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C onfusion and chaos pre- vailed at several airports across India on day 1 of the resumption of the flights after two months of coronavirus- induced lockdown even as 630 flights were cancelled, includ- ing 82 to and from Delhi and 50 flights to and from Mumbai. The cancellations were caused by the West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh Governments refusing to relent to the requests by the Civil Aviation Ministry to allow flight services from Monday, and limited operations at major airports such as Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. Consequently, many pas- sengers reached the airports on Monday only to be told by the airline staff that their flights have been cancelled. Many people took to social media to vent their anger. States like Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, which are home to some of the busiest airports in the country, were reluctant to allow domestic flight services from their airports, citing swelling Covid-19 cases there. Fliers were taken aback upon their arrival at Terminal 3 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, and vented their ire for not being informed beforehand. However, airport officials said the cancellation took place on account of several States telling the Centre that they were not in a position to operate flights agreed upon earlier. Delhi Airport had installed a scan-and-print boarding card system for contactless board- ing, however the scanner mal- functioned. The Delhi airport could handle 125 departures and 118 arrivals on Monday. Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday evening, “From no domestic passenger flights yesterday to 532 flights and 39,231 passengers today, action has returned to Indian skies. With Andhra Pradesh set to resume operations from tomorrow & West Bengal from 28 May, these numbers are all set to increase further.” On May 22, bookings had opened for around 1,100 domestic flights for Monday. The airlines, which were allowed to operate one-third of their pre-lockdown domestic services, have been busy since Sunday night to further rework their flight schedules. Continued on Page 2 T he Chinese Army has intruded at least three to four kms into the Hot Springs area of Eastern Ladakh and pitched tents there. India has ramped up its troop strength after the Chinese more than doubled their presence at all the four stand-off sites in the region. There are now about 4,000 Chinese soldiers at the face-off locations. Also, at most of the places especially Galwan valley, the Chinese have started con- structing barracks for addi- tional troops and heightened aerial surveillance though on its own side of the LAC by heli- copters. While the Line of Actual Control (LAC) remains tense due to these ongoing stand-offs on for the past 20-25 days, the local commanders of the two armies of the rank of Brigadiers have held more than five rounds of talk including one on Sunday. However, these parleys, so far, have failed to defuse the situation. Diplomatic efforts are also on at various levels between the two countries to avoid the situation from esca- lating further. Giving these details here on Monday, sources in the securi- ty establishment also said the face-offs are spread over an area of more than 30 km but con- fined to small pockets. The transgression in the Hot Springs area is turning out to be the most challenging as the Chinese troops have come in more than three kms into the Indian territory thereby clear- ly transgressing the LAC and mutually agreed protocols, offi- cials said. Hot Springs is south east of the Galwan valley. In an obvious pressure tac- tics, the Chinese have also pitched tents indicating they intend to stay put for some time, sources said. In response, the Indian side has also brought forwards its troops as a defen- sive measure to check any fur- ther move by the Chinese. In fact, this is the general pattern in all the four stand-off situa- tions now. Of the 4,000 to 5,000 Chinese troops, majority are present at Pangong Tso lake, which saw a violent face-off earlier this month with both sides engaged in fisticuffs. Continued on Page 2 M aharashtra continues to dominate the Covid-19 spread with 2,436 new cases and 60 deaths on Monday, out of total 6,405 new cases and 148 deaths reported across India. Countrywide count of Covid- 19 cases stood at 1,44,941 and 4,172 deaths. Tamil Nadu spotted new 805 cases, followed by Delhi (635 new cases) and Gujarat (405). Tamil Nadu has now a total of 17,082 cases, Delhi 14,053 and Gujarat 14,468. West Bengal traced 149 new cases, taking its tally of cases to 3,816. Rajasthan reported 272 new cases for a total count of 7,300. After Maharashtra Monday’s death tally of 60, Delhi witnessed 15 deaths fol- lowed by seven deaths in Tamil Nadu and six deaths in West Bengal. Of the total 1,44,941 cases, 80,052 are active patients and 60,706 recovered persons. On Monday alone, across India 3,012 persons recovered. As many as 1,186 persons recov- ered in Maharashtra alone. Highly populated States such as Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have 2,668 and 2,988 active patients with 3,660 and 3,571 recoveries till date, with 8 and 10 deaths respectively on Monday. Continued on Page 2 T he Centre on Monday announced to go for a mas- sive increase in the number of examination centres for the pending CBSE Class X and XII board exams. HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said that the exams will be now spread to 15,000 centres instead of 3,000 test centre across the country to maintain social distancing norms. The pending exams are to be held from July 1 to July 15, with results expected to be announced by late July . “Earlier, as per the direc- tion of Home Ministry the board was slated to hold the exams at only 3,000 exam cen- tres. However, the number of exam centres has been increased by 12,000 consider- ing the Covid-19 situation and the need for social distancing among students,” said a senior HRD Ministry official. Continued on Page 2 P utting the Indian Government in a fix, the WHO on Monday suspended the trial of hydroxychloro- quine as Covid-19 treatment over safety concerns. The WHO move followed a Lancet study of 96,032 hos- pitalised coronavirus patients in which it found the anti- malarial medications hydroxy- chloroquine and chloroquine did not appear to benefit the patients who took them. Instead, those who received one of the medications had a high- er risk of death than those who did not take them. On Thursday, the Central Government had expanded the use of the medicine as pro- phylaxis to healthcare and other frontline workers deployed in non-Covid and Covid area after the National Task Force (NTF) for Covid-19 constituted by the ICMR reviewed the use of HCQ. T he heatwave condition is likely to start subsiding from Thursday as easterly winds are expected to start blowing in northern parts of the country. The IMD cau- tioned people not to step out from 1 pm to 5 pm due to intense heatwave. The highest day tempera- ture in Rajasthan on Monday was recorded in Churu at 47.5 degrees Celsius, while Allahabad was the hottest place in UP at 46.3 degrees Celsius. The IMD had on Sunday sounded a red category alert for Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, west and east Rajasthan for heatwave or severe heatwaves. Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of IMD’s Regional Meteorological Centre, peo- ple have been cautioned against stepping out during 1 pm to 5 pm, when the intensity of the heat is the most. Continued on Page 2 W ith the domestic flights resuming from Monday and international flights also coming in, the Punjab Government on Monday released its own “revised instructions” for all passengers, domestic as well as interna- tional, entering the State via rail, air, and buses. The State Health and Family Welfare Department on Tuesday issued “revised instructions”, similar to those issued by the Centre, for peo- ple coming into Punjab to all Deputy Commissioners and Civil Surgeons, making seven- day mandatory quarantine period for all international travelers. Notably, the Centre has left it up to the State Governments to decide on quarantining of all passengers entering the State. Continued on Page 2 O bserving that the Government should be more worried about the health of citizens rather than the health of commercial airlines, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and the national carrier Air India to keep the middle seats vacant on its scheduled flights as a safety measure. However, the SC allowed AI to keep the mid- dle seats occupied up to June 6. The top court asked the Bombay High Court to decide the plea against Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) circulars expedi- tiously and said Air India and other airlines will have to fol- low the order given by the HC with regard to safety mea- sures, including maintaining of social distancing inside aircraft by keeping middle seats vacant between two passengers in a row. A Bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde conducted an urgent hearing on Eid holiday through video-conferencing to hear the appeals of the Central Government and Air India against the Bombay High Court order. “You should be worried about the health of citizens, not about the health of commercial airlines,” the Bench, also com- prising AS Bopanna and Hirshikesh Roy, told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Centre. The High Court had on May 22 sought response from Air India and the DGCA on a petition of an AI pilot claim- ing that the airline was not fol- lowing safety measures for Covid-19 while bringing back Indians stranded abroad. The High Court had directed Air India and DGCA to file affidavits clarifying their stand and posted the petition for further hearing on June 2. The pilot, Deven Kanani, in his plea claimed that a cir- cular issued by the Government of India on March 23, 2020 laid some conditions to prevent the spread of Covid-19 while bringing back Indians stranded abroad due to the pandemic. However, the condition pertaining to keeping the mid- dle seat between two passen- gers empty was not being fol- lowed by the Air India, he said in the plea. Continued on Page 2 Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad administration on Monday sealed its border with Delhi again in view of the rising cases of the coronavirus in the dis- trict, according to an official order. Essential services includ- ing doctors, paramedical staff, police, bank employees and media personnel are allowed to move across the two cities after showing identity cards, the order stated. Shimla: Hamirpur and Solan districts in Himachal Pradesh will continue with the coron- avirus lockdown for a month after the current nationwide phase ends on May 31. In addition, section 144 of the CrPC, which prohibits gather- ing of people, will also remain in force in Shimla district up to June 30, an official said. Kathmandu: Criticising Indian Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane’s remarks on Kathmandu acting on “behest of someone” over the Lipulekh issue, Nepal Defence Minister Ishwor Pokhrel has said that the statement was an insult to the nation’s history and was made ignoring its social characteris- tics and freedom. “Such a statement is an insulting statement made by ignoring Nepal’s history, our social characteristics and free- dom. With this, the Indian CoAS has also hurt the senti- ments of the Nepali Gurkha army personnel who lay down their lives to protect India. It must now become difficult for them to stand tall in front of the Gurkha forces,” Nepal’s Defence Minister reacted to Indian Army chief’s statement during an interview with a local daily, The Rising Nepal, on May 22. On May 15, General Naravane had suggested that Nepal might be raising the issue of road construction via Lipulekh to Mansarovar at “behest of someone else” after Kathmandu protested against India’s newly-built road passing through Lipulekh area. During a webinar organ- ised by a think tank, General Naravane, without naming China, said on last Friday, “There is reason to believe that they might have raised this issue at the behest of someone else and that is very much pos- sible.” “The road constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is on the west side of Kali river. So, I do not know what exactly they are agitating about,” he added. India had made it clear that there is no dispute over the new road built in Uttarakhand, connecting the Lipulekh pass with Kailash Mansarovar route in China. But, Nepal had protested against it and also deployed a security post near the area. “How professional is it for the head of the Army to make a political statement? We don’t have anything like that here. Nepali Army does not go vocal on such matter. The Army is not there to speak,” he said. “They may have been some shortcomings in similar talks held in the past on many occa- sion and in international treaties and agreements. As a close and friendly state of Nepal, India should give a pos- itive response. We will put forth everything in clear terms in a dialogue. Such a dialogue will be held not based on mind matters but with facts and evi- dences,” the Defence Minister added. Last week, Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had also responded to Naravane’s comments saying it is “inap- propriate” to make the Army speak over border issues in between two neighbouring countries. Earlier this month, the Indian envoy was also handed over a diplomatic note by Nepal after a dispute arose over the construction of the road lead- ing to Mansarovar via Lipulek, a territory claimed by Nepal. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had inaugurated the link road to Kailash Mansarovar yatra on May 8. Nepal said it has “consistently maintained” that as per the Sugauli Treaty (1816), “all the territories east of Kali (Mahakali) river, includ- ing Limpiyadhura, Kalapani LipuLekh, belong to Nepal.” ANI
12

English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today …...2020/05/26  · Kathmandu: Criticising Indian Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane’s remarks on Kathmandu acting on “behest

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Page 1: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today …...2020/05/26  · Kathmandu: Criticising Indian Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane’s remarks on Kathmandu acting on “behest

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Confusion and chaos pre-vailed at several airports

across India on day 1 of theresumption of the flights aftertwo months of coronavirus-induced lockdown even as 630flights were cancelled, includ-ing 82 to and from Delhi and50 flights to and from Mumbai.The cancellations were causedby the West Bengal and AndhraPradesh Governments refusingto relent to the requests by theCivil Aviation Ministry to allowflight services from Monday,and limited operations at majorairports such as Mumbai,Chennai and Hyderabad.

Consequently, many pas-sengers reached the airports onMonday only to be told by theairline staff that their flightshave been cancelled. Manypeople took to social media tovent their anger. States likeMaharashtra, West Bengal andTamil Nadu, which are home tosome of the busiest airports inthe country, were reluctant toallow domestic flight servicesfrom their airports, citingswelling Covid-19 cases there.

Fliers were taken abackupon their arrival at Terminal3 of Delhi’s Indira GandhiInternational Airport, andvented their ire for not beinginformed beforehand.However, airport officials saidthe cancellation took place onaccount of several States telling

the Centre that they were notin a position to operate flightsagreed upon earlier.

Delhi Airport had installeda scan-and-print boarding cardsystem for contactless board-ing, however the scanner mal-functioned. The Delhi airport

could handle 125 departuresand 118 arrivals on Monday.

Union Civil AviationMinister Hardeep Singh Purisaid on Monday evening,“From no domestic passengerflights yesterday to 532 flightsand 39,231 passengers today,

action has returned to Indianskies. With Andhra Pradesh setto resume operations fromtomorrow & West Bengal from28 May, these numbers are allset to increase further.”

On May 22, bookings hadopened for around 1,100

domestic flights for Monday.The airlines, which wereallowed to operate one-third oftheir pre-lockdown domesticservices, have been busy sinceSunday night to further reworktheir flight schedules.

Continued on Page 2

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The Chinese Army hasintruded at least three to

four kms into the Hot Springsarea of Eastern Ladakh andpitched tents there. India hasramped up its troop strengthafter the Chinese more thandoubled their presence at all thefour stand-off sites in theregion. There are now about4,000 Chinese soldiers at theface-off locations.

Also, at most of the placesespecially Galwan valley, theChinese have started con-structing barracks for addi-tional troops and heightenedaerial surveillance though on itsown side of the LAC by heli-copters.

While the Line of Actual

Control (LAC) remains tensedue to these ongoing stand-offson for the past 20-25 days, thelocal commanders of the twoarmies of the rank of Brigadiershave held more than fiverounds of talk including one onSunday. However, these parleys,so far, have failed to defuse thesituation. Diplomatic effortsare also on at various levelsbetween the two countries toavoid the situation from esca-lating further.

Giving these details here onMonday, sources in the securi-ty establishment also said theface-offs are spread over an area

of more than 30 km but con-fined to small pockets.

The transgression in theHot Springs area is turning outto be the most challenging asthe Chinese troops have comein more than three kms into theIndian territory thereby clear-ly transgressing the LAC andmutually agreed protocols, offi-cials said. Hot Springs is southeast of the Galwan valley.

In an obvious pressure tac-tics, the Chinese have alsopitched tents indicating theyintend to stay put for sometime, sources said. In response,the Indian side has also broughtforwards its troops as a defen-sive measure to check any fur-ther move by the Chinese. Infact, this is the general patternin all the four stand-off situa-tions now.

Of the 4,000 to 5,000Chinese troops, majority arepresent at Pangong Tso lake,which saw a violent face-offearlier this month with bothsides engaged in fisticuffs.

Continued on Page 2

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Maharashtra continues todominate the Covid-19

spread with 2,436 new casesand 60 deaths on Monday, outof total 6,405 new cases and 148deaths reported across India.Countrywide count of Covid-19 cases stood at 1,44,941 and4,172 deaths.

Tamil Nadu spotted new805 cases, followed by Delhi(635 new cases) and Gujarat(405). Tamil Nadu has now atotal of 17,082 cases, Delhi14,053 and Gujarat 14,468.

West Bengal traced 149new cases, taking its tally ofcases to 3,816. Rajasthanreported 272 new cases for atotal count of 7,300.

After MaharashtraMonday’s death tally of 60,Delhi witnessed 15 deaths fol-

lowed by seven deaths in TamilNadu and six deaths in WestBengal.

Of the total 1,44,941 cases,80,052 are active patients and60,706 recovered persons. OnMonday alone, across India3,012 persons recovered. Asmany as 1,186 persons recov-ered in Maharashtra alone.

Highly populated Statessuch as Uttar Pradesh andMadhya Pradesh have 2,668and 2,988 active patients with3,660 and 3,571 recoveries tilldate, with 8 and 10 deathsrespectively on Monday.

Continued on Page 2

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The Centre on Mondayannounced to go for a mas-

sive increase in the number ofexamination centres for thepending CBSE Class X and XIIboard exams.

HRD Minister RameshPokhriyal Nishank said that theexams will be now spread to15,000 centres instead of 3,000test centre across the countryto maintain social distancingnorms. The pending examsare to be held from July 1 toJuly 15, with results expected tobe announced by late July .

“Earlier, as per the direc-tion of Home Ministry theboard was slated to hold theexams at only 3,000 exam cen-tres. However, the number ofexam centres has beenincreased by 12,000 consider-ing the Covid-19 situation andthe need for social distancingamong students,” said a seniorHRD Ministry official.

Continued on Page 2

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Putting the IndianGovernment in a fix, the

WHO on Monday suspendedthe trial of hydroxychloro-quine as Covid-19 treatmentover safety concerns.

The WHO move followeda Lancet study of 96,032 hos-pitalised coronavirus patientsin which it found the anti-malarial medications hydroxy-chloroquine and chloroquinedid not appear to benefit thepatients who took them.Instead, those who received oneof the medications had a high-er risk of death than those whodid not take them.

On Thursday, the CentralGovernment had expanded theuse of the medicine as pro-phylaxis to healthcare andother frontline workersdeployed in non-Covid andCovid area after the NationalTask Force (NTF) for Covid-19constituted by the ICMRreviewed the use of HCQ.

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The heatwave condition islikely to start subsiding

from Thursday as easterlywinds are expected to startblowing in northern parts ofthe country. The IMD cau-tioned people not to step outfrom 1 pm to 5 pm due tointense heatwave.

The highest day tempera-ture in Rajasthan on Mondaywas recorded in Churu at 47.5degrees Celsius, whileAllahabad was the hottest placein UP at 46.3 degrees Celsius.The IMD had on Sundaysounded a red category alert forDelhi, Haryana, Punjab, westand east Rajasthan for heatwaveor severe heatwaves.

Kuldeep Srivastava, thehead of IMD’s RegionalMeteorological Centre, peo-ple have been cautioned againststepping out during 1 pm to 5pm, when the intensity of theheat is the most.

Continued on Page 2

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With the domestic flightsresuming from Monday

and international flights alsocoming in, the PunjabGovernment on Mondayreleased its own “revisedinstructions” for all passengers,domestic as well as interna-tional, entering the State viarail, air, and buses.

The State Health andFamily Welfare Departmenton Tuesday issued “revisedinstructions”, similar to thoseissued by the Centre, for peo-ple coming into Punjab to allDeputy Commissioners andCivil Surgeons, making seven-day mandatory quarantineperiod for all internationaltravelers.

Notably, the Centre hasleft it up to the StateGovernments to decide onquarantining of all passengersentering the State.

Continued on Page 2

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Observing that theGovernment should be

more worried about the healthof citizens rather than thehealth of commercial airlines,the Supreme Court on Mondayasked the Centre and thenational carrier Air India tokeep the middle seats vacanton its scheduled flights as asafety measure. However, theSC allowed AI to keep the mid-dle seats occupied up to June 6.

The top court asked theBombay High Court to decidethe plea against DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation(DGCA) circulars expedi-tiously and said Air India andother airlines will have to fol-low the order given by the HCwith regard to safety mea-sures, including maintaining ofsocial distancing inside aircraftby keeping middle seats vacantbetween two passengers in arow.

A Bench headed by ChiefJustice SA Bobde conducted anurgent hearing on Eid holidaythrough video-conferencingto hear the appeals of theCentral Government and AirIndia against the Bombay HighCourt order.

“You should be worriedabout the health of citizens, notabout the health of commercialairlines,” the Bench, also com-prising AS Bopanna andHirshikesh Roy, told SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta, whoappeared for the Centre.

The High Court had onMay 22 sought response fromAir India and the DGCA on apetition of an AI pilot claim-ing that the airline was not fol-lowing safety measures forCovid-19 while bringing backIndians stranded abroad.

The High Court haddirected Air India and DGCAto file affidavits clarifying their

stand and posted the petitionfor further hearing on June 2.

The pilot, Deven Kanani,in his plea claimed that a cir-cular issued by theGovernment of India onMarch 23, 2020 laid someconditions to prevent thespread of Covid-19 whilebringing back Indians stranded abroad due to thepandemic.

However, the conditionpertaining to keeping the mid-dle seat between two passen-gers empty was not being fol-lowed by the Air India, he saidin the plea.

Continued on Page 2

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Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabadadministration on Mondaysealed its border with Delhiagain in view of the rising casesof the coronavirus in the dis-trict, according to an officialorder. Essential services includ-ing doctors, paramedical staff,police, bank employees andmedia personnel are allowed tomove across the two citiesafter showing identity cards,the order stated.

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Shimla: Hamirpur and Solandistricts in Himachal Pradeshwill continue with the coron-avirus lockdown for a monthafter the current nationwidephase ends on May 31. Inaddition, section 144 of theCrPC, which prohibits gather-ing of people, will also remainin force in Shimla district up toJune 30, an official said.

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Kathmandu: Criticising IndianArmy Chief Manoj MukundNaravane’s remarks onKathmandu acting on “behestof someone” over the Lipulekhissue, Nepal Defence MinisterIshwor Pokhrel has said that thestatement was an insult to thenation’s history and was madeignoring its social characteris-tics and freedom.

“Such a statement is aninsulting statement made byignoring Nepal’s history, oursocial characteristics and free-dom. With this, the IndianCoAS has also hurt the senti-ments of the Nepali Gurkhaarmy personnel who lay downtheir lives to protect India. Itmust now become difficult forthem to stand tall in front of theGurkha forces,” Nepal’sDefence Minister reacted toIndian Army chief ’s statementduring an interview with a

local daily, The Rising Nepal, onMay 22.

On May 15, GeneralNaravane had suggested thatNepal might be raising theissue of road construction viaLipulekh to Mansarovar at“behest of someone else” afterKathmandu protested againstIndia’s newly-built road passingthrough Lipulekh area.

During a webinar organ-ised by a think tank, GeneralNaravane, without namingChina, said on last Friday,“There is reason to believethat they might have raised thisissue at the behest of someoneelse and that is very much pos-sible.”

“The road constructed bythe Border Roads Organisation(BRO) is on the west side ofKali river. So, I do not knowwhat exactly they are agitatingabout,” he added.

India had made it clear thatthere is no dispute over the newroad built in Uttarakhand,connecting the Lipulekh passwith Kailash Mansarovar routein China. But, Nepal hadprotested against it and alsodeployed a security post near

the area.“How professional is it for

the head of the Army to makea political statement? We don’thave anything like that here.Nepali Army does not go vocalon such matter. The Army isnot there to speak,” he said.

“They may have been someshortcomings in similar talksheld in the past on many occa-sion and in internationaltreaties and agreements. As aclose and friendly state of

Nepal, India should give a pos-itive response. We will putforth everything in clear termsin a dialogue. Such a dialoguewill be held not based on mindmatters but with facts and evi-dences,” the Defence Ministeradded.

Last week, Nepali PrimeMinister KP Sharma Oli hadalso responded to Naravane’scomments saying it is “inap-propriate” to make the Armyspeak over border issues inbetween two neighbouringcountries.

Earlier this month, theIndian envoy was also handedover a diplomatic note by Nepalafter a dispute arose over theconstruction of the road lead-ing to Mansarovar via Lipulek,a territory claimed by Nepal.

