DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2020, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `4.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SINCE 1932 PARIMAL DABHI AHMEDABAD, SEPTEMBER 7 PURVANG PANDYA, 22, joined Masters in Social Work course at the Gujarat Vidyapith last year. He had never expected that in a year, he would be in a PPE suit serving Covid-19 patients at one of the largest public hospitals in Gujarat. From Dakor town in Kheda district, Pandya was interested in medical social work and was scheduled for an internship at the hospital for mental health in Vadodara, but with the lock- down, he had to stay at home for two months, till the second half of May when he saw a post about a project to provide psy- chological support to Covid pa- tients, on the college WhatsApp group and decided to volunteer. "I was ready to join, but no- body in the family wanted me to go. But I explained to them that this would give me experience which will be helpful in getting a (government) job in future. So, eventually parents agreed (re- luctantly),” said Pandya who is a commerce graduate from Sardar Patel University in Anand. Posted in the 1,200-bed ded- icated Covid-19 hospital at the Civil hospital in Ahmedabad, Pandya remembers a particular woman patient who was aban- doned by her family and had only one saree to wear. He brought her two gowns to change into and that moved her. “One day, she touched my feet out of gratitude. OIt over- whelmed me... the satisfaction of what I was doing. This experi- ence of serving Covid-19 pa- tients is amazing,” says Pandya. The woman, in early 50’s, stayed in the hospital for nearly CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PAGE 1 ANCHOR One of the student counsellors with a patient. Express When students turned counsellors for Covid patients INDIA-CHINA STANDOFF IN LADAKH KRISHN KAUSHIK NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 TWO DAYS ahead of his trip to Moscow where he is likely to hold discussions on the border stand-off with China’s Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Monday laid down the broad contours of the upcoming bilateral conver- sation by underlining that “the state of the border cannot be delinked from the state of the re- lationship." Acknowledging that the cur- rent situation along the Line of ActualControlwas"veryserious," CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BJP leader at cremation of Nyima Tenzin of Special Frontier Force. Twitter The Foreign Minister at Adda In message to Beijing, Madhav at Tibetan unit soldier funeral KRISHN KAUSHIK NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 SENDING A strong message to China, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav attended the funeral Monday of Subedar Nyima Tenzin of the Special Frontier Force, a covert Indian unit, com- prising mostly of Tibetans in India, tasked to carry out classi- fied missions. Nyima died on August 30 when he, according to Army sources, stepped on a vintage mine near the south bank of Pangong Tso. This was around the time Indian forces were oc- cupying strategic heights in ar- eas of the Chushul sector to turn the tables on the Chinese – the PLA has been reluctant to com- plete the disengagement of troops along the Line of Actual Control. While the government or the Army has not commented on the death of Nyima, the presence of Madhav, a senior member of the ruling party, at the funeral in Leh will rile the Chinese given that the Vikas regiments of the SFF largely comprise Tibetans in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Pangong on boil again: China claims India fired warning shots KRISHN KAUSHIK NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 DAYS AFTER Indian troops thwarted Chinese manoeuvres and occupied strategic heights on the south bank of Pangong Tso and Rechin La near Rezang La, the south bank of the lake ap- peared to be on the boil again late Monday night with the Chinese PLA claiming that Indian troops had fired warning shots, prompting it to “take counter- measures to stabilize the situa- tion on the ground”. There was no immediate re- sponse from the Indian Army or the Ministry of Defence. In a statement, Colonel Zhang Shuili, spokesperson for the PLA Western Theatre Command, claimed the Indian Army “crossed the line and en- tered Bangong Hunan, the west- ern section of the Sino-Indian border” and the “Indian actions seriously vi- olated the relevant agreements and agreements between China and India, pushing up regional tensions, and easily causing CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 State of border can’t be delinked from state ot relationship, he says, ahead of meeting with Chinese in Moscow Serious situation... need deep conversations at political level: Jaishankar District staff briefed on containment, training; new manuals commissioned KAUNAIN SHERIFF M NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 THE CENTRE has received de- tailed feedback from officers at the district level, identifying loopholes in the implementa- tion of containment, surveil- lance, and clinical management strategies for Covid-19 in several states. These lapses, sources said, were among the key reasons for the massive spike in cases in re- cent weeks. Following the detection of nearly 6 lakh new infections in the week beginning August 31, the Centre has over the last few days made a significant change in targeting its messaging on tackling the novel coronavirus. It has moved away from ad- dressing states at the level of their health secretaries, and has instead begun to communicate directly with administrative offi- cials and chief medical officers (CMOs)whoarefightingthepan- demic at the level of the district. India on Sunday recorded 90,802 new infections, the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MANY MONTHS into the pandemic, and with con- tainment and surveil- lance strategies well known, the continuing high numbers indicate blockages in the percola- tion of the message to those on the ground. That is why the Centre is now talking directly to them. Taking the message to ground E● EXPLAINED FOCUS ON 3 STATES, 17 DISTRICTS Cases surge, Centre reaches out to hotspot districts, finds glaring gaps A deserted metro station in Ahmedabad on Monday. Metro services resumed with curtailed operations across the country after being closed for over five months due to the Covid pandemic. Express ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 AS THE Centre and non-BJP ruled states continue to face off over the mechanism to meet the compensation deficit under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, the Union Finance Ministry is unlikely to cede to the states’ demand that the borrowing should be done by the Central government. In fact, government officials pointed out that states had parked about Rs 1.8 lakh crore in T-Bills, suggesting that they were not short of funds. “While it is true that states too are keeping the powder dry, just like the Centre, for the com- ing quarters, they cannot com- plain that they do not have money to spend,” said a govern- ment official who did not want to be named. The official said states have, on an average, bor- rowed about 2.75 per cent of their GSDP so far, against 3 per cent of their GSDP. States, however, said not all of them had huge funds invested in T-Bills. “There is also a variance in the expenditure needs of states. For some, the committed expenditure (salaries, pensions and interest payments) as a per- centage of total expenditure is high. On top of this, their rev- enues have taken a bad hit,” said a state government official. In the case of Communist- ruled Kerala, for instance, the of- ficial said, committed expendi- ture was as high as 56.4 per cent. “Covid-19 and the lockdown ad- versely impacted state revenues – with tourism, a significant con- tributor to state GDP, taking a big hit,” said the official. For BJP-ruled states like Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, and even Bihar, where BJP has a coalition government with the JD(U), committed expenditure as a percentage of total expendi- ture is just 27.6 per cent, 31.7 per cent and 24.4 per cent, respec- tively. For these states, it is defi- nitely not as bad as it is for Kerala CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Finance Ministry unlikely to cede to the states’ demand Amid GST row, Centre signals it will not borrow In Gujarat, 4 test Covid positive again in 4 months SOHINI GHOSH AHMEDABAD, SEPTEMBER 7 AHMEDABAD MUNICIPAL Corporation (AMC) has reported four cases of Covid-19 reinfec- tion between August 18 and September 6, nearly four months after they tested positive for the first time. The four who tested positive again are two male resident doc- tors aged 33 years from the Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute (GCRI) and LG Hospital, a 26-year-old woman resident doctor from LG Hospital and a 60-year-old homemaker from Behrampura. They had first tested positive between April 13 and April 21. All had subse- quently recovered and were dis- charged after testing negative through RTPCR tests at the time. The resident doctor and the homemaker were also part of the recent seroprevalence sur- vey conducted in AMC jurisdic- tion that found an absence of an- tibodies in 40 per cent cases of the 1,816 known confirmed cases’ samples which were stud- ied. The 60-year-old was among the 60 per cent in whom anti- bodies were found and the resi- dent doctor was in the 40 per cent in whom no antibodies were found. A press release from AMC said that among the four pa- tients who tested positive again, “one has history of visit to Kerala just before the second infection whereas the other three were in Ahmedabad.” On Monday, the 60-year-old woman, who was admitted at Ratan Hospital under the AMC bed quota, was discharged. Among the three resident doc- tors, one is undergoing treat- ment at GCRI and is stable and the other two are in home isola- tion, according to AMC. The genesis of the said "rein- fection" in the four remain in- conclusive and according to an AMC health official, while the three resident doctors may have been infected at the hospital, the source remains unknown in the case of the 60-year-old who was also incidentally the first case of ‘reinfection’ in Ahmedabad. The release stated that the re-surfac- ing of the virus in cured patients CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DEEPTIMAN TIWARY & LAXMAN SINGH NEW DELHI, MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 7 THE UNION Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has accorded Y+ category security to Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut. The deci- sion comes in the wake of a spat between Ranaut and Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, with the actor comparing Mumbai to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and claiming a threat to her life in the city. “An assessment has been made by intelligence agencies and it has been concluded that there is a threat to her life and ac- cordingly security is being pro- vided,” a Home Ministry official said. The ministry’s order said she would be provided security across the country. Thanking Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Ranaut tweeted, "This shows that no one can crush a patriot in the coun- try... Had he (Amit Shah) wanted, he would have told me to visit Mumbai later but he respected India’s daughter and acknowl- edged my self-respect. Jai Hind." Ranaut, who is in her home state Himachal Pradesh currently, has said she would be returning to Mumbai on September 9. According to a source, under the Y+ category, Ranaut will be allocated 11 commandos in all, with two armed ones for her mobile security at any time, and one guarding her residence. Maharashtra Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar called the Centre’s move "politically motivated" and accused Ranaut of being the BJP’s "parrot". State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said the move was "surprising", given how the actor had "insulted" Mumbai and Maharashtra. Calling Ranaut Himachal Pradesh’s "daughter", state Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said they had requested for a para- military force to provide security to the actor, after being ap- proached by her father and sis- ter. In a video statement, Thakur said the state police would guard the actor’s Manali residence and added that he had told the DGP to assess the threat to her. "If nec- essary, Himachal Pradesh is ready to provide her security during her tours... her security is important for us." In what Ranaut called a re- lated development, on Monday afternoon, a team of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) visited her office at Pali Hill to check for "il- legal construction". BMC officials said a team from the Building Proposal Department and H- West ward inspected the prem- ises to check for deviations from approved plans. Officials termed the inspec- tion a routine exercise. The Deputy Municipal Commissioner of Zone 3, Parag Masurkar, said a BMC team had inspected about five to six prop- erties in Pali Hill lane, including Ranaut’s property. As per the BMC plans of 1979, the two-storey bungalow, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ICICI loans: ED arrests Deepak Kochhar DEEPTIMAN TIWARY NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 THE ENFORCEMENT Directorate Monday arrested Deepak Kochhar, husband of former ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, in connection with its probe into an alleged money laundering case. Deepak Kochhar, ED sources said, had been called for questioning in connection with some “fresh evidence of money trail” in the case involv- ing loans disbursed by ICICI Bank to the Videocon Group for al- leged pecuniary considerations. Deepak Kochhar, ED sources said, declined to come to Delhi citing the pandemic. He was questioned by a team of officers in Mumbai. “He did not cooper- ate with us, and so we had to put him under arrest,” a senior ED of- ficer said. Deepak and Chanda Kochhar and Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot are the sub- jects of an ED probe into alleged money laundering in the matter of loans disbursed to the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘New money trail proof’ AS WET AUGUST DELAYS HARVEST, ONION PRICES RISE IN MARKET PAGE 4 GUJARAT THE WORLD KHASHOGGI MURDER RULING: EIGHT SENTENCED TO PRISON PAGE 14 ‘No one can crush a patriot’ Y+ security for Kangana as Centre sees threat BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Ahmedabad
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DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2020, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `4.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE
SINCE 1932
PARIMALDABHIAHMEDABAD,SEPTEMBER7
PURVANG PANDYA, 22, joinedMastersinSocialWorkcourseatthe Gujarat Vidyapith last year.Hehadnever expected that in ayear, he would be in a PPE suitservingCovid-19patientsatoneof the largestpublichospitals inGujarat.FromDakor town in Kheda
district, Pandyawas interestedinmedical social work andwas
scheduled for an internship atthehospitalformentalhealthinVadodara, but with the lock-down,hehadtostayathomefortwomonths, till the secondhalfof May when he saw a postabout a project to provide psy-chological support to Covid pa-tients,onthecollegeWhatsAppgroupanddecidedtovolunteer."I was ready to join, but no-
bodyinthefamilywantedmetogo. But I explained to them thatthis would giveme experiencewhichwillbehelpfulingettinga(government) job in future. So,eventually parents agreed (re-luctantly),”saidPandyawhoisacommercegraduatefromSardar
PatelUniversity inAnand.Postedinthe1,200-bedded-
icated Covid-19 hospital at theCivil hospital in Ahmedabad,Pandya remembers aparticularwoman patientwhowas aban-doned by her family and hadonly one saree to wear. Hebrought her two gowns tochangeintoandthatmovedher.“One day, she touchedmy feetout of gratitude. OIt over-whelmedme... the satisfactionofwhatIwasdoing.Thisexperi-ence of serving Covid-19 pa-tients is amazing,” saysPandya.The woman, in early 50’s,
stayed in thehospital for nearlyCONTINUEDONPAGE2
PAGE1ANCHOR
Oneof thestudentcounsellorswithapatient. Express
When students turned counsellors for Covid patients
INDIA-CHINASTANDOFF INLADAKH
KRISHNKAUSHIKNEWDELHI, SEPTEMBER7
TWODAYS ahead of his trip toMoscowwhere he is likely tohold discussions on the borderstand-off with China’s ForeignMinister and State CouncillorWang Yi, External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar Mondaylaiddownthebroadcontoursofthe upcoming bilateral conver-sation by underlining that “thestate of the border cannot bedelinkedfromthestateofthere-lationship."Acknowledging that the cur-
rent situation along the Line ofActualControlwas"veryserious,"
In messageto Beijing,Madhav atTibetan unitsoldier funeral
KRISHNKAUSHIKNEWDELHI, SEPTEMBER7
SENDING A strongmessage toChina,BJPgeneralsecretaryRamMadhav attended the funeralMonday of Subedar NyimaTenzin of the Special FrontierForce,acovert Indianunit,com-prising mostly of Tibetans inIndia, tasked to carry out classi-fiedmissions.Nyima died on August 30
when he, according to Armysources, stepped on a vintagemine near the south bank ofPangong Tso. This was aroundthe time Indian forceswere oc-cupying strategic heights in ar-easof theChushulsectortoturnthe tables on the Chinese – thePLA has been reluctant to com-plete the disengagement oftroops along the Line of ActualControl.Whilethegovernmentorthe
ArmyhasnotcommentedonthedeathofNyima, thepresenceofMadhav,aseniormemberof therulingparty,atthefuneralinLehwill rile the Chinese given thatthe Vikas regiments of the SFFlargely comprise Tibetans in
CONTINUEDONPAGE2
Pangong on boil again:China claims Indiafired warning shotsKRISHNKAUSHIKNEWDELHI, SEPTEMBER7
DAYS AFTER Indian troopsthwarted Chinesemanoeuvresand occupied strategic heightson the south bank of PangongTso and Rechin La near RezangLa,thesouthbankofthelakeap-peared to be on the boil againlate Monday night with theChinesePLAclaimingthatIndiantroops had firedwarning shots,prompting it to “take counter-measures to stabilize the situa-tionontheground”.
