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I n a sign that the Opposition was gearing up to come out of the “lockdown” mode, 22 Opposition parties came on one platform on Friday to question the Narendra Modi Government’s handling of the fallout of Covid-19 pandemic, including humanitarian crisis, and said all powers were now concentrated in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the regime has abandoned any pretence of being a democrat- ic Government. The Opposition parties demanded that the Centre pre- sent a revised and comprehen- sive package that will be a true fiscal stimulus in order to rev up the economy. Presenting a 11-point char- ter to the Modi Government, the Opposition leaders, includ- ing Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee, Uddhav Thackeray, Hemant Soren and NCP chief Sharad Pawar among others issued a joint statement saying grand announcements of 20 lakh crore were made but it has done nothing meaningful to allevi- ate the sufferings of people, particularly the migrants who are toiling hard to reach their destinations. They sought that the Centre facilitate free trans- portation of the migrants who are still on roads without food and water. At the same time it also demanded the Centre con- sult State Governments while allowing international/domes- tic flights. “Present a clear and mean- ingful economic strategy focused on revival and pover- ty alleviation instead of propa- ganda. The 20 lakh crore package and its contents mis- lead the people of India,” said the Opposition. Interacting with Opposition leaders through video conference, the Congress president accused the Modi Government of mismanage- ment in handling the situation prevailing in the country. She said the very spirit of “federal- ism” has been forgotten as all power is now concentrated in the Prime Minister’s Office. “A number of renowned economists are predicting that 2020-21 will end with negative growth of up to minus 5 per cent. The consequences will be catastrophic,” Sonia said. Top Opposition leaders included Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, National Conference Omar Abdullah, DMK’s MK Stalin, CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury among others. Others who attended the meeting and also expressed their views, were Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, AK Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ahmed, HD Devegowda (JDS), Derek O’Brien from Trinamool, Praful Patel (NCP), MK Stalin (DMK), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena), D Raja (CPI), Sharad Yadav (LJD), Dr Omar Abdullah (NC), Tejaswi Yadav and Manoj Jha (RJD), PK Kunhalikutty (IUML), Jayant Chaudhary (RLD), Upendra Kushwaha (RLSP), Badruddin Ajmal (AIUDF), Jitin Ram Manjhi (HAM), Jose K Mani (KC-M), NK Premchandran (RSP), Raju Shetty (Swabhimani Paksh), Thol Thirumavalavan (VCK-TN) and Prof Kondandaram (TJS). Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), however, did not attend the meeting. The Congress chief said Modi’s initial optimism of being able to “conclude the war against the virus in 21 days turned out to be misplaced”. The meeting began by con- doling the loss of lives and destruction in West Bengal and Odisha caused by cyclone Amphan and urged the Centre to declare it as a national calamity for providing better financial assistance to the States. Continued on Page 2 A t least 57 people were killed when a Pakistan International Airlines plane with 99 people on board crashed into a densely popu- lated residential area near the Jinnah International Airport here on Friday, officials said, nearly a week after the Covid- 19-induced air travel restric- tions were lifted by the Government. Flight PK-8303 from Lahore was about to land in Karachi when it crashed at the Jinnah Garden area near Model Colony in Malir, minutes before its landing, they said. The PIA Airbus A320 car- rying 91 passengers and eight crew members has crashed landed into the Jinnah Housing Society located near the airport, a spokesperson of the nation- al carrier said. Thick black smoke rose from the accident scene of devastation in the Model Colony area. Earlier, a PIA Spokesperson and many media reports said that there were 107 people on board the aircraft. Faisal Edhi of the Edhi Welfare Trust said so far 57 bodies have been recovered from the crashed plane. “Our rescue workers have taken out 57 bodies from the remains of the aircraft,” he said. Sindh Health Minister Azra Pechuho said that 19 bodies have been shifted from the crash site to Jinnah hospi- tal and another 20 to the civil hospital. Scores of injured were also rushed to other hospitals. The Minister said there are three survivors, including President of the Bank of Punjab Zafar Masood. He called up his mother to inform her of his well-being. Edhi said that around 25 to 30 residents whose houses were damaged by the plane have also been taken to the hospital, mostly with burn wounds. Continued on Page 2 T he Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has painted a dismal picture of Indian economy on the basis of negative growth and high inflation projection. As a remedial measure, the Central bank cut interest rate by 40 basis points. The RBI said that the impact of Covid-19 is more severe than anticipated and the GDP growth during 2020-21 is likely to remain in the negative territory. The central bank announced a further three- month extension on moratori- um on term loans, deferment of interest on working capital, easing of working capital financing requirements by reducing margins, exemption from being classified as default- er, extension of timeline for stressed assets, and asset clas- sification standstill. The extension on morato- rium on term loans led to a sharp sell off in banking stocks amid fear that the bank will have to prepare them for size- able write off in the coming months. After opening nearly 300 points higher, the 30-share index gave up all the gains to turn negative shortly after the policy announcement by the RBI. After gyrating 770 points during the day, the 30-share Sensex ended 433.56 points or 1.14 per cent lower at 37,673.31. It hit an intra-day low of 37,633.36 and a high of 38,403.54. The broader NSE Nifty plunged 139.25 points or 1.23 per cent to close at 11,174.75. Continued on Page 2 W ith over 6,000 cases and 123 deaths for the second consecutive day, coronavirus cases in India has gone past 1,24,000 with 3,712 casualties. Maharashtra recorded a massive 2,940 fresh cases in single day with 53 deaths while Tamil Nadu and Delhi regis- tered record number of Covid- 19 cases on Friday. With 14 fatalities and 220 fresh cases reported on Friday, the death toll due to Covid-19 rose to 152 in Uttar Pradesh, while the number of cases climbed to 5,735, officials said. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, around 80 per cent cases are reported from five States: Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Delhi and Rajasthan while over 70 per cent cases reported from cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Indore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Aurangabad and Thane. At least 51,307 coronavirus patients have recovered so far. With total cases of 44,582, Maharashtra remains on the top in the list. Continued on Page 2 P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday praised Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for trying hard to fight off the disastrous impact of super cyclone Amphan at a time when the State, much like the entire country, was suffer- ing from the impact of the corona pandemic. The Prime Minister who jointly conducted an aerial survey of the South Bengal dis- tricts of North and South 24 Parganas — to weigh up the extent of devastation left behind by the severe cyclone — along with the Chief Minister and State Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar later said after an administrative meeting that the Union Government would for the time being make an advance assistance of 1,000 crore for immediate relief works. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi on Friday evening announced an advance finan- cial assistance of 500 crore for Odisha after an aerial survey of areas hit by cyclone Amphan and holding a review meeting with Governor Ganeshi Lal and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Modi, accompanied by the Odisha Chief Minister, took the aerial tour of cyclone-hit dis- tricts such as Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Jajpur and Mayurbhanj for about 90 minutes. Continued on Page 2 S hops in Southeast Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, which were closed for five months first due to anti-Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) protest and then the coronavirus lockdown, opened on Friday, the last Friday of Ramzan. The move comes after the Delhi Government lifted some curbs during lockdown 4.0 and allowed shops to function in non-red zone areas. However, despite the festival of Eid being just round the corner, the market did not witness much footfall mainly because of fear of the virus. T o make most of healthcare facilities in charitable and private hospitals to deal with the coronavirus situation, the Maharashtra Government has virtually acquired 80 per cent of non-isolation beds in these hospitals across the State. Invoking the provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, Disaster Management Act, 2005, Maharashtra Nursing Homes Act and other relevant acts, the Health department in an order issued late on Thursday night said the providers would make all attempts to increase their bed capacity relating to both isola- tion and non-isolation beds. “That means 80 per cent of the isolation beds available with any healthcare provider under this notification should be regulated by the Government, district collec- tors and Municipal Commissioners and also 80 per cent of non-isolation beds. The providers may charge their rack charges to the remaining 20 per cent beds,” it said.
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May 10, 2023

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Page 1: @aa RTeZgZeZVd aZT\ fa - Daily Pioneer

��������������� ��������� ��� ������� ����� ������������� ������������������������ ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ����������!�������������������������������������"������������� ���������"#������������#��$�������������$�������� ������������������������#������������"��������������������������������������%�

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In a sign that the Oppositionwas gearing up to come out

of the “lockdown” mode, 22Opposition parties came onone platform on Friday toquestion the Narendra ModiGovernment’s handling of thefallout of Covid-19 pandemic,including humanitarian crisis,and said all powers were nowconcentrated in the PrimeMinister’s Office (PMO) andthe regime has abandoned anypretence of being a democrat-ic Government.

The Opposition partiesdemanded that the Centre pre-sent a revised and comprehen-sive package that will be a truefiscal stimulus in order to revup the economy.

Presenting a 11-point char-ter to the Modi Government,the Opposition leaders, includ-ing Congress president SoniaGandhi, Chief MinistersMamata Banerjee, UddhavThackeray, Hemant Soren andNCP chief Sharad Pawaramong others issued a jointstatement saying grandannouncements of �20 lakhcrore were made but it has donenothing meaningful to allevi-ate the sufferings of people,particularly the migrants whoare toiling hard to reach theirdestinations.

They sought that theCentre facilitate free trans-

portation of the migrants whoare still on roads without foodand water. At the same time italso demanded the Centre con-sult State Governments whileallowing international/domes-tic flights.

“Present a clear and mean-ingful economic strategyfocused on revival and pover-ty alleviation instead of propa-ganda. The �20 lakh crorepackage and its contents mis-lead the people of India,” saidthe Opposition.

Interacting withOpposition leaders throughvideo conference, the Congresspresident accused the ModiGovernment of mismanage-ment in handling the situationprevailing in the country. She

said the very spirit of “federal-ism” has been forgotten as allpower is now concentrated inthe Prime Minister’s Office.

“A number of renownedeconomists are predicting that2020-21 will end with negativegrowth of up to minus 5 percent. The consequences will becatastrophic,” Sonia said.

Top Opposition leadersincluded Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee,Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray, JharkhandCM Hemant Soren, NCP chiefSharad Pawar, NationalConference Omar Abdullah,DMK’s MK Stalin, CPI(M)’sSitaram Yechury among others.

Others who attended themeeting and also expressed

their views, were Congressleaders Rahul Gandhi, AKAntony, Ghulam Nabi Azad,Mallikarjun Kharge, Ahmed,HD Devegowda (JDS), DerekO’Brien from Trinamool,Praful Patel (NCP), MK Stalin(DMK), Sanjay Raut (ShivSena), D Raja (CPI), SharadYadav (LJD), Dr OmarAbdullah (NC), Tejaswi Yadavand Manoj Jha (RJD), PKKunhalikutty (IUML), JayantChaudhary (RLD), UpendraKushwaha (RLSP), BadruddinAjmal (AIUDF), Jitin RamManjhi (HAM), Jose K Mani(KC-M), NK Premchandran(RSP), Raju Shetty(Swabhimani Paksh), TholThirumavalavan (VCK-TN)and Prof Kondandaram (TJS).

Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP), Samajwadi Party andAam Aadmi Party (AAP),however, did not attend themeeting.

The Congress chief saidModi’s initial optimism ofbeing able to “conclude the waragainst the virus in 21 daysturned out to be misplaced”.

The meeting began by con-doling the loss of lives anddestruction in West Bengaland Odisha caused by cycloneAmphan and urged the Centreto declare it as a nationalcalamity for providing betterfinancial assistance to theStates.

Continued on Page 2

���� 1�2����

At least 57 people were killedwhen a Pakistan

International Airlines planewith 99 people on boardcrashed into a densely popu-lated residential area near theJinnah International Airporthere on Friday, officials said,nearly a week after the Covid-19-induced air travel restric-tions were lifted by theGovernment.

Flight PK-8303 fromLahore was about to land inKarachi when it crashed at theJinnah Garden area near ModelColony in Malir, minutesbefore its landing, they said.

The PIA Airbus A320 car-rying 91 passengers and eightcrew members has crashedlanded into the Jinnah HousingSociety located near the airport,a spokesperson of the nation-al carrier said.

Thick black smoke rosefrom the accident scene ofdevastation in the ModelColony area. Earlier, a PIASpokesperson and many mediareports said that there were 107people on board the aircraft.

Faisal Edhi of the EdhiWelfare Trust said so far 57bodies have been recoveredfrom the crashed plane. “Ourrescue workers have taken out57 bodies from the remains of

the aircraft,” he said.Sindh Health Minister

Azra Pechuho said that 19bodies have been shifted fromthe crash site to Jinnah hospi-tal and another 20 to the civilhospital. Scores of injured werealso rushed to other hospitals.

The Minister said thereare three survivors, includingPresident of the Bank of PunjabZafar Masood. He called up hismother to inform her of hiswell-being. Edhi said thataround 25 to 30 residentswhose houses were damaged bythe plane have also been takento the hospital, mostly withburn wounds.

Continued on Page 2

���� -./�,.0��

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has painted a dismal

picture of Indian economy onthe basis of negative growthand high inflation projection.As a remedial measure, theCentral bank cut interest rateby 40 basis points. The RBI saidthat the impact of Covid-19 ismore severe than anticipatedand the GDP growth during2020-21 is likely to remain inthe negative territory.

The central bankannounced a further three-

month extension on moratori-um on term loans, defermentof interest on working capital,easing of working capitalfinancing requirements byreducing margins, exemptionfrom being classified as default-er, extension of timeline for

stressed assets, and asset clas-sification standstill.

The extension on morato-rium on term loans led to asharp sell off in banking stocksamid fear that the bank willhave to prepare them for size-able write off in the comingmonths. After opening nearly300 points higher, the 30-shareindex gave up all the gains toturn negative shortly after thepolicy announcement by theRBI. After gyrating 770 pointsduring the day, the 30-shareSensex ended 433.56 points or1.14 per cent lower at37,673.31. It hit an intra-daylow of 37,633.36 and a high of38,403.54.

The broader NSE Niftyplunged 139.25 points or 1.23per cent to close at 11,174.75.

Continued on Page 2

���� -./�,.0��

With over 6,000 cases and123 deaths for the second

consecutive day, coronaviruscases in India has gone past1,24,000 with 3,712 casualties.

Maharashtra recorded amassive 2,940 fresh cases insingle day with 53 deaths whileTamil Nadu and Delhi regis-tered record number of Covid-19 cases on Friday.

With 14 fatalities and 220fresh cases reported on Friday,the death toll due to Covid-19rose to 152 in Uttar Pradesh,while the number of casesclimbed to 5,735,

officials said.According to the Ministry

of Health and Family Welfare,around 80 per cent cases arereported from five States:Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,Gujarat, Delhi and Rajasthanwhile over 70 per cent casesreported from cities likeMumbai, Delhi, Chennai,Ahmedabad, Pune, Indore,Kolkata, Hyderabad,Aurangabad and Thane.

At least 51,307 coronaviruspatients have recovered so far.With total cases of 44,582,Maharashtra remains on thetop in the list.

Continued on Page 2

���������� ���� 1 01�'�

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday praised

Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee for trying hard to fightoff the disastrous impact ofsuper cyclone Amphan at atime when the State, much likethe entire country, was suffer-ing from the impact of thecorona pandemic.

The Prime Minister whojointly conducted an aerialsurvey of the South Bengal dis-tricts of North and South 24Parganas — to weigh up theextent of devastation leftbehind by the severe cyclone —along with the Chief Ministerand State Governor JagdeepDhankhar later said after anadministrative meeting thatthe Union Government wouldfor the time being make anadvance assistance of �1,000crore for immediate reliefworks.

Meanwhile, Prime MinisterModi on Friday eveningannounced an advance finan-cial assistance of �500 crore forOdisha after an aerial survey ofareas hit by cyclone Amphanand holding a review meetingwith Governor Ganeshi Laland Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik.

Modi, accompanied by theOdisha Chief Minister, took theaerial tour of cyclone-hit dis-tricts such as Jagatsinghpur,Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore,Jajpur and Mayurbhanj forabout 90 minutes.

Continued on Page 2

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Shops in Southeast Delhi’sShaheen Bagh, which were

closed for five months first dueto anti-Citizen AmendmentAct (CAA) protest and then thecoronavirus lockdown, openedon Friday, the last Friday ofRamzan.

The move comes after theDelhi Government lifted somecurbs during lockdown 4.0and allowed shops to functionin non-red zone areas.However, despite the festival ofEid being just round the corner,the market did not witnessmuch footfall mainly becauseof fear of the virus.

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To make most of healthcarefacilities in charitable and

private hospitals to deal withthe coronavirus situation, theMaharashtra Government hasvirtually acquired 80 per centof non-isolation beds in thesehospitals across the State.

Invoking the provisions ofthe Epidemic Diseases Act,1897, Disaster ManagementAct, 2005, MaharashtraNursing Homes Act and otherrelevant acts, the Healthdepartment in an order issuedlate on Thursday night said theproviders would make allattempts to increase their bedcapacity relating to both isola-tion and non-isolation beds.

“That means 80 per cent ofthe isolation beds availablewith any healthcare providerunder this notification shouldbe regulated by theGovernment, district collec-tors and MunicipalCommissioners and also 80per cent of non-isolation beds.The providers may charge theirrack charges to the remaining20 per cent beds,” it said.

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Page 2: @aa RTeZgZeZVd aZT\ fa - Daily Pioneer

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Pauri: A man, who was underhome quarantine after return-ing from Ghaziabad, died inPauri district of Uttarakhand,officials said on Friday.

This is the third death inquarantine reported from thedistrict.

The man from Pipli villageof the district died lateThursday night, Pabau policechawki in charge Ajay Singhsaid.

The cause of his death isbeing ascertained as he wasunwell for a long time andundergoing treatment at a hos-pital in Ghaziabad, Singh said.

He had returned home onMay 10 and was quarantined athome. His condition worsenedlate on Thursday night and hedied, the official said.

He seems to have died of aheart attack, an official said.

Two persons had died inquarantine in Pauri district onMay 17 and 18. PTI

Noida (UP): People fromNoida and Greater Noida witha confirmed flight or train tick-et will not require any “pass” totravel to Delhi, the GautamBuddh Nagar police said onFriday.

The decision has beentaken in view of resumption ofpassenger flights and rail ser-vices in the coming days, thepolice said.

At present the Noida-Delhiborder is sealed for movementexcept for essential servicesand people having passes issuedby the district administration.

“The central governmenthas decided to resume somedomestic flights from May 25and some train services fromJune 1 for which online book-ings have also resumed,”

Additional DeputyCommissioner of Police, Lawand Order, Ashutosh Dwivedisaid. “Hence, all police person-nel will ensure that all such peo-ple having confirmed flight ortrain tickets are permitted totravel to the airport or railwaystations. These people do notrequire any other 'pass' fortheir movement,” Dwivedi saidin an order.

Amid the coronavirus pan-demic, the administration hadin April sealed the Noida-Delhiborder for movement except forsome exempted services.

The move, officials hadsaid, was aimed at combatingCOVID-19 transmission as sev-eral of the coronavirus cases inGautam Buddh Nagar could betraced to Delhi. PTI

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Friday allowedEnforcement Directorate (ED)to attach properties of JPMorgan, which was engaged intransactions with the now-defunct Amrapali Group toallegedly siphon off home buy-ers money in violation of theForeign ExchangeManagement Act (FEMA) andFDI norms.

The ED told the top courtthat it has prima facie identifiedRs 187 Crores in the accountsof JP Morgan, as proceeds ofcrime under the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA) and it needs permis-sion to attach its properties torecover the same.

A bench of Justices ArunMishra and UU Lalit, whichtook up the matter throughvideo conferencing, grantedthe permission to the ED toattach the properties of themulti-national firm, a seniorlawyer associated with thecase said.

Additional SolicitorGeneral Sanjay Jain, appearingfor ED told the bench that theprobe agency has so far primafacie identified �187 crore inthe accounts of JP Morgan,which according to them areproceeds of crime under theanti-money laundering law.

He said that the top courthad on December 2, last yearrestrained the agency fromattaching any properties andtherefore now it needs per-mission to attach them, inorder to move ahead as per law.

Meanwhile, the top courtasked Additional SolicitorGeneral Vikramjeet Banerjeeto seek instructions on pro-viding �500 crore as loan toNBCC for completing thestalled projects of the embat-tled real estate firm Amrapali,as there is no private playerinvolved in it.

Banerjee told the benchthat a meeting is scheduled infinance ministry on the issueand he would inform the con-

cerned authorities of the viewsexpressed by the court.