Defence Minister RajnathSingh had inaugurated the linkroad to Kailash Mansarovaryatra on May 8. Nepal said ithas “consistently maintained”that as per the Sugauli Treaty(1816), “all the territories eastof Kali (Mahakali) river, includ-ing Limpiyadhura, KalapaniLipuLekh, belong to Nepal.”

ANI

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New Delhi/London: APakistani man, who was tryingto mobilise Sikhs against Indiaover Kashmir in England,attacked the Guru Arjan Devshrine in Derby on Mondaymorning. He was later identi-fied and arrested.

As per the statement of thegurdwara, at around 6 a.m., "anindividual entered the gurd-wara premises causing thou-sands of pounds of damage. Wecan confirm that no individualwas injured and that the clean-up process has begun."

The gurdwara described thevandalisation of the shrine as ahate crime. The CCTV footagesof the person, copies of whichwere accessed by the IANS,showed smashed glass doors of

the gurdwara, glass shards scat-tered all over the floor and a maninside the premises.

The vandal left a hand-written note in broken Englishon a piece of paper in the gur-dwara, making an appeal toSikhs to "help people inKashmir". Strangely, besidesscribbling ‘Pak Allah Pak' in acorner of the paper, he had alsoprovided a phone number.

Police later identified theman and arrested him, sourcestold IANS.

In its statement, the shrineauthorities said, "This hatecrime or any sort of crimeagainst a Sikh will never deterus in our practice of seva (ser-vice) and simran (prayer). Wewill continue the service for the

community with langar andcontinue to stream live nitnem(daily prayers). We will ensurethe safety of all our sevadars(volunteers) and employees."

The shrine is dedicated tothe fifth of the 10 Sikh guruswho compiled the first officialedition of the Sikh scripture‘Adi Granth'.

Attacks on Indians andIndian-origin people inLondon are rampant. Last yearin August, Indians and peopleof Indian origin, who had gath-ered outside the Indian HighCommission in London to cel-ebrate the 73rd IndependenceDay of India, were abused andpelted with eggs and waterbottles by Pakistan-sponsoredprotesters. IANS

3�����������"�����������$�������������� New Delhi: The Interpol has

placed the Red Corner Noticeagainst fugitive diamantaireNirav Modi's brother Nehal inpublic view again, after herecently lost an appeal againstits issuance by the internationalpolice cooperation body lastyear, on the request of Indianagencies, officials said.

A Belgian citizen, NehalDeepak Modi is wanted by theCentral Bureau of Investigation(CBI) in a case of alleged fraudcommitted by his elder broth-er, Nirav, in the Punjab NationalBank (PNB), they added.

Nehal Modi's name figuredas the accused number 27 inthe supplementary chargesheetfiled by the CBI, which chargedhim for destroying evidence inDubai to cover the tracks of thealleged crime, the officials said.

Based on a request fromIndian agencies, the Interpol

had issued a Red Corner Notice(RCN) against Nehal Modiand put it up for public view-ing to enable gathering ofinformation about him.

AnN is a request to law-enforcement agencies world-wide to locate and provisionallyarrest a person pending extra-dition, surrender or similarlegal action.

Nehal Modi challenged itbefore the Commission forControl of Interpol's Files(CCF), an independent bodythat ensures that all personaldata processed throughInterpol's channels conforms tothe rules of the organisation.

Any individual canapproach it with a request fordeletion or correction of infor-mation held in the InterpolInformation System.

Once the request chal-lenging theN was received

from Nehal Modi last year, theInterpol hid it from publicglare but kept it alive, only tobe accessible to the law-enforcement agencies of mem-ber countries, the officials said.

The CCF had sought clar-ifications on Nehal Modi'sarguments from the CBI, whichprovided a strong counter-argument against his plea.

After going through theexhaustive response filed by theagency, which keenly followedup the matter, the CCF reject-ed Nehal Modi's plea recentlyand theN was again put in pub-lic domain, the officials added.

In its chargesheet, the cen-tral agency has alleged thatNehal Modi had threatened thedirectors of Dubai-based shellcompanies, used by Nirav Modito show fair businesses, to pre-vent them from joining investi-gations. It is alleged that he

forcibly shifted them fromDubai to Cairo, after destroyingtheir mobile phones, laptops andthe server to cover the tracks.

These persons, employeesof Nirav Modi Group compa-nies, were forced to sign certaindocuments to show that theywere the real owners of thosecompanies in Dubai and HongKong, which were shown asengaged in export and importwith the three accused firms -- Diamonds R US, SolarExports and Stellar Diamond -- all controlled by Nirav Modi,the CBI has alleged.

The three companies ben-efitted from the buyer's creditobtained from overseas bankson the strength of Letters ofUndertaking (LoUs) fraudu-lently issued from Mumbai'sBrady House branch of thePNB, in connivance with bankofficials. When some of these

directors were questioned bythe CBI, they said gold weigh-ing approximately 50 kg as wellas the funds lying in theaccounts of dummy companiesin Dubai, amounting to 40lakh dirhams, were taken awayby the accused persons after fil-ing of FIRs.

Billionaire jeweller NiravModi, currently in a UK prison,and his uncle and promoter ofthe Gitanjali group, MehulChoksi, currently in Antigua,fled India after allegedly per-petrating a USD-2 billion bankfraud on the state-run PNB, theofficials said.

The duo fled the country inthe first week of January 2018,along with some family mem-bers, nearly a fortnight beforethe PNB detected the fraud --which is said to be biggest inthe country's banking history,they added. PTI

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Dubai: A 50-year-old Indianteacher has died of coron-avirus in the UAE, according toa media report.

Anil Kumar, a Hinditeacher at Sunrise School inAbu Dhabi, died on Sundaymorning, the Gulf Newsreported. Kumar was detectedwith COVID-19 on May 7.

In a statement, the SunriseSchool said, "The sad andshocking demise of Mr AnilKumar, a senior Hindi teacherof Sunrise School on May 24,has left the entire Sunrise fam-ily in a pall of gloom.

"The bond that he haddeveloped over the years, justas how we have with each fac-ulty, makes the loss unbearable.The entire school is shaken andfinds it hard to come to termswith this most saddeningnews," the daily quoted thestatement.

Kumar is survived by hiswife and two children. Hiswife Rajini teaches mathemat-ics at the Sunrise School.

The coronavirus, whichfirst emerged in China'sWuhan city in December

last year, has claimed 245lives with nearly 30,000 con-firmed cases in the UAE. Thevirus has so far killed over3,45,000 people across theworld. PTI

Shimla: The Himachal Pradeshgovernment has authorised alldistrict magistrates to extendthe coronavirus lockdownbeyond the current phase end-ing May 31 and three DMsissued orders indicating thatthe curfew will continue intheir areas for another month.

Hamirpur and Solan dis-trict magistrate orderedMonday that the curfew,imposed two months ago toenforce the lockdown, will beextended up to June 30.

In Shimla, the district mag-istrate issued orders extendingrestrictions imposed on March24 under section 144 of theCrPC up to June 30. In effect,this means an extension of thecurfew in this district too.

The separate orders byHamirprur and Solan districtmagistrates mentioned curfew,not lockdown. But an extensionof the curfew implies that.

A state governmentspokesperson said the Cabinettook a decision on Saturday toauthorise the district magis-trates to extend the curfewimposed under Section 144 ofthe CrPC for up to June 30, “ifsituation so requires”. PTI

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Dehradun: Thirty-two peopletested positive for Covid-19 inUttarakhand on Monday, tak-ing the total in the state to 349,officials said here.

The number of active casesstands at 284, while 58 patientshave been discharged afterrecovery so far, a state HealthDepartment bulletin said.

Of the latest cases, fivewere reported from UdhamSingh Nagar, nine each fromNainital and Haridwar, threefrom Pauri Garhwal, two eachfrom Chamoli and Tehri, andone case each was detected inDehradun and Pithoragarhdistricts.

All the new patients had

travelled to the state from out-side, it said.

According to the bulletin,four Covid-19 patients havedied in the state but three ofthem had other diseases.

The cause of death of thefourth patient is not clear yet,it added. PTI

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New Delhi: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Mondayconveyed Eid-ul-Fitr greetingsto Crown Prince of Abu DhabiSheikh Mohamed bin Zayed AlNahyan and Bangladesh PrimeMinister Sheikh Hasina, anddiscussed the situation emerg-ing out of the coronavirus pan-demic. "Conveyed Eid-ul-Fitrgreetings to His Highness@MohamedBinZayed and thefriendly people of UAE," Modiwrote on Twitter. The PrimeMinister thanked the crownprince, who is also the deputysupreme commander of theUAE Armed Forces, for thecooperation extended to Indiancitizens in the UAE. PTI

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New Delhi/Sonipat: Delhi BJPchief Manoj Tiwari on Mondaycame under fire from the AamAadmi Party for playing crick-et in neighbouring Haryana bycrossing the "borders sealed"due to the Covid and alleged-ly violating lockdown norms.

Tiwari, however, assertedhe did not break any law. He hitback at the AAP for raising theissue to "divert attention" ofmedia from allegations of cor-ruption against its MLAPrakash Jarwal who is currentlybehind the bars. PTI

From Page 1The Chinese control three-

fourth of this lake and hasincreased the number of patrolboats besides troops and heavyvehicles on the banks of theriver. India has also taken pre-cautionary measures likedeploying more troops andregular monitoring of the sit-uation by senior officers.

Since terrain and weatherare a big challenge with all thestand-offs at a height of morethan 14,000 feet, India hasalready started acclimatisationof its troops in case more ofthem have to be deployed,sources said. The Daulat BegOldie air field capable of take-off and landing to giant trans-port planes is also ready forflights if need be to inductadditional troops, they added.

Contrary to the perceptionthat local Chinese comman-ders aggravated the situation inLadakh in the last month atmultiple points in a frontage of25 to 30 km, sources said thepattern suggested the orderscame from more senior level.Realising the gravity of the sit-uation, sources said India isalso prepared for a long haul todeter any move by the otherside even as military and diplo-matic efforts are on to bringdown the temperature at theLAC.

Moreover, India hasrepeatedly rejected China’sclaim of increasing tensionand said the Chinese hadproved to be a hindrance forthe Indian patrols in theGalwan valley. They alsoobjected to a strategic 200 kmlong road running parallel tothe LAC with India constant-ly maintaining it is well with-in its territory.

From Page 1“Dust and thunderstorms

are likely in several parts ofnorth India on May 29-30,bringing the much-needed relieffrom the intense heatwave,” theIMD said. The wind speed isalso likely to be around 50-60kilometres per hour during thisperiod, Srivastava said, addingthat this will bring relief fromthe intense heat. A western dis-turbance is a cyclonic storm thatoriginates in the MediterraneanSea and travels across CentralAsia. When it comes in contactwith the Himalayas, it bringsrains to the hills and the plains.

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������������������+�������������������������"��?�!��!�����(����������������������!!�����$����+���������#������������������������������������������� �����������������!�!������(!�59���������������������������������!�!������������������#����������+�������(��55��5858��������������������!����������������������(�54$���������!�!������������������������������������������������������������+�������������!���$���� ���������������!�������+�������3���������������#����!����������������������������������������������������������D����5$�����!�����������������@����������������������������!�����������!�!������(��55$

From Page 1Bihar reported 112 case for total of 2,686, out

of which 1,940 are active cases with 733 recoverytill date. Two persons died on Monday taking theState’s death tally to 13. Punjab seems to be arrest-ing the virus spread as of now with 128 activepatients and 1,913 recovered persons. The State haswitnessed total death tally of 40.

Odisha, which like Bihar is seeing surge in caseson return of migrant workers, reported 1,023 newcases on Monday for total count of 1,428.

Assam traced new 122 patients and Kerala alsoreported 49 new cases, followed by 47 patients inJammu & Kashmir. Karnataka reported 93 new caseswith 1,431 active patients and 51 recoveries havinga total recovery of 705. As many as 44 persons havedied in Karnataka with two new deaths recorded onMonday. As on date, 1,695 persons have died inMaharashtra, followed by 858 in Gujarat, 290 inMadhya Pradesh, 278 in West Bengal and 276 inDelhi with total deaths rising to 4,117 across India.Other States affected highly are Rajasthan with 163total deaths, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 161 andTamil with 119 total deaths as on date.

From Page 1The revised guidelines

replaced the old ones fordomestic and internationaltravellers and offer some newrelaxations.

Besides, the Governmenthas also added mandatoryusage of its COVA App for allreturnees. The instructionshave also mentioned that fre-quent inter-State travellers likeMP or MLA, salespersons,doctors, journalists, traders,executives, engineers, and con-sultants need not be home-quarantined.

“Deputy Commissionersand Sub-DivisionalMagistrates will issue passes tosuch people after they under-take to self-monitor theirhealth and will inform theadministration of any symp-toms,” read the orders.

As per the revised rules for

international travellers, peopleentering Punjab through air-port or seaport or landportwill have to hand in a self-dec-laration with their personaland health details to the Stateand will be screened at theirentry.

“The passengers found tobe symptomatic duringscreening will be taken to ahealth facility for testing. Ifthey test positive, they wouldbe sent to Covid Care Centres.Asymptomatic passengers andthose testing negative could betaken into paid institutionalquarantine (Government orhotel quarantine) on paymentbasis and will have to under-go test on the fifth day,” readthe orders.

It added, “If they test neg-ative, they can go home at theend of seven days but will beasked to home quarantine

themselves and monitor theirown health for a further week.They will have to submit awritten undertaking about thisto health officials.”

The guidelines stated thatthose who test positive will betaken to a Government isola-tion facility. Only under excep-tional circumstances, such aspregnancy or death of animmediate family member orsevere mental illness, will aDeputy Commissioner allowthem to quarantine them-selves at home. The StateHealth Department must beinformed of such cases, theguidelines added.

In case of domestic trav-ellers, they will be screened atthe State’s entry points andthose found to have Covid-19symptoms will be taken to ahealth facility for testing. Fromthere, those who test positive

will be sent to a Covid CareCentre.

Those found asympto-matic or testing negative willbe allowed to go home aftersubmitting an undertakingthat they would quarantinethemselves for 14 days, mon-itor their own health andreport to the nearest facility ifthey show any symptoms forCovid-19.

Those test positive but areasymptomatic will be kept inCovid Care Centres providedthey are below than 60 yearsand have no comorbidities.

Those who test positiveand need medical supervi-sion (those over 60 or showsevere symptoms or have anyassociated co-morbidity) willbe moved to Level II or levelIII facility depending on theirmedical condition, stated therevised guidelines.

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From Page 1The first flight on Monday took off from

Delhi for Pune at 4.45 am under strict reg-ulations recommended by civil aviationauthorities. The first flight from Mumbai wasto Patna at 6.45 am.

It was decided on Sunday that Kolkataand Bagdogra airports in cyclone-hit WestBengal will not operate any domestic flightbetween May 25 and 27 but will handle 20flights each daily from May 28. Moreover,Vijayawada and Vizag airports in AndhraPradesh will handle just 20 per cent of theirpre-lockdown flights from May 26.

Mumbai airport, India’s second busiestairport, will handle only 50 flights daily fromMonday, the Centre said, adding Chennaiairport will see only 25 arrivals per day. Therewere no limits set on departures fromChennai airport. Moreover, Hyderabad inTelangana will handle just 30 flights everyday from Monday, the government said.

IndiGo president and chief operatingofficer Wolfgang Prock-Schauer visited theDelhi airport to observe operations onMonday. He said the airline’s operations wererunning smoothly and passengers werefeeling relaxed as there was much less air traf-fic on Monday.

Airlines were jittery in resuming servicesas multiple States have put in place separatenorms and conditions for quarantiningpassengers arriving there by domestic flights.

With the aviation sector reeling undersevere stress due to the coronavirus-triggeredlockdown that began on March 25, theGovernment had last week announcedresumption of domestic flight services fromMay 25 under specific rules and guidelines.

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Swarms of locusts enteredsome residential areas of

Jaipur on Monday, presentingthe local people with an unusu-al sight. In Jaipur's Murlipuraand Vidhyadhar Nagar areas,people beat 'thalis' at the locuststhat had settled on walls andtrees, hoping to make themmove on.

Locusts normally affectdistricts in western Rajasthanbut this time the swarms havetravelled as far as Jaipur city.The swarms later headedtowards Dausa district. Locustswarms have been spotted in 17districts of Uttar Pradesh, 12districts in Madhya Pradesh,Punjab and Rajasthan.

“The menace of locust hasspread to 18 districts ofRajasthan and they are rapid-ly travelling in search of food,”Om Prakash, the commission-er of state agriculture depart-ment said He said the swarmswere in Nagaur and reachedJaipur and nearby areas onSunday. They were seen inresidential areas of the city onMonday and then they movedtowards Dausa, Prakash said.

“There is no standing cropon ground so they are staying

on large trees and moving fast.Locust control teams conduct-ed operations by sprinklingpesticide in Jaipur last nightand today remaining swarmshave moved towards Dausa,” hesaid. Centre's Locust WarningOrganisation in Jodhpur andthe state agriculture depart-ment are working in coordi-nation to handle the locustattack issue.

The swarms are travellingfarther and damaging trees asthere are no standing crops forthem to feed on, an official said.

The latest such attackoccurred on April 11 when theswarms entered from Pakistanand damaged cotton crops inGanganagar to some extent.The swarms later travelled to

various other districts and havenow crossed Jaipur.

The director of agriculturedepartment informed that 200teams are working in the fieldto monitor the movement oflocusts and nearly 800 tractor-mounted sprayers are beingused. He said, fire departmentis also involved in the operationsagainst the locusts. Prakashsaid the swarms have coveredalmost 54,000 hectare area inthe state this time and contain-ment operations were conduct-ed in 40,000 hectare area.

The insects are known tooriginate in Arabian Peninsula,and invade India via Rajasthan-Pakistan border, just before theonset of the seasonal monsoon.They fly throughout the day,covering a maximum distanceof up to about 150 km/day andsettle down on trees after sun-set where they remain through-out the night. They breed rapid-ly, which makes it difficult tocontrol them. According toIMD scientists, their move-ment is largely aided by thewind-flow. "The wind aroundthis time is favourable for themand also the sandy soil inRajasthan, which is conducivefor laying eggs," said seniorscientist from IMD.

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New Delhi: The top 10 hotspotcities reporting the highestnumber of Covid-19 cases in thecountry will be covered in aserosurvey to estimate theprevalence of community trans-mission, according to protocolsdrafted by the Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR).

Besides, the survey wouldalso be conducted in 60 districtsof 21 States and UTs cate-gorised into four strata — zero,low, medium and high —according to the reported Covidcases per million population, asper the protocols for commu-nity-based surveillance pub-lished in the IJMR (Indian

Journal of Medical Research).Among the top 10 cities

reporting the maximum num-ber of cases are Mumbai, Delhi,Pune, Ahmedabad, Thane,Indore, Jaipur, Chennai andSurat. The protocols — titled‘National sero-surveillance tomonitor the trend of SARS-CoV-2 infection transmission inIndia: Protocol for community-based surveillance — for carry-ing out the survey. The ICMRsaid in a statement that thehousehold-level cross-section-al survey will cover 24,000adults distributed equally acrossfour strata of districts — 15 dis-tricts from each category. PTI

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Page 3: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today …...2020/05/26  · Kathmandu: Criticising Indian Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane’s remarks on Kathmandu acting on “behest

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Indian Railways has run 3,060“Shramik Special” trains till

Monday across the countryand ferried more than 40 lakhpassengers to their home States.

The Railways following theorder of the Ministry of HomeAffairs regarding movement ofmigrant workers, pilgrims,tourists, students and otherpersons stranded at different

places by special trains, IndianRailways had decided to oper-ate “Shramik Special” trainsform 1st May 2020.

“A total of 3,060 “ShramikSpecial” trains have been oper-ationalised from various statesacross the country. More than40 lakh passengers havereached their destinations bythese “Shramik Special” trains,”he said.

Out of 3,060 special trains,

2,608 trains have been termi-nated, 453 trains are on run.On May 24, 237 ShramikSpecials were run moving 3.1lakh passengers, he said.

These 3060 trains wereoriginated from various states.The top five States or UTs fromwhere maximum trains origi-nated are Gujarat (853 trains),Maharashtra (550 trains),Punjab(333 trains), UttarPradesh (221 trains), Delhi

(181 trains).Also, these trains were ter-

minated in various States acrossthe country. The top five stateswhere maximum trains termi-nated are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,Odisha.

“The rail route congestionwhich was being witnessed on23rd and 24th May, 2020, isover. The congestion hadoccurred due to convergence ofmore than two third rail traf-fic on routes to Bihar andUttar Pradesh and late clear-ance of the terminals due tohealth protocols etc that need-ed to be completed by StateAuthorities. The matter hasresolved through active con-sultation with StateGovernments and also findingother feasible routes for thejourney,” he said.

In addition to Shramikspecials Railways are running15 pairs of special trains con-necting New Delhi and plans tostart 200 more time table trainson 1st June.

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Another staff member ofthe All India Institute of

Medical Science (AIIMS) diedfrom coronavirus on Monday.

The deceased, Hiralal wasworking as senior sanitationsupervisor and was posted atRajkumari Amrit Kaur OPD inthe AIIMS, a senior AIIMSdoctor said.

“Hiralal was very alertwhile discharging his duty inthe hospital. He keeps servingpeople without caring for hislife. He used to follow allnorms of hygiene and sanitiseeveryone who enters the hos-pital premises,” he said.

Despite all the precautionand alertness, he lost the bat-tle with life- threatening virus.He was loved equally by allincluding nursing staff anddoctors, he said.

His body has been kept inthe AIIMS Trauma centre mor-tuary and will be handed overto his family after due proce-dure.

Earlier, a mess worker hadalso died on May 22 fromCovid-19 leading the ResidentDoctors’ Association of AllIndia Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS) on Fridaydemanded the resignation ofHostel Superintendent andsenior warden after a mess

worker died of Covid-19.In a letter addressed to the

Director of AIIMS, the associ-ation had alleged that hostelsection refused to take pre-cautionary measures as

demanded by the RDA morethan a month ago. The RDAalso alleged that the hostelsuperintendent tried to presentthe death as probable cardiacevent in morning review meet-ing.

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 theAIIMS administration to grant

compensation to the grievingfamily of the mess worker.

In another letter written toDirector AIIMS, RDA had 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 had said.

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Similar to the scenes ofBollywood movies, Delhi

Police has arrested a 27-yearold property dealer who usedto deal in disputed propertiesat gunpoint in National Capital.Police said that the accused isalso previously found involvedin attempt to murder, robberyand arms act cases registered incity.

The accused has been iden-tified as Parvinder Sehrawat, aresident of Delhi’s MatialaExtension area.

According to AntoAlphonse, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Dwarka, on May 24, atabout 4:15 pm when apatrolling team was nearDichaon village in the area,they noticed a person who onseeing Police he tried to flee.

“The man was nabbed aftera brief chase. On asking forfleeing, he failed to give any sat-isfactory reason. During cur-sory search, police found, onecountry made pistol along withthree cartridge was recoveredfrom the possession of theman,” said the DCP.

“During interrogation,Parvinder told police that hewas also booked in many crim-inal cases earlier. On checkingof records, it was found that heis wanted in attempt to murdercase registered at Bindapurpolice station,” said the DCP.