Therewasno immediate re-sponse fromthe IndianArmyortheMinistryofDefence.In a statement, Colonel
Zhang Shuili, spokesperson forthe PLA Western TheatreCommand, claimed the IndianArmy “crossed the line and en-teredBangongHunan,thewest-ern section of the Sino-Indianborder”andthe“Indian actions seriously vi-
olated the relevant agreementsandagreementsbetweenChinaand India, pushing up regionaltensions, and easily causing
CONTINUEDONPAGE2
Stateof bordercan’tbedelinkedfromstateot relationship,hesays, aheadofmeetingwithChinese in Moscow
THE CENTRE has received de-tailed feedback from officers atthe district level, identifyingloopholes in the implementa-tion of containment, surveil-lance, andclinicalmanagementstrategiesforCovid-19inseveralstates.Theselapses,sourcessaid,wereamongthekeyreasonsforthemassive spike incases in re-centweeks.Following the detection of
nearly 6 lakh new infections intheweek beginning August 31,the Centre has over the last fewdaysmade a significant changein targeting its messaging ontackling thenovel coronavirus.It hasmoved away from ad-
dressing states at the level oftheirhealth secretaries, andhasinstead begun to communicate
directlywithadministrativeoffi-cials and chief medical officers(CMOs)whoarefightingthepan-demicatthelevelof thedistrict.India on Sunday recorded
AS THE Centre and non-BJPruledstatescontinueto faceoffover the mechanism to meetthecompensationdeficitunderthe Goods and Services Tax(GST) regime, the UnionFinance Ministry is unlikely tocede to thestates’demandthatthe borrowing should be doneby the Central government. Infact, government officialspointed out that states hadparked about Rs 1.8 lakh crorein T-Bills, suggesting that theywerenot short of funds.“While it is true that states
tooarekeepingthepowderdry,just liketheCentre, forthecom-ing quarters, they cannot com-plain that they do not havemoneytospend,”saidagovern-ment official who did notwantto be named. The official saidstates have, on an average, bor-rowed about 2.75 per cent oftheir GSDP so far, against 3 percentof theirGSDP.States, however, said not all
of themhadhugefundsinvestedinT-Bills.“Thereisalsoavariancein the expenditure needs ofstates.Forsome,thecommittedexpenditure (salaries, pensionsandinterestpayments)asaper-centage of total expenditure ishigh. On top of this, their rev-enueshavetakenabadhit,”saidastategovernmentofficial.In the case of Communist-
ruledKerala, forinstance,theof-ficial said, committed expendi-turewasashighas56.4percent.“Covid-19andthelockdownad-verselyimpactedstaterevenues–withtourism,asignificantcon-tributortostateGDP,takingabighit,” said theofficial.For BJP-ruled states like
MadhyaPradeshandKarnataka,andevenBihar,whereBJPhas acoalition governmentwith theJD(U), committed expenditureasapercentageof totalexpendi-tureisjust27.6percent,31.7percent and 24.4 per cent, respec-tively. For these states, it is defi-nitelynotasbadasitisforKerala
CONTINUEDONPAGE2
FinanceMinistryunlikely tocedetothestates’demand
Amid GSTrow, Centresignals itwill notborrow
In Gujarat, 4 test Covid positive again in 4 monthsSOHINIGHOSHAHMEDABAD,SEPTEMBER7
AHMEDABAD MUNICIPALCorporation(AMC)hasreportedfour cases of Covid-19 reinfec-tion between August 18 andSeptember6,nearlyfourmonthsafter they testedpositive for thefirst time.Thefourwhotestedpositive
againaretwomaleresidentdoc-tors aged 33 years from theGujarat Cancer and ResearchInstitute(GCRI)andLGHospital,a 26-year-old woman resident
doctor from LG Hospital and a60-year-old homemaker fromBehrampura. They had firsttestedpositivebetweenApril13and April 21. All had subse-quentlyrecoveredandweredis-charged after testing negativethroughRTPCRtestsatthetime.The resident doctor and the
homemaker were also part ofthe recent seroprevalence sur-veyconducted inAMCjurisdic-tionthatfoundanabsenceofan-tibodies in 40 per cent cases ofthe 1,816 known confirmedcases’sampleswhichwerestud-ied.The60-year-oldwasamong
the 60 per cent in whom anti-bodieswere foundand the resi-dent doctor was in the 40 percent in whom no antibodieswere found.A press release from AMC
said that among the four pa-tientswhotestedpositiveagain,“onehashistoryofvisittoKeralajust before the second infectionwhereastheotherthreewereinAhmedabad.”OnMonday, the60-year-old
woman, whowas admitted atRatan Hospital under the AMCbed quota, was discharged.Among the three resident doc-
tors, one is undergoing treat-ment at GCRI and is stable andtheothertwoareinhomeisola-tion, according toAMC.Thegenesisof thesaid"rein-
fection" in the four remain in-conclusive and according to anAMC health official, while thethreeresidentdoctorsmayhavebeeninfectedatthehospital,thesourceremainsunknowninthecaseof the60-year-oldwhowasalso incidentally the first caseof‘reinfection’ inAhmedabad.Thereleasestatedthatthere-surfac-ingof thevirusincuredpatients
THE UNIONMinistry of HomeAffairs (MHA) has accorded Y+category security to BollywoodactorKanganaRanaut.Thedeci-sioncomesinthewakeofaspatbetween Ranaut and Shiv SenaMP Sanjay Raut, with the actorcomparingMumbai toPakistanOccupiedKashmirandclaiminga threat toher life in thecity.“An assessment has been
made by intelligence agenciesand it has been concluded thatthereisathreattoherlifeandac-cordingly security is being pro-vided,”aHomeMinistryofficialsaid. Theministry’s order saidshewouldbeprovided securityacross the country.Thanking Union Home
Minister Amit Shah, Ranauttweeted,"Thisshowsthatnoonecan crush a patriot in the coun-try...Hadhe(AmitShah)wanted,he would have toldme to visitMumbai later but he respectedIndia’s daughter and acknowl-edgedmyself-respect. JaiHind."Ranaut,whoisinherhomestateHimachalPradeshcurrently,hassaid shewould be returning toMumbaionSeptember9.Accordingtoasource,under
the Y+ category, Ranautwill beallocated 11 commandos in all,
with two armed ones for hermobilesecurityatanytime,andoneguardingher residence.Maharashtra Relief and
Rehabilitation Minister VijayWadettiwar called the Centre’smove"politicallymotivated"andaccused Ranaut of being theBJP’s "parrot". State HomeMinisterAnilDeshmukhsaidthemove was "surprising", givenhow the actor had "insulted"MumbaiandMaharashtra.Calling Ranaut Himachal
Pradesh’s"daughter",stateChiefMinister Jai Ram Thakur saidthey had requested for a para-militaryforcetoprovidesecurityto the actor, after being ap-proached by her father and sis-ter. Inavideostatement,Thakursaidthestatepolicewouldguardtheactor’sManaliresidenceandadded that he had told theDGPtoassessthethreattoher."Ifnec-essary, Himachal Pradesh isready to provide her securityduringhertours...hersecurityisimportant forus."
In what Ranaut called a re-lated development, onMondayafternoon, a team of theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) visited heroffice atPaliHill to check for "il-legalconstruction".BMCofficialssaid a team from the BuildingProposal Department and H-Westward inspectedtheprem-isestocheckfordeviationsfromapprovedplans.Officials termed the inspec-
tion a routine exercise. TheDeputy MunicipalCommissioner of Zone 3, ParagMasurkar, said aBMC teamhadinspectedaboutfivetosixprop-erties in Pali Hill lane, includingRanaut’sproperty.AspertheBMCplansof1979,
with some “fresh evidence ofmoney trail” in the case involv-ingloansdisbursedbyICICIBankto the Videocon Group for al-legedpecuniaryconsiderations.DeepakKochhar, ED sources
said, declined to come to Delhiciting the pandemic. He wasquestionedby a teamof officersinMumbai. “Hedid not cooper-atewithus,andsowehadtoputhimunderarrest,”aseniorEDof-ficersaid.DeepakandChandaKochhar
and Videocon Group promoterVenugopal Dhoot are the sub-jectsof anEDprobe intoallegedmoneylaunderinginthematterof loansdisbursed to the
Pangongmisunderstandingsandmisjudg-ments”.Describing these as “serious
military provocations…of verybad nature”, Zhang urged “theIndian side to immediately stopdangerousactions, immediatelywithdraw cross-line personnel,strictlyrestrainfront-linetroops,andstrictly investigateandpun-ishpersonnelwho firedshots toensure that similar incidents donotoccuragain”.Exactly a week ago, Indian
troopsoccupiedstrategicheightsonthesouthbankofPangongTsoand Rechin La, giving them acommandingviewoftheterrainintheChushulsector.Troopscankeep an eye on China’s MoldogarrisonandpreventanyattempttoingressviatheSpanggurGap.On September 4, Army chief
GeneralMMNaravane,whilere-viewing operational prepared-ness in eastern Ladakh, said thesituationalongtheLineofActualControlwas“tense”.He said Indian actions had
only been along the LAC— thiswas his way of counteringChinese allegations that Indiantroops crossed theLAC, a chargethePLArepeatedMondaynight.Withtheoccupationofthese
heights,theIndianshopetomaketheChinese return to the disen-gagementtalkstable.ThePLAhasbeenreluctanttostepbackfromthe north bank of Pangong TsoandGograPost after agreeing tototaldisengagement.
Ram MadhavIndia.Raisedduringthe1962warwithChina, theSFF remainsun-der the Cabinet Secretariat butfunctions under the operationalcontrolof theArmy.Madhav paid tribute to
Nyima. He also posted a tweetwhich he deleted later. He toldTheIndianExpress:“Letthesacri-ficesofsuchvaliantsoldiersbringpeace along the Indo-Tibetanborder.Thatwillbethereal trib-utetoall thesemartyrs.”Retired SFF Havildar Yeshi
Tenzin told The Indian Expressthat his 24-year-old son LondenTenzin,alsowiththeSFF,wasse-riously injuredwhen themineexploded, killing Nyima. YeshisaidLondenwasprovidedmed-icalassistanceandlatermovedtothemilitaryhospital inLeh.He said his sonwas on a re-
connaissancemissiononAugust29. And the next day he waswith Nyima near the southbank of Pangong Tsowhen theincident happened.The Army has not com-
mentedon theSFFor its role inthe Chushul sector operations.Armysourcessaidtherewasnodirect contactorclashwith theChinese when Indian troopsraced to occupy heights onAugust 29-30 and August 31,thwarting PLAmanoeuvres inthe area.
Centre signalsorWest Bengal (56.4 per centand39.7percent, respectively.)On the issue of borrowing
by the Central government in-steadof states,FinanceMinistryofficials saidthecompensationcesswasa taxownedbystates.Under Article 292 of theConstitutionof India, theCentrecan borrow on the security ofits own taxes and resources,whichis theConsolidatedFundof India (CFI),but it cannotbor-row on the security of taxwhich it doesnot own.“Compensationcess isactu-
ally a resource dedicated tostatesandonlytheycanborrowon the strength of future flowsfromcesswhichwilleventuallygetcreditedtotheconsolidatedfundof states,” theofficial said.Finance Ministry officials
alsosaidthestates'entitlementis for the full compensationamount, andthemechanismisonly toassesshowmuchof theshortfall shouldbemetbybor-rowingandhowmuchcouldbe
deferred. “Borrowingformeet-ing the entire shortfall whenthe private sector is strugglingtogetbackonits feetcouldhurtthembadly,” said anofficial.TheCentreandOpposition-
ruled states are in conflict overthe financing of GST shortfallamountingtoRs2.35lakhcrorein the current fiscal. Of this, asper the Centre’s calculation,about Rs 97,000 crore is on ac-count of GST implementationand the remainingRs1.38 lakhcrore is the impact of Covid-19on states’ revenues. Last week,the Centre proposed two op-tionstothestates: toborrowei-ther froma specialwindow fa-cilitatedbytheReserveBankofIndia or from themarket.
DeepakKochharVideocon Group by the ICICIBank. The loans later turnedinto non-performing assets.The Videocon Group allegedlymade investments in compa-nies held by Deepak Kochharfollowing disbursal of loansclearedbyacommitteethat in-cludedhis spouseChanda.According to ED, its probe
revealed that loans were refi-nanced and new loans aggre-gatingRs1,730croreweresanc-tioned to Videocon IndustriesLimited (VIL) and its groupcompanies. These loans be-came NPAs for ICICI Bank onJune30, 2017.In June this year, the ED at-
tached assets worth Rs 78.15crore belonging to theKochhars. These included resi-dential flats, land, cash andplantandmachinery located inTamilNaduandMaharashtra.“Investigation further re-
vealed that amount of Rs 64crore, out of the loan of Rs 300crore sanctioned by a commit-teeheadedbyChandaKochharto M/s Videocon InternationalElectronics Limited,was trans-ferred to M/s NuPowerRenewablesPvtLtd(NRPL,ear-lier known as M/s NuPowerRenewables Limited, a com-pany of Deepak Kochhar, hus-bandofChandaKochhar)byVILon08.09.2009, just oneday af-ter disbursement of loan byICICIBank.Further,netrevenueofRs10.65crorewasgeneratedby NRL from these taintedfunds. Therefore, proceeds ofcrime amounting to Rs. 74.65crore were transferred to/gen-erated in NRPL,” stated an EDstatementat thetimeof theat-tachment of assets.
Kanganaspreadover3,000sq ft, is a res-idential property. Ranaut hadbought it in2017andinJanuarythis year, opened an officethere. "Prima facie there aresomedeviations fromtheplansandwe found a change of user(from residential to commer-cial).TheBMCteamispreparingareportbasedontheinspectionand approved planswhichwillbe ready in two days. Furthercourseof actionwillbedecidedafter that," a civicofficial said.TaggingaSeptember1news
reportquotingRautaspurport-edly saying that she should notcomebacktoMumbaiifshewasafraid of the city police, Ranauttweetedafewdaysback,“WhyisMumbai feeling like Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir?”AddressingtheAssemblyon
Monday,ChiefMinisterUddhavThackeray said, "Some peoplehavegratitude towards thecitywhere they live and earn theirlivelihood, but somedon’t."
Former CM DevendraFadnavis said the BJP does notsupportRanaut’sremarksliken-ingMumbai to PoK, but addedthat itwas the responsibility ofthe government to protect her.Even terrorists have to be pro-videdsecurityunderthelaw,hesaid. "We are not living in a ba-nana republic."
WITHENS,SHIMLA
Four test Covidpositivewas,“verymuchinlinewithAMCsero-prevalencesurvey.”TheAMC’s study concluded
withbetter antibody testingbe-causeanumberof therapidanti-bodykitshaveshowna lowsen-sitivity(fordetectingantibodies)...Thereare somany intricacies in-volved indetermining thepres-enceofantibodies...Antibodytest-ingshouldincludemeasurementof total antibodies aswell as theIgGantibody...,”saidDrPatel.AccordingtoAMC,allfourhad
mild tomoderate symptoms thefirst time, and fourmonths later,the three residentdoctors’ sam-plesreflectanabsenceofantibod-ieswhile the60-year-oldon theotherhandhasantibodies.Globally,therewereinstances
ofpurportedreinfectiondeclara-tions which were eventuallyfound tohavebeen instances ofprolongedandintermittentshed-dingofthevirusoritsgeneticma-terial. However, AMCsaid thesefour arebeing consideredas the(removedquotations)statisticallyrarecasesofreinfection,sincetwoof themhadcoincidentallybeenincludedinthetwoserosurveysofAMC,andthustheyhavesomeev-idencetotrackthetrajectoryofthesupposedcasesofreinfection.(re-movedquotations)DrPatel,how-ever, said this is a “premature”conclusiontodraw.“InGujarat,wedonothavethecapacitytodiffer-entiatebetweenprolongedviralshedding versus reinfection. AnRTPCRtest cannotdifferentiate ifwhat it is detecting is anactivelyreplicating virus or a dead viralparticleorfragmentedviralparti-cle.Thebestmethodtodetermineitwouldbetogoforviralculture,availableat theNational InstituteofVirology(NIV),Pune,whichwilldetermine if the said virus is ac-tivelyreplicating,”saidDrPatel.DrPatel alsopointedout that
therehavebeeninstanceswherepatients have continued to testpositiveforamonth,andcitedthecaseofaBhujpatientwhotestedpositive for more than twomonths,thusestablishingthecaseforprolongedviralshedding.AnAMCofficialsaid,“Adraw-
backwearefacingatthemomentistherewasnopolicyinplacethatpermittedstoringof thesamplesofwhosoevertestedpositive.Wedon’t have previous samples tocomparewithforthepatientsre-infected,”andhopedfor"apolicychange"nowwith the reportingof these cases to theWHOandICMR.DrPatelalsomentionedasec-
ondscenario.Covid-19has ledtoan increasednumberof patientsdevelopingmultiple system in-flammatorysyndromewheretheCovid-19 symptoms aremim-icked. He explained thatwhilesuchcaseswouldideallytestneg-ative for Covid-19, theremaybecaseswheredeadorfragmentedviralparticlescontinuetoexistinthesystem,leadingtoaCovid-19positive test, thus leading to thediagnosis that the patient hasCovid-19.While blood and nasopha-
ryngealsamplesofthecaseshavebeen sent to GujaratBiotechnology Research Centre(GBRC) in Gandhinagar forgenomesequencingandfurtheranalysisofvirusgenetics,accord-ing to a an AMC press release,when The Indian Expressreachedout toGBRCdirectorDr
Chaitanya Joshi, he said, “Wedon’t have proper samples toanalyse reinfection, so I can’tcommentonit.”Dr Patel added, genome se-
quencing aswell cannot deter-mine if a said case is thatof pro-longed viral shedding orreinfection.