He said that the sugges-tions given by court appointedreceiver, senior advocate RVenkataramani, are beinglooked into by the State Bankof India for relaxing the guide-lines for disbursing of loan.

The bench said that gov-ernment has to take care of thefunding as there are no privateplayers involved in this andthese stalled projects are stuckdue to lack of funding.

It said that these unsoldinventories also have moneystuck and if they are complet-ed and sold, they may fetch aconsiderable amount.

The bench said that fund-ing through SBI Cap under gov-ernment's stress funding is con-cerned, a relaxed policy can beissued for Amrapali projects.

The top court said that itwould take up the matter nextweek and asked Banerjee to seekinstructions on possible fund-ing of stalled projects. PTI

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New Delhi: Accusing theOpposition of "double speak",the BJP on Friday slammed itas well as Congress presidentSonia Gandhi for their criti-cism of the Narendra ModiGovernment over its handlingof the coronavirus crisis, sayingthey have become "discon-nected" from people and"speaking out of frustration".

Senior BJP leader andUnion Minister PrakashJavadekar alleged theOpposition was doing negativepolitics when it should haveprojected a united face in com-bating Covid-19.

"The Opposition is dis-playing negative politics. It isindulging in hypocrisy anddouble speak. These partiesearlier asked why the lockdownwas not being extended andnow they are asking why youare doing so," he told reporters.

Non-BJP ruled states likeWest Bengal first did not use

Shramik trains as much asthey should have and now theCongress is doing politics bysending very few buses, hesaid, in an apparent referenceto the opposition party's pro-posal to send buses to UttarPradesh to ferry migrants.

Hitting out at SoniaGandhi for her criticism of thegovernment' Rs 20 lakh croreeconomic package, Javadekarsaid the Centre had earliergiven Rs 1.70 lakh crore cash tothe poor and has also hiked theMNREGA budget to over Rs 1lakh crore.

"These parties havebecome disconnected withpeople and are speaking out offrustration. People are verymuch with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi whose effortsto combat the coronavirus hasdrawn accolades from worldleaders. The situation in Indiais much better for a country ofits population," he said. PTI

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From Page 1RBI Governor Shaktikanta

Das said India is seeing collapseof demand, dip in petroleumproduct consumption and fallin private consumption. Hesaid industrial productionshrank by close to 17 per centin March with manufacturingactivity down by 21 per cent.Output of core industries werecontracted by 6.5 per cent.

The outlook of inflationalso remains "highly uncer-tain", the RBI Governor saidwhile announcing a 40-basispoint cut in the repo rate as partof the monetary measures todeal with the current crisis. It isthe second sharp cut in the keypolicy rate in two months. OnMarch 27, the Monetary PolicyCommittee (MPC), the rate-setting panel of the RBI, had cutthe key short-term lending rateby 75 basis points.

Given all the uncertaintiesrelated to the lockdown andsocial distancing, he said, "GDP(gross domestic product)growth in 2020-21 is estimatedto remain in negative territory,with some pick-up in growth

impulses from second half of2020-21 onwards."

Observing that the risk tothe growth is "gravest", in anaddress through television, theGovernor said, "The combinedimpact of demand compressionand supply disruption willdepress economic activity in thefirst half of the year".

Even if the economic activ-ities are restored in a phasedmanner, the combination of fis-cal, monetary and administra-tive measures being currentlyundertaken would create con-ditions for a gradual revival inactivity only in the second halfof 2020-21, he added.

"Nonetheless, downsiderisks to this assessment aresignificant and contingent uponthe containment of the pan-demic and quick phasing out ofsocial distancing/lockdowns,"Das said, adding that muchwould depend on how quicklythe Covid-19 curve flattensand begins to moderate.

The end-May 2020 releaseof NSO on national incomeshould provide greater clarity,enabling more specific projec-

tions of GDP growth in termsof both magnitude and direc-tion, he said.

Das-headed MPC, whosemeeting was advanced, was ofthe view that the macroeco-nomic impact of the pandem-ic is turning out to be moresevere than initially anticipated,and various sectors of the econ-omy are experiencing acutestress.

Also, the impact of theshock was compounded by theinteraction of supply disrup-tions and demand compression.In view of the virus crisis, thethree-day meeting of the rate-setting body was advanced toMay 20-22 from the earlierscheduled date of June 3-5.

"The recent release ofmacroeconomic data, that forthe first time revealed the dam-age wrought by Covid-19,brought forward the need for anoff-cycle meeting of the MPC,"the Governor said.

He said domestic econom-ic activity has been impactedseverely by the two-monthlockdown. The top-six indus-trialised States that account for

about 60 per cent of industrialoutput are largely in red ororange zones.

Giving details, he said elec-tricity and petroleum prod-ucts consumption -- indicatorsof day-to-day demand -- haveplunged into steep declines.

The double whammy interms of losses of both demandand production has, in turn,taken its toll on fiscal rev-enues, he said.

Investment demand hasbeen virtually halted by adecline of 36 per cent in theproduction of capital goods inMarch, which was coincidentwith a contraction of 27 percent in imports of capital goodsin March and 57.5 per cent inApril.

"The biggest blow fromCovid-19 has been to privateconsumption, which accountsfor about 60 per cent of domes-tic demand," Das said in hisnearly 30 minutes address.

He said that by all counts,the macroeconomic and finan-cial conditions are austere. "Theglobal economy is inexorablyheaded into recession."

From Page 1The virtual meeting of Opposition leaders

comes almost two months after the Centredeclared a nationwide lockdown on March 25to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

"That the present Government has nosolutions is worrying, but that it has no empa-thy or compassion for the poor and vulnerableis heartbreaking. The Government has alsoabandoned any pretence of being a democrat-ic Government. All power is now concentrat-ed in one office, the PMO. The spirit ofFederalism which is an integral part of ourConstitution is all but forgotten," Sonia said inher opening remarks.

The Congress chief noted that lakhs ofmigrant workers, many with children, walkinghundreds of kilometres, without money, foodor medicines, have become the "defining imageof the pandemic".

"Every economist of repute had advised animmediate need for a massive fiscal stimulus. ThePrime Minister's announcement on May 12 of agrand Rs 20 lakh crore package - and the FinanceMinister spelling out its details over the next fivedays, have turned out to be a cruel joke on thecountry," she said.

"Far from offering succour and support, theGovernment has embarked on a wild adventureof so-called reforms including a grand clearancesale of PSUs and repeal of labour laws. Thereis not even pretence of consultation with stake-holders or debate in Parliament. We deplorethese unilateral moves," Sonia mentioned.

She said the Government has largely ignoredthe suggestions of like-minded Oppositionparties to transfer cash and free food grains tothe 13 crore families at the bottom of the eco-nomic pyramid; provide wage protection to laidoff and retrenched workers and assistancefund for 5.8 crore micro small medium enter-prises (MSME).

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From Page 1"For the immediate need,

the Government of Indiaannounces Rs 500 crore forOdisha, as a measure inadvance. The Centre will fur-ther help the Odisha govern-ment and make rest of thearrangements to come out ofthis crisis, after the completesurvey and the formation of arehabilitation plan," PrimeMinister Modi said.

The cyclone caused large-scale damage to infrastruc-ture, public and private prop-erty in North and South 24Parganas, East and WestMidnapore, Kolkata, Howrahand Hooghly districts.

"The Bengal Governmenttogether with the Central agen-cies has done a good job underthe leadership of MamataBanerjee to fight the crisis inthe wake of cyclone Amphan,"the Prime Minister saidannouncing "an advance inter-im assistance of Rs 1,000 crorefor the State."

Reminding that "the'mantras' of fighting coronaand fighting a cyclone aremutually contradictory to theextent that to fight the pan-demic one has to stay indoorsand maintain social distancingwhile to evade the impact ofcyclone people have to moveout immediately to the saferplaces," --- which made tacklingthe two crisis all the more dif-ficult --- the Prime Ministersaid that the "Centre will workshoulder-to-shoulder with theState Government for its recon-struction…" "We will stand bythe State Government and helpit within all the prescribednorms… In this time of distressand despair the entire the entirecountry is with the people ofBengal," he said. A "detailedsurvey will be conducted of thedamage to agriculture, powerand other sectors besides dam-age to the houses," he saidannouncing Rs 2 lakh for thenext of the kin of those whohave died in the cyclone and Rs50,000 for those injured.

Congress leader of Lok

Sabha Adhir Chowdhury, how-ever, wondered whether "apeanut of an amount of Rs1,000 will be able to take careof such large-scale destructionas this. They will need thou-sands of crores to rebuildBengal and the Centre shouldthink in that direction. Rs1,000 crore is nothing."

Mamata who was withModi during the one hour chop-per ride later said "we saw largeparts Namkhana, Kakdweep,Hingalganj, Basirhat and otherareas. There is nothing left inthese areas. The damage hasbeen so extensive. In such cir-cumstances when he (PrimeMinister) has seen things forhimself I will not make anydemand. Rather I will ask themto send the assistance --- what-ever they decide to send ---immediately because we willhave to start reconstructionwork immediately. We have toreconstruct tens of embank-ments which have been washedaway … as these are coastal areaswater is gushing in and villageshave gone under water…"

Her claim to declare thecalamity as a national disasterfound support for the opposi-tion with the 22 outfits extend-ing sympathy with the Stateurge the Centre to "immedi-ately declare this as a nationalcalamity and substantially helpthe states in facing the impactof this disaster."

Union Minister BabulSupriyo along with his minis-terial colleagues DebashreeChowdhury, DharmendraPradhan and PC Sarangi tooconducted an aerial survey ofthe area in a separate chopper.

Meanwhile upward revis-ing the death toll sources atState Secretariat Nabanna saidthat 86 people had perished inthe cyclone adding the numbercould further go up in subse-quent days. Out of these 19people have died in Kolkata.Among the dead included vic-tims of wall collapse, electro-cution, tree fall, drowning,snake bite, and even panicheart attack sources said.

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From Page 1The aircraft wings during

the crash landing hit the hous-es in the residential colonybefore crashing down.

“At least 25 houses havebeen damaged in this inci-dent,” Edhi said. “The first pri-ority is to rescue the people. Themain hurdle is narrow streetsand presence of ordinary peo-ple who gathered at the placeafter the crash but they havebeen dispersed,” the ministersaid.

According to a PIA official,the captain informed the airtraffic control that he was hav-ing problems with the landinggear before the aircraft disap-peared from the radar.

Thick black smoke rosefrom a scene of devastation inthe Model Colony area.Television footage showed res-cue crews combing throughdebris strewn across the streetsof the district — 3 km north-east of the airport — where anumber of houses have beendestroyed.

The cause of the crash is yetto be confirmed. PIA chiefexecutive Air Vice MarshalArshad Malik said the pilot hadtold traffic control that theplane was experiencing “tech-

nical difficulties”. Malik reject-ed reports that the plane hadproblems even before flying.Talking to media, he said theaircraft was completely safeand sound.

He said all checks and pro-cedures were done and “tech-nically as well as administra-tively everything was in placeand perfect”.

The plane with 99 peopleon board came for landing butjust before landing the pilot saidhe was going for a go-around.While coming for second land-ing, it developed some problemsand crashed. “The real cause ofthe mishap will be known afterinquiry, which will be free andfair and it will be provided withmedia,” he said.

He said some houses weredamaged but none of them col-lapsed. There was no death onground so far. Malik said thatthe entire operation will taketwo to three days to complete.Pakistan’s Dunya News said ithad obtained a recording of theconversation, also posted onmonitoring website liveatc.Net.

In it the pilot says they have“lost two engines”. Several sec-onds later he calls “Mayday,Mayday, Mayday” and there isno further communication.

From Page 1The number of fatalities in the State

rose to 1,518, highest in India. This wasthe sixth consecutive day when the Statereported more than 2,000 new coron-avirus cases. Mumbai alone reported1,751 new positive cases and 27 morefatalities in the last 24 hours, taking thetotal number of cases to 27,068. Thedeath toll also surged to 909. Of thesecases, Mumbai’s hotspot Dharavi report-ed 53 new cases. Total positive cases inDharavi increase to 1,478 and 57 deaths.

Tamil Nadu has reported 786 newcases, taking the total cases of 14,753 inthe State. The State reported four moredeaths taking the toll to 98. Chennaireported 569 cases in a day taking thetotal tally to 9,370 cases. At least fivesenior doctors at the StanleyGovernment Hospital in Chennai havetested positive for Covid-19.

Chengalpattu reported 40 cases,Thiruvallur 39, Madurai 33,Virudhunagar 26, Tirunelveli 18 andRamanathapuram 13.

Tamil Nadu had the highest num-ber of coronavirus cases afterMaharashtra.

Gujarat is the third in the top threeStates that has highest number of coro-navirus case 13,273. The State hasreported 363 new cases and 29 deathsin the last 24 hours. Of them, 26 deathsoccurred in Ahmedabad only.

Ahmedabad reported 275 new casesin a single day, taking the total numberof cases to 9,724. Surat reported 29 caseswhile Vadodara 21. Gandhinagar hasreported three new cases. The total fatal-ity in Gujarat is now 802, that is the sec-ond highest in the country.

Delhi also registered a huge spike incoronavirus count. At least 660 peopletested positive for coronavirus and 14deaths in last 24 hours. The nationalCapital recorded 12,319 coronaviruscases.

Rajasthan also recorded over 267cases in last 24 hours. The number ofcoronavirus cases increased to 6494.Jodhpur reported 18 cases, Dungarpurand Kota reported 17 each, Pali 15 andJaipur 13.

With 104 new Covid-19 casesreported in the last 24 hours, the totalnumber of coronavirus patients in UttarPradesh has reached 5,619, including3,238 who have been treated and dis-charged and 2,243 active cases. The totalnumber of coronavirus fatality in UP hasreached 138.

Karnataka has reported 138 newcases, taking the total number of casesto 1,743.

West Bengal also registered 135 newcases, taking the total number of casesto 3,332. The State has reported sixdeaths.

Bihar also reported 118 new casesand two deaths in the last 24 hours tak-ing the total number of cases to 2223.

States which have recorded morethan 1,000 coronavirus cases includeWest Bengal (3332), Andhra Pradesh(2692), Punjab (2073), Bihar (2223),Telangana (1761), Karnataka (1748),Jammu and Kashmir (1508), Odisha(1154) and Haryana (1069).

Kerala also reported its biggest sin-gle-day increase - 42 cases. With 15cases, taking the total number of 328 inJharkhand. With 20 new Covid-19cases in Assam, the total number of casesincreased to 230. Madhya Pradesh hasreported 5,981 cases with 2,843 recov-ering and 270 deaths.

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In a tragic incident, a 50-year-old man burnt to death after

his car caught fire at a flyoverin National Capital 'sMangolpuri area.

The deceased has beenidentified as Ram Kishan, a res-ident of Karala.

According to a seniorpolice official, on Thursday,police received informationregarding fire in an Ecco car.

"During enquiry, the vehi-cle was found at flyover nearKali Mata Mandir, outer ringroad. The driver was found onthe seat in burnt condition whowas declared brought deadwhen he was rushed to a hos-pital," said the senior policeofficial.

"The vehicle was carryingsome plastic material. It has aCNG kit and cause of fire is beingascertained," said the police offi-cial privy to investigation.

"A case under relevant sec-tions of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) has been registered atMangolpuri police station andinvestigation is underway," hesaid.

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Doctors of various hospitalsdeployed in Covid-19 duty

in all the Central and StateGovernment hospitals in thenational Capital on Friday sport-ed black arm bands at work toexpress disappointment of themedical professionals' over therevised guidelines for healthworkers posted in Covid areas,issued by the Union and StateHealth Departments.

FORDA President ShivajiDev Barman said that the'black ribbon protest' wasorganised by the Federation ofResident Doctors Association(FORDA) India in which doc-tors of Deep Chand BandhuGovernment Hospital, Sanjay

Gandhi Memorial Hospital,Lady Hardinge Medical College(LHMC), Ram Manohar Lohia(RML) Hospital and Lok NayakJai Prakash Narayan (LNJP)Hospital participated by sport-ing black arm bands.

In a letter written to Delhihealth minister on Thursday,FORDA had suggested 14 dayquarantine along with ade-quate testing for all the doctordeputed on Covid duty undercurrent circumstances. “It is anecessity in order to preventspread of infection among theircolleague, family members andin the community. It is essen-tial to reduce the spread ofCovid-19 among doctors forefficient maintenance of health-care services,” it stated.

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Adispensary run by NewDelhi Municipal Council

(NDMC) at Palika Kendra wassealed after a senior doctortested positive for Covid-19 onFriday.

A senior NDMC officialsaid that the allopathic doctorwas posted at Palika Kendradispensary was tested positiveafter showing symptoms ofCoronavirus . “All those includ-ing family members who hadcome in contact with the doc-tor are being screened andadvised home quarantine.There are 20 staff includingdoctors and other medical staffdeputed at the dispensary andall are advised home-quaran-tine,” he said.

The family members of

the doctor will also be screenedand their samples will be test-ed if they show any symptoms,he said, adding that furthercontact-tracing of patients andvisitors has been initiated.

This is the third case ofcovid19 in New DelhiMunicipal Council (NDMC) ina couple of month.

One sanitation worker wastested positive in the CharakPalika Hospital and a chiefengineer has already testedpositive.

A team of New DelhiMunicipal Council (NDMC)doctors is constituted and allthe contact of those patientswho might have visited dis-pensary recently are beingtraced with the help of dis-pensary registration computerdata as per protocols of contacttracing, the official said.

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The Gurugram districtadministration on Friday

sent back about 3,800 labour-ers belonging to Uttar Pradeshand northeastern States via alabour special train andHaryana Roadways bus in thewake of the Covid-19 globalepidemic.

The train left for Dimapurand Guwahati in Northeaststate with 1,400 labours. While2,400 workers were dispatchedonboard 80 buses of theHaryana Roadways toMoradabad, Aligarh, Bareillyand Etawah in Uttar Pradesh.

As per the directions ofDeputy Commissioner AmitKhatri, the health of all theworkers were examined underthe supervision of sub-divi-sional magistrate (SDM)Chinar Chahal from Gurugramdistrict and thereafter theywere dispatched to their homedistricts by roadways buses.

“Around 3,800 migrant cit-izens have been sent in trainand buses from the Gurugram

district in 80 buses. They buseswere dispatched from Tau DeviLal Stadium, GovernmentWomen’s College Sector-14,Manesar Sector-8, GaushalaManesar and Siddravali village,”Chahal said.

According to the schedulesprescribed by the districtadministration, thermal scan-ning of all those workers andtheir families before boardingthe bus ensured that none ofthem was corona infected. Facemasks, food and water bottleswere also provided to them.

Chahal appealed to themigrant workers to showpatience and restraint.“Arrangements have been madeto send the migrants who havebeen registered with Saral por-tal. The workers are sending totheir home districts in anorderly manner. No migrantcitizen should leave in hurry onfoot or cycle towards theirhome districts,” the SDM said.

“We appealed to everymigrant labour to cooperatewith the district administrationand said that they will be sentto the destination free of cost

through trains and buses underthe prescribed schedule,” headded.

“The migrant workers arebeing sent continuouslythrough special labour trainand buses from the Gurugram

district, but if any migrant cit-izens want to go home by theirown vehicle too, thenGurugram district adminis-tration is ready to cooperatewith it,” Chahal said.

Apart from this, 11 more

coronavirus cases were reportedin different areas of theGurugram district on Friday, tak-ing the total cases to 250, includ-ing 140 active cases in differenthospitals of the district and 140have been cured and discharged.

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Delhi crossed the 12,000mark in novel coronavirus

cases as casualties surged to 200on Friday. In past 24 hours, 660cases were reported which wasthe biggest single - day spike tillday.

At times when the recoveryrate is improving ‘relatively’, thespike in Coronapositive casesare a cause of concern for theDelhi Government as 600 pluscases in 24 hours has becomenormal as active cases graphhas also increased as reported6214 till date against 5897recovered patients.

Amidst the lockdown four,when Delhi residents havecome out for business and jobrelated activities, DelhiGovernment along with civilcorporations, health officialshave been trying to bring thesituation under control. Therecovery rate has given hope forthe Delhi Government as it is

expected to cross 50 percent inthe coming weeks.

According to DelhiGovernment order, Delhi hasnow 79 containment zonewhile 33 areas have been de-contained.