“Parvinder was previouslya property dealer and laterstarted dealing in disputedproperties at gun point. Hestarted using muscle power tosettle his scores. He also dis-closed that he was on road totarget any road user for moneyas he thought police is busywith corona related duties andthat is why he was roamingwith firearm and ammunition.But police team averted thepossible street crime,” said the DCP.

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Monday said

that there have been 3,500 newcorona cases and around 2,500patients have recovered in thelast week since the relaxationson the corona lockdown havebeen announced.

He also said that around2,000 new beds have beenadded in 117 private hospitals,along with 2,500 beds cur-rently available in theGovernment hospitals in Delhi.

This may be noted that onSunday, the Delhi Governmenthad issued an order that 117private hospitals of Delhishould save at least 20 per centof their beds for the treatmentof corona patients whereascurrently 2,000 beds availablein Government hospitals and2500 beds available in privatehospitals in Delhi.

Addressing a digital Pressconference in Delhi, Kejriwalsaid, “It has been a week sincesome relaxations were given on

May 17 and after a period ofone week, I can say that the sit-uation is under control andthere is no need to worry. Wehad expected a sudden rise inthe number of cases after therelaxations and the same hashappened, but there is no needto worry.” “The situation willget worrisome in two cases,first, if there is a steady rise inthe death rate, and second if thecases are so severe that it leadsto the collapsing of our wholehealthcare system. I have beensaying this time and again,there should be no deaths andpeople should recover and goback to their homes as soon aspossible. It would be a trou-blesome situation if the num-ber of severe patients increas-es to the extent that there is anon-availability of beds, oxy-gen, ventilators, and otherhealthcare infrastructure.”

Citing the health bulletinreport, he further said thatthere were 13,418 cases inDelhi till yesterday, out ofwhich 6,540 cases have recov-

ered and 6,617 are active cases.There have been 261 deaths.

He said that for the statusof Covid-19 dedicated hospitalsin Delhi, there are 3,829 bedsin government Covid-19 hos-pitals, out of which 3,164 bedshave oxygen availability.

“I stress the term oxygen,because there is no cure toCovid-19 currently, and thereis a need to supply oxygen tosevere Covid-19 patients astheir respiratory rate decreas-es when they become infected.Only 1478 beds out of 3829

beds are currently occupied.Around 2500 beds are stillunoccupied. There are 250ventilators available in the gov-ernment hospitals, out of which11 ventilators are being cur-rently used and around 240remain unused,” he added.

As per the data, there arecurrently 677 beds in privatehospitals, out of which 509 havebeen occupied.

“Most of the new cases ofCovid-19 have mild symptomssuch as a mild fever and cough,and many of them are asymp-tomatic. These cases do notneed to be admitted into thehospitals and are advised to fol-low home isolation. My teamstays in regular touch withthem and their families formonitoring their symptoms,”Kejriwal said.

CM Kejriwal said, “Today,3314 people are being treatedthrough home isolation andaround 2000 people are beingtreated in the hospitals. We arealso preparing around 1500beds fully equipped with oxy-

gen facilities in GTB Hospital.This will lead to a total of 5500beds available for Corona treat-ment in Delhi. We are fully pre-pared to handle the surge inserious cases of Corona.”

Announcing the change inthe number of cases in the lastone week since some relax-ations on Corona lockdownwere given, he said that therewere 9755 COVID+ve patientsin Delhi as on May 17, andthere are 13418 cases today,which means that there hasbeen a rise of around 3500patients in the last week.

He said, “Around 2500patients have also recovered inthe last week, which is a posi-tive development for Delhi.Similarly, there were 1750patients in the hospitals on May17, and today there are 2000patients in the hospitals, whichmeans that the occupancy ofonly 250 beds has increased inthe last week.”

Kejriwal also warned hos-pitals of serious action in casethey deny treatment to any

Corona positive patient. “Apatient visited the private hos-pital a few days back because ofsome breathing issues, and histest was conducted two dayslater. When the results cameout to be positive, he wasdenied treatment in the sameprivate hospital because hewas found to be Corona posi-tive. Where will the patient go?No hospital can deny treatmentto any patient. We have issueda show-cause notice to the pri-vate hospital. It is the respon-sibility of the hospital that if anypatient is found to be positive,the hospital ambulance shouldtake the patient to any privateand government hospital toensure that he is being treated,”he said.

Kejriwal said, “There hasbeen a surge in cases, but thesituation is under control asmost of the cases have mildsymptoms or are asympto-matic. They are being treatedunder home isolation, andpatients in hospitals are alsobeing taken care of.”

�� ����������� 012�31� +

As the city continues to sim-mer under the intense heat

with maximum temperaturesettling at over 40 degreesCelsius on Monday, nationalCapital’s peak power demandreached to 5,268 MW onSaturday which is seasons’highest.

A senior BSES official saidthat peak power demandclocked 5268 MW which ismarginally more than the 5094MW recorded last year. “Infact,this is the first time this month,Delhi’s peak power demand hascrossed last year’s peak on anygiven day. Peak power demandin May 2019 was 6461 MW,recorded on May 31,” he said.

On their part, BRPL andBYPL successfully met thepeak power demand of 2448MW and 1227 MW respec-tively. Last year, Delhi’s peakpower demand had clocked7409 MW. In BRPL’s area, it was3211 MW and 1686 MW.

The official said thatarrangements have been firmedup by BSES discoms to sourceadequate electricity to meet the

power demand of over 44 lakhsconsumers. “These arrange-ments include long term PPAsand banking arrangementswith other states. In case ofunforeseen contingenciesbecause of low generation andoutages in power plants, thediscoms will purchase short-term power from theexchange,” he said.

“If we compare the peakpower demand of April 2020with that of May 2020, Delhi’speak power demand hasalready increased by around56%. Peak power demand inApril was 3362 MW and inMay (May 24) 5268 MW,” hesaid.

The official further saidthat to meet today’s powerchallenges and to get a grip onso many varied and dynamic

variables, BSES uses a mix ofadvanced statistical forecastingmodels, combined with state-of-the-art weather forecastingsolutions, including ArtificialIntelligence (AI) and machinelearning.”

Meanwhile, Tata PowerDelhi Distribution (TataPower-DDL) successfully metthe peak power demand of1493 MW on Sunday Nightwithout any network constraintand power outage as Delhitouched season’s high of 5268MW amidst the ongoing heatwave.

“This summer season,Delhi is expected to witness anincrease in demand with eachpassing day as everyone accus-toms to the new normal andreturns back to routine. Wehave made adequate arrange-ments of power of up to 2500MW along with contingencyplanning, through long-termtie-ups, bilateral imports &power banking arrangementswith other states, and upgrad-ed network to ensure regularsupply in our area of distribu-tion.” said Ganesh Srinivasan,CEO, Tata PowerDDL.

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A28-year-old woman wasallegedly raped by three,

including a constable in a ban-quet hall located on Old Delhi-Gurugram road on Saturdayevening. Police have managedto arrest one of the accused onMonday while two otheraccused are on the run.

According to police, thevictim informed the controlroom about the incident and aPCR van, headed by a womanofficer, reached there. Based onthe woman’s statement, wehave registered an FIR underIPC sections of 376 D and 506at the Palam Vihar police sta-tion. Also, an accused Ashu hasbeen arrested,” said SubhashBokan, PRO of the GurugramPolice.

The victim, a native of theRewari district has been livingin the Rajiv Chowk area of thecity.

The woman in her com-plaint stated to the police thatconstable Ishaan Yadav wasknown to her. On Saturday,Yadav called her up around5.30 pm and allegedly asked herfor a long drive.

“Yadav was waiting for menear my house. When Ireached the car, there were twoother men Ashu and ManojSarpanch, Yadav’s friends, seat-ed in the rear seat and drink-ing. On this, she refused to gowith them. But when Yadavassured her, she sat on the rearseat with him,” she told thepolice.

After travelling some dis-tance, they started consumingliquor in the car, the victimalleged. Yadav allegedly drovethe car towards banquet hall onOld Delhi-Gurugram road

near the Maruti plant. Theycontinued to drink and alsoforced her to consume liquor,which she denied, she alleged.

“During this, they startedmolesting me. When I object-ed, at the banquet hall, firstIshaan molested me and thenAshu took me inside a roomand raped me, later Ishaanand Manoj also molested me,”she claimed in the FIR.

When I started shouting,the trio thrashed me and alsothreatened to kill me. I some-how managed to escape fromthere and reach my home nearRajiv Chowk,” she said.

A medical test of thewoman confirmed rape. “AnFIR was registered underSection at Palam Vihar policestation and action will be takenas per the law. Further probeinto the matter is underwayand the probe team on theirtask to catch the rest culprits,”Boken said.

Also, the Gurugram dis-trict on Monday reported 13more coronavirus cases.

The city now has 284 pos-itive cases, including 118 stilladmitted in different hospitals.As many as 166 patients havebeen cured and dischargedfrom hospitals.

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Overcoming impedimentsdue to the coronavirus

pandemic and other issuesduring the nationwide lock-down, procurement of wheatby Government agencies thisyear surpassed last year’s figuresof 341.31 Lakh Metric Tonnes(LMT) to touch 341.56 LMT ason May 24.

According to the ministryof food and consumer affairs,the the figure surpasses lastyear’s procurement by 25,000tonnes. Punjab is leading with125.84 LMT followed byMadhya Pradesh and Haryana.

Wheat harvesting general-ly starts towards end of Marchand procurement commencesin the first week of April everyyear. However, with the impo-sition of national lockdown onMarch 23, all operations cameto a standstill.

Since the crop was alreadyready for harvesting, the cen-tral government gave relax-ation to start agricultural andrelated activities during thelockdown period and the pro-curement could start fromApril 15 in most of theprocuring states, officials said.

The ministry said that outof the 341.56 LMT, over 125.84LMT of wheat has been pro-cured in Punjab, 113.38 LMTin Madhya Pradesh, 70.65 LMTin Haryana, 20.39 LMT inUttar Pradesh, 10.63 LMT inRajasthan, 31,000 tonnes inUttarakhand, 21,000 tonnes inGujarat, 12,000 tonnes inChandigarh and 3,000 tonnesin Himachal Pradesh.

Highlighting measurestaken for smooth procurement,the ministry said wheat har-vesting generally starts towardsthe end of March and procure-ment commences in the firstweek of April every year.

However, with the imposi-tion of the lockdown witheffect from March 24, all oper-ations came to a standstill.The crop had ripened by thenand was ready for harvesting.Considering this, the centralgovernment gave relaxation tostart agricultural and relatedactivities during the lockdownperiod, and the procurementcould start from April 15 inmost of the procuring states.Haryana started little late onApril 20, it said.

Stating that the biggest chal-lenge was to ensure that pro-curement is done in a "safe man-ner" during the pandemic, theministry said this was achievedthrough a multi-pronged strat-egy of awareness creation, socialdistancing and deployment oftechnology. The number of pur-chase centres was increasedsubstantially reducing the farmerfootfalls in individual purchasecentres. New centres were set upusing every facility available atgram panchayat level and thenumbers were increased sharplyin the major procuring states likePunjab where it went up from1,836 to 3,681, 599 to 1,800 inHaryana and from 3,545 to4,494 in Madhya Pradesh, it said.

Using technology, farmerswere provided specific datesand slots to bring their producewhich helped in avoiding over-crowding. Strict social distanc-ing norms were followed andsanitisation activities wereundertaken regularly, it said. InPunjab, every farmer was allot-ted specific spaces earmarked fordumping of stocks and no oneelse was allowed to enter thoseareas. Only people who weredirectly associated were allowedto be present during daily auc-tions. In addition to the threatof spread of virus, the ministrysaid procuring agencies facedthree major challenges.

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The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) said on

Monday the heatwave is likelyto start subsiding fromThursday as easterly winds willstart blowing in northern partsof the country. The IMD hascautioned people not to step outduring 1-5 pm due to intenseheatwave.

The highest day tempera-ture in Rajasthan on Mondaywas recorded in Churu at 47.5degrees Celsius, whileAllahabad was the hottest placein Uttar Pradesh at 46.3 degreesCelsius. It had on Sundaysounded a red category alert forDelhi, Haryana, Punjab, westand east Rajasthan for heatwaveor severe heatwaves.

Kuldeep Srivastava, thehead of IMD's RegionalMeteorological Centre, said the

red warning has been issued tocaution people not to step outduring 1- 5 pm, when the inten-sity of the heat is the most. “Dustand thunder storms are likely inseveral parts of north India onMay 29-30, bringing the much-needed relief from the intenseheatwave,”the IMD said. Thewind speed is also likely to bearound 50-60 kilometres perhour during this period,Srivastava said, adding that thiswill bring relief from the intenseheat. A western disturbance isa cyclonic storm that origi-nates in the Mediterranean Seaand travels across Central Asia.When it comes in contact with

the Himalayas, it brings rains tothe hills and the plains.

"Heatwave will prevail inmany places and severe heat-wave in isolated places. Mainlyclear sky with strong surfacewinds (20-20 kilometres perhour)," the IMD forecast said.IMD’s bulletin said that heat-wave conditions were also like-ly over Uttar Pradesh, MadhyaPradesh, Vidarbha andTelangana during the next fourto five days. Similar conditionswere predicted in some pocketsover Chhattisgarh, Odisha,Gujarat, Maharashtra,Marathwada, coastal AndhraPradesh, Yanam, Rayalseemaand north-interior Karnatakaduring next three to four days.A red category alert impliesauthorities should take action toavoid health emergencies.

Meanwhile, RajendraKumar Jenamani, head of

Regional SpecialisedMeteorological Centre said thatIndia has seen the highest tem-perature of this year (47.6degrees Celsius) in the last 2days. The heatwave will startsubsiding from May 28 as east-erly winds will start blowing innorthern parts of the country,he added.

“Rains accompanied bythunderstorms will start occur-ring from May 29 due to east-erly winds in the northern partsof India and the temperature isexpected to go down to 40degrees Celsius,” Jenamani said.

Rajendra Kumar Jenamanialso said that the southwestmonsoon is likely to hit Keralanext week.“The southwest mon-soon is expected to arrive overKerala coast between June 1 andJune 5 and is likely to reachMumbai between June 15 andJune 20,” Jenamani said.

������������� 012�31� +

The CRPF is working on aproposal to provide WiFi

facility at quarantine centresand Covid Care Centres toenhance mental peace andinduce positive sentimentamongst the inmates throughaccess to Internet.

Motivational videos byprominent speakers are alsobeing worked out to overcomedepression. Prominent per-sonalities are being reached outto deliver motivational talks,which can be seen and heard bypatients.

The diet charts of the quar-antined personnel are alsobeing proposed to includesprouts, Golden milk (turmer-ic milk) dry fruits andChyawanprash.

The Covid positivepatients and quarantined offi-cers/men were already pro-vided electric kettles, sugarcubes, hone, ginger and teabags for consumption.

The suggestions were madeat a meeting chaired by CRPFDirector General APMaheshwari earlier this monthto review the arrangementsmade at these centres to checkthe spread of the Covid-19 andthe preparedness to break thechain of spread of the pan-demic among the ranks acrossthe country.

The meeting was held in

the backdrop of the entire 31Battalion being quarantinedhereafter significant afflictionsto the disease by the paramil-itary personnel.

Adequate financial powershave been granted to the UnitCommandants to procuremasks, hand gloves and PPEkits but instances were dis-cussed in the meeting where-in procurement of such items

were not sufficient and as perqualitative requirements.Following this revelation, direc-tions were issued to scrupu-lously follow the guidelines ofthe Union Health Ministryand the Inspectors Generalwere asked to conduct randomcheck of quality of these itemsso that there is no compromisewith quality.

All Sector InspectorGenerals have also been direct-ed to ensure that there are suf-ficient Covid-19equipment likePPE kits, masks, hand glovesand sanitisers available at theirunits and hospitals at all estab-lishments under them.

Till now, the CRPF hasrecorded 363 Covid-19 positivecases which includes two casu-alties due to the infection. Outof the 363, as many as 220patients have recovered andthere are 141 active cases in theparamilitary. On Monday, fournew coronavirus patients werereported from the CRPF ranksin the national capital.

���� 012�31� +�

The Government on Mondaydecided to send Central

teams to West Bengal to assessthe situation in CycloneAmphan-hit areas and the loss-es incurred. The Centre hasalready released �1,000 crore tothe Mamata Banerjee dispen-sation, as announced by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, forcarrying out relief, restorationand rehabilitation measures.

The National CrisisManagement Committee(NCMC) met here underCabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba

and monitored the ongoingrelief and restoration of powerand telecom services at thecyclone Amphan-hit places.

“As announced by PrimeMinister after his aerial surveyand review of relief efforts withthe West Bengal Government, asum of �1,000 crores has already

been released to the State gov-ernment. “Chief Secretary WestBengal thanked the Centre forthe support provided for reliefand restoration. Restoration ofPower and Telecommunicationinfrastructure was stated to be apriority in the Cyclone-affectedareas of the State. While Telecom

connectivity has been restored inmost areas, damages to the localPower distribution network hasaffected the restoration of com-plete supply in someareas.Central agencies aredeployed in these efforts along-with teams from neighbouringstates. Meanwhile, Army hasbeen deployed in Kolkata, tohelp in carry out road clearancesalongwith teams of NDRF andSDRF,” the Ministry of HomeAffairs said in a statement.

Continuing with the coor-dination efforts and restorationmeasures in the areas of WestBengal affected by "Amphan",

the NCMC met for the fifthtime in connection with thenatural calamity. Taking note ofthe progress made in therestoration work, the cabinetsecretary advised that completepower connectivity, telecomservice and drinking watersupplies need to be restored ona priority basis.

The central agencies areready to provide any furtherassistance that may be requiredby the state. Adequate stocks offoodgrains have been keptready for supply. The cabinetsecretary also suggested thatthe West Bengal government

may indicate its additionalrequirements, if any, and direct-ed officers of central ministriesand agencies to work in closecoordination with the stategovernment to provide allrequired assistance expedi-tiously. The West Bengal chiefsecretary participated in theNCMC meeting throughvideo-conference. Senior offi-cers from the ministries ofHome Affairs, Power,Telecommunications, Food andPublic Distribution, Health,Drinking Water and Sanitation,NDMA and NDRF also attend-ed the meeting.

�������������@����012�31� +

As part of its new outreachprogramme, the Congress

is working towards tapping onthe migrant workforce, partic-ularly in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,Jharkhand and MadhyaPradesh, to revive its fortunesin the Hindi heartland.

AICC sources said the topleadership of the party lastweek conducted a video con-ference meeting of the Stateunit leaders to work in thisdirection and engage the partyworkers and volunteers toextend all possible help to themigrants and labourers andturn the economic miseriesfaced by the poor amidst thetwo-month lockdown as anopportunity for the grand oldparty to restore faith and con-fidence in them. As per theHome Ministry records, thereare a total of about four croremigrant workers across thecountry.

The meeting chaired byAICC General Secretary KCVenugopal with PCC chiefs ofabout 18 States that has largenumber migrant workersresolved for an towards anaction-plan to extend assis-tance to the migrants who

were on move on roads toreach their destination.Venugopal alongwith RajeevSarav, in-charge for coordi-nating Covid-19 lockdownrelief works and PraveenChakravarti, AICC technologyand data cell chairman andRohan Gupta, AICC socialmedia cell chairman have beentasked by the leaders to devis-ing a strategy to tap on themigrants class.

In this effort, the party hasalso launched a Congresshelpline services and chatbotnamed 'Congress Mitr' in eachStates where migrant workersare being encouraged to reachout to the party for any kind ofassistance.

To accomodate withintheir database, the grand oldparty is seeking all details likename and contact details of themigrants, their place of domi-cile, members in family etc .

When contacted, AICCdata department chairmanPraveen Chakravarty told ET:“A helpline for each state wasset up by the respective PCCs.A very simple local languagechatbot was developed byManish Khanduri inUttarakhand to get basic infor-mation from migrants.

In UP this was launched as

UP Mitra by party generalsecretary Priyanka Gandhi.

The party is also makingfull use of social media whichit claims now that the Gandhiscion is now in the list of top10 Indian leaders with morethan 14 million followers onTwitter and this was increasedbetween the period of lastgeneral elections till date.

A dedicated workforce ofRahul Priyanka Gandhi Sena(RPGS) has been active duringthe lockdown period andreaching out to people likemigrants, poor, jobless andmeeting their requirements.

"In coordination with theDelhi Congress unit, our vol-unteers have been extending allpossible help to the affectedpeople during the lockdownperiod. While we gave themigrants tickets, transport andmedical facility, our workersalso shared cash amounts to theneedy who may need it duringthe travel period. All this is onhumanitarian ground andnothing political should beread in it. Am proud theCongress is working on itslegacy of welfare to all sectionsof society," said Arjun Puri,Spokesman, Rahul PriyankaGandhi Sena.

AICC sources said while

all other Congress frontlinewings like, Sewa Dal, MahilaCongress etc got defunct over the period due to decimating party cadre, offlatethe new wing of dedicatedand smart young workers inRPGS have taken the respon-sibility of boosting the fortune

of the party. In few months of its for-

mation with an aim to resur-rect the party cadre at grassroot level, Puri claimed thatover one crore members haveregistered and the figures ofvolunteers joining is increasingday by day.

"During the lockdownperiod the organisation saw ahuge jump in membership,"claimed Puri. He thanked thatthe new outfit has been gettingall support from party's otherfrontline organisation likeNSUI and Indian YouthCongress.

��������@����� 012�31� +

The Central Warehousing Corporation(CWC), a PSU, which also offers pest con-

trol services besides storage and handling, is busymaking its contribution in the fight againstCovid-19.

Its technical staff comprising 700 personnelare working round the clock, majorly engagedin disinfecting the domestic and internationalflights every time its takes off as well as PSUoffices and airports and hospitals to keep theCovid-19 at bay.

A senior official at the CWC, an organisa-tion under the Union Consumer Affairs Ministrysaid that they are regularly getting calls for dis-infections on daily basis and they have to keepa slot for every organisations depending on theemergency as well as the staff availability.

And as the domestic flight operations haveresumed in the country, their major focus is ondisinfecting and sanitising terminal building ofthe Airports in cities. The Corporation has corecompetency in executing these kind of operations.

“We are following the protocol prepared bythe Union Health Ministry. We ensure that ourstaff has proper PPE kits and all necessary pre-cautions are adopted so that they do not getinfected with the virus while carrying out theirroutine job,” said the official.

As Covid-19 pandemic has swept the worldas also India, the CWC’s staff for the first timesince the organisation’s inception in 1957 is nowfocussed more on combating Coronavirus infec-tion than what it was previously ie termite treat-ment, rodent, mosquitoes, flies, termites, rodents,weed control, etc.

It has a range of clients of which prominentlocations are ministries, PSUs, State/CentralGovernment. offices, railway station and coach,workshop, ships, container, national museum,science center, aircraft, hanger, airlines, airportsof Airport Authority of India, AIIMS, hospitals,banks, Universities, MSTC, HAL, HCL, GAIL,RBI, UTI among others.

“To keep an edge over the private operators,we are also providing corona disinfection servicesin residential area at an economical rate,” said theofficial as in light of the Covid-19 Pandemic, theimportance of disinfection against communicabledisease and vector/pest control has become anurgency.