Counsellorsamonth. “Likemany other pa-tients, sheused to seeher son inme,”saysPandya.Inaunique initiative, around
30 students in the age group of
21-23 fromSocialWorkdepart-ment of Gujarat Vidyapith (GV)weretakeninbytheGujaratgov-ernment on a stipend of Rs10,000amonthtocounselCovid-19 patients at Ahmedabad CivilHospital sinceMay. And follow-ingencouragingresults,thestatehealthdepartmenthasextendedthe counselling services inNewCivilHospitalofSuratandisplan-ning to do the same in Rajkotwhich has recently seen a spurtincases.LikePandya, parentsof a22-
year-old girl student from GV
werealsoreluctanttosendhertodothis job.Thegirl studentsays,“Themoment I got themessageaboutthisproject, Iwasreadytojoin. I wanted to get the feel ofworkinginaPPEsuit.Butmypar-entswerenotready.Itriedtoper-suadethemtoletmego,buttheydidnotbudge.AndthenIcriedalotandtheyeventuallyagreed.”Thegirl,afinalyearstudentof
psychiatricsocialworkatGV,wasdeployed at Ahmedabad CivilHospitalfortwomonthsandwasthenshiftedtoNCHinSuratalongwith 15 other social work stu-
dents of GV. She recently testedpositive and isolated herself attheassignedquarters inSurat.“Initially,wewere16students
who started counselling.Whenwesharedourexperienceswithother students at GV, they alsojoined.TheCovidpatientshavealot of possibility of slipping intodepression or ObsessiveCompulsiveDisorder.Andhereacounsellor’srolebecomesimpor-tant because thedoctors cannotgive somuch attention to a pa-tient,"shesays.Theywould talk to the pa-
tients,getthemtalktotheirrela-tives through video and audiocalls, distribute books, fruits, getthem involved in various groupactivitieslikestorytelling,singing,prayers. They also celebratedRakshabandhan andIndependenceDaywith the pa-tients.“...Everyday,aftertheprayers
andstretching, there isa sessionof Hasyasan (laughter yoga)whichismostpopularamongthepatients.Thelevelofpositivityisdifferent when they do theHasyasan.Itisthetimewhenthewardwhich is otherwise verysombre, lightsup,”saysPandya.“They (students of GV)were
extremelygood.AlotofCovidpa-tientswereunderalotofmentalstress. So, it was important tocounsel them evenwhen theywere in the hospital. Therefore,we decided to have the MSW(MasterofSocialWork)studentsfromGujarat Vidyapith toworkas counselors. That had a verygood impact. After Ahmedabadand Surat, we are (planning) togetGujaratVidyapithstudentsascounsellorsincollaborationwithsomeothercolleges, inRajkotaswell,” says Principal Secretary(Health) JayantiRavi.Theinitiativewaslaunchedin
MaythisyearwhenAhmedabadwasat itspeakofCovid-19casesand a teamof experts from theCentre had recommended thestate health department to pro-videcounsellingtoCovidpatientsat the government-run treat-ment facilities apart frommed-ication. The health departmentapproachedtheauthoritiesofGVto avail the services of the socialworkstudents.Head of the Social Work
Department of GV, AnandibenPatelsaid,“Becauseitwasalock-down period, all our studentswere at their respective homes.Weputoutamessagetothestu-dentsaboutservingthepatientsin Ahmedabad as counselors. Itwas a difficult phase as allwerevery scared of the coronavirus.We told the students thatwhileitwillbeagreat learningexperi-ence,thechoicetojoinwascom-pletelyvoluntary.Weevenaskedthe students to take consent oftheirparentsaswell.”“Weneededtotal30students.
Initially, we did not get the fullnumber asmany parentswerenot ready. But, gradually, on thebasis of experiences of studentswho joined the Civil Hospital,other students also joined,”addedAnandiben.As the students got ready to
servetheCovid-19patients,theywere first trainedby thementalhealth wing of the health de-partment and then put intoservice.Arpan Nayak, a psychiatric
socialworker(PSW)atHospitalfor Mental Health inAhmedabad,iscoordinatingtheentireinitiativebetweenthestu-dentsofGVandthestatehealthdepartment.Nayak, who himself is an
alumniof GV, said, “Initially,weprovided the students a basictrainingforthetaskandthenputthem into service. They are be-ingkeptataspecialfacilityatthecampus of Hospital forMentalHealth near Delhi Darwaza (inAhmedabad).”While the students are at-
tendingpatientsatCovidhospi-tals,theauthoritiesatGVarealsocomplementing their efforts.“We are constantly in touch
with our students and the au-thorities of hospital. After all,they are young students. Wekeepasking themtobehealthyand stay away from junk food.Their immunity andwellbeingisofparamountimportance.WehaveformedaspecialWhatsappgroup of these students wheretheyposttheirregularupdates,”saidVipinMakwanaand IshaniPatel, assistant professors atSocialWork Department of GVwhoare supervising theoverallprojectat theuniversityend.
FROMPAGEONE
State of border can’t be delinked fromstate of India-China ties: Jaishankar
secondstraightdayof90,000-plusnumbers,signallinganex-traordinarysurgethathasseendaily detections rise sharplythroughthepreviousweek.On Saturday, central offi-
cials hada lengthyvideo con-ferencewith officials from17districts in Maharashtra,Andhra Pradesh, andKarnataka,whicharecurrentlycontributing 46 per cent ofIndia'snationalcaseload.Ameetingwas also held
infectionisspreadinginspecificstates.Itisgoingtonewerareas,but thesearealsodenselypop-ulated; it is not going into vil-lages to that extent. The out-break is still restricted tosemi-urbanareasbecause thatiswherethevirusthrives,”atopsourcesaid.While the increase in case
numbers in Maharastra,Karnataka,andAndhraPradeshhas been incremental andnotexponential,“sincetheirbaseintermsofpopulationisbigger,theincrementalincreaseisalsobig-ger”,thesourcesaid.Saturday'smeetingwas at-
tended by district officers ofPune,Nagpur,Kolhapur,Sangli,Nashik, Ahmednagar, Raigad,Jalgaon, Solapur, Satara, andPalghar in Maharashtra;Prakasam and Chittoor inAndhra Pradesh; and Koppal,
nowthat the states knowhowthevirusspreads,andareawareof strategies for containment,surveillance,contacttracing,andtreatment,why is it that thesestates are still reporting suchhigh numbers?” top govern-ment sources,who are part ofthe teammonitoring the pan-demic,toldtheIndianExpress.“That is whywe have had
longmeetingswithdistrictcol-lectorsandchiefmedicalofficersto discuss these issues,” theysaid.Inthecourseofseveral long
ingsthatatthedistrictlevel,theyhave between 200 and 800
physical teamsof ASHAwork-ers, volunteers to do surveil-lance,containment,andhouse-to-house searches of activecases. They also have a largenumberofsupervisorstomon-itor these teams. But a largenumber of the members ofthese teams do not actuallyknowwhattheyareexpectedtodowhen they go to a contain-mentzone.Theyhavenotbeentrained,”asourcesaid.“For instance, in the caseof
contact tracing, these districtshavenot been told the averagenumberofcontactsperpositivethat needs tobe traced. That isimportant. Therefore, the sur-veillance officers aremissing alarge number of infected per-sons,thesourcesaid.“We found thatmunicipal
commissioners and districtmagistrateshavetheknowledgebutpeopledown the line,who
should actually be trained,have not been trained,” thesourcesaid.The Centre has nowpre-
paredtwoseparatemanuals–oneforsurveillanceofficersonthe ground, the other for su-pervisors monitoring theteam. “Themanuals addressfinerpoints,andhavebeencir-culated to thesedistricts.Wealso asked them to translatetheminlocallanguages,”anof-ficialsaid.The CMOs were ques-
tionedonbringingdown themortality rate to below1percent. “We realised that evenatthelevelofchiefmedicalofficer,therewas a feeling thatmoral-ity cannot be brought below1per cent.Wequestioned themon CFR. Their reply was thatmost of the patients had co-morbiditiesandwereseniorcit-izens.”The CMOs were asked to
makedetailed submissions onmeasures taken to address is-sues related to vulnerablegroups, the sources said. “Weasked if the CMOshad soughtthehelpofAIIMS,NewDelhi,ontreating co-morbidandelderlypatients.Thedistrictofficersre-mainedsilent,”thesourcessaid.The CMOs have nowbeen
directed to avail the services ofthe AIIMS team that has beenholdingmeetingswithdoctorsheadingICUsacrossstatesonef-fective clinicalmanagementofcases.
Adda moderated by C RajaMohan, The Indian ExpressContributing Editor andDirector,InstituteofSouthAsianStudies, National University ofSingapore;andAssociateEditorandDiplomaticCorrespondentShubhajitRoy.Jaishankar is going to
MoscowtoattendtheShanghaiCooperationOrganisation for-eign ministers’ meeting be-tweenSeptember9to11,wherehe is likely to have his first in-person meeting with hisChinese counterpart since thestandoffbeganearlyMay.He said that “if peace and
tranquillityontheborderisnota given, then it cannot be thattherestoftherelationshipcon-tinuesonthesamebasis”.“If you look at the last 30
years,becausetherewaspeaceandtranquillityontheborder-- therewere problems also...Iamnotdisregardingthat--thatallowedtherestoftherelation-ship to progress. As a result,Chinabecame(India's)secondlargesttradingpartner...Clearlypeaceandtranquillityistheba-sis for therelationship.”There are several under-
standingswithChinaonbordermanagementwhichgobackto1993, he said, and these “fairlyclearly stipulate" that bothcountrieswillkeepforcesattheminimumlevelattheborder.“Andthesubsequentagree-
mentswehad, they shape thebehaviourof troops, andwhatare the restrainswhichshouldbeonthem.If thesearenotob-served, thenitraisesvery,veryimportant questions. At thismoment, I note that this veryserious situation has been go-ing on since the beginning ofMay. This calls for very, verydeep conversations betweenthe two sides at a politicallevel.”Askedwhatwas a tangible
diplomatic marker to signalmovement forward in the ne-gotiations, he said: “(I have) avery practical issue right now,whichistheissueofdisengage-mentandde-escalation."Asked howhe saw the fu-
tureoftheIndia-Chinarelation-ship,Jaishankarsaidthat“thisisoneareamycrystalball isa lit-tleclouded”.He said he would leave it
“open-ended” andboth coun-tries “must try to findmutualaccommodation,becausetheirabilitytodothatwilldetermine(if there's) anAsian centuryornot”.
Jaishankar’smuch-awaitednew book, The India Way:Strategies for an UncertainWorld (Harper Collins India),wasreleased lastweekend.Regarding India’s relation-
shipwith theUnitedStates, theforeignminister,whohasservedas India’s ambassador to bothChina and to theUS called the“suspicion of America a veryLutyens’ Delhi problem” andaddedthat“theIndianstreetac-tually realised the valueof theAmerican relationshipmuchearlierthanLutyens’Delhidid”.India,hesaid,has“engaged
successive AmericanPresidentswho had differentworldviews,differentpriorities,withafocusonhowtotaketherelationship and our nationalinterests forward”.“We have to look at what
washappeninginUnitedStatesfromtheperspectiveofour in-terests…If there is theadmin-istration of the day, I have en-gaged that administration, Ihaveengagedthatadministra-tionmuchbetter thanmost oftheworlddid. IhaveadvancedIndiannational interests.”On not engaging with
Pakistan, or using “zero diplo-macy” as a tool, the ForeignMinister said that it is “not aquestionofzero-diplomacy”.Heexplained,that“Ihaveacorein-
terest, I have a problem andthereforeIamnotengaging”.The issue, he said, is about
“whoissettingthetermsoftheengagement, what are theterms of engagement,what istheframeworkofengagement”and“whatisthekindofconver-sation, who will determinewhoismakingamovetoshapethe agenda, determine theagenda inaway.”“For any country, and that
too a country like India, toforego that option… I don’tthink that’s the foreign policyweshouldhave.”Talking specifically about
Pakistan, Jaishankar said thatIndia cannot continue to en-gage because of their “attach-menttocrossborder-terrorismalltheseyears”anditcannotbeacceptedas a “normal anden-gagewith them on the termstheyhaveset”.OnJapanesePrimeMinister
Shinzo Abe who recentlystepped down due to healthreasons, Jaishankar referred tohis stint as an "era" and saidthatithad“extraordinary”sig-nificance for Japan's relation-shipwithIndia.Jaishankarsaidthat not only did Abe changethe relationship for India buteven how the Japanese thinkabout the relationship withIndia
STEADYRISE IN CASESDistrict Cases Cases Growth Deaths CFR
(Sep6) (August30) Rate (Sep6)
Pune 199303 173174 2.03% 4429 2.22%
Nagpur 38144 27241 4.93% 900 2.36%
Nashik 45790 38940 2.34% 962 2.10%
Prakasam 29074 22306 3.86% 320 1.10%
Chittoor 42561 35713 2.54% 473 1.11%
Mysuru 22080 17544 3.34% 503 2.28%
Bellary 23800 20976 1.82% 294 1.24%
Cases surge, Centre targets districts inchange of strategy, finds glaring gaps
Ahmedabad
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD,RAJKOT,
SEPTEMBER7
ASMIGRANTSreturntoGujarat,Ahmedabad started testing forCovid-19 at the railway stationfor arriving passengers. Of theover 1,800 passengers who ar-rived in three trains, 33 testedpositive. InRajkot,15employeesof the Gujarat State RoadTransport Corporation (GSRTC)testedpositive.Gujarat crossed 1.05 lakh
cases after adding 1,330 casesonMonday.At the Ahmedabad Kalupur
railway station, of the 823 pas-sengers who arrived via Delhi-Ahmedabad Rajdhani Express,26 testedpositive.Seven others among the to-
tal of 1,050 arriving passengers,that is 519 passengers who ar-rivedviaGorakhpurExpressand530 others via MuzaffarpurExpress, testedpositive.AsRajkotreportednearly150
cases, days after theworkshopsuperintendentandanadminis-trative officer at theRajkot divi-sionofGSRTCtestedpositiveforCovid-19,15moreemployeesofthe public transport provider
positivetwodaysago,weorgan-ised a campand tested 201 em-ployeesofthedivision,includingthoseworking in theworkshopandstore,enmasseforCovid-19on Monday. Samples of 15 ofthem have returned positive,"YogeshPatel,divisionalcontroller(DC)ofGSRTCinRajkotsaid.TheDC said that the 15have
beenordered to remainquaran-tined in their homes. "Wehavealso askedapprenticesnot to re-port for duty for a fewdays andhavedecidedtoworkwithmini-mal staff. However, this, in nowway, will affect operations ofbusesofourdivision,"Pateladded.Meanwhile, the Rajkot
Municipal Corporation onMonday said that it had set upfacilities for Covid-19 testing atall the 21 urban health centres(UHC) in the city and that any-one canwalk in anUHCandgetherself tested freeof cost.As per the district adminis-
tration, the test positivity ratefor its municipal corporationlimits stands at 4.14 percent atpresentwhilethetestpositivityis higher for the district’s rurallimits - 6.6per cent.
Considering the present situation of pandemic of Covid-19
all concerned are hereby informed to follow Government
guideline regarding Covid-19 pandemic.