Senior officials in theadministration said that withthe help of local administrationincluding police and SubDivisional Magistrate ( SDM ),

health officials and cooperationat community level, the admin-istration has been able to con-trol the epidemic in contain-ment zones however there is lotto be done, the official point-ed out.

Further, the State admin-istration has given scalingdown order to area SDMs ofModel Town, Snagam Vihar,Deoli Extension, Khirki Village, Jain Mohalla, NizamuddinWest and Shastri Park of North- East Delhi.

Earlier this week, DelhiChief Minister ArvindKejriwal, urged the residents ofthe national capital to show dis-cipline during the fourth phaseof the coronavirus lockdown.

Citing the example of fightagainst dengue and pollution,Kejriwal encouraged people tostay indoors as much possiblewhile he also said that peoplemust learn to live with coron-avirus while protecting them-selves and others around them.

NEW DELHI: A senior railwayofficial, who worked on therestructuring of the RailwayProtection Force Service test-ed positive for novel coron-avirus, becoming the thirdsuch case at Rail Bhawan, theheadquarters of the IndianRailways.

According to railway min-istry officials, woman stafferhad visited the Rail Bhavan onMay 13, after which the min-istry office was shut down forsanitisation purposes for twodays after a RPF staffer testedpositive for the disease.

The official said the railwayemployee who has now testedpositive stays at theCommonwealth Games Villageapartments where many seniorofficers of the railways reside.Officials said a joint-secretarylevel officer working closelywith her has been sent to 14day home quarantine, whilesome junior staffers have beenasked to isolate themselves.

Sources said the officer isdiabetic and had taken all pre-cautions required to shieldherself from the disease.However, she only has a mildfever and is under watchp athome. IANS

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Indian Railways on Fridayannounced that it will open

reservation counters for book-ing of reserved tickets in aphased manner.

A senior Indian Railwayssaid that Zonal Railways havebeen instructed to decide andnotify opening of reservationcounters as per local needs andconditions. “These reservationcounters will open from tomor-row in a phased manner, alongwith dissemination of infor-mation about their respectivelocations and timings as per thelocal needs and conditions,” hesaid.

Indian Railways has alsoallowed booking of reservationtickets through the commonservice centers and ticketingagents from Saturday.

It may be noted that run-ning of Shramik Special trainswill continue to be handled by

local State Governments asper the existing protocols.“Opening of all these bookingfacilities once again will markan important step in the grad-ed restoration of passenger

railway services and makingthe task of ticket booking easyfor all prospective travelersfrom all parts of India inreserved trains,” the ministrysaid in a statement.

“Zonal railways mayadhere to standard social dis-tancing guidelines and observethe hygiene protocols in viewof the ongoing Covid-19 pan-demic,” it added.

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Alarge number of studentsbelonging to different parts

of Bihar and Uttar Pradeshstaying in boys and girls hos-tels of Jamia Millia Islamia leftfor their homes in nine specialbuses arranged by universityVice Chancellor ProfessorNajma Akhtar, said Provost DrZakir Hussain Hall of Boys res-ident Dr Moshahid Alam Rizvion Friday.

“These students werestranded in hostels due to lock-down in view of Covid-19. Andtheir journey has been madepossible due to efforts made byJamia V-C,” said Dr Rizvi.

Professor Akhtar expressedher satisfaction and said thesestudents will now reach safelyto their homes and be withtheir families like J&K andJharkhand students who werealso sent to their homes by theuniversity through specialarrangements a few days ago.

A senior university officersaid buses left for Katihar,Purnea, Muzaffarpur, Nalandaand Bhagalpur districts carry-ing around 130 students witha student group leader in each

bus to coordinate things.“Three students of West

Bengal are also travelling in thebus going to Katihar. Two uni-versity guards (ex-Army per-sonnel) also went in each busalong with students,” universi-ty Chief Proctor WaseemAhmed Khan said.

The official said buses leftfor the Delhi Government’shealth centre for screening ofstudents for fever and othersymptoms related to coronavirus and to complete other for-malities before leaving the city.“Students were also providedwith food packets, water bottles,hand sanitisers and face masksby the university,” he said.

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Resident Doctors'Association of All India

Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) on Friday demandedthe resignation of HostelSuperintendent and senior war-den after a mess worker died ofCovid-19 on Thursday.

In a letter addressed to theDirector of AIIMS, the associ-

ation alleged that hostel section refused to take pre-cautionary measures asdemanded by the RDA morethan a month ago.

The RDA also alleged thatthe hostel superintendent triedto present the death as proba-ble cardiac event in morningreview meeting.

Demanding resignation ofboth hostel superintendent andsenior warden, RDA said “Wealso demand testing of all messworkers and resident by dili-gent contact tracing and ensuresuch incident does not repeat.We also demand appointmentof a more receptive and resi-dent friendly hostel superin-

tendent and senior warden.RDA also requested the

AIIMS administration to grant

compensation to the grievingfamily of the mess worker.

In another letter written toDirector AIIMS, RDA alsosuggested that AIIMS shouldadopts more scientific protocolto ensure safety of patientsand residents.

“We as health care workersare accepting the increasedrisk of acquiring the infectionbut not inadvertently trans-mitting the infection to peoplewho come in contact with usfor treatment or otherwise.Shortening the quarantineduration and denying manda-tory testing post duty mayderail the battle against pan-demic,” it said.

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Citing various epidemicmodels, the Centre on

Friday said India has averted14-29 lakh infections and37,000-78,000 deaths byputting in place social distanc-ing and lockdown measures intime since the spread of theCovid-19.

It also asserted that currentactive Covid-19 cases (as ofMay 21 ) has been limited, con-centrated in around 80 per centin five states, over 60 per centin five cities and over 90 percent in 10 States and over 70per cent in 10 cities.

Even by a simple model, atleast 14-29 lakh coronaviruscases and between 37,000 and71,000 deaths have been avert-ed, said Praveen Srivastava, asenior officer with the Ministryof Statistics and ProgrammeImplementation (MoSPI),highlighting how India hasbeen able to contain the virusthrough early implementationof nationwide lockdown.

In a routine Press briefinghere, Srivastava said theGovernment has shared pub-licly available data with inde-pendent experts such as PHFIand BCG to model the impactof lockdown, adding that “inpandemic like this there are noparallels to compare”.

“Two independent econo-mists have estimated that wehave averted 23 lakh cases and68,000 deaths. According tosome retired scientists, about15.9 lakh cases and 51,000deaths have been avoided, myministry worked with IndianStatistical Institute and found20 lakh cases were averted,” saidSrivastava.

India on Friday reportedover 1,21,000 Covid-19 cases.India is currently in the fourthphase of the lockdown which

was imposed on March 25 tocontain the outbreak of coronavirus.

Dr VK Paul, Chairman ofEmpowered Group 1 felt thatthe growth rate of coronaviruscases has witnessed a “steadyfall” from 3 April, 2020 “whenlockdown was able to put abrake on the speed of growth”.

“The number of casestoday would have been muchhigher, had lockdown not beenimplemented. Like the numberof cases, growth rate of num-ber of Covid-19 deaths too hasfallen significantly due to lock-down, marking a notable dif-ference between pre-lockdownand post-lockdown situations,”he added.

“The doubling time hascome down from 3.5 days to13.5 days because of the lock-down. You can imagine how itwould have been if growthhad continued at 22 per cent,”he said.

Reading the number ofcoronavirus cases reported incities across the country, he saidthat the pandemic spread inIndia had been “contained incities” by the measures imple-mented by authorities.

“Current active COVID-19cases (as of 21 May) are con-centrated in a few states andcities/districts; around 80 per-cent in five states, over 60 per-cent in five cities, over 90 per-cent in 10 states and over 70percent in 10 cities,” he said.Presently, most of the cases arebeing reported fromMaharashtra, Tamil Nadu,Gujarat, Delhi, Rajasthan andMadhya Pradesh.

He added, “At the begin-ning of the lockdown, the dou-bling rate of the cases was .4,but today, it is doubling in 13days. (13.3).”

Covid-19 cases would havealso increased exponentially

in the absence of the lockdown,said Dr Paul.

“We need to save the coun-try from deaths due to Covid-19,” asserted Dr Paul even as he

praised Ayushman BharatPradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojana, which on Thursdayreached 1 crore treatments markunder the government scheme.

Joint Secretary, Health, LavAgarwal emphasised on theimproved mortality rate. Hesaid the Covid-19 fatality ratehas dropped from 3.13 per cent

to 3.02 per cent, and the author-ities involved in tackling theviral infection are concentratingon containment measures andclinical management of cases.

He said that 3,234 patientshave recovered in the last 24hours, and 48,534 people havebeen cured so far.

“The recovery rate hasimproved to 41 per cent and thecase fatality rate has improvedto 3.02 per cent,” said Agarwal,adding the focus of the HealthMinistry is on districts whichhave reported most cases.According to the Indian Councilfor Medical Research (ICMR),27,55,714 tests for Covid-19were conducted till 1 p.m.Friday, and 1,03,829 tests weredone in the last 24 hours.

“Over 1 lakh tests forCovid-19 were done each dayin the last four days,” said anofficial from the ICMR.

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In yet another move to extenda helping hand its citizens

abroad, the Centre on Fridayrelaxed visa and travel restric-tions for certain categories ofOverseas Citizens of India(OCIs) stranded abroad andwishing to return to India.

“The Ministry has relaxedthe visa and travel restrictionsthat were imposed due to coro-navirus outbreak on certaincategory of OCI card holders.Couples will be allowed toreturn to India, in cases whereone spouse is an OCI card-holder and the other is anIndian national. But they needto have a permanent residencein India. University studentsfrom India, who are OCI card-holders and have their parentsliving in India, can also returnto India. Therefore, the travelrestrictions imposed on thesecategories of OCI cardholderswill not apply anymore,” theUnion Home Ministry stated.

University students whoare OCI cardholders (not legal-ly minors) but whose parents

are Indian citizens living inIndia can travel, the ministryspokesperson said.

MEA spokespersonAnurag Srivastava alreadyrevealed several details of phase2 of Vande Bharat mission,which is expected to continuetill June 13. “We are looking tobring back our nationals from47 countries on 162 flights. Inthis phase, we are includingplaces like Istanbul, Ho ChiMinh city, Lagos and also

increasing flights to the USAand Europe. We are also look-ing at developing Frankfurt asa hub.” he said.

The OCI card is issued topeople of Indian origin, allow-ing them visa-free travel inmost cases besides conferringcertain privileges comparableto those given to citizens,except for buying agriculturalland, voting, contesting elec-tions and working in theGovernment.

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Tomato prices in consuming cen-tres of Delhi, Bengaluru,

Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabadfell below three-year lows, in therange of Rs 4-10 per kg on Friday inthe wholesale markets due to high-er supply of the commodity amidsluggish demand and lack of smoothmovement of perishable commodi-ties in this Covid-19 crisis.

The prices had ruled at Rs 14.30per kg on May 22 last year at theAzadpur wholesale mandi in thenational Capital, while above Rs 30per kg in Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

According to data maintained bythe food ministry, “In Azadpur, thecurrent modal prices are trading nearRs 440 per quintal as compared to Rs1,258 per quintal last year.” Tomatoin the retail market is being sold atRs 10 per kg, In Delhi, the tomatocrop is coming from Haryana, UttarPradesh, Madhya Pradesh andRajasthan, it said.

In Hyderabad’s Bowenpallywholesale market, tomato priceswere ruling at around Rs 5 per kg onFriday, compared with Rs 34 per kga year ago.

Similarly, in the Bengaluruwholesale market, tomato prices

were ruling at Rs 10 per kg asagainst above Rs 30 per kg in theyear-ago period.

In tomato-producing areas also,the wholesale rates have fallen belowthree-year’s seasonal average in 40districts out of 52 tracked by the foodprocessing ministry for the purposeof extending marketing linkages.

Even in 12 clusters identified forlinking directly to markets, prices oftomatoes are ruling below three-year’s average low.

For instance in five tomato clus-ters located in the Kolar district ofKarnataka, prices declined to thelevel of Rs 3-8 per kg depending onthe quality and varieties when com-

pared with Rs 14-35 per kg in theyear-ago, the data showed. In AndhraPradesh, five clusters located inChittoor district as well as in twoclusters in Odisha showed a similardeclining trend in prices.

Andhra Pradesh and Karnatakaare the top-two major tomato-pro-ducing states in India. The combinedproduction of the two states is esti-mated at 42 lakh tonne this year.India’s annual tomato production isenough to meet the domesticdemand of about 111 lakh tonnes.

The Government has peggedtotal tomato output at 193.28 lakhtonne for 2019-20 crop year (July-June), according to the ministry’s data.

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The Supreme Court onFriday sought response

from the Centre on a pleawhich has sought a ban on theuse of video communicationsapp ‘Zoom’ for official as well as personal purposes untilan appropriate legislation is putin place.

A Bench headed by ChiefJustice SA Bobde issued noticeto the Centre on the plea whichhas raised privacy concern andclaimed that continued use ofZoom app is “making the users vulnerable and prone tocyber threats”.

The matter came up forhearing through video-con-ferencing before the Bench,also comprising Justices ASBopanna and Hrishikesh Roy,which asked the Centre to fileits reply within four weeks onthe plea which has arrayed US-based Zoom VideoCommunications as one of therespondents in the case.

The plea, filed by Delhi res-ident Harsh Chugh, has alsosought a direction to the Centreto carry out an exhaustivetechnical study into the secu-rity and privacy risks of usingZoom application.

The plea, filed throughadvocate Wajeeh Shafiq, hasalleged that continued usage ofthis app might put the nation-al security at stake and mightalso give a boom to number ofcyber-threats and cyber crimesin India.

“The global Covid-19 pan-demic has drastically reshapedthe way in which consumers,businesses and schools com-municate. Rather than lendinga hand to people in need,Zoom violates the privacy of itsmillions of users by misusing and exploitingtheir personal information andfalsely, deceptively and mis-leadingly advertising fictitious security benefits ofthe programme,” the plea hassaid.

New Delhi: In a bid to bring inuniformity in uniforms put onby its personnel, Indian Navy’sSouthern Naval Command hasasked its men to put on colour-coded masks to match withtheir uniforms. As per theinstructions issued to the per-sonnel in the Kochi-basedcommand, personnel havebeen asked to put on whitemasks with white uniformsand black or navy blue maskswith other ceremonial uni-form, Navy officials told ANI.

The Defence SecurityCorps and fire services person-nel wearing khaki uniform havebeen asked to put on Khakimasks while on duty, they said.Officials said that fines have alsobeen defined where a personnot wearing a mask would becharged Rs 200. While for thesecond time, they would becharged Rs 2,000. On the needfor wearing the colour-codedmasks, officials said this wasrequired as personnel werewearing masks of differentcolours which was not goingwell with uniforms. Agency

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As cases surge each passingday amid lockdown relax-

ation and there is a continuousexodus of inter-State migrants,the Government on Fridaywarned that the fight againstcorona is a long haul not ofweeks and months but muchbeyond. It indicated thatrestrictions on peoples’ move-ment were no longer a solutionto check virus spread given theeconomic considerations.

“Lockdown cannot go onforever, it was meant for a pur-pose which we have achieved toa very large extent. Now wehave to make things difficultfor the virus,” said Dr V K Paul,Chairman of EmpoweredGroup 1 and head of the

national task force on Covid-19management.

“Goal will be to stop thespread with minimum deaths,”said Paul who is also the mem-ber of the Niti Aayog, at a Pressbriefing here.

“Fight against Covid-19and its progress in India willdepend not just on the behav-

iour of the virus but also con-tainment measures at the gov-ernment, community and indi-vidual level,” he added.

Paul also stressed that earlydetection of cases, effectivecontact tracing and testingwould be the key to keep theCovid-19 cases and deathsunder control in the comingdays as the lockdown is nowbeing relaxed.

“We have been able tokeep the cases and mortalitiesto reasonable rates so far — sothe key is to sustain themomentum we have gained asthe lockdown measures aregradually eased,” he added.“But we have to understandthat the lockdown cannot con-tinue forever.”

He exhorted the people to

seek early treatment and helpothers to fight the disease.

“It is unethical, immoral tostigmatise the disease, pleaseensure early care seeking, hand-washing and social distancingetc. Goal is to stop the spreadwith minimum deaths,” he said.

While giving details onthe availability of beds andPPEs and ventilators besidesoxygen supply for the Covid-19patients, Dr Paul also sharedthat the manufacture of diag-nostic kits has begun. “Ourindigenous capacity will beable to manufacture five lakhkits daily in the next 6-8 weeks.The ICMR has prepared viralculture, at least five companiesand 4-6 scientists are workingat national laboratories todevelop vaccine.”

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Covid-19, which causessevere respiratory symp-

toms in a patient, may take inits grip other organs too, saida study which found that thedeadly virus can also develop an inflammatory thy-roid disease called subacutethyroiditis.

Subacute thyroiditis ischaracterised byneck pain and isusually preceded byan upper respirato-ry tract infection,the researcherswrote in a paperpublished in TheJournal of ClinicalEndocrinology andMetabolism. They pointedout that physicians should bealerted about the possibility ofthis additional clinical mani-festation related to Covid-19so that requisite treatment isinitiated in time.

The disease may becaused by a viral infection ora post-viral inflammatoryreaction, and many viruseshave been linked to the dis-ease, the researchers said.They noted that Covid-19caused by SARS-CoV-2 virushas emerged as a pandemicwith severe respiratory symp-toms, and may involve otherorgans.

“We reported the firstcase of subacute thyroiditisafter SARS-CoV-2 infection,”

said Francesco Latrofa, fromthe University Hospital ofPisa in Italy. “Physiciansshould be alerted about thepossibility of this additionalclinical manifestation relatedto Covid-19,” Latrofa said.

Other authors includedAlessandro Brancatella,Debora Ricci, Nicola Viola,Daniele Sgrò and FerruccioSantini of the UniversityHospital of Pisa.

The cliniciansexamined an 18-year-old womanwho was infectedwith Covid-19 afterbeing exposed byher father. Shecompletely recov-ered from Covid-

19, testing negative a few dayslater, but started experiencingsome additional symptoms,according to the researchers.They noted the young womanhad neck and thyroid pain,fever and an increased heartrate. She was sent back to thehospital, where she was diag-nosed with subacute thy-roiditis, according to theresearchers in the study whichwas supported by theUniversity of Pisa.

The woman had normalthyroid functioning and imag-ing just one month earlier,they said. “Because of thechronological association,SARS-CoV-2 may be consid-ered accountable for the onsetof subacute thyroiditis,”Latrofa added.

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Tamil Nadu is inchingtowards the 15,000 mark as

786 persons tested positive forcoronavirus in the State onFriday, according to the bulletinissued by the Directorate ofPublic Health and PreventiveMedicine.

The release said that therewere 14,753 persons in the Statewho have tested positive tilldate. Unofficial reports saidthat the number of covid-19patients in the State havecrossed the 15,000 mark by lateFriday evening.

Four more persons suc-cumbed to the pandemic onFriday , taking the death toll inthe State till date to 98, said theofficial bulletin. The 786 per-sons tested positive on Fridayinclude 91 who returned fromMaharashtra (66), Delhi (13),Bengal (6), Andhra Pradesh(2), Gujarat, MP, Orissa and

Telangana (one each) and onefrom Philippines.

The 67 laboratories spreadacross the State tested 12,653on Friday while the total num-ber of samples tested till datestood at 3,85, 185. The day alsosaw 846 persons cured of thepandemic getting dischargedfrom the hospitals across theState taking the number ofpatients discharged till date to7.128.

Chennai recorded 569 per-sons testing positive on Fridaywhile the total number of coro-navirus afflicted persons inthe district reaching 9,364. Outof the 98 deaths recorded in theState, 67 were from Chennai,said the bulletin.

The number of cases test-ed positive in the State hasbeen on the increase steadily

since May 19. Dr C VKrishnaswamy, eminent physi-cian, said the numbers have tobe analysed threadbare to make

any observation about theupward surge in covid cases.“We are seeing strange patternsas the modern medicine hasfound to be ineffective in con-trolling the pandemic. All Icould say is that people shouldnot panic by seeing the num-bers. The vaccine is far awayfrom becoming fruitful,” DrKrishnaswamy told ThePioneer.