He explained that disinfection servicesshould be taken from the trained operator. Asper the Insecticide Act1968, the accreditation &PCS license is a must for disinfestation works.

The recommended frequency of disinfectionmay be daily or thrice or twice a week, as per theCommunicable Disease & Control guidelines, theofficial added.

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Ringing alarm bell amidIndia's move to ease lock-

down norms, a new study bythe Indian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) has recon-firmed that coronavirus hashigher transmission rate, ashigh as 65 per cent among closecontacts, as was found on thecluster of 23 Italian tourists whovisited India in March 2020.

In fact, the attack rate of thevirus was higher at 65.4 percent amongst close contacts of23 Italian tourist group thanthat of those at the DiamondPrincess Cruise Ship whichwas 19.2 per cent and in theGrand Princess Cruise Ship,which was 16.6 per cent.

The study outcome can bethe indicator for the risingnumber of new positive casesin the country each passing dayas migration of labours andtravellers begins at a largenumber. The Covid-19 tallyhas touched over 1.30 lakhs andif study outcome is taken intoconsideration, then India couldsee huge growth in the numberof Covid-19 cases in the nearfuture.

For this reason, expertshave been calling for publichealth measures such as phys-

ical distancing, personalhygiene and infection controlmeasures as necessary habits toprevent the spread of the virus.

The ICMR scientists saidthat "Our study cluster showeda higher attack rate than thatreported in existing literaturesuch as in Diamond PrincessCruise ship (19.2 per cent) andin Grand Princess Cruise ship(16.6 per cent) 13. This may bedue to the closed environ-ment, high and persistent expo-sure to index case during theirtour travel (average of six hoursdaily for eight days).”

From the group of 23Italian tourists who reachedNew Delhi on February 21,along with three Indians whovisited several tourist places inRajasthan, 17 had tested posi-tive for SARS-CoV-2 infec-tion by March 3, 2020.

"Of these 17 patients, ninewere symptomatic, while eightdid not show any symptoms.Of the nine who developedsymptoms, six were mild, one was severe and two werecritically ill. The median duration between the day of confirmation for Covid-19and RT-PCR negativity was 18 days (range: 12-23 days).Two patients died with a casefatality of 11.8 per cent," as per

the study.The index patient, 69-year-

old man, a resident ofLombardy Province, Italy andfamily physician by professiondeveloped fever, cough anddifficulty in breathing onFebruary 23. On arriving atJaipur on February 28, 2020 hefirst saw a private healthcareprovider and then visited a pri-vate hospital from where hewas referred to the SMSMedical College, Jaipur, forCovid-19 test. When he testedpositive he was isolated, hiswife (70), who did not have anysymptoms also tested positive.

The remaining 24 membersof the group (21 Italians and 3Indians) returned to Delhi onMarch 2 by the same coach andwere quarantined. All the 24individuals were initiallyasymptomatic. Their throat andnasal swabs were collected onMarch 3. Fifteen persons(including 14 Italian touristsand one Indian) tested positiveand were isolated. Of the 17patients, nine (52.9 per cent)had or developed symptoms,whereas eight (47.1 per cent)did not show any symptoms.

The ICMR stated that theepidemiological investigationof this cluster of 17 cases wasconsistent with person-to-per-

son transmission. The ICMRalso pointed out at two possi-ble conclusions of transmissionof Covid-19 in this cluster -"First, the index patient couldhave been infected during hismedical practice in Italy andlater transmitted the infectionto his co-tourists. According tothe WHO, there were onlythree Covid-19 cases reportedfrom Italy on February 21, butby February 28, Italy had 888cases including 21 deaths dueto SARS-CoV-2.

The ICMR added, "Mostcases had occurred in theLombardy and Veneto regionsof Northern Italy with localtransmission being the mainsource of SARS-CoV-2 infec-tions.

“Second, the tourists couldhave individually picked up theinfection from Italy beforestarting their trip to India.The first scenario appearsmostly likely, considering theduration of onset of symptoms(12 days since their arrival inIndia except for the indexcase), the duration of viralclearance being more than 14days in other tourists and nohistory of contact or exposureto any suspected or confirmedCovid-19 positive patients inItaly," said the study.

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New Delhi: India and Israel onMonday discussed jointresearch and development onbig data and ArtificialIntelligence (AI) technology.

The discussion was a partof Prime Minister NarendraModi and his Israeli counter-part's vision for wide-rangingscientific cooperation betweenthe two countries.

"Defence ResearchDevelopment Organisation,Council of ScientificIndustrialResearch held discussions with Head of Israel'sDirectorate of RD, Israel'sAmbassador Ron MalkaIndia'sAmbassador Sanjeev Singlaabout high-level scientificcooperation to addressCOVID-19," the IsraelEmbassy here said on Twitter.

Modi and Netanyahu hadheld discussions on the novelcoronavirus outbreak and itspossible impact on the supplylines in Israel in March. Agency

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New Delhi: Contributingtowards the nation’s fightagainst COVID-19, theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)has distributed 19.28 crorefood packets among the needyacross the country.

As per the official data bythe party, it has distributed19.28 crore food packets topeople till May 23 as againstthe target of providing foodpackets to five crore people.

The BJP has also distrib-uted 5.2 crore face coversagainst the target of five crores,the data states.

Besides this, as many as4.86 crore ration kits have

been distributed by the partyto the needy. After the lock-down was announced inMarch, BJP President JagatPrakash Nadda had instructedparty workers to provide foodpackets to five crore needypeople.

Moreover, 8.23 lakh partyworkers are also engaged inhelping those affected by thelockdown imposed as a pre-cautionary measure to containthe spread of COVID-19.

The party has also madespecialised groups to helpselected category of people.After the third phase of lock-down, more BJP workers were

asked to help at the grassrootslevel.

Currently, there are manygroups which are working onthe direction of the party chief.As many as 4.48 lakh partycadres are especially deployedto provide service to the oldand sick people.

In addition, BJP is con-ducting a programme to thankcorona warriors and people.The party is collecting signa-tures of common people tothank the medical workersand others fighting againstCOVID-19. As many as 12.87lakh workers are engaged inthis exercise. Agency

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Page 5: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today …...2020/05/26  · Kathmandu: Criticising Indian Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane’s remarks on Kathmandu acting on “behest

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Till Monday evening, a total of 17, 082 per-sons were tested positive for coronavirus in

Tamil Nadu since the pandemic broke out inmid-January, according to Dr Vijaya Basker,Minister for health. Addressing the media, theMinister said 805 persons were tested positivefor the pandemic on Monday alone, the high-est number to be tested positive in a single day.

But the hike in the number of covid -19 casesin Tamil Nadu were aggravated by the arrivalof positive cases from other States, particular-ly Maharashtra, said Dr Baskar. He said the 712persons tested positive on Monday include 87who reached the State from Maharashtra. Outof the 712 persons tested on Monday, Chennaiaccounted for 549 cases.

While releasing the details of the coronavirusstatus of Tamil Nadu , the Minister said the Statehas recorded the highest number of tests car-ried out all over the country. “ A total of 4,21,480 persons have been tested in Tamil Nadu tillMonday. We have 68 laboratories functioning24X7 all over the State. The WHO has con-gratulated the State for the maximum number

of tests carried out and has asked us to contin-ue the testing with the same vigor,” said DrBaskar.

Seven persons died on Monday in varioushospitals in the State, taking the total numberof fatalities to 118. The day saw 407 personscured of the disease getting discharged from thehospitals, taking the total number of dis-charged persons till date to 8,731.

Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy hasconvened a high power meeting on Tuesday todiscuss the new situation arising out of the hikein the number of patients tested positive in theState.

Eminent physicians including Dr CVKrishnaswamy and Dr Kulandaiswamy told ThePioneer that there was nothing to be scared aboutthe hike in the number of coronavirus cases.

“The Government has undertaken anaggressive testing procedure and it is paying off.In another couple of weeks, the spread of thepandemic will subside,” said Dr Krishnaswamy,leader of the medical team that has developedan Ayurvedic drug to fight corona which is yetto be considered by the ministry of Ayush forclinical trials.

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The day after the subduedcelebrations of Ramzan, 49

persons tested positive forcoronavirus in Kerala. A releaseissued by the Government ofKerala said that the number ofhotspots in the State rose to 59.The new hotspots includePinarayi, the native town ofChief Minister Pinarayi Vijayanin Kannur district.

As on Monday, there are359 persons undergoing treat-ment in various hospitals in theState. Kasaragod topped the listof districts with highest num-ber of patients. There were 14new cases reported from thenorthern most district ofKerala.

What is of interest is the

news that out of the 49 personstested positive on Monday, 43were those who reached theState after the relaxation of thelockdown laws. While 18 per-sons were expatriates whoreached the State following theVande Bharat Mission, 25 werethose who returned from otherStates in the country.

Another cause of concernfor the authorities is the pub-lic examination for SSLC andPlus Two class students in theState numbering 13 lakhs.

The hotspots host manyexamination centres and thishas put the health of thousandsof students at stake. More than99,000,00 persons are underobservation in Kerala.

Hundreds of migrantworkers in Pathanamthitta laidsiege to the district committeeof the CPI(M) on Mondaydemanding travelling facilitiesto return to their home States.“We do not have work andhence we are not getting paid.No food is being supplied bythe administration and we arein real trouble.

The Government shouldmake arrangements for sendingus back to our States,” saidmany workers while speakingto channel reporters. Later, thepolice drove them off as part ofenforcing the social distancenorms and wearing face masks.

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If the recent statements madeby senior DMK leaders are

any indication, party cadrecould not be blamed for think-ing that the principalOpposition party in TamilNadu is squandering awaywhatever goodwill late MKarunanidhi and party chief MK Stalin commands among theelectorate.

Last Friday saw R S Bharati,MP and organising secretary ofthe party being arrested underthe charges of ScheduledCaste/Scheduled Tribe(Prevention of Atrocities) Act1989 for a speech he deliveredin February during a partymeeting held at Chennai. Thecomplainant, leader of an out-fit for ScheduledCaste/Scheduled Tribe chargedthat Bharati, a popular leaderwho is engaged in a series oflegal battles against the allegedcorrupt practices of theAIADMK, humiliated the

Dalits in the State using filthylanguages. The EgmoreMagistrate court granted himbail till June 1.

Even before the ink on thebail order could dry up, anoth-er case is coming up against theyouthful Dayanidhi Maran MP,nephew of Stalin, for his out-burst against the ChiefSecretary of the State.

Maran who led a delegationof DMK MPs to the secretari-at last week to mee KShanmugham, the soft-spokenChief Secrtetary, alleged thatthat latter treated him andmembers of the delegation as ifthey were Dalits.

A case in this regard hasbeen filed by leaders of Dalitoutfits which is expected totrouble the DMK leadership inmonths to come.

“This has resulted in thealienation of Dalit communityfrom the principal Oppositionparty,” said Kolahala Srenivaas,popular author and politicalcommentator. “The DMK

which had consolidated theMuslim votes with its agitationagainst the CitizenshipAmendment Act is losing thesupport of the Dalits because ofthe outbursts by leaders likeBharati and Maran. The nextone year is highly critical for theDMK because the assemblyelection is scheduled to takeplace during April-May 2021,”said Srenivaas.

VP Doraisamy, formerdeputy speaker (2006 to 2011)and Deputy General Secretaryof the DMK, a prominent Dalitface of the party joined the BJPlast week causing a majorembarrassment to Stalin. But KA Johny, a DMK watcher andauthor is of the view that theAIADMK had failed miserablyon all counts and the DMK isin a strong wicket. “TheAIADMK leadership knowswell that they do not stand achance against the DMK andthat is the reason for the arrestof Bharati on silly charges,” saidJohny.

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With two more deaths dueto novel coronavirus,

Agra's death toll due to the dis-ease has risen to 33, even as thecity has recorded a steadydecline in the number of newcases in the past 10 days.

Six new cases till lateSunday evening took the totaltally to 857, of which 747patients have recovered. Thelatest casualties due to coron-avirus were reported onSunday.

The number of samplestaken for testing in the city hasgone up to 12,027.

Meanwhile, the districtadministration has againallowed the use of mobilephones in isolation wards andCovid-19 hospitals followingprotests over the move, butonly after recording details ina separate register.

District officials also saidthat the number of migrantworkers wishing to travel backto their native states had now reduced to a trickle,and just a few hundredremained at the Agra ISBT tobe transported out of the city.

In 10 days, more than15,000 workers from otherstates have been ferried back.

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Afather battered his five-year-old and 2-year-old

daughters to death merelybecause they were creating anoise. The residents of the vil-lage are so distressed at theincident that most of them didnot celebrate Eid on Monday.

The incident took place inBanethu village in Sant KabirNagar on Sunday night. Theaccused has been arrestedwhile the bodies have beensent for post mortem.

According to the policespokesperson, 35-year-oldZainul Abdeen had divorcedhis wife Shahida one and a halfyears ago but his daughtersMosiba, 5, and Alsiba, 2, werestaying with him.

“On Sunday night, thegirls were playing in the houseand making noise whichangered the father. Zainulpicked up a brick lying near-by and smashed the girls' heads tillthey died. The police reachedthe house on receiving infor-mation and Zainul has beenarrested,” the policespokesman said.

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“Water, water everywhere,and all the boards dis shrink;water, water everywhere, nor adrop to drink …” --- Coleridge

Nowhere is the ferocity ofnature more palpable than

these water-logged boondocksof North and South 24Parganas nestled in the belly ofSunderbans, crisscrossed by amaze of more than a hundredbig and small rivers that emptyin the turbulent Bay of Bengal.

Five days have elapsedsince super cyclone Amphantore down these southern tipsof Bengal formed out of amultitude of river-islands butthere is no sprout of hope forthe hapless millions who lost alltheir possessions to the rage ofthe twister. “We had a thatchedhouse and some 5 bighas ofland that would fetch us foodfor a good part of the year. Butnow we have nothing left. Thehouse has gone…” SandhyaRam says pointing at a thatchedstructure partially visible froma sea of water around.

“This is our land but it isfilled with brackish river waterwhich has now rendered theland uncultivable for the next4-5 years,” says Hiren Das aneighbor even as one looksaround to find a vast expanseof water hardly decipherablefrom the Raimangal river morethan a mile wide.

“In the night of storm theembankment was breached

and the river gushed in,” sayshe. River surfaces in a large partof this region are often higherthan the lands, which need tobe protected by bunds, localssay adding when cyclonescome some of these embank-ments get breached inundatinglarge parts of area.

“This was unprecedented”says Soma Das from NorthRangaberia village. “Even dur-ing Aila and Bulbul we experi-enced large-scale damage butnot like this. Now we have tobring drinking water from 15km away…” she says.

She has the luxury of secu-rity in her partially pucca house--- that stands like an islanditself --- where about two dozenvillagers have crammed forshelter throwing all norms ofsocial distancing to the winds.

Santosh Mandal fromGosaba in the South 24Parganas, which stands at con-fluence of Matla andRaimangal rivers both morethan a mile broad has beenpassing his nights on a boat asall his house other belongingshave either been washed awayor are in waist-deep water.

A fisherman by professionhe says, “This boat is my life-line … my house and will con-tinue to be so for coming 5-6months most. My wife and Ihave been living here since May21, a day after the storm robbedus of all we had.”

He can still move up on theembankment that separatesthe mighty Matla and his vil-

lage but “you never know in thenight you may become a preyfor the tiger or the crocodile,”he says adding there were 500houses in the area and “noth-ing remains.”

Incidentally the infamous“village of widows” is situatedin the Gosaba block. In that vil-lage there is not a single housefrom where one person has notbeen taken away by the dread-ed Royal Bengal Tiger.

At a village near Basanti,another block in the South 24Parganas Biswas Naskar says“for the past five days we havebeen surviving on water anddead fish floating here andthere. Many of them too are,“living in boats with a fear thatduring the low tide in nightwhen we are asleep” they can besucked into the mouth of thesea.” Still “we have nothing todo because we are poor people.

“We had repeatedlyrequested the irrigation depart-ment people to reinforce theembankments ahead of thestorm but they said that it wasall right. And when the banks

burst inevitable happened…This is the same story hap-pening for years and no one lis-tens to us…” says an elderlyperson refusing to reveal hisname.

“We are not allowed to votewhich is conducted by thepanchayat members’ men. Sothey don’t need to cater to ourneeds… Why does not thegovernment bundle us on aship and throw us in the sea!”

On whether they havereceived enough relief, comesa mixed reply. “Relief has beensent to some areas where youcan reach by vehicles. But whatabout the areas where youhave no communication saveboats? Even the rescue partieshave a fear for their lives,” saysPartiosh Haldar.

“Most of the people weretaken to the rescue shelters aday ahead of the storm. Buthow long can we live therewithout doing nothing? Whatwill happen to our lands whichwill lose fertility for 4-5 years.Why don’t the Governmenterect high, strong, pucca,

embankments like they havedone across the river,” pointsHaroon a local pointing at aspeeding motorbike across theriver in Bangladesh. Cut toRaidghi another village whereyou suddenly stumble upon aformer minister Kanti Ganguliof the Left era. “This districtcan give you a gold mine ofagriculture provided they comeout with a plan to construct

embankments --- a few hun-dred mile long covering thenumerous river islands.

After the 72-year-olf rush-es out on a motorbike toinspect interior villages a localreminisces how “this man dur-ing when he was a Ministerworked with us hand-in-handto repair a breached bund cut-ting and carrying on his headloads of earth.”

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Even five days after Amphanhit Kolkata literally raising

parts of the city to groundpower supply remained cut inmany parts from Behala thesouth-eastern parts of the cityto Santoshpur area leadingpeople from housing com-plexes to descend on the streetsdemanding immediate restora-tion of power supply.

“We don’t have power andwater for the past five days. Wehave patients in many houses.We have to preserve insulinand other medicines in ourrefrigerators and here theCalcutta Electric SupplyCorporation and the admin-istration has failed to restorepower supply,” said women atPrince Anwar Shah Road inSouth Kolkata even as theblockaded the boulevard.

Thousands of trees wereuprooted in large parts of themetro city taking along withthem power lines and cableconnection.

Even as the Governmentlooked helpless --- with ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onSunday telling the oppositionto “cut my head if by doing thatyou can bring things back tonormal” --- situation remainedunchanged leading even asenior State Minister to attackthe Kolkata Corporation won-dering why adequate measures were not taken toensure quick restoration ofservices.

“Reports of Amphan wasgiven days in advance butwhy the people in charge ofthings failed to arrange ade-quate amount of manpowerand instruments to handle thesituation?” he asked.

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As many as 47 f lightsbelonging to seven air-

lines flew in and out of theMumbai airport catering to4,852 passengers, as the CivilAviation Ministry resumedflight operations on Monday,nearly two months after theGovernment resorted to lock-down in phases to combatCoronavirus across the coun-try.

As against the permissiongiven for the operation of 25flights to and from the Mumbaiairport, the Chhatrapati ShivajiMaharaj International Airport(CSMIA)—managed by GVK-Mumbai International AirportPvt Ltd (MIAL) – operated 47flights involving seven airlineswhich collectively catered to 14sectors

“Together, the seven air-lines catered to a total of 4,852passengers which include 3,752passengers at departures and1,100 at arrivals today. Thehighest passenger load capac-ity was seen on the Delhi routedeparting out of the Mumbaiairport,” a CSMIA spokesper-son said. “All the arriving pas-sengers are being stamped ontheir left hand for identificationand will have to compulsoryundergo home isolation forthe period of 7 days as per theprotocol by the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation(BMC),” the CSMIAspokesperson said.

According to thespokesperson, passengers whoare coming in for a short dura-tion and have planned for areturn or onward journey, willhave to share the details of thesame and will be exempted

from the isolation.“The airport has created

temporary isolation centres incase if any passenger showssymptoms of the deadly virusduring the screening process.Sanitization and fumigationare being constantly conduct-ed at the airport to curb thespread of the virus. We are lay-ing special emphasis on theneed for passengers to wearmasks and allowing passengersto carry 350ml hand sanitiser,”the spokesperson said.

Additionally, CSMIA hasstationed hand sanitizers at allthe touch-points at the airport“We are encouraging passen-gers to web check-in from thesafety of their homes. Wewould also want passengers tocheck the status of their flightsprior to arriving at the airport,”the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the CSMIAhas advised all the passengersare advised to download theAarogya Setu app on theirmobile devices and to submita self-declaration form upontheir arrival at the airport.“Passengers will be allowed todeboard or board in a staggeredmanner so that they don’tcrowd the screening area,” thespokesperson added.

In a formal announcementmade late on Sudnay eveningthe CSMIA, Mumbai, hadsaid “Starting May 25, 2020,CSMIA will resume 25 com-mercial passenger flight move-ments on departure and 25 onarrival. The initiative comesafter the directive issued by theMinistry of Civil Aviation aswell as the State Minister giv-ing a nod to recommencedomestic flight operations toand from Mumbai.”.

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After two close family members ofone of the advisors to Lt-Governor

GC Murmu tested positive late Sundaynight, several senior officers, workingclosely with him in his office secretari-at, have decided to stay away from thecorridors of power in Jammu &Kashmir as they isolated themselves aspart of the protocol to prevent spreadof the coronavirus.

According to official sources, “wifeand son of one of the advisors, testedpositive on Sunday night and wereadmitted in the SMVD NarayanaHospital at Kakryal in Katra. “. They hadreturned from New Delhi and werescreened on their arrival in Jammu.

Following their admissions, contacttracing was launched at the highest leveland several senior Government officersand their office staff was sent foradministrative quarantine after col-lecting their samples.

The reports claimed, some of thestaff members were also screened in theoffice of Lt- Governor GC Murmu whilehe himself opted for self quarantine inRaj Bhawan premises.

Meanwhile, a total number of 52cases of coronavirus were detected inJammu & Kashmir on Monday.

According to official sources, 38 caseswere reported from Jammu and 14 fromKashmir division.

Jammu district, reported highestnumber of 21 cases.

On the other hand, a total numberof 170 stranded passengers arrived atJammu airport and 562 landed direct-ly in Srinagar on day one of theresumption of domestic airline services.

All the passengers were subjected to100 percent covid-19 testing on theirarrival at the airport and sent foradministrative quarantine in SRTCbuses to different locations.

Meanwhile, following fresh surge inpositive cases, three wards of TrikutaNagar, two villages each in Miransahib,Kanachak and one ward of GorkhaNagar in Jammu were declared as con-tainment/Red zones by the DistrictMagistrate late Monday afternoon.

On the other hand while address-ing a press conference in Jammu,Spokesperson of the Jammu and

Kashmir government Rohit Kansalclaimed, with the testing rate of over10,000 per million Jammu and Kashmirhas now become number one in coun-try in testing.

He said, the testing capacity in theUT has gone up from just about 100tests/day in March to 8000 tests/day onMonday. “In the last one month aloneit has gone up from 1800 tests/day to8100/day – an increase of 350%”, headded.

Sharing details of Covid-19 cases inJ&K, he said so far 1668 cases have test-ed positive, out of which 1374 are fromKashmir division and 294 are fromJammu division. The number of activecases are 836 of which 620 are inKashmir Division and 216 are in Jammudivision. As many as 809 recoverieswhich include young children and 23unfortunate deaths have also beenreported.

