovid-19 disease increases,even though in a relatively con-trolled manner, the require-ment of PPE coveralls is alsomultiplying,” it said.

Taking this initiative for-ward, Indian Railways has beenable to procure and distributeto its workshops and otherunits sufficient raw material formanufacturing more than30,000 PPE coveralls in the cur-rent month (April 2020).

The Ministry said that ithas set the target of manufac-turing another 1,00,000 PPEcoveralls in the month of May,2020, and sourcing of appro-priate raw material has beenstarted.

“All this has been donedespite there being a major

global shortage of appropriateraw material as well asmachinery for manufacturingPPE coveralls. Behind thisendeavour is the time-testedcapability of Indian Railway’sworkshops and productionunits of manufacturing andmaintaining some of the safestrailway rolling stock in theworld,” it said.

The same capabilities,expertise, protocols and pro-cedures usually followed fordesign, manufacturing and useof rolling stock, have beenutilised for enabling field unitsand workshops to start manu-facturing high quality PPEcoveralls so rapidly, it said.

It is worthwhile to note thatthe same dedication has alreadyseen Indian Railways convert-ing more than 5000 of its pas-senger coaches into mobilequarantine and isolation facil-ities in a very short period.

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The Indian Railways (IR) hasearned �7.54 crore by trans-

porting 20,400 tonnes essentialitems during the 21-day lock-down.

A senior Railway Ministryofficial said that transportationof essential items like medicalsupplies, medical equipment,food, etc in small parcel sizes isgoing to be very important dur-ing the lockdown in the wake ofCovid-19. In order to fill in thisvital need, Indian Railways hasmade railway parcel vans avail-able for quick mass transporta-tion by e-commerce entitiesand other customers includingState Governments, he said..

"Then railways decided torun time-tabled special parceltrains to ensure uninterruptedand seamless supply chain ofgoods and essential commodi-ties like dairy products, medical

equipments and medicines onseveral routes during the nation-wide lockdown. It has alsooffered its unhindered servicesof parcel trains for nationwidetransportation of essential com-modities and other goodsrequired to meet the needs of cit-izens of the nation.

“Zonal railways are regularlyidentifying and notifying routesfor these parcel special trains.Presently these trains are beingoperated on sixty-five routes.These routes have been identi-fied as regular connectivitybetween major cities of thecountry, viz Delhi, Mumbai,Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluruand Hyderabad,” a senior officialsaid.

“Connectivity from state-capitals/important cities to allparts of the state, ensuring con-nectivity to the North-easternpart of the country, supply ofmilk and dairy products from

surplus regions (Gujarat, AP) tohigh demand regions and upplyof other essential items (agri-cultural inputs, medicines, med-ical equipment, etc) from pro-ducing regions to other parts ofthe country,” he added.

The Indian Railways onTuesday announced that all pas-senger train services includingpremium, mail, express, pas-senger, and suburban trains willremain cancelled till May 3 incontinuation of the measurestaken in the wake of COVID-19lockdown. However, in order toensure the essential supplies invarious parts of the country,movement of goods and parceltrains will continue.

The ministry said that nobooking of any type of tickets,including e-tickets shall be donetill further advice. However,facility of online cancellation willremain functional for ticketbookings.

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South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has start-ed tele-counselling service in order to combat the psy-

chological problems of citizens due to the nationwidelockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus outbreak.

A senior SDMC official said that the civic body hasextended a helping hand to the citizens who are dis-tressed amid the coronavirus outbreak. “There weresome reports of mental and behavioural issues due tothe 21-day lockdown. The move is taken consideringit in mind; People can call on these numbers for con-sultation,” he said,

“Citizens can contact the control room toll freehelpline number 1800115676 between 9 am to 5pm toget counseling,” he added.

The official further said that the SDMC’s doctorswill address the problems of the citizens through tele-phonic counselling and will provide psychological assis-tance to people facing anxiety and stress-related prob-lems.

“People will be educated and sensitised about theimportance of mental health and informed the relax-ation techniques and methods. The civic body willensure mental health and well-being of the citizens inthis hard time,” he said.

Delhi: A Delhi courtWednesday sent a student ofJamia Millia Islamia, arrestedfor allegedly hatching a con-spiracy to incite communalriots in North-east Delhi, tojudicial custody for 14 days,said his lawyer.

Metropolitan MagistrateRohit Guliya sent MeeranHaider (35), PhD student andthe president of RJD youthwing's Delhi unit, to judicialcustody after the expiry of hispolice remand in the case relat-ed to the communal violence innortheast Delhi in Februaryover the Citizenship(Amendment) Act, his advo-cate Akram Khan said.

The court had earlier senthim to the custody for ninedays after the police said it wasneeded to unearth a largerconspiracy in the case.

Rajya Sabha MP and RJDleader Manoj Jha had tweeted,"Delhi Police called him forinvestigation and then received

orders from above and arrest-ed Meeran Haider, who hasbeen helping people during thetime of coronavirus outbreak."

The Jamia CoordinationCommittee (JCC), a groupcomprising students and alum-ni from the varsity, had con-demned the arrest anddemanded his immediaterelease.

"The country is facing amassive health crisis, however,the state machinery is busyharassing and framing studentactivists in false cases to sup-press voices of dissent," theysaid. The JCC said Haider wasdiligently working to provideration to the needy during thelockdown.

Communal clashes hadbroken out in northeast Delhion February 24 after violencebetween the Citizenship lawsupporters and protesters spi-ralled out of control leaving atleast 53 people dead andaround 200 injured. PTI

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The Delhi Police on Wednesday reg-istered over 200 cases and detained

3,473 people in Delhi for violating gov-ernment orders during the coronaviruslockdown.

According to the data shared by thepolice, 244 cases were registered undersection 188 (for disobedience to orderduly promulgated by public servant) ofthe Indian Penal Code till 5pm.

A total of 3,473 people have beendetained under section 65 (personsbound to comply with reasonable direc-tions of police officers) and 382 vehicleshave been impounded under section 66of the Delhi Police Act, they stated.

A total of 801 movement passes havebeen issued, police said.

Total 79 cases were registered againstpeople for stepping out of their houseswithout wearing masks.

Since March 24, a total of 84,030people have been detained so far for vio-lating order under section 65 of the DelhiPolice Act.

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For the people of Delhi,appointment and consulta-

tion with doctors is just a clickaway during the ongoing lock-down period as the DelhiGovernment on Wednesdayjoined hands with ‘CallDoc’app developers offering freeonline medical consultation toreduce the spread of Covid -19.

With 100 plus doctors onboard, the app Calldoc has beendesigned for 24X7 free onlinemedical consultation services inDelhi to help patients connect-ing doctors via simple click fortheir non - emergency medicalneeds.

Through this, patients caneasily consult with GeneralPhysicians as well as Specialistsfrom home at any time conve-

nient to them. This will save thetrouble of physical travel for reg-ular OPD visits, especially tosenior citizens. 100+ doctorsfrom Delhi are offering theirservices for free via this App.

CallDoc is a cloud-basedplatform created by OncallMedicare Pvt. Ltd. to provide cit-izens with better and fasterhealthcare at any time and placeof their convenience.

Health Minister SatyendarJain said, “Delhi government isglad to collaborate with CallDocapp to bring 24x7 online med-ical consultations for free to thepeople of Delhi. This will savethe trouble of physical travel forregular OPD visits, especially tosenior citizens. We are proud ofthe 100+ doctors from Delhiwho are offering their servicesfor free via this App.”

The outbreak of Covid-19has put lot of pressure on thehealthcare infrastructure of allstates, including Delhi. Delhigovernment is working roundthe clock to ensure that all citi-zens medical needs are sup-ported. It is likely that the out-break of this virus has made itdifficult for people to visit hos-pitals and doctors, on non-emergency medical issues. TheCallDoc app will help people insuch situations, while at thesame time reducing the chancesof transmission at hospitals andclinics.

CallDoc is a cloud-basedplatform created by OncallMedicare Pvt. Ltd. to provide cit-izens with better and fasterhealthcare at any time and placeof their convenience.

The user is able to connect

to Doctor on Video /Audio/Chatand get the consultation onphone by using this mobile app.It saves time that is spent in thewaiting room and allowspatients to consult leading doc-tors and avail instant treatmentfor non-emergency conditions.

Through the App, patientscan upload their test reports forDoctor’s review and Doctors canupload prescriptions after con-sultation. “

Over 100 doctors have beenonboarded by DelhiGovernment on the CallDocapp who will provide free andhassle-free consultations to anypatient.

“These comprise of doctorsaffiliated to Delhi MedicalCouncil, as well as doctors fromDelhi government’s UniversityCollege of Medical Sciences

(UCMS) and Maulana AzadMedical College (MAMC),”Delhi government said.

Arun Dagar, Founder andChief Executive CallDoc appsaid, “That at these times whenthe world has been swept awayby the pandemic, it becomes oursolemn duty to make sure thatwe as a community can over-come the obstacles by joininghands and forging partnerships.We at Oncall Medicare areextremely pleased with collabo-ration with the Government ofNCT, Delhi, and that we are ableto serve those in need in thismanner. Our services , alongwith the well laid network of theGovernment of NCT, Delhi willbe able to deliver affirmative out-comes and provide relief to thepeople at large and all the stake-holders.”

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������������������ �������������From Page 1

Apart from Agriculture, MGNREGA works, construction of roads, infrastructure, irrigation,and fisheries are also be started after April 20 across the country except in the hotspot areas. Howeverno public transport is allowed till the May 3, last date of lockdown. No rail, air, metro, bus, taxis,auto rickshaws even cycle rickshaws will be allowed across the country. Only trucks carrying allsort of goods with a driver and a helper is allowed. Truck repairing and dhabhas on highwaysare allowed with strict social distancing norms.

Common Service Centres (CSCs) approved by the Government at gram panchayat level areallowed to work after April 20. Private security services and facilities management services willensure the security and maintenance of office complexes. Hotels, homestays, lodges and motelswhich are accommodating tourists stranded due to lockdown are also allowed. Services by elec-tricians, IT repairs, plumbers, motor mechanics and carpenters are enlisted as allowed to oper-ate after April 20 in the MHA’s circular.

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From Page 1The El Nino is linked to

deficient rain, while a positiveIOD brings in more rain tothe Indian landmass.However, he said, some mod-els suggest La Nina conditionsleads to better rains duringthe latest part of the mon-soon.

The IMD defines average,or normal, rainfall as between96 per cent and 104 per centof a 50-year average of 88 cen-timetres for the entire four-month season beginning June.

Though the IMD’s firststage monsoon forecast wouldbe able to give only a broadpicture, it is considered

important for farmers to planin advance the kind of cropthey should select for culti-vation and arrange seeds andrelevant farm inputs such asfertilisers and pesticides.

Farmers will get the moreaccurate picture from theIMD’s second stage forecastfor monsoon either in lastweek of May or in first weekof June when the nationalweather forecaster would beable to predict spatial distri-bution of rainfall over the vastgeographical areas of India.

The country has had arollicking pre-monsoon sea-son till date (March 1 toApril 14) with a surplus rain-fall of 16 per cent, thoughthere are a few pockets ofdef icits . These includeLakshadweep (-45 per cent);Tamil Nadu and Puducherry(-44 per cent); Saurashtra &Kutch (-70 per cent); and afew North-Eastern States.

From Page 1A First Information Report

(FIR) was registered against thecleric on March 31 at CrimeBranch police station on acomplaint of the Station HouseOfficer of Nizamuddin. Hewas earlier booked for holdingthe event, police said.

“After several attendees ofthe Tablighi Jamaat event suc-cumbed to coronavirus, policeadded section 304 (culpablehomicide not amounting tomurder) of the Indian PenalCode (IPC) in the FIR againstthe leader,” said a police official.

“Some foreigners whoattended the event have alsobeen booked for violation ofvisa norms,” he said.

The police said “look outnotice” has been issued against1,900 foreign Tabhlighi Jamaatattendees who had attended thecongregation at Nizamuddin inMarch.

The FIR registered againstthe Tablighi Jamaat event saidthe Delhi Police contacted theauthorities of NizamuddinMarkaz on March 21 andreminded them of theGovernment order which pro-hibited any political or religiousgathering of more than 50people. “Despite repeated

efforts, the event organisersfailed to inform the healthdepartment or any otherGovernment agency about thehuge gathering inside theMarkaz and deliberately dis-obeyed the Governmentorders,” the FIR stated.

“The sub district magis-trate of Defence Colonyinspected the premises sever-al times and found that around1,300 people, including foreignnationals, were residing therewithout maintaining social dis-tance. It was also found thatthere were no arrangements ofhand sanitisers and face masks,”the FIR said.

The Nizamudddin centreturned out to be a hotspot forspread of coronavirus not onlyin the national capital, but theentire country.

More than 25,500 Tablighimembers and their contactshave been quarantined in thecountry after the Centre andthe State Governments con-ducted a mega operation toidentify them.

At least 9,000 people par-ticipated in the religious con-gregation in Nizamuddin.Later, many of the attendeestravelled to various parts of thecountry.

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From Page 1Dubey has been booked under sections 143

(Whoever is a member of an unlawful assem-bly), 147 (punishment for rioting), 149 (everymember of unlawful assembly guilty of offencecommitted in prosecution of common object),188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated bypublic servant) and 186 (obstructing public ser-vant in discharge of public functions) of theIndian Penal Code (IPC). Besides, Section 3 ofthe Epidemic Diseases Act has also beeninvoked against them.

Simultaneously, the Bandra police registeredan FIR against Rahul Kulkarni, a correspondentwith a Marathi news channel in Osmanabad, forallegedly reporting “incorrect” news that trainswould restart. The news report on ABP Majhais said to have been based on a letter written bya South Central Railway official on April 13 ona proposal for Jansadharan special trains.

In a video message which went viral onsocial media prior to April 14, Dubey slams thePrime Minister for the unplanned manner in

which the latter enforced lockdown in the coun-try which landed migrant workers based inMaharashtra in deep trouble. He says he hadorganised 40 buses to take back these people totheir native place, written to the Chief Ministersof various north-Indian and other States that hebe permitted to take back the migrants theirnative places free of cost and that had not gotany permission for the same.

Continuing, Dubey appealed to the RailwayMinistry and the Prime Minister requestingthem to organise special trains with unreservedcompartments in two to three days fromMumbai, Nashik and Pune to take back migrantsto their native States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,Jharkhand and Western Bengal. “On theirarrival in their States, it is okay if they are quar-antined for 14 days before allowing to go theirhome,” he said.

Dubey said that if the buses are permittedto move out of Maharashtra and trains were notrun by the Railways after the lockdown lastingtill April 14, he would lead all the migrants totheir respective States by foot by April 20, comewhat may and he would feed them en route.During the course of his message, he gives his mobile number and asks people tocall him and give him the number of people thatwould accompany him and he also says he wouldprovide all the information to the StateGovernment.

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From Page 1As of Wednesday morning

there have been at least2,004,670 cases of the diseaseworldwide, while at least130,680 people have died aftercatching the virus.

Worldwide coronaviruscases reached one million andthe global death toll surpassed50,000 on April 2.

The United States has thelargest outbreak in the worldwith more than 600,000 con-firmed cases and nearly 30,000deaths. Local and state officialsin the US have acknowledgedthat the true number of Covid-19 cases in the country is like-ly far higher than those thathave been confirmed due totesting shortages and restric-tions.

According to WHO fig-ures, there were around153,000 cases a month ago onMarch 15, but the figure hadrisen to 751,000 by March 31.

The global tally passed onemillion on April 2, and has nowdoubled again in the space oftwo weeks.

The world knew almostnothing about the virus inDecember, when reports of anew coronavirus started tosurface in Wuhan, China.

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From Page 1That apart, the Government

has allowed shops of agriculturemachinery, its spare parts includ-ing its supply chain and repairsto remain open. For smooth sup-ply of farm inputs during theongoing sowing of kharif crops,the Government has permittedmanufacturing, distribution andretail of fertilisers, pesticidesand seeds.

To ensure the fishery sectordoes not suffer during the lock-down, movement of fish and fishproducts, fish seed and feed aswell as workers engaged in theseactivities are allowed. Marine andinland fishing operations as wellas the aquaculture industryincluding feeding, maintenance,harvesting, processing, packag-ing, cold chain, sale and mar-keting -- are allowed to operate.

Hatcheries, feed plants andcommercial aquaria are alsoallowed.

To ensure smooth supply ofmilk to consumers and protectfarmers, the Government hasallowed collection, processing,distribution and sale of milk andmilk products. Milk processingplants are allowed to operate

including transport and supplychain. Poultry farms and hatch-eries as well as livestock farmingactivity are also permitted dur-ing the lockdown. For smoothsupply of animal feed to the live-stock sector, the Government haspermitted feed plants to operateincluding supply of raw materi-al such as maize and soya.

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From Page 1American taxpayers pro-

vide between USD400 millionand USD500 million per yearto the WHO, in contrast, Chinacontributes roughly USD40million a year and even less, hesaid.

“As the organization’s lead-ing sponsor, the United Stateshas a duty to insist on fullaccountability, one of the mostdangerous and costly decisionsfrom the WHO was its disas-trous decision to oppose trav-el restrictions from China andother nations,” Trump alleged.

“They were very muchopposed to what we did, for-tunately, I was not convincedand suspended travel fromChina saving untold numbersof lives...Thousands and thou-sands of people would havedied,” he said.

The world, he asserted,depends on the WHO to workwith countries to ensure that

accurate information aboutinternational health threats isshared in a timely manner.“The WHO failed in this basicduty and must be held account-able,” he said.

The president alleged thatWHO failed to investigatecredible reports from sources inWuhan that conflicted direct-ly with the Chinese govern-ment’s official accounts. Therewas credible information tosuspect human-to-humantransmission in December2019, which should havespurred the WHO to investi-gate and investigate immedi-ately, he observed.

“Through middle ofJanuary it parroted and publiclyendorsed the idea that therewas not human-to-humantransmission happening despitereports and clear evidence tothe contrary,” he said.

According to Trump, thedelays the WHO experiencedin declaring a public healthemergency cost valuable time.“More time was lost in thedelay it took to get a team ofinternational experts and toexamine the outbreak...,” headded.

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From Page 1In these containment

zones, except for essential ser-vices, the rest of the movementand activities will be restricted,said Agarwal.

Cases will be actively mon-itored and surveyed by specialteams in the containment zoneas per sampling criteria. Inthese zones, the samples will becollected and tested. In addi-tion to this, testing for any casesof ILI (influenza like illness)and SARI (severe acute respi-ratory illness) with proper ori-entation of all health facilitieswill be undertaken for thebuffer zones.

Special teams are to be setup to trace all contacts as wellas conduct house to housesurveys. These teams willinclude the health staff, localrevenue staff, corporation staff,Red Cross, NSS, NYK and

other volunteers.Segregating areas into three

zones, the Union HealthMinistry said, “Containmentoperation would be deemedover when there is no casereported in 28 days from anarea after the last case tests neg-ative. Hotspots (designated redzones) will be assumed to beundertaking effective contain-ment activities, if no case isreported in the next 14 days(designated orange zones) andwill be deemed successful incontainment, if no case isreported for 28 days (desig-nated green zones).

Districts have also beentold to classify hospitals asCovid Care Centres for mildcases or very mild cases, CovidHealth Centres for clinicalmoderate cases requiring oxy-gen support, and CovidDedicated Hospitals for severeand critical cases with ventila-tor support. “The districtswhich have not reported anycases yet, have also been direct-ed to work on cluster contain-ment plans. In order to breakthe chain of transmission, focusneeds to be on contact tracing,

monitoring and clinical man-agement. States have beenasked to uniformly implementthe containment plan in everydistrict across the country,”said Agarwal.

Of the total cases, 2,687have been reported fromMaharashtra, followed by Delhi(1,561), Tamil Nadu (1,204),Rajasthan (1,005), MadhyaPradesh (987), Uttar Pradesh(735), Gujarat (695), Telangana(647), Andhra Pradesh (503)and Kerala (387).

The Union Territory ofJ&K has reported 278 cases,West Bengal (213), Karnataka(277), Haryana (199), Punjab(186), Bihar (70), Odisha (60),Uttarakhand (37), Chhattisgarh(33), Himachal Pradesh (33),Jharkhand (27), Chandigarh(21), Ladakh (17), Andamanand Nicobar Islands (11), Goa(7) and Puducherry (7).