Leader of Opposition M KStalin, complained to Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi onFriday that the Tamil NaduGovernment and the NarendraModi Government at Centrehave failed miserably in han-dling the pandemic in thecountry. “The Tamil NaduGovernment has been left clue-less and is groping in the darkto devise a strategy to check thespread of coronavirus,” Stalincomplained to Sonia Gandhi,who is believed to have offeredhim all help.

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As the Gods have run out ofbusiness at the time of

Covid -19 pandemic and alsobecause of the lockdownrestrictions, to tide over the cri-sis Karnataka Government hasintroduced online darshan ofgods across the State in tem-ples for the benefit of the devo-tees.

The BJP Government cap-tained by Chief Minister BSYediyurappa has decided toopen online prayers and dar-shan of gods from May 27. Thedevotees can also buyprasadam along with theertha,the holy water,to their door stepby booking online.

According to KarnatakaEndowment and Charitiesminister Kota SrinivasaPoojary the State Governmenthas come out with online poo-

jas to help both the priests anddevotes at the time of crisis.The Muzarai departmentunder his Ministry controlsover 30,000 temples acrossKarnataka. The live streamingof variety of poojas will helptemples improve their financialcondition.

According to the Ministerinitially, few major temples willgo online via Facebook andtheir respective websites. “Thedevotees can pre-book a poojaby paying a fixed amount.They can, in fact, avail 30kinds of special poojas by pay-ing money for each kind or caneven go for a bulk booking”, hesaid.

He said in the first phase,the Chamundeshwari temple inMysore, Banashankari templein Bengaluru, KukkeSubramanya in DakshinaKannada, Kollur Mukambika

in Udupi, Saundatti Yellammain Belgaum, YediyuruSiddalingeshwara in Tumkurand a few more temples will goonline. These are some of thehighest revenue earning tem-ples in Karnataka.

The BJP Government hasalready released �34 crore topay salaries of the priests atabout 30,000 state-run temples.The priests, who survive ondaily offers made by the devo-tees in cash and kind, are urg-ing the government to open thetemples at the earliest.

According to reports thestate also has over 50,000 pri-

vate temples along withGovernment run temples.Recently the priests haveappealed to the governmentasking for help as they are liv-ing in a precarious state at thetime of corona with all religiousactivities and weddings havecome to a total halt.

It is reported that thefamous Balaji temple atTirupati, in Andhra Pradesh, isstruggling to pay salaries to itsemployees and priests as it hasbeen shut for two months.This temple is the world’s rich-est Hindu temple and the sec-ond richest after the Vatican.

Many devotees say thatKarnataka being theInformation Technology state, this initiative would helpthem to offer prayers to theGod at the time of deadlyspread of Corona virus in thecountry.

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Tamil Nadu politics which has been indeep slumber since the outburst of

coronavirus pandemic has started slow-ly waking up to routine life as lockdownis slowly giving way to hustle-and-bustleof normal life.

On Friday Tamil Nadu GovernorBanwarilal Purohit promulgated an ordi-nance to temporarily take over VedaNilayam, the personal residence of late JJayalalithaa, the former Chief Minister ofthe State who breathed her last onDecember 5, 2016.

The move is part of the StateGovernment’s decision to make the res-idence of late Jayalalithaa into a memo-rial. The Government had announced itsintention to make the imposing building,which was once described as theCommand Post of national politics.

It was from here Jayalalithaaannounced her decision to support theBJP-led NDA Government in 1998 andalso declared the withdrawal of supportto the same government in 1999 result-ing in the mid-term election of

1999.Since Jayalalithaa passed away issue-

less, a legal dispute arose between Sasikalaclan, the AIADMK and Deepa (niece ofthe late Chief Minister) over the owner-ship of the building.

Jayalalithaa left no will which furthercomplicated the matter. Sasikala contin-ued to stay in Veda Nilayam till she sur-rendered before the Parappana AgraharaJail in Bangalore to serve the four-yearprison term ordered by the BangaloreSpecial Court which was upheld by theSupreme Court.

Though Sasikala’s nephew TTVDhinakaran moved into Veda Nilayamfollowing her imprisonment, theGovernment managed to ease him out ofthe bungalow.

But Deepa approached the HighCourt with claims to the ownership of thebuilding and the matter is being heard bythe court.

It is at this juncture the EdappadiPalaniswami Government announcedthe promulgation of the ordinance andtook over the bungalow with all movableproperties.

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The coronavirus curve is onthe rise in Kerala and that

too with more vigor, accordingto Pinarayi Vijayan, ChiefMinister. “For the first timesince the pandemic broke outin the State in mid-January, wesaw 42 persons testing positivefor coronavirus on a single dayon Friday. Out of this, 21 werefrom Maharashtra and 17 per-sons were those who returnedto Kerala from foreign coun-tries,” said the Chief Minister inhis media interaction on Friday.

Vijayan said though theexpatriates and persons fromother States were responsiblefor increase in the pandemic,the doors of Kerala would notbe shut at them. “We will neverrefuse entry to anybody who

are coming to the State and itis not fair to do so. Our doorswill remain open for them allthe time,” said the ChiefMinister. Kerala had claimedearlier that it had succeeded inflattening the coronavirus pan-demic.

He disclosed that a total of732 persons have been afflict-ed with the pandemic and 162persons have been hospitalizedon Friday alone. “There are 28hotspots in the State as on date.We have sent 51, 310 samplesfor test and found that 49, 535tested negative. There are 84,258 persons who are underobservation in the State,” saidthe Chief Minister.

Vijayan sounded philo-sophical while he announcedthat lockdown rules have beensimplified to facilitate people to

return to their livelihood activ-ities and not for celebration.“The infants, children and theaged have to stay indoors tillthe pandemic subsides com-pletely. This is our request tothe people in the State,” saidVijayan.

He also said that as moreand more expatriates andmigrants are returning to theState in the coming days, thedefence mechanism againstcovid-19 has to be fortified fur-ther.

“Till date, 91, 344 personsreturned to the State by air, shipand road. Out of this 157 havebeen admitted to hospital forcovid-19. The Government hasmade elaborate arrangementsto receive the persons return-ing to the State in comingweeks,” he said.

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Hauling the UddhavThackeray Government

over the coals for the secondtime in this week for “ineffec-tive handling” of coronaviruscrisis, the Opposition BJP onFriday staged “SaveMaharashtra” agitation acrossthe State against the Shiv Sena-led MVA Government for thefailing to arrest the spread ofthe Covid-19 in various partsof the state.

Three days after its dele-gation complained toMaharashtra Governor BhagatSingh Koshyari about the inepthandling of the Covid-19 situ-ation in the State by theUddhav ThackerayGovernment, the BJP leadersand workers staged “SaveMaharashtra” agitation at manyplaces across the State. Theyraised slogans like “MazaAngan, Ranagan” (My court-yard a battle field).

While former ChiefMinister and senior BJP leaderDevendra Fadnavis headed theagitation in Mumbai, State BJP

president Chandrakant Patilheaded led the agitation inKolhapur in westernMaharashtra.

Talking to media personsduring the course of the agita-tion, Fadnavis said: “At a timewhen the State is undergoing amajor cororavirus crisis, theState Government has provedto be most ineffective in deal-ing with the situation. Patientsare not getting treatment in thehospitals. Patients are forced to

run around the place lookingfor hospitals. While there areno beds in government hospi-tals, patients will have to paythrough their nose in privatehospitals”.

“At a time when Mumbai isreeling under severe coron-avirus crisis, the StateGovernment is not fully pre-pared to deal with the situation.The State Government has nottaken concrete measures todeal with the situation. While

the Governments of Gujarat,Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarhand other states have comerelief packages for their people,the MVA Government has notshelled out even one rupee asrelief to the people,” Fadnavissaid.

Fadbavis demanded thatthe state government comeout with a relief package of �50,000 crore for farmers,unorganised labourers, autor-ishaw, taxi drivers and otherneedy sections of the people inthe state.

“We did not stage the agi-tation to make the state gov-ernment unstable in the state.Raising the problems of thepeople can in no way becomepoliticisation of the situation inthe state. Things will comeunder control and the statemachinery will get into the actif the Chief Minister ( UddhavThackeray) comes out of hisresidence. It is sixty days sincethe outbreak of Covid-19 in thestate, but the state governmenthas not arrested the spread ofpandemic,” State BJP presi-dent Chandrakant Patil said.

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Taking a strong objection to a let-ter written by State Higher and

Technical Education Minister UdaySamant’s letter to the UniversityGrants Commission (UGC),Maharashtra Governor Bhagat SinghKoshyari on Friday asked ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeray to takesteps to hold final year examinationof students of universities in the State‘without any further delay in thelarger interest of students”

In a letter written to the ChiefMinister, the Governor said: “Notconducting the final year examina-tions by the Universities amounts tobreach of the UGC guidelines”.

Taking a strong objection toHigher and Technical EducationMinister Uday Samant’s letter to theUGC recommending cancellation offinal year examination of students,the Governor asked the ChiefMinister to issue suitable instruc-tions to the Minister for his ‘unwar-ranted intervention’ which accord-ing to him was in ‘violation of UGCguidelines and also the relevantprovisions of the Maharashtra PublicUniversitis Act, 2016’.

The Governor lamented t6hathe was not apprised by the Minister

in the matter before recommendingthe cancellation of final year exam-ination to the UGC.

The Governor said that as perprovisions of the relevantUniversities Act, Universities havethe power and duties to hold exam-inations and confer degrees uponsuccessful students. He noted thatit would not be ‘ethical or appro-priate’ to award degrees to final yearstudents without conducting theirexaminations, which results into vio-lation of the provisions of theUniversities’ Act.

The Governor noted that receiv-ing degrees by students withoutundertaking any kind of examina-tions would have adverse impact ontheir higher studies, gradation andthe possibility of their gettingemployment.

The Governor pointed out thatthe Ministry of Home Affairs hadgranted exemption from lockdownmeasures to the State EducationBoards / CBSE / ICSE etc to conductStandard X and XII examinations.He further noted that the UGC hadalso issued guidelines on lockdownmeasures covering importantdimensions related to examina-tions, academic calendar, etc foradoption by the Universities.

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Ahead of festival of Eid,several religious places

including mosques and shrineswore a deserted look acrossJammu & Kashmir on theoccasion of Jamat-ul-Vida- thelast Friday of the holy month ofRamzan.

In the wake of suddenspike in cases of coronavirus inKashmir valley, theGovernment has not lifted theexisting ban on religious gath-erings during festivals. Strictvigil is being maintained andlocal clerics have been roped inby the local administration toappeal to residents to stay awayfrom religious places and offerprayers inside their homes dur-ing the holy month of Ramzan.

At some places, worshiperswere seen standing outside thelocked down gates of famousshrines includingHazratbal,located on the banksof Dal Lake and Jama Masjid,in Srinagar paying obeisancebut by and large the famousshrines wore a deserted look asmass assemblies were notallowed to take place.

Meanwhile, 40 new posi-tive cases of novel coronavirus(Covid-19), 07 from Jammudivision and 33 from Kashmirdivision, were reported takingthe total number of positivecases in Jammu & Kashmir to1,489 on Friday. According tothe daily Media Bulletin onnovel coronavirus (Covid-19),out of 1,489 positive cases,749 are Active Positive, 720have recovered and 20 havedied; 02 in Jammu division and18 in Kashmir division.

Moreover, 36 more Covid-19 patients have recovered anddischarged from various hos-pitals, 01 from Jammu divisionand 35 from Kashmir Division.

The Bulletin further saidthat out of 11,4859 test resultsavailable, 11,3370 samples havebeen tested as negative till May22, 2020.

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In a major measure to make most ofhealth care facilities in charitable and pri-

vate hospitals to deal with the coronavirussituation in the State, the MaharashtraGovernment has virtually acquired 80 percent of Non-Isolation beds in these hospi-tals across the State.

Invoking the provisions of theEpidemic Diseases Act, 1897, DisasterManagement Act, 2005, MaharashtraNursing Homes Act and other relevantacts, the State Health department stated inan order issued late on Thursday night thatthe health care providers would make allattempts to increase their bed capacity –relating to both Isolation and non-isolationbeds.

“That means 80 per cent of theIsolation beds available with any health careprovider under this notification should beregulated by the State Government, districtcollectors and Municipal Commissionersand also 80 per cent of non-isolation beds.Healthcare providers may charge their rackcharges to the remaining 20 per cent beds,”the notification issued by the state gov-ernment said.

The notification covers hospitals runby charitable trusts, including leadinghospitals in Mumbai like H N Reliance,Lilavati, Breach Candy, Jaslok, BombayHospital, Bhatia, Wockhardt, Nanavati,Fortis, L H Hiranandani and P D Hindujaamong others.

The State government has taken thisdecision in view of the fact that there are

not enough Covid-19 beds in the metrop-olis.

Among other things, the StateGovernment has capped the routine wardand isolation bed rates have been cappedat �4,000. It has fixed the ICU beds rateswithout ventilators, at �7,500 per day, it hascapped the rates of an ICU bed with ven-tilator support at �9,000.

The State Government has also cappedpackage rates of nearly 270 procedures andsurgeries, including cancer treatments.

Similarly, the State Government hascapped the charges for non-Covid-19patients in private and charitable hospitals.For instance, the charges for an angiogra-phy procedure at �12,000, while the hos-pitals can charge a maximum of �1.2 lakhfor an angioplasty . Asccording to the noti-fication, normal delivery at a private hos-pital cannot charged more than �75,000while delivery through a basic caesareansection has been capped at �86,250.

The revised prices are applicable forpatients who do not have medical insur-ance and those who have exhausted theirmedical insurance cover and healthcareproviders in Mumbai, Pune, Navi Mumbai,Panvel and Thane, who have agreementswith insurance companies, cannot chargemore than the lowest bed category ratesagreed.

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Jaipur: Migrant labourersreturning to State are beingkept in mandatory quarantine.Chief Minister Ashok Gehlotwants that these labourersshould not face any problemsat the quarantine centres dur-ing their 14-day quarantine.

A State-level quarantinemanagement committee wasformed on May 13 on thedirections of Gehlot to managethe facilities at the quarantinecentres and Additional ChiefSecretary, Public WorksDepartment Veenu Gupta wasmade the head of the commit-tee.

Gupta said that all themigrant labourers returningto the State have to be in com-pulsory 14-day quarantine.

These labourers arescreened while entering intothe border of the State and if nosymptoms are found then theyare asked to remain in homequarantine. If symptoms arefound then the person is sentto the institutional quarantine.

She said that if any migrantsays that there is not muchspace in the house for homequarantine then such migrantsare sent to the institutionalquarantine. Gram PanchayatBuildings, Hostels, Schools and

other such buildings are beingused as institutional quaran-tine.

Gram Panchayat, districtadministration or philan-thropists arrange provide foodto the people at the institutionalquarantine and at many quar-antine centres in villages, themigrant gets the food fromhome.

Gupta said, “People atquarantine centres are calledrandomly to take feedbackabout the facilities provided tothem and to know their griev-ances. I am happy to say thatmore than 80% people weresatisfied at the quarantine cen-tres.”

The state-level quarantinemanagement committee chiefsaid that the state has 10,212quarantine centres. More than12.10 lakh migrants havereturned to State of whichmore than 7.43 lakh arepresently quarantined includ-ing approximately 7.08 lakh inhome quarantine and around35,000 in institutional quaran-tine.

There were 61grievanceslodged at Sampark Portal relat-ed to facilities provided atquarantine centres of whichbarring six complaints, rest allwere disposed.

Districts including Pali,Udaipur, Jalore, Nagaur andDungarpur have witnessed ahuge influx of migrants, whileJalore, Pali, Nagaur,Hanumangarh and Barmer arethe districts, where the numberof people in home quarantineis high. Similarly, number ofpeople in institutional quaran-tine is high in Nagaur,Rajsamand, Jhunjhunu,Chittorgarh and Churu dis-tricts.

She said people who are inhome quarantine are strictlymonitored and those who vio-late it are first counselled andthen sent to institutional quar-antine.

Monitoring of people inhome quarantine is donethrough Covid QuarantineAlert System (CQAS) throughDepartment of Informationand Technology (DoIT). If anyperson breaches the quaran-tine, then information isreceived on CQAS and imme-diately action is taken.

Smt Gupta informed thatmaximum breaches take placein rural areas and 390 peoplehave been shifted from homequarantine to institutionalquarantine, while legal actionhas also been taken in fewcases.

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Coronavirus continued to wreakhavoc in Maharashtra on

Friday, as 63 more persons suc-cumbed to Covid-19 and a record2,940 others tested positive for thepandemic, taking the total numberof deaths to 1517 and the totalinfected cases to 44,582.

Of the total deaths reported onFriday, Mumbai accounted for 27deaths, while there were nine deathsin Pune, eight in Jalgaon, five inSolapur, three each in Vasai-Virarand Aurangabad city, two in Satara,one each in Malegaon, Thane,Kalyan-Dombiwali, Ulhasnagar,Panvel, and Nagpur city.

With 2940 fresh positive cases,the total number of infected hasrisen to 44,582. Of the total cases,the active cases in the state are30,714.

Of the 63 deaths today, 37were men and 26 were women.Twenty eight of them aged over 60

years, 31 were from the age group40 to 59 years and 4 were agedbelow 40 years. “ Forty six of 63patients (73%) had high-risk co-morbidities such as diabetes, hyper-tension, heart disease,” a statehealth department bulletin said.

There have been as many as 498Covid-19 triggered deaths inMaharasht5ra during the last sevendays. The death tally has been as fol-lows: May 15- 49, May 16 -67, May17 -63, May 18-51, May 19 -76, May20 -65, May 21 – 64 and May 22-63.

Mumbai, which is the worstaffected city in the country, record-

ed a staggering 1751 cases onFriday, taking the total number ofinfected cases to an alarming 27251.

Mumbai's crowded Dharavislum alone continued to be a causefor serious concern, as Asia’s biggestrecorded one death and 53 newcases on Friday, taking the totalnumber of patients to 1,478, and 57deaths.

On the laboratory tests front,2,88,195 out of 3,32,777 laborato-ry samples tested negative while44,582 tested positive for COVID-19 until Friday.

There are 1949 active contain-ment zones in the state currently. Asmany as 16,154 surveillance squadsworked across the state on Fridayand surveillance of 66.32 lakh pop-ulation was done.

As many as 12,583 patientshave been discharged till date afterfull recovery. Currently, 4,69,275people are in home quarantineand 28,430 people are in institu-tional quarantine.

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Page 6: @aa RTeZgZeZVd aZT\ fa - Daily Pioneer

Ignorance is like knowledge, it has nolimits. The colossal movement of theblue-collar migrant workers back totheir home districts has exposed ourignorance about this segment. How

could the Centre not anticipate its possibili-ty when it shut down everything on minimalnotice, drawing a lakshman rekha aroundhouses on March 25? A planned evacuation,like in the case of a natural calamity, wouldhave helped. This could have also preventedmany deaths that the migrant workers are fac-ing almost on a daily basis on the highwaysand railway tracks.

However, we choose to be wise only whentragedy strikes. After beating around the bushinitially, branding the upsurge in COVID-19cases as a conspiracy by certain ChiefMinisters or a political party, the Centre couldno longer overlook the elephant in thedrawing room. Commendably, the Ministryof Railways brought the wheels back on track.The Shramik special trains were started toferry the stranded workers back to their homedistricts. Post this, the Union Government hasbeen proactive in combating the COVID-19pandemic and providing relief materials.However, it chose to be wise only in hindsightwhen it came to migrant workers.

In a recent article, Mark Tully attributedthis crisis to the class divide. Since none of ourpolicy-makers comes from the class of themigrant workers, the mandarins of RaisinaHill could not think about their fate. Onewould like to cite another factor that can betermed as “dereliction of political duty.”Problems of the agriculture sector andfarmer suicides have rocked the Parliamentmany times. Some members have also calledfor convening a separate session to discussagrarian issues and formulating a separateagriculture Budget. It is another thing thatthose suggestions have never been pursued.

However, this writer believes that theplight of the migrant workers in urban India,a bulk of whom belong to the unorganisedsector, is actually grimmer. Agrarian suicidesconstitute seven to 12 per cent of all suicidesin the country. Year-on-year figures areavailable in Accidental Deaths and Suicidesin India, an annual publication of theNational Crime Records Bureau (Ministry ofHome Affairs). The figures are low in percent-age terms if one considers that close to halfof India’s population remains dependent onprimary sectors like agriculture and forestryamong others. The law of probability entailsthat half of the suicides in India should comefrom that sector as well. However, merciful-ly, this is not the case. Agriculture is in thegreen zone as far as suicidal deaths are con-cerned. Which sector is in the red zone then?