Place : Gandhinagar
Date : 03.09.2020
A. V. Shah
Member Secretary
PUBLIC NOTICE
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEGANDHINAGAR,SEPTEMBER7
CHIEFMINISTER Vijay Rupani,onMonday,virtually flaggedofffive Covid-19 Vijay Raths (chari-ots) infivedistrictsof thestate–Ahmedabad,Bhuj,Banaskantha,SuratandJunagadh-whichwillraiseawarenessaboutCovid-19alongwithfivedifferentwelfareschemes of the Central govern-ment across the state, stated anofficial release from the stategovernmentonMonday.The Covid-19 Vijay Raths is a
project of the Press InformationBureau (PIB) inpartnershipwithGujarat University and theUNICEF (United Nations
Children'sFund)thatwillcoverall33districtsofthestateinthenext44days,coveringaspanof60kilo-metreeveryday.Apart fromrais-ingawarenessaboutCovid-19andCentral government schemes, itwillalsofelicitate thepeoplewhohavedefeatedcoronavirus.AdditionalDirectorGeneralof
PIB, Dhiraj Kakadiya, said thateachrathwillhavefourtofiveat-tendants. Three of these atten-dantswill be artists registeredwith the governmentwhowill
spread awareness about Covid-19 and the Centre’s schemes invariousmanners.Duringthe44-dayjourney,workersonthechar-iotswillalsodistributemasksandimmunityboosterstopeople.Flaggingoff thechariots,CM
Rupanisaidthattheserathswillstrengthen the Gujarat govern-ment’sresolutiontodefeatcoro-navirus.Headded thatwith theintense efforts of the Gujaratgovernment and cooperationfrom people of Gujarat, the re-covery rate in the state hasreached 82% and the death ratehascomedownto2.9%from7%.The CM said that the rate of
positivity inGujarat is between3.5% and four percent againsteight-ninepercentofthecountry.
Palanpur: Threepersons, includ-ingawomanandhertoddlerson,werekilledandfiveothersinjuredwhenawallcollapsedontheminBanaskanthadistrictonMonday,police said. The incident tookplace in Sejalpura villagewhenthewall of a dilapidated housecamecrashingon thevictims, allhailingfromRajasthan,theysaid.Thewall of the unoccupied
house collapsed on a group oflabourersandtheir familymem-berswhentheywerecarryingoutdiggingwork for the plinth of anewhousebeing constructed initsvicinity,aPalanpurruralpolicestationofficialsaid.Threepersons,SitabenVasaiya
(38) her sonRaju (3), and a five-year-oldchild,RahulVasaiya,weredeclareddeadatthePalanpurcivilhospital,policesaid. PTI
Woman, twominors killedin wall collapse
LAUNCHED IN5DISTRICTSOFGUJARAT
‘Vijay Raths’ to raise awarenessabout pandemic, welfare schemes
THE DIRECTORATE of ForensicScience (DFS) in Gujarat ac-counted for tracing the highestnumber of finger prints in asmany as 69,636 cases in 2019across the country, as per datareleased by National CrimeRecordsBureau (NCRB).Accordingto‘FingerPrintsin
India 2019’ report recently re-leasedbyNCRBundertheUnionHomeMinistry, theFingerPrintBureau under DFS Gujarattopped the list by tracing asmany as 69,636 search slips in2019 followedbyTamilNaduat11,524 cases and Delhi at 8,517cases.Search slip refers to the
processwherea10digitimpres-sions (ten fingers) document isused to trace previous connec-
tion of the accused person/sfrom the record being availableat thestateFingerPrintbureau.Among the search slips is-
sued in 2019 in Gujarat, maxi-mumofthemamountedtomis-cellaneoussectionsoftheIndianPenal Code with 1,87,235 slipsfollowed by SLL(Special and lo-callaws)with1,09,963,burglarywith 7,276 and grievous assaultcaseswith4,748.According to the data re-
leased, Gujarat also accountedfor the largest data record ofsearch slip finger prints with15,53,048followedbyTelanganawith5,84,752andMaharashtrawith 4,70,075. Apart from that,italsohasrecordoftotal2,17,293fingerprint slips of convictedpersons tillDecember31,2019.Thestatisticswerereleasedin
the23rd editionof Finger PrintsinIndiastudyreportwhichtakesinto account the data compiled
by fingerprintbureausofdiffer-ent states when it comes to onspotvisitsbyfingerprintexperts,tallyingandtracingfingerprintsof accused persons throughsearch slipsandopiningexpert-iseincourtsforbetterconvictionincriminalcases.In Gujarat, the finger print
bureauhasbeenworkingunderthe Directorate of ForensicScience since 2002 and has theFACTS 7.0 (Fingerprint AnalysisTracking System) version in-stalledattheGandhinagarbasedcentralizedofficeof theDFS.An honourary case from
Gujaratmentioned in theNCRBreport is of theworkof ForensicScienceLaboratory(FSL)headedby Finger Prints expert ACPrajapati in the arrest of eightpersonsbytheNarcoticsControlBureau (NCB) in Porbandar in2017 related to seizure of 1,445kilogramofheroin.
The FSL team collected five‘chance prints’ (accidental im-pressions left by friction ridgesskin on a surface by an accusedat a crime site) and then tracedit with fingerprint records ofeight accused, where one ofthemmatched.Speaking to The Indian
Express, JM Vyas, director ofDirectorate of Forensic Science(DFS) said ”Majority of the SLLcasespertain toProhibitionAct,GujaratMotor Vehicles Act andall others local Acts of Gujarat.We are extremely proud of ourteam for their excellent workwhich has resulted in Gujaratgetting on top of list when itcomestotracingofsearchslips."The NCRB report further
states that inGujarat, theFingerprint experts visited asmanyas2,396 scenes of crime in 2019compared to 2,735 in 2018 and2,645 in2017.
State ranks first in tracing record ofaccused through finger print database
COVIDTALLYCROSSES1.05LAKH
33passengers test positiveatAhmedabad railwaystation
Ahmedabad
GUJARAT4 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,SEPTEMBER8,2020
GOPALKATESHIYARAJKOT,SEPTEMBER7
WHILE POTATOprices are soar-ing in the retail market inSaurashtra,onionpricestooseemtobeheading in the samedirec-tionasheavyrains inAugusthasdamagedKharifcropanddelayedharvest.Onionpriceshavemorethan
doubledoverthepastonemonthatMahuva agriculture producemarket committee (APMC), thebiggestwholesalemarket of thebulbsinthestate,asarrivalshaveremainmoreor lessstablewhilefreshcropisyettoarrive.Themodalpriceof redonion
in the Mahuva APMC inBhavnagarwas quoted Rs 1,725perquintalonMonday.Thatwasmore than double as comparedtoRs768quotedinthesamemar-ket on August 4. In fact, the thehighestquoteonMonday wasashigh as Rs 2160, data availablewiththeMahuvaAPMCshows.In Rajkot district’s Gondal
APMC, the other bigwholesalemarketofonioninSaurashtra,ar-rivalsonMondaywere5384quin-talsandmodalpricewasRs1,305.“Due to very heavy rain in
August in Saurashtra, theKharifonioncrophasbeendamagedanditsarrival in themarkethasbeendelayed. Presently, only farmerswhohave holding capacity andstockistshaveonionsandtheyarecarting themtomarket inastag-geredmanner. As there is short-supply, just like potato prices,onion prices are also risingsteadily,”PravinJoshi,presidentofMahuva APMC CommissionAgentsAssociation(MACAA),said.Arrivals of the red onion,
whichisconsumedfresh,havere-mained in the range of 3,500quintal to 4,000 quintal per dayin Mahuva APMC in recentweeks. “Usually, Kharif onionstartsarrivingbySeptemberandhitpeakinOctober.Butthisyear,thefreshharvestisyettoarrivein
themarket,” Joshi furthersaid.This is a relief tooniongrow-
ersofSaurahstraafterpricescol-lapsedtoaroundRs450perquin-talinMay-Junethisyearfromthehistoric peak of Rs 10,500 inJanuary, says Mahuva APMCpresidentGhanshyamPatel.“Prices of almost all vegeta-
harvest has beendelayeddue tovery heavy rain,” said the chair-man. Incidentally, potatoes arebeingsoldatRs35perkginretailmarketsinSaurashtra.Otherveg-etables tooare costly as thecon-stantwetweather has affectedcrops,sayfarmers.FarmersofAmreli, Junagadh,
Rajkot, Jamnagar and GirSomnath districts of SaurashtragrowonioninKharifseason.“Thiscropcan’twithstandcontinuouswetweather.Therefore, thecrop
hasbeendamaged.Theextentofthatdamagewillbecomeclearerincomingweeks,”Pateladded.Joshi said that farmerswho
couldnot sell theirproducedur-ingthelockdownarecartingittoAPMC now. “During the lock-down, only premium qualityonionwas attracting goodpricebids at auction on the yard ofMahuvaAPMC.Therefore, farm-erswhoseproducewasnot thatgoodwere dissuaded to sell atthat time. The current shortagehas offered themawindow. Butas the quality is not that good,tradersarenotgoingtovillagestodirectly purchase from farmersandinsteadarepreferringtobuyfromtheyard,” Joshisaid.Mahuva APMC secretary
Vishal Pachani said they are tak-ingallprecautionsontheyard tokeepCovid-19atbay.“Wearedis-tributing face masks for freeamong farmers.Wegot our stafftestedforCovid-19lastmonthandall of them tested negative,” hesaid.
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD, SEPTEMBER7
UNHAPPYWITHtheguidelinesofUnlock4.0, theweddingsandevents industry in Gujarat,which is badly hit due to theCovid-19 restrictions, onMondaysoughtPrimeMinisterNarendra Modi’s interventionforallowingmoreattendees formarriages in wake of the up-comingwedding season.“From September 21, as per
the Unlock 4.0 guidelines, 100attendeeswillbeallowedtoat-tend marriages. That is notenough to sustain our industrywhichhasbeenshut for the lastsixmonths.With foldedhands,I want to appeal to the PrimeMinisterNarendraModi,HomeMinister Amit Shah and CM(VijayRupani) toallowustobe-comeAtmanirbhar.Wewanttostand up on our own feet. Asyouhave allowed, buses, trainsand flights to ply, do allow ussimilar relaxations,” said
Narendra Somani, president ofFederationofAll IndiaCateringwhichwasoneof thesixassoci-ations linkedwiththeweddingindustry that addressedmediapersons onMonday.Theassociations linkedwith
weddings and events de-manded that the governmentallows guests up to 50 per centof the capacity of themarriagehall or the event location.Claiming that lakhsof fami-
lies associated with the wed-ding and events industry have
lost jobs, “Scores of caterers,event managers, decorators,sound and light technicians,photographers,garments,wed-ding card designers and print-ers, sound technicians, hotels,food suppliers, are all amongthose affected. This is a highlyunorganised industry, wheremostaredailywageearners.Sowe cannot put a figure on thequantum of losses,” Somanisaid adding that letterswrittento the PMO in the past regard-ing the issuewentunheard.
Four months after govern-ment allowedmarriages to beheld with a maximum of 50guests, the government inUnlock 4.0 guidelines allowed100 people to attendmarriageceremonies. According to in-dustryestimates,notmorethan100 weddings happened be-tween May and August whenthegovernmenthadrelaxedtheguidelines forguests.However,the wedding season betweenNovember and May, sees atleast50,000weddingshappen-
ing inGujarat.JaydeepMehta, founderand
president, Event ManagementFederation said, “The industrycannot runwithrevenues from50-100attendees. If thegovern-mentpermitsguestsequivalenttoat least50percentof capacityof the event, then this industrycan be saved.” Mehta said theindustrywill followthegovern-ment SOPs.The representatives of vari-
ousassociationssaid itwas im-portant for the government to
makeanimmediateannounce-ment in this regard as peoplewill take their time to bookweddingandeventvenuesandsimilarlysometimewouldalsobe needed for planners whowouldorganiseorconductsuchevents.“If a wedding has to take
place anytime betweenNovember and May, then thegovernment needs to make aannouncement now so thatthere is sufficient time forpeo-ple to plan and book. During
theweddingseasonmore than50,000 weddings take placeacross Gujarat and it is a hugerevenue earner for us,”Mehta said.Therepresentativesoftheas-
sociations said that 70-80 percent of the contractual staff inthewedding and events indus-try have either been laid off orhave taken salary cuts. “We donothaveanyrevenuesandmanyof us are finding it difficult toeven pay 50 per cent salaries toouremployees,”Mehtaadded.
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD,SEPTEMBER7
AFTERMAKINGitmandatoryforcommercial establishments, in-stitutions and offices to appointa Covid co-ordinator, theAhmedabad MunicipalCorporation(AMC)hasnowim-plementedthistoresidentialar-eas including apartments, soci-eties and other residentialpremises.The order issued by
Ahmedabad MunicipalCommissionerMukesh KumaronMonday,whichis tobeeffec-tive immediately, has made itmandatory for the secretary,chairman or themanager to actas a Covid co-ordinator or ap-pointsomeoneelseasaCovidco-ordinator in the format releasedbytheAMCandinformtheassis-tantmunicipalcommissionerofthe respectivewards about theco-ordinator.For any negligence or non-
complianceoftheguidelines,thechairman, secretarywill be heldresponsibleandwillinviteprose-cutionunderIPCSeciion188,andrelevant sections of theDisasterManagementAct, 2005, and theEpidemicDiseasesAct,1897.AMCwillbeconveyingthisto
the secretary or chairman of allthe residential societies, apart-ments, colonies concernedthrougha letteralso.The co-ordinator has been
made responsible for enforce-mentofallprotocolsissuedfromtimetotime,toensureallCovid-19 norms for home quarantineare followed. In case of anybreachofguidelines,itshouldbereportedat theassistantmunic-ipal commissioner of thewardconcerned.Further, theco-ordinatorhas
to ensure that all those includ-
ingresidentsandvisitorsareal-lowed entry or exit only if theyare wearing face masks andhave downloaded the AarogyaSetu app. The visitors will bescreened for body temperatureat the entrypoint andwill haveto sanitise their hands beforeentering. No entry or exit shallbe permitted if any person ishavinganysymptomslikefever,cough, sore throat.“It is theresponsibilityof the
co-ordinator to inform theAMC’s 104 service for Covid-19testing and also to inform thenearesturbanhealthcentreandif foundpositiveit istherespon-sibilitytoreportinaformat,”theorder stated.For all the positive patients,
theco-ordinatorshavetopreparethe history of contact tracing oflast 14 days and report to theAMCwithin48hours.Further, the AMChas issued
stricterguidelinesforthemicro-containmentareas.AMCwill bewriting individual letters to allsuchhomequarantinedpatientsinforming them about theseguidelines.The secretary, chairman, or-
ganizer, manager or owner ofthatparticularresidentialcolony,society or flat ismade responsi-bletoensurethatnopositiveper-sonoranypersonwhohascomeinhiscontactstayinginamicro-containment area comes out oftheirresidenceduringthatquar-antineperiod.“Theywillhavetoalsoensure
that antigen test for Covid-19 isdone for all the residents of thatmicro-containmentarea.Onlyincaseofmedicalemergency,ares-identof thatmicrocontainmentarea can be permitted to go outand that too only aftermakingnecessary entry in the registerkeptwith the police assistant,”theorderstates.
AMC makes Covidco-ordinator mustfor residential areas
Aswet August delays harvest,onion prices rise inmarket
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD,SEPTEMBER7
A COURT in Ahmedabad sentPopular Builders owner RamanPatel, his brotherDashrathPatel,sonMaunangPatel andnephewVirendraPatel to judicialcustodyonMondayafternoonafter theirpoliceremandperiodended.
ThePatels are facing a crimi-nalcaseofdomesticviolence,mo-lestation, dowry demands andotherchargesleviedbyFizuPatel,wife of Maunang Patel, atVastrapurpolicestation.On August 16, Fizu had ap-
proached the police stating thatshewasassaultedbyherhusbandonAugust1,whichleftherwithafracturednose and in anuncon-
sciousstate.Shehadnamedthreeothersinthefamilyasaccusedinthe case. OnAugust 28, Ramanand his son Maunang surren-deredbeforethepoliceafterwh-ichpolicehadreceivedinitialpo-lice remandof 15hours. Later, allfourweresenttojudicialcustody.OnSeptember5,theAhmedabadruralcourtsentthemtopolicere-mandtill1pmonSeptember7.