In the northeast, Assamhas reported the most numberof cases at 33, while Meghalayahas reported 7 cases. There aretwo cases each in Manipurand Tripura, while Mizoram,Nagaland and ArunachalPradesh have one case each.

Page 3: 6T` RTeZgZeZVd e` cVdf^V `_ 2acZ] #! - Daily Pioneer

RAIPUR | THURSDAY | APRIL 16, 2020chhattisgarh 03

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Leader of Opposition andsenior BJP leader Dharamlal

Kaushik, in a letter drew theattention of chief ministerBhupesh Baghel about hisgovernment’s failure to procurepaddy from farmers asannounced in the assembly.

In the letter, Kaushik said asper the announcement madeduring in House, the state gov-ernment had decided to procurepaddy at the minimum supportprice from farmers of the stateand issued them token to selltheir produce.

But until now, thegovernment has failed to procure

paddy from farmers at theminimum support price, the BJPleader said.

Blaming state officials,Kaushik said the announcementtill date has not beenimplemented.

Pointing out problems beingfaced by farmers, the BJP leadersaid, he has been receiving callsfrom farmers to intervene as theywere facing economic crisesduring the lockdown, which hasnow been extended until May 3.

Letter urges the chiefminister to intervene in thematter and direct the officials toprocure the paddy from farmerswho have been issued token untilFebruary 19.

LoP slams Baghel forgovt’s failure toprocure paddy at MSP

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel on Wednesday

said to contain the spread ofthe coronavirus pandemic,the lockdown in the statewill continue, and a deci-sion will be taken based ona review on the prevailingconditions on April 21.

The districts where thecoronavirus pandemic isunder control, lockdownrelaxations protocol will beextended after a review, theCM said.

In his message to thepeople of the state, Baghelsaid now the need is tostrictly implement thelockdown, wear masks,wash hands regularly and

maintain physical distance.“It is testing time for

one and all, but with thecooperation of the people, itcan be controlled, the way ithas been continuing withpeople’s awareness andself-confidence,” he said.

He further said that thestate government has takena pledge that no one in timeof this crises sleeps hungryfor which free ration isbeing distributed inadvance for two months.

New ration cards are

being issued on a war-foot-ing, Baghel said.

The migrant labourerseven from the other statesare being also taken care of,he said.

“They should remainhere, considering the reliefcamps as their home,” theCM said.

Soon testing for Covid-19will start at the Raipurmedical college in additionto the ones at AIIMS,Raipur and Jagdalpur,which will further enhancetesting capacity, he said.

He further said thatnon-government and civilsocieties are doing acommendable job but theyshould work incoordination with thedistrict administration.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Pushing for increasedscreening of Covid-19, the

state health authorities are allset to carry out pool testing.

The health minister TSSinghdeo in a tweet said thatthe department was ready tostart the testing in at least onelab in the state.

“In order to effectively usthe extended lockdown period,I have initiated measurers tostart pool testing, in at least oneof our labs, at the earliest”,Singhdeo tweeted.

Notable, a pool test is done foran area that is lesser prone to thedisease to get a “realistic estima-

tion” of the spread of the disease.The testing increases the

screening capacity to manifoldand helps assessing the spreadof disease well within thedesired time.

Similarly, the health depart-ment also decided to use tuber-culosis testing machine fordetecting coronavirus infection.

Singhdeo, in statement fur-ther said that though it takesthree hours to test for the infec-tion, the available apparatus willenhance the testing capacity.

“The test will be done at theTB hospital, Lalpur and later onwill be extended to all the districthospitals where the testing appa-ratuses are available,” he said.

Four moreCOVID-19patientsdischargedRAIPUR: Four morepeople, who were infect-ed with Covid-19, wereon Wednesday dis-charged from the AIIMS,Raipur, after they fullyrecovered from theinfection, health officialssaid. “Four male patientsof aged 22, 31, 47 and 52years, all residents ofKatghora, were dis-charged after all of theirreports were found to besatisfactory,” communi-cation officer, AIIMS,Raipur, HS Sharma said.Notably, Katghora is cur-rently the hotspot ofCovid-19 infection in thestate. With the positivedevelopment, the num-bers of Covid-19 patientsin Chhattisgarh has beenreduced to 16. OnTuesday, three patientswere discharged fromthe AIIMS, Raipur.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Union cabinet secretaryRajiv Gauba on

Wednesday reviewed indetail the lockdown and themeasures being taken forprevention and control ofCovid-19 infection, in avideo conference with chiefsecretaries, home secretaries,industry secretaries andDGPs of all the states.

Chhattisgarh chiefsecretary RP Mandal,additional chief secretary(home) Subrat Sahoo,principal secretary(commerce and Industry)Manoj Pingua, healthsecretary Niharika BarikSingh and other officialsattended it.

Mandal informed theUnion cabinet secretary thatin Chhattisgarh, 4,933people have been tested forCovid-19, out of which 33were found positive, which isthe lowest number ofCovid-19 positive cases diag-nosed in the entire country.

Twenty-three out of the28 districts in the state haveno patients of Covid-19, he

said.The chief secretary said

that Covid-19 dedicated,well-equipped hospitals orfacilities with a total of 1,700bed-capacities are ready.Besides, adequate numbersof rapid testing kits, personalprotective equipment (PPE)kits and other essentialgoods are available in thestate.

The Union cabinetsecretary gave instructions toexamine and identify workthat can be done whilekeeping physical distance byApril 20.

In rural areas, MNREGAwork, water conservation,road construction,pond-related work amongothers can be done whilekeeping physical distance

and employment can beprovided in the rural areas.

Besides, industries canresume production if theyhave proper food, andaccommodation facilities forthe workers within thepremises of the industrialareas, the Union cabinetsecretary said.

Inter-state transport willnot be resumed as of now,the central official said, andadded that the need for strictimplementing of thelockdown in infectionhotspots is must.

Besides, the stategovernment can decide onagricultural work, ruraldevelopment work andother employment-orientedwork in the rural areasuntil April 20.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Proving to be GoodSamaritans, the nursing

staff at the All India Institute ofMedical Sciences (AIIMS)Raipur, have come forward totake care of two toddlers of awoman, who has tested positivefor COVID-19 and is beingtreated at the hospital.

Official source in AIIMSsaid the children—one, a3-month old and the other, a22-month old—who were withtheir mother, have, however,tested negative for the virus.

Earlier, a maternal uncle ofthe children was called by theAIIMS authorities, but as soonas he reached Raipur, his testreport for the Covid-19, turnedout to be positive, the officialsaid.

Later, the woman’s motherwas called to look after thechildren, but on Wednesday,she too tested positive forCovid-19.

Considering the situation

of the family, the nursing staffat the premier hospital, them-selves have came forward andare now looking after the twotoddlers till further arrange-ment is made.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghelon Wednesday directed the

state water resources departmentto release water from reservoirs tofill village ponds, keeping in viewof coming summer months and toensure that villagers have access towater for their daily use.

With the arrival of summer,the village ponds dry up causingacute water shortages in villages,every year.

The CM has directed the statewater resources department, torelease water for reservoirs in thestate as the temperature is increas-ing every day, and there is a short-age of water in the ponds for dailyuse in many rural areas.

Like every year, the process ofreleasing water from reservoirs toponds should be started

immediately to overcome theproblem in rural areas, he said.

The CM directed thedepartment officials that specialcare should also be taken toensure there is no wastage of waterduring the summer months.

He has asked officials to make

necessary arrangements to fillponds used for irrigation byfollowing all precautions andsafety instructions, includingsocial distancing to prevent thespread of coronavirus, keeping inmind the current circumstancesduring the lockdown.

STAFF REPORTER n BILASPUR

The district authorities inBilaspur have launched a mobile

application for doorstep delivery ofessential commodities andevery-day use goods during theCovid-19 lockdown, a senior civicofficial said on Tuesday.

Bilaspur municipalcommissioner Prabhakar Pandeysaid the service was aimed atensuring that people remain indoorsduring the lockdown, which hasbeen extended until May 3.

'Fatafat - easy home delivery'app, which was launched onMonday, was already receiving agood response in Bilaspur town, hesaid.

The district administration andthe civic body created the app in col-laboration with a software company.

Citizens can download the appon their smartphones and order

groceries, medicines and dairyproducts from shops of their choicein their vicinity, Pandey said, addingthat a ward-wise list of shops will beavailable on the platform.

Shopkeepers will have toarrange for home delivery, but incase they need help, volunteersappointed by the municipalcorporation would be deployed forthe purpose, he said.

Orders can be placed on the appbetween 8 am and 10 am and deliv-eries will be made until 2 pm on thesame day, while orders placed after10 am will be delivered by 12 noonthe next day, the senior official said.

Both cash-on-delivery andonline payment options are availableon the app and no extra charges arelevied for home delivery, he added.

The application will benefitmany during the lockdown,especially senior citizens who livealone, the official said.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

To prevent people fromgetting infected with

COVID-19 amidst thelockdown, free food grains oftwo months is being distrib-uted to all the impoverishedfamilies in the state on theinstructions of chief ministerBhupesh Baghel, an officialrelease here said.

The chief minister hasasked all the collectors of thestate to provide food grains toall the people of the districtson time.

Amid the lockdown, thestate food department is issu-ing new ration cards to theeligible beneficiaries whoseration cards were either not

prepared people whosenames are missing, are alsobeing added, a release said.

A total of 29,683 newration cards have been madein the state since the start ofthe lockdown and the namesof more than 44,394 newmembers have been added tothe re-prepared ration cards,it said.

Officials of the fooddepartment said the stategovernment is distributinglump-sum rice for the monthsof April and May to the rationcard holders of Antyodaya,priority, single destitute,disabled and Annapurnacategories.

Apart from this, rice isalso being distributed to thegeneral category ration card

holders at a discounted rate of?10 per kg. Proper manage-ment of food grains is beingdone by the state governmentwith sensitivity and readinessfor the people of the state aswell as the labourers and thestranded migrant workers inthe state due to the lockdown.

Until now, 8.82 lakhpeople have been providedfood and more than 8.75 lakhpeople have been providedfree ration through thedistrict administration by thefood department during thelockdown.

Food department secre-tary Dr Kamalpreet Singh hasinstructed the districtcollectors that the process ofissuing ration cards should bea continuous process.

Therefore, on receipt ofan application from thebeneficiaries for issuing aration card, it should beissued immediately.

To provide relief to thepeople during the lockdown,3,086 new ration cards wereissued in Raipur district, outof which 2,582 are BPL and504 APL cards.

Names of 4,983 membersof the APL and BPL categorieswere added to the ration cardin Raipur district.

Some 7,418 new rationcards were issued in Durg dis-trict—the highest in thestate—out of which 987 BPLand 6431 APL ration cardswere added, taking the totalnumber of ration cards inDurg to 9,963, the release said.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

State director general ofpolice (DGP) DM Awasthi

on Wednesday instructedsenior police officials to callpolice personnel to the policeheadquarters (PHQ) onlywhen it is absolutelynecessary.

They will continue towork from home until May 3,the DGP said.

In the view of thelockdown being extendeduntil May 3, the DGP hasdirected senior officials toavoid unnecessary callingpolice personnel and otheremployees to the PHQ.

As per the order issued

by DGP, all additionaldirector generals of policeand other senior policeofficials have been asked to

complete important workwith the help of theirpersonal staff.

They have been directedto come to their office only ifit is absolutely necessary.Police officials have beeninstructed to keep theirmobile phone on.

The units in the PHQ,which require mandatorypresence of officials and otheremployees, have beendirected to ensure eitherminimum presence orallocation of duty in shifts.

Those directed to reachthe office, are requested toreach their workplaceavoiding public transport orcrowded places.

The police officials and

other employees have beenrequested to reach their officein personal vehicles.

As a preventive measure,the officials and employeeshave been asked to wearmasks and sanitise theirhands before entering theoffice.

During working hours, allthe employees will have tokeep their face covered withmasks and sanitise theirhands with hand-wash, soapand water or sanitizer.

To check further spreadof the deadly Covid-19, theDGP has directed allsuperintendents of police tosuspend all ongoing trainingprogrammes with immediateeffect.

Lockdown to continue,review on April 21: CM

72-hour complete lockdownin Raipur from today

Raipur collector and districtmagistrate Dr S Bharatidasan onWednesday issued an order for acomplete lockdown in the entiredistrict from April 16 from 5.00pm to April 19 until 5.00 pm,except for the emergency servic-es. During the period, only med-ical shops, milk booths, petrolpumps, LPG gas outlets andonline home delivery serviceswill remain open, the order said.Vegetable, markets and shopswill remain closed, the collectorin the order said. The collectorhas appealed to the people of thedistrict to cooperate during thecomplete lockdown period byremaining inside their homes.

‘Coronavirus: C’garhto start pool testing’

Nursing staff of AIIMSlooks after Covid-19patient’s two toddlers

Union cabinet secretary speaksto state officials on Covid-19

‘Fatafat-easy home delivery'app launched by BMC

CM directs WRD to releasewater for daily use in villages

29,683 new ration cards issued in state Call cops to PHQ only when absolutely necessary: DGP

Page 4: 6T` RTeZgZeZVd e` cVdf^V `_ 2acZ] #! - Daily Pioneer

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Keen to keep its personnel abreastwith all developments regarding

fight against coronavirus pandemicand save themselves, the Army hasasked all serving ranks to install anduse “Aarogya Setu” app of theGovernment for the duration ofCovid-19 situation with due pre-cautions while also advising veteransand their families also to use the App.

Giving this information here onWednesday, Army sources also said“existing cyber security policies onusage of mobile phones to be adheredto by Army personnel while using theApp,” while listing out several pre-cautions. Service personnel areadvised not to use the App in officepremises, operational areas and sen-sitive locations. These directivescome in the backdrop of some ser-vices personnel including the armyand navy falling prey to Pakistanbased spy rings who breached thesmartphones of these personnel andextracted information.

“Personnel are not to discloseservice identity including rank,appointment. Contact list of usershould not contain any reference torank, appointment or service,” theysaid.

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Almost the entire Governmentstaff will be able to work

from their respective offices fromApril 20.

As per the MHA’s consoli-dated guidelines released onWednesday, all deputy secre-taries and above level officers willresume work in their officesafter having been confined towork from home for almost amonth now due to the lockdownimposed to check the spread ofcoronavirus.

Earlier this week, all theUnion Ministers and the jointsecretaries of the CentralGovernment and above levelofficers had joined their respec-tive departments, a day beforePrime Minister Narendra Modiannounced an extended lock-down.

“Remaining officers and staffto attend up to 33 per cent as perrequirement,” the guidelines forthe lockdown issued by the HomeMinistry maintained further.

All the Ministries and depart-ments, and offices under theircontrol are to function with 100per cent attendance of DeputySecretary and levels above that, itsaid.

Besides, defence, centralarmed police forces, health andfamily welfare, disaster manage-ment and early warning agencies,national informatics centre, foodcorporation of India, NCC,Nehru yuva kendras and customsto function without any restric-tions, the guidelines said.

With respect to offices of thestate and union territories, theHome Ministry said districtadministrations and treasury(including field offices of theaccountant general) will functionwith restricted staff.

“However, delivery of publicservices shall be ensured, andnecessary staff will be deployedfor such states,” it said.

All other departments ofstate and UT Governments willwork with restricted staff, itadded.

“Group A and B officers mayattend as required. Group C andlevels below that may attend upto 33 per cent of strength, as perrequirement to ensure social dis-tancing,” the guidelines issued bythe ministry said.

Police, home guards, civildefence, fire and emergency ser-vices, disaster management, pris-ons and municipal services willfunction without any restric-tions, it said.

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Cabinet Secretary RajivGauba on Wednesday inter-

acted with all State ChiefSecretaries and DirectorsGeneral of Police on the smoothimplementation of the revisedlockdown guidelines issued bythe Union Home Ministry.

“Government of India hasasked all States and UnionTerritories to continue imple-menting lockdown restrictionsstrictly for the extended periodtill May 3, 2020 as announcedby Prime Minister NarendraModi as an effort to contain thespread of COVID-19 in thecountry. The Government hasdecided to provide some relax-ations after April 20 in places,where there are no hotspots,said the Government in a state-ment.

Principal Secretary to thePrime Minister PK Mishra,Union Home Secretary AjayKumar Bhalla and UnionHealth Secretary Preeti Sudanwere also present in the videoconference.

The Cabinet Secretaryasked the Chief Secretaries toclosely monitor the situation ona daily basis and also in the noti-fication of hotspots on April 20.Gauba asked the States andUnion Territories to adopt astrategic approach in the con-tainment zones to contain theCovid-19 pandemic within adefined area by making it a nomovement zone, early detectingof cases, breaking the chain oftransmission and thus prevent-ing its spread to new areas, saidthe statement.

He stressed for passing onclear instructions to the Districtand Tehsil authorities to the fieldfunctionaries to ensure theimplementation of lockdownrestrictions on ground andallowing only those activitieswhich are notified by theGovernment under NDMA Acttime to time. Chief Secretariesand DGPs need to convenemeetings with district levelauthorities to strictly follow thelockdown directions in letterand spirit, the Cabinet Secretaryadded.

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The RSS has deployed thehighest number of over one

lakh ‘swayamsewaks’ in Keralafor “serving” those facing dis-tress on account of coronavirus.Over all, the organisation hassent out a total of over 2 lakh ofits workers — of which around2,000 are doctors and medicalstudents — across the country .

According to the Nagpur-based organisation, a total of25,61,391 people who are affect-ed in one way or the other sincethe outbreak of the pandemic

were assisted by 2,04,190 RSSworkers across the country in25,924 places.

The RSS “inspired” doctorsand medical students under thebanner of ‘National MedicosOrganisation’ have been working“in around 110 places in thecountry” including hotspots,said NMO’s National GeneralSecretary, Dr Yogender Malik.He said they are “inspired” by theRSS and willing to be the ‘front-line warrior’ in the crisis.

Malik said 500 Doctors havebeen moved to 18 States in thecountry “ who are running

helpline, arranging PersonalProtection Equipments , facialmask, blood camps , creatingmedical awareness, cleanlinessand other related jobs”. Talkingto Pioneer, he said in totalDoctors and medical students inservice in the places affected bythe pandemic are 2000 and “they are working in coordina-tion with state governments andlocal administration” .

Another doctor Rajiv Mittal,looking after the Delhi `Prant`, said in the national Capital theNMO has put 80 doctors to sup-plement governments efforts to

contain the spread ofCoronavirus.

Beside Doctors and medicalstudents, the RSS ‘Swayemsevaks’are spread over 25 states accord-ing to the RSS zone-wise divisionof the country. The states includeKerala, Tamil Nadu, AndhraPradesh, Telangana, Karnatakain south to Uttar Pradesh,Madhya Pradesh to Jammu andKashmir in the North andMaharashtra and Gujarat in thewest to Bengal, Assam andTripura in East and the North-East.

“ The number of 204, 190

RSS workers is of April 09 andit would swell further by the endof the month,” said Rajiv Tuli, in-charge, Delhi RSS.

Asked whether RSS workerswere also managing the lock-down , Tuli said “Yes, it is withthe consent of the state govern-ments and local administrationsas we have our volunteers in thefield.”

Some eyebrows were raisedrecently over RSS workers’engagements in “assisting’ thethree-week lockdown in thecountry.

The RSS workers are

involved , among other tasks, inproviding face-masks, sanitisersand cleaning of hospitals and iso-lation centres, said RSS leaders.“The workers have also beenasked to create awareness aboutsocial distancing and other pre-ventive measures,” they said.Besides, providing food tomigrant and daily wagers andsupporting low income familieswithout government supplieswith essential groceries areamong the services rendered bythe RSS.

The RSS maintained that itsworkers have also been provid-

ing “food and safety gear” topolice and medical personnel,forming the frontline of the anti-corona battle.

With the onset of the pan-demic, the RSS has cancelledmore than 60,000 of its ‘shakhas’and “moved many of themonline”.

Interestingly, the RSSdeployment is massive in Keralawhere 1,04,500 of its workershave been placed in 6000 places.They have attended to around30,00,00 people in the state tilldate. In comparison, the otherstates including the highest pop-

ulated Uttar Pradesh and themost coronavirus-affected stateof Maharashtra stand nowherenear Kerala in the number ofpresence of ‘Swayemsevaks’.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Brajarea has 8977 workers, Kanpur7827, Avadh region 3273 andPrime Minister Narendra Modi’shome constituency Varanasi has4639 ‘Swayamsevaks’ to pro-vide civic help.