To cite an example, in 2018, 22.4 per centof those who committed suicide were dailywage earners; 9.8 per cent were self-employed;9.6 per cent were unemployed; and other per-sons (a grey area) were 16.2 per cent.Comparatively, 7.7 per cent of the peopleengaged in the farming sector committed sui-

cide. More people coming fromthe salaried and professionalclass (8.9 per cent) committedsuicide in 2018 in the countrythan those engaged in the farm-ing sector.

The exact situation of themigrant workers might fallthrough these statistics. However,a little application of the mind willreveal their plight. A person inthe farm sector at least lives in hisown home/native place. Amigrant worker, however, is sur-rounded by professional uncer-tainties and mental insecurities.These gnaw him to the core.

But why did the plight of thepeople in the urban unorganisedsector, many of whom aremigrant workers, never capturethe attention of the politicalclass? This is possibly becausenobody is sure where they havetheir votes. In a lecture deliveredby OP Rawat, IAS (Retd), the for-mer Chief ElectionCommissioner, at Jigyasa Forum,New Delhi, earlier this year, hehad said that nearly five crore ofthe migrant workers have neverbeen registered as voters. TheElection Commission of Indiamight have bridged that gaplately. But with a registered elec-torate of 91 crore out of India’sestimated population of 137 core,the saturation limit of above 18years voters seems to have beenreached in 2019 (discounting forsome duplication in electoralrolls, which is likely to be stream-lined in near future).

While farmers are “settled”voters, migrant workers are oftennot. While some of them remainvoters in their native place, oth-

ers change their address to theplace of usual residency. Thisoften leads political parties, bothin the home and resident State,to turn a blind eye to their con-dition. Thus, their fate is less like-ly to be discussed in the legisla-ture. It is only in the wake of thelockdown that we have beenreminded of a 40-year progres-sive piece of legislation (formu-lated by the then Janata PartyGovernment) viz, the Inter-StateMigrant Workmen (Regulationof Employment and Conditionsof Service) Act, 1979, which hasbeen more honoured in breachthan in observance.

A migrant worker doesn’thave the dignity associated witha farmer. As the share of agricul-ture contracted in the GDPbasket of India, it implied morepeople had shifted out of thatsector to become wage earners.Now, the COVID scourge hasinflicted heavy damage upon themanufacturing and service sec-tors. It is anticipated that theunemployed migrant labourpopulation will fall back uponagriculture for the time being. Asituation close to that happenedwhen following the destructionof industries, during the onset ofthe British rule, people fell backon agriculture, leading to over-crowding.

Apparently, this overcrowd-ing was never fully outlived.Nearly a century of industrialisa-tion failed to bring down India’sagricultural dependency in termsof employment substantially.Notwithstanding, the share ofagriculture has been reduceddrastically in the GDP basket.

It is a pity that States do nothave approximate figures aboutthe number of migrant workers.Since it is the fundamental rightof any citizen to move and reset-tle in any part of the country, theState is not willing to intervene,despite the 1979 law. However,during a reply to a question in theLok Sabha recently (Videunstarred question 4747 datedMarch 23), figures (as of 2016)were estimated to be over 100million (10 crore). Indian Postmoney orders booked inKarnataka (paradoxically India’sIT State) amounted to �3,259crore out of India’s total figure of�5,065 crore for the year 2018-19.The other leading States areKerala (�900 crore), Tamil Nadu(�198 crore) and Maharashtra(�185 crore), referring to a strongelement from the migrant work-er community. A recent digitalwallet ad on television (Phone Pe)chose to break away from elitismand featured a migrant worker. Itis an indication that the digitalwallet economy is now givingchallenge to “money order econ-omy” of the migrant workers.

Economies often demon-strate great resilience in the faceof tough challenges. They oftenrecover sooner than predicted byexperts. As the economy settlesdown post-COVID, there will befresh demands for migrant work-ers. It remains to be seen whetherthey retake the flight of fancyback to the same place or explorelocal options.

(The writer is an independentauthor based in New Delhi. Theviews expressed herein are his personal)

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Sir — Private school teachers areamong the worst hit due to theCOVID pandemic. Many teach-ers and lecturers in private insti-tutions are facing the repercus-sions of pending dues andsalaries. Left with no option,some have been forced to take upagricultural works in their vil-lages. Many have turned as man-ual labourers and some havebeen seeking work under theMahatma Gandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Schemebecause they did not get theirsalary for the last two months andthere is no certainty as to whenthey might receive their dues.

They are facing terminationthreats, too, even after providingonline classes to pupils. Someteachers, who moved to the urbanareas from the villages, do not haveration cards. This makes themineligible to receive Governmentassistance, including foodgrains.The payment of salaries, job secu-rity and addressing other problemsof private teachers and lecturersshould be a priority area for theadministration.

The Government shoulddirect private schools and other

institutions to pay salaries for theentire month. Education depart-ments of all States should do theirbest to ensure that no teacher goesunpaid.

Ravi Teja Kathuripalli Hyderabad

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Sir — The story of Jyoti Kumari,a 15-year-old native of Bihar’sDarbhanga, who travelled on abicycle carrying her wounded

father and covered more than1,200 km from Gurgaon inHaryana to her village is one ofindomitable courage and persis-tence. Cycling down more than1,200 km is not a mean job. Thisis why, impressed by her physical

endurance, the Indian CyclingFederation has decided to inviteher for trials next month. This isa life-changing opportunity forher. Jyoti has proved that talentexists in small villages. Due to alack of guidance, infrastructureand opportunity, those talentedfail to deliver. The StateGovernment must provide allsupport and help her tap talent.

MN UllahSaharanpur

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “The dragon’s grip” (May 22).When the focus of the entireworld is on trying to get rid of theCOVID pandemic, China is backto playing old games and ispreparing strategies to destabiliseIndia’s development by creatingdisturbances along the Line ofActual Control. India should beextra careful in guarding its bor-ders more than in wartime asChina is creating problems via theNepal tri-junction, too.

Manisha Via email

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The current pandemic is an unprecedentedcalamity and its economic and social pain isimmense. The worst affected are the popula-

tions who subsist on daily wage or seasonal income.Barring agriculture, which is still functional, the ruraleconomy is groaning in distress. Since the deeperbehavioural changes and social restrictions that thepandemic has imposed are expected to become —and remain — the new normal for a long time, wewill have to recalibrate our economic and social pat-terns so that the hardship of daily subsistence doesnot further compound problems created by the loom-ing health crisis.

Almost 90 per cent of the workers in India arepart of the informal economy and thrive on dailywork, with little provision for employment protec-tion. The pandemic has required governmentsaround the world to introduce social distancing andlockdowns in unprecedented ways. These measureshave impacted economies and jobs worldwide andin India, too.

One of the vulnerable communities affected bythe crisis are folk artistes/craftspersons. With incomesdrying up, daily subsistence is becoming a challengefor them. But there is also an overlooked opportu-nity in this pandemic for both the Government andthese communities. The battle against the virus isbeing fought on two fronts: Prevention and cure.While health workers are making brave efforts to han-dle the contagion, the preventive part involves deepbehavioural changes, which are more effectivelyachieved through multiple approaches of social mes-saging that can make people aware. Folkartistes/craftspersons can play an influential role indissemination of information about COVID-19 ina language that rural India understands and bringabout the desired behavioural changes in society. Folkart is the most powerful medium of communicationin the hinterland.

To adapt to the new norms of social distancing,we can have smaller troupes. Village heads havebecome highly mature in handling calamities and weknow how Self-Help Groups (SHGs) across the coun-try are responding to the pandemic creatively. Often,responses look to established or well-known systemsto relay accurate information and solutions to peo-ple. For example, trusted community leaders,artistes/craftspersons can influence the behaviour ofpeople and ensure that accurate and culturally-sen-sitive health messages are conveyed and that assis-tance reaches those who need it most.

Folk arts are built on time-honoured wisdomdocumented through centuries. Much of India’s ruraland tribal social structure is built around practicescarried forward through folk wisdom. The role of folkart in this entire ecosystem is rather important becauseit incorporates valuable lessons from folk mytholo-gy. Though many fear that the impact of COVID-19 may be the end of artistes/craftspeople, the factremains that their creativity and resilience can savethem. Several organisations and guilds led by not-for-profit Dastkar are in the forefront of efforts to keepthe morale of the artistes/craftspersons intact. Thesepeople know that while lives are important, livelihoodsare no less critical.

India’s folk artistes/craftspersons have long usedtraditional storytelling for social messaging. It is wide-ly recognised as one of the most powerful tools ofcommunication and documentation of their culture.

Many grassroots organisations have alreadylaunched several innovative campaigns bychannelising the creativity of these people.However, countrywide efforts will berequired to protect the physical and finan-cial health of these marginalised commu-nities who have no fallback in these tenu-ous times.

NGOs have already channelised thecreativity of these artistes/craftspersons ina way that ensures their financial sustenanceand also reinforces the outreach of the pub-lic education campaign about the pandem-ic and the new social norms it has imposed.The initiative has caught the attention ofthe world. Working during the lockdown,which has crossed two months, a group ofcraftspersons across India produced illus-trations and paintings in traditional stylesthat depict the behavioural practices beingadvised by health advisories.

Since March, craftspersons have pro-duced artwork underlining the importanceof social distancing, wearing face masks,washing hands with soap, other hygiene eti-quette and avoiding group travel. There arealso scenes depicting hospitals treatingCOVID-19 patients. Traditionally, manyfolk art forms in India were made on largescrolls or as murals to share informationwith the community. Artists would hold upscrolls in village squares and share messagesfor creating awareness and eliciting com-munity responses. Ambika Devi is an artistfrom Rashidpur village in Bihar. Shemakes Madhubani paintings which showpeople wearing face masks and maintain-ing social distancing in village markets.

Bhilwara in Rajasthan is considered agreat success story in reversing the tide ofinfections. It was an early hotspot before

the virus was contained through creativeapproaches. Kalyan Joshi is a Phad artistfrom Bhilwara. His paintings carry mes-sages in the local language about social dis-tancing and face masks. Joshi’s artworkshave become extremely popular with thelocal people as they relate the idea to theirown traditions. Bhilwara is a prime exam-ple of innovative strategies in promotingnew behavioural patterns.

Apindra Swain, a Patachitra artist inOdisha, was quite discouraged as he hadlost his creativity. Yet when he created a clas-sic Patachitra artwork depicting the newnormal, people were interested.

It is the responsibility of all citizens, notjust NGOs, to ensure that the creative juicesof artistes/craftspeople keep flowing, so thatthe traditions they preserve don’t die out.There are several enterprising ways inwhich we can support these people. Forinstance, community stitching of masks,table mats, garden umbrellas, lampshadesand so on can be undertaken using folk andtribal art signages. This can be donethrough prior contracts with buy-backarrangements. The sponsor organisationscan arrange for supply of raw materials andsewing machines.

Tribal tours can be organised for cityfolk and foreigners and attractive productdiscounts can be offered. This can be fac-tored into the ticket/tour cost. Instead ofbringing artistes/craftspeople to the city forthe usual folk festivals, tourists can be takento the villages, where they can perform intheir natural setting. This will give touristsa better insight into their culture and be anovel experience for them as well.

Pre-sale of products can be organisedwith prepaid tour tickets for a group of 10-

15 people as per social distancing norms. In case of musicians, drama troupes,

dancers and singers, a large village centrecan be identified and made into a sort ofkala gram (art village) and artistes can per-form there. The number of performers pergroup can be restricted for the purpose ofsocial distancing.

The Companies Act, 2013, allows forpromotion and development of tradition-al arts and handicrafts to be counted as acorporate social responsibility (CSR), giv-ing businesses an effective cause to supportfolk artistes/craftspersons. The large avail-ability of space, the presence of vast cor-puses dedicated to CSR funding and thebusiness expertise of organising events allcome together to make corporations idealpatrons of folk art in these uncertain times.We all can inspire and encourage not onlyfolk artistes/craftspersons but all individ-uals to use their creativity to adapt to thenew normal.

These are people who believe in hardwork and a life of dignity. They are the oneswho will not die of starvation but from lossof dignity. We must remember that whileCOVID-19 can be lethal, mental or finan-cial illnesses can be no less fatal.

It is too early to tell if the pandemic willproduce an artistic legacy like the greatplague of the early 20th century did, but thisvirus and its fallout have already garnereda huge response. The work produced bytoday’s craftspersons in response to theCoronavirus has been to either raisemorale or money for sustenance. It is alsoa time-honoured way of documenting ourhistory.

(The writer is a well-known development professional)

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With COVID-19 bringing theshutters down on schoolsand colleges in the country,

over one crore teachers are adaptingto new ways of instruction to ensureminimal disruptions to education.Schools are finding innovative ways toimpart lessons, right from gettingtheir teachers to use WhatsApp to cor-rect assessments, recording classes orlive-streaming lectures.

In every effort, be it home visitsto check on students, travelling milesin search of internet connectivity toaccess online training material orcontributions from retired faculty,

the teachers truly remain the frontlinewarriors of education. Yet they areundervalued and unappreciated. Thetypical job description of a teacherinvolves expectations around strongcontent knowledge, 21st-century learn-ing experiences, effective learningenvironment as well as the need to belife-long learners, growing and evolv-ing in their professions.

But beyond what meets the eye,teachers also have to be passionate andthoughtful, encouraging studentengagement. They have to be respon-sive and empathetic to the needs of stu-dents from myriad backgrounds; pro-mote collaborative learning and team-work; inculcate strong values andsocial cohesion; conduct assessmentsand continuously use insights to drive,modify and bolster instruction.Educators must collaborate and con-sistently engage with parents and thelarger community; be role models,holding themselves to the highestprofessional standards and serve asmentors, bringing out the best in eachstudent, facilitating their transition to

higher levels of education or work.While expectations are galore, teach-ers function in a system that is crip-pled with challenges, including poortraining and inadequate resources.Teachers in India are often burdenedwith administrative responsibilities— election duties, maintaining mul-tiple student rosters and so on. Teacherdistribution is also poor and conse-quently, a single teacher could beteaching students from different class-es or at various learning levels, at thesame time. Despite overarching chal-lenges and constrained work environ-ment, teachers are disproportionate-ly faulted for poor learning outcomesand painted as culprits.

As standardised tests outweigh ateacher’s personal observation of a stu-dent’s progress; as people outside ofeducation are more prized as teachersthan those who have honed the craft;as technology threatens to replaceteachers; or as policies are set withoutfactoring in the opinions of teachers,we witness a collective failure — a mas-sive undermining of the profession. It

marks a systemic failure to recogniseand value teachers as experts in thefield.

Standardised models of practiceand training, evidence-based strategiesthat advocate a one-size-fits-allapproach tend to overshadow theunimaginable unpredictability andingenuity of working with and shap-ing young individuals. What makes ateacher’s work unique is that at theheart of it is emotional labour. Itrequires establishing connections withstudents first and teaching, after. Fora teacher, the most joyous memoriesstem from seemingly little momentslike a restless child settling down in theclassroom, a slow-learner inculcatingstrong foundational skills, watchingstudents embody values of sharing andkindness, witnessing the shy studentask questions or listening to first-gen-eration school-goers teach their par-ents the alphabet. This kind of workseldom gets accurately captured in pro-ductivity or efficiency metrics.

Though the metrics can’t possiblyaccount for it all, they do offer inter-

esting insights. Today, with an increas-ing body of research, there is greaterclarity and evidence on key drivers oflearning. Teachers are paramount.No other initiative — such as reduc-ing class size, revamping curriculum,investing in technology and buildingbetter infrastructure comes close tohaving as much of an impact as a goodteacher.

Drawing from a Harvard-Columbia Study, which tracked 2.5million students over two decades, onecan safely conclude that elementaryand middle school teachers have a last-ing impact beyond academics, includ-ing greater matriculation and higheradult earnings. Even students withgood kindergarten teachers end upmaking more money in the long run.Another study from Stanford showsthat an effective teacher can raise learn-ing levels each year. These impactsattenuate over time and with 70 percent of these gains retained in the longrun, a student with a learning achieve-ment, that is one standard deviationabove average, can expect 10-15 per

cent higher earnings each year. Thereis symmetry in these estimates, too.The impact, as multiplied by thenumber of students taught, means thatthe economic value of a good teachergrows with larger classes.

While the majority of teachersmay be effective and hard-working, thesymmetry also suggests lower returnsfrom ineffective or poor-quality teach-ers. Simply put, better teachers havegreater potential.

A 2013 study estimated thatreplacing an ineffective teacher in thebottom five per cent with an averageteacher could boost one student’searnings in the US by $2,50,000.Extrapolating from this, a 2016 reportfrom Washington anticipated anincrease of more than $11 billion inearnings of students by improvingteacher quality for a million publicschool students.

Implications for policy in theIndian context are clear — there mustbe concerted efforts to recognise thevalue of teachers and improve theirquality/effectiveness. A roadmap to

improve teacher quality should includetransparent and merit-based recruit-ment policies to ensure that only themost-deserving individuals get select-ed. Training should be rigorous andcustomised, delivered to suit the needsof each teacher as opposed to cascad-ed standardised training workshops ormodules. Performance-based evalua-tion and promotion mechanisms mustbe implemented to drive better learn-ing outcomes. There must be a focuson reducing the administrative load onteachers; providing greater support andaccess to requisite resources; rational-ising the distribution of teachers, andcreating a fostering environment,which acknowledges their work andencourages professional growth.

It is time we valued teachers, per-haps as we did in the ancient days. Sowhile we “reimagine” the educationsystem post-COVID, let us begin byplacing the teacher at the centre, forevery child deserves a good educator.

(The writer is a young profession-al at the Niti Aayog. Views expressed arepersonal.)

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Moscow: Russia has reportedthe highest daily spike in coro-navirus deaths on Friday, ashealth officials registered 150deaths in the last 24 hours,bringing the country’s toll to3,249.

Russia’s comparatively lowmortality rate has raised eye-brows in the West, with somesuggesting that the country’sgovernment may be underre-porting virus-related deathsand manipulating the statistics.

Russian officials vehe-mently deny the allegationsand attribute the low numbersto the effectiveness of the mea-sures taken to curb the spreadof the outbreak. Russia’s coro-navirus caseload has exceeded326,000 on Friday, with healthofficials reporting almost 9,000new infections. AP

Islamabad: Pakistan’s coron-avirus cases on Friday crossedthe 50,000-mark after a record2,603 more patients were diag-nosed with the COVID-19 dis-ease, the health ministry said.

The deadly contagionclaimed the lives of 50 people inthe last 24 hours, taking thedeath toll to 1,067, the Ministryof National Health Services said.Out of the total 50,694 patients,Sindh reported 19,924 cases,Punjab 18,455, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 7,155, Balochistan3,074, Islamabad 1,326, Gilgit-Baltistan 602 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 158 cases.

It also reported that so far15,201 people have recovered

from the malignant virus. In thepast 24 hours, 1,064 peoplerecovered from the novel coro-navirus. The authorities alsocarried out a record 16,387 tests,taking the total number of testsso far in the country to 445,987.

A special flight of Emiratescarrying 251 strandedPakistanis arrived at IslamabadInternational Airport fromDubai after Pakistan allowedthe airline to operate specialflights.

Officials said that all thepassengers were shifted to dif-ferent quarantine centres inIslamabad for 24 hours formedical tests related to theCOVID-19. PTI

Yangon: Myanmar says it willsubmit a report due Saturdayoutlining its claims of compli-ance with an order from theInternational Court of Justice toprotect members of its MuslimRohingya ethnic minority.

The Netherlands-basedcourt in January issued an orderfor Myanmar to implement pro-visional measures for the pro-tection of the Rohingya.

The court agreed last year toconsider a case alleging thatMyanmar committed genocideagainst the group, an accusationvigorously denied by the gov-ernment. The court’s proceed-ings are likely to continue foryears. Myanmar’s military inAugust 2017 launched what itcalled a clearance campaign inRakhine state in response to an

attack by a Rohingya insurgentgroup. The campaign forcedabout 740,000 Rohingya to fleeto neighboring Bangladesh andled to accusations that securityforces committed mass rapesand killings and burned thou-sands of homes.