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD, SEPTEMBER7
AFTER 277 labourers testedCovid-19positivefromtwocon-struction sitesmanaged by PSPProjects, the AhmedabadMunicipal Corporation (AMC)onMonday issued show-causenoticeforfloutingsocialdistanc-ingandotherCovid-19norms.The urban local body has
giventheconstructioncompanythree days to respond to theshowcase notice as to whyshould they not be penalisedRs1crorefor floutingthenormsto be followed with respect toconstruction sites, as wasframed in an office order datedAugust13.The order stipulated social
distancingnormsaswell as ap-pointingaCovid-19coordinatorat the site,whowill bedeemedresponsible for adherence tomeasures to avoid contractingthevirus.The two sites are at IIM-
Ahmedabad,withthelabourers
living in quarters fixed at theGMDC ground near Vastrapur,and second at amall construc-tion site inThaltej.When these sites were vis-
itedbyAMCofficials inperson, itwas observed that social dis-tancing was not maintained,personal hygiene was not fol-lowed and no Covid-19 coordi-natorwas appointed, thus put-tingthehealthof theworkersatrisk.Testing teams from two ur-
banhealthcentresatBodakdevandThaltejweresentatthetwositesrespectivelyandrapidanti-gen tests were conducted for1,050of theworkers.With 277positive cases, the
test positivity of the two sitescombined stand at awhopping26per cent.TheAMC,inapressnote,also
mentioned that the testing andtreatment costs arebeing com-pletely borne by the AMC andthepenaltyamount shall go to-wards treatment of Covid-19patients by the urbanlocal body.
After 277 workerstest Covid positive,PSP Projects issuednotice of Rs 1 crore
Raman Patel, 3 others sent to judicial custody
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICESURAT,SEPTEMBER7
TWOLABOURERS died inside amanhole of a sewage line inNanpura area of Surat, allegedlyofasphyxiationafterinhalingpoi-sonous gases, onMonday after-noon.Policehaveregisteredanof-fence against the concernedcontractor in this regard. SuratMunicipalCommissionerBNPanihasalsosetupateamheadedbyacityengineer toprobe the inci-dent.The twodeceased labourers
havebeenidentifiedasMonsinghAmaliya (52) and JayendraAmaliya (25), both residents ofJahangirpurainSuratandnativesofDahod.According to sources in the
Surat Municipal Corporation(SMC), Jogramagencywasgivena contract by the SMC tounder-take repairwork of awall in thestorm water drainage line atMachhiwad Circle in Nanpuraarea. Sourcessaid that inviewofheavy flow of water into thestormwater line, the contractorwas facinggreatdifficulty in im-plementing the repair work.Subsequently, two labourersen-tered themanhole to divert thewater flow to a nearby sewageline, without any safety equip-ment.Owingtopoisonousgasesin the dried manhole, bothlabourers fell unconscious andfailed to respond when otherlabourerscalledouttothem.Suspectingsomethingamiss,
thelabourerscontactedthecon-tractor, Jogaram Sen, who inti-matedtheSMCfiredepartment.Fireofficialsbeganrescueopera-tions at 1 pm. Two firemen en-tered themanhole and hauledbothlabourersusingropes,asperSMC Chief Fire Officer BasantPareekh.Athwalinespolice,SMCCentral Zone Chief DebashishBasakandothertopmunicipalof-ficials also reached the spot tospeaktoother labourers.
Bothlabourerswereimmedi-atelyrushedtoNewCivilHospitaland SMIMER hospital, respec-tively,wheretheyweredeclareddeadonarrival.Anil Amaliya, the son of de-
ceased labourer Monsingh,lodgedapolicecomplaintagainstcontractor Jogaram Sen and hewas booked under IPC sections304 (Punishment for culpablehomicidenotamountingtomur-der), the Atrocity Act and theProhibition of Employment asManualScavengerAct.Surat Municipal
CommissionerBNPanisaid,“Theworkofrepairingthestormwaterdrainage linewas in progress atMachhiwad circle in Nanpura.Due to the flow of water in thestormwater line, the contractorfaced difficulty in repairing thewall.Weareshockedathowthetwo labourers directly enteredthe nearby sewerage line,with-outanysafetymeasures.Wehavesetupan inquiryand ithasbeengiventothecityengineer.Afteraweek,wewilltakefurtheraction.We have gotmachines to cleanthe sewerage line and are sur-prised as towhy theywere notused.Wewill not sparewhoso-ever is responsible for this inci-dent.”AthwalinespoliceinspectorJP
Jadejasaid,“Wehaveregisteredacomplaint on the basis of thestatementsgivenbyotherlabour-ers. During investigation, if evi-dence of other people's involve-ment comes out, we will notspare them. The labourersweremade to go into the manholewithoutanysafetyequipment.”
AS THE controversy over thedeathofBollywoodactorSushantSingh Rajput rages, the GujaratCongress alleged in a press con-ferenceonSundaythat theBJP issilent about its relationshipwithBollywood producer SandipSsinghwho has been recentlyquestionedbytheCentralBureauof Investigation(CBI) inthecase.Gujarat Pradesh Congress
Committee(GPCC)spokespersonManish Doshi alleged that theGujaratgovernmententeredintoamemorandumof understand-ing (MoU) of Rs 177 crorewithSandipSsinghin2019duetotheir“closerelationship”.ProducerSsi-ngh,whowasoneof the acquai-ntancesofRajput,wasquizzedbythecentralagencyinthecase."Talented filmactor Sushant
Singh's death is beingprobedbytheCBI and I havehope that theprobewillresult inemergenceoftruth. But in the entire case, the
manner in which names ofSushant's friends, includingSandipSsingh,hascomeoutandinformation related to it is star-tling. Ssingh's company LegendGlobalisintofilmproductionandhasproducedfourmoviesinclud-ing PMNarendraModi biopic.What is therelationshipof Singhandhis companywith the BJP?Popular actor VivekOberoi hadservedasdirectorofthiscompanyforonlythreedaysafterwhichanMOUwassignedof Rs177crore.Whatistheaccountabilityof thisMoUsignedwithacompanythathas a loss of Rs 6 lakh shownbythem?,"allegedDoshi.On January 20, 2019, during
tax paying citizens to questionwhydid the BJP government gointoanMoUwithSsingh."Governmentofficialswerenot
availableforcomments.
Congress questionsBJP’s ‘closeness’ withBollywood producer EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
RAJKOT,SEPTEMBER7
THREEMOREblackbucksfleeingflooding were chased andhunted by stray dogs inSavainagar village, around 25kilometres away from theBlackbuckNationalPark(BNP)inVelavadaronMonday,whileninemore have died after drowningin floodwaters in Undvi village,forest officers said, taking thedeathtoll to22thismonsoon."Threeblackbuckwerefound
deadinSavainagarvillagetoday.The herbivoresmanaged to fleethe flooding in their habitat butwere chased and killed by straydogs,"MaheshTrivedi,AssistantConservator of Forests (ACF) ofBNPsaid.With this, the number of
blackbuckswhichhavediedduetofloodingandrelatedincidentsin the jurisdiction of BNP hasgone up to 13. The series ofdeathshadstartedonSeptember1whenstraydogshunted threeblackbucks who were fleeingflooding in theBhal region. Twoother blackbucks had drowned
after huge volumes of waterdrainedby rivers likeGhelo andKalubhar following torrential
rainfall in the basins causedflooding in this low-lying area.Fiveotherswerefounddeadoverthe next five days. "Most of thedeathshavebeenduetohuntingbydogswhilethreeanimalshavedrowned.Most of these deathshave been reported fromSavainagar, a revenue village,some25kmawayfromthebor-dersof theBNP,"Trivediadded.
Meanwhile, officers ofBhavnagar (territorial) forest di-vision said that nine blackbuckshave been found dead inUndvi,avillagenearSavainagar."Undviis a revenue village near KamlejReserve Forest. Two days ago,farmers informed us that car-casses of blackbuckswere spot-ted in thickets of acasis juliflorasurroundedbywater.Therefore,with the help of officers fromVelavadar,we undertook a jointoperationintheareaandspottednine carcasses of blackbucks.Theyall haddieddue todrown-ingwhiletryingtofleeflooding,"VojayRathod, ACFof BhavnagarsaidonMonday.This is second consecutive
Lastyear,19herbivoreshaddied.Blackbucks have been in-
cluded on Schedule-I of theWildlife (Protection) Act, 1972,and thus enjoy thehighest legalprotection in the country. Thepopulation of this flagshipspecies of Bhal, a grasslandspread in Vallabhipur andBhavnagartalukasofBhavnagardistrictisestimatedtobearound6000. But this part of Bhal isflooded everymonsoon, forcingtheherbivores to run for shelteron elevated grounds near vil-lages. But thismakes themvul-nerabletohuntingbystraydogs.Lastyearalso,morethanadozenblackbucks were killed in thismanner."Stray dogs have emerged as
amajorthreattotheseherbivores,especiallyinmonsoon.Theblack-bucktrytoruntohighergroundsinabidtofleeflooding.Butintheprocess, they losemuch energyandstaminaastheterrain,whichturnsmarshy,makes it difficultfor them to sprint. Alreadystrainedwhile trying to reach tohighergrounds,animalsbecomevery vulnerable to stray dog at-tacks,"Trivedi furthersaid.
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD, SEPTEMBER 7
THE AHMEDABAD MunicipalCorporation(AMC)hasallowedthe resumption of trading op-erations at the JamalpurAgriculture Produce MarketCommittee (APMC),Ahmedabad city’s largest veg-etablemarket yard,whichwas
closed since April owing to in-creasingCovid-19casesamongtraders andvegetablevendors.It will start operations fromTuesday, according to AMC'sDeputy Estate OfficerRamesh Tadvi.The resumption of opera-
tions has been allowed withconditions that include one-third of the total number oftraders being allowed to trade
on a day.Out of the 157 total traders,
53 are allowed to trade on thefirst day, 53 on the second dayand 52 on thethird day.The timings have also been
fixed from1pmtill 5 pmand8pm till 8 am. Thus, during thepeakhours-between8amand1pmand5 till 8pm- themar-ket yardwill remain closed for
vegetables.All tradersandtheiremployees have to compulso-rily followCovid-19guidelinesincluding wearing masks, us-ingsanitisersandpractisingso-cial distancing norms, theAMC's order stated.After a large number of
coronavirus cases were re-ported from the vegetablemandi, it was closed down bythe authorities. Later, it was
shiftedto thePanditDeendayalAPMCGrainMarket in JetalpurontheNarol-Mumbaihighway.This made available a spacefromtheexisting16,000squaremetre yard area to a 1,00,000square metre yard at theJetalpur APMCgrainmandi.The Jamalpur APMC veg-
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT1. The Thirty Sixth (36th) Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the members of the Company is to be held on
Wednesday, the 30th September, 2020 at 01.00 p.m. through Video Conferencing (VC) / OtherAudio Visual Means (OAVM) to transact the Business as set out in the Notice convening the said AGM,in compliance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 (the Act), SEBI Listing Regulations and MCACircular dated 5th May, 2020 read with circulars dated 8th April, 2020 and 13th April, 2020 and Securitiesand Exchange Board of India vide Circular No. SEBI/HO/CFD/CMD1/CIR/P/2020/79 dated 12th May, 2020,without the physical presence of the Members at a common venue.
2. Electronic Copies of the Notice of AGM and Annual Report for the financial year 2019-2020 have beensent to all the members whose email IDs are registered with the Company/Depository Participant(s).Members may note that the Notice and Annual Report will also be available on the Company's Websitei.e. www.ausom.in and website of stock exchanges at www.bseindia.com, www.nseindia.com and thewebsite of National Securities Depository Limited i.e. https://www.evoting.nsdl.com/.
3. In compliance with the provisions of section 108 of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Rule 20 of theCompanies (Management and Administration) Rules, 2014 and Regulation 44 of the SEBI (ListingObligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, the company is pleased to provide itsmembers the facility to cast their vote electronically through the remote-voting services provided byNational Securities Depository Limited (NSDL), on all resolutions set forth in the notice.The details of remote e voting process are as follows pursuant to amended Rule 20 of the Companies(Management and Administration) Rules, 2015
i. The business as set forth in the Notice of the AGM may be transacted through voting by electronic means.ii. The Remote e-voting shall commence on Sunday, the 27th September, 2020 at 9.00 a.m. and shall end on
Tuesday, the 29th September, 2020 at 05.00 p.m. thereafter the facility of Remote e-voting shall beblocked by NSDL.
iii. E-voting rights of the Members shall be in proportion to the paid-up value of the shares in the equity ofthe company. Members of the company holding shares either in physical form or in dematerialized form,as on the cut-off date i.e. 23rd September, 2020 may cast their vote by Remote e-voting at the meeting;
iv. Any person who acquires shares of the company and becomes members of the company after dispatchof the Notice and holding shares as on the cut-off date i.e. 23rd September, 2020 may obtain the login lDand password by sending a request at [email protected]. However, if you are already registered withNSDL for Remote e-voting then you can use your exiting user ID and password for casting your vote:
v. Members are further informed that ;
vi. For electronic voting instructions, shareholders may go through the instructions in the 36th AnnualGeneral Meeting Notice. In case of any queries / grievances pertaining to electronic voting shareholdersmay refer the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Shareholders and e-voting user manual forShareholders available at the download section of www.evoting.nsdl.com or call on toll free no.:1800-222-990 or send a request at [email protected]. or contact Mr. Rupesh Shah, Chief FinancialOfficer at (079) 2642 1422-1499 or e-mail at [email protected].
BOOK CLOSURENotice is also hereby given pursuant to section 91 of the Companies Act, 2013 and Regulation 42 of theSEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, the Register of Members andShare Transfer Books of the company will remain closed from Friday, 25th September, 2020 to Wednesday,30th September, 2020 (both days inclusive) for the purpose of 36th Annual General Meeting of the Company.
For AuSom Enterprise LimitedSd/-
Place : Ahmedabad Kishor MandaliaDate : 07/09/2020 Managing Director (DIN: 00126209)
NOTICE OF THE 36TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING,REMOTE E-VOTING INFORMATION AND BOOK CLOSURE
a. Remote e-voting shall not be allowed beyond 5.00 p.m. on 29th September, 2020.b. The facility for voting through e-voting system shall be made available at the meeting and members
attending the meeting who have not casted their vote by remote e-voting shall be able to exercisetheir vote at the meeting through E-voting facility provided by NSDL.
c. A member may participate in the Annual General Meeting even after exercising his right to votethrough Remote e-voting but shall not be allowed to vote again in the meeting; and
d. a person whose name is recorded in the Register of Members or in the Register of beneficial ownersmaintained by the depositories as on the cut -off date only shall be entitled to avail facility of Remotee-voting as well as voting in the Annual General Meeting.
EXTRACT OF THE AUDITED STANDALONE FINANCIAL RESULT FOR THE YEAR ENDED ON MARCH 2020st
31
Sr.No.
Par ticularsYEAR ENDED
`. in Crore
31.03.2020
Total Income from operationsNet Profi t for the period (before Tax, Exceptional and Ex traordinary item)from continuing operationNet Profi t for the period before Tax (af ter Exceptional and Ex traordinaryitem) from continuing operationNet Profi t for the period af ter Tax (af ter Exceptional and Ex traordinaryitem) from continuing operationNet (Loss) from discontinuing operationsNet Profit for the period af ter Tax (af ter Exceptional and Ex traordinary item)Total Comprehensive income for the period [(Comprising Profi t for theperiod (af ter tax) and Other Comprehensive income (af ter tax)]Paid up equity share capital (Face value of `.5 each)Reserve excluding revaluation reservesNet wor thPaid up Debt Capital / Outstanding debtOutstanding Redeemable Preference SharesDebt equity ratioEarnings per share (of `. 5 each)Continuing operationsBasic & DilutedDiscontinued operationsBasic & DilutedContinuing and Discontinued operationsBasic & DilutedCapital redemption reserveDebenture redemption reserveDebt service coverage ratioInterest service coverage ratio
NIRMA LIMITEDRegd. Of fice : Nirma House, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad-380009.