Referring to prevailing situation,Kansal pointed out there are enoughworrying factors in the situation. 15deaths have been reported in lastmonth alone. There is at least one dis-trict which has more than 200 activecases and at least one district with morethan 150 active cases. There are at least2 districts where the number of activecases per million are higher than 150.

At least half of the districts have a dou-bling rate less than 14 days. At least 2districts have seen a considerableincrease in cases even when there areno returnees. In fact, there are manyareas where the positivity rate of casesis much higher for local population thanfor returnees.” he said and added thata number of local, indigenous cases forwhich contact chains are not yet fullyclear have also been reported which isa cause of concern.

He said that over 90,000 strandedpersons have already returned to J&Kin the last 4 weeks alone, they include66024 persons by road, 25400 by 30Shramik special and Covid-19 specialRajdhani trains and 652 persons by air.“J&K is the one state/UT which hassmoothly completed more than 85% ofits evacuation process.

The Government has consciouslyadopted a policy of testing 100% of allreturnees. All the returnees are beingtested, and as a result of the strategy theadministration has been successful intracing 481 positive cases so far.”

By testing people at the entry pointwe are ensuring that positive cases aretraced and isolated at the entry pointitself, thereby avoiding any infectionsgetting into the community”, he added.

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Mumbai crossed the twinmilestones of 1,000

deaths and 30,000 infections onMonday, as the country’s com-mercial capital—with fresh 38fatalities and 1,430 infections -- accounted for a total of 1,026Covid-19 triggered deaths outa total 1,695 deaths and 31,972positive cases out of a total52,667 cases recorded so far inMaharashtra.

On a day when coron-avirus claimed 60 more livesand left 2,436 more personsinfected in various parts of theState, Mumbai walked away

with a lion’s share of 38 deathsand 1430 positives cases.

Of the total 52,667 infect-ed cases in the State, theaquthorities pegged the activecases in the state as 35,178.

Of the total 60 deathsreported across the state onMonday, Mumbai recorded 38deaths, while there were elevendeaths in Pune, three in NaviMumbai, two each in Thanecity, Aurangabad city and oneeach in Solapur, 1 in Kalyan-Dombivali, 1 in Ratnagiri.Additionally, one death of aBihar resident occurred inMumbai.

Of the total deaths report-

ed today, 54 deaths occurred inthe last two days and 6 are fromthe last week.

Of those dead, 42 weremen while 18 were women.Twenty seven of them wereaged over 60 years, 29 werefrom the age group 40 to 59years and 3 were aged below 40years. “Forty seven out of 60patients (78%) had high-riskco-morbidities such as dia-betes, hypertension, heart dis-ease,” a state health bulletinsaid.

There have been as manyas 696 Covid 19 triggereddeaths in Maharashtra duringthe last eleven days. The death

tally has been as follows: May15- 49, May 16 -67, May 17 -63, May 18-51, May 19 -76,May 20 -65, May 21 – 64, May22-63, May 23-60, May 24-58and May 25-60.

As Mumbai continued tobe worst-affected Covid-19 cityin the country, its hotspotDharavi slum accounted for 42new cases on Monday, takingthe total number of infectees to1,583 and 59 deaths till date.

Meanwhile, chief ministerUddhav Thackeray announcedthat by May 31, 2,475 Covid-19beds, many with ICU-Oxygen,will be operational at theupcoming jumbo hospitals in

Bandra Kurla Complex, NSCIWorli, and NESCO Goregaon,and in each Ward in Mumbai 100-bed hospitalswith 20 ICU beds have beentaken over.

In an interesting data putout by the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation(BMC),

40 per cent cases werefound in women and 60% inmen 37 per cent deaths wereobserved in Women and 63 percent in Men.

In Mumbai where 38deaths were reported onMonday, the major co-mor-bidity found was Diabetes

(26%), Hypertension (24%)and inØ 32% both Diabetesand Hypertension, Heart dis-eases 8% and other co-mor-bidities found were (10%).“Above 60 years has emerged asa risk factor as fatalityØ & co-morbidity are high. Even indeaths below 50 years 20 %comorbidity was found,” aBMC medical bulletin said.

Meanwhile, the BMCadvised the citizens are request-ed to continue the medicationsfor co-morbid conditions ifany and consult the doctorsregularly. Also follow social dis-tancing, use of masks and handhygiene regularly.

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Page 6: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today …...2020/05/26  · Kathmandu: Criticising Indian Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane’s remarks on Kathmandu acting on “behest

As the highly contagious COVID-19 torments the nation, some“eminent” economists advisedthe Centre to nationalise all pri-vate assets of above-poverty-

line citizens (cash, real estate, property andbonds among others) to fund their ideas. Onedoesn’t know if this negates that other greatpanacea for all economic ills — privatisationof public sector assets — but that’s anotherstory.

On May 22, former PlanningCommission member Abhijit Sen, formerChief Economic Advisor Deepak Nayyar, RNagaraj of the Indira Gandhi Institute ofDevelopment Research, economists PranabBardhan, Jean Drèze and others urged theCentre to provide free care for all COVID-19 patients, something done in Governmenthospitals. Yet this mundane advice was wel-comed by the usual bevy of “public intellec-tuals.” As the only novelty was the seizure ofprivate assets, one wonders if this was a “sig-nal” to foreign companies not to invest inIndia or part of a more chilling agenda ofdemolishing the middle class, even as the wiz-ards batten off Western patronage. After abrief excitement, the revolutionary idea wastamely withdrawn (May 24).

In Russia, analysts believe the pandem-ic is being exploited by global financial cen-tres to change the world economy (and poli-ty) and wipe out industry in several coun-tries, including China, Russia, India and evenEurope. The aim is to concentrate power ina new oligarchy and sharply reduce worldpopulation. Speaking with Business Gazeta,Vitaly Averyanov, conservative philosopherand co-founder of Izborsk Club, said RussianPresident Vladimir Putin announced polit-ical changes on January 15 after receivinginformation of a conspiracy by heads of sev-eral oligarchic clans and members of theMedvedev Government.

A mysterious shooting at the FederalSecurity Service (FSB) headquarters inMoscow on December 19, 2019, confirms theview that a coup d’état was averted. However,the Central Bank is still under the control ofglobal banking agents, which needs correc-tion; mercifully, the Russian law wasdecolonised through a Constitutionalamendment that asserts the supremacy ofnational law over international law, makinga potential ‘“colour revolution” more difficult.

The Coronavirus pandemic brokeamidst this power struggle. The deepeningrecession in the global economy and intel-ligence data on new moves by the globalfinancial elite suggest a cardinal shift in inter-national politics is under way. Within Russia,many elitists are shedding their dual citizen-ship and foreign accounts (handing them torelatives/proxies because the accounts areneeded to service foreign real estate). Thetransnational elite is using COVID-19 to exe-cute a carefully conceived plan X.

By mid-March, many top Russian scien-tists concluded that the virus is a new ver-

sion of the common SARS, lackof a vaccine is not lethal and thedevelopment of collective immu-nity is inevitable, a view sharedby Western scientists and theWorld Health Organisation(who). Oddly, 50 to 85 per centof the victims are asympto-matic. This strange propertysuggests the artificial origin ofthe virus: Infection can spreadrapidly and affect a relatively nar-row target group. Between con-tagiousness and numerous latentcarriers, quarantine or “stay athome” will fail to flatten thecurve of severe cases that needintensive care. This was the onlyrationale for freezing economicactivity anywhere with lock-downs.

Oxford epidemiologist TomJefferson was the first to pointout this disconnect. StanfordUniversity conducted a study inCalifornia, which showed thatthe number of infected people isat least 50 times higher than offi-cial figures. Unsurprisingly,attempts to curb infectionsthrough quarantine failed butdestroyed the industrial econo-my. As this data was not knownin January and February, thequarantine imposed in Wuhanwas presented as a solution bythe WHO and accepted by mostnations; the weightage given toCOVID-19 patients caused deepsuffering to patients with otherchronic ailments.

Only Sweden, Japan,Belarus, and partly theNetherlands, bucked the trend.The deaths from COVID-19,

even in the US and Italy, are lessthan 0.04 per cent of the totalpopulation and less than 0.2 percent of the number of infected.The millions of deaths predict-ed by epidemiologist NeilFerguson were gibberish. Infairness, mathematical modelscan be quite accurate if they arehonest but too often they are tai-lored to certain specifications.

Parallel developments in theworld of finance, oil and goldmarkets suggest that the globalhype is a cover for redistributingpower. Each week of a frozeneconomy destroys thousands ofenterprises. The goal of thishybrid warfare is de-industrial-isation: Pushing people out of themanufacturing economy, popu-lation reduction and the finaldestruction of the middle class.

Predictably, China’s produc-tion and sales chains were thefirst to be hit. The small andmedium businesses are theunloved stepsons of neo-liberalauthorities; the current crisiscould bury them. Estimates say70 per cent of production will gobankrupt; the service sector hasvirtually collapsed. This crisiscould evolve into a new GreatDepression.

Even in the Anglo-Saxonworld, only 100 or 200 familiesof the transnational elite willbenefit from this war. But,laments Vitaly Averyanov,Russia’s corrupt elitists see theactors of this hybrid war as theirallies (for India, read masters).They want to burn the nationaleconomy in the furnace of the

crisis, cut all budgets and bank-rupt Russia. However, the glob-al marauders have the experienceof several centuries of crises anddepressions; they have preparedall the escape routes; madeadvance plans how and in whatto convert their profits andincrease their power. Russianelitists have no idea of what kindof hole they are digging forthemselves by playing secondfiddle to the global elite. InIndia, too, eminent economistsdon’t understand that their util-ity ends once the global eliteachieves its goals.

In America, the forcesunleashed by the hybrid warthreaten President DonaldTrump’s re-election. Hence,Trump opposes the global finan-cial oligarchy and has deniedfunds to the WHO that is virtu-ally functioning as a branch ofthe transnational elite “club.”He supports “collective immuni-ty” and is not waiting for a mir-acle vaccine to resolve the crisis.

The mainstream globalmedia is projecting Bill Gates asa warrior against the pandemic.The Gates Foundation promotesvaccination, family planningand the spread of GMO crops inbackward countries. As realisa-tion dawns in world capitalsabout the damage done to theeconomies of nations, throwingmillions into almost irretrievableunemployment, the guttedeconomies must be put back onthe rails as quickly as possible.

(The author is a senior jour-nalist. Views are personal)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Double degrees” (May 23).The University GrantsCommission’s decision to allowstudents to pursue dual degreesis aimed at improving the careerprospects of students, keeping inmind an increased demand in thejob market for multi-discipli-nary skills. However, pursuingdual degrees simultaneously willnot be easy for the students.

Only an extraordinarily bril-liant, intelligent, bright and hard-working student can embark onthis idea as it would requirehim/her to concentrate on morenumber of subjects. The draw-back of pursuing dual degrees isthat a student cannot be well-versed in all subjects. Singledegree persuasion with a limitednumber of subjects in itself isreplete with heavy syllabi.

Persuasion of a single coursecan help the students acquire athorough knowledge in a subjectthat he/she is interested in.Acquiring degrees one after theother helps them get an in-depthknowledge of the subject.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

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Sir — The fourth phase of thenationwide lockdown will soonend on May 31. Once again,opinions are divided among thosewho want a complete lifting andthose who want to extend thelockdown. But the fact is thatlockdown or no lockdown, India

has already reached a tippingpoint in the war against thevirus. With a gradual lifting of thelockdown for the sake of theeconomy, there is restlessnessamong the people. Many areventuring out of their homes onflimsy grounds. Social distancinghas become a joke and people arefeigning ignorance.

What is sure, however, is that

life will never be the same when-ever the lockdown is lifted com-pletely. In view of this, an overhaulin the way we live is essential. Theonly way forward is to get accus-tomed to a new lifestyle. Given thesize of India’s population andpeople’s propensity here to floutrules, the number of cases isbound to see a rise. We need to bementally prepared for this. The

world is far away from developinga cure or a vaccine for the virus.People cannot stay in lockdown fora longer period of time. Periodiccycles of lockdown must becomethe order of the day.

Venu GSKollam

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Sir — It is unfortunate that ourpolitical leaders have sought togive political colour to theCoronavirus pandemic instead ofmaking it a larger communityhealth concern. The pandemichas exposed the ugly face ofpoorly functional health facilitiesand a lack of basic requirementsof survival.

Those who have been worsthit are the poor and the daily-wage earners. The coercive mea-sures taken by Governments tocontrol the pandemic have goneoff the mark as a large section ofsociety suffers at multiple levelssuch as economic, psychologicalas well as social.

ManishaVia email

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Nothing in our experience in healthcarehad prepared us for what the Coronaviruspandemic had unleashed upon the coun-

try, particularly rural India. As the contagion-triggered lockdown suspended healthcare pro-grammes across the country, work at thousandsof Anganwadi centres, which served nutritious,cooked meals to lakhs of children, was disrupt-ed. Similarly, food distribution at the NutritionRehabilitation Centers (NRCs), which are facil-ities set up by the Government to treat victimsof severe malnutrition, also came to a grindinghalt.

Economic challenges brought on by COVID-19 and social distancing norms, which are hereto stay, are likely to complicate the issue ofaddressing severe malnutrition. But ironically,it makes the task of addressing severe malnutri-tion even more important than before.

Long-term social distancing norms meanthat in a post-COVID world, we have to rethinkand strengthen elements of community-basedmanagement of malnutrition through our front-line workers, who remain the lifeline of pro-gramme implementation. This reassessment alsobecomes relevant considering parents may bereluctant to bring their severely-malnourishedchildren to the NRCs for fear of infection. Whatmakes this task more difficult is the fact that evenbefore the Coronavirus struck the country, NRCwas not a place parents preferred to stay in withtheir children.

The intensity and manifestation of SevereAcute Malnutrition (SAM) in the form ofextreme thinness, morbidities and associatedhigh mortality could draw the Government’sattention earlier than stunting, which thoughlooming large, was not so visible. As a responseto the crisis, in 2011 the Central Governmentissued operational guidelines on facility-basedmanagement of SAM children within institution-al (hospital-based) settings with the use of ther-apeutic foods.

Subsequently, many Indian States establishedthese centres for in-patient care of severely mal-nourished children. These units function as perthe protocols prescribed by the World HealthOrganisation and the Indian Academy ofPaediatrics (IAP). Children with severe malnu-trition are referred to the NRC and on admis-sion, are required to stay at the in-patient facil-ities for a period of 14 days or more, until thechild recovers from infectious disease and gainsadequate weight as per the discharge criteria.

However in the practical experience of allGovernment healthcare workers dealing withSAM and NRCs, a majority of caregivers, espe-cially the mothers, find it unusually challengingto stay at the NRCs for over two weeks.

Hence the caregivers either show tacit resis-tance to treatment procedures or leave the cen-tre abruptly against medical advice. In either case,finally the child suffers and continues to remainacutely malnourished as the prescribed nutritiontreatment is rendered ineffective once the childis back in his/her home environment.

The reluctance to take the SAM child to theNRC and the decision of leaving the facility with-out completing the treatment can be attributedto a host of parenting challenges that womenface. Managing household chores, taking care oftheir other children and even the elderly become

impossible for a woman living in a NRCwith her SAM child. Due to theextreme poverty of the families thatthese children come from, there aretimes when even livestock, jobs or workin the family farm take precedence overthe child’s health for the women of thehouse.

This is an unfortunate but harshreality of our country that the prima-ry responsibility of all these tasks lieswith the mother of SAM children. Inaddition to this, the compensationoffered by the Government to stay atthe NRC is much lower than the per-ceived opportunity cost incurred by thefamily for treating SAM children.

This includes the travel cost to theNRC, the loss of working days aswomen contribute to family income,either by working under the variousschemes that come under the MahatmaGandhi Employment Guarantee Act(MNREGA), or by participating in agri-culture. Additionally, women also carefor the family, fetch water, wash clothes,cook and clean. Thus, all of theirhousehold responsibilities get disrupt-ed if they have to stay with the child atthe NRC.

What makes matters worse for par-ents and children are the living condi-tions at the NRC. Sometimes ill-treat-ment by the campus staff further dam-ages parental trust and perception of thequality of public health services.Women are often intimidated by theunfamiliar environment, as for many ofthem the visit to the centre is their first-ever experience of being so far awayfrom their home or village. They areusually anxious about their safety andface difficulty in communicating withNRC staff. All these factors add to their

distrust and discomfort.The pause COVID-19 has forced

upon us should be used to reflect andmake the NRCs more sensitive to theneeds of parents and children.Adequate staff with technical skills andan empathetic attitude towards the needof the child and the parent are a pre-requisite for SAM management at theNRC. This significantly enhances theperformance of in-patient facility-based healthcare centres. Attention tothese aspects also improves the com-munity’s confidence, trust and builds apositive perception of the healthcarefacilities. All of these improve compli-ance to the treatment.

Another component that helpsparents stay longer is the introductionof counsellors at the NRC, who canidentify psychological distress andoffer emotional support to the moth-ers, empowering them to care for theirown and their child’s nutrition and psy-chosocial needs. Enhancing the moth-er’s social network through engagementwith other mothers present at the cen-ter and facilitating interactions betweensub-groups in a way that mothersexperiencing similar psychosocial stres-sors and care-giving issues share andlearn from each other’s experiences,have been seen to be helpful in retain-ing SAM children at the centres. Suchsupportive sessions help mothers adjustwith routine procedures at the NRCand make their prolonged stay relative-ly comfortable.

Structured and thoughtfully-intro-duced innovations to improve infra-structure facilities like provision ofadditional side beds for fathers toaccompany the mother, arranging fortheir meals and providing basic facili-

ties for sanitation, entertainment andsafety at the centre can go a long wayin extending the stay at the NRC.

A vibrant and child-friendly envi-ronment has a magical effect on the list-less SAM child. Small changes such asa play area with outdoor activities, toys,games that are age and health-appro-priate help to overcome the stress andanxiety of hospitalisation and can helpreduce the risk of psychomotor andcognitive impairment in children. Theplay sessions also help in developingand firming the mother-child bond.

Despite the decline in the percent-age of children who are underweightfrom 42.5 per cent in the NationalFamily Health Survey-three (NFHS) to35.7 per cent in NFHS-four, the bur-den of childhood malnutrition in Indiacontinues to be significantly high.About 38.4 per cent children under theage of five are stunted. And the num-ber of children under five, who arewasted and severely wasted hasincreased to 21 per cent and 7.5 per centin NFHS-four from 19.8 and 6.4 percent respectively over the decade.These numbers are not likely toimprove post the COVID-19 crisis.

Reinventing our facility-basedmanagement model, so that our cen-tres are more sensitive, combined witha stronger community-based earlyidentification and follow-up approachfor managing SAM will prove effectivein ensuring completion of treatment,adherence to follow-up and sustainedweight gain for children who are suf-fering from severe malnutrition.

(The writer is a public health nutri-tionist who has worked with Statehealth, women and child developmentdepartments and specialises in SAM)

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India is facing a humanitarian andeconomic crisis of epic propor-tions. As a result of the extended

lockdown, millions of hungry andpenniless migrant labourers arestranded in cities, desperately wait-ing for a seat on a bus or a train totake them home. Fed up of the end-less wait, the “atma nirbhar (self-reliant)” among them decided to takematters into their own hands andbegan walking back to their home-

towns and villages, hundreds ofkilometres away.

These workers, who form thebackbone of the informal economyof the country, are generallyemployed in Micro, Small andMedium Enterprises (MSMEs),restaurants, retail shops, constructionsites and other enterprises which shuttheir doors during the lockdown orare at the brink of closure, due to it.What a lockdown of over nine weekswould do to the economy of thecountry and consequently, the livesof daily-wagers is not beyond thescope of the imagination of thosewho are in touch with reality.

The so-called �20 lakh crore eco-nomic package was an exercise infutility, which did not offer anythingto the struggling migrant workers.Instead, the Government announcedmeasures to make it easier forIndians to travel to space. Perhaps,

the Government got it wrong. Peoplewant to travel to their States, notspace. Most analysts, rating agenciesand banks have placed the size of thefiscal stimulus announced by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanbetween 0.7 to 1.3 per cent of theGross Domestic Product (GDP) andnot 10 per cent as claimed by theGovernment. According to theGovernment’s own admission, a�8.01 lakh crore liquidity infusion bythe Central bank forms a part of this�20 lakh crore stimulus.

The outcome of the ReserveBank of India’s (RBI’s) MonetaryPolicy Committee (MPC) meeting,which decided to cut the repo andreverse repo rate further by 40 basispoints (bps) to four per cent and 3.35per cent respectively, came as no sur-prise. The consecutive rate cuts by theRBI are aimed at injecting more liq-uidity into the market. However, the

industry and retail borrowers are notgoing to benefit from this rate reduc-tion as there is no demand for cred-it. And for banks, liquidity is not anissue right now but risk aversion is.This risk aversion among banks iscreating a hurdle in increasing cred-it flow and ensuring the transmissionof rate cuts to the industry and retailborrowers. But these rate cuts willaffect the middle and lower-incomeclasses the most, with an expected fallin interest rates on their savings(Fixed Deposits) by around 0.5 percent in the days to come.

However, banks alone cannot beblamed for turning cautious onlending. The economy is passingthrough uncertain times and banksare trying to prevent non-perform-ing assets (NPAs). The primaryissue is the absence of demand forliquidity and to generate thisdemand, capacity utilisation, which

was 68.6 per cent (October-December 2019), has to be increased.Here comes the immediate need foradditional Direct Cash Transfer of�7,500 to each Jan Dhan, PM-Kisanand pensioner’s account. This trans-fer will generate demand in the ruraland semi-urban sector, which in turnwould force India Inc. to use theremaining 31.4 per cent capacity orgo for capacity enhancement whichmay require liquidity support frombanks. Just increasing liquidity in itscurrent form by the RBI is notgoing to translate into higher creditofftake.

Another major announcementby the RBI was the extension of themoratorium on loan repayment byanother three months. The RBI alsoannounced the conversion of mora-torium interest payment into a termloan, payable in the course of theFinancial Year (FY) 2021. These

measures could bring relief to bor-rowers but not for banks, as they willsee more pressure on their balancesheets. The Government shouldensure that in the endeavour tobecome atma nirbhar it does not endup making our banks and Non-Banking Financial Companies(NBFCs) “parmatma nirbhar(dependent on God).” In the last fewyears, we have already seen someexamples of this in the likes of PMCBank, Yes Bank and so on.

Another challenge for the coun-try is the consistent increase in thefood inflation rate. The unplannedlockdown resulted in major supplychain disruptions, which in turnincreased the food inflation rate to8.6 per cent in April. If proper plan-ning regarding supply chains is notdone before reopening the economy,food inflation will skyrocket. If foodinflation does not decrease, we will

have an economy with a high infla-tion rate and negative GDP growth.

Although the RBI has not pro-vided any concrete number for theprojected GDP for FY21, it predict-ed a negative growth rate. Already afew national and international ratingagencies have forecast a negativeGDP growth rate (minus five percent), which can also have huge fis-cal implications for India.