Chan Aye, director generalof the InternationalOrganizations and EconomicDepartment of Myanmar’sForeign Ministry, said Friday thegovernment was working on thereport, but would not discuss itscontents before submitting it.

Brigadier General Zaw MinTun, a spokesman forMyanmar’s military, said it hascomplied with governmentorders by providing “completeand necessary information” forthe report. AP

Dhaka: Bangladesh on Fridaybegan assessing the damagecaused by Cyclone Amphanthat killed at least 22 people andleft many displaced in thecountry’s coastal areas.

Cyclone ‘Amphan’, thestrongest to hit the region innearly two decades, made land-fall on Wednesday evening. Itwas the most powerful stormsince cyclone ‘Sidr’ killed near-ly 3,500 people in 2007.

The powerful cyclone hascaused Taka 11 billion ($129million) in damage to the hous-ing, infrastructure, fisheriesand livestock, water resourcesand agriculture in Bangladesh,according to initial govern-ment estimates. PTI

Beijing: China has sought thesupport and understanding ofIndia and other countries for itscontroversial decision toimpose a new national securi-ty law on Hong Kong, sayingthe new legislation is aimed atcontaining the “secessionist”forces in the former Britishcolony who have posed a “gravethreat” to the country’s nation-al security and sovereignty.

In an apparent move toblunt any international back-lash, China has sent demarch-es to India and several othercountries explaining the reasonfor the new draft legislation witha reminder that “upholdingnational security” in Hong KongSpecial Administrative Region(HKSAR) is “purely China’sinternal affair and foreign coun-try may interfere in this matter.”

China on Friday introducedthe draft of a controversialnational security law in HongKong in its parliament to tight-en Beijing’s control over theformer British colony, in whatcould be the biggest blow to theterritory’s autonomy and per-sonal freedoms since 1997 whenit came under Chinese rule.

Hong Kong is a SpecialAdministrative Region (SAR) ofChina. It has observed a “onecountry, two systems” policysince Britain returned sover-eignty to China on July 1, 1997,which has allowed it certain free-doms the rest of China does not

have. “Your country maintainsclose economic and trade coop-eration as well as people-to-peo-ple exchanges with Hong Kong.

Hong Kong’s prosperityand long-term stability is in linewith the common interests ofthe whole international com-munity, including your country,as well as protection of yourcountry’s legitimate interestsin Hong Kong. We hope thatyour government will under-stand and support China’s rel-evant practices,” it said. Thedemarche said since the return

of Hong Kong to China 23 yearsago, “the Hong Kong SAR hasnot acted out its constitutionalduty for national security in linewith China’s Constitution andthe Basic Law”.

“There is a clear loopholein Hong Kong’s legal systemand an absence of a mechanismof enforcement. The oppositionin Hong Kong have long col-luded with external forces tocarry out acts of secession,subversion, infiltration anddestruction against the Chinesemainland,” it said. PTI

Johannesburg: Africa’s coron-avirus cases have surpassed1,00,000, the Africa Centers forDisease Control andPrevention said Friday, as thecontinent with many fragilehealth systems has not yetseen the high numbers of otherparts of the world.

More than 3,100 peoplehave died from COVID-19across the continent of 1.3billion people.

The African continent hasseen roughly the same numberof new cases in the past weekas the week before, AfricaCDC director JohnNkengasong said Thursday,adding that “we hope thattrend continues” instead of arapid exponential increase.

While early lockdowns in

many of Africa’s 54 countriesslowed the growth of the pan-demic, Nkengasong said “thatdoesn’t mean Africa has beenspared.” But he said health offi-cials are not seeing a lot ofcommunity deaths or “massiveflooding of our hospitals”because of COVID-19.

He said the African conti-nent needs to test about 10times the number of people ithas already tested for the coro-navirus. It should strive totest at least 1 per cent of thepopulation, or 13 million peo-ple, but so far only 1.3 millionto 1.4 million tests have beenconducted. Shortages of testingand medical equipment remaina problem.

Countries with fragilehealth systems and a recent

history of conflict like Somaliaand South Sudan remain aworry for health officials ascases rise. And in Tanzania,where the president claims thevirus has been defeated byprayer, the government hasn’tupdated its case numbers inthree weeks.

South Africa has been test-ing assertively and leads thecontinent with more than19,000 cases.

Africa’s worst-case sce-nario, according to publishedmodels, would see more than3 million infected and morethan 300,000 deaths and “thatwould be overwhelming forsure,” Nkengasong said. But hewarned that “models are onlyas good as the assumptions weput in there.” AP

Dubai: The family of slainWashington Post columnistJamal Khashoggi announcedon Friday they have forgivenhis Saudi killers, giving legalreprieve to five governmentagents who had been sen-tenced to death for an opera-tion that cast a cloud of suspi-cion over the kingdom’s crownprince.

“We, the sons of the mar-tyr Jamal Khashoggi, announcethat we forgive those whokilled our father as we seekreward from God Almighty,”wrote one of his sons, SalahKhashoggi, on Twitter.

Salah Khashoggi, who livesin Saudi Arabia and hasreceived financial compensa-tion from the royal court forhis father’s killing, explainedthat forgiveness was extended

to the killers during the lastnights of the Muslim holymonth of Ramadan in line withIslamic tradition to offer par-dons in cases allowed byIslamic law.

The Saudi court’s ruling inDecember that the killing wasnot premeditated paved theway for Friday’s announce-ment by leaving the door openfor reprieve. Additionally, thefinding was in line with thegovernment’s official explana-tion of Khashoggi’s slayingthat he was killed accidental-ly in a brawl by agents tryingto forcibly return him to SaudiArabia.

The family’s decision topardon Khashoggi’s killerscomes as questions continue tolinger over who ultimatelyordered the operation and

whether his sons have comeunder pressure. The trial waswidely criticized by rightsgroups and an independentUN investigator who notedthat no senior officials nor any-one in charge of ordering theoperation was found guilty.

The independence of theRiyadh criminal court was alsobrought into question. Prior tohis killing, Khashoggi had writ-ten critically of Saudi Arabia’scrown prince in columns forthe Washington Post.

He’d been living in exile inthe United States for about ayear as Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman over-saw a crackdown in SaudiArabia on human rightsactivists, writers and critics ofthe kingdom’s devastating warin Yemen. AP

Washington: The US willwithdraw from the Open SkiesTreaty, a major accord thatpermits unarmed aerial sur-veillance flights over 34 par-ticipating countries, citingrepeated Russian violations ofits terms.

India is not a member ofthis treaty that came into forceon January 1, 2002. Most of theparticipating countries are inNorth Europe and Central Asia.

The Open Skies Treatyallows each state-party to carryout short-notice, unarmed,reconnaissance flights over theothers’ territories to collectdata on military forces andactivities.

President Donald Trumpblamed Russia’s non-compli-ance with the treaty for such adecision by the United States.

“Russia didn’t adhere tothe treaty, so until they adhere,we will pull out. But there’s avery good chance we’ll make anew agreement or do some-thing to put that agreementback together,” Trump toldreporters at the White House.

“Whenever there’s an agree-ment that another party does-n’t agree to, we have many ofthose agreements around theworld, where it’s a two-partyagreement, but they don’tadhere to it and we do. Whenwe have things like that, we pullout also,” he said.

Secretary of State MikePompeo said the US will sub-mit notice of its decision towithdraw from the Treaty onOpen Skies to the TreatyDepositaries and to all otherstates party to the Treaty.

“Effective six months fromtomorrow, the United Stateswill no longer be a party to theTreaty,” he said, adding that theUS would, however, reconsid-er its withdrawal should Russiareturn to full compliance with

the Treaty.Trump expressed hope that

the US may negotiate a dealwith Russia on arms treatyand China will be maybeincluded in that.

“We’ll see what happens,”he said.

“What’s going to happen iswe’re going to pull out andthey’re going to come backand want to make a deal. We’vehad a very good relationshiplately with Russia. And you cansee that with respect to oil andwhat’s happening with oil,”Trump said.

In his statement, Pompeoalleged that Russia’s imple-mentation and violation ofOpen Skies treaty has under-mined the central confidence-building function of the pact— and has, in fact, fuelled dis-trust and threats to US nation-al security — making contin-ued American participationuntenable.

“While the United Statesalong with our Allies and part-ners that are States Parties to theTreaty have lived up to ourcommitments and obligationsunder the Treaty, Russia has fla-grantly and continuously vio-lated the Treaty in various waysfor years. This is not a storyexclusive to just the Treaty onOpen Skies, unfortunately, forRussia has been a serial viola-tor of many of its arms controlobligations and commitments,”Pompeo said.

Despite the Open SkiesTreaty’s aspiration to build con-fidence and trust by demon-strating through unrestrictedoverflights that no party hasanything to hide, Russia hasconsistently acted as if it werefree to turn its obligations offand on at will, unlawfully deny-ing or restricting Open Skiesobservation flights whenever itdesires, he added. PTI

Hong Kong: Hong Kong’s pro-democracy lawmakers sharplycriticized China’s move to takeover long-stalled efforts toenact national security legisla-tion in the semi-autonomousterritory, saying it goes againstthe “one country, two systems”framework that promises thecity freedoms not found on themainland.

The proposed bill, sub-mitted on the opening day ofChina’s national legislative ses-sion Friday, is aimed at forbid-ding secessionist and subver-sive activity, as well as foreigninterference and terrorism. Itcomes after a months of pro-democracy demonstrations lastyear that at times descendedinto violence between policeand protesters.

The move, one of the mostcontroversial items on theagenda of the National People’sCongress in years, drew strongrebukes from the U.S.Government and rights groups.Despite that, Beijing appears tohave lost patience and is deter-mined to assert greater controland limit opposition activityfollowing last year’s protests.

“Xi Jinping has torn awaythe whole pretense of ‘onecountry, two systems’,” formerpro-democracy lawmaker LeeCheuk-yan said of China’sleader.

He said at a press briefingby opposition parties andactivists that the move showsBeijing is “directly taking con-trol.” “They’re trying to banevery organisation in Hong

Kong who dares to speak outagainst the Communist Party,”he said, describing it as a chal-lenge to global values such asfreedom and liberty.

A previous effort to passsuch legislation in Hong Kong’slegislature was shelved aftermassive street protests in 2003.This time, Beijing has decidedto circumvent the territory’slaw-making body using whatcritics say are dubious legalgrounds under the Basic Law,which has served as a sort ofconstitution for Hong Kongsince its return to China fromBritish colonial rule in 1997.

While the enactment of

such legislation is requiredunder Article 23 of the BasicLaw, Beijing has decided not totry to ram it through the HongKong legislature, said SteveTsang, director of the ChinaInstitute at the School ofOriental and African Studies inLondon. Instead, it has chosenwhat he called a “worse option”by proposing the NationalPeople’s Congress enact anational security law for theterritory.

“For many in Hong Kong,the NPC enacting for HongKong will be tantamount to theeffective end of the ‘one coun-try, two systems’ model,” Tsang

said. “I find it hard to believethis will not trigger either amassive peaceful and orderlydemonstration or more vocaland aggressive protests or,indeed, most probably, a com-bination of both.” ` A returnof violent protests would be afurther drag on the territory’screaking economy, promptingmultinational companies toreconsider their presence andWashington to review its pol-icy of granting Hong Kongmore advantageous trade con-ditions than mainland China,Tsang said.

Former Hong Kong leaderC.Y. Leung defended the move

in an interview with Chinesestate broadcaster CCTV.

He warned that the pro-democracy opposition shouldnot “underestimate the deter-mination of the Chinese gov-ernment to deal with the issuesof Hong Kong.” The nationalsecurity legislation neither hin-ders foreign investors frominvesting in Hong Kong, norprevents local residents fromenjoying the freedoms accord-ed to them by law, he said.

“To implement one coun-try, two systems in Hong Kong,there must be laws to safeguardnational security,” Leung said,noting that countries such asthe United States and Singaporehave strict national securitylaws as well.

Pro-democracy lawmakerTanya Chan countered that theproposal goes against the BasicLaw. “It is a complete dishon-or of promises made under theSino-British Join Declaration, aswell as all the promises made bythe Chinese government to usand the world,” she said.

Taiwan’s government urgedBeijing not to lead Hong into“greater turmoil” with the pro-posed national security law,stating that it will cause dis-satisfaction among the HongKong people and cause socialinstability.

“The laws of any civilizedsociety should be an umbrellato protect the people, ratherthan shackles on their free-dom,” Taiwan’s MainlandAffairs Council said in a statement. AP

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Washington: Secretary of StateMike Pompeo on Friday con-demned China’s effort to takeover national security legisla-tion in Hong Kong, calling it “adeath knell for the high degreeof autonomy” that Beijing hadpromised the territory.

The measure, submittedFriday on the opening day ofChina’s national legislative ses-sion, is strongly opposed bypro-democracy lawmakers insemi-autonomous Hong Kong.

Pompeo weighed in as well,calling the proposal by China aneffort to “unilaterally and arbi-trarily impose national securi-ty legislation on Hong Kong.”“Hong Kong has flourished as

a bastion of liberty. The UnitedStates strongly urges Beijing toreconsider its disastrous pro-posal, abide by its internation-al obligations, and respect HongKong’s high degree of autono-my, democratic institutions,and civil liberties, which are keyto preserving its special statusunder US law,” Pompeo said ina statement.

He said the decision toignore the will of the people ofHong Kong would be a “deathknell for the high degree ofautonomy Beijing promisedfor Hong Kong” under adecades-old agreement knownas the Sino-British JointDeclaration. PTI

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Treatment for COVID-19with the anti-malarial drug

hydroxychloroquine, eitherwith or without the antibioticazithromycin, offers no bene-fit for COVID-19 patients,according to a large observa-tional study.

The research, published inthe journal The Lancet,analysed data from nearly15,000 patients with COVID-19 who received chloroquine orits analogue hydroxychloro-quine, taken with or withoutthe antibiotics azithromycinor clarithromycin, and 81,000controls.

According to theresearchers, includingMandeep Mehra from Brighamand Women’s Hospital in theUS, COVID-19 patients onthese drug regimens, experi-

enced an increased risk of seri-ous heart rhythm complica-tions.

The scientists said thesedrugs should not be used totreat COVID-19 patients out-side of clinical trials untilresults from randomised clin-ical trials are available to con-firm their safety and efficacyfor COVID-19 patients.

They explained chloro-quine, an antimalarial drugand its analogue, hydroxy-chloroquine, are commonlyused to treat autoimmune dis-eases including lupus andarthritis.

Both these drugs have agood safety profile as treat-ments for those specific con-ditions, and the currentresearch said these patientsshould not stop taking thesedrugs if they are prescribed forapproved conditions.

Atlanta: Joe Biden, the pre-sumptive Democratic presi-dential nominee, had a testyexchange with a prominentblack radio personality onFriday over his support amongblack voters and his potentialrunning mate.

Charlamagne Tha Godpressed Biden on reports thathe is considering MinnesotaSen. Amy Klobuchar, who iswhite, to be vice president andtold him black voters “savedyour political life in the pri-maries” and “have things theywant from you.”

“I’m not acknowledginganybody who is being consid-ered,” Biden said.

“But I guarantee you thereare multiple black women

being considered. Multiple.” A Biden aide then sought

to end the interview, prompt-ing the host to say, “you can’tdo that to black media.”

Biden responded, “I dothat to black media and whitemedia” and said his wife need-ed to use the television studio.

He then added: “If you’vegot a problem figuring outwhether you’re for me or forTrump, then you ain’t black.” The host countered that con-versations about Biden’s run-ning mate aren’t about Trump,whom many black voters viewas racist.

“Take a look at my record,”Biden said, citing his work assenator to extend the VotingRights Act of 1965.

“The NAACP hasendorsed me every time I’verun. Come on, take a look atmy record.”

Biden has emphasized hisrelationship with black votersthroughout his campaign, not-ing throughout the primarycampaign his dependence on

black voters in his DelawareSenate races and his partner-ship as former President BarackObama’s top lieutenant.

Black voters resurrectedBiden’s campaign with a secondplace finish in the Nevada cau-cuses and a resounding win inthe South Carolina primaryafter he’d started with embar-rassing finishes in overwhelm-ingly white Iowa and NewHampshire.

Older black voters espe-cially sided with Biden over awide Democratic field thatincluded several black candi-dates, including Kamala Harris.

The California senator iswidely believed to be a con-tender for the vice-presidentialnomination. AP

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India’s top oil and gas pro-ducer ONGC and country’s

biggest electricity generatorNTPC have signed a prelimi-nary agreement to set up a jointventure company for renewableenergy projects.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp(ONGC) and NTPC Ltd“entered into a memorandumof understanding (MoU) onMay 21, 2020 in New Delhi toformalise this arrangement,”ONGC said in a statement.

The MoU will enable bothcompanies to achieve theirrespective targets in renewableenergy business.

“As per the MoU, NTPCand ONGC will explore and setup renewable power assetsincluding offshore wind, inIndia and overseas, and exploreopportunities in the fields ofsustainability, storage, e-mobility and ESG(Environmental, Social andGovernance) compliant pro-jects,” the statement said.

ONGC has a renewable

portfolio of 176 MW compris-ing of 153 MW wind powerand 23 MW of solar plants.Through this collaborationwith NTPC, ONGC envisagessignificant growth in its pres-ence in the renewable powersector. ONGC’s EnergyStrategy 2040 document callsfor the company to invest inrenewable energy sources witha target to create 5-10 gigawattsportfolio with a focus on off-shore wind power. NTPC, witha 920 MW of installed renew-able power capacity in its port-folio with about 2,300 MW ofrenewable energy projectsunder construction and aspir-ing to reach 32 GW by 2032.

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Bank and NBFC stocks onFriday tumbled up to 6 per

cent after the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) extended morato-rium on loan repayments.

“Markets were hopingsome measure from the RBIthat could boost the bankingand financial sectors but theannouncement of the extensionof moratorium further dentedthe sentiment,” said Ajit Mishra,vice-president (research),Religare Broking Ltd.

At the close of trade, sharesof Axis Bank plunged 5.65 percent, Federal Bank 5.08 per cent,ICICI Bank dropped 4.32 percent, RBL Bank 4.20 per cent,IndusInd Bank 2.52 per cent,HDFC Bank 2.43 per cent andSBI 0.72 per cent on the BSE.

Kotak Mahindra Bank,however, bounced back andclosed 0.91 per cent higher.

The BSE BANKEX fell 2.44per cent. Among non-bankingfinancial companies (NBFCs),Mahindra & MahindraFinancial Services tumbled 6.31per cent, Shriram TransportFinance Company tanked 5.78per cent, CholamandalamInvestment and FinanceCompany 5.12 per cent, BajajFinance 4.67 per cent andUjjivan Financial Services 3.57per cent. “The RBI hasannounced further extension inthe moratorium period to end-borrowers from May 31 tillAugust 31. We read this asmajor negative for all NBFCs(including the ones with strongliability franchises) as thiswould further delay the over-all collection and recovery pro-cedure, and stretch the total liq-uidity cycle for all,” EmkayGlobal Financial Services saidin a note.

It said that in addition, thiswould further damage financial

discipline, especially for small-ticket borrowers and microfi-nance institutions (MFIs).

Jimeet Modi, founder andCEO of SAMCO Securities &StockNote said, “Extension ofmoratorium is good for theeconomy but in substance, itwill negatively impact banksand NBFCs. As a whole, theRBI has taken a calibratedapproach to save the economyrather than favouring banks.”The RBI on Friday slashedinterest rates, extended mora-torium on loan repaymentsand allowed banks to lendmore to corporates in an effortto support the economy whichis likely to contract for the firsttime in over four decades.

The repo rate was cut by 40basis points to 4 per cent, RBIGovernor Shaktikanta Das saidannouncing the decisions takenby the central bank’s Monetary

Policy Committee (MPC) thatmet ahead of its scheduledmeeting in early June.

The RBI supplemented theinterest rate cut by extending bythree months the permissiongiven to all banks to give athree-month moratorium onpayment of monthly instal-ments on all outstanding loans,providing relief to home andauto buyers as well as the realestate sector where construc-tion activities are already at astandstill.