2
3
4
56
7
8
9
10
1112
13
14
1516
17
18
* Refer note no 6 for restatement
Notes :
1. The above results were reviewed by the Audit Commit tee in their meeting held on 7th September,2020 at Ahmedabadand approved by the Board of Directors in their meeting held on 7th September, 2020 at Ahmedabad.
2. The financial results of the Company have been prepared in accordance with Indian Accounting Standards ("Ind AS")prescribed under Section 133 of the Companies Act, 2013, read with relevant rules thereunder and in terms ofRegulation 52 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 read with SEBI CircularNo. CIR/IMD/DF1/9/2015 dated November 27, 2015 and Circular No. CIR/IMD/DF1/69/2016 dated August 10, 2016.
3. The Company has adopted IND AS116 Leases, ef fective April 01,2019 as notified by The Ministry of Corporate Af fairs(MCA) in the companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Amendment Rules 2019,using modified retrospective method.The adoption of this standard does not have any material impact on the profi t and earnings per share for the periods.
4. In the earlier year, company has decapitalised assets of `. 29.70 crore due to damage. The Company has insurancecover for the damage. It is probable that insurance claim will get set tled. Income towards insurance claim will berecognised when receipt of the insurance claim becomes vir tually cer tain.
5. Exceptional i tem represents gain of `. 189.71 crore on sell of investment in Equity Shares of Subsidiary CompanyNovoco Vistas Corporation Limited.
6. The National Company Law Tribunal ("NCLT"), Ahmedabad and NCLT, Mumbai on 25th November, 2019 and 9thJanuary, 2020 respectively, sanctioned the scheme of arrangement amongst Nirma Limited and Nuvoco VistasCorporation Limited ("NUVOCO") and their Shareholders and creditors ( the "scheme") for demerger of CementUnder taking of the Company. The scheme became ef fective on 1st Febuary, 2020 upon filling of cer tified copies of theNCLT orders sanctioning the scheme with the respective jurisidictional Registrar of Company. Pursuant to schemebecome ef fective, the cement under taking is demerged from the Company and transfered to and vested in NUVOCOwith ef fect from 1st June, 2019 i.e. the Appointed Date. The Appointed Date is deemed to be the date of demerger for thepurpose of accounting and consequently financial information for the year ended on 31st March, 2019 has beenrestated.
7. The Composite Scheme of Compromise and Arrangement between Core Healthcare Limited (CHL), the DemergedCompany, i ts Lenders and Shareholders and Nirma Limited, the Resulting Company and its Shareholders (the Scheme)under Sections 78, 100, 391 to 394 of the Companies Act, 1956, has been sanctioned by Hon'ble High Cour t of Gujaratvide an Order dated 01.03.2007. The Scheme has become ef fective with ef fect from 07.03.2007. Three par ties havefiled appeals before the Division Bench of Hon'ble High Cour t of Gujarat. The Scheme is subject to the result of the saidappeal. The demerged under taking i.e. healthcare division has been transferred to Aculife Healthcare Private Ltd. from01.10.2014.
8. The Statement includes figures for the half year ended on 31st March, 2020 as repor ted in this financial results are thebalancing figures between all Audited figures in respect of full financial year and the restated published year to datefigures upto 30th September, 2019 which were subject to Limited Review.
9. The COVID -19 pandemic is rapidly spreading throughout the world.Nirma’s plants and of fices are under nationwidelockdown since March 24, 2020. As a result of lockdown the volumes for the month of March 2020 has been adverselyimpacted. The Company is monitoring the situation closely and will resume operations in a phased manner taking intoaccount directives of Government of India.
10. The above is an ex tract of the detailed format of annual financial results filed with the Stock Exchanges under Regulation52 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015. The full format of the half yearlyand yearly financial results are available on the Company's website www.nirma.co.in and Stock Exchange websitewww.nseindia.com.
11. For the items referred in sub-clauses (a), (b), (d) and (e) of the Regulation 52 (4) of the SEBI (Listing Obligations andDisclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, the per tinent disclosures have been made to the National StockExchange and can be accessed on the www.nirma.co.in.
12. Defini tion of ratio
1 Debt Equity Ratio = (Total debt -Cash and Cash Equivalents) / (Total Equity)
2 Debt Service Coverage Ratio = Earnings before Interest, depreciation and Tax / ( Interest + Principal Repayment )
3 Interest Service Coverage Ratio = Earnings before Interest,depreciation and Tax / Interest Expense
13. Previous period figures have been reclassified / regrouped wherever considered necessary to confirm to the currentperiod figures.
5,506.27794.76
984.47
784.09
(8.83)775.26767.47
73.045,211.185,284.224,417.09
Nil0.92
53.68
(0.60)
53.0742.3578.171.894.14
5,752.34968.88
968.88
762.82
(141.38)621.44637.54
73.045,207.995,281.034,403.32
Nil1.02
52.22
(9.68)
42.5442.35
298.161.024.29
For and on behalf of Board of Directors ofNIRMA LIMITEDSd/-HIREN K. PATELManaging Director
Place : AhmedabadDate : 7th September, 2020
Audited Audited
Ahmedabad
6
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SIGNS OF RECOVERYGlobalfoodpriceslookingupwouldhelpmorethanhurtthe
onlyperformingsectorof Indianeconomy
THEUNFOODandAgricultureOrganisation’s global FoodPrice Index (FPI) has
ONEOFTHEmany interesting aspects of thebook,TheIndiaWay:StrategiesforanUncertainWorld, just publishedby the external affairsminister,SubrahmanyamJaishankar,istheuseof a rare lens— theMahabharata— to framethe current global strategic problems andIndia’s foreignpolicy challenges. Jaishankar’sjudgmentsonthemesrangingfromnon-align-ment to balance of powerwill surely drawmuchcriticalinterestwithinIndiaandbeyond.Whether scholars and diplomats agree
with Jaishankarornot, there isnodoubt thatthe book opens an importantwindow intoDelhi’schangingworldview.HisexcursionintotheMahabharata should also reinforce thegrowingglobal interest in engagingwith theIndianclassicsontheenduringsourcesof,andnewpossibilitiesfor,Delhi’sgrandstrategy.For Jaishankar, theMahabharata is “the
most vividdistillationof Indian thoughts onstatecraft”anda"graphicaccount"of real-lifesituations and the complex challenges theypresent leaders.“Thecouragerequiredtoim-plement policy is, perhaps, itsmost famoussection—theBhagavadGita.”Hepointstootherelementsthatpersistin
modern international relations—acceptingtactical compromises for strategic gain, pro-moting regime change, ensuring balance ofpower, observing and violating acceptednorms,shapingthediscourseandcontrollingthenarrative. Jaishankar drawson episodesfromtheepictoillustratethesethemesintheircontemporary context. Anyone reading thebooktodaywouldnaturally look forclues forDelhi’s current thinkingonhowtocopewiththe growing power gap with China andBeijing’smilitarycampaigntochangetheter-ritorialstatusquoineasternLadakh.Jaishankar argues that “our current con-
cernshaveanancientreflectioninthattale,es-pecially leveragingtheexternalenvironmentto addressbilateral imbalances.”What, then,aboutnon-alignment, theholygrailof India’sforeignpolicy?Jaishankardrawsontwochar-acters in theMahabharatawho choose vari-antsof non-alignment thatmake themmar-ginal to the greatwarbetween theKauravasandPandavasatKurukshetra.Krishna’s brother, Balarama, “opts out of
theconflictbytakingalongpilgrimageduringthewar. He comes back angered by its out-comeandyetunabletoinfluenceitinanyway”and “Rukmiof Vidarbha is theother notablewarriorwhostaysoutofthewar,butforaverydifferentreason.Heoverestimateshisvaluetobothsidesandendsupacceptedbyneither.”Jaishankar sums up the problemswith
India’s preference for perennial hedging andthe reluctance to make difficult choices:“Wherewehaveremaineduninvolved,wearenevertheless left to face consequences. Onsomequestions,werunthedangerofdispleas-ingallparties.Wherewehavealignedonlargercontradictions,ourreluctanceindoingsofullyhasnotbeenwithoutcosts”.He grappleswith the importance of ex-
plainingmodern India’s refusal to see theworldintermsofpower.Hepointstotheinter-national context of the twoworldwars, theColdWarandtheeraofglobalisation,thathavemarkedthelasthundredyears.But inamoredemandingandcomplexworldthatisunfold-ing today, Jaishankar suggests, rediscoveringtheartsof realpolitikanddeveloping thedis-ciplinetopursueitarecritical.Thegeneticcodeofmodern India’sworld
viewwasindeedformedduringtheinter-warperiodwhenliberalinternationalismemergedas apowerful force globally amidst the ruinsof the FirstWorldWar and influenced themainstreamnationalmovement. The risingleft in theearly20thcenturyofferedastrongcritiqueofliberalinternationalism.Buttheleftwasfarmoresweepinginitsrejectionoftradi-tionalstatecraft.If liberalschampionedbourgeois interna-
tionalism, the communistsweremobilisingtheworkers of theworld to overthrow theglobal order. The global divisionswithin theleft had their impact on India,where the so-cialistsbrokeawayfromthecommunistsonarangeof issues.Communiststhemselvessplitrepeatedlyasthegloballeftbegantofragment.Therewerearangeofotherworldviews,fromTagore's universalism tomultiple strands ofnativistresentmentagainsttheWest.Butfewofthemcouldsurvivetheextraor-
dinaryhegemonyof liberal internationalismpersonifiedby JawaharlalNehru,whodomi-natedthe Indian foreignpolicydiscourse im-mediately before and after independence.NehruandhisgenerationhadlittletimefortheancientIndiantraditionsofstatecraft.Thiswasnotsurprising,sincetherewaslit-
tle intellectual codificationof it. The story ofIndian statecraftwas alive inmythologyandthepopularreadingoftheepics.Butitwasnotpart of either the studyof international rela-tionsinIndiaorthediplomaticpractice.Therewasagoodreasonforthefailure.Afterall, thestoryofAshokacameintofullviewonlyinthelastdecadesof the19thcenturyandamanu-scriptofKautilya’sArthashastrawasrediscov-ered inMysore accidentally during1905. Asawareness of India’s footprint beyond the
Subcontinent emerged, theGreater India so-cietywasestablishedinCalcuttainthe1920s,triggeringanAsianistmovementacrossIndia.The Indian study of international rela-
tionsandforeignpolicy,however,remainedrootedinEuropeanhistoryandWesternpo-liticalthought.Allthat,however,isbeginningto change. There is growing interest acrosstheworldintakingafreshanddeeperlookatKautilya’sArthashastra, forexample.ThelateRoger Boesche at Occidental College, LosAngeles, Subrata Mitra at HeidelbergUniversity,PradeepKumarGautamatDelhi’sInstitute of Defence Studies and Analyses,and most recently Delhi University’sDeepshikha Shahi and South AsianUniversity’sMedha Bisht are amongmanywho offer fresh interpretations of theArthashastra. Their work is part of amuchbroaderintellectualeffortofreclaimingnon-Westernorglobal traditionsofunderstand-ing international relations.Indologists around theworld have long
studied the Indian epics, including theMahabharata. GurcharanDas, BibekDebroyandRameshMenonamongothershavedrawnattentiontothecontemporaryrelevanceoftheMahabharata.Butnotmanyhavereadtheepicfordetailed insights into India’s internationalrelations.One exception is the work of Amrita
Narlikar,whoheads theGerman Institute forGlobalandAreaStudies inHamburg,andherpolymathmotherArunaNarlikar.Theirwork,BargainingwithaRisingIndia:LessonsfromtheMahabharatatriestoexplainDelhi’srecentne-gotiatinghistorybydrawingonthediscoursesintheMahabharata.Theissue isnotaboutprivileging“Indian”
over “Western”. Thenew international rela-tionsscholarshipontheMahabharataunder-lines its universal relevance. For, the epic is adeep reflection on the struggle for poweramong sovereigns,whomust resolvemulti-plestrategicandethicaldilemmas.Theemergingcohortofstrategiccommu-
nitiescanandmustlearnfromalltraditionsofstatecraft— includingWestern, Chinese andIndian. The last fewdecadeshaveunsurpris-inglyseenanexplosionof internationalstud-ies on the Chinese tradition of statecraft.Jaishankar’sTheIndiaWayisatimelycalltofillthedeficitontheIndianend.
THEPOLITICS of the RSS-BJP combine is re-sponsibleforthecurrentstateoftheeconomy—theunprecedenteddeclineof theGDP to -23.9 per cent—and the immiserationof thecountry’s toiling people. Barely a year ago,FinanceMinisterNirmalaSitharamansaidthatthegoalofa$5-trillioneconomyby2024-2025wasrealisable.Lastweek,theFMinvokedthenotionof an “act of God"while shruggingoffthe Centre’s responsibility of payments tostatesunderGST.There is nodoubt that COVID-19has en-
gulfed theentireworld in just a fewmonths.The closure of industrial units and the com-pletehalt of air, rail and road traffic added tothewoesofaneconomyunderstrain.Butthegovernment had received severalwarningsabouttheloomingcrisis.TheCPIhadwarnedit about a recession andpointedout that theso-calledreforms—commercialisationofed-ucationandhealth,privatisationofpublicsec-torundertakings, reckless liberalisation toal-lowforeigncapital invirtuallyeverysector—arenotthesolutiontowhatailstheeconomy.The first five years of theNarendraModi
governmentweremarkedbytwomajorsteps—demonetisation andGST.Demonetisationruined the informal sector, caused immensemisery to thepoor and failed in curbing cor-ruption, terrorismandblackmoney— its os-tensible aims. GST delivered a blow to the
MSMEsector, cut into the revenuesof states,underminedthefederalspiritofthecountry’spolity andmade states dependent on theCentre’smercy. Today,when state govern-ments unable topay salaries, theCentre ad-visesthemtotakeloansfromtheRBI.State governments had to give up60-70
percentof their taxingpowers, includingtheentireVATregime,tousherinGST.TheydidsoontheCentre’sassuranceofcompensationfortheshortfallduetoGSTcollectionforfiveyears.Theglobalfinancialmeltdownof2008ex-
posed the realities of the neoliberal order.During the debate on this issue, the thenFinanceMinister PranabMukherjee and thethen Prime Minister Manmohan Singhclaimed that the fundamentals of the Indianeconomywere strong enough towithstandthe impact of the crisis. They also acknowl-edged the role of public sector banks and fi-nancial institutions. This crisiswas triggeredbythecollapseofthetwofinancialinstitutionsbecauseofexcessivelendingandfailureinget-tingthe loansrepaid.NPAsaretodaythema-jor problem facedby thebanking sector. TheModi governmenthas failed to take tangibleactiontorecovertheseloans.TheCOVID-19 lockdownwasdeclared in
thelastweekofMarch,eventhoughIndiare-ported its first infectionat theendof January.The governmentwasbusymakingprepara-
tions forUSPresidentDonald Trump’s Indiavisit.TheBJPandRSSwereaggressivelybreak-ing anti-CAAprotests across the country, es-peciallyinDelhi,andpolarisingthepeopleoncommunallines.Pseudo nationalism is being used to re-
strain resistance to suchmisrule, to stifledis-sent.Thefederalcharacterofthepolityisbeingdestroyed.Weknowof thealmost summaryabrogation of Article 370. The CitizenshipAmendmentActisablowtotheConstitution’ssecularcharacter.Thedilutionofreservationsformarginalised people shows the govern-ment’slackofcommitmenttotheprinciplesofsocialjusticeenshrinedintheConstitution.Atthesametime,thereisnolet-upintheatroci-ties against people fromSC/ST communities.DespitedailyCOVID-19casescrossing70,000andoppositionfrommanystategovernments,studentsarebeingforcedtoappearinall-IndiaexaminationsliketheJEEandNEET.Facedwithaninsensitivegovernment,the
people should not bemade to feel insecure.TheLeftshouldmobilisepeopleandleadtheminthestruggleagainstthispro-corporateandcommunalgovernment.Atatimewhenright-wingideologuesdeclarethatthereisnooppo-sition in thecountry, theLeft shouldunite allseculardemocraticforces.