In Maharashtra, the RSShas sent 136 workers in Konkan,290 in Vidharbh, 250 in westMaharashtra and and 588swayemsevaks in Devgiri.

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The Congress on Wednesdaydemanded a thorough

probe into the gathering ofmigrants at Mumbai’s Bandrarailway station saying it was anattempt to disrupt communalharmony and negate the State’sefforts to fight the coronavirusoutbreak. Questioning whyrailway bookings continuedduring the lockdown, theCongress also sought a probeinto the role of the RailwaysMinistry.

While former MaharashtraChief Minister Ashok Chavanalleged that the Congress smelta political conspiracy behindthe campaigns being run onsocial media to imposePresident’s Rule inMaharashtra, alliance partnerNCP’s chief Sharad Pawarurged political parties to desistfrom scoring points over eachother during the ongoing cri-sis and asked them to defeatCovid-19 collectively.

Congress general secretary

Priyanka Gandhi questionedthe role of Railway Ministry inspreading the rumour of run ofthe train and urged theGovernment to probe the “role”of the Railways Ministry.

Addressing a Press confer-ence through a video link,Chavan cited a letter of theSouth Central Railways forstarting special trains to trans-port migrant labourers thatmight have triggered the gath-ering at Bandra.

A large number of migrantworkers gathered at the Bandrarailway station on Tuesday,forcing the police to take sternaction to disperse them.

Chavan said a police probeinto the matter has alreadybeen launched and the guiltywill be brought to book. Takingon the BJP, Chavan said, “Whois patronising the social mediacampaigns to imposePresident’s Rule inMaharashtra? It smells of apolitical conspiracy. This isnot the time to play politics, butwho is running such socialmedia campaigns needs to be

found out.”Pawar termed as unfortu-

nate the gathering of migrantworkers outside the Bandra rail-way station and stressed suchincidents should not recur in theface of the Covid-19 crisis.

He said people gatheredoutside the station after some-body circulated the rumourthat trains services will resume,adding precautions need to betaken to ensure that such con-fusing messages are checked.

“Somebody spread therumour that train services willresume and local people gath-ered there. Unfortunately,social distancing was notobserved,” Pawar said in aFacebook post.

“I would also request polit-ical parties that we may fightpolitically but this is not thetime to score over each other.It is not the time to think whois in power at the Centre andin the state. We should takesteps to defeat the coronavirus,”he said.

For her part, Priyanka alsourged Prime Minister

Narendra Modi to help thestranded workers reach theirvillages. “After all, why doesevery disaster break on thepoor and the workers? Why aredecisions not taken while tak-ing them into consideration.Why are they left on God. Why

was booking of railway ticketsallowed to continue duringthe lockdown?”

She said the workers werethe backbone of the countryand the government shouldhelp them reach their villages.“For God’s sake, Narendra

Modi ji please help them,”Priyanka said.

“Why were special trainsnot arranged? Their money hasfinished and so have theirstock of ration. They are feel-ing insecure and want to gohome in their villages.

Arrangements should havebeen made for them. They canstill be helped with properplanning,” the Congress generalsecretary said in a tweet inHindi.

Congress leader AhmedPatel said the “role” of the rail-

ways ministry must be probedfor the crisis among themigrants. “Why were train ser-vices abruptly stopped leavingmigrants stranded? Why wasrailways accepting bookingsdespite no clarity on lockdownextension,” he asked.

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As part of a CRPF-community collaboration initiative,the paramilitary has launched a pan-India poster chal-

lenge for school students to counter Covid-19 and stay safeamid the lockdown.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the world’sbiggest paramilitary, announced the “COVID PosterChallenge” contest for school students to enhance publicawareness about the pandemic.

The Covid Poster Challenge is open for students inthree categories— Class I-V (Theme: Stay Safe), Class VI-X (Theme: Life during Covid) and Class XI-XII (Theme:India Fights Together).

The poster challenge will have cash prizes �50,000, �40,000 and �25,000 for the first, second and third catego-ry respectively. In addition, there will 10 motivational prizeswith selected participant to get �5,000 and the last date ofentry is April 25.

The posters can be a hand painting/ drawing/ sketchaccompanied by slogan/ message relevant to fight againstCOVID-19. If a poster is selected the copyrights will remainwith CRPF. A student will post the poster with his nameand class. Parents/ School are allowed to post the postersmade by their wards/ students as the wards may not havetwitter account due to age limit. The tweet with the postershould mention and tag @crpfindia. The twitter handlesthat send the winning posters will be contacted later byCRPF for information to disburse the prize money. Originalcopy of the handmade poster may be called by post at alater stage. The winner will have the option to redeem theprize amount by using it on an adventure trip, summercamp, books, electronic gadgets, stationery items, sportsgoods etc. or a combination of these. The decision of thejury will be final. No representation will be entertained atany stage. The winner shall be contracted by nearest CRPFestablishment within 24 hours of the announcement.

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In the backdrop of a spike inceasefire violations by

Pakistan on the Line of Control(LOC) and infiltration bidsinto Kashmir, Army ChiefGeneral MM Naravane willreview the situation on theborder during his one-day visitto the Valley on Thursday. Hisvisit also comes days after fiveelite commandos were killed ina hand-to-hand fight with asmany terrorists in Keran sector.All the terrorists were alsokilled.

The Army Chief ’s visitcomes at a time when on theone hand the entire worldincluding India are fightingthe coronavirus pandemic andon the other, the Pakistan Armyis determined to up the ante onthe LOC as evident from thehike in the number of ceasefireviolations in the last twomonths.

With summer setting inand making it easier for the mil-itants to negotiate the ingressroutes so far blocked by snowcoupled with the fact that thePakistan Army and ISI are des-perate to foment trouble inKashmir, the Army chief will

take stock of the operationalpreparedness of the anti-infil-tration and anti-terrorist grid.

Besides fine-tuning thestrategy to meet the upcomingchallenge in his meetings inSrinagar with the comman-ders of the 15 Corps responsi-ble for fighting terrorism in theKashmir Valley, Naravane isalso likely to visit some posi-tions on the LOC, sources saidhere on Wednesday.

The coming months arecrucial for the security forces asit will be the first summer afterthe abrogation of Article 370giving special status to Jammuand Kashmir last year. Militantswill try to go all out to stoke vio-lence. The Pakistan Army hasalready stepped up the tempoby relentlessly violating cease-fire on the 750-km long LOCand giving covering fire to theultras to sneak into the valley.

Nearly 1,144 ceasefire vio-lations between January andMarch this year have takenplace with the highest numberof violations (411) being record-ed last month. The ongoingmonth of April has seen morethan 60 such violations so far,sources said.

These figures are higher as

compared to last two yearswith 680 violations betweenJanuary-March in 2019 and630 in 2018 for the same peri-od, they added. The overall fig-ure for the entire 2018 and 2019are 1,629 in 2018 and 3,170 lastyear. This year more than1,200 ceasefire violations havealready taken place.

As regards the anti-terror-ist operations, the securityforces have killed 41 terroristsin Jammu and Kashmir thisyear so far compared to 152 ter-rorists in 2019 and 215 in 2018.

On renewed efforts byPakistan backed militants tocome into the valley fromacross the LOC, the Armyrecently carried out precisionstrikes against terrorist launch-pads in the Dudhniyal area inPakistan occupiedKashmir(POK). The operationwas undertaken by the forceafter a series of ceasefire viola-tions and infiltration attemptsby the Pakistan army in theKeran sector.

The action came a few daysafter the five commandos werekilled while battling militantswho had infiltrated into theKeran sector in north Kashmiron April one.

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This is not a good news fortipplers. The Centre on

Wednesday banned the sale ofalcohol and tobacco duringthe next phase of the lockdownto contain the coronavirus out-break. The Centre’s guidelinescame even as states like Kerala,Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra,Uttar Pradesh and Punjab weremulling opening liquor stores,which have a major contribu-tion to the

State economy.Ahead of the extension,

states like Assam had allowedthe sale of alcohol while thoselike Meghalaya had set up aprovision to ensure home deliv-ery of the spirit so that socialdistancing norms are not vio-lated.

After the fresh guidelineson Wednesday, Assam andMeghalaya have withdrew theirorder to open liquor shops.

Kerala had earlier allowedaddicts to buy alcohol if they

produce a doctor’s prescriptionbut the Kerala High Courtstayed the government orderand the Indian MedicalAssociation too had objected toit.

According to a fresh set ofguidelines issued by the unionhome ministry, there should bea strict ban on sale of liquor,gutka and tobacco. The restric-tions for public spaces alsoinclude a ban on spitting inpublic and the organisation ofgatherings. The directives shall

be enforced by the DistrictMagistrate through fines andpenal action under the DisasterManagement Act 2005.

In the first phase of thelockdown, states had refrainedfrom operating liquor stores toensure social distancing normsare followed.

Many are turning to illegalliquor, say customs and policeofficials, who have seen amarked increase in seizures ofhooch, which has in the pastclaimed thousands of lives

among the poor unable toafford branded booze.

According to GoogleTrends, online searches for“how to make alcohol at home”peaked in India during theweek of March 22-28, the sameweek Prime Minister NarendraModi imposed the nationwidelockdown.

The liquor industry con-tributes about Rs 2 lakh crorea year to state governments byway of excise duty and in somestates as value added tax, said

an industry insider. Bulk oftheir tax outgo goes to stategovernments as liquor is astate subject. The liquor indus-try sustains livelihood of near-ly 40 lakh farmers, and employsnearly 20 lakh people directlyand indirectly.The central gov-ernment’s indirect taxation ofthe industry is mostly limitedto customs duty on import ofconcentrate.

“Excise duty on liquor isamong the major revenuestreams to state governmentssimilar to GST on goods andservices and excise duty onpetrol and diesel. Kerala gen-erates highest revenue fromliquor sale every year,” said anofficial of the central excisedepartment. The states thatdepend heavily on liquor fortax revenue are Tamil Nadu,Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh,Punjab and Delhi.

The International Spirits &Wine Association of India(ISWAI), which representsIndia’s largest liquor makers,told the consumer affairs min-istry that the suspension ofalcohol sales is only helping theillegal trade.

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Terming the gathering ofmigrant workers as a very

serious incident, senior BJPleader and former ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavisretorted saying it was theresponsibility of the State toarrange for food and shelterfor the workers.

“It is unfortunate that theCentre is being blamed insuch a situation to escape. Thefight against coronavirus isnot political, please note thisat least now. It is my earnestrequest that we fight this bat-tle seriously,” he said.

Another BJP leader KiritSomaiya slammed the ShivSena-led MVA Governmentfor failing in preventing thegathering.

He described the inci-dent as an intelligence failure.“Will Thackeray Sarkarexplain how thousand peoplegathered at Bandra (West)near Station? What wasIntelligence doing? Fromwhere do these people come?How suddenly do they gath-er there in spite of 144? Sincelockdown never Police allowmore than 4 people allowed,then How & Why today?” hetweeted.

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After its move to grant “outof turn” clearances to bulk

drug projects against the back-drop of surging Covid-19 cases,the Centre has gone a step fur-ther to ramp up the availabili-ty of drugs by making anamendment to EnvironmentImpact Assessment (EIA)Notification 2006.

“All projects or activities inrespect of bulk drugs and inter-

mediates, manufactured foraddressing various ailments,have been re-categorised fromthe existing Category ‘A’ to ‘B2’category. Projects falling underCategory B2 are exempted fromrequirement of collection ofBase line data, EIA Studies andpublic consultation,” theMinistry of Environment,Forest and Climate Changesaid in a statement.

The move is aimed ataddressing the unprecedented

situation arising from globaloutbreak of COVID-19. Withintwo weeks, more than 100 pro-posals have been received underthis category, which are at dif-ferent levels of decision makingby the concerned regulatoryauthorities in the states.

“The re-categorization ofsuch proposals has been doneto facilitate decentralization ofappraisal to State Level so as tofast track the process. This stepis with a view to help in increas-

ing the availability of the impor-tant medicines/ drugs in thecountry within short span oftime. This amendment isapplicable to all proposalsreceived up to 30th September2020. The states have also beenissued advisories to expedi-tiously process such proposals.

“Further, to ensure expedi-tious disposal of the proposalswithin given time-line, Ministryhas also advised states to useinformation technology e.g.

video conference, consideringthe fact that in view of the pre-vailing situation on ground,appraisal of proposals may notbe possible through physicalmeetings, the MoEF stated.

Earlier, the Centre haddecided to expedite clearancesto bulk drug projects by con-sidering them ‘out of turn’ensure overall preparednessand availability of drugs toreduce the impact of the out-break.

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Employing effective clinicalmanagement strategies, the

Government of Tamil Nadu hassucceeded in stabilising thenumber of patients afflictedwith coronavirus in the State,according to Dr C VijayaBaskar, Minister for health.

Speaking to journalistsafter a lengthy meetingpresided over by Chief MinisterEdappadi Palaniswami at FortSaint George, Dr Baskar, him-self a qualified medical doctorsaid that Tamil Nadu hasemerged as the State with themaximum number of testinglaboratories (26) capable oftesting samples from 5,320persons per day.

“Ours is the State with themaximum number of labora-tories in the country,” said theMinister who was accompa-nied by Dr Beela Rajesh, thesecretary of health and family

welfare during the media brief-ing.

Dr Baskar said that 38 per-sons tested positive for coron-avirus on Wednesday and thenumber of patients in the Statestood at 1,242.

He also disclosed that byWednesday 118 persons whowere undergoing treatment invarious hospitals in the State forCovid-19 were discharged.“Two persons succumbed tothe coronavirus on Wednesdaytaking the number of deaths inthe State to 14.

The Minister said that hechose to brief the media to setthe records right in the back-drop of the allegations levelledby M K Stalin, Leader of oppo-sition and president of theDMK. Stalin had said in a state-ment on Tuesday that the Statewas thoroughly unpreparedfor the pandemic

though there were enoughindications about the impend-ing mishap.

Elsewhere in the State, thepolice and health officials heaved a sigh of reliefas the police took into custodythe New Delhi based youthwho had tested positive forcoronavirus and had escapedfrom the general hospital inVillupuramlast week. Theyouth was taken in to custodyby Police from Chengalpettudistrict following intelligenceinput provided by the localinformants.

Dr Baskar in his pressbriefing also disclosed thatthough coronavirus struck theState only after it was reportedin Kerala, Tamil Nadu hadmade elaborate arrangementsto tackle and prevent the con-tagious disease.

The number of patients inthe State shot up only by thelast week of March as a fall outof the arrival of people fromsingle source point (the Delhimeet of Tablighi Jamaat), hesaid.

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Bengaluru: Karnataka registered two Covid-19 deathsand 19 new cases, raising the State's tally to 279, saidan officials, here on Wednesday.

"Patient number 279, a 80-year-old woman, resi-dent of Hirebagewadi, Belagavi, has expired," said ahealth official. The deceased was a contact of 224thcase and is Karnataka's 12th Covid-19 death.

Earlier on Wednesday, a 65-year-old man fromChikkaballapura died of Covid-19. He was the state's11th such death.

From 5 p.m. Tuesday to noon Wednesday, 17 newCovid-19 cases emerged, followed by another two morein the next five hours.

Karnataka's 278th Covid-19 positive case is a 28-year-old woman from Vijayapura, a contact of 221stcase.

Of the 279 cases, 187 are active and being moni-tored in designated hospitals, while 80 patients got dis-charged.

Meanwhile, the health department has ordered allthe districts to consider influenza like illness (ILI) andsevere acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases forCovid-19 screening. IANS

Thiruvananthapuram: A man trav-elling by an autorickshaw inPunalur, about 90 km from the statecapital, to get his aged father backfrom a hospital had to carry him onhis shoulders after the police did notallow the vehicle to pass in the wakeof lockdown called to contain coro-navirus.

The incident picked up by TVchannels showed the police stoppingthe vehicle and the man explaininghis situation.

The police later said the personwas stopped to explain why he wasroaming around in view of restric-tions on movement of people fol-lowing lockdown. "The personcould not show any paper about themedical condition of his father," saidthe police.

The man was later shown car-rying his aged father on his shoul-ders.

The police have promised tolook into the matter. IANS

Moradabad (UP): A team ofhealth workers and police wasattacked in Moradabad onWednesday when they went topick up a coronavirus patientand his family.

The incident in which sev-eral police and health workerswere injured took place inNawabpura area ofMoradabad. The ambulanceand four other vehicles werealso damaged in the stonepelting.

According to reports, aman named Sartaj had beenunwell and was admitted to themedical college in theTirthankar MahavirUniversity.

His samples were sent fortesting on April 9 and thereport that came on April 13found him to be corona posi-tive. Sartaj died the same night.

Some members of his fam-ily were quarantined at theIFTM University.

The health and policeteam, on Wednesday, went totheir house to pick up Sartaj'syounger brother who had beensuffering from fever.

As soon as the teamreached the area, people start-ed coming out of their housesand collecting at the spot.They tried to prevent theremaining family membersfrom being taken for quaran-tine.

The health team tried toexplain to the crowds but thelocal people became aggressiveand started pelting stones.

UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath has taken a strongview of the incident and hasasked district officials to bookthe accused under the NationalSecurity Act. IANS

Gandhinagar: With at least 65 corona positivecases being reported on a daily basis for the pastone week, Gujarat has almost 700 positive casesfrom 23 of its 33 districts. As the testing intensi-fies, more and more positive cases are beingdetected, especially in Ahmedabad, whichaccounts for more than half the State's total.

During the last week, over 430 positive caseswere added in the State --around 250 fromAhmedabad alone in the same period.

State health authorities have found out thatof the total positive cases detected, most were fromMuslim-dominated areas where the TablighiJamaat members had returned from Delhi'sNizamuddin.

The State Government then announced 28hotspots in the State's five major cities where astrict and ruthless lockdown was implemented.

Due to aggressive and intense surveillance andtesting in hotspots of five major cities and else-where, the number of positive cases, starting fromApril 7 jumped from a total of 144 to 378 in just4 days. Most cases in the spike were reported fromAhmedabad, Vadodara and Bhavnagar. Later, thehealth authorities felt that the spike in the num-ber of positive cases had reached a peak and nofurther rise was expected.

"We feel that the number of positive cases inhotspots has reached a saturation point. Fromtomorrow onwards we will be focusing on otherareas of the state, where the virus has not shownits presence," Jayanti Ravi, Gujarat HealthSecretary, had said on April 10.

However, the numbers of positive casesspiked since then. From a total of 378 in the stateon the April 10, after five days, the count went uptouching the 700 mark (695 on Wednesday).Similarly, Ahmedabad saw a climb in positivecases from 197 to 404 on Wednesday. IANS

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Not responding to treat-ment two more persons

lost their lives on Wednesdayin Cuddalore district after theyconsumed methanol, as theliquor shops are closed due toCovid-19 lockdown, saidpolice.

Five persons in Cuddaloredistrict consumed methanolon Monday night and werehospitalised the next day asthey turned critical.

Not responding to treat-ment one person died onTuesday. With two more per-sons dying on Wednesday thedeath toll has gone up to three.

Shillong: A senior doctor inMeghalaya John L. SailoRyntathiang, who tested posi-tive for nCoV two days back,on Wednesday succumbed toCOVID-19 registering the firstcoronavirus death in the hillState, officials said.

Confirming the death ofthe doctor, Meghalaya ChiefMinister Conrad K. Sangmasaid: "I am deeply saddened toinform that the first COVID-19 positive patient inMeghalaya passed away thismorning (Wednesday). Myheartfelt condolences to hisfamily and loved ones. May hissoul rest in peace." IANS

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Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee on Wednesday

announced a partial protocol-basedopening of economic activities evenas the State’s active corona cases wentup to 132 with 17 new infectionsreported in the past one day.

Apart from allowing partial eco-nomic activities the Chief Ministeralso announced that the remainingthree examinations of the State’sHigher Secondary (Class – XII)course will be conducted in themonth of June when the State edu-cational institutions will open as peran earlier announcement.

The Plus-2 board examinationshad to be postponed mid-way fol-lowing the announcement of the firstphase of all India lockdown lastmonth.

The students of the undergrad-uate and post graduate courses in allthe colleges will be promoted to thenext semester save those in therespective final semesters, Banerjeesaid adding the "final smester stu-dents will have to appear for theirexaminations."