The moratorium on inter-est on working capital wasalso extended by three months.“It was a good effort policy bythe RBI though extension ofmoratorium is a short termmeasure and not really longterm. Rate cuts and reverserepo rate cut are moves in theright direction but risk aversionby banks is still high,” VirendraSomwanshi, MD & CEO,Motilal Oswal Private WealthManagement, said.

Somwanshi added thateven though one-time loanrestructuring would have led tocredit rating issues, it wouldhave been a step in the rightdirection which the marketwas expecting.

“Good for companies butbanks/NBFCs will be hit inshort term particularly whenthey are staring at higherNPAs.”

The Sensex ended 260.31points or 0.84 per cent lower at30,672.59.

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India’s foreign exchangereserves rose by $1.726 bil-

lion during the week endedMay 15, RBI data showed onFriday. According to the RBI’sweekly statistical supplement,the overall forex reservesincreased to $487.039 billionfrom $485.313 billion reportedfor the week ended May 8th.

On Friday, while announc-ing the repo rate cut, RBIGovernor Shaktikanta Das said:“India’s foreign exchangereserves have increased by $9.2billion in 2020-21 so far.

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The Confederation of IndianTextile Industry (CITI) has

hailed the measures announcedby RBI Governor ShaktikantaDas on Friday which are aimed at preserving the finan-cial stability in the system andimproving the functioning ofthe market.

These announcements willrevive the market, boostexports and imports and debtservicing, said T. Rajkumar,Chairman, CITI.

CITI Chairman thankedthe RBI Governor for reducingthe repo rate by 40 basis pointsunder the liquidity adjustmentfacility (LAF) bringing it downto 4.0 per cent from 4.40 percent with immediate effect.

Accordingly, the marginalstanding facility (MSF) rateand the Bank Rate standreduced to 4.25 per cent from4.65 per cent; and the reverserepo rate under LAF nowstands reduced to 3.35 percent from 3.75 per cent.

Rajkumar said that theindustry has been demandingfor extending the moratoriumperiod for a further period of10 months as earlierannounced for the period ofthree months (March, Apriland May) as industries acrosssectors could not resume func-tioning due to containmentmeasures resorted to preventpandemic effect and huge cashcrunch resulting thereof.

He welcomed the decisionof RBI Governor for extension

of moratorium period foranother 3 months from June,July and August 2020 and fur-ther said it has brought a def-inite relief to the industrywhich is one of the worst hitindustries because of its high-ly capital and labour intensivenature and providing employ-ment to more than 110 millionworkforce.

The announced measureswill certainly prevent a numberof companies from turninginto NPAs. He hoped that themoratorium period could fur-ther be extended up to March31, 2021, to ease the financialburden on companies.

He also welcomed the deci-sion of reduction of marginmoney, and deferring of inter-est on working capital for a

period of 6 months with anoption that the interest onmoratorium can be convertedinto FITL or Term Loan andcan be repaid by March 2021.However, repaying interestamount within a period ofnext six months would be adaunting task for the textile andclothing industry which isgrappling with the lockdownsituation at the moment.

CITI Chairman pinpoint-ed that repo rates reduced byRBI many times in the last oneyear has not been fully trans-mitted by banks to borrowersand are very miniscule. Theindustry wants the banksshould be advised to pass onthe full benefit of the recent andearlier reduction in repo rate byRBI.

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At a time when fresh bidshave been invited for the

grounded Jet Airways, thedeadline for completion of itsinsolvency resolution processhas been extended till August21 due to the lockdown.

The full service carrier, which shuttered oper-ations in March 2019, is underCorporate InsolvencyResolution Process (CIRP) andthe time period given for its completion was to endon June 13.

According to a regulatory

filing, 69 days of lockdown period from March24 to May 31 would be exclud-ed for computing the CIRP deadline.

The nationwide lockdownto curb spreading of coron-avirus infections wasannounced on March 24 andhas been extended thrice. It isnow to end on May 31.

“Therefore, the revisedtimeline for completion of theCIRP of Jet is now August 21,2020, subject to any furtherextension of the lockdown bythe State Govt of Maha or theCentral Government.

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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Friday held

a review meeting with CEOs ofpublic sector banks (PSBs) andasked them to implement themega ‘Aatmanirbhar’ reliefpackage to revive the COVID-hit economy.

The meeting via videoconferencing took place in thebackdrop of the �21 lakh crorestimulus package announce-ment and the Reserve Bankcoming out with fresh mea-sures, including interest ratecuts. The Union Cabinet head-ed by PM Narendra Modi onWednesday gave its nod formany of the schemesannounced as part of‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’package to prop up the econ-omy reeling under the COVID-19 crisis. “Finance MinisterSmt.@nsitharaman chairingthe review meeting, throughVC, with the chief executives ofPSBs today to review the readi-ness of banks in implementing‘Aatmanirbhar’ relief package,”the Finance Ministry said in atweet. “To operationalise theannouncements made byHon’ble FM @nsitharaman jiunder #AatmanirbharBharat,review meeting through VCwas helwith all PSBs.

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Hours after the ReserveBank of India (RBI)

extended the moratorium onrepayment of loans for threemonths on Friday, Union min-ister Hardeep Singh Puri saidthis step will offer relief to avi-ation sector companies likeairports, airlines and groundhandlers and help themimprove their cash flow posi-tion. The aviation sector hasbeen hit hard due to the coro-navirus-triggered lockdown.Consequently, during the lastfew weeks, all Indian airline

companies have either firedemployees, sent them on leavewithout pay or cut theirsalaries. “The RBI announce-ment to permit lending insti-tutions to extend the previouslyannounced moratorium byanother 3 months, i.E., fromJune 1, 2020 to August 31, 2020in view of further extension inthe lockdown offers relief tocivil aviation stakeholders,”Puri said on Twitter.

“These announcementswill also benefit aviation sectorcompanies, including airports,airlines, freight operators,ground handlers.”

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India Inc on Friday said theReserve Bank’s surprise

move to slash key interestrates will provide a much-needed respite to small busi-nesses and also revivedemand. The industry saidmore support will be requiredon an ongoing basis bothfrom the RBI and governmentto stimulate economic growthamid the COVID-19 pan-demic. The Reserve Bankunexpectedly slashed bench-mark interest rates to theirlowest levels since 2000 andextended the moratorium onrepayment of loans for threemonths to ramp up supportfor the economy which islikely to contract for the firsttime in over four decades.

The benchmark repur-chase (repo) rate was cut by40 basis points to 4 per cent,the lowest since the bench-mark came into being in2000, Governor ShaktikantaDas said. CII DirectorGeneral Chandrajit Banerjeesaid the RBI should also con-sider extending this morato-rium to NBFCs for theirrepayment to banks, withoutwhich the NBFCs sector isfacing acute distress.

“Another move the RBIshould consider is to allowone-time restructuring ofloans to relieve stressed busi-nesses. Group exposure limitfor lenders to corporates to 30per cent from 25 per cent is a

welcome move too, as it isexpected to help banks meetthe borrowing requirementsof the private sector,” Banerjeestated.

Ficci President SangitaReddy said, “With the outlookfor economic growth beingvery uncertain and RBI itselfadmitting that GDP growth inthe current fiscal will be neg-ative, Ficci feels that moresupport will be required on anongoing basis both from RBIand government and we shallremain engaged and keepproviding feedback on behalfof Indian industry to the pol-icymakers and regulator.”

Mandar Pitale, Head -Treasury at SBM Bank (India),said the accommodativestance by the central bank isa further indication that it willnot shy away from fiddlingwith interest rates goingahead, depending on the data.

“With job losses mount-ing and economic activityshowing little signs ofimprovement due to the rag-ing coronavirus scare, themove to extend the loanmoratorium period shouldprovide respite to individualsand small businesses,” Pitaleadded.

Assocham PresidentNiranjan Hiranandani said,“RBI’s third presser since thelockdown is a continued effortto increase private consump-tion and provide liquidityaccess to all sectors hit by theCOVID-19 pandemic.

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When I connect over a confer-ence call with director produc-er Ramesh Sippy, the first

thing that strikes me is the old worldway of holding a conversation that iswarm yet professional. He doesn’t askfor my name as he is already aware ofit and uses it to addresses me rather thanthe impersonal salutation that many ofthe current crop engages in. Hedoesn’t want to enter intothe interview head-long but firstinquires whichpart of the world Iam holding theconversation from.On hearing that I amconnecting fromDelhi, he quips “Youare better off as thingsare opening up while inMumbai, we can’t ventureout as yet.” Clearly, even ifyou are the director of a larg-er-than-life spectacle likeSholay, you have to abide bythe whims of a microscopicvirus and adjust to life accord-ingly.

He is doing just that. HisRamesh Sippy Academy of Cinemaand Entertainment (RSACE)at Kalina, Mumbai, which runs fivegraduation courses around film mak-ing in association with the MumbaiUniversity and Garware Institute since2017, has shifted to the online moduleof teaching. Given the nature of the pro-fession and the way it is taught, wherephysical contact seems essential, I won-der how it would be possible to contin-ue to teach online indefinitely and hesays, “That is a million dollar question.No one knows how we will go forward.and what’s happening. We do not knowwhat shape and form the course thepandemic will take. We will have to seehow much it is possible to go back tothe normal or whether in the nextsix months or one year wedo a mix of online andphysical classes or justthe former.” But onething he is sure of,his vast repertoireof films helpsbudding filmmakers learnthe craft.

It is notjust teachingfilm makingthat will beaffected butthe professionleading up toit is bound totake a hit inthe way thatit works.A l r e a d y ,there arespeculationsabout themanner inwhich inti-mate sceneswould be shot,s o m e t h i n gwhich Sippy’sfilm Sagar hadin ample measurebetween the leadpair of DimpleKapadia and RishiKapoor. The direc-tor is unfazed andsays, “Technology isthere to help us do a lot ofthings that we cannot. Evenfive, 10 or 20 years back, weused technology in Sholayand Shaan to change theface of cinema. At that time,those were creative decisionsbut now they might becomenecessary.” He goes on topoint to several projects wherepeople are sitting at home andrelating interesting storiesthrough short films. “That is a newway of story-telling now but, ofcourse, this can’t be permanentlyused for entertainment, he says andadds, that it was possible as humans,by their nature, are a race of thinkers.

He believes that taking thingslying down is not the appropriatereaction to the reaction. “It is goodto understand what the problems arebut it is not a good idea to sit backand let the virus take over your entirelife. We have to stand up and fight forthe welfare of society and individual. Ifwe try to look after everyone, everyonewill look after us. There will, of course,be stray cases of unfortunate incidentsof people who we cannot help.”

He resorts to a history lesson toexplain the point further. “There has-n’t been a World War for 70-75 years.But we are now facing Coronavirusacross the world, which is noth-ing short of a war. We willresolve this too. There will besuffering along the way,naturally, but that is theprice we pay. We wouldlearn a lot of new thingsalong the way,” he says optimistically.

Another resort to the pastis the way Doordarshan decided to tele-cast the serials of yore which command-ed huge fan-following including Sippy’sBuniyaad, which followed a migrantfamily during Partition. He believes thatthe serial has struck a chord among theyounger generation as “it was basical-ly a good story about the events thattook place.” And there are parallels incontemporary life as well. “In northIndia, there were refugee camps andpeople were confined to them. It is areminder of those times when the con-finement was greater and, the problems,more dangerous,” says the director.

Talking of Buniyaad naturally bringsus to his love for ensemble casts whichwas evident not just in the serial but alsoin films like Shaan (1980), Sholay(1975) and to an extent, Seeta aur Geeta (1972). “Of course, I likeworking with bigger casts but it is nevereasy. It is the challenge that eggs you on.The actors too could feel the vibes ofsomething very good being made and,with so much care and attention, theyput their best foot forward,” he says ashis voice fades out over a connectionthat is often patchy.

Another thing that was very muchapparent in his films were larger thanlife villains. Whether it was GabbarSingh menacingly asking his cohorts,“Kitne aadmi the?” or Shakaal declar-ing, “Ajeeb janwar hai. Kitna bhi khaebhooka hi rehta hai,” — both could chillyou to the bone. Sippy retorts, “Don’theroes come out larger than life? Wereheroes, like Amitabh or Dharmendraordinary?”

However, it wasn’t a huge canvasrather a heartwarming story that thedirector started his career with. The sonof producer GP Sippy, after havingassisted during several films, decided toturn director with Andaz in 1971. Thestory about a widower’s daughter and awidow’s son bringing the duo togetherwas unconventional given the timewhen second marriages were uncom-mon. Add to it the fact that Sippy wasall of 25. “Everyone called me a fool forattempting a film like that. Reactionsincluded, ‘You are a young guy. Whatare you doing making a film on a widowand a widower. What is wrong withyou?’” His father was also surprised thathe wanted to debut as director with thisfilm. When he approached actorShammi Kapoor for the role of the wid-ower, his reaction was not very differ-ent but for an altogether different rea-son. Shammi, who was known for hislight-hearted and stylish romcomswhich featured great music as well as alot of Elvis Presley-inspired dancingasked, “Do you know what I am famousfor? Dancing and singing. What are youtrying to do?” A young Sippy, backedby a powerful idea, was undeterred andsaid, “‘Haven’t you done enough of that?Let us try something different.’ Helooked at me, somewhere it clicked andhe agreed.”

Sippy was completely convincedthat, despite the zeitgeist of the age, theworld would not object to a man whohad lost his wife and has a daughtercoming together with a woman who hadlost her husband and had a boy. “If youmake a film like that, you need to makethe audience want them to come togeth-er so they had to be warm people withfeelings,” says Sippy thoughtfully. Luck

favoured them and superstar RajeshKhanna agreed to be a part of the film.“The music was superb while the storytelling was interesting and bright. It wasa warm story told with an unusual angle

with great performances,” he saysand pauses. The gap becomesinexplicably long and we realise

that we have lost the connectionwith him yet again.

Once reconnected, Sippy’s voicestill wavers and when I suggest that

we should re-connect again, he retorts,“It is a Coronavirus phone,” and guf-

faws before adding, “Everyone is on thephone and the internet so these arebeing used beyond their capacities.”

He repeated Hema Malini, the pro-tagonist in Andaz, in Seeta Aur Geeta.Again many people felt that a doublerole for a woman and that too on thelines of Ram Aur Shyam (1967), whichhad been essayed by none other thanDilip Kumar was a huge risk. “I felt thisone was better. The idea of Dilip Kumarbeing exploited was not as convincingas a young woman suffering theCinderella syndrome,” he says. Whatalso immensely helped the popularityof the film was Sanjeev Kumar andDharmendra, two fine actors and youngsuperstars in their own right, being castopposite Hema. “It is not easy in Indiato convince the male actor to take onthe secondary role. Their characterswere interesting but Hema had thecream and they were supporting her. Itwas great of them to say yes. In its com-mercial way the film spoke about awoman,” he says.

But it was Sholay that placed him inthe big league so much so that even nowhis name is synonymous with the film.Sippy recently received a LifetimeAchievement Award at Filmfare Awardswhich was held in Assam in Februarythis year and he feels that it was givento him mostly because of Sholay.However, he doesn’t deny, “I do have abody of work and I couldn’t have madea Sholay without having made Andaz orSeeta aur Geeta.”

The fact that the film continues tobe a phenomenon where its dialoguesare still quoted in different situations offscreen is lost on no one. But at the timeof filming no one, least of all Sippy,realised it. “I could feel that we weremaking a great film. How can you pre-dict it was a phenomenon? It just hap-pened, you couldn’t predict it. Peoplefound something new every time theywatched it,” he says attributing its suc-cess to a combination of its technique,storytelling, performances, music andbackground score. He credits writer duoSalim Javed, lyricist Anand Bakshi,music director RD Burman ,the techni-cians and cameraperson along with thecast which came together to put up agreat show.

Considering that remakes are oftenattempted of films that break box officerecords, what are Sippy’s views on thesame? “I wouldn’t make Sholay. It is notlike remakes can’t work but you shouldadd something to it or have a new takeon it. A film like Titanic was made 20years before this version. Mother Indiahad been made by Mehboob Khan lessthan 10-15 years ago before the colourfilm which was a much bigger andimproved version of the original and itworked brilliantly. It is very difficult toadd to Sholay which already has somuch. I fail to see why I should attemptto make it? If someone has the confi-dence they should do it but make itworth the attempt,” he says recalling thefate of Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag(2007).

With the advent of OTT platforms,newer directors and increased exposureof the audience, Sippy agrees that filmshave changed. “Not just the story but thewhole storytelling technique haschanged. You are, after all, telling thestory to a completely different audiencewhich has the sensibilities of the timeit lives in. Today’s viewers are very dif-ferent from the audience of the 1960s,70s, 80s or 90s. While the themes con-tinue to be the same, love stories orrevenge dramas, because we arehumans, the narrative style has trans-formed. That is the challenge as youhave to do something differently fortoday’s age and do it as interestingly aspossible hoping that the audience willlike it,” says Sippy matter factly.

It is not just story-telling which hastransformed but the way that the audi-ence consumes entertainment as well.“Something which is for the phone willremain for the phone and will never beas as impressive on screen. Under thepresent circumstances, people are say-ing that cinema may never come backbut I don’t believe it. If you have an expe-rience to share with people that is worthit, they will come to the theatre. Aren’tpeople feeling fed up at home duringlockdown? They want to step out andcinema would enable them to do that,of course, at the right time — three orsix months down the line,” he says andadds, “This is a good note to end,” butwhen I persist that I do have a few morequestions left, he teases, “You don’t wantto talk to me another time? Let’s keepit for that.”

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Thanos is hands-downone of the best comic

book villains of all time.Everything about him isvery intimidating from hisstature to his voice.However, to some extenthe is very humane andsomeone whom we couldsympathise with. In thecomic books, the characterhas this weird motivationwhich was dubbed as‘Obsession with Death’.The directors of AvengersEndgame, Russo brothersthought that this motiva-tion was not impactful,mainly because there wereelements of too much fan-tasy and the character ofLady Death had yet to beintroduced.

Actor Josh Brolin whoportrayed Thanos inAvengers Infinity War andEndgame, experimented alot with the character toachieve the acclaimeddepiction on screen. Intoday’s time, CGI has goneon to become extremelyrealistic. Despite this, theactor had a big challenge toportray an 8’3 tall formida-ble character so that theaudience could connectwith it and simultaneous-

ly, fear it. Brolin said, “Earlier,

we didn’t understand thenuances of the role. TheRusso’s had the intentionsand the relationship withGamora, Nebula and allthe others but it wasn’tuntil we started experi-

menting. We realised thatthere was a characterwhere we could invest andeveryone could sympathisewith. I think that’s thebiggest struggle we had toface.”

Fellow cast memberPaul Rudd who portrayed

Ant-Man in AvengersEndgame, said, “I thinkThanos is a really complexand an amazing antagonist.When I saw Infinity War, Iwas thinking that what heis saying has logic behindit. Maybe, he is a psy-chopath and wants todestroy the world but he isequally soft at his heart.Nobody other than Brolincould have played it sowell. It’s a perfect casting.He just exhumes thestrength and poise thatThanos possesses. Whenyou got so many heroesfighting, you got to be aformidable opponentwhich means you will beneeding a formidable actorplaying the character. JoshBrolin hit a home run withthe character’s portrayal.”

(Catch the Mad Titango against the Avengers onStar Movies on May 17 at12 pm and 9 pm.)

Ranveer Singh is urging authori-ties to consider and declare

Indian Sign Language (ISL) as the23rd official language of India. Theactor has always raised his voice onsocial issues and this time he is sign-ing a petition to raise awareness onthis cause. Ranveer’s independentrecord label IncInk, which he hasformed with Navzar Eranee, is alsoreleasing its first sign languagevideo.

He says, “We created IncInk asa platform to promote inclusivitythrough art, hence, the name —IncInk. Through our latest endeav-our, we’re lending support to the

cause of making Indian SignLanguage the 23rd official languageof India. I will be signing the offi-cial petition filed by NationalAssociation of the Deaf (NAD)India with support from the ‘AccessMantra Foundation’, who are work-ing tirelessly to make this a reality.

I urge my fellow Indians to join thiscause and give it momentum bybuilding awareness about it. We arealso releasing our first sign languagevideo on Spitfire’s latest trackVartalap with the hope that the trackwill trigger more conversations onthe issue.”