Thewriterisgeneralsecretary,CPI
For Jaishankar, theMahabharata is ‘the mostvivid distillation of Indianthoughts on statecraft’ and a‘graphic account’ of real-lifesituations and the complexchallenges they presentleaders. ‘The courage requiredto implement policy is,perhaps, its most famoussection — the Bhagavad Gita.’He points to other elementsthat persist in moderninternational relations —accepting tacticalcompromises for strategicgain, promoting regimechange, ensuring balance ofpower, observing andviolating accepted norms,shaping the discourse andcontrolling the narrative.Jaishankar draws on episodesfrom the epic to illustratethese themes in theircontemporary context.Anyone reading the booktoday would naturally lookfor clues for Delhi’s currentthinking on how to cope withthe growing power gap withChina and Beijing’s militarycampaign to change theterritorial status quo ineastern Ladakh.
FOUNDED BY
RAMNATH GOENKA
B E C A U S E T H E T R U T H I N V O L V E S U S A L L
ASSAM TALKS IN PERILTHERESUMPTIONOFAssamtalkshasbeenjeopardised with the agitation leadersthreatening to resume their struggle. TheAllAssamStudentsUnionandAssamGanaSangramParishadinseparatecommunica-tionsdeniedreceivingany invitationtotheproposed talks. They also deniedManipurChief Minister R K Dorendra Singh state-mentaboutAASU leadersagreeing to senda delegation to the talks. They urged Singhto not make any such statements. Singh’sstatement gave a false impression that thegovernmentwastrying itsbest tobringtheAssamleaderstothenegotiatingtable,Atul
Bora the convener of theAGSPalleged.
EVERYDAY SUGAR DAYSUGARWILL BE sold at Rs 6.10/kg even onholidaysatgovernmentoutlets suchas theSuper Bazaars and cooperative societystores. Delhi Lt Governor Jagmohan saidthatthisdecisionwastakentoensureavail-ability of sugar to all and to remove “thescarcity of sugar created by the press”. Hesaideventhoughsomeagenciesweremak-ingbigprofits by selling sugar at this price,nodecisionhasbeentakentoreduce it.Theadministration will review the decisionsoon, he added.
NEW CHINESE PMPREMIERHUAGUOFENG told China’s par-liament thathehadsubmittedhis resigna-tiontotheCommunistParty,and ithadde-cidedtoreplacehimwithZhaoZiyang.Huawill retain his post as party president andchairman itsmilitary commission.
MONKEYS IN MYSOREFEAROFMONKEYSandmosquitoeshas ledto thecancellationof the two-day retreatoftheCommonwealthheadsofgovernmentinMysore. Karnataka CMGunduRao cited anearlier incidentof amonkeysneaking intoahotelwhere theSingaporePMwasstaying.
SEPTEMBER 8, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO
There is no doubt that theCOVID-19 pandemic hasengulfed the entire world injust a few months. Theclosure of industrial unitsand the complete halt of air,rail and road traffic added tothe woes of an economyunder strain. But thegovernment had receivedseveral warnings about thelooming crisis.
Ahmedabad
THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,SEPTEMBER8,2020
WHATTHEOTHERSSAY
“Pakistan must continue its moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiris,while countering malicious attempts to have the Kashmir question removedfrom the international agenda.” —DAWNTHE IDEASPAGE
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
Spain and the UK arenegative outliers as theirGDP declines in Q1 wereworse than that predicted bythe intensity of theirlockdowns. The US andBrazil — positive outliers oneconomic growth but thetwo countries with thelargest number of deaths —have paid an enormoushuman cost for notimposing stringentlockdowns. Apart from theabsolute number of deaths,India’s death per lakh is anorder of magnitude lower.This reinforces India’shumane economic policybased on the principle thatwhile GDP growth willrecover — and the evidenceestablishes the same —human lives that are lostcannot be brought back.
Degrees of distrustUAE-Israelibreakthroughmustbeseeninthe
contextofmovestocontainIran
THE AUGUST 13 announcement that theUnitedArabEmiratesandIsraelwouldbe-gin the process of fully normalising theirrelations is a significant blow to thegeostrategic position of the IslamicRepublic of Iran in the region. How theagreement impacts the Iranian politicaland strategic positioning in Yemen, SyriaandLebanonwill,however,bedeterminedby the broader context in which it playsout in the comingyear.Though thenormalisation agreement
between theUAE and Israel has elicited afrenzy of media coverage, its impact onIranian politicswill depend on two otherfactors, which are the result of the presi-dential election in the United States andthe outcome of Benjamin Netanyahu’scorruption trial. Undoubtedly, other GulfandArabcandidatesarewaiting to followthe UAE in normalising relations withIsrael. Each country has specific strategiccalculations for beingwilling to considersuch a step, but altogether their anxietyabout Iran as a hegemonic power with anuclear bomb is singularly intense.Oman and Bahrain may be further
alongthepathofnormalisationwithIsraelthanSaudiArabia. It ishighlydoubtful thatKing Salman bin Abdulaziz would takesuch a step while he remains on thethrone. Beyond the Arab countries of thePersian Gulf, Sudan has clear reasons fordeveloping formal ties with Israel. TheSudanese-Israeli dialogue will certainlytake place, because, since the February2019ouster of former PresidentOmar al-Bashir, thenewSudanesegovernment ledby Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has shown in-terest inhavingpoliticalandeconomicre-lationswiththeUnitedStates,whiletryingtomoveintotheregionalorbitof theUAE.In addition to solidifying its partnershipwith Israel,Khartoumwouldbehopingtofinally be removed from the USDepartmentofState’s listof statesponsorsof terrorism.Manyof thenewpoliticalandstrategic partners of Israel share a deepdistrust of Iran among themselves. Andwith many other Middle Eastern andNorthAfricancountries, theyarealsokeenonbuildingstrongtieswiththeTrumpad-ministration.Bybuildingclosepoliticalandmilitary
linkswith theUSand Israel, these Islamiccountriesarehopingtokeepatbayanide-ological power such as Iran and its Shiiteand Sunni proxies. Let us not forget that
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei had heavily criticised theEmiratigovernment fornormalisingrela-tionswith Israel. TheAyatollah said: “TheUAE committed treason against theIslamic world, the regional nations andPalestine.”AyatollahKhamenei’sattitudeisunderstandablewhenweknowthattheUAE-Israeli deal has, by and large, put anendtotherapprochementof Iranwithanyof thePersianGulf Emirates,especiallyontwoissues—thewarinYemenandthekeyIranian foreign policy tenet of refusal torecognise Israel.Iran, however, continues to pursue an
ideologicallydetermined,universalist for-eign policy in the region. Also, with theIranianRevolutionaryGuards(IRGC) into-tal charge, it is unlikely that Iranwill alterits uncompromising position regardingthe question of Israeli statehood. As a re-sult,with Israel’snewnormalisationwithsome Arab governments, and with keyPersianGulf statesmaintainingtheirhos-tility towards Iran, no one is rushing tosupportTehran.Meanwhile,a failedecon-omy,alongsidesociallyandpoliticallycon-servativemeasuresandtheuseofextremeviolenceduring the turmoil of November2019, have led to the flight of people andcapital fromIran.Unfortunately, thefinan-cialandeconomicstrangulationof IranbyAmerican sanctions is not helping either.If things continue in the same vein, Iranwill be heading directly towards a majorsocial andpolitical crisis.Yet, despite all the regional and inter-
nationalpressuresontheIslamicRepublicof Iran, the IRGC is preparing to win theupcomingpresidentialelections in Iran in2021.Thissimplymeansareturntoamorezealouscommitmenttoregionalmilitancyandmilitarisation,whichwouldbeunac-ceptable in the eyes of the Arab Emirs ofthe PersianGulf, Israel and theUS. It goeswithout saying that while the Iranian ul-tra-conservatives are hoping to consoli-date their domestic and regional powers,Israel and itsnew friendswill be thinkingin termsof containing Iran.The danger, of course, is that these
provocationscouldescalate intoanall-outwar between Iran and Israel, which bothcountries are trying toavoid. But the like-lihood of war will continue to increase ifeither Netanyahu or Trump sees a politi-calopportunity inconfrontingthe Iranianregime. It is doubtful that such a con-frontation would actually help Trump towin the next presidential elections in theUSor to saveNetanyahu fromhis corrup-tion trial. But unfortunately, nobody canrule out the possibility of relationswors-ening in theMiddle East.
Thewriter isNoor-YorkChair in IslamicStudies,YorkUniversity, Torontoandprofessor-vicedeananddirector,
THEGDPDECLINE in theApril-June quarter(Q1) is primarily due to the pandemic anddoesnotrelatetotheeconomy’sperformanceleading into the pandemic. The data unmis-takablyestablishthisfactandalsosuggestthattheeconomyisrecoveringstronglyintheun-lockphase.Letusfirstcorrectanelementary,concep-
tualmisunderstanding among some com-mentatorsthat“onequarterof theGDPasonJune30, 2019, hasbeenwipedout in the last12months”.AsGDPisaflowvariable,theGDPintheApril-Junequartermeasureseconomicactivity undertaken in these threemonths.ChangesinGDParecomparedtotheGDPdur-ingthesamequarterlastyearonlytoadjustforseasonality ineconomicactivity. Therefore, itis conceptually incorrect to infer that “onequarterof theGDPhasbeenwipedout inthelast 12months”. The correct inference is thateconomicactivityinApril-June2020was23.9percentlowerthaninApril-June2019.Indiahadthemostintenselockdownstart-
ingfromMarch25.Thiswasrequiredbecause,by definition, network effects that drive thepace of a pandemic’s spread aremore pro-nounced in larger populations, andparticu-larly sowhenthepopulationdensity ishigh.But for the intense lockdown, the pandemicwouldhave spread likewildfire fromMarchitself, therebyprovidingno time to rampupthehealthortestinginfrastructure.UsingthefatalityratesinMarch-April,wecanestimatethatif caseshadgoneto90,000adayinAprilwhentheinfrastructurewasill-prepared,wewouldhavelostabout3,000-4,000morepeo-
percent lowerwasprimarilyduetothepan-demic-induced lockdown. Spain and theUKarenegativeoutliersas theirGDPdeclines inQ1wereworse than those predicted by theintensityoftheirlockdowns.TheUSandBrazil—positiveoutliers oneconomic growth, butthetwocountrieswiththelargestnumberofdeaths—havepaidanenormoushumancostfornot imposingstringent lockdowns.Apartfrom the absolute number of deaths, India’sdeathperlakhisanorderofmagnitudelower.ThisreinforcesIndia’shumaneeconomicpol-icy based on the principle that while GDPgrowthwill recover— and the evidence es-tablishesthesame—humanlivesthatarelostcannotbebroughtback.This inference isalsostrengthenedbythe
factthattheeconomywasundeniablydisplay-inggreenshootstillFebruary,whentheCOVIDpandemicstruckIndia.Google’s indexofmo-bilityrevealsthatthepandemicstartedaffect-ing economic activity in India fromMarch,whenmobilitydroppedbyabout20percentvis-à-vis January and February. The servicessector— the dominant engine of growth inIndia—hasbeenmostaffectedbytheneedforsocialdistancingandthelockdown.Figure 2 establishes unambiguously that
economicgreenshootsweredevelopingun-til February. First, all the key economic indi-cators showed positive growth for the firsttime insevenmonths inFebruary2020; thisoccurred last in July 2019. Second, each ofthese indicatorshadbeen trendingupwardsfromOctober 2019 to February 2020. Third,thepurchasingmanagersindex(PMI),whichcapturesthefuturedirectionofeconomicac-tivity, had trendedup sharplywith ServicesPMI registering thebest growthbyFebruarybefore dropping precipitously below50percent inMarch.Absent the impactof thepan-demic inMarch, the Q4 growth ratewouldhave been significantly higher than 3.1 percent. The green shoots before the advent ofthe pandemic display undoubtedly that thegovernment’s policy thrust since July 2019
washavingthedesiredimpact.Critically, the high-frequency indicators
showthattheeconomyisrecoveringstronglyin the unlock phase. As seen in Figure 3 andTable 1, several indicators such as PMIManufacturing,eightcoresectors,e-waybills,power consumption, railway freight, cargotraffic,passengervehiclesalesandkharifsow-ing are converging to levels observed at thesametimelastyear.TheV-shapedrecoveryinthese indicators suggests that the govern-ment’smeasures are enabling a recovery intheunlockphase.Specifically,allcountriesin-cluding India usedmeasures for liquidity,creditandtransfersasallof thesecollectivelyimpactaggregatedemand.Therecoveryintheunlockphaseisanoutcomeof thesesteps.Thepandemic,however,isasevereexoge-
nous shock that affects consumer sentimentinanunprecedentedmanner.Everycrisiscre-ates uncertainty that leads individuals andfirms to save rather than spend. However,everycrisiswitnessedbeforeoriginatedfromeconomic factors. Incontrast, this crisisorigi-natesfromapandemicthatrequiressocialdis-tancing. Therefore, the effect on consumerspending, especially discretionary spending,and thereby on investment, is unmatched.Further, in an economywhere private con-sumptionandinvestmentcontributeabout90percenttoGDPandgovernmentspending(ex-cludingtransfers)about10-12percent,every1percentdeclineinconsumptionandinvest-mentrequiresan8-9percentincreaseingov-ernment spending to keepGDPat the samelevel.Whilethegovernmentremainscommit-tedtorespondingtothisenormouscrisis,thisbasicarithmeticmustbekeptinmind.The Q1 decline has sparked debate —
rightlyso — asan informeddebate isessen-tial topolicymaking. Theevidence,however,clearly demonstrates that the decline is pri-marilyduetothepandemicanddoesnotre-late to the economy’s performance leadinginto thepandemic. Crucially, theeconomy isrecoveringstronglyintheunlockphase.
Thewriter isChiefEconomicAdvisortotheGovernmentof India
GET IT RIGHT
THISREFERSTOthereport, ‘Govtworksona freshstimulus’. (IE, September7).Asthegovernmentfinallyrealiseshowthemiddle classhasbeenhit andpre-pares the secondwave of stimulus, itmust learn from its mistakes and notonly ensure proper execution of thisstimulus package but also focus onboosting public spending. It's dire toknow that among all the sectors thathavecontracted,publicadministrationalsowent down by 10 per cent. Sinceindustrial undertakings are still re-strained,thegovernmentshouldfocuson building a robust unemploymentnet for thosewhoareoutof jobs.
Saundarya Jain,via email
RHEA DISTRACTION
THISREFERSTOthefrontpagepicturecaptioned ‘The TVirus' (IE, September7). It isaniconic imagethatsummariesthe irony of our times.Media personsare risking their lives by jostling at akissing distance of each other sur-rounding Rhea Chakraborty as ifheaven is going to fall. Or in a politicalcontext, is it a case of what Romansatirical poet Juvenal described as“means to generate public approval,not by excellence in public service orpublic policy, but by diversion,distraction”?
LRMurmu,Delhi
CUT A DEAL
THIS REFERS TO the editorial ‘Keeptalking’ (IE, September7).Withdiver-gent views on what constitutes theLAC, accusing fingers pointed at eachother for “transgressions” and obdu-racy on the part of China, continuousdiplomaticdeliberationsservenopur-pose. It is to be understood that a“climbdown”willnotbeeasyforeitherof the two countries due to the hard-enedpositions taken. The onlyway to
resolve the impasse is some smart“backroom”talks,withaquietgiveandtake,eachsideeventuallyproclaimingvictory (farcical) over theother.
VijaiPant,Hempur
FIX NRCTHISREFERSTOtheeditorial, ‘Livingonthe edge’ (IE, September 5). The finalupdatedNRC for Assam left out about1.9millionapplicants,whoseemtobedivided roughly equally betweenBengali Hindus, Bengali Muslims andother Hindus from various parts ofIndia. The year-long anxieties of 1.9million“stateless”Indiansmustbedis-pelled immediately.