“The students of Class XI will bepromoted to Class XII and theremaining papers of the Class XIIhigher secondary examinations willbe held in the month of June,”Banerjee said adding students of allthe classes of undergraduate and postgraduate courses --- “from 1st year,2nd year 3rd year etc” --- will “move

a semester ahead save those who arein the final semester whose exami-nations will be conducted” after thelockdown ends. However, there wasno clarification from the EducationDepartment on whether the collegesemester examinations would beclubbed with other semesters atlater dates or whether the studentswill be promoted to next semesterswithout having to appear for the relevant papers at all like thestudents of Class XI. In the commercial sectorthe Chief Minister announced sig-nificant relaxation of activities basedhowever on protocol and guidelinesoffered by the central government.Among the areas that will start lim-ited functioning are agriculture, teapackaging, irrigation, road andbuilding construction, ware-housingand industries in the rural areas.

The Chief Minister said, “tea-packaging, irrigation, road andbuilding construction will startworking with 25 percent workerstaken at local level,” warning “strict-ly wearing of masks and social dis-tancing will have to be followed.”

Apart from this Banerjee alsosaid that the jute industry will beallowed to function in a limitedcapacity. A labour intensive affair thejute mills will start with 15 percentwork force only the Chief Ministersaid adding the mill owners will haveto take necessary clearances from theChief Secretary for the purpose.

Elsewhere, 46 medical staff

including doctors of Asia’s oldestCalcutta Medical College andCalcutta National Medical Collegewere sent to mandatory quarantinefollowing reports of corona infec-tions in the stated medical colleges,sources said. The medical staff werequarantined following one death andtwo reports of infection, sources said.

Meanwhile even as the StateGovernment ordered wearing ofmasks mandatory making certainareas out of bounds for the “out-siders” Bengal reported 17 newcorona cases in the past 24 hours tak-ing the total number of active casesto 132.

“There were 120 active cases tillApril 14 which went up to 137 asthere were 17 new cases of infectionsreported,” Chief Secretary RajivaSinha said adding “the total numberof active cases now stand at 132 withfive patients being cured and dis-charged.” In total, Bengal had test-ed about 3,470 cases he maintained.Notwithstanding the Government’sclaims opposition BJP charged theruling Trinamool Congress withhiding facts about the real numberof deaths and infections besidesalleging large-scale bungling overdistribution of relief materials.

Senior party leader SayantanBasu said “despite the Government’sclaims we still can see that there is adifference of at least 18 cases …which means the Government is notshowing these cases as corona pos-itive.”

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Mumbai’s Dharavi localitycontinued to be on the

boil on the coronavirus front,as the number of Covid-19deaths rose to seven and fivemore fresh infected casesreported from Asia’s largestslum.

Five fresh coronaviruscases were reported fromDharavi on Wednesday, takingthe total number of infectedcases to 60. In the last threedays, three more fresh deathswere reported in the denselypopulated slum, where thetotal number of deaths hasrisen from four to seven.

All the five fresh infectedcases were reported fromMukundnagar area. Of thenewly infected, three are men– in the age group of 24 yearsto 38 years and two womenaged 39 years and 47 years.

Of the fatalities in Dharavi,two each deaths have beenreported from Dr Baliga Nagarand Kalyanwadi, while onedeath has been reported fromMusilim Nagar, Social Nagarand Nehru Chawl.

Ever since the first fewpositive cases of Covid-19were reported in Dharavi inthe first few days of this month,

there has been anxiety in thecity health machinery whichhas been constantly monitor-ing the situation in thisslum. The health officials’ anx-iety should be seen in thelight of the fact that theyapprehend community spreadof the Coronavirus in thisslum.

Since last week, healthworkers have been conductingdoor-to-door screening of allthe Dharavi residents.Simultaneously, a team of localprivate doctors of Dharavi andcivic medical staff have beenchecking temperature andenquiring the residents abouttheir travel history.

Based on the surveys, localhealth workers, doctors andcivic field workers have beensubmitting periodic reports to

the Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) about thepersons who have shownsymptoms for coronavirus.“We have quarantined all thosewho have shown symptoms ofthe pandemic. We are contin-uing with the exercise of con-tact tracing of high risk con-tacts of new patients, “a BMCofficer said.

In a related development,the city police are continuingto use drones to monitor themovement of people, if any, inthe congested lanes of Dharavi,where the authorities havebeen enforcing a total lock-down.

Spread over 240 hectarearea, Dharavi is locatedbetween Western Railway’sBandra-Matunga and CentralRailway’s Sion-Matunga sta-tions in north-central Mumbai.It is home to over anywherefrom 60,000 to 70,000 families.

Asia’s large slum has sev-eral business units -- rightfrom textiles to pottery to fab-rication to leather industry.Plastic recycling and garbagesegregation too is done here.Mainly a hub of cottage indus-tries, it has an estimated 5,000business entities and 15,000single-room factories.

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With two more doctorstesting positive in

Jammu region on Wednesdayquestion marks have beenraised on the availability ofgood quality personal pro-tection equipment (PPE) andstandard guidelines beingfollowed while handling sus-pected covid-19 cases acrosshealth care centres in Jammu& Kashmir.

The list of positive casesamong doctors has gone upto six in Jammu region only.On the other hand, the totaltally of Covid-19 patients inJammu & Kashmir reached300 as 22 more people testedpositive for coronavirus inthe Union territory onWednesday.

“As many as 22 personshave tested positive today.Out of these, 18 belong toKashmir and four to Jammudivision,” Governmentspokesman Rohit Kansal

tweeted.He said the total number

of cases in Kashmir stood at246 now while Jammu divi-sion had 54 cases so far.

So far, a senior doctor ofthe Microbiology depart-ment, Government MedicalCollege hospital,has recov-ered and discharged from thehospital while his wife andfour others are currently inisolation.

Their contact personshave been quarantined andsome of the samples of closedrelatives have tested negative.

Meanwhile, among thefour fresh cases from Jammu,one of the patient is a closerelative of doctor already dis-charged from the hospitaland another one is a PG stu-dent of GMC Jammu. Hereportedly came in contactwith a Covid-19 positivewoman, from Tikri area ofUdhampur,in GMC and laterdied on April 9. Two doctors

and one of their staff mem-bers from a private hospital,too came in contact with apatient, who was sufferingfrom liver ailment and latertested positive and shifted toGMC.

Health care services werealso suspended in one of theprivate hospitals in Jammu.The routine surgeries havebeen postponed to carry outdecontamination and saniti-sation work on ground zeroand hospital staff has alsobeen quarantined in the hos-pital premises.

In other related develop-ment, a microbiology labo-ratory at SMGS hospital inJammu was burnt complete-ly in a mysterious fire lateTuesday night.

The hospital authoritieshave decided to carry outinvestigations in the GMC,hospital to avoid any incon-venience to patients admittedin the Gynaecology depart-ment.

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Grave violations on day one ofthe second phase of lockdown

in Jammu on Wednesday shiftedthe focus on the Governmentagencies working on ground zeroin containing the spread of coro-navirus across twin cities ofSrinagar and Jammu.

While the administration inJammu came in for sharp criticismfor allowing free movement oflarge number of people ignoringthe threat of spread of coronavirusand on the other hand their coun-terparts in Srinagar were ques-tioned for strictly enforcing thelockdown and not allowing move-ment of essential supplies in areascategorised as Red Zones.

A total number of 90 locali-ties, 76 in Kashmir valley and 14in Jammu region were categorisedas Red Zones to contain thespread of coronavirus.

The debate was first trig-gered on various social media

platforms after images of trafficjam at a busy Bikram chowkcrossing in Jammu went viral.

The local residents, observinglockdown, were surprised to seefree movement of residents andalso raised pertinent questions vis-

a-vis purpose behind extendingthe lockdown till May 3.

Participating in the debate for-mer Chief Minister OmarAbdullah also tweeted, " I’massuming these are current pho-tographs & I have no reason to

believe they aren’t. They begthe question about the sortof lockdown beingenforced. In Srinagar onduty employees of themunicipality are beingthrashed & in Jammu it’s afree for all".

A senior journalist witha private TV Chanel tweet-ed from Srinagar, "Howcome this brazen violationof lockdown is allowed inJammu. This will defeatIndia’s fight against COVID.No one and no place isimmune to coronavirus".

Another netizen fromSrinagar wrote in responseto a tweet from Jammu

highlighting the lockdown viola-tion," Where are they going. Tobuy groceries I guess. Eveningjaunts were preferred here too butnow with many Covid casesreported and strictness on roads,very few come out".

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On a day there was a smalldrop in the number of

deaths but infections contin-ued to be alarming, as many asnine persons succumbed toCovid-19 taking the totalnumber of deaths inMaharashtra to 187 and thenumber of infected cases roseby 232-- from 2684 to 2916 --in the State.

Of the total deaths, Puneaccounted for six deaths, whileMumbai and Akola reportedtwo deaths and one deathrespectively.

With the fresh cases, thetotal number of deaths in theState rose to 187 and inMumbai to 114.

Of the nine deaths report-ed on Wednesday, six were

men and three women. Four ofthe deceased were aged over 60years, while three deceasedwere in the age group 40 to 60years. The two remainingdeceased were below 40 years.Six out of these nine deceased(72%) had high-risk comor-bidities such as diabetes, bloodpressure, asthma, heart dis-ease. Of total 232 infectedcases reported, Mumbaiaccounted for 114, taking thetotal number of cases in themetropolis to 1896.

“Out of 52,000 laboratorysamples, 48198 were negativeand 2684 have been tested pos-

itive for coronavirus untiltoday,” a state medical bulletinsaid.

“A total 5394 surveillancesquads were working todayacross the state and surveil-lance of nearly 20 lakh popu-lation was done,” the bulletinsaid Meanwhile, theBirhanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) has held100 fever clinics from April 5to 14 in which Of the 3929people have screened,1541swabs collected from suspect-ed cases.

Similarly, on the contacttracing front, 857 cases havebeen detected as a result ofcontact tracing.

Meanwhile, as many as33,636 Premises (Govt/semigovt premises, MCGMpremises, Home quarantine

premises, Covid positivepatient premises, otherpremises) have been sanitizedas per GOI guidelines till April14.

“All citizens who are hav-ing diabetes, hypertension ,heart diseases like chronic ill-nesses should be advised tostay strictly at home .Those ontreatment for diabetes andhypertension should continuetheir medications so that theillness will remain under con-trol,” the BMC stated in itsadvisory. “Elderly as well as cit-izens with co-morbidities , ifdevelop even slightest symp-toms like fever, dry cough, sorethroat, mild breathlessnessshould immediately report tonearest MCGM corona healthcentre for treatment,” the advi-sory added.

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Amid the continued lock-down, Chhatrapati Shivaji

Maharaj International Airport(CSMIA), managed by GVK-Mumbai International AirportLtd (MIAL) has -- in an effortto help the stranded foreignersreturn to their home countries-- has evacuated over 3700 pas-sengers with 20 repatriationflights between March 25 andApril 14 2020.

Working in tandem withthe aviation community andthe respective embassies, theCSMIA has facilitated the oper-ation of flights carrying thestranded passengers fromMumbai to London, Atlanta,Frankfurt, Singapore, Paris and

Tokyo amongst other interna-tional destinations.

The CSMIA said that it hadtaken all the precautionarymeasures to ensure passengersafety while boarding andarriving at the airport. “The air-port has put up a stringentscreening process right fromthe time passengers enter theairport to the time they boardtheir flight, and the sameprocess has been implementedfor the arriving passengers aswell,” a CSMIA release said

“Post the Governmentannouncing the lockdown inIndia following the coronavirusoutbreak and suspension ofcommercial passenger flight,the airport has been operatingwith a curtailed staff and work-

ing endlessly to handle cargoflights, charter flights, militaryaircraft and freighter services,”the release said.

According to CSMIA, ithas – in “this unprecedentedtime”-- maintained seamlesscargo operations and has man-aged close to 240 cargo flightsmovements over the lockdownperiod that commenced onMarch 25 2020,

“The cargo operations atCSMIA have recorded thehighest number of exports andimport delivery of cargo in asingle day in India.

“CSMIA has taken all theprecautionary measures to helpand support the country tocome out of these gloomy days,the airport release added.

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As India fights COVID-19,businesses are under pressure.News reports have coveredhow energy companies havereceived force majeure notices

from customers. With lockdown in fullforce, demand for fuel and electricity hassuffered. Gas distributors are invoking theforce majeure clause in their respectiveagreements with marketers like ONGCand GAIL, among others, in turn servingforce majeure notices to their domesticand overseas suppliers. An industryexpert has termed it a “chain reaction.” Itremains to be seen where the buck willstop. There are similar stories of panic anddesperation in almost all sectors, incon-sequential of the strata.

Post the lockdown, there is a likeli-hood of force majeure litigations floodingthe Indian courts. Some of these partiesmay be genuinely affected by the currentsituation while for others, it could be tac-tical litigation as a way out of bad con-tracts/deals. Quite naturally then, forcemajeure has become one of the mostsearched legal terms in times whenCOVID-19 deepens its impact over thebusiness world and uncertainty loomslarge over the performance of contractu-al obligation of parties under variousarrangements.

The logical question to be asked iswhether “force majeure,” a panacea forcontracts, has gone haywire due toCOVID-19 or otherwise? Let’s look atsome of the judgments to analyse how ourcourts have viewed this clause qua the lia-bilities of the contracting parties in thepast. In legal parlance, unplanned,unimagined and unanticipated chal-lenges are populated under the forcemajeure clause in contracts. In someinstances it may be implied if notexpressed. This standard clause is rarelyinvoked but always present. This is a well-recognised legal principle and exempts aparty from performing her/his/their con-tractual obligations or terminate the per-formance of its obligations when certaincircumstances, which are beyond theircontrol, arise, thus making performanceinadvisable, commercially impractica-ble, illegal or impossible. These circum-stances are typically an event or effect,which the parties could not have foreseenor controlled. Therefore, the standard def-inition of force majeure clause is inclusiveof the likes of natural calamities, war orsudden change of Government policies.Over the last few decades, it has come toinclude terms like terrorism and nuclearradio activity, wherever relevant.

Force majeure is a French phrase,which means a “superior force.” This prin-ciple is well-recognised and accepted bythe Indian courts as well. Sections 32 and56 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, are

relevant to understand the scopeof force majeure besides case lawsdeveloped around it. In some ofthe statutes there is direct refer-ence to force majeure circum-stances. Take the example of theReal Estate (Regulation andDevelopment) Act, 2016,(RERA), which provides forextension of registration of theprojects in force majeure situationeven without payment of fee. Inthe present COVID-19 situation,RERA has already given exten-sion to real estate projects thatwere expiring and that, too,without filing of any application,keeping with the spirit of social-distancing.

Similarly, the Mines andMinerals (Development andRegulation) Act has force majeureas a shield to the lessee against thenon-performance of its obliga-tions under the mining licence.However, in certain circum-stances, the force majeure isexpressly rejected. A case inpoint could be DocumentaryCredit, which does not getextended beyond the expiry dateby any force majeure circum-stances.

As regards availing reliefunder the force majeure clause, itmust be noted that it’s a questionof fact and needs to be proved ineach case in order to successful-ly plead it in the court of law. Itis, therefore, important to exam-ine some of the crucial issues atthe outset when an entity/indi-vidual is contemplating legaloptions based on force majeure,both as a strategy as well as theultimate goal.

First, does the COVID-19disruption constitute a forcemajeure event under the contract

in question? This is less likely asthe history of the virus itself is notmore than three months old.Second, will COVID-19 fallunder some other events referredin force majeure clauses in thecontract such as an “act of god,”a “natural disaster,” “epidemic”,“Government regulations” orjust something beyond the con-tractor’s control? This wouldagain be a question of fact thatneeds to be examined on thebasis of the context of the contractand the scope of its perfor-mance. Third, it needs to be eval-uated as to what the given con-tract provides for under the forcemajeure clause. Does it allow forextension of time for the perfor-mance of the contracts? Or is theprovision for extension with orwithout compensation? Onceagain, it needs to be seen if theentity would rather give noticeand seek extension or compen-sation. Does the force majeureclause allow one or both partiesto terminate the contract? Arethere any other terms in the con-tract that could be read orreferred in connection with theliability arising out of non-perfor-mance? Are there mechanismswithin the contract that providerelief to the party? Or does it pro-vide for modification if the con-tract? If the contract is of inter-national nature, it is also advis-able to look at the law thatwould be applicable and thenconsider the factual conspectusin that scenario and how that lawdeals with the force majeure sit-uation.

It is only after a carefulexamination of the contract andexpected outcome that a callshould be taken about invoking

the force majeure clause andengage with the counter party. Itis useful to remember that courtsplace the burden on the partyasserting force majeure defence todemonstrate its existence and thatsuch clauses are construed strict-ly by the courts.

The Supreme Court ofIndia in the case of EnergyWatchdog vs CERC, (2017) 14SCC 80 (Adani power case)dealt at length the claim of theAdanis that the change in theprice of coal in Indonesiaamounted to force majeure andrejected the same after examin-ing the contract document inquestion. The landmark caseson the subject being AlopiPrasad & Satyabrata Ghose, thecourt held that “force majeure”is governed by the Contract Act,1872. “Insofar as it is relatableto an express or implied clausein a contract, such as the PPAsbefore us, it is governed byChapter III dealing with thecontingent contracts and moreparticularly, Section 32 thereof.Insofar as a force majeure eventoccurs dehors the contract, it isdealt with by a rule of positivelaw under Section 56 of theContract Act.”

On another place in thejudgment the findings ofSatyabrata Ghose vs MugneeramBangur & Co is reiterated:“…The performance of an actmay not be literally impossiblebut it may be impracticable anduseless from the point of view ofthe object and purpose of theparties. If an untoward event orchange of circumstance totallyupsets the very foundation uponwhich the parties entered theiragreement, it can be said that the

promisor finds it impossible todo the act which he hadpromised to do.”

It was further held thatwhere the court finds that thecontract itself, either implied orexpressly contains a term, accord-ing to which performance wouldstand discharged under certaincircumstances, the dissolution ofthe contract would take placeunder the terms of the contractitself and such cases would bedealt with under Section 32 of theAct. If, however, frustration is totake place dehors the contract, itwill be governed by Section 56.

Further, the court reliedupon the finding in AlopiParshad & Sons Ltd vs Union ofIndia: “Parties to an executablecontract are often faced, in thecourse of carrying it out, with aturn of events which they did notat all anticipate. For example, awholly abnormal rise or fall inprices which is an unexpectedobstacle to execution. This doesnot in itself get rid of the bargainthey have made. It is only whena consideration of the terms ofthe contract, in the light of the cir-cumstances existing when it wasmade, showed that they neveragreed to be bound in a funda-mentally different situation whichhad unexpectedly emerged, thatthe contract ceases to bind. It wasfurther held that the perfor-mance of a contract is never dis-charged merely because it maybecome onerous to one of theparties.”

Therefore, the facts of a caseas they play out before the courtof law is an interplay of manydimensions and caution isrequired to be exercised whiledealing with situations arising outof COVID-19 pandemic. TheWorld Health Organisation(WHO) declared it as the publichealth crisis on January 30 andon March 11, it revised its standand said it is a “pandemic.” DrTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,WHO director-general, rightlysaid, “This is not just a publichealth crisis, it is a crisis that willtouch every sector, so every sec-tor and every individual must beinvolved in the fights.” This dis-ease was unknown till the end ofthe December 2019 when it wasreported by China to WHO andthe world is grappling with thechallenge it poses. In that sense,COVID-19 is a force majeure ina manner of speaking andunprecedented; still it would beimprudent to conclude that thiswould provide a blanket relief forall contracts and under all situ-ations. The need, therefore, is forcareful planning, strategic think-ing along with an open mind tofind amicable solutions and ahuman heart to respond to thecurrent challenge.

(The writers are partners atTRS Law Offices)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Dear PM, we need more”(April 15). The extension of thenationwide lockdown till May 3is a welcome reprieve. The movecomes amid fears of furtherspread and increasing number ofhotspots across various locations.The lockdown extension willnow be a testing time for healthexperts who are otherwise contin-uously engaged in monitoringCOVID-19 cases consistently.