The only way to come out of thisdifficulty is to have large-scale directcash transfer at least for the next sixmonths to boost demand. This inturn, will generate jobs and increaseconsumption levels. Thereafter, ourdemographic advantage will acceler-ate the economic wheel of the coun-try.

(The writer is Professor of Financeand National Spokesperson, CongressParty. The views expressed are per-sonal)

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Americans prepared to mark aMemorial Day like no other as the

coronavirus pandemic upended tradi-tional commemorations, while Greecesought to revive its crucial tourism sectorby restoring ferry services to its popularAegean islands.

US authorities warned beach-goers toheed social distancing rules to avoid aresurgence of the virus that has infected5.4 million people worldwide and killedover 3,47,000, including nearly 1,00,000Americans, according to a tally by JohnsHopkins University.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abelifted a coronavirus state of emergency inTokyo and four other remaining areas onMonday, but said that does not mean theend of the outbreak. He also unveiled a newstimulus package worth about 100 trillionyen ($930 billion) to provide financial sup-port for pandemic-hit companies. That’s ontop of an initial, 117 trillion yen package.

In New York City, honoring fallen mil-itary members will be done with car con-voys and small ceremonies this yearinstead of parades to conform with coro-navirus lockdown restrictions.

“It’s something we’re upset about, butwe understand,” said Raymond Aalbue,chairman of the United Military Veteransof Kings County, which usually puts on aparade in Brooklyn.

There’s “no reason to put anybody inharm’s way,” he said, adding “it’s really cut-ting quick to the heart of all the veterans.”Veterans, along with nursing home resi-dents, have made up a significant portionof those who died in the US outbreak.

After two days of playing golf,President Donald Trump is scheduled tomake Memorial Day appearances atArlington National Cemetery, where hewill lay a wreath at the Tomb of theUnknown Soldier, and then heads off tospeak at a historic fort in Baltimore.

Baltimore Mayor Bernard C “Jack”Young has criticised Trump’s visit, sayingthe city can’t afford the costs and the tripsends the wrong message about stay-at-home directives.

The White House, meanwhile, slappeda travel ban on Latin America’s most pop-ulous nation, saying it would deny admis-sion to foreigners who have recently beenin Brazil. The ban, which takes effectThursday, does not apply to US citizens orlegal permanent residents. With over3,63,000 reported infections, Brazil is sec-ond only to the US despite limited testing.

Greece’s low Covid-19 infection rateallowed the Government to restart thesummer holiday season three weeks ear-lier than previously planned. In additionto resuming ferries with new passenger

limits, it allowed cafes and restaurants toreopen under new social distancing rules.All this, of course, was for Greek holi-daymakers as foreign tourists aren’t expect-ed until after June 15.

“We will implement exactly what thestate has told us, whatever the doctors havetold us, first and foremost for the safety ofour customers,” said Spiros Bairaktaris,owner of an Athens restaurant that wasreducing capacity from 100 customers to 30.

Greece, which shut down quickly, hasonly 171 of Europe’s nearly 1,70,000 coro-navirus deaths and depends on tourism for10 per cent of its economy.

Islands such as Santorini, Mykonos,Corfu and Samos are major draws fortourists but have been mostly off-limitssince late March when the country’s lock-down took effect.

Hard-hit Spain reached a milestone onMonday as half the population — includ-ing those in the two biggest cities, Madridand Barcelona — were finally allowed togather, albeit in limited numbers. Outdoorseating at bars and restaurants alsoreopened. Madrid coffee bar ownerRoberto Fernández said the mood was bit-tersweet. Relaxations went a step furtherin the rest of Spain, where people can nowvisit beaches and nursing homes and holdweddings. Spain has recorded 28,700virus deaths.

But as lockdown restrictions wererolled back across Europe, fresh out-breaks were reported in a Czech coal mineand a Dutch slaughterhouse.

The Darkov mine near the CzechRepublic’s border with Poland haltedoperations after 212 people — mostly min-ers and family members — tested positivefor coronavirus. Testing was carried out on2,400 people.

Meanwhile, an outbreak among 657employees of a meat processing plant in theDutch city of Groenlo has spilled over intoGermany. Dutch authorities said Mondaythat 19 of the 147 employees who had test-ed positive live in Germany.

After seeing several coronavirus clus-ters among abattoir employees inGermany, the government has pledged tocrack down on poor working conditions.

In Russia, infections topped 3,50,000— the third highest in the world — ashealth officials reported 9,000 new casesand 92 new deaths, bringing the overalldeath toll to 3,633. Russia denies allega-tions that its death rate is suspiciously low,insisting that’s due to its effective con-tainment measures.

As millions of Australian childrenreturned to school, Queensland PremierAnnastacia Palaszczuk said Monday thatstudents and teachers had to observe onekey message: Stay home if you are sick.

“We’re not out of the woods yet. Wehave to take each day as it comes, eachweek as it comes and we keep our fingerscrossed that Queenslanders will continueto flatten that curve,” Palaszczuk said.

Chinese state media reported Mondaythat more than 6.5 million coronavirustests were conducted in the city of Wuhan— the country’s virus epicente e— over a10-day period in a bid to test all its 11 mil-lion residents.

Officials in California said most peo-ple were covering their faces and keepingtheir distance as they ventured out. ManySouthern California beaches were openonly for swimming, running and otheractivities, not sunbathing. At New York’sOrchard Beach in the Bronx, kids playedwith toys and people sat in folding chairs,wrapped up in sweaters and masks.

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South Africa’s coronavirus outbreak is goingto get much worse, President Cyril

Ramaphosa has warned, while announcingthat the lockdown measures would be eased toallow conditional sale of alcohol and certain eco-nomic activities from June 1.

The President has been under pressure toease the lockdown measures to restart the econ-omy. In an address to the nation on Sunday,Ramaphosa said the first 10 weeks of the nation-al lockdown has left South Africa in a much bet-ter state than most other countries that were sim-ilarly poised.

But most of the country’s metropolitancities, including three in the economic hub ofGauteng province, have been identified as Covid-19 hotspots which will receive special attention.There are now 22,583 confirmed coronaviruscases in South Africa, and around half of thoseinfected have recovered. A total of 429 people have

died due to the Covid-19. “We have known allalong that the lockdown would only delay thespread of the virus, but that it would not be ableto stop it. Until there is a vaccine available to all,the coronavirus will continue to spread in ourpopulation. This means that we must get used toliving with the coronavirus for some time to come.

“As scientists had predicted, the infectionsin our country have now started to rise sharply.One-third of the cumulative confirmed caseswere recorded in the last week alone. And weshould expect that these numbers will rise evenfurther and even faster,” Ramaphosa said.

The President said moving to level 3 of thefive-tier lockdown will result in opening up ofthe economy, but cautioned that there are partsof the country where the disease is concentrat-ed and where infections continue to rise.

“We will have a differentiated approach todeal with those areas that have far higher lev-els of infection and transmission. These areaswill be declared coronavirus hotspots.”

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Due to a decline in infectionrate, the team at Oxford

University developing a Covid-19 vaccine believe that thechances of the trial yielding “noresult” is now 50 per cent, TheTelegraph reported.

The University of Oxfordlast week announced that theadvance human trial of the vac-cine will involve up to 10,260volunteers across the UK.

While explaining when theresults of the trial will be avail-able, the university said that toassess whether the vaccineworks to protect from Covid-19, the statisticians inthe team team will compare the

number of infections in thecontrol group with the number of infections in thevaccinated group.

For this purpose, it is nec-essary for a small number ofstudy participants to developCovid-19.

“How quickly we reach thenumbers required will dependon the levels of virus trans-mission in the community. Iftransmission remains high, wemay get enough data in a cou-ple of months to see if the vaccine works, but if trans-mission levels drop, this couldtake up to 6 months,” the uni-versity said.

This is the reason whyrecruitment of those who have

a higher chance of beingexposed to the SARS-CoV-2virus is being prioritised, suchas frontline healthcare workers,frontline support staff andpublic-facing key workers, inan effort to capture the efficacy data as quickly aspossible.

“It’s a race against the virusdisappearing, and against time,”Professor Adrian Hill, directorof the university’s JennerInstitute, told the Telegraph.

“We said earlier in the yearthat there was an 80 per centchance of developing an effec-tive vaccine by September. Butat the moment, there’s a 50 percent chance that we get noresult at all.”

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The furore surrounding topDowning Street aide

Dominic Cummings’ perceivedbreach of the coronavirus stay-at-home lockdown rules bytravelling 260 miles to his par-ents’ home refused to die downon Monday.

The Opposition brandedBritish Prime Minister BorisJohnson’s defence ofCummings as an “insult” to allthe sacrifices made by theBritish public during the pan-demic, with a growing numberof parliamentarians withinJohnson’s own ConservativeParty calling for his ChiefStrategy Adviser to be sacked.

“This was a test of thePrime Minister and he hasfailed it. It is an insult to sacri-fices made by the British peo-ple that Boris Johnson haschosen to take no actionagainst Dominic Cummings,”said Keir Starmer, the Leader ofthe Opposition Labour Party.

His Indian-origin shadowforeign secretary, Lisa Nandy,added: “The Prime Ministerconfirms it’s one rule for his

friends and another rule for therest of us. All that sacrifice,stress and pain. What an insult.”

Acting Liberal Democratsleader Ed Davey said sackingCummings was a must torestore credibility around thegovernment’s public healthmessaging.

“The instruction the PrimeMinister gave us all to stay athome has been breached by histop adviser and that’s whatyou can’t get away from in this story, it’s pretty simple,” he said.

Scotland First MinisterNicola Sturgeon accusedJohnson of “putting his politi-cal interest ahead of the pub-lic interest”. “When trust in apublic health message and pub-lic health advice is as importantas it is right now the conse-quences could be very serious,”she said.

At the daily DowningStreet briefing on Sundayevening, Johnson had thrownhis weight behind his chiefadviser and declared that hehad followed the “instincts ofevery father” when he made thejourney to Durham in north-

east England on March 31 toensure child care for his youngson as he began displayingsymptoms of coronavirus.

“He acted responsibly,legally and with integrity, andwith the overall aim of stoppingthe spread of the virus and sav-ing lives,” Johnson concluded,after what he said was an“extensive” face-to-face meet-ing with his top aide.

UK newspapers havereported at least two furtherallegations of lockdown breach-es by his aide, with Johnsonsaying that “some” of the claimswere “palpably false” but refus-ing to elaborate.

However, besides a flurryof media questions right after,there was also an embarrassingrogue social media message onthe official UK Civil ServiceTwitter account, accusing theUK PM of arrogance.

“Arrogant and offensive.Can you imagine having towork with these truth twisters,”read the Tweet on@UKCivilService – which wastaken down after roughly nineminutes but not before it wasshared thousands of times.

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China has reported 51 newcoronavirus cases includ-

ing 40 asymptomatic infec-tions, majority of them in thecontagion’s first epicentreWuhan, where over six milliontests have been conducted inthe last 10 days, health officialssaid on Monday.

The country’s NationalHealth Commission (NHC)said that 11 new importedcases were reported on Sunday.

While no new domestical-ly-transmitted COVID-19cases were reported in Chinaon Sunday, 11 imported casesincluding 10 in the InnerMongolia Autonomous Regionand one in Sichuan provincewere reported, the NHC said inits daily report.

Out of the 40 new asymp-tomatic cases, 38 were report-ed in Wuhan, which is cur-rently undergoing mass testingof its over 11.2 million peopleafter a spike in the asympto-matic cases.

Currently, 396 people withasymptomatic symptoms areunder medical observation inChina, including 326 inWuhan, according to the healthauthority.

Asymptomatic cases referto the patients who have test-ed Covid-19 positive but devel-op no symptoms such as fever,cough, or sore throat. However,they pose a risk of spreadingthe disease to others.

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The coronavirus hasn’t beenkind to car owners.With more people than

ever staying home to lessen thespread of COVID-19, theirsedans, pickup trucks andSUVs are parked unattendedon the streets, making themeasy targets for opportunisticthieves.

Despite silent streets andnearly non-existent traffic,vehicle larcenies shot up 63%in New York and nearly 17% inLos Angeles from Jan. 1through mid-May, comparedwith the same period last year.

And many other lawenforcement agencies aroundthe U.S. are reporting anincrease in stolen cars andvehicle burglaries, even as vio-lent crime has dropped dra-matically nationwide in thecoronavirus pandemic. It’s alow-risk crime with a poten-tially high reward, police say,especially when many driversleave their doors unlocked ortheir keys inside.

“You might as well put asticker on the window that says‘come take my stuff,’ “ said an

exasperated Alex Villanueva,the Los Angeles County sher-iff.

In Austin, Texas, lastmonth, a whopping 72% of the322 stolen vehicles had theirkeys nearby. The total numberof auto thefts in April spikedabout 50% and burglaries tovehicles were up 2% from April2019.

The virus has created a“perfect storm,” said AustinPolice Sgt. Chris Vetrano, asupervisor in the 11-detectiveauto theft unit that investigatesstolen vehicle cases.

The elements for that storm:Drivers are at home and notusing or checking their cars reg-ularly. School’s out, so teenagersare trying their luck. Criminalsare out of work and have moretime on their hands or need fastmoney to support a drug habit.“You can get on the internetnowadays and learn how tobreak into vehicles just search-ing YouTube,” Vetrano said.

Salt Lake City Police Det.Greg Wilking said a 22% spikein vehicle burglaries therecould be from a few criminalsworking quickly on “carprowls.”

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It’s not quite a case of coitusinterruptus, but efforts to

create a very special baby aredefinitely on hold. Blame thepandemic.

Groundbreaking work tokeep alive the nearly extinctnorthern white rhino sub-species — population, two —by in-vitro fertilization hasbeen stalled by travel restric-tions. And time is running out.

The two northern whiterhinos are female. The goal isto create viable embryos in alab by inseminating their eggswith frozen sperm from deadmales, then transfer them into

a surrogate mother, a morecommon southern white rhino.

As of January, threeembryos had been created and stored in liquid nitrogen.But further key steps now haveto wait.

“It has been disrupted byCovid-19, like everything else,”said Richard Vigne, managingdirector of Ol PejetaConservancy in Kenya, homeof the two remaining rhinos.“That is, the process of col-lecting more eggs from thefemales as well as the processof developing the technique tointroduce the northern whiterhino embryo into the south-ern white rhino females.”

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Page 9: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today …...2020/05/26  · Kathmandu: Criticising Indian Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane’s remarks on Kathmandu acting on “behest

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Around 40 per cent compa-nies operating in the trav-

el and tourism sector are star-ing at the risk of complete shut-down over the next 3 to 6months, says a report, even asthe domestic flights resumeoperations after over 2-monthsuspension due to lockdown.

Also, nearly 36 per cent ofsuch companies are likely towitness a temporary shutdown,according to the report byBOTT Travel SentimentTracker in partnership withseven national associations likeIATO, TAAI, ICPB, ADTOI,

OTOAI, ATOAI and SITE.The report said that 81 per centtravel and tourism companieshave lost their revenue up to100 per cent while 15 per centof the companies have wit-nessed it slide up to 75 per cent.

The BOTT TravelSentiment Tracker survey wasdone online with over 2,300travel and tourism businessowners and company repre-sentatives across the countryover a period of 10 days.

“The pandemic has hit thetravel and tourism sector hardwith as many as 40 per centcompanies facing the risk ofcomplete shutdown in the next

3 to 6 months while another35.7 per cent might go for atemporary shutdown,” it said.

The survey report furtherrevealed that 38.6 per centtravel companies are going forjob cuts and another 37.6 percent of the companies are con-sidering the option with uncer-tainty looming large.

“The travel and tourismsector is going through a verybad phase. It has taken a severebeating due to the COVID-19outbreak with lakhs of peopledependent on it sufferingimmense losses and job cuts,”the report said.

This survey has further

confirmed fear that travel com-panies are staring at partial andcomplete shutdown in additionto job cuts, adjustment ofworkforce in form of pay cuts,deferment of salaries and ter-mination of contracts, accord-ing to the survey.

“This is an unprecedent-ed situation and the govern-ment should extend some relieffor the survival of thousands ofcompanies,” Travel AgentsAssociation of India presidentJyoti Mayal said.

As per the survey, 73 percent travel companies havegone for adjustment of work-force including pay cuts, defer-

ment of salaries, termination ofcontracts, while 67 per centhave gone for steps like reduc-tion of overheads.

About 49 per cent aredeferring their capital expen-ditures and interestingly, 41.6per cent companies are intro-ducing new services.

Meanwhile, 78.6 per centof travel and tourism compa-nies said they expect the gov-ernment to create a tourismrelief fund immediately, fol-lowed by 68.2 per cent whowant refunds of cancellationsand advances of travel agents and tour operators fromairlines.

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The Central Board ofIndirect Taxes (CBIC) on

Monday said it has sanctionedGST refund claims worth �11,052 crore in 47 days.

In a tweet, the CBIC saidit is “committed to ensuring liq-uidity to GST taxpayers espe-cially MSME sectors during thelockdown”.

The tweet added that29,230 refund claims amount-ing to �11,052 crore disposedof between April 8-May 24, theCBIC added.

Refunds have been sanc-tioned while ensuring workfrom home, it added.The Finance Ministry had onApril 8 said that to providerelief during COVID-19 it hasbeen decided to issue all pend-ing GST and custom refundswhich would benefit around 1lakh business entities, includ-ing MSME.

The total refund grantedwill be approximately �18,000crore, it had said.

The CBIC had earlierasked its field officers to avoidasking for physical submissionof documents from entitieswho are claiming GST andCustoms refunds and insteaduse official email for all com-munication.

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Union Minister NitinGadkari on Monday said

the Government agencies,public sector undertakingsand major industries owe anestimated �5 lakh crore inoutstanding payments toMSMEs.

The MSME minister saidthe Centre has decided that itsministries and public sectorundertakings will clear out-standing payments of MSMEswithin 45 days.

“State Governments, theirministries and public sectorundertakings, Government ofIndia, its ministries and under-takings, and major industriescombined owe an estimated �5lakh crore to MSMEs, moneythat is stuck and not cleared,”Gadkari said.

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Government proposes tofurther streamline and

simplify the processes to dealwith corporate and tax relatedfrauds by identifying and insti-tuting lead investigating agencyfor each case and only allowingthat body to undertake the pre-liminary work.

This is expected to improvethe overall quality of investi-gation while prevent interdepartmental issues fromresulting in delays.

At present, corporatefrauds including tax related andeconomic crimes see involve-ment of multiple investigativeagencies such as Income TaxInvestigation, Directorate ofAnti Evasion, EnforcementDirectorate (ED), SFIO, CBI,GST Investigation, Customs,DRI etc. This often results induplication of effort and con-fusion with case being tossedbetween one investigative arm to the other without cred-ible progress.

Sources said that

Government has discussedimplementing the concept oflead investigation at a high levelinter ministerial meeting andwill prepare a draft for imple-menting it once views soughtfrom other stakeholders come.

Several countries globallyhas the concept of lead inves-tigative agency that establishedpreliminary direction of inves-tigations and brings in otheragencies purely as a need basedapproach.

“Lead investigation agencyconcept is good. It needs studyabout the criteria for decidingthe lead investigation agency toavoid inter departmentalissues,” said a former top offi-cial of Central Board of IndirectTaxes and Customs (CBIC)who did not wish to be named.

Government has beenlooking at different ways toremove the clutter from tax andcorporate laws as part of itsefforts towards ‘Ease of DoingBusiness.’ As part of this,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman recentlyannounced the decriminaliza-

tion of minor technical andprocedural defaults under theCompanies Act. She alsodropped a few compoundableoffences and put others to bedealt under alternative frame-work.

It is expected that theFinance Ministry in coopera-tion with other related min-istries will prepare detailedguidelines for institution oflead investigative agency for aparticular class of crime. Oncethis is put in place, every casewill be handled by only oneagency and others would beinvolved purely on need basedfor specialised support.

Also, as part of operationalstreamlining of investigativeprocess, database may also beprepared by one investigationagency and shared with otheragencies to avoid duplicacy.Like data sharing with GST,Banking and income taxdepartment, will minimiseduplicacies in investigations.

Moreover, all departmentwould require to have manualsfor investigation.

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Joe Biden worked out dealswith Senate Republican

leader Mitch McConnell. He defended Vice

President Mike Pence as a“decent guy” and eulogizedArizona Republican Sen. JohnMcCain’s “fairness, honesty,

dignity, respect.”When he launched his

presidential campaign, suchovertures to Republicans werecentral to Biden’s promise to“unify the country” and“restore the soul of the nation”after defeating PresidentDonald Trump.

Now that he’s the pre-

sumptive Democratic nominee,Biden is sharpeninghis tone, still pitching con-

sensus but touting a “boldagenda” aimed at mollifyingprogressives who remain skeptical he’ll deliverenough on health care, studentloan debts and the climate cri-sis.

The idea is to avoid repeat-ing the party’s 2016 defeat,when Hillary Clinton struggledto unite her moderate sup-porters and backers of BernieSanders.

The dynamics are differ-ent in 2020, with Democratsunited in their antipathytoward Trump.

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China’s proposed new secu-rity law to firm up its con-

trol over Hong Kong could runinto problems in courts, thecity’s Bar Association haswarned, stressing that Beijinghas no legal authority to enactits national security law for theformer British colony. In astrongly worded statement, theHong Kong Bar Associationalso expressed concern oversuggestions that mainlandsecurity agencies would be setup to safeguard national secu-rity within the city, saying it was“entirely unclear” how thatarrangement would complywith Article 22 of the BasicLaw, which stipulates thatBeijing departments not tointerfere in local affairs.

A draft bill on establishingand improving the legal systemand enforcement mechanismsfor the Hong Kong Special

Administrative Region(HKSAR) to safeguard nation-al security was tabled in China’sNational People’s Congress(NPC) on Friday. It is expect-ed to be passed on May 28.

The bill is regarded as apolitical bombshell for the for-mer British colony as China hasdecided to bypass localLegislative Council to bringabout a new national securitylaw tailor-made to take controlof Hong Kong which has beenwitnessing mass protests bypro-democracy groups sincelast year demanding autonomyand freedom from Beijing.

Thousands of people tookpart in mass protests in HongKong on Sunday. Police firedtear gas and water cannons atthe protesters.

The Hong Kong police isgearing up for another massprotests on Wednesday outsidethe local legislature.

“It is entirely unclear how

the proposed agencies set up inthe Hong Kong SpecialAdministrative Region(HKSAR) will operate underthe laws of the HKSAR,whether they will be bound bythe laws of the HKSAR,whether they have the power ofenforcement, and whether suchpowers as exercised will be lim-ited by the laws currently inforce in the HKSAR,” Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quotedthe Bar Association statementas saying.

The Bar Association alsopointed out that there was noassurance that the proposedlegislation – given its status asa national law – would complywith provisions of theInternational Covenant onCivil and Political Rights towhich Hong Kong is a signa-tory, or that there would be apublic consultation before pro-mulgation.

���� 012�31� +

Housing finance firmHDFC Ltd on Monday

reported a 10 per cent declinein consolidated net profit to�4,341.58 crore for the fourthquarter ended March 31. Thecompany’s net profit (beforeadjustment of minority inter-est) was �4,811.26 crore inJanuary-March quarter of2018-19.