The Vartalap ISL music videowas created in collaboration withAccioMango — a community-basedstart-up, managed and operated bydeaf professionals and founded bydeaf expert Dr Alim Chandani. Itadvocates and aims to create equalopportunities for the Indian DeafCommunity in compliance withthe Rights of Persons withDisabilities (RPWD) Act, 2016. Heis also the CEO of Access MantraFoundation (AMF), a non-profitorganisation that aims to createawareness among the hearing-impaired community for informa-tion that is not easily accessible tothem.

�The Wonder Years was such aniconic show that the jacket thatyou wore in the show is now atthe Smithsonian Institute inWashington DC. How did thathappen?

My mother had kept it safely,all this while. We have a garageand it is full of every piece ofmemorabilia from me, my broth-er, and sister. Our entire childhoodis there — old printers and othertons of stuff. We always used to tellher you have to clean that up butshe liked storing all these. She alsohad this jacket which Smithsonianwanted. So now my mom has gotthe validation for keeping thegarage and all the stuff.

�You’ve directed more than 200episodes of television and arewidely regarded for your single-camera comedy work. When didyou realise that a life behind thelens was also for you?

This realisation happenedwhen I was on the sets of TheWonder Years. I was interested inthe camera. It was so cool. Iwould have questions like — whyone director filled a two-pagescene in the kitchen, and someonewould do that in two shots andanother would need six shots. Andhow those choices affect the finalproduct? These things interestedme. The first episode I directed forModern Family was just after theyhad won the Emmy for the bestcomedy. I was so terrified as towhat am I going to do, what willI bring to the show and how canI add to it?

�How did you get past the nerve?A lot of times in my directing

career, I would not literally butpsychologically slap myself,reminding that you are the direc-tor and whether you want it or not,you are here. I would tell myselfthat I have to get over myself anddo the job.

�You’ve been both, on cameraand off-camera. In which way doyou think were you treated bet-ter?

Oh, for sure on camera. WhenI was directing TV shows, it was

great, challenging and fulfilling.But no one really cared at all. I wasjust totally off the grid. But thenwhen I was on TV again, a cou-ple more times and I felt the warmembrace of the love of Americaagain. It was really fantastic.

�How old were you when youwere first nominated for anEmmy and how was the experi-ence?

I was 12 years old. And Iremember I was sleeping over atTony Rubin’s house, and it was

summer and we were all inChicago. When I woke up thatmorning, his mom had left a noteon the dishwasher that said “heyyou got nominated for an Emmy,congratulations!”. Then the two ofus rode bikes to the park and itwas great.

�Did you go to the ceremonywith a speech ready?

I did. I went with my parentsand grandparents. It was great. Yes,I had a speech ready. My parentsmade sure that I was always on top

of such things. So I had it readyand still have it.

�Do you remember who all werein your category?

I actually do. These are all thepeople I love and they’re still in theindustry — John Goodman forRoseanne, Ted Danson for Cheers,Michael J Fox for Family Ties. Andthere was Richard Mulligan fromEmpty Nest who won.

�How old are your kids? Havethey been nominated for Emmysyet?

I have two sons, 12 and sixyears old and a 10 year old daugh-ter. No, they’ve done nothing, asof now. When I look at my eldestson I think I had fired threeagents when I was that age. I wasdoing commercials in Chicagowhen I was six year old. It was sotough back then.

�Have your kids watched TheWonder Years? It must be inter-esting to watch their father gothrough puberty on TV.

Yes, they’ve watched the show.My mum shows it to them when-ever they go to her place. That wasvery sweet of her. But it is conflict-ing. I don’t want them to see it justbecause I am their dad. But I alsodesperately want them to love itand think that I am super cool. Sowe landed somewhere in between.They think it’s cool.

�How many other young gentle-men did you beat up for TheWonder Years?

They came to me after theysaw me in the film, The PrincessBride. They sent me that script andsaid ‘we’d love you to take a lookat this role and consider this part.’And I was so young then. So it wasreally my parents who went backand forth to decide about it for along time. Then my dad askedhimself, ‘if we see this on TV andsome other kid is playing the role,could we live with that?’ Theanswer was no and so we went toLA and met with the people whowrote the show and I got the job.

(All seasons of the show are air-ing on Star World.)

When Warsan Shire said,“No one leaves homeunless/ Home is the mouth

of a shark/ You only run for the bor-der/ When you see the whole city run-ning as well,” it continued to be areality for many people and theircommunities who lost their cultur-al and regional identities in the blinkof an eye.

Celebrity hairstylist and film-maker Sapna Moti Bhavnani’s webdocumentary, Sindhustan, recallsone such event where a communi-ty, amid political upheavals andreligious riots, was again forgotten.It explores the migration of theSindhi community to India duringand post-Partition. The first inspi-ration for such a project came to herwhen she discovered how her father,born in Shikarpur in Sindh, migrat-ed from Karachi to Bombay afterPartition and lived in refugee camps.The film, narrated through a seriesof extensively designed body tattooson Sapna’s body, was also inspired bya random conversation with hergrandmother, a few years ago.

She says, “I had gone to meet mygrandmother over lunch one day. Ihad covered myself because I hadjust started getting inked at that time.She commented on those tattoos bycalling me ‘old-fashioned.’ I wasstunned to hear that term from a 90-

year-old woman. She then explainedthe theory behind her saying so —when we first came to this planet, welived in tribes and didn’t have anyborders or governments or territo-ries. We had extended families andeach one of them had their ownmarkings. She said, ‘You are actual-ly going back to your roots and thatmakes me very happy.’”

And that moment, she says,made it evident for her that she wasgoing to write their stories with thatink. It was when she decided that itwas the best way to tell the story —“to herself become the story.” Thetattoos illustrate various stories ofSindhis from both India and

Pakistan. It is made using Ajrak, aSindhi design art form, as well asMadhubani from India. The tattoos,showcased only on her legs in thefilm, depict the legends of Jhulelal (arevered deity of Sindhi Hindus), avegetarian crocodile, a family enjoy-ing a picnic near the river Sindh andmore. For the audience, they wouldlook like a visual map of South Asiaand its division, an art gallery ofmemories and a story narrated onthe skin. But for Sapna, her legs arenow like a museum, which tell thetales of a lost culture. Well, just as ourfootprints mark how long we havetraversed, for her, too, “my legs sym-bolise my journey and the very roots,

where I come from.”Well, contrary to this concept,

usually, a film’s idea is conveyedthrough conversations, dialoguesand some fictionalised version ofreality. So why did she think thatdesigns and art could help her bestexpress more than the words? Shesays, “The film features narrationsof real experiences of Sindhi peoplewho remained in Pakistan duringthe Partition but later, had to migrateto India as many Hindu Sindhis werebeing forced to convert to Islam.And just to sustain, they had to adaptto new cultures and practices, learna new language and engage in newertrades, worldwide. This loss of their

homeland slowly led to a death oftheir own heritage and culture.History books never did justice toSindhis while explaining thePartition. Hence, I don’t think a fic-tional representation of this event —history’s largest migration of a cul-ture — would have been the bestchoice. It’s being talked about open-ly for the first time.” It’s why, she says,it’s not a film, but a “movement.”

When one talks about Sindh orSindhis, one is reminded of howeven though the province did notbecome a part of India after 1947, itstill echoes through our voices whenwe sing these lines of the NationalAnthem — Punjab-Sindh-Gujarata-

Maratha, Dravida-Utkala-Banga.For Sapna, it’s because even thoughthe state isn’t ours but there are manySindhis, who are Indians and havebeen residing here sinceIndependence. And hence, she adds,“it’ll always be sung like that.”

Sapna, who is currently workingon her book, tentatively titled,Chapter One, recalls that she wasdenied the visa to Sindh some timeago. And that’s when “I became myland. Hence, Sindhustan is like ahope for me that one day, I’d be ableto cross the border and touch thatsoil where my ancestors lived. I waitwith love!”

From a hairstylist to a filmmak-

er, her journey has certainly been avery transitional one. She says, “Inever believe in transitioning com-pletely and hence, I haven’t left hair-styling at all. I still do that and willcontinue to do so. But yes, sevenyears into making this importantfilm did mark the beginning ofsomething new and relevant.”

Well, certainly the reason whythe film is making rounds at variousinternational film festivals and win-ning hearts and accolades. To namea few, Excellence in Cinema Awardat AIFF May 2019, Official Selectionfrom India at the MAMI FilmFestival Asia Premiere 2019, etc.

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The BCCI has not made“any commitment” to tourSouth Africa in August

and there have only been discus-sions about such a possibility,Board treasurer Arun Dhumalsaid on Friday, denying CricketSouth Africa’s claims of a con-firmation.

CSA Director of CricketGraeme Smith and ChiefExecutive Jacques Faul onThursday said that India hasagreed to tour the rainbownation for three T20Internationals in August, sig-nalling resumption of cricket inthe post Covid-19 world. ButDhumal disagreed.

“When South Africa’s tourof India got cancelled due tocoronavirus, we had discus-sions that if there is a possibili-ty, we will make an effort to tourSouth Africa. But at no pointhave we made any commitmentto Cricket South Africa abouttouring in August,” Dhumalsaid.

The senior BCCI office-bearer then said that unless theGovernment clears internation-al travel, BCCI won’t be in aposition to make a commitmentto any country.

“Right now, we can’t evencommit that we can tour SriLanka in July followed by (shortT20 series) in Zimbabwe. Boththese tours are part of the FTPprogramme and we are still notsure what the situation will be intwo months, so how can wecommit on South Africa tour?”Dhumal asked.

On a different note, whenasked about CSA Director ofCricket Graeme Smith’s supprt

to Sourav Ganguly’s candidaturefor the ICC chairmanship,Dhumal said it would be goodfor global cricket if an Indian isat the helm.

“There has been no formaldiscussion in BCCI about ICCchairmanship. Graeme Smithobviously spoke in his person-al capacity which is not CSA’sstand,” he said.

CSA President ChrisNenzani refused to endorseSmith’s support for Ganguly ina statement issued on Friday.

“As far as the BCCI is con-cerned we would certainly likean Indian to lead the global bodyand our President has creden-tials obviously. But again wehaven’t yet discussed it,” Dhumalsaid.

While the support to havean IPL in October-Novemberwindow instead of the T20

World Cup is growing, Dhumalsaid BCCI won’t push for a post-ponement of the global event butat the same time, it needs to beseen that in these times, whetheran event of that magnitude canbe held in Australia.

“T20 World Cup is a glob-al event. Why should we pushfor postponement of globalevent? Yes, what we need tocheck is that an event of suchmagnitude with so many teamsand all the health safety norms,empty stadiums, can it be held?

“These are calls that ICCand Cricket Australia wil have totake,” Dhumal said.

DHARAMSALA OPTION FOR CAMPWith the civil aviation min-

istry announcing that domesticflights will be starting fromMay 25, Dhumal said the Boardcould explore safe zone options

for a national camp in case itcan’t be held at the NationalCricket Academy in Bengaluru.

Will it make Dharamsala anoption considering that HPCAnow has a state of the art indoorstadium?

“Since it’s my state associa-tion, I would never, from myend, push it but if after explor-ing options, BCCI finds thatDharamsala can have a camp, Iam more than ready to make allthe arrangements. Even thehotel where the Indian teamstays Pavilion is HPCA proper-ty,” he said. “In case, the situa-tion in Himachal is under con-trol and it’s considered to be asafe zone as per Governmentprotocols, the HPCA will thendo everything to make it a bio-secure environment. It alldepends on what is best availableoption,” he added.

���������There is a 9 out of 10 chance that Indiawill make the trip Down Under for a four-Test serieslater this year, Cricket Australia chief executive KevinRoberts said trying to downplay the uncertainty trig-gered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I guess there’s no such thing as certainty intoday’s world so I can’t say 10 (out of 10), but I’mgoing to say nine out of 10,” Roberts told News Corp.

“With the variable being, who would knowwhether we can have crowds … I’d be really surprisedif we can’t get the Indian tour away.

“But I wouldn’t, hand on heart suggest we’ll havefull crowds from the start. We’ll just have to see howthat goes,” the under-pressure chief executive said.

However, when it comes to away tours, Robertswants a bio-secure environment which mightprompt Cricket Australia to explore options of send-ing a team for a white ball series in England.

But before that, the CA would wait and watchhow the Pakistan and the West Indies tours ofEngland pan out in terms of health safety measures.

“I think there’s some chance we could send ateam over,” Roberts said.

“Obviously we won’t jeopardise the safety of theplayers, but the best test of that is that the West Indianand Pakistan tours of England before we’re due totour. We hope they go off without a hitch,” Robertssaid. PTI

���� 1�2�����

Pakistan is keen to tourEngland this summer but

the cricket board does notplan to use the series as “lever-age” to cut a deal for a recip-rocal tour in 2022, PCB chiefexecutive Wasim Khan said.

The England and WalesCricket Board (ECB), which isestimated to lose as much as£380 million if the entire sea-son is wiped out due, hopes toresume cricket by reschedul-ing the series postponed dueto the coronavirus outbreak,including the home seriesagainst Pakistan.

It seems to be an oppor-tune moment for the PakistanCricket Board (PCB) to cut adeal for a return tour withEngland, who like severalcountries hasn’t touredPakistan citing security con-cerns.

“There is a lot of cricket tobe played between now and2022, I’ve had that questionraised a few times; has therebeen a deal cut? Is somethinggoing to happen?” Khan saidon Sky Sports — Cricket Show.

“But the simple fact is andit’s a genuine answer we needto get cricket back on againand now is probably not thetime to try and leverage any-thing. Naturally things willtake their course over thenext two years,” he added.

Khan said Pakistan willhave ample opportunities toprove teams like England andAustralia that it is safe to trav-el to, adding that right now

the focus is on trying toresume cricket, which hascome to a halt due to the pan-demic.

“We’ve got a lot of homeseries between now and then,which hopefully will all gosuccessfully, and we’ll givemore confidence to the likesof Australia and England,who are due to tour in 2022.

“But this is about gettingcricket back on again. Thecricketers want to play and Ithink it’s important for theglobal game as well that westart to bring a level of nor-malcy to playing cricket again— whatever that may look like— over the next six to 12

months,” he added.Pakistan are scheduled to

play three Tests againstEngland in August followedby thee T20s with the gamesto be played closed doors.

“We need a 14-day quar-antine period when we get toEngland and enough time topractice for the guys so theycan be ready,” Khan said.

“That’s a bit of a challenge,so we’re looking at an extend-ed squad. We’re looking atbringing around 25 players —more than normal. We areplanning to get them togeth-er to train for the tour. We’reprobably about a week awayfrom that ,” he added.

���� ����� The Olympic-qual-ifying India Open badmintontournament, which was post-poned due to the Covid-19pandemic, will now be held herefrom December 8 to 13 after theBWF unveiled a revised calen-dar to salvage the disruption-hitseason.

The World Tour Super 500tournament, originally sched-uled to be held in New Delhifrom March 24-29, will now takeplace from December 8 to 13,the BWF said in a release.

The all-important event willbe preceded by the HyderabadOpen (August 11 to 16) and theSyed Modi International(November 17 to 22).

The BWF announcementcomes a day after India’s singlesplayers were allowed access toindoor courts with badmintonin the list of 11 sports whichhave been permitted to resumetraining.

As many as eight tourna-ments were rescheduled fromtheir original dates, includingimportant events such as NewZealand Open Super 300 (Oct

20-25), Indonesia Open Super1000 (Nov 17-22), MalaysiaOpen Super 750 (Nov 24-29),Thailand Open Super 500 (Dec1-6) and season-ending WorldTour Finals (Dec 16-20) inGuangzhou, China.

Four tournaments —German Open (March 3-8),Swiss Open (March 17-22),European Championships (April21-26) and Australian Open(June 2-7) remained suspendedwith BWF saying that “suitablereplacement dates are still beingfinalised.”

As many as 10 tourna-ments, including SingaporeOpen Super 500 (April 7-12),Badminton Asia C’ships (April21-26) — which fell within theApril 28 Olympic qualificationdeadline — were cancelled.

According to the revised cal-ender, the HSBC BWF WorldTour will return with the TaipeiOpen Super 300 fromSeptember 1-6, while theThomas and Uber Cup Finals inAarhus, Denmark will take placeon the rescheduled dates ofOctober 3-11. PTI

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Nearly 13,000 cardboardcut-outs of Borussia

Moenchengladbach support-ers are set to welcome theteam for Saturday’s Bundesligamatch against BayerLeverkusen behind closeddoors.

Gladbach hosted the firstBundesliga game ever playedwithout fans on March 11,shortly before the German sea-son was put on hold because ofthe coronavirus outbreak.

One of the club’s support-ers’ groups, FanprojektMoenchengladbach, subse-quently came up with the ideaof allowing fans to print life-sized images of themselves tobe placed inside the ground.

The cut-outs line the stadi-um’s otherwise empty stands,with season ticket holders ableto have their cardboard looka-like allocated to their regularspot.

“We’re arranging close to

13,000 cut-outs, but almost20,000 have been orderedalready,” Thomas Ludwig, headof the supporters' group, toldSID.

“It’s a nice operation, whichcreates an atmosphere in thestadium,” said Gladbach sport-ing director Max Eberl. “Evenif at the same time it’s areminder that football withoutsupporters is not the same.”

“It’s fantastic. We reallyhave the impression that we’renot alone when we’re trainingin the stadium,” addedGladbach coach Marco Rose.

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Milan’s San Siro stadium iscloser to being demol-

ished after Italy’s heritageauthority found that the iconicstadium cannot be protected forcultural or historic reasons.

“The property namedGiuseppe Meazza Stadium (SanSiro) has no cultural interest andas such is excluded from theprotection provisions,” theLombardy region of Italy’s cul-tural heritage ministry wrote in

a report.AC Milan and Inter Milan,

who share the stadium to thewest of the city, have launchedtheir bid to knock down the SanSiro and build a new 60,000-capacity home on the samesite.

City authorities have beendivided over the project andrequested the opinion of Italy’sheritage authorities.

The report found that as theSan Siro has undergone contin-uous transformation since being

built in 1926, with only a smallpart of the original stadiumremaining, it would not be sub-ject to protection.

Although approval fromItaly’s heritage body is not thefinal decision, it could be animportant step towards bothteams’ hope of redevelopingthe site.

The clubs want to build anew ground adjacent to the cur-rent San Siro, while the old sta-dium would make way for anarea “dedicated to sports, enter-tainment, and shopping”.

Milan Mayor Guiseppe Salainsists he wants to renovate theexisting stadium so that it couldcelebrate its centenary in 2026by hosting the opening ceremo-ny of the Winter Olympics thatyear.

Both clubs are formerEuropean giants with AC Milanhaving won the ChampionsLeague seven times while Interwere the last Italian team to winthe European title, when theylifted the trophy for the thirdtime in 2010.

Neither have won the SerieA title since AC Milan tri-umphed in 2011.

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There will neither be loobreaks during training nor

the players will be allowed tohand over their caps or sun-glasses to the on-field umpiresas international cricketers willbe required to let go of someof their intrinsic habits whenplay resumes in the post-Covid-19 world.

In its “back to cricket”guidelines issued for resump-tion of the game, ICC haseffectively barred players fromhanding over their personalequipments (cap, towel, sun-glasses, jumpers) to theumpire or his teammates aspart of maintaining socialdistance.

“Players and umpiresshould maintain social dis-tancing on the cricket fieldand that includes no handingover of player items (cap,towels, sunglasses, jumpers) tothe umpire or teammates,”read the ICC playing guide-lines.

However there was noclarity on who will keep theplayers’ items?

“Consider adopting aprocess that will assist thebowler in managing his/heritems. Umpires may also beencouraged to use gloveswhen handling the ball,” saysthe governing body.

The players are unlikelyto keep their cap or sunglass-es in the field of play as it

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would attract penalty runs just like in the caseof a helmet. The ICC also wants them to min-imise their “time spent in the changing roombefore and after a match”.

The ICC Cricket Committee has alreadyrecommended ban on using the saliva on theball and now players have been advised notto “touch eyes, nose, and mouth after mak-ing contact with the ball” and sanitise theirhands after they come in contact with the ball.

Life might get even tougher for themwhen they are training for the game with noloo and shower breaks encouraged.

“All participants should adopt a ‘ready totrain’ approach where possible i.E. Come totraining prepared without the need to use anycommunal facilities such as changing roomsor showering facilities,” read one of the train-ing guidelines.

“Personal equipment should be sanitisedbefore and after use (training and competi-tion),” read another one.