Further, the Governmentshould make necessary arrange-ments for supply of medicalequipment, including PPE, med-icines and advanced infrastruc-ture, among other things. The cat-astrophe is now an opportunity toramp up healthcare infrastructure.The Government should surgeahead in implementing necessarypolicies to further improve health-care infrastructure, including pro-curement of medical devices,review of import/export of life-saving drugs, upgrading of hospi-tals and improvement of basicinfrastructure at primary health-care facilities.

Varun DambalBengaluru

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Dear PM, we need more”(April 15). In the wake of theescalating number of positive

Coronavirus cases, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s deci-sion to extend the lockdown iswelcome.

For the obliteration of thepandemic COVID-19, it is cru-cial to break the chain of trans-

mission. This can be done effec-tively only when the people arecompletely physically confined totheir homes.

Inarguably, the ongoing lock-down has been severely affectingthe economic conditions of sev-

eral daily wage workers and peas-ants but the rapid surge in themortality rate of the NovelCoronavirus made it quite imper-ative to extend the lockdown.

Although the Governmenthas been taking all obligatorymeasures to provide basic meansof livelihood among the people,it should also ensure that benefitspercolate to the grassroot level.

Tushar AnandPatna

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Sir — How long can we isolateourselves? The need is for theeconomy to be run. Finding a vac-cine for Coronavirus is the onlyway to restore normalcy in a trau-matised world. Clinical trialswith different drugs and medi-cines must be conducted. Side byside, in an age of digitisation anddata analysis, universal sharing ofdata among global medical per-sonnel must be undertaken sothat nations come to learn fromeach other’s experiences.

ShambhaviVia email

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With the number of COVID-19 cases risingglobally, India’s neighbour Nepal is alsogoing through a critical phase in its fight

against the pandemic. A country located next toChina, the nation where the COVID-19 outbreakbegan, its immediate vulnerabilities lie in address-ing the epidemic with an existing poor healthcareinfrastructure and ensuring the safety of its people.The very first case of COVID-19 was reported onJanuary 23 in Nepal. A student who had returnedfrom Wuhan on January 9 was admitted to a hos-pital in Kathmandu. With no expertise and lab infra-structure to examine such cases then, the swab testsof the student were sent to Hong Kong and had con-firmed the Nepal Government’s worst fears.

Loose end: Nepal’s first COVID-19 case hadrecovered in the second week of February. With nonew cases reported until the third week of March,overzealous Government officials went on todeclare Nepal a “COVID-19 free” country. While itwas the time for the Government to deploy extrameasures to prepare for the outbreak, declaring thecountry as “COVID-19 free” without any consul-tation with medical experts was indeed a short-sight-ed and irresponsible step. The Government was veryclear that it did not wish to stop the arrival of touristsin Nepal because 2020 had been declared as atourism year and the Government had spent a lotof time and money in making its ‘Visit Nepal 2020’campaign a household initiative. However, in theend, with the appearance of the Coronavirus, Nepalhad to suspend the campaign officially, eventhough till today it has a total of 16 confirmed casesand no reported deaths. In 2018, tourism had con-tributed more than seven per cent revenue to theNepalese Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which wasexpected to double this year. With the suspensionof tourism for this year, the economy will have tobear the brunt.

Logistic shortage: Compared to its neighboursIndia and China, which have reported a huge num-ber of cases, Nepal has seen just 16 positive casestill now. The country has conducted a total of 6,299tests, with a little over 80 people in isolation. Amidthe ongoing lockdown, Nepal is facing an acuteshortage of trained human resources, requiredhealthcare infrastructure, including speciality hos-pitals, safety gear and testing kits. In several cases,healthcare staff have refused to attend to their dutiesdue to lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).In the present circumstances, testing is key to con-tain and control the spread of the epidemic.However, with just one specialised testing lab forCOVID-19 cases in the capital city for a populationof more than 29 million people, Nepal is wide opento any major surge in the pandemic. While ninemore temporary testing labs have been establishedin the last 15 days, logistical support and their test-ing capacity are yet to be seen. Meanwhile, Nepalhas requested several countries, including India,China, Singapore, South Korea and Israel to supplymedical equipment and medicines needed to com-bat the disease.

Missing preparedness: Over the last twodecades, the Government has not paid any heed toimproving the quality and quantity of healthcarefacilities in the country. Against this backdrop, Nepalhas faced several emergencies such as the presentoutbreak. A decade-long civil war from 1996-2006was followed by a major earthquake in 2015 whichclaimed over 20,000 lives and destroyed 1,500 healthfacilities, creating an immediate need for investing

in the public healthcare system.Meanwhile, no lessons were learnt fromthese two important events and nothingwas done to better the basic healthcareinfrastructure. While conflict and natur-al calamities have both direct and indirecteffects on people’s health and the overallhealth system in the immediate andpost-shock phase, the missing healthcareinfrastructure in Nepal is a matter of majorconcern, particularly in the present crisis.

India extends help: As Nepal awaitsreplies from other countries, India hasbegun to send new consignments ofmedical supplies, including the much-needed hydroxychloroquine sulphate.During an official conversation betweenPrime Minister Modi and his Nepalesecounterpart on April 10, the two PrimeMinisters agreed “to look after the welfareand medical care of the people of the twocountries currently living in each other’sterritory.”

The multi-dimensional friendly rela-tions between India and Nepal are testi-mony to shared socio-cultural and peo-ple-to-people contacts that have stood thetest of time and various disasters. The cre-ation of the South Asian Association forRegional Cooperation (SAARC) COVID-19 Emergency Fund is a collective effortinitiated by Prime Minister NarendraModi to bring SAARC countries onboardto fight COVID-19. Nepal has actively par-ticipated in the initiative and the initiativeshall work as an additional effectivemechanism in Nepal’s fight againstCOVID-19.

China banks on the crisis: China, onthe other hand, is banking on the ongo-ing crisis in Nepal. China’s online supplychain Alibaba along with the local admin-istration of its Sichuan province havedonated PPE and portable shelters toNepal. However, a significant deal to a pri-vate Chinese company to procure equip-ment worth more than $10 million was

cancelled amid criticism. The Governmentof Nepal faced criticism for defying therules in granting the contract to a privatecompany, which has been involved in sup-plying low-quality products in the past.Giving in to public pressure, the Ministryof Health and Population decided to annulthe tender. At this critical juncture, it is theresponsibility of the Government ofNepal to ensure that logistics are procuredwith caution, rather than appease Chinawith multi-million-dollar deals. On April10, the Tibet Autonomous Region alsodonated medical equipment to Nepal andChina and Chinese officials conducted a“handing over ceremony.” With Nepal fac-ing a critical shortage of supplies, Chineseassistance is not free from an attempt towin over public sentiments. Somethingthat India needs to watch out for.

Poor governance: An acute shortageof medical equipment exhibits poor gov-ernance and the inability of theGovernment of Nepal to safeguard theinterests of its citizens who have been acardinal factor in sustaining the economy.Notably, one-fourth of Nepal’s GDPcomes from the remittances sent home bythe Nepalese workforce abroad. Followingthe initial fears of lockdowns in host coun-tries, thousands of Nepalese migrantworkers attempted to travel back to theirhome country. While the closure of inter-national flights stopped millions of work-ers from returning to Nepal from theMiddle-East, Malaysia and Australia,thousands of them are stuck at the Indo-Nepal border.

This is after they undertook long andarduous journeys through land routes tocross the border checkposts. With noquarantine wards and healthcare person-nel deployed at the check-posts, theseworkers have been desperately waiting toget back to their homes.

By stopping the returnees at the bor-der, Nepal might have chosen to contain

the spread of the COVID-19 but it is acruel, irresponsible and inadequate atti-tude towards its citizens. They have beenleft in the open without food, shelter andexposed to Coronavirus contaminationdue to lack of social distancing at sever-al places. It was as late as April 10 thatNepalese Prime Minister KP Oli request-ed his Indian counterpart to look after thewelfare and medical needs of those stuckat the Indo-Nepal border. As India doesits bit to provide food and shelter to thesuffering Nepalese workforce, theGovernment of Nepal should have hadmechanisms in place in advance for itsreturning expatriates. It must have in allhonesty anticipated the return of its peo-ple from the neighbouring nation giventhe long open border. That it chose not todo anything about it and let its people suf-fer knowingly is something that willalways be remembered by the people ofthe little Himalayan nation.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nepal may be low but it is notdue to precautions taken by theGovernment. It is less because of the lowrate of tests being carried out per day. OnApril 11, Nepal recorded the highest num-ber of COVID-19 tests and the same day,three new cases were reported. For all weknow, it might be the next hotspot of theworld. But that will only be revealed oncemore testing is done.

It is time for the Government of Nepalto provide proper healthcare to its peopleto contain the spread of COVID-19 in thecountry. The present Government won alarge public mandate in the 2017 electionsdue to Oli’s promises of a stableGovernment and improved economicconditions. However, poor governance,flawed economic policies and imbal-anced foreign relations have endangeredthe lives of citizens.

(The writer is doctoral candidate,Centre for South Asian Studies, JNU)

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COVID-19 has emerged as thesingle-most dangerous enemy ofhumanity in this century. Most

of the fatalities have occurred indeveloped and developing countries,including the US, Italy, Spain, France,China and Iran. Looking at the scopeand scale of emergency preparedness,the containment and mitigation mea-sures undertaken by these countries todefeat COVID-19, one immediatelybegins worrying about a lack ofresources, a severe shortage of essen-tial commodities and services, as wellas widespread human vulnerabilitiesin the countries of the “bottom billion.”There, State institutions remain weak,healthcare systems are non-existent or

dysfunctional, demographicsunchecked, coping mechanismsseverely eroded and economies stag-nating or in a state of gradual collapse.

This grim situation is furtherexacerbated by protracted and oftenimposed conflicts, which continue tobe fuelled by geopolitical tensions andrivalries in regions such as the MiddleEast and South Asia where Stateactors exploit impoverished youth bybrainwashing them ideologically andmilitarily arming them to advanceState-specific geostrategic goals.

These intertwined and ever-grow-ing vulnerabilities of the least-devel-oped and war-ravaged societies remaina cause for grave global concern, asexpressed by the United Nations (UN)Secretary-General Antonio Guterres,who urged warring parties across theworld to lay down their weapons insupport of the bigger battle againstCOVID-19. Indeed, no country needsan immediate cessation of conflict asmuch as Afghanistan. Even before theadvent of the many and sometimesoverlapping conflicts of the past fourdecades, Afghanistan had been a least

developed country with meagreresources to address its dismal socio-economic indicators and abject pover-ty. The following decades, includingthe past 19 years, have hardly beenkind to the suffering people ofAfghanistan. Last year alone saw thekilling and maiming of over 10,000civilians while “conflict-related civil-ian casualties with more than 100killed and many more injured” wererecorded in March, says the UNAssistance Mission to Afghanistan(UNAMA). On March 27, the UNSecurity Council condemned the“heinous and cowardly terrorist attackthat took place at the DharamshalaSikh Temple in Kabul” when 25 citi-zens, including children, were killedand wounded.

In addition to these attacks, theimprovised explosive devices (IEDs),planted in urban and ruralAfghanistan, indiscriminately kill andcripple citizens. This tragedy is furthercompounded by the adverse effects ofclimate change, including droughts,floods, landslides and avalanches. TheUN Office for Coordination of

Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)says that, “More than 14,000 peoplehave been affected by floods, landslidesand avalanches in more than 12provinces across Afghanistan.” Plushumanitarian efforts have been hin-dered by attacks on aid workers.

Moreover, the destruction of crit-ical service-delivery infrastructureremains a tactic often used to furthervictimise people. Millions have beendeprived of electricity as transmissionlines, importing electricity fromUzbekistan, have been cut in northernAfghanistan where such attacks recuroften. Extended power cuts disable thefew hospitals and clinics that respondto the basic medical needs of the pop-ulation. Indeed, this is killing andmaiming Afghans by other means thandirect acts of violence, which areoften overlooked for holding toaccount those UN member-State/s thatdirectly cause or indirectly contributeto such complex humanitarian crises.

It is clear and well-documentedthat the Taliban are responsible for thefrequent and largescale civilian deathsdue to direct and indirect acts of vio-

lence and destruction of critical infra-structure. But they are not alone incommitting these war crimes. Sincetheir creation as an instrument ofexternal strategic influence in 1994, theTaliban have enjoyed safe havens, anoperational infrastructure, diplomat-ic support, as well as medical treatmentfor their wounded fighters in ourneighborhood — from where theycontinue to run a terror campaignacross Afghanistan.

At the same time, their killingmachine has enabled other regionaland transnational terrorist networks—such as the Al Qaeda and the IslamicState (IS) — to destabilise Afghanistan.In turn, this has enabled the Talibanto run a multi-billion-dollar illicit drugbusiness that has not only addictedjobless young Afghans but has also feddrug demand in the wider regionwhere millions are dying of addiction.

In the face of the rapid spread ofthe Coronavirus, the Taliban mustreconsider their efforts to maintain sta-tus quo: To keep killing Afghans anddestroying critical service-deliveryinfrastructure, whose extended dys-

function will cause further death,pain and destruction. Indeed, as theyknow all too well, this stands againstthe core teachings of Islam. This alsoviolates the basic principles of inter-national human rights and humanitar-ian laws, which uphold the right of allAfghans —including those in theTaliban-controlled areas — to unfet-tered access to COVID-19 tests andtreatment.

As of now, 784 Afghans in over 20provinces across the country have con-tracted the deadly virus and 25 peo-ple have died. These figures hardlyreflect the ground reality, consideringthat thousands of Afghans have recent-ly returned from Iran and Pakistanwhich are also battling COVID-19.Indeed, attacks on the Afghan securi-ty forces, who remain in active defenceposture; targetted suicide and IEDattacks and wartime criminality —including kidnapping and armed rob-beries — have hampered the rapidimplementation of the AfghanGovernment’s COVID strategy, includ-ing containment, mitigation and socio-economic relief and recovery mea-

sures. To avert a COVID-19 catastro-phe in Afghanistan, the Taliban mustrespond positively to calls by theinternational Ulema, the Organisationof Islamic Cooperation (OIC), theAfghan people and the internationalcommunity, to cease violence imme-diately across Afghanistan.

Cessation of violence during thisnational hour of acute need for ahumanitarian response to the globalpandemic will automatically buildconfidence on all sides, allowing therecently-announced inclusive negoti-ation team and the Taliban to beginmaking progress towards peace, whichall Afghans desire, demand anddeserve. In the eyes of the Afghan peo-ple, choosing the path to peace overcontinued bloodshed will undoubted-ly demonstrate the Taliban’s indepen-dence of any foreign influence whileestablishing their Islamic credentialsbased on the key tenets of a peaceful,tolerant, compassionate and mercifulfaith as enshrined in the Constitutionof Afghanistan.

(The writer is the Ambassador ofAfghanistan to Sri Lanka)

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The World HealthOrganization (WHO) is

purely focused on saving livesand halting the coronaviruspandemic, its chief saidWednesday after US President Donald Trumpannounced he was freezingfunding for the WHO.

“There is no time to waste.WHO’s singular focus is onworking to serve all people tosave lives and stop the COVID-19 pandemic,” director-gener-al Tedros AdhanomGhebreyesus said on Twitterfollowing Trump’s decision.

Trump said Tuesday hewas freezing the funding pend-

ing a review into the UN healthagency’s “role in severely mis-managing and covering up thespread of the coronavirus”,adding: “everybody knowswhat’s going on there”.

The US is the biggest indi-vidual contributor to theWHO’s funds.

Tedros was due to host oneof his thrice-weekly virtualpress conferences laterWednesday from the organi-sation’s headquarters inGeneva. Tedros tweeted theWHO’s updated strategic pre-paredness and response planfor dealing with the coron-avirus pandemic, which wasreleased on Tuesday.

“The updated WHO glob-

al Covid-19 strategy guidesthe public health response atnational and subnational levels,including practical guidance forstrategic action, tailored to thelocal context,” he said.

“One of the main thingswe’ve learned in the pastmonths about Covid-19 is thatthe faster all cases are found,tested, isolated and cared for,the harder we make it for thevirus to spread.

“This principle will savelives and mitigate the eco-nomic impact of the pandem-ic.” Trump’s move has drawncriticism from the UnitedNations, Russia, China, theEuropean Union, the AfricanUnion and Microsoft co-

founder Bill Gates, anothermajor WHO contributorthrough his foundation.

Trump’s freeze on fundingfor the WHO is a selfishresponse to the global pan-demic, a senior Russian officialsaid. “We see yesterday’sannouncement by Washingtonon freezing funding of theWHO as most concerning. It isa sign of the very selfishapproach of the US authoritiesto what is happening in theworld due to the pandemic,”deputy Foreign Minister SergeiRyabkov said.

Iran said the world is learn-ing that the United States “killspeople”, after President DonaldTrump suspended US funding

for the World HealthOrganization amid the coron-avirus pandemic.

Iran’s Foreign MinisterMohammad Javad Zariflikened the funding freeze tothe United States’ “maximumpressure” campaign against hiscountry. “The shamefuldefunding of WHO amid apandemic will live in infamy,”Zarif wrote on Twitter. “Theworld is learning what Iran hasknown & experienced allalong,” he said. “US regime’sbullying, threatening & vain-glorious blathering isn’t just anaddiction: it kills people,” addedZarif.

The European Union saidTrump has “no reason” to

freeze WHO funding at thiscritical stage and called formeasures to promote unityinstead of division.

On Twitter, Bill Gates —whose foundation was the sec-ond-largest donor to the WHOfor its latest two-year budget,contributing over $530 millionin 2018 and 2019 — wrote thatstopping funding for WHOduring a world health crisis “isas dangerous as it sounds.”

Germany’s foreign minis-ter, Heiko Maas, pushed backat Trump’s announcement.“Placing blame doesn’t help,” hewrote on Twitter.

“The virus knows no bor-ders. We must work closelyagainst Covid-19.”

The Netherlands alsothrew its support behind theWHO. “Now is not the time tohold back funding. Once thepandemic is under control,lessons can be learned. Fornow, focus on overcoming thiscrisis,” Sigrid Kaag, minister forforeign trade and developmentcooperation, said on Twitter.

In Beijing, Chinese for-eign ministry spokesman ZhaoLijian says the country is “seri-ously concerned” about theUS Government’s decision tosuspend funding.

Still, some global healthacademics said Trump’s attackson WHO might actuallystrengthen the agency’s credibility.

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Tanzania’s President claimedthe coronavirus “cannot sit

in the body of Christ.” Israel’sHealth Minister dismissed apotential curfew by saying that“the Messiah will come andsave us.” A global Muslim mis-sionary movement held massgatherings - and took blame forspreading the disease.

While most leaders ofmajor religions have supportedGovernments’ efforts to fight thepandemic by limiting gather-ings, a minority of the faithful— in both religious and secularinstitutions — have not.

Some have insisted that in-person worship should con-tinue because of the relief it canprovide. Others have suggest-ed that faith is an authorityhigher than science, and beliefcan turn back contagion.

The struggle to adapt reli-gious behaviors to a pandem-ic that doesn’t distinguishbetween denominations ornational boundaries was espe-cially urgent in its earliestweeks, before many countriesfully locked down. But as moreofficials trace virus hot spotsback to faith gatherings, callshave grown louder for thedevout to protect each other’sphysical well-being first.

“One of the things thatmost religious faiths stress inthe first instance is to care forthe most vulnerable in a com-munity, to save others’ lives asa primary focus,” said LGregory Jones, dean of DukeUniversity’s divinity school.

But for some people offaith — particularly thosewhose churches, synagoguesand mosques are importantcommunity centers — thatfocus appears to conflict withthe very fabric of their lives.

The Pakistani Government— accused of moving too slow-

ly to curb gatherings — refusedto order mosques closed.Instead, it limited congregantsto five or less. Still, some hard-liners remained defiant despiteadvice to stay at home from thecountry’s Islamic IdeologyCouncil. Maulana Abdul Aziz,a cleric at the Red Mosque inIslamabad, urged the faithful tochallenge restrictions, arguing it was a sin to keepmosques empty.

Most US religious serviceshave paused or shifted onlineas the federal Government dis-courages group gatherings tohelp contain the virus. But afew faith leaders and congre-gants in America, where reli-gious freedom was already apolitical minefield, haverebelled against those limitsand claimed an incursion ontheir rights.