The board has proposed adividend of �21 per share of theface value of � 2 per unit,HDFC Ltd said in a regulato-ry filing. On standalone basis,the profit of HDFC during thequarter slipped by 22 per centat �2,232.55 crore as against �2,861.58 crore in the samequarter previous fiscal.

“After providing for taxof� 460 crore, the reportedprofit after tax for the quarterended March 31, 2020 stood at� 2,233 crore and for the wholeyear it was �17,770 crore.

“In the fourth quarter, thefactors that impacted the resultinclude — extra provisioningdue to COVID-19 require-ment, dividend income was �2 crore compared to �537 crore last year and prof-

it on sale of investments was �2crore as against �321 crore,”HDFC Ltd vice chairman andCEO Keki Mistry said via videoconference.

During the quarter, thenet interest income improvedto �3,780 crore compared to�3,161 crore in the corre-sponding quarter previousyear.

For the full fiscal, the netprofit on standalone basis near-ly doubled to �17,769.65 croreas against �9,632.46 crore.

However, HDFC Ltd in astatement said the profit num-bers for the year are not direct-ly comparable with that of theprevious year due to variousreasons, including additionalprovisioning for the impact ofCOVID-19 of �5,913 crore asagainst �935 crore in the pre-vious fiscal.

“The gross non-perform-ing loans as at March 31, 2020stood at � 8,908 crore. This isequivalent to 1.99 per cent ofthe loan portfolio.

The non-performing loansof the individual portfoliostood at 0.95 per cent while that of the non-individ-ual portfolio stood at 4.71 percent,” it said.

���� @�*�� +

The pilot of the PakistanInternational Airlines

(PIA)’s crashed plane ignoredthree warnings from the airtraffic controllers about theaircraft’s altitude and speedbefore the landing, saying hewas satisfied and would handlethe situation, according to areport on Monday.

The national flag carri-er’s PK-8303 tragedy on Friday,in which 97 people were killedand two miraculously survived,is one of the most catastroph-ic aviation disasters in thecountry’s history.

The Airbus A-320 fromLahore to Karachi was 15 nau-tical miles from the JinnahInternational Airport, flyingat an altitude of 10,000 feetabove the ground instead of7,000 when the Air TrafficControl (ATC) issued its firstwarning to lower the plane’saltitude, Geo News quoted anATC report as saying.

Instead of lowering thealtitude, the pilot responded bysaying that he was satisfied.When only 10 nautical mileswere left till the airport, the

plane was at an altitude of 7,000feet instead of 3,000 feet, it said.The ATC issued a secondwarning to the pilot to lowerthe plane’s altitude. However,the pilot responded again bystating that he was satisfied andwould handle the situation,saying he was ready for land-ing, the report said.

The report said that theplane had enough fuel to fly fortwo hours and 34 minutes,while its total flying time wasrecorded at one hour and 33minutes. Pakistani investigatorsare trying to find out if thecrash is attributable to a piloterror or a technical glitch.

According to a report pre-pared by country’s CivilAviation Authority, plane’sengines had scraped the runwaythrice on the pilot’s first attemptto land, causing friction andsparks recorded by experts.When the aircraft scraped theground on the first failedattempt at landing, the engine’soil tank and fuel pump mayhave been damaged and start-ed to leak, preventing the pilotfrom achieving the requiredthrust and speed to raise the air-craft to safety, the report said.

���� 2�" +0��A0

President Donald Trumpdemanded on Monday that

North Carolina’s DemocraticGovernor sign off “immediate-ly” on allowing the RepublicanNational Convention to moveforward in August with fullattendance despite the ongoingCOVID-19 pandemic.

Trump’s tweets Mondayabout the RNC, planned forCharlotte, come just two daysafter the North Carolinarecorded its largest dailyincrease in positive cases yet.

On Friday, Governor RoyCooper moved the state into asecond phase of gradual reopen-ing with some further looseningof restrictions on hair salons, bar-bers and restaurants. But hesaid the state must continue toclosely watch virus trends andhas ordered entertainmentvenues, gyms and bars to remainclosed. “Unfortunately,Democrat Governor, @Roy-CooperNC is still in Shutdownmood & unable to guarantee thatby August we will be allowed...Full attendance in the Arena,”Trump tweeted Monday.

He added that Republicans“must be immediately given ananswer by the Governor as towhether or not the space will beallowed to be fully occupied. Ifnot, we will be reluctantlyforced...To find, with all of thejobs and economic develop-ment it brings, another

Republican NationalConvention site.” Cooper’soffice did not immediatelyrespond to an email seekingcomment on the tweets.

A week ago, RepublicanNational Committee chair-woman Ronna McDanielasserted on a call with reportersthat the convention slated forAugust 24-27 would be held atleast partly in person andvowed not to hold “a virtualconvention.” She said at thetime that the RNC has enlist-ed a medical adviser and thatthe party was consulting withthe Charlotte mayor and thegovernor.Several days later,during a visit to the Charlottearea, a top Trump administra-tion health official sounded lesscertain. Asked about whatpreparations Charlotte willneed to make to safely host theRNC, federal Health andHuman Services Secretary AlexAzar said increasing testingcapacity will be important.

However, he did not refer toa traditional in-person con-vention as a certainty, but rathernoted that “we’re severalmonths away from the possi-bility of the RNC.” BeforeMonday, Cooper and Trumphad yet to publicly spar duringthe pandemic. While Cooperhas urged the federal govern-ment to help North Carolina getmore testing supplies and pro-tective gear, he’s avoided criti-cising Trump by name.

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China’s first unmanned heli-copter drone designed to

fly in plateau areas and capableof firing and conductingreconnaissance from a highaltitude has made its maidenflight and could be deployedalong the country’s borderswith India, according to reportsin the official media here.

The AR500C unmannedhelicopter, which has the abil-ity to relay communicationfrom a high altitude, could helpsafeguard China’s southwesternborders with India in Tibet, thestate-run Global Times report-ed. The drone, developed bythe state-owned AviationIndustry Corporation of China(AVIC), successfully made itsmaiden flight on Wednesday atan AVIC base in Poyang in EastChina’s Jiangxi Province.

During the flight, it con-ducted several manoeuvresincluding hovering.

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The Shopping CentresAssociation of India (SCAI)

on Monday said the organisedretail sector has lost over �90,000 crore in the last twomonths, owing to the lock-down, and market players needmuch more than the repo ratecut and the loan moratoriumextended by the RBI.

In a statement, the indus-try body said that the ReserveBank of India’s (RBI) reliefmeasures are not adequate tosupport the liquidity needs ofthe industry.

According to the SCAI,there is a common miscon-ception that the shopping cen-tres’ industry is centred aroundmetros and large cities withinvestments only from largedevelopers, private equity play-

ers and foreign investors.“However, the fact is that

most malls are part of theSMEs or standalone develop-ers. i.e. more than 550 are sin-gle owned by standalone devel-opers out of the 650-oddorganised shopping centresacross the country and thereare 1,000+ small centres insmaller cities,” it said.

Amitabh Taneja, Chairmanof SCAI, said: “The organisedretail industry is in distress andhas not earned anything sincethe lockdown and their survivalis at stake. While the extensionof the loan moratorium talksabout some relief on repaymentbut won’t help the industry inliquidity.”

He said that a long termbeneficial plan from the gov-ernment is much required torevive the sector.

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Bharti Telecom is sellingupto $1 billion of its shares

in Bharti Airtel through a sec-ondary market block deal onTuesday.

Bharti Telecom is the hold-ing company of Bharti Airtel.Bharti Telecom holds 38.79per cent equity stake in BhartiAirtel which will reduce byupto 2.75% after the blockdeal. The total promoter share-holding as per exchange data islisted at 58.98 per cent.

Singapore Telecom is astrategic partner with BhartiAirtel, J P Morgan is the place-ment agent for the transaction.This will be a 100 per cent sec-ondary market placementthrough an accelerated book-build offering of equity shares.

The floor price is �558per equity share at a 6% dis-count to the close price of Rs593.20 as on May 22 on theNational Stock Exchange.

The deal size will be

around $ 1 billion for up to 150million equity shares compris-ing up to 2.75% of total sharesoutstanding as of March 31,2020. The seller in the trans-action is Bharti TelecomLimited and will include a lockup condition of no intention tosell for 90 days from the seller.

No guidance will be givenon pricing until the equityshares are crossed on the stockexchange on May 26, 2020.Investors should indicate thedemand sensitivities across theprice range.

There is no assurance thatany order for the equity shareswill be met in part or full, prin-cipally due to the operationalmechanics of the Indian stockexchanges. The allocation ofthe equity shares to foreignportfolio investors is subject tothe headroom available foracquisition of equity shares ofthe company by such investorsas per the investment limitsprescribed under applicableIndian laws.

Page 10: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today …...2020/05/26  · Kathmandu: Criticising Indian Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane’s remarks on Kathmandu acting on “behest

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As they say menstruation is nevera problem but poor menstrual

hygiene definitely is. More than 15young change-makers from acrossthe country, who have been workingon mainstreaming issues aroundmenstrual health and hygiene, par-ticipated in online workshops heldby Youth ki Awaaz as the world gearsup for Menstrual Hygiene Day onMay 28. The workshops are aimed toempower these young change-mak-ers with a set of skills to create pow-erful social media campaigns andscale the impact of their social jus-tice projects online.

These workshops have beenrunning since October 2019 as partof the #PeriodPaath campaign inpartnership with the Water Supplyand Sanitation Collaborative Council(WSSCC), a body affiliated to theUnited Nations. Ever since the lock-down started, workshops havemoved online and Youth ki Awaazhas trained over 80 young change-makers on running high-impactdigital campaigns around variousintersections of menstrual hygienerelated issues such as sustainability,gender issues, education and sanita-tion. These 80 young change-mak-ers are now a part of the YKA ActionNetwork.

At these workshops, they aretaught how to design their own dig-ital campaigns, define a problemthey wish to tackle, create strategiesto address the different audience seg-ments, employ social media toolsand skills effectively, and target theright decision maker to take assertiveaction on their demands.

Over the course of next sixmonths, they will be working ontheir own digital campaigns arounda specific issue of menstrual hygienemanagement, which has been affect-ed due to the COVID-19 pandem-ic. The issues range from lack ofaccess to menstrual hygiene prod-ucts, lack of knowledge, health andmedical staff. Each online cam-

paign will be targeting a specificdecision maker to come up with timebound and targeted solutions thataddress these concerns via means ofa policy or guidelines.

On the eve of Menstrual HygieneDay, YKA salutes these change-makers, who have been workingrelentlessly.

Pravin Nikam, Jaipur ActionNetwork Fellow, is a lawyer based inPune. He is a human rights defend-er and believes in upholding thedemocratic values. He is the founderof Roshni Foundation, a non-profitorganisation focused on mentoringand enabling youngsters, communi-ties and organisations to strengthentheir capabilities to implement effec-tive menstrual hygiene manage-ment.

He plans to start a campaignwith an objective to make ZillaParishad, Ahmednagar, Pune, initi-ate Menstrual Hygiene Management(MHM) ToT sessions for Teachers inAhmednagar, which will directlyimpact 600 teachers and indirectlyreach 8,000 girls by December thisyear. The trained teachers will pro-vide psycho-social support to ado-lescent girls in school; and provideregular hygiene promotion classes inevery school. The training will hap-pen at district and block levels thatwill enable teachers to understandthe importance of MHM and devel-

op skills and capacities to addressMHM in schools and at the localcommunity level.

Prajna Raj Wankawalla, 15Mumbai is the founder of an NGO— Myselfesteen (MST). She startedthis in February this year for men-tal health. It serves as a platform forpeople to share their stories throughshort videos. It also provides freecounselor services to women andgirls if they feel low during theirmenstrual cycles.

Shraddha Subhashrao Telange,26, Pune, is associated with anorganisation cal led Work forEquality, which is working for devel-oping leadership qualities amongSC/ STs and minorities along withsupport for girls educational devel-opment. She is working as an advo-cacy co-ordinator of a programmewhich focusses on menstrual hygieneand lack of sanitation facilities atschools for adolescent girls. They areplanning to organise signature cam-paign along with charter of demandsand send it to Zilla Parishad CEO,education officer, deputy directoreducation and education ministry sothey prioritise the issue and givewritten order for all schools in Punedistrict and state and follow the cri-teria of menstrual management,water, sanitation and toilets facilitiesat schools under the Sarva ShikshaAbhiyan.

After months of confinement,scrolling through old vacation pic-tures, most of us were itching to fly

and wondered when we could do so? Andas if answering those prayers, there was anannouncement of flights being resumed.However, as is the case with other things,the new normal in flying too would haveto be reimagined.

Unlike the past when there could bea last minute stampede to the check incounter, boarding a flight would have tobe done very differently.

So you can expect that while you areon your way to the airport, your phone,with a pop up notification indicates thatyour web check-in has been completed andboarding pass has been printed too. Whenyou reach the airport, you go through ther-mal scanning and your status on theAarogya setu app too should indicate thatyou are COVID negative. After you scanyour boarding pass and get your ID veri-fied digitally, the doors open and you stepinside the airport. You can even print yourbaggage tag online and attach it to your lug-gage. No, this is not a scene out of the dis-tant future, rather it is right here, right now.Everything has been planned keeping inmind the safety of passengers.

However, despite all these precautions,you feel scared and anxious because thereis uncertainty around. A number of ques-tions keep on popping in your head andyou wonder what’s next? Right from feel-ing anxious about sitting in an enclosedspace to getting quarantined for 14 days,there are various challenges that a flyer hasto face.

Dr Anuneet Sabharwal, a psychiatristwho runs his clinic, The Happy Tree, saysthat Coronavirus is particularly anxiety-inducing because of the uncertaintyaround. It has created a sense of fear amongpeople, as there are chances of contractingthe disease everytime they step out of theirhomes or visit public places. “It is leadingto flyer’s anxiety because even though thereis an online check which is safe, proximi-ty on board and fear of contracting the dis-ease among passengers might make oneanxious,” he adds.

With the rise in the number of cases,people are nervous to step out of theirhouse, forget undertaking a long journey.Nishant Pitti, EaseMyTrip, CEO and Co-founder says: “The flyers are bound to beanxious about their safety during travel.Infact, this anxiety will ensure that all thepassengers will take maximum precaution-ary measures to secure proper health andsafety. We are trying our best to supportthem by circulating updated relevantinformation via messages and emails.”Adding to it Kanika Tekriwal, CEO &Founder, JetSetGo Aviation says that peo-ple have become more mindful and cau-tious while choosing their travel options.

The directives released by MoCAunder the Ministry of Civil Aviation con-tains a list of guidelines that have beendeveloped keeping passengers safety inmind and should be adhered to.

Currently, only cabin crew and secu-rity personnel have been asked to compul-sorily wear the PPE kits. However, onewonders if everyone should be asked towear it because we cannot neglect the pas-senger to passenger contact, especially ina more closed space. “It would be a bitmuch to ask everyone to wear it. It is notmuch viable as even if the flight durationis for two hours, the traveller will have towear the PPE kit for atleast six hours. Theyare not comfortable due to multiple rea-

sons and cause sweating along with lack ofventilation. Hence, for all passengers towear it for over six hours and that too, dur-ing air travel, with everyone sitting next toeach other in an enclosed aircraft, wherethere are multiple changes in air pressureis not a viable option,” says Nishant.

However, contrary to this, Kanika feelsthat PPE kits are by far the most viablewhen it comes to safety of the guests andcrew. A new layer of safety at the airportand the flight, with the help of PPE kits,will reduce the potential for cross conta-mination at all checkpoints. “We areworking on setting up procedures where-in, both crew and guests, will be adequate-ly protected and made comfortable simul-taneously but there hasn’t been any devel-opment on providing the kits to the flyersyet. We are reducing the number of seatsthat can be occupied on an aircraft,revamping crew uniforms, reducing pas-senger touch points as well as changingF&B norms,” adds she.

“Even if we follow all the instructionsgiven by the government for air travel, wewill only be able to minimise the spreadof the virus to negligible levels but not erad-icate it completely,” feels Nishant.

Another major challenge that a flyeris facing is that s/he is quarantined in thedestination city and is again quarantinedwhen they come back to the domestic city.Unless it’s extremely necessary, why woulda flyer take a flight because 28 days is a longtime. How far can this be done practical-ly? Nishant agrees and says that individ-ual states have currently come up with

quarantine guidelines that are making airtravel infeasible unless extremely necessary.“They are currently keeping a close checkon the way air travel resumes. These direc-tives are not viable for the long run and willneed to be relaxed and rationalised acrossIndia,” he adds.

The pandemic has brought a drasticchange in the way we live altogether. “Giventhe challenges during travel, which areindeed essential to ensure everybody’s safe-ty, a new normal will have to be adaptedto in a positive manner. It’s for our and theentire community’s’ benefit for flatteningthe curve,” says Kanika.

Pointing towards the brighter side andthe technicalities of a flight, Nishant says:“If we look at the technical aspect of thespread of the virus, it either spreadsthrough contact or through aerosols pre-sent in the air. Targeting the spreadthrough contact, the airlines will sanitisethe aircrafts after every trip and at the endof the day with special focus on all passen-ger touch points. This will ensure that thespread of virus through contact is min-imised. The air cleaning systems installedin the aircrafts are sufficient to take careof the spread through air. The air inside theaircraft is extremely clean mainly due to

three reasons. Firstly, every seat is beingwashed in downward direction at the rateof one meter per second. The air flows fromtop and is sucked from the bottom of thefloor. There is no airflow sideways.Secondly, the air is recycled fully every twoto three minutes. The air circulated is a mixof outside and filtered air. The outside airsucked at high altitude for circulation iscold, dry and uncontaminated, and is recy-cled frequently. And finally, the air is fil-tered through HEPA filters which have veryhigh efficiency and filtration. They can fil-ter almost 99.9+ per cent particles outwhich can easily filter the big size virus par-ticles of COVID-19. These factors make airinside the cabin extremely clean and safeto minimise the spread through aerosols.”

He adds that even customers anxietyand fear is taken care off. The customer carerepresentatives address and pacify the fly-ers. Dr Anuneet lists some measures thatcan be helpful in combating anxiety. Hesays: “Take the steps that public health offi-cials are recommending, such as fre-quently washing your hands, avoidingtouching your face, eyes and nose withdirty hands, wearing a mask and gloves,covering your coughs. Focussing on thingswhich we can control and working on themalways helps us ease anxiety. Stay in touchwith your family and friends. If you feelanxious, try and talk to your friends, fam-ily or colleagues about topics that are inter-esting, instead of talking about the disease,ongoing cases and death tolls, as these top-ics might make you more anxious.Maintain a healthy routine, researches sug-gest that following an unhealthy lifestyleincreases anxiety, whereas getting adequatesleep, eating healthy and exercising mighthelp in reducing it. Try relaxation and deepbreathing exercises and/or progressivemuscle relaxation technique before board-ing the plane if you are experiencing anx-iety.”

The post COVID model demandstranslating the operations into agile andflexible ones, which would adapt andchange as per the circumstances quicklyand swiftly. “Each and every point has beenmapped across the delivery process.Various mock drills have been conductedto study the effectiveness of the SOP’s andcorrections are made accordingly. Wehave prepared ourselves on how we aregoing to facilitate guests, their baggage,their catering, aircraft and interior. We areworking with our guests to know how theywould want to travel with us, what are theirexpectations and what makes them feel thesafest. The inputs from our guests as wellas some of the country’s medical practition-ers are taken care of. Besides which, we areworking with airports to adopt and imple-ment safety procedures and recommenda-tions set up by them,” says Kanika. Basicallyutilising this time to learn new ways of liv-ing and flying.

Even after taking undertaking variousmeasures such as automated systems,reduced number of passengers and manymore, there are a variety of questions thatstare at us and might continue to do so fora while — What kind of holidays can weplan? What kind of inter-city/state meet-ings can we hold, only virtual? What willtravel actually look like? And most impor-tantly, are we ready to travel at the risk ofgetting infected?

Even after the development of a vac-cine for COVID-19, it will take consider-able amount of time for the travellers toreturn to the normal frequency of leisuretravel or even the crucial ones.

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Page 11: English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today …...2020/05/26  · Kathmandu: Criticising Indian Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane’s remarks on Kathmandu acting on “behest

!#�%"�%!�2�Lemon Juice: 100 gramWater: 1 litre Activated Charcoal: 15 gram Hot water: 120 ml Sugar: 10 gram

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juice, waterand sugar.

�Combine the activated charcoalmixture and the lemonade.

�������������� ��Lemon: Being a rich source of Vitamin C, helps in deal-

ing with respiratory disorders. And helps in curing throat infections due to its well-

known antibacterial properties.Antiseptic and natural medications.Activated charcoal helps in trapping toxins and chemi-

cals in the gut, preventing their absorption in the body.

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Staying healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic is important tocombat the silent killer which is the most common comorbidi-

ties. India has already been facing a huge burden of non-commu-nicable diseases (NCDs). Now, with COVID-19- a highly commu-nicable disease — dealing with dual disease burden has becomethe most challenging tasks for healthcare providers. Awareness andprevention would go a long way to deal with both NCDs and com-municable diseases.

Hypertension is a chronic medical condition and common-ly known as high blood pressure (HBP). In this condition, theblood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. With hyper-tension, the force of the blood against the artery walls goes toohigh. High blood pressure is a silent killer. One may not feel thatsomething is wrong, but high blood pressure could be quietlycausing severe damage that can threaten the health and even life.Almost all ages of individuals can be affected by hypertensionranging from children to young adults to old age group.

However, several factors and variables can put you at greaterrisk for developing hypertension like family history, age, gen-der, diabetes mellitus, kidney disease, obesity, alcohol consump-tion, smoking, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, stress.Concerning COVID-19, several reports and data so far revealthat hypertension is the most common comorbidities followedby diabetes and coronary heart disease. It is found that the mostfrequent comorbidities in patients with COVID-19 who devel-oped acute respiratory distress syndrome were hypertension.

Elder people are the mostvulnerable as hypertension isextensively prevalent amongthem. At a higher risk of beinginfected with the virus and ofexperiencing severe forms andcomplications of COVID-19,elderly needs to be extra careful.

Even though we do not haveenough evidence to correlateCOVID-19 deaths with hyper-tension, however, it is a clinicalfact that blood pressure controlremains an important consider-ation to reduce disease burden,even if it has no effect on suscep-tibility to the viral infection.Notwithstanding COVID-19,emergencies dont stop andelderly people are always at highrisk.

Seniors with high bloodpressure may be more suscepti-

ble to the coronavirus and more likely to develop more severesymptoms. Hence, they need guidance about keeping other con-ditions well-controlled and maintaining good health andhygiene. It is advisable to take prescribed angiotensin-convert-ing enzyme inhibitors (ACE-i) or angiotensin receptor blocker(ARB) medications for high blood pressure, heart failure or heartdisease.

These medications don’t increase the risk of contractingCOVID-19. They are vital to maintaining blood pressure levelsto reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke and worsening heart dis-ease.Hypertension patients are always at the risk of heart attackand stroke. In case of heart attack and stroke-like symptoms, everysecond matter. Quick access to medical treatment is the mostimportant factor in saving lives.

Prevention and care: Maintain a healthy lifestyle- eathealthy, quit smoking, restrict alcohol intake, get adequate sleepand keep physically active. Avoid or limit alcohol and caffeine.Physical activity should be strongly encouraged either in a homesetting or outdoor areas with social space and will also improvewellbeing. Yoga and breathing exercises are helpful. Continuewith prescribed medication for hypertension. Keep follow-upappointments. Hospitals are offering video consultancy. Seekmedical help immediately if blood pressure goes high. Do notneglect it. In case of emergency, visit nearby hospitals’ emergencyroom.

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��������A papaya is a yellow-coloured fruit which is sweet intaste. It is rich in Vitamin C and has various health benefits.

Papaya is rich in fibre, Vitamin C and antioxidants whichprevent cholesterol build up in your arteries. It also helps in weightloss because the fibre content in papaya leaves you feeling fulland clears your bowel movement. It is also great for boostingimmunity.

Papaya is a rich source of antioxidants, phytonutrients andflavonoids that prevent your cells from undergoing free radicaldamage. Some studies have also linked the consumptionpapaya to reduced risk of colon and prostatecancer.

The presence of variousvitamins and nutrientsalso help in pre-venting theskin fromfree radi-cal dam-age there-by keepingall the signsof ageing at bay.

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Little had we known that scenar-ios like COVID-19 would pre-vail, we would have braced

ourselves to our fullest capacity. Notjust this pandemic has hit hard onthe economy at a global level but hasalso given a huge challenge of bal-ancing the mental health tohumankind, giving us an option tocome out either bitter or better andthe choice is completely ours!

Maintaining social distancingand self-hygiene are the only optionswe have in the present fettle in try-ing to curb the COVID-19 menacewhich indeed is proving prolific.Some regions across the countryhave been given the Government’snod to slowly bring life back to nor-malcy and after such a stringentlockdown, life seems to be comingback on track. Even if anytime soonwe are able to move as per our will,the offices resume, and we hop inour favourite restaurants but whenit comes to what we have seen at itsworst, it will take a long time for ourmental health to recuperate.

Regrettably, issues like mentalhealth are something which isinescapable and one needs to makeit their top priority before the situ-ation slips out of hands, and as theysay a stitch in time saves nine.

Paying attention to our physicaland mental health should be our pri-ority as that will pull us through thetimes to come sanely.

Social media boundaries:During situations like isolation,social media is the only option leftwith us to keep us entertained and

at the same time getting informationabout the outside world but somemiscreants do not make it happenas simple as it sounds. Social media,on one hand, is quite helpful in gath-ering the information but on theother hand, may have adverse effectson some people’s mental health. Inthe era where people are circulatingfake and misleading news on socialmedia, the sender might not getimpacted but there are people outthere who may end up losing theirhopes on visualising a better tomor-row.

Journaling/writing down yourthoughts: A serious impedimentthat will come in our way post thelockdown is to keep our mentalhealth in check and it’s better if westart working towards it from todayitself. Certain practices like medita-tion, writing a journal, and gettingsurrounded by people with positivethoughts that one can go for to keeptheir mental health in shape.

Need compassion and kind-ness: Even during these unprece-dented times, some people arebringing up caste and religion-related issues to create a nuisance inthe society but we should under-stand that this is not the rightapproach to fight this deadly diseasethat has claimed millions of lives sofar.

Talking mental health shouldnot be stigma: Seeking mentalhealth or openly asking for the sameis still a taboo in our country assome people think that doing so willharm their image in society. Despite

labeling these people in any manner,these should rather be encouragedto see a counselor and get a check-up if in case they are dealing withany of the problems. Expressing youremotions is important.

Realistic approach: Focus onthings you can control rather thanfocus on things that are not in yourcontrol. People should adopt a real-istic approach towards life which is

the need of the hour as today’s gen-eration especially the younger onesare slowly and gradually becomingthe victims of bleak thoughts, over-thinking, and anxiety. Your positiveattitude towards life will becomeyour biggest strength when facingdifficult times like these.

Martin Luther once said“Everything that is done in theworld is done by hope” and whichI strongly believe in. If we are opti-mistic about how we perceive thingsthen a lot can be achieved. A humanmind is a fold of magic and it is upto people on how beautifully theyunfold it as we are what we thinkand how we think.

It’s high time now that we startfocusing on our mental health andgetting ourselves enrolled in activ-ities that could keep us away fromdistractions and negative environ-ment. If you ever feel the need ofconsulting a mental therapist thenmake a move without hesitating andthat’s where you will make a first steptowards improving your mentalwellbeing. There will be challengesahead of you but once you gather thecourage of surpassing them, every-thing will start falling into place.Take a leap of faith as the finest steelgoes through the hottest fire.

Perhaps mental health is muchmore than being just depression-free, anxiety-free, or various psycho-logical issues, it is about having theutmost zest for living and seeking lifeout of moments.

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One of the best ways to start your fitnessjourney is to start by conditioning your

body with the basics of working out andexercises. You need to condition yourmuscles to be able to bear the stress of exer-cising. That’s what most of your initial daysof joining a class or programme are spentin. With online trainings becoming atrend, it is important one equips him/her-self with good form to reduce the risk oninjury working out in the physical absenceof teacher/trainer. There is a way to get ajump start that process by incorporatingbasic body weight exercises.

Body weight exercises are strengthtraining and conditioning exercises whichutilise your own weight and provides resis-tance for the movements. Exercises likepush-up, squats, planks, crunches andpull-ups are all examples of body weightexercises.

Planks: Lie face down with your fore-arms extended and palms on the floor.Extend the legs behind the body and riseup on the toes. Keeping the back straightand hips in one line tighten the core andhold the position for 30-60 seconds mini-mum. For those who can, hold this posi-tion for as long as you can.

Do a minimum of three-four repetitionsof this posture with about 10-15 secondsbreak in between. With progress, aim atreducing your break time and increasingyour time holding the position. Alsoincrease your repetitions with practise.

Planks help with improving the flexi-bility of your posterior muscles, balance,posture, tones your stomach, strengthensyour core and reduces back pain to a cer-tain degree.

Squats: Stand with your feet parallel orturned out 20 degrees, whatever is morecomfortable. Slowly start bending the hipsand knees until the thighs are at least par-allel to the floor like sitting on a chair. Makesure your heels do not rise off the floor whilebending your knees and ensure your kneesdon't go beyond your toes.

To make sure you are doing this right,push your hips back while going down.Once you reach your maximum stretch,count to ten and start coming up slowly.Press the floor through your heels toreturn to a standing position. Do eight-10repetitions each turn and start by doingthree-four turns with 10-15 second breaksin between.

Squats are a great way to train andstrengthen your lower body muscles. Ittones your muscles and burns fat and cel-lulite effectively.

Push Up: Start in a plank position,slowly start lowering your body toward thefloor by bending your arms from theelbow. Ensure your elbows soft keeping theback straight and body parallel to theground. Once you reach your maximumlevel, hold for two counts and then startcoming back up slowly by pushing the floorwith your palms. Do eight-10 repetitionseach turn and start by doing 3-4 turns with10-15 second breaks in between.

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Bayern Munich aim to con-tinue the Bundesliga’s cur-rent trend of teams win-

ning on the road behind closeddoors when they face BorussiaDortmund in a potential titledecider on Tuesday.

Leaders Bayern arrive atsecond-placed Dortmund fourpoints clear and on course for aneighth straight title.

“For us this is a very deci-sive week,” insisted Bayern for-ward Thomas Mueller.

“We’ve clearly set ourselvesthe goal of three victories thisweek and taking a giant step for-ward” towards the league title.

Bayern warmed-up by beat-ing Eintracht Frankfurt 5-2 atthe weekend and also host rel-egation-threatened FortunaDuesseldorf this Saturday.

Since the Bundesligaresumed ten days ago, behindlocked doors due to the coron-avirus, home advantage hascounted for little with 10 of the18 games played won by theaway team.

Bayern and Dortmund areamong only three clubs —theother being Hertha Berlin whothrashed neighbours FC Union4-0 on Friday — to have won athome since the restart.

Hansi Flick’s Bayern areeager to continue the trend andagain assert their dominanceover Dortmund, who they rout-ed 4-0 in Munich last November.

“We’re looking forward toTuesday - I hope that we canshow what makes us strong

and leave Dortmund’s stadiumwith a smile,” added Mueller.

Signal Iduna Park wouldnormally be packed with 82,000fans for a visit of Bayern, but theterraces will remain empty onTuesday.

“It will still be a hard day’swork,” Mueller added.

“We’re marching,Dortmund is marching.”

Dortmund winger RaphaelGuerreiro is in form with threegoals in his last two games andwas on the scoresheet inSaturday's 2-0 win at Wolfsburg.

The Portugal star also net-ted twice in the 4-0 rout of archrivals Schalke the previous week-end in the Ruhr derby.

Dortmund are waiting on

the fitness of key defender MatsHummels, who injured hisAchilles’ tendon at Wolfsburg.

In the Bayern camp, mid-fielder Thiago Alcantara has agroin strain while centre-backJerome Boateng picked up a legknock on Saturday.

Having beaten Bayern 2-0 athome in the pre-season SuperCup match last August and 3-2in the league in November 2018,Dortmund are eager to againsend the Bavarians home disap-pointed.

“I hope we can get the nextvictory,” said Dortmund's Swisscentre-back Manuel Akanji.

“Since I've been here, we’vealways lost to Bayern away, butwon at home.

I want to keep this seriesgoing.” Tuesday’s showdownwill also pit the league’s top-scor-er Robert Lewandowski, 31,who has scored 27 goals in 25games for Bayern, against hisformer club. For the hosts,Norwegian sensation ErlingBraut Haaland, 19, has scoredten goals in as many leaguegames since joining Dortmundin January from Salzburg.

Haaland and Lewandowskihave exactly the same record -41 goals from 35 games in allcompetitions this season.

England winger JadonSancho came off the bench to setup Achrif Hakimi for the secondgoal in Wolfsburg.

Dortmund coach Lucien

Favre has hinted the 20-year-oldcould start against Bayern.

On Wednesday, third-placed RB Leipzig host HerthaBerlin in the day’s key game.Germany striker Timo Werner

warmed up with a hat-trick inSunday’s 5-0 thumping ofMainz.

He had also scored a hat-trick in an 8-0 mauling of Mainzlast November.

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The Indian Premier League willhelp spread positivity and

change the mood of the peopleduring the COVID-19 pandemic,according to India opener ShikharDhawan, who is hopeful that theglitzy T20 tournament will takeplace this year.

The coronavirus outbreak,which has infected more than 55

lakh people while causing 3.4 lakhdeaths worldwide, has wreakedhavoc globally, bringing the sport-ing community to a standstill.

The IPL, which was originallyscheduled to be held from March29 to May 24, was indefinitely post-poned by the BCCI due to the out-break of the novel coronavirus inIndia and subsequent lockdownannounced by the government tocontain the fast-spreading disease.

“It’s very important that somesports return to improve the envi-ronment and mood. It will have ahuge impact if the IPL returns,”Dhawan said during an Instagramchat with Sri Lanka all-rounderAngelo Mathews.

“We have to take care of thesecurity of everyone so we need tobe very careful. If it happens, it willbe really good for us as it brings alot of positivity that can be spreadall over the world as a lot of peo-ple watch it,” he added.

There is speculation that the13th IPL might be conducted inOctober-November if the T20World Cup in Australia is post-poned.

“Hopefully, the IPL will hap-pen. I always think in a positivemanner. It will be really good if thetournament goes ahead,” he added.

Cricket boards across the worldare working out ways of resumingthe game, which includes match-es being held behind closed doorswithout spectators.

“We are going to miss playingin front of a huge crowd if tourna-ments take place behind closeddoors,” Dhawan said.

“The fans bring their owncharm and aura, but at the sametime, it would be an opportunity aswe have been sitting at our homesfor two-three months now.”

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Pakistan head coach and chief selectorMisbah-ul-Haq believes Babar Azam is

destined to be a world class player and is veryclose to being in the same league as Indiaskipper Virat Kohli and Australia’s SteveSmith.

“I don’t like comparisons but Babar iscurrently very close to being in the same classas Virat Kohli, Steve Smith or Joe Root,”Misbah said in an interview to Youtube chan-nel, Cricket Baaz.

“He believes in the work ethic that if youwant to better Kohli you have to work hard-er than him at your skills, fitness and gameawareness.”

The 25-year-old, who was named cap-tain of the Pakistan T20 team ahead of theAustralia series in October last year, wasrecently handed the reins of ODI team aswell. “Making him the T20 captain was atester. We wanted to see how he willrespond to this challenge. All of us agree thathe has done a very good job and his biggestplus is that being among the worlds top play-ers he leads by example,” Misbah said.

“If you are a performer like Babar thenit becomes easier for you to motivate the restof the team and get things done.

“Even when I was made captain in 2010my performances were here and there andI was in and out. But captaincy changed mygame and mindset and I became a more hardworking and motivated cricketer.”

Misbah said Babar always challengeshimself and would get better as a captain withexperience.

“He is in a zone of his own. He just does-n’t want to be in the team. He just doesn’twant to play for money. He wants to be thetop performer for Pakistan. He is always pit-ting himself against other top batsmen likeKohli or Smith,” he said.

“He loves challenges in the nets and on

the field. He has really matured as a playerand in time he will get better as a captain withexperience.”

Babar was the leading run-scorer of theT20I series against Australia last year. He alsoscored 210 runs, which included a hundred,at 52.50 in the Test series against the sameopponents.In the two-Test home seriesagainst Sri Lanka, Babar ended the serieswith 262 runs with an average of exactly 262.

Misbah feels Babar had changed as abatsman when he got runs in the Tests inAustralia.

“Before that he was getting runs in testsbut not consistently. In Australia and in thefollowing tests against Sri Lanka andBangladesh he changed,” he said.

“It is a learning process. Havingremained captain it is a big advantage forcoaching because you know the players andtheir mood swings. You know which play-er will respond in a given situation,whichplayer is feeling pressure in a scenario.

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Opener Dean Elgar hasexpressed his interest in

becoming South Africa’s nextTest captain, saying leadershipcomes naturally to him and hewould think “long and hard”ifapproached for the job.

Du Plessis had resigned asTest captain in February andQuinton de Kock was expected totake the reins but Cricket SouthAfrica ruled him out of the job,

saying they don’t want to overbur-den the wicketkeeper-batsman.

With a three-Test seriesscheduled against the West Indiesin July, CSA is still figuring out theTest captaincy conundrum.

“It’s definitely not an easyjourney being a Test captain butI think leadership is somethingthat comes extremely naturally tome,” Elgar said during an inter-view with Cricket South Africa(CSA) which was released onMonday.

“I’ve captained teams in thepast, right up from school level toprovincial level and at franchiselevel. I enjoyed it extremely andif I was asked to take on the cap-taincy, it’s definitely something Iwould think long and hard aboutbecause it would mean a lot tome.”

The left-handed batsman,who had captained the 2006 U-19 World Cup team in Sri Lanka,was the stand-in skipper in thefirst Test against England in 2017

after regular captain Du Plessishad missed the match due to thebirth of his first child.

Elgar had again captainedSouth Africa against Pakistan inJanuary last year when Du Plessiswas penalised for slow over-ratein the second Test and was sus-pended for the third and final Testof the series.

Aiden Markram and KeshavMaharaj had earlier expressedtheir desires to captain SouthAfrica.

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West Indies fast bowlerKemar Roach has come up

against some of the best batsmenin the world in the longest format,but he feels former South Africacricketer Jacques Kallis was the‘hardest batsman’ he came face-to-face with.

Kallis is widely regarded asone of the finest all-rounders tograce the sport and his statistics,both with bat and ball, is nothingshort of surreal. Roach hailedKallis’ technique and also spokeabout the ease with which heused to go about his job while atthe crease.

“Hands down, I would haveto say, Jacques Kallis. He was def-initely one of the tougher for sure.He was very technical very solid

in his approach. He played it veryeasily, especially in the homeseries in 2010. He is probably the

hardest batsman I have everbowled to,” Roach said during anInstagram live session withCricket West Indies.

Kallis also finds his name inthe exclusive club of players tohave hit in excess of 10,000 runsin both ODIs and Tests. With theball too, he picked up 273 and 292wickets respectively in the twoformats.

Due to his consistency, Kalliscommands so much respect fromothers players that rarely a teamgets assembled and Kallis’ nameisn't on it. Recently, India skipperVirat Kohli and former SouthAfrica captain AB de Villiersnamed a combined Ind-SA ODIXI during a conversation onInstagram and Kallis was thedesignated all-rounder in theirlist as well.

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Balbir Singh Sr, one of India’sgreatest hockey players who won

three Olympic Gold medals in a stel-lar career, died at a hospital inMohali on Monday after battlingmultiple health issues for over twoweeks.

The legendary centre-forwardwas 96 and is survived by his daugh-ter Sushbir and three sons Kanwalbir,Karanbir, and Gurbir. His sons aresettled in Canada and he lived herewith his daughter and grandsonKabir.

“He died at 6:17am this morn-ing,” Abhijit Singh, Director FortisHospital, Mohali, where he wasadmitted since May 8, told PTI.

His maternal grandson Kabirlater sent out a message stating,“Nanaji passed away this morning.”

The three-time Olympic Gold-medallist was in a semi-comatosestate since May 18 and had developeda blood clot in his brain after beingfirst admitted to the hospital for

bronchial pneumonia with highfever. He was tested for COVID-19but reports came out negative.

Singh suffered three cardiacarrests during the course of his treat-ment. Singh was cremated with fullstate honours and Kabir performedthe last rites on Monday evening.

A police contingent fired threeshots as a mark of respect to thedeparted soul. His body was taken tothe crematorium in a bedecked vehi-cle and former Indian hockey captainPargat Singh was also present at the

funeral.Senior officials of the Punjab gov-

ernment and Chandigarh adminis-tration laid wreaths on the body here.

One of the country's mostaccomplished athletes, Singh wasthe only Indian among 16 legendschosen by the International OlympicCommittee across modern Olympichistory. His world record for mostgoals scored by an individual in themen’s hockey final of the Olympicsstill remains unbeaten.

He had scored five goals in

India’s 6-1 victory over theNetherlands in the Gold medalmatch of the 1952 Helsinki Games.He was conferred with the PadmaShri in 1957.

That was the first time an athletewas conferred the prestigious civillianhonour. Singh’s three Olympic Goldmedals came in London (1948),Helsinki (1952) as vice-captain, andMelbourne (1956) as captain.

He was also the manager ofIndia’s only World Cup-winning sidein 1975.

It was the fourth time in the pasttwo years that the former captain andcoach was admitted to the IntensiveCare Unit (ICU).

In January last year, Singh spentmore than three months in hospitalbecause of bronchial pneumonia.

Considered at par with MajorDhyan Chand in skills, Singh wasamong independent India’s biggesthockey stars.

Singh and Dhyan Chand neverplayed together but are regarded asthe jewels of Indian hockey, whoinspired an entire generation ofhockey players.

While Dhyan Chand garneredmore recognition, especially since hisachievements came under the Britishrule, Singh's exploits were no lessimpactful.

Born in 1924 in Punjab's HaripurKhalsa village, he was spotted byHarbail Singh, who was the thencoach of Khalsa College and latercoached India to back-to-back goldmedals in 1952 Helsinki and 1956Melbourne Olympics.

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New Zealand Tennis saidMonday it was set to host

the southern hemisphere’s firstprofessional tournament sincethe COVID-19 shutdown.

The men’s Premier Leaguetournament in Auckland nextmonth will feature 24 playerscompeting in three teams atspectator-free arenas overthree weeks.

Tennis NZ high perfor-mance director ChristopheLambert said the tournament,which begins on June 3, wouldpit ATP veterans against someof New Zealand's rising stars.

“The NZ Premier Leagueoffers opportunities for ourbest players to have a home-base competitive environmentso they are ready to jump back

in when the pro circuit startsagain,” he said.

Britain’s world number 77Cameron Norrie, who grewup in New Zealand, and sev-eral of New Zealand’s DavisCup players are among thosetaking part. The internation-al nature of tennis means thesport has been hit hard by thecoronavirus shutdown.

Among the Grand Slams,the French Open has beenpostponed and the US Openis considering switchingvenues from New York if thevirus crisis in the city does notease.

The ATP is not planningto resume tournament playuntil early August, while theWTA hopes to restart its cal-endar in Palermo in on July20.

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Atletico Madrid winger AngelCorrea on Monday said

that a return to football “iswhat we all need” ahead of apossible La Liga restart in mid-June.

League president JavierTebas on Sunday said he hopesthe Spanish season can resumewith the Seville derby on June11, after Prime Minister PedroSanchez said La Liga couldreturn from June 8.

“With this crazy period thatwe are all living in, knowing thatwe will soon be playing again,resuming La Liga is an immensejoy," Correa told the Atleticowebsite after training onMonday.

“I think this is what we allneed, for football to resume, andthank God, it will happen veryquickly.” Spanish sides are cur-rently training in small groups,but should be able to return tofull training on June 1.

Atletico sit sixth in the La

Liga table with 11 games of theseason remaining, although onlyone point adrift of RealSociedad, who occupy thefourth and final ChampionsLeague spot.

“The whole team has beenworking at home, and now weare noticing that during train-ing,” added Argentinian interna-tional Correa.

“We’re training at a highlevel and that is what the teamneeds to be ready when La Ligaresumes.

“I’m very happy. I reallywanted to get back on the pitch,come back to train with myteammates. The lockdown wasa very difficult period, but that’sit, we are moving forward now.”

Atletico reached theChampions League quarter-finals shortly before the suspen-sion of the season by endingholders Liverpool’s title defence,although that match at Anfieldwas linked to "41 additionaldeaths" by a report published onSunday.

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Bayern Munich strikerRobert Lewandowski has

praised Borussia Dortmundcounterpart Erling Haaland asa player with great potential,and advised the Norwegian tostay in the GermanBundesliga. Before Bayern andDortmund face each other atthe Signal Iduna Park onTuesday, all eyes are on bothsides’ leading strikers.

Poland’s Lewandowskileads the Bundesliga scoringcharts with 27 goals, while 19-year-old Haaland has foundthe net 10 times in just sevenmatches following his Januaryswitch from Red Bull Salzburg.

However, rumors suggestthat Dortmund may be oblig-ed to sell Haaland at the endof the season due to a 75 mil-lion euro release clause in hiscontract, promptingLewandowski to suggest theNorwegian should stay put forthe time being.

“It would be better for him

to stay in the Bundesliga toincrease his skills. He has notonly great potential but alsomuch time to become an evenbetter footballer. I wouldn’tlike to put pressure on hisshoulders by my words but Ibelieve that he will reach thetop level if he works veryhard,” Lewandowski told

Meanwhile, formerBayern captain BastianSchweinsteiger comparedHaaland to Lewandowski inan interview for ARD onSunday.

“The Norwegian is ayoung striker who has theenergy to hurt his opponent.I’m looking forward to see hisclash against Lewandowskibut it seems that ChampionsLeague is more importantthan Bundesliga for the Pole.He has to prove that he is ableto lead the team to win theEuropean competition. I’mcurious if he will show hisstrength in the decisive gamesof the Champions League,”claimed Schweinsteiger.

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