Others have taken lessaggressive steps to assert thepower of communal worship,pointing to what they see as theability of belief to heal the pan-demic’s spiritual pain. RetiredCatholic moral theologianJanet Smith is among those inher faith urging bishops tosupport the restoration of theholy sacraments, delivered inperson using tactics thatwouldn’t flout governmentalorders.

Seeking solace in spiritu-ality or relying on religious rit-uals for relief and protection,some believers across faiths have continued to shrugoff coronavirus risks as theyworship.

Last month in Iraq, somedefied a curfew to observe theanniversary of the death ofrevered Shiite Imam Moussa al-Kadhim. One of the visitorswho have trekked to the imam’sgold-domed shrine complex,Ayoub al-Moussawi, said he hasover the years braved threats toperform religious visits.

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There have been at least2,035,737 cases reported

in 193 countries and territoriessince the virus emerged inChina. Of those, 1,30,802 peo-ple have died worldwide.

US: The coronavirus deathtoll in the United States crossed27,000 with the country wit-nessing the highest single-daytally of 2,129. More than 619,331Americans had tested positivefor the novel coronavirus —more than the other top threecountries taken together —according to Johns HopkinsUniversity. A record number of2,129 of Americans died in onesingle day, the previous highestbeing 2,074 on April 10. NewYork has become the epicentreof the country’s outbreak with2,03,020 confirmed cases and10,842 deaths so far.

UK: The BritishGovernment was under pres-sure on Wednesday to set outits plans to end the coronaviruslockdown, as the country’sdeath toll approached 13,000.Keir Starmer, the new leader ofthe Opposition Labour Party,said it would support the gov-ernment’s expected decisionon Thursday to renew a stay-at-home order imposed threeweeks ago to stem the spread ofCovid-19.

He said this was necessarywhile the UK death toll keptrising. Figures announced bythe health ministry onWednesday showed that 12,868people have died from thecoronavirus, a rise of 761 overthe previous day. The numberof people who have tested pos-itive for Covid-19 has nowreached 98,476, making Britain

one of the worst affected coun-tries in the global pandemic.

Canada: Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau said Canada’slockdown will last “many moreweeks” and warned Canadiansif the economy is reopened toosoon all the sacrifices they aremaking now might be for noth-ing as the country could seeanother peak in coronaviruscases. Trudeau said Canada isstill “a number of weeks away”from being able to start toreopen and urged Canadians tobe patient.

He added once there issome reopening there is goingto be a need for rapid testing ona wide scale and extensive con-tact tracing for those who testpositive. He said once Canadais past the first waveGovernment needs to have thecapacity to stamp out anyfuture outbreaks.

His remarks are hisstrongest yet against looseningeconomic restrictions too soon.Canada has more than 27,557confirmed cases including 954deaths.

Germany: Germany plans

to let small shops reopen asearly as next week after a four-week coronavirus shutdown,but Europe’s biggest economyis keeping strict social dis-tancing rules in place.

After much-anticipatedtalks with Germany’s 16 stategovernors, Chancellor AngelaMerkel set out a plan for thefirst steps of a slow restart ofpublic life.

A ban on gatherings ofmore than two people in pub-lic has been in place sinceMarch 23 and was due to rununtil Sunday. Merkel says therestrictions will remain inplace, and officials will reviewat the end of the month whathappens after May 3.Nonessential shops also havebeen closed for nearly fourweeks. Other shops of up to800 square meters (8,600square feet) will be allowed tostart reopening, with hygieneprecautions. Merkel said thedecision applies to the periodfrom Monday though May 3.

Italy: Italy’s daily increasein Covid-19 cases has contin-ued to slow. The day-to-dayincrease of 2,667 confirmed

cases that was announced byauthorities was the lowest insome five weeks and repre-sented a less than 1.7 per centincrease compared to the totalcases of the previous day. Thenumber of intensive care bedsoccupied by patients with coro-navirus infections also keptdropping.

Other encouraging num-bers were registered inLombardy, the northern regionwhich by far has had the heav-iest case load. Lombardy saw827 more cases since a day ear-lier, but past days had broughtday-to-day increases of 1,000 ormuch more. Italy now hasmore than 1,65,000 knowncases of Covid-19.

Spain: Spain’s daily deathtoll from the coronavirus fell onWednesday to 523, after post-ing a one-day rise, bringing thetotal number of fatalities to18,579, the Health Ministrysaid. The number of new con-firmed infections in the coun-try, one of the worst hit by thepandemic, rose by over 5,000,after falling for six consecutivedays, which lifts the total num-ber of infections to over

1,77,000.

Russia: Russian PresidentVladimir Putin has presentednew measures to support busi-ness, including direct financialaid and state-supported loans.Putin said the state will providesmall- and medium businesswith direct financial support tohelp pay salaries to employees.The amount of aid will be cal-culated on official minimalwage, now equivalent to about$160 a month.

Also, businesses will beoffered state-guaranteed loansfor salary payments and gov-ernment low-rate loans forcompanies to finance theiroperational costs.

The measures follow broadcriticism of the Kremlin for thefailure to shore up the busi-nesses hurt by the partial eco-nomic shutdown through April30. Russia has reported 24,490coronavirus cases, including198 deaths.

France: France reported762 more Covid-19 deaths inhospitals and nursing homes,bringing its total toll from theepidemic to 15,729. The num-ber of confirmed cases inFrance now exceeds 100,000,health official Jerome Salomontold reporters, adding howev-er that the total number ofpatients in intensive care fell forthe sixth day in a row, by 91 to6,730 Despite the heavy newdeath toll, Salomon said thatthe latest data confirmed thatFrance’s month-long lockdownwas beginning to have an effect.

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Testing is being held up asthe world’s best bet for

ending the economically crippling —and emotionallydraining —coronavirus lockdown.

But some doctors at theItalian epicentre of the health crisis doubt that coun-tries can test their way out ofconfinement.

“It is a nonsense,” Milan’sPolytechnic Institute profes-sor Davide Manca said.“Conceptually, I am sceptical.”

The reason for Manca’sscepticism is plain to see in themath. Milan’s Lombardy regionhas 10 million people and11,142 officially registeredCovid-19 deaths.

The economically vibrantarea the size of Belgium hasbeen under one of the world’sstrictest lockdowns since earlyMarch. Few regions need test-ing more.

Yet Lombardy has been

conducting just 6,500 testsdaily over the past 10 days.Manca estimates it would takemore than five years for every-one in Lombardy to get testedjust once.

“And you need people test-ed every 15 days for it to haveany meaning,” Manca said in aphone interview.

“Even if you raise thatnumber 10 times, that wouldstill take 200 days for one test.That’s six or seven months.”

Manca was talking aboutthe swab tests that doctorsinsert up people’s noses to seewho is Covid-19 positive.

Their shortage has madeLombardy’s death ratios lookstark. The region had con-ducted 234,870 tests and con-firmed 61,326 cases byWednesday.

A jarring 18.2 per cent ofthose officially infected withthe virus have died of Covid-19. The death rate stood at 4.2per cent on Wednesday acrossthe United States.

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Three potential Covid-19vaccines are making fast

progress in early-stage testingin volunteers in China and theUS, but it’s still a long road toprove if they’ll really work.

China’s CanSino Biologicshas begun the second phase oftesting its vaccine candidate,China’s Ministry of Scienceand Technology said onTuesday.

In the US, a shot made bythe National Institutes ofHealth and Moderna Inc. Isn’tfar behind. The first person toreceive that experimental vac-cine last month returned to aSeattle clinic on Tuesday for asecond dose. NIH infectiousdisease chief Dr Anthony Faucitold The Associated Press thereare “no red flags” so far and hehoped the next, larger phase oftesting could begin aroundJune. A third candidate, fromInovio Pharmaceuticals, began

giving experimental shots forfirst-step safety testing lastweek in the US And hopes toexpand its studies to China.

Initial tests focus on safe-ty, and researchers in bothcountries are trying out differ-ent doses of different types ofshots. But moving into thesecond phase is a critical stepthat allows vaccines to be test-ed in many more people to lookfor signs that they protectagainst infection.

Last week, CanSino filed areport showing it aimed toenroll 500 people in this nextstudy, comparing two doses ofthe vaccine to dummy shots. Asof Monday, 273 of the volun-teers had been injected, statemedia said.

Looking ahead, Fauci saidif the new coronavirus contin-ues to circulate widely enoughover the summer and fall, itmight be possible to finishlarger studies slightly soonerthan the 12 to 18 months he’d

originally predicted — maybetoward “mid to late winter ofnext season.” “Please let me saythis caveat: That is assumingthat it’s effective. See, that’s thebig ‘if,’” Fauci stressed.

“It’s got to be effective and it’sgot to be safe.” During a newsconference in China, authoritiesalso cautioned that the studiesmust be done properly.“Although we are in an emer-gency, we cannot lower the stan-dards of safety and effectivenessin the reviews of vaccines,” saidWang Junzhi, a Chinese bio-pharmaceutical expert.

“The public is paying hugeattention.” The World HealthOrganization this week countedmore than five dozen other vac-cine candidates in earlier stagesof development being pursuedaround the world. Many researchgroups are teaming up to speedthe work; in an announcementTuesday, vaccine giants Sanofiand GSK became the latest topartner on a candidate.

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Mumbai: Microfinance institu-tions (MFIs) are likely to facesevere liquidity and debt ser-vicing challenges if banks do notoffer loan repayment moratori-um to them, according to ratingagencies. Though most of themicro lenders have extended thethree-month moratorium,announced by the Reserve Bankof India (RBI), on repayment ofterm loans to their borrowers,there is an ambiguity on whetherthe same is applicable for MFIs.

A clarification on repay-ment moratorium is still await-ed from the banking regulator.

“MFIs are yet to formallyreceive moratorium from theirlenders and the absence of thesame could severely impacttheir ability to serve their debt-servicing obligations,” ratingagency Icra said in a report.

The industry is going to facea cash shortage for some timeafter the lockdown is eased ascollections from borrowers willremain almost nil, it said.“Moratorium is critical forNBFC-MFIs to sustain theirbusiness and tide over liquidi-ty stress as they have announcedmoratorium to their borrowers,”another rating agency CareRatings Associate Director RaviKumar Dasari told reporters ina webinar Wednesday. Ratingfirm Crisil in its report saidmost of its rated MFIs in theinvestment-grade or with strongparentage have sufficient liq-uidity to manage repaymentsand operational expenditurefor the next two-three monthsbut for other micro lenders,availing of the moratorium willbe critical. PTI

New Delhi: More than 20 lakhjobs are at risk in India’s avia-tion space and dependent sec-tors in the wake of the coron-avirus pandemic, according toglobal airlines’ grouping IATA.

Commercial flight serviceshave been suspended till May3 as the Government hasextended the nation lockdownin continuing efforts to curbspreading of coronavirus infec-tion, which has already affect-ed more than 11,000 people inthe country.

Faced with challengingbusiness conditions, somedomestic airlines have resort-ed to leave without pay and lay-off of expat pilots. Against thebackdrop of the current situa-tion that has also resulted insubstantial economic disrup-tions, the IATA said airlines inIndia are also not spared. PTI

Washington: The Group of20 nations announced supporton Wednesday for a temporaryhalt to debt payments by theworld’s poorest nations as theystruggle to deal with the coro-navirus pandemic.

“We support a time-boundsuspension of debt service pay-ments for the poorest countriesthat request forbearance,” the

G20 finance ministers and cen-tral bankers said in a commu-nique following their virtualmeeting. “All bilateral officialcreditors will participate inthis initiative.” The group alsocalled on private creditors,working through the Instituteof International Finance, toparticipate in the initiative.

AFP

New Delhi: India has startedexport of major farm productssuch as rice, meat, dairy andprocessed food items after theGovernment stepped in toresolve the issues related totransportation and packaging inthe wake of Covid-19 lockdown.

The Union AgricultureMinistry, in a statement, saidexporters’ problems are beingresolved by the farm exportpromotion body Agriculturaland Processed Food ProductsExport Development Authority(APEDA).

“Exports of all major prod-ucts i.e. Rice, groundnut,processed food, meat, poultry,dairy and organic productshas started,” the ministry said.

APEDA has put in a lot ofefforts and issues related totransportation, curfew passes,and packaging units, whichare being resolved, it said.

The ministry further saidthat the government has adopt-ed a “flexible approach” and isissuing digital copies of phy-tosanitary certificates forexports. So far, theGovernment has issued 9,759phytosanitary certificates forexports, it added.

On specific demand fromcountries, agri-cooperativeNAFED has exported 50,000tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan,while 40,000 tonne of the grainto Lebanon under G2Garrangement. PTI

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Wholesale price inflationeased to a four-month

low of one per cent in March on sharp fall in prices offood and fuel items as demand slowed.

The Wholesale Price Index(WPI) based inflation was 2.26per cent in February and 3.10per cent in March, 2019.

As per Commerce andIndustry Ministry data, foodinflation fell to 4.91 per cent inMarch from 7.79 per cent in theprevious month. Fuel andpower basket witnessed defla-tion of 1.76 per cent, whilemanufactured products wit-nessed inflation of 0.34 per centin March.

The Government said, dueto outbreak of coronavirus andnational lockdown, the provi-sional figures of WPI for Marchare computed with lowresponse rate. “The figures arelikely to be revised in a signif-icant manner during release offinal month,” it said.

The WPI inflation inMarch is the lowest sinceNovember 2019 when it was0.58 per cent.

Inflation in vegetables fellsharply to 11.90 per cent inMarch from a high of 29.97 percent in the previous month.Onion prices continued to rulehigh with inflation at 112.31per cent during March.

Pulses was the only item inthe food articles category whichsaw rise in rate of inflation at12.12 per cent in March, from11.42 per cent in the previousmonth. Data released earlier

this week showed retail infla-tion, based on consumer priceindex, fell to four-month low of5.91 per cent in March from6.58 per cent in February. TheReserve Bank of India (RBI)takes into account retail infla-tion while formulating its mon-etary policy.

The RBI had last weeksaid that its inflation outlooklooks benign, with risks aroundinflation project being bal-anced. With softening of foodprices, sharp fall in crude pricesand normal monsoon, RBIexpects inflation for current fis-cal to be in the range of 3.6-3.8per cent. It said the impact ofCovid-19 on inflation isambiguous, with a possibledecline in food prices likely tobe offset by potential cost-push increases in prices ofnon-food items due to supplydisruptions.

The nation-wide lockdownwhich started on March 25would have had an impact onthe data collection for the

month and the inflation num-ber for April is likely to be evenlower.

ICRA Principal EconomistAditi Nayar said March WPIshould have seen a deflation ifthe index levels fully reflectedthe plunge in prices of com-modities like minerals, crude oiland natural gas, in the aftermathof the Covid-19 outbreak. “ForApril 2020, while food inflationmay undergo an uptick, thelagged correction in prices ofvarious commodities wouldpush the WPI into disinflation.At present, we expect the WPIto record a disinflation of 1.5 percent in FY 2021, in contrast tothe mild inflation of 1.7 per centin FY 2020,” Nayar said.

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Global stocks and oil prices tumbled onWednesday after the International Monetary

Fund said the world’s economy will suffer itsworst year since the Great Depression of the1930s due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Indexes in London and Frankfurt weredown about 2 per cent and benchmarks inShanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney closedlower. Wall Street futures were down by over 1.5per cent. The price of oil hit a new 18-year lowthe International Energy Agency said demand willdrop by 9.3 million barrels per day in 2020 over-all. Demand in April will hit its lowest since 1995,it said. The drop came despite an agreement overthe weekend among OPEC and other oil pro-ducers to cut output to reflect collapsing demand.

Benchmark US crude lost 40 cents to USD19.71 per barrel. Brent crude, the internation-al standard, declined USD 1.02 to USD 28.58 perbarrel in London. The IMF said this year’s glob-al economic output will shrink by 3 per cent, abigger loss than 2009’s 0.1 per cent decline dur-ing the financial crisis. That was a sharp reversefrom the Fund’s January forecast of 3.3 per centgrowth before the virus prompted governmentsto shut down factories, travel and other indus-tries. “The IMF forecast a deep economic win-ter,” said Hayaki Narita of Mizuho Bank in areport. The IMF’s chief economist, GitaGopinath, said the loss to global gross domes-tic product, the broadest gauge of economic out-put, could amount to USD 9 trillion, or morethan the economies of Germany and Japan com-bined. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 lost 2.3 percent to 5,661 and the DAX in Frankfurtdeclined 2.1 per cent to 10,473. The CAC 40 inFrance retreated 1.9 per cent to 4,437.

On Wall Street, the future for both thebenchmark S&P 500 and the Dow industrialssank 1.6 per cent. On Tuesday, the S&P climbed3.1 per cent. The index surged 12 per cent lastweek but is about 16 per cent below its Februaryall-time high.

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Equity benchmarks reversedearly gains to finish in the

negative territory onWednesday as risk-off moodprevailed amid grim prognosesof the economic fallout of theCovid-19 pandemic.

Weak global markets andthe rupee plunging to its all-time low against the dollarfurther weighed on sentiment,traders said.

After gyrating over 1,346points during the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 310.21points or 1.01 per cent lower at30,379.81.

Similarly, the NSE Niftysettled 68.55 points, or 0.76 percent, down at 8,925.30.

Kotak Bank was the toploser in the Sensex pack, crack-ing 6.23 per cent, followed byHero MotoCorp (4.83 per cen),Bajaj Finance (4.63 per cent),HDFC (3.61 per cent), HDFCBank (3.57 per cent) andMaruti Suzuki (3.55 per cent).

On the other hand, HUL,HCL Tech, ITC and NestleIndia were among the gainers,rising up to 6.07 per cent.

Despite opening on a pos-itive note, domestic stocks gaveup all gains in a highly volatilesession following negative sen-timent in global equities amidprojections of major slump ineconomic growth, traders said.

The IMF on Tuesdayslashed India’s projected GDPgrowth to 1.9 per cent in 2020

from 5.8 per cent in January, asthe global economy is seen hit-ting the worst recession sincethe Great Depression in the1930s due to the raging coro-navirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, theGovernment on Wednesdaysaid industrial units in ruralareas will be allowed to func-tion from April 20, providedthey follow social distancingnorms, while all kinds of pub-lic transport will be barred andpublic places closed till May 3.

“There may be greater clar-ity for the market participantsas the details of the limitedrelaxation of the lockdownrules are announced by theState Governments. But thevolatility in the markets maystay with us till the trajectoryof growth and price levelbecomes less uncertain,” said

Joseph Thomas, Head ofResearch — Emkay WealthManagement.

Analysts also said the focuswill now also shift to the earn-ings season and the manage-ment commentary on theimpact of Covid-19.

“Almost all sectors havebeen affected by the lockdownand the market will try tomeasure the future financialimpact of this, rather thanfocusing on the previous quar-ter numbers. This is expectedto drive stock specific moves inthe market in the coming days.

“IT companies will offi-cially kick off the earningsseason and investors will bekeen on how the virus spreadhas impacted their servicesand the locations in whichthose services are offered,” saidVinod Nair, Head of Research

at Geojit Financial Services.BSE bankex, finance, ener-

gy, auto and consumer durablesindices ended up to 2.49 percent lower, while FMCG, basicmaterials, realty, capital goodsand metals gained up to 4.33per cent.

Broader BSE midcap andsmallcap indices rose up to 1.32per cent.

On the currency front, therupee tumbled 17 paise toclose at an all-time low of76.44 (provisional) against theUS dollar.

Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, slipped4.43 per cent to USD 28.29 perbarrel.

Bourses in Shanghai, HongKong and Tokyo ended signif-icantly lower.

Stock exchanges in Europetoo opened in the red.

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India’s GDP growth will seestrong recovery from the sec-

ond quarter of this fiscal as eco-nomic activities resume, NitiAayog Vice Chairman RajivKumar said on Wednesday. Healso expressed hope that theGovernment will unveil fiscalmeasures to jumpstart growth,which has plummeted due tothe Covid-19 crisis.

In an interview with newschannel CNBC-TV18, Kumarsaid April would be a washoutin terms of economic activity,though all has not been lost foragriculture.

“Once economic activitystarts in the second quarter, Ithink you will see a fairlystrong recovery in the country

for the next three quarters offinancial year 2020-21. To sup-port that I am sure theGovernment will come up witha fiscal stimulus.

“There is a clear under-standing within theGovernment and Reserve Bankof India (RBI) that we have todo whatever it takes to get theeconomy back on track. Weknow that the implications ofa very weak growth are goingto be negative,” he said.

Kumar said he is con-vinced that with the fiscal pol-icy package now in the making,India will see economic activ-ity recovering quite stronglyfrom the second quarter of2020-21.

Replying to a questionabout delay in announcing

another fiscal package, the NitiAayog vice chairman said thecountry’s diversity is significantto come up with a pan-Indiasolution and it takes time todevelop guidelines.

“Plus, we do not have theluxury of unlimited resourcesat our disposal. So we have tofigure out what is the cloth thatwe have (with) which to cut ourcoat, as it were. So, that is beingconsidered quite actively.

“I know that some of us arebeing impatient, but the requestfrom us would be to have a bitmore patience because at thispoint of time it is important toget it right and it is importantto therefore take as many vari-ables on board as we can beforesomething like that isannounced,” he said.

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The British Government onWednesday dismissed a TV

presenter’s claim that therecould be a link between 5Gtechnology and coronavirus as“complete nonsense”.

The 5G conspiracy theory,spread widely on social media,has already led to a new tele-coms mast being set alight inIreland at the weekend.

Experts have poured scornon the claim, saying 5G isbased on radio frequency andis not related to the viral out-break.

But Eamonn Holmes, whopresents ITV’s This Morningshow, said they were dismiss-ing the theory “when they

don’t know it’s not true”.“What I don’t accept is

mainstream media immedi-ately slapping that down as nottrue when they don’t know it’snot true,” he said, leading tohundreds of complaints.

“It’s very easy to say it is nottrue because it suits the statenarrative.”

A Government told jour-nalists that Holmes’s claimswere “complete nonsense” and“entirely bogus”, while expertsalso rubbished the comments.

“It’s fair to say EamonnHolmes is to the advancementof science what I am to banaland unsatisfying morning tele-vision,” said Michael Headfrom the University ofSouthampton.

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India should release an eco-nomic package of not less

than 5 per cent of its GDP asthe growth rate may drop to 2.1per cent in 2020-21 due to theimpact of coronavirus infec-tion, an expert said onWednesday.

Narendra Jadhav, a RajyaSabha MP and former RBIchief economist, said the prin-ciple objective of the govern-ment should be to save livesnow and save livelihoods in theimmediate future.

“Due to Covid-19, India’sGDP growth rate will take a hitand may come down to 2.1 percent from 4.5 per cent...Indiashould release an economic

package which should not beless than 5 per cent of its GDPsoon,” he said during an onlineaddress to the Masters’ UnionSchool of Business.

Jadhav also highlighted ahost of policy measures that theGovernment should take inthese times including relaxingthe Fiscal Responsibility andBudget Management Act(FRBM ACT), letting the fiscaldeficit rise for 1 year, relaxing thelimits on the debt that can beraised by the States and takingaway MPLAD funds for 2 years.“But with the crisis at hand, theGDP of the world will comedown by 2.2 per cent whichlooks small but is incredible interms of the size and travesty itcan cause,” Jadhav noted.

Guwahati: In view of the lock-down and Covid-19 pandemic,the tea industry in Assam hasestimated a loss of 80 millionkgs of tea valued at �1,218 crore,North Eastern Tea Association(NETA) claimed on Wednesdayreleasing a study report.

According to NETA advis-er Bidyananda Barkakoty, whoreleased the study report inGuwahati, the total estimatedcrop loss of Assam tea indus-try due to lockdown is about 80million kgs. “As per the TeaBoard of India official figures,the annual average price of teaof north India (which includesAssam) at the Indian auctionsin 2019 was �152.26 per kg.Therefore, the total revenueloss of Assam tea industry dueto lockdown is 80 million kgswith a total value of �1,218crore,” said Barkakoty. PTI

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Karachi: Nearly 175,000 peo-ple in Pakistan have beendenied testing for coronavirusfor failing to meet the criteriafor such examinations, a mediareport said on Wednesday.

Pakistan has registered

over 6,245 coronavirus casesand more than 112 deaths dueto the deadly viral infection.

At a time when Covid-19cases are rising in the country,there remain limited numbers oftests and the capacity of labora-

tories is under strain. Accordingto a report in the Urdu news-paper, Daily Jang, some 2,50,000people reported at Governmenthospitals across the country forcoronavirus testing.

“However, only 74,000 sus-

pected cases were tested, out ofwhich around 6,000 peoplewere tested positive for thenovel coronavirus,” the reportsaid. Citing sources, it said,”Thehealth ministry had to refuseexamination for some 1,75,000

people as they did not meet thecriteria set for the tests.”

However, the details of allthose persons who had comefor the tests have been saved inthe data base of the healthauthorities. One of the criteria

for the coronavirus test is thata person must have returnedfrom abroad, the report said,adding that the doctors onduty take the final decision onwhether a test is necessary fora person or not. PTI

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House of Anita Dongre,announces the produc-

tion of cloth masks for distri-bution to contribute in thefight against COVID-19.After receiving adequate per-missions from governmentauthorities, production ofthese masks has begun in twoof the five rural village cen-tres that were initiated in col-laboration with theMaharashtra state govern-ment four years back, start-ing with Charoti. Throughthese centres, the AnitaDongre foundation trainswomen to make garmentsand has set up a productionfacility close to their homesto bring gainful employmentto them.

Starting this week, thesecentres have had voluntaryparticipation of about 24women who will be able tocreate up to 7,000 maskseach week for distribution toNGOs, village residents, indi-viduals, and hospitals.

Fears around COVID-19are escalating each day and

with masks becoming com-pulsory to wear inMaharashtra, the supply hasstruggled to catch up withdemand. The women inthese village centres will beworking under strict socialdistancing and hygiene pro-tocols to produce thesemasks and distribute them.“Every one of us must do

everything within our powerto stop the spread of thisvirus and keep as many peo-ple as we can safe. The pro-duction of reusable masks isone step in that direction.”says fashion designer andchief creative officer of‘House of Anita Dongre’.

Made of cotton, thesereusable masks will use fab-

ric that was originally pur-chased for the production ofclothes for The House ofAnita Dongre’s labels AND,Global Desi, and AnitaDongre. These protectivemasks while being reusableare also washable and sus-tainable. At the request of thelocal hospital in Palgarh, theteam will also make specialdisposable masks for doctors,nurses and hospital staff.

The company clarifiedthat there is no end goal rightnow. “As long as people needmasks they will be producedand distributed” said AnitaDongre. This is the compa-ny’s second initiative to fightCOVID-19 after setting up a1.5 Crore fund to coversmaller vendors and self-employed artisans arisingfrom previously unforeseenmedical emergencies at thistime.

Face masks are going to be a fashionaccessory and social status soon,

feels filmmaker Shoojit Sircar, at a timewhen India along with the rest of theworld is battling the COVID-19 pandem-ic.

The Piku director took to Twitter toexpress the idea. He wrote, “Face masksare going to be a fashion accessory andsocial status soon like jewellery, hand-bags, hats, belts, scarves, watches, sun-glasses and much more. Designer labelface masks forweddings/birthdays/anniversary etc.”

Masks have become mandatory tostep out anywhere, what with the esca-lating count of COVID-19 cases every-where around.

Reacting to his tweet, a user shareda news piece that says global fashiongiants such as Louis Vuitton, Burberryand Chanel have already started makingprotective clothing for people on thefront lines of the pandemic.

One of the brightest and most inno-vative storytellers in Bollywood, ShoojitSircar never seems to run out of freshideas to share on social media whilespending time in lockdown. And hissense of humour is worth applauds, too!

In an earlier tweet this morning, thefilmmaker expressed that since the worldhas been hit by an economic crisis, weshould head back to barter system as ameans for exchanging goods and ser-vices. He suggested that people can givehim their unused items, clothes, ration,vegetables and other things in exchangefor watching his movies!

“As the World 2020 is hit with huge‘economic crisis’, I suggest let’s head back

to Barter System as a means for exchang-ing goods and services. It is most sim-ple and trade is ‘fair’. No problem of over-production and under-production, Noconcentration of economic power. In abarter system, you only produce therequired amount of goods and services,thus minimizing waste in the monetaryeconomy. For instance, people watch myfilms and they can give me their unuseditems/ration/veggies/clothes whatever,”he wrote on Twitter. 7,��3

The lockdown has beennothing less than a chal-lenge for everyone. In

between switching channels,odd eating hours and poor sleepschedule, you may find it diffi-cult to follow a proper workoutregime. However, fitness expertssuggest that home workouts canbe a great substitute for gym ses-sions. It’s a good idea to startwith basic bodyweight exercis-es. Yoga is another activity thatcan be done anytime and any-where. It is just important toensure that there is a routine andyou stick to it as you need tochannel your pent-up energy.Here are some tips and tricksone can follow:

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The founder of a fitnesssocial network and consultationplatform, FITTR, JitendraChouksey, tells us that exercis-ing not just strengthens yourimmune system but it is a greatway to ward off some of the psy-chological issues associated withbeing cooped up for an extend-ed time. He shares that one canalways begin with basic exercis-es which require no equipmentat all.

For instance, push-ups are agreat way to exercise at home. “Ifyou’re completely new to thisexercise, you can start with wallpush-ups. As you gain strength,graduate to bent knee push-ups.Then, one bent-knee push-ups(with the other leg stretchedout). Once you’re able to dothese properly with full range ofmotion and correct form, thenstart doing regular ones (withboth legs stretched out),” says heand goes on to add that you canadd progressions or increasethe intensity in two ways —either by doing different varia-tions of the exercise, such asone-armed push-ups, declinepush-ups where you place yourfeet on a higher surface or youcould add external weight, suchas doing regular push-ups whilewearing a backpack with someweights inside it.

Jitendra suggests anothergreat way is to perform circuittraining. It’s a form of body con-ditioning or resistance trainingusing high-intensity aerobics. Ittargets strength building andmuscular endurance. Thisinvolves performing a series of

exercises in rapid successionwith a very short break or evenno break in between.

He recommends, “Try doingAMRAP (as many reps as pos-sible) or TABATA, a high-inten-sity interval training, where youworkout for 20 seconds, thentake a 10 second break andrepeat the cycle for eightrounds.”

Any physical activity thatcan keep you active and fit isgreat during the lockdown, feelsSarvesh Shashi, founder ofSARVA and Diva Yoga. Forinstance, he says, “Even fiveminutes of yoga is better thandoing nothing all day. Whilemornings are apt, yoga routinesare flexible enough to be prac-ticed all day.” He shares somebasic yoga routines that canhelp build immunity and keepyou active:

Kapalabhati pranayama:Sit comfortably with your spinestraight and place your palms onyour knees. Take a deep breathin. As you inhale, pull yourstomach in and try pulling yournavel back towards the spine asmuch as possible. As you relaxthe navel and abdomen, thebreath flows into your lungsautomatically. Take 20 suchbreaths to complete one roundof kapalabhati pranayama.

Inversions: These enablethe lymph fluids to flow throughthe body, filtering the bacteriaand viruses in the system andthus help in ramping up yourimmune system.

Twist and detox: Seatedspinal twists compress andstretch the core/torso, increasingthe circulation of blood to thegut, which stimulates the diges-tion process. A healthy gut isessential to building a strongerimmune system.

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Since everybody hasswitched to home workouts,

there has been a rise in onlinefitness apps. These applicationsclaim that it’s like having yourown personal trainer on thesmartphone. “During the lock-down period, FITTR has seen aspurt of almost 15 per cent in thetotal number of downloads. Areally well-designed fitness appis an intuitive tool that becomesthe one-stop-shop for all yourfitness needs, right from nutri-tion and diet to exercise andoverall well-being,” sharesJitendra. “We understand thekey roles that motivation andpeer support can play in helpinga person on their fitness journey.FITTR has over 5,00,000 mem-bers and it provides them witha platform to share their storiesand engage with others on theirfitness journeys,” adds he.

While it’s definitely mucheasier to lounge on a couch,binge watch on series and forgetyour commitment to the gymbut the lockdown is no excuse toditch exercise, says DikshaChhabra, a fitness trainer, sportsnutritionist and founder ofDiksha Chhabra FitnessConsultations. “The user mustdecide on an apt platform on the

basis of effectiveness, flexibil-ity and personal attention.If all these aspects aretaken care by the platformone chooses, it’s a great wayto stay active in a disci-plined manner,” she feels.

Not everybody is a fit-ness enthusiast but it’s real-ly important for people to

indulge in some kind ofphysical activity.However, the ques-tion is how to makeit interesting so thatpeople are moti-

vated? Expertsbelieve thatonline f itnessplatforms areactually inspiringtheir followers toget up and keep

moving. With a commitment to

remaining fit, active and healthywhile staying at home, close toa thousand members of theDecathlon community, whetherthey be teammates or volunteersports ambassadors, have cometogether with a series of #play-itsafe challenges and activitiesonline. It offers virtual workoutsranging from indoor running,strength and conditioning to tar-geted workouts and yoga ses-sions.

Decathlon has also puttogether a creative format of vir-tual events dubbed as‘Hallympics’ for those missingthe Olympics. These were aseries of games and challengesfor people at home to follow andparticipate in, hosted acrosssocial media platforms. Theactivities were designed to beeasily practiced in one’s hall, liv-ing room or just about any-where. Points were awarded col-lectively to each city. Challengesincluded handle hurdles, oneglass-one leg, frozen squatdesigned for just about anybodyfrom kids to groups of familymembers.

Another fitness gamifica-tion app, StepSetGo, has revolu-tionised walking by rewardingits users. They took cognizanceof this global self-isolation andlaunched a 21-day fitness chal-lenge on their app. As a part ofthis, users will undergo a seriesof seven challenges, all from thecomfort of their homes. Userswill be challenged to be active,burn calories, test theirendurance levels and find inno-vative ways to walk two kmwithin their homes. In the end,they will be rewarded withStepSetGo coins, which can beredeemed for exciting offers onthe app’s bazaar as well asAmazon vouchers.

Well, technology, for sure, isincreasingly finding a placewithin people’s fitness routines

now more than ever.

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Since the level of physicalactivity is reduced, our energyrequirements are lower thanusual. “People should stick withregular healthy balanced meals.Portion control is necessary aswe are sitting at home, we tendto confuse boredom withhunger,” says Diksha. “One canensure eating at fixed timingsand set portions, avoid bingeeating fried junk. Stick to regu-lar Indian meals, which is well-balanced with protein, carb, vit-amin, mineral and f ibre.Addition of fruits and vegetablesare a must to boost your immu-nity and metabolism,” adds she.

A healthy gut can ward offmany health conditions. It isimportant that your diet is com-posed of antioxidant-rich foods.“Include immunity-boostingfoods every day including thoserich in Vitamin C and otherminerals,” Sarvesh shares.

Jitendra suggests a few waysto ensure that you continue tostay healthy and eat well:

Avoid junk food: It’s tempt-ing to demolish all the cookiesand chocolates as you lounge onthe sofa watching movies. Butthese are empty calories that willonly make you put on weight.Eat healthier snacks such asvegetable sticks, fruit and salads(without the sauces). The bestway to avoid temptation is to notstock junk food in the house atall.

Don’t star ve yourself:Another problem is that peoplecould go to the other extremeand cut their food intake dras-tically because they’re afraid ofgaining weight. Don’t cut calo-ries all of a sudden. Eat wholefoods and let hunger be yourguide. If you aren’t sure howmuch to eat, use fitness apps tocalculate your daily caloricrequirement.

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The National AgriculturalCooperative MarketingFederation of India

(NAFED), Government ofIndia, has begun dispatchingthe supply of one kg pulsesunder Pradhan Mantri GaribKalyan Yojna (PMGKY) tostates and union territorieslike Haryana, Punjab,Rajasthan, Gujarat, MadhyaPradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam,Chandigarh, Telangana, TamilNadu, Goa, Karnataka, Delhi,Himachal Pradesh andAndaman & Nicobar Islands,during the lockdown amidCoronavirus pandemic.

Under theYojna, NAFEDaims to supply1,95,510 MT ofprocessed orupgraded pulsesto the states tocover around1 9 , 5 5 , 5 1 , 0 0 0households inthe 36 statesand union ter-ritories. There arepulses likeArhar, Masoor,Malka, Chanadal, Chana wholeand Urad for the benefi-

ciaries. It is expect-ed that by the endof the April, it willsupply the requiredquantity for themonth.

Except Chanawhole, all the dalsbeing suppliedrequire processing.NAFED procures thewhole raw pulseswith FAQ specifica-tion from the farm-

ers at Minimum Support Price(MSP) announced by the gov-ernment in the producingstates. Therefore, the millers are

being hired by the federationthrough a transparent selectionprocess to mill and deliver theprocessed pulses at differentdelivery centres of the states,confirming to FSSAI grade.

Despite the lockdown, thefederation is making strenuousefforts to supply the pulses inthe minimum period for thismonth and ensure supplies forMay and June on time.

In addition, the federa-tion is already continuing toprocure pulses and oilseeds atMSP from the farmers in thestates of Karnataka, AndhraPradesh, Telangana,

Maharashtra, and UttarPradesh. It is likely to alsoundertake procurement inRajasthan, Haryana andMadhya Pradesh soon.

The Federation is gearingto make intervention for pur-chase of vegetables and fruitsfrom cooperatives and FPOs tominimise the losses to thefarmers to some extent. It isseen that the presence ofNAFED in the Mandis pro-vides essential support to themarkets. The update on theprogress of supplies under theYojna is being regularlytracked.

The world is currently dealing witha very deadly situation due to

Coronavirus pandemic. Many estab-lishments are temporarily closed andworkers are unable to work. In linewith the relief measures being extend-ed by government to business entitiesand workers, Employees’ StateInsurance Corporation (ESIC) hasundertaken following relief measuresfor its stakeholders, especial lyEmployers and Insured Persons,besides strengthening its medicalresources to fight COVID-19:�Extension of time in filing ESI con-tribution: As a relief measure, the peri-od for filing ESI contribution for themonth of February and March was ear-lier extended to April 15 and May 15,respectively. Now, considering thehardship being faced by employers, theperiod for filing ESI contribution forthe month of February has been fur-ther extended from earlier extendedperiod (April 15 to May 15). Nopenalty or interest or damage will belevied on establishments during theextended period.

Besides these, following relief mea-sures have been undertaken for InsuredPersons and Beneficiaries:�In order to ease hardship of ESI ben-eficiaries: Purchase of medicines by ESIbeneficiaries from private chemistsduring the lockdown period and itssubsequent reimbursement by ESIChas been permitted.�A provision has also been issued forproviding medical services to Insured

Persons (IPs) and beneficiaries fromtie-up hospitals if an ESIC hospital isdeclared as a dedicated COVID-19hospital to cater exclusively toCoronavirus suspected or confirmedcases.�ESI beneficiaries can be referred totie-up hospitals for providing pre-scribed secondary/ SST consultation/admission/ investigation during theperiod for which concerned ESIC hos-pital functions as a dedicated COVID-19 hospital. ESI beneficiary may alsoseek emergency/ non-emergency med-ical treatment from tie-up hospitalsdirectly without a referral letter, inaccordance with his/her entitlement.�Medical Benefit is provided underRule 60-61 to the Insured persons whocease to be in insurable employment onaccount of permanent disablementand to the retired Insured Persons onpayment of advance lumpsum for ayear at the rate of �10 per month.Under the prevailing circumstances oflockdown, there may be cases wherevalidity of medical benefit cards issuedto these beneficiaries expire as thesebeneficiaries are unable to deposit theadvance annual lumpsum due to thelockdown. Such beneficiaries havebeen allowed to avail medical benefitunder Rule 60-61 of ESI (central rules)till June 30, 2020.�A payment of �41 crore (approx) inrespect of Permanent DisablementBenefit and Dependants’ Benefit havebeen made to the bank accounts ofbeneficiaries in the month of March.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a causeof great concern. While the whole

nation is under lockdown, POWER-GRID, a central PSU under Ministryof Power, has not just been ensuringuninterrupted 24x7 transmission ofpower but also acting proactively bytaking up humanitarian relief activitiesto aid those impacted by the pandem-ic in India.

It has contributed �200 crore toPM-CARES Fund. Additionally, all itsemployees also contributed one daysalary to the fund.

Along with financial contributionto PM-CARES Fund, the PSU is alsodistributing food packets/groceries toits contractual workers, labourers andneedy people near its sub-station sitesand transmission line offices. Besides,these essential items, distribution ofmasks, sanitisers and soaps is also being

carried out. So far, around 81,000 ben-eficiaries have been providedRation/food items worth �4.27 crore atmore than 200 locations across thecountry.

The PSU has also provided assis-tance to hospitals for purchase of ven-tilators, strengthening medical facilitiesas well as creation of infrastructure formanaging this pandemic. PPE kits, ven-tilators and other hospital equipmenthave also been distributed to varioushospitals all over the country in its sup-port for the fight against COVID-19.

Further, its teams posted in theoffices at various locations across thecountry are sensitising people aboutthe importance of social distancingduring this pandemic and how theimplementation of social distancingcan curtail the spread of this life threat-ening disease.

The current crisis situation due toCOVID-19 has posed an unprece-

dented threat across the country.Almost all the states and UTs in Indiaare affected by it, in varying degrees.The trade and industry, at all levelsand all segments of society are alsoaffected. The situation has dealt a seri-ous blow to the livelihood of the poorand marginalised communities too.

TRIFED under Ministry of TribalAffairs, with the assistance of statenodal departments and state imple-mentation agencies initiated PradhanMantri VanDhan Yojana (PMVDY)where a total of 1205 Van Dhan VikasKendras (VDVKs) have been sanc-tioned in 27 states and one union ter-ritory involving around 18,075 VanDhan self-help groups (SHGs). Thisconstitutes over 3.6 lakh tribal gath-erers in the scheme.

TRIFED has issued dos and don’tsadvisories relating to NTFP to be keptin mind during COVID-19, provid-ing suggestive practices for maintain-ing personal hygiene, adopting cash-less practices, among others. It is alsoworking on setting up of 15,000 ‘VanDhan Social Distancing Awareness

and Livelihood Centres’ from therecently sanctioned Van Dhan SHGsamong the 1205 Van Dhan Kendrasunder Van Dhan Samajik DooriJagrookta Abhiyaan. One leader fromeach Van Dhan SHG will be identifiedfor generating awareness among thecommunity about social distancingand steps to be followed. He would bemade aware of the symptoms of thedisease, information about the near-est medical facility/ practitioner incase of need for contacting or report-ing and will disseminate information

to the community. The SHG would beprovided with protective masks andsanitising products (soaps, disinfec-tants).

It has collaborated with UNICEFfor developing a digital communica-tion strategy for promoting thescheme and utilising the VDVKplatform for risk communication andwell-being during the pandemic.UNICEF is providing the necessarysupport to be circulated to the SHGcenters in the form of digital multi-media content, webinars for virtual

trainings (basic orientation onCOVID response, key preventivebehaviours), social media campaigns(on social distancing, home quaran-tine, etc) and Vanya radio.

A webinar with UNICEF train-ing team was held on Thursday. Itwitnessed national level participationfrom representatives of state imple-menting and nodal agencies, mem-bers from SHGs, among several oth-ers from all over the country. Theinformational training helped theparticipants in knowing the keypreventive measures to take againstCOVID-19, and clarified doubtsand dispelled the myths related to thepandemic. It also involved interac-tion from viewers in the form of pollquestions, with viewers answeringquestions based on the informationprovided in the discussion. Thewebinar saw over 2,380 users, andamassed over 26,000 views whilebeing live-streamed on Facebook.Further informational trainings arescheduled to be held in the forth-coming weeks in order to reach evermore districts and tribal familiesacross the country.

National Cadet Corps cadetsare volunteering country-

wide to help the civil adminis-tration. They are taking uptasks and are working shoulderto shoulder with civil defenceand police personnel.

As the instructions toutilise the cadets for logisticsand supply chain managementduties have reached variousdistrict headquarters, the dis-trict administration is seekingtheir support, by requisitioningthem from the NCC direc-torates.

Exercise NCC Yogdancommenced on April 1. Within10 days approximately, 2,000cadets have been employedcountrywide in 12 states, withmaximum in Tamil Nadu (306cadets).

Volunteer NCC cadets,who are above 18 years and arefrom senior division (for boyscadets) and senior wing (forgirls cadets) are only beingemployed for these duties. Thecadets are voluntarily con-tributing in the cause, to fightagainst COVID-19. It’s beingensured that cadets are trainedand properly briefed about thetasks, and also provided withsafety equipment like masks,gloves. They are beingemployed under supervision ofofficers, PI staff and ANOs.They are not being employedin areas which are sealed as

hotspots.They are being employed

for various duties like, trafficmanagement, supply chainmanagement, preparation andpackaging of food items, distri-bution of food and essential

items, queue management,social distancing ,manning con-trol centres and CCTV controlrooms.

As the lockdown continues,more states are in the process ofrequisitioning NCC cadets for

various tasks. HeadquartersDGNCC is monitoring thenumber of cadets volunteeringfor the cause. As per the last fig-ures, 50,000 cadets have volun-teered to contribute in ExerciseNCC Yogdan.

To minimise disruption in acade-mic schedule, Sharda University

continues to deliver online classesacross all the courses. Due to the lock-down amid global COVID-19 out-break, the institute has taken this ini-tiative to ensure that students’ acad-emic interests aren’t compromised.

It has put together a contingencyplan in which the faculty are work-ing towards ensuring a seamlesstransformation to digital learning viatechnology tools and solutions likeZoom, Big Blue Button, GoogleClassroom. The iCloud LMS softwarethat the university subscribes iscloud-based and highly-advanced.Coursera and SWAYAM are some ofthe technologies used by students ofSchool of Design and Planning formaking their assignments. Teachersand students have access to thissoftware at homes but for studentswho are in remote areas, teachers arehelping them through email,WhatsApp or audio lectures. Studentsand faculty can access library fromanywhere as it is made availableonline.

YK Gupta, pro chancellor, ShardaUniversity, said, “Online learninghas a lot of potential and eventhough it has been thrust into thespotlight under unfortunate circum-stances, it is time that educationalinstitutions utilise this tool effective-ly. Our aim is to keep a strict sched-ule in place so that students are ableto complete their courses and projectson time. We are also focussing on theadmission procedures through onlinecounsellors so that no student aspir-ing for a better future is left behinddue to the COVID-19 crisis.”

Many international students arestaying in hostels at the universitycampus. The institute has made nec-essary arrangements to ensure theirsafety and well-being. Students havebeen assigned single rooms and thecampus is being sanitised regularly.Students have been given access tofree Wi-Fi.

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�����F The Tour de Francewill be raced from August 29to September 20, organisersannounced on Wednesday,postponing cycling’s flagshipevent originally slated tostart on June 27 due to thecoronavirus lockdown.

The news comes as arelief to professional cyclingteams and fans with four-times Tour winner ChrisFroome welcoming ‘light atthe end of the tunnel’ forthose suffering underCOVID-19 lockdown.

The decision moves thethree-week race out of itstraditional slot in the sum-mer holidays where road-side crowds of around 12million would be expectedto gather in festive spirit.

It will now finish on the

same day the postponedFrench Open champi-onships starts, September20, giving a worrying indi-cation of a potential autumnfixture pile-up as moresports seek to reschedulesuspended events.

Tour director ChristianPrudhomme said the newstart was based on a doublerationale.

“We wanted to be as far

away from the pandemic aspossible,” he said.

“The president put aJuly 14 date on public gath-erings, but it seemed morereasonable to us to allow theriders time to get into peakcondition.”

While the dates havechanged the original routeremains intact, starting inNice and finishing in Paris.

“The Tour is still theTour. All the challenges weset remain intact,” he said ofthe hotly anticipated climb-laden route that rarely straysfar from the mountains.

The new date solves aseries of problems afterorganisers faced up to thereality that the race couldnever take place on theoriginal dates. AFP

����� ? . (��

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman EhsanMani has asserted that the PCB will not

agree to cancelling the Asia Cup, scheduledin the UAE in September, to make room forthe Indian Premier League, which has beenpostponed due to the COVID-19 pandem-ic.

The IPL was to be held from March 29to May 24 but has been postponed indefi-nitely because of a extended lockdown.

“I have read and heard about these spec-ulations but right now just remember thathaving or not having the Asia Cup is not adecision between Pakistan and India itinvolves other countries as well,” assertedMani on Tuesday.

Pakistan were to host the event but itwas shifted to Dubai and Abu Dhabi afterIndia expressed reluctance to visit Pakistanowing to security concerns and the straineddiplomatic ties between the two countries.

“...It is important to have the Asia Cupif cricket activities resume by then becausedevelopment of Asian cricket depends onfunding from the tournament. It is impor-tant for many countries who are membersof the Asian Cricket Council,” he added ina podcast released by the PCB.

However, he also conceded that hold-ing the Asia Cup this year is a big challengebecause right now “we don’t know if it canbe held or not.”

“But if the conditions change and wecan have the Asia Cup, it must be held asearnings from it are distributed as develop-ment funds to member countries for nexttwo years,” he said.

He said reports about the Asia Cupbeing hosted by Bangladesh or UAE weremere speculation at this stage.

� -�% '�F England batsman JosButtler was effusive in his praise forRohit Sharma, describing the Indiaopener as an awesome player,who can ‘effortlessly’ take downany opposition by scoring bighundreds.

“Rohit Sharma I think is anawesome player,” Buttler said dur-ing an Instagram Live session onRajasthan Royals page. “Effortless.Quite a lot of Indian players havethat awesome style.

“He has been fantastic for along time and I just like the wayhe bats and the effortless nature inwhich he takes people down.”

Rohit is currently regarded asone of the greatest ODI players,ranked only behind India skipperVirat Kohli at the top of the ICCrankings. The Mumbaikar is theonly batsman to have scored threedouble hundreds in the format.

The 32-year-old had equalledSachin Tendulkar’s record formost centuries in World Cupmatches when he scored five hun-dreds at the 2019 World Cup toend up as the highest-scorer with648 runs.

“One of the things I have seen

with Rohit is that if he gets in, hescores big runs and really affectsthe game. He must have scored 4-5 hundreds in the World Cup lastyear,” said Buttler, who had sharedthe dressing room with Rohit atMumbai Indians in the 2016 and2017 seasons.

Buttler feels the Indian play-ers now have become better innegotiating short balls.

“I think a few years ago peo-ple used to attack Indian playerswith the short ball but Rohitsmashes them. Then you go fullerand he smashes them right downthe ground.” PTI

����� ������

England all-rounder SamCurran on Tuesday said he

still hoped to play under Indiagreat MS Dhoni in the IndianPremier League — and get oneover older brother Tom —despite the coronavirus pan-demic.

The 21-year old was themost expensive England play-er in November’s initial IPLauction, being sold to theChennai Super Kings, cap-tained by Dhoni, for £590,000after a succesful 2019 stint withthe Kings XI Punjab.

Meanwhile the 25-year-old Tom, also of Surrey andEngland, was signed by theRajasthan Royals.

This year’s IPL was meantto start on March 29 beforebeing delayed due to Indiangovernment lockdown andnow with it extended to May3, there is no certainty aboutwhen, or indeed if, the 2020edition will take place.

“No-one knows,” SamCurran told reporters in aconference call with Tom onTuesday.

“It (the IPL) might happenthis year, it might be cancelled,but we have to follow the gov-ernment guidelines.”

Chennai are one of theIPL’s most successful teams,having won the tournamentthree times.

“I was very excited to

move franchises,” said Sam.“Chennai is a great franchisewith all the big names and Ican’t wait to play under MSDhoni.

“Hopefully I will playagainst Tom, hit him every-

where and then hit his stumps.“Dhoni exudes calm,”

added Sam, who said onlyVirat Kohli, Dhoni’s successoras India captain, could rivalhim in terms of superstar sta-tus in cricket crazy India.

“Chennai is quite an oldersquad so there are quite a fewlegends who have made it inthe game,” said Sam.

“Hopefully they will belooking to give tips to theyounger players, so that’s

something I’m really lookingforward to.”

Sam had been preparingfor a ‘massive’ three-monthstint in Asia after being select-ed for England’s tour of SriLanka, which was abandonedbefore the start of the Testseries.

Tom insisted, however,the lack of cricket was “noth-ing in the grand scheme ofthings” even though it was a“shock to the system”.

‘HUGE TEST AMBITIONS’The England all-rounder

Tom hasn’t played red-ballcricket in over a year but sayshe has huge Test ambitions andis developing his skills to makea comeback.

“I’ve definitely got hugeTest ambitions still.

“It’s a tough one becauseI’ve been playing so muchwhite-ball over the last fewyears. Without playingChampionship cricket it ishard,” said the 25-year-old.

Tom, who has played twoTests for England — both inthe 2017-18 Ashes in Australia,hopes to feature in a five-daygame alongside Sam.

“Over the last couple ofyears there was a huge focus onwhite-ball cricket with theICC Men’s Cricket World Cup2019 and rightly so,” he said.

“Now it’s trying to getthat balance between whiteand red-ball cricket and devel-

oping my skills and awaitingmy chance. I’ll keep traininghard and try to take mychances when I can. It wouldbe amazing to play Tests withSam. That’s definitely a hugeambition of ours.”

Sam added: “As Tom said,it’s a dream. Any game youplay for England is obviouslya great privilege but I thinkplaying with your brother or amember of your family givesit that extra special feeling.”

���0��F Former India bats-man VVS Laxman took a jibeat Michael Clarke for hisrecent claims that Australiancricketers “sucked up” to Indiacaptain Virat Kohli for protect-ing their IPL contracts, sayingjust being nice to someonedoesn’t guarantee a spot in thecash-rich tournament.

“Just by being nice tosomeone doesn’t get you aplace in IPL,” Laxman, whoalso mentors IPL teamSunrisers Hyderabad told StarSports on its show CricketConnected.

“Any franchise will look atthe player’s caliber and valueadd to the team, which givesthem desired results by win-ning matches/tournaments.These are the kind of playerswho get IPL contracts. So justbeing nice to someone will notearn you a spot in the IPL.”

Laxman said as a mentorwhen he is on the auctiontable, those players are looked

at who do exceptionally wellfor their country.

“If you’re friendly with anyIndian player it doesn’t meanthat you are getting IPL con-tract. As a mentor, I’m on theauction table and we selectplayers, those internationalplayers that have played excep-tionally well for their countryand can add value to the fran-chise.

“Friendship with anyIndian player doesn’t ensureentry into the IPL,” Laxman,who amassed 8,781 Test runs,said without mincing anywords.

Former India openerKrishnamachari Srikkanthalso shot back at Clarke,terming his comments as‘ridiculous’.

Srikkanth, who was partof the 1983 World Cup win-ning Indian team, said match-es are not won by sledging.

“You do not win matchesjust by sledging. Aussie’s loss

����� ���

India on Wednesday sealed their qualifi-cation for the 2021 Women’s World Cup

following the cancellation of their ODIChampionship round against Pakistan withthe BCCI not getting government clearanceto play the arch-rivals.

The India-Pakistan round was scheduledto take place between July and November lastyear but was always subject to governmentclearance. Both teams will share points forthe cancelled three-match series.

“With respect to the India v Pakistanseries, the TC concluded that the series couldnot be played because of a Force Majeureevent after the BCCI demonstrated that itwas unable to obtain the necessary govern-ment clearances to allow India to participatein the bilateral series against Pakistan,which forms a part of the ICC Women’sChampionship,” said the ICC in a statement.

“The India-Pakistan series was origi-nally scheduled in the sixth round of thecompetition, between July and November2019, but despite the best efforts of boththe boards, it was unable to take place,” itsaid.

The development also means thatIndia, who finished runners-up in the 2017edition, have secured their berth for the2021 World Cup in New Zealand.

All eight teams in the 2017-2020 editionof the ICC Women’s Championship playeach other in a three-match series. HostsNew Zealand and the next four highest-placed teams on the points table qualifydirectly for one-day international cricket’sshowpiece.

“Australia (37 points), England (29),South Africa (25) and now India (23) havequalified by virtue of being the top four.Pakistan (19), New Zealand (17), West Indies(13) and Sri Lanka (5) complete the table,”the statement added.

� '0���� F Former Australian spinnerBrad Hogg feels his country should go allout to ensure that the T20 World Cup is heldas scheduled this year even if it means bring-ing in teams a month in advance in char-tered flights and testing all participatingplayers for COVID-19.

Hogg said he is against the idea of a can-cellation or postponement, and the organ-isers will have to take some proactive deci-sions to ensure the event’s smooth conduct.

“There is a lot of talk that the T20World Cup in Australia could be cancelledor rescheduled to a later date. I don’t likethat...But there are a few issues which we

got to address,” the 49-year-old said in avideo posted on his Twitter handle. “A lotof players have been in lockdown. Theyhaven’t been able to go out, train and pre-pare for a tournament such as the T20World Cup. So we got to get them here amonth, a month-in-a-half earlier that whatwe would do in a normal situation,” he said.He suggested that players be tested beforethey board chartered flights to enterAustralia.

“There is no commercial flights, so wehave to have chartered flights...Before theplayers get on to the chartered flights theyall get tested. PTI

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Veteran opening batsmanMurali Vijay on

Wednesday described his IPLfranchise Chennai SuperKings as a special team in theT20 league with “legends ofworld cricket” forming a partof it.

“CSK is a very very spe-cial team. The kind of play-ers, who came aboard rightfrom the first auction, youname it, they are legends ofworld cricket,” Vijay, whospent five seasons with theteam from 2009-13 in his firststint before re-joining it in2018, was quoted as saying bythe CSK website.

“It was a great honour forus youngsters to step into thedressing room and rub shoul-ders with some of the leg-ends. You get to learn a lot ofthings by watching them andbeing around them,” theright- hander said about hisearly days in the franchise.

The 36-year-old, whohas played for India in 61

Tests, the last being in 2018,was a part of all the three IPL-winning campaigns of CSK.

“Twenty20 was a newformat in 2008/09, and Iguess my game was suited forwhite ball cricket when Istarted. I kind of enjoyed itwhen the opportunity cameto me. I was ready up andgoing,” he said.

“The team atmospherewas such that you want tocontribute because everyoneplays with such energy andintensity. The competitionwas very high.”

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is a loss, his statement was ridiculous I wouldsay,” said 60-year-old Srikkanth.

Srikkanth, himself an aggressive play-er, said that sledging cannot help in any way.

“If you ask Nasser Hussain or SirVivian Richards who are experienced play-ers, you can never score runs or get wick-ets through sledging. You need to play goodcricket and showcase determination; youneed to bowl well to get wickets and bat wellto achieve targets. Sledging cannot help inany way according to my opinion,” he said.

����� ������

The great MichaelHolding has picked

South African Dale Steynamong his top-four fastbowlers across generationsand his list includes fellowWest Indians MalcolmMarshall and AndyRoberts besides AustralianDenis Lillee.

In a Sky Sports podcast,the 66-year-old said hewould pay to watch Steyn,who retired from Tests lastyear.

“I have experience withthose three guys (Marshall,Roberts and Lillee, but justwatching, you can’t go DaleSteyn outside of photogra-phy. He has been one of thegreat fast bowlers in an era.You’d pay to see it,” saidHolding, who picked 249wickets in 60 Tests at 23.68.

Steyn picked 439 Testwickets at a stellar average

of 22.95 and has one of thesmoothest actions in thegame.

Talking about Lillee,Holding said he was acomplete package.

“Lillee had it all:rhythm, aggression con-trol. He was extremely fastwhen he started, but he hadto completely reshape hisaction after a back injuryand find different ways toget hitters out after losinga lot of rhythm.

“When you see thatsomeone can adapt in thatway, you have to rate himhighly, as many players arenot as effective when theymiss a beat,” said Holding,who was nicknamedWhispering Death for hissmooth and silent run-up.

On fellow West IndiansMarshall and Roberts,Holding said: “Malcolmstarted with a goodrhythm, but as time went

on he learned a lot aboutfast bowling. He couldevaluate opposition hittersso quickly and so easily.

“In those days you did-n’t have many tapes orcomputers, it was all in hishead. He understood howto deal with hitters.”

On Roberts, he added:“Andy was someone Ilearned a lot from. Hehardly ever spoke, he usedto walk around the fieldwith a sullen face and peo-ple thought he lookedaggressive and must be amiserable guy. But thatwasn’t Andy.

“He was my room-mate for most of my careerand we used to talk aboutcricket almost every night.A lot of times, we wouldorder food, we would stayin our room and talk aboutcricket. You would neverbelieve how much this guyknows.”