SSPaul,Nadia
THISREFERSTOtheeditorial, ‘Livingonthe edge’ (IE, September 5). The issueof“foreigners”inAssamhasbeengoingon for decades, and with the currentdispensation at the Centre, it has be-comeaboutmuchmorethanalinguis-tic-cultural ideaofcitizenship. It isalsoaboutreligion.Therewasmuchtalkofa nation-wide NRC. Hopefully, theAssamdisasterwon’t be repeated.
BiswadeepChatterjee,via email
LETTERS TO THEEDITOR
WITHTHEIMPOSITIONofanationallockdowninMarch, it was clear that the first quarter(April-June)ofthecurrentfinancialyearwouldbealostquarterforgrowth.TherevelationthatGDPhasshrunkbynearly(-)24percentcon-firmedthatthedamagetotheIndianeconomywasamongst themost severeglobally. Therewere some saving graces: Agricultural per-formancewasrobust,thegovernmentdidin-deed increase its spending, and lowoilpricesaswellas lower importsduetoweakdomes-tic demand offered some arithmetic relief.However,thesesilverliningswerelargelyover-shadowedby themassive contraction inpri-vateconsumptionandinvestment,withlargelyhamstrungindustrialandservicessectors.WhydidIndiaperformsobadlyrelativeto
other countries? First, India had one of theworld’s most draconian lockdowns. Eventhoughtheeconomytheoreticallystartedun-locking fromMayonwards, states continuedto enforce local lockdowns. Second, unlikeother countries, Indiawas farmoreparsimo-nious in its fiscal response. The “survival kit”fiscal responseof free food, subsidised creditandahandfulof transfers tothemostvulner-ablenotonly limited thecontributionof gov-ernment spending to the economy, butwasalso insufficient to offset the drag caused byhouseholdsand firmsscalingbackconsump-tionand investment.Third, theeconomywasinaclassicbalancesheetcrisisbeforethepan-demicbegan.Themajorenginesof growth—
consumption, investment,andexports—hadbeendecelerating since the endof 2018. Thepandemic aggravated the already frayed fi-nancesofcorporates,banksandshadowbanks.Thatsaid,thereisaquestionoverthereliabilityof data. The lockdown required the statisticsagencytorelyonapproximationsfromuncon-ventionalsourcesofdata.Thismakesitsuscep-tibletofuturerevisions.Weseebroadlyfourphasesinvolvedinthe
returntonormalcy.Thefirstinvolvesthegrad-ual process of unlocking,with supply-chainnormalisationandpent-updemandresultingin faster sequentialmomentum. The secondinvolves exiting from the lockdowns, but notfrom the pandemic. During this phase, thepost-lockdown pent-up demand typicallyfades,whileoperationsplateaubelowthepre-pandemic levels. The thirdphase involves anexit path from thepandemic, either throughthe flattening of the curve, the emergence ofvaccines or thedevelopment of herd immu-nity,resultinginactivitycobblingbacktopre-pandemic levels. This brings us to the fourthphase(thatisthepost-pandemicnewnormal),inwhichpotentialgrowthsettleslower.WebelievethattheIndianeconomyiscur-
rentlystraddlingbetweenthefirstandsecondphases. High-frequency data for the secondquarterpaintsapictureofanunevenrecovery,primarily ledby thesupply side, in rural con-sumptionandintheindustrialsector.Earlyin-dicators suggest that the recovery inAugust
mayhavebeenbetterthanthestagnationob-served in July, reacting to the easing of lock-downsandthere-emergenceofdemand.Thekey concern is the sustainability of thismo-mentumasasecondwaveofCOVID-19casesenvelopesa“rollingwave”intraditionallysaferstates (in the south andeast) and in the ruralhinterlands.Whilewemayestimateasequen-tialimprovementinGDPgrowthinthesecondquarter, there is likely to be anothermassivecontractionof(-)10.4percent.Growthislikelytoremaininnegativeterritoryforthenexttwoquarters, clocking in at (-) 5.4 per cent inQ3and(-)4.3percentinQ4,averaging(-)10.8percentin2020-21.Thisissignificantlylowerthanourpreviousgrowthoutlookof(-)6.1percent.Whatdoes thismean forpolicy?Thepre-
cipitous fall in growth should serve as a grimreminderof the cost of havinganexcessivelycautious fiscal response. Left unchecked, alonger period of below-normal activity risksthe knock-on effects on the labourmarket,MSMEsandultimatelyonthebankingsystem.Monetarypolicyhasover-delivered,andwithaboutofhighinflationeffectivelyhamstring-ingtheRBIfromcuttingpolicyratesfurtherinthenearterm,theballisinthefiscalcourt.Thiscould involve cash transfers and public em-ploymentprogrammesinurbanareas,amongother supportmeasures.When inflationarypressureseventuallyebb,whichweexpectbyend-2020, this should create the legroom tocutrates.Cumulatively,weseeanother50ba-
sispointsbpof ratecutsinthepipeline.The elephant in the room is the limited
amountof fiscal supportofferedso far—pre-sumablyduetoconcernsoverthefiscalspace.Yet, evenwith the limited fiscal package an-nounced,fallinggrowthandplummetingrev-enuesmaycausethecentralgovernment’sfis-caldeficittowidentoabove7.5percent.Stategovernmentsalsoremaininafiscallyprecari-ous position. As the conventionalmonetarypolicy space is narrowing,weexpect the im-plementationof coordinated fiscal andmon-etary policies as the RBI endeavours to keeplong-termgovernmentbondyieldslowtoen-suresmoothfinancingofhigherdeficits.The hugeGDPgrowth contraction in the
firstquartertechnicallytriggersoneofthe“es-cape clause” conditions (real output growthfalling by at least 3 percentage points belowthe average of the previous four quarters),whichcouldresultintheRBIdirectlymonetis-ing government debt of up to 0.5 per cent ofGDP.Sofar,theRBIhasfocusedonsupportvialiquidity insecondarymarketsandotherreg-ulatorymeasurestobringyieldsdown,flattenthe yield curve, and incentivise banks to buymore government paper. If these fail, debtmonetisation, as Indonesiahas alreadydone,mightbethesecondroundofdefence.
It is almostimpossible to saywhether youwillend theday in the
black, or deeply in the red, forwhat is a correct choiceonemomentmay turnout tobewrong thenext. It’s all inthe timing. But, then,what’sreally important to you isthat youhaveapartner’semotional trust.
TAURUS(Apr21-May21)
Eventrivial andapparentlyinsignificanteventscouldreveal the true
gravityof yoursituation.Andeven if life is complex,youshoulddoyourbest tosee thatthere is somesortof guidingpattern. It seemsthatsimplesolutionsarenever thatfaraway.
GEMINI (May22- June21)
Youmaybeconfused. In fact,seen fromoneperspective, the
what is likely to takeplacetomorrow,or thedayafter,rather thanwhatmayhappentoday.Tothatend,youshouldmakesure thatyouhaveplentyof allies, especially if there’safinancial connection.
LEO(July24-Aug23)
Youmaypressaheadwithprofessional goals,even if it seems that
others are holding youback.Those of younot atworkshould concentrate onactivitieswhich bring youenhanced status andprestigein the community.Whatyou’re really after is respect. Ihope youget it.
VIRGO(Aug24-Sep23)
There are emotionalpressures atwork,but onepart of yourhoroscope indicates
escapist tendencies. Doyourself a favour andplan along-distance trip or, at least,spare some time for a decentday-dream. Imean, you reallyshould spendmore energyonyourself.
that there’s increasedopportunity for theoddprofit.It’s thereforeasuitableday forbargains for idleshoppers, andsmartmoves for those in thepropertymarket.Oh,anddon’tbeputoutbypartners’ rashjudgements.
ATOMIC MINERALS DIRECTORATE FOR EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH1-10-153/156, BEGUMPET, HYDERABAD - 500016
Detailed tender notice along with other documents are available on website: <www.tenderwizard.com/DAE>Detailed NIT is also available on website <www.amd.gov.in> for view only. For further clariication, pleasecontact: 040-27776342/27776335/27776387.
AMD/CD/CR/DRMU-KHAPA/DTH/2019-20/T-17410,000 m DTH drilling in Dharangmau-Khapa-Jhapri-Kalapani area, Betul District, MadhyaPradesh with borehole depth varying from 300to 350 metre
The Director, (AMD), Begumpet, Hyderabad invites for and on behalf of the President of India, sealedtenders in two parts (TecHnIcAl& coMMercIAl) from eligible DTH Drilling contractors, for the followingDrilling works in Madhya Pradesh.
DIPR/3336/Tender/2020
TAMILNADU NEWSPRINT AND PAPERS LIMITEDKagithapuram – 639 136, Karur Dist. Tamil Nadu. Ph : 04324-277001 (10 Lines)
NOTICE INVITING BIDSFor Procurement of Packages of TNPL Unit-II Mill Expansion Plan
S.No.
DescripionBid IssueDate
Bid DueDate
1.
Installaion, tesing & commissioning ofInstruments including supply of miscellaneousaccessories for the instrument installaion worksat MEP areas.
09.09.2020 30.09.2020
2. Supply of GI Cable Trays. 08.09.2020 29.09.2020
3.Design, Manufacture, Supply, Erecion andCommissioning of Chip Conveying SystemLot-2 (from Chipper to Chip Silo).
08.09.2020 29.09.2020
4.Design, Manufacture, Supply and Supervision ofErecion, Tesing & Commissioning of Hoists forChemical Recovery Island.
Notice is hereby given that the 33rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) ofthe Company will be held on Monday, 28th September, 2020 at 09:00A.M through video conference (VC)/ Other Audio Visual Means.
The Notice of the AGM and the Annual Report for the F.Y 2019-20 hasbeen sent in electronic mode to all those Members whose emailaddresses are registered. The Annual Report along with the notice areavailable at the website of the company at www.suryakrupafinance.inand the website of BSE Ltd at www.bseindia.com
Notice is also given that the Register of Members and Share Transfer Booksof the Company will remain closed from Tuesday, 22nd September, 2020 toMonday 28th September, 2020 (both days inclusive), for the purpose of AGMof the Company.
Pursuant to provisions of Section 108 of the Companies Act, 2013 readwith Rule 20 of the Companies (Management and Administration) Rules,2014, members holding shares either in physical form or dematerializedform, as on the cut-off date on 22nd September, 2020 have an option tovote electronically on the Ordinary and Special Business as set out in thenotice of 33rd AGM through electronic voting system of CentralDepository Services (India) Limited. All the members are informed that:
1) The remote e-voting shall commence from Thursday, 24th September,2020 (10.00 AM) till Sunday, 27th September, 2020 (05:00 PM). Theremote e-voting shall be disabled by CDSL thereafter.
2) The cut-off date for determining the eligibility to vote by electronicmeans or at the AGM is 22nd September, 2020.
3) Any person, who acquires shares of the Company and becomesmember of the Company after dispatch of the notice and holdingshares as on the cut-off date i.e. Monday, 22nd September, 2020, mayobtain the login ID and password by sending a request [email protected].
4) The procedure for e-voting and attending the AGM throughVC/OAVM facility have been provided in the notice of the AGM.
5) A member may participate in the AGM even after exercising his rightto vote through remote e-voting but shall not be entitled to voteagain at the AGM.
If you have any queries or issues regarding attending AGM & e-Votingfrom the e-Voting System, you may refer the Frequently Asked Questions("FAQs") and e-voting manual available at www.evotingindia.com,under help section or write an email to [email protected] contact Mr. Nitin Kunder (022- 23058738 ) or Mr. Mehboob Lakhani(022-23058543) or Mr. Rakesh Dalvi (022-23058542).
For, Suryakrupa Finance Ltd.Sd/-
Place : Gandhidham Akansha PithaliyaDate : 07/09/2020 (Compliance Officer)
NOTICE OF 33rd ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING,EVOTING AND BOOK CLOSURE
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEVADODARA,SEPTEMBER7
TWO JEWELLERSwere injuredinanallegedattemptedrobberyby armed men at a shop inBharuch onMonday. Bharuchdistrict police have initiated aprobe in this regard and calledfor forensic teamstogatherevi-dence fromthesite.Theincidentoccurredaround
2 pmonMonday in Panchbattiarea of Bharuch town. Fourarmedmen,ridingtwomotorcy-cles,arrivedatAmbica jewellersand asked the attendants toshow themgold chains for pur-chase. As the staff fetched thechains, the twomen attemptedtorobjewelleryfromthecounter."When the owner, Nikhil
Soni, raised an alarm, themen
opened fire at him. On hearingSoni's scream, the owner of theadjoining jewellery shop alsorushedintohelpandchaseawaythe thieves. By this time, one ofthemen had already run awayandSonihadmanagedtosnatchthepistolfromtheotherattacker.Eventually, all of them fled, in-cluding the onewith the pistol.Thelocalshadrushedtonabhim,but hemanaged to runawayonfoot,"aseniorpoliceofficersaid.TeamsoftheBharuchSpecial
Operations Group, Local CrimeBranch as well as the BharuchDeputySuperintendentofPolicevisitedthespot.WhileSonisus-tained a bullet injury in his ab-domen,theowneroftheadjoin-ing shop, Mahesh Soni, alsosustainedminor injuries. Bothhave been admitted to theBharuchCivilHospital.
Vadodara: A team of officials,headed by the Chief ExecutiveOfficer (CEO) of GujaratEducationandMedicalResearchSociety (GMERS), visitedVadodara on Monday to takestock of the oxygen usage andavailability at the GMERS-runGotriMedicalcollege,whichhasacapacityof500Covid-19beds.On Monday, the special
teamfromGandhinagarvisitedGotri medical college inVadodara and held a meetingwith the local authorities afterreceiving several complaintsofinadequate oxygen supply tothe hospital by suppliers. Thecomplaints,officialsourcessaid,
hasbeenmadebytheadminis-tration of the hospital seekinghelp instreamliningthesupplyof liquid oxygen to thehospitalgiven the increased require-ment as the hospital has beenfacing shortage since the lasttwoweekswith the increasingnumber of cases in the city.The hospital, which had a
requirement of about 5 tonnesper day before the beginning ofthe Covid-19 pandemic inMarch, has seen a gradualincrease in the usage of oxygento 15 tonnes per day untilMonday, Vadodara MunicipalCorporationMedical Officer ofHealthDrDeveshPatelsaid. ENS
Two jewellers injured inattempted robbery case
Officials take stock of oxygenusage at Gotri medical college Rajkot:Agoodstrainloadedwith
organicmanurewas flagged offfrom Junagadh station ofBhavnagar division ofWesternRailwayonMonday.
The loading had started onSunday andwas completed onMonday following whichthe 42-wagon train wasflagged off. ENS
Railways transports organic manure
Ahmedabad
High-level teamto probe Thaiwoman deathcase in Surat
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICESURAT,SEPTEMBER7
ADAY after a charred body of awomanfromThailandwhousedtowork at a spa in Suratwas re-coveredfromherflat,ahigh-levelinquiryteamcomprisingtopoffi-cials of Forensic ScienceLaboratory (FSL), ForensicMedicine Department doctors,Dakshin Gujarat Vij CompanyLimited, and police has beenformedtoprobethecase.The deceased, identified as
Wanida Bousorn, 27,was a resi-dentofGorkhastreetatMagdallainSuratcity.Policesaidthatherneighbours
informedthehouseowner,NaginPatel,whentheysawsmokecom-ing out of Bousorn’s flat. Theybrokeopenthedooranddousedfireandinformedthepolice.Umra police inspector M L
Salunke said that thewoman’sbody has been sent for post-mortem. Police said that thede-ceasedshiftedtothishousethreemonthsback.“We suspect short circuit
couldhave led to the fire. As perthepost-mortemreport, thede-ceasedhadnointernalorexternalinjuries.Carbonmonoxideparti-cles found inher lungsmight bebecause of the smoke from thefire. However, it is not clearwhythemain doorwas locked fromoutside,”Salunkesaid.“Thedeceasedwas sharing a
roomwithanotherThaigirl,whohadleftforBharuchforsomeper-sonalwork on Friday night.Wehave come to know that thede-ceasedwas alreadymarried andhasaseven-year-oldsonwholivesinThailand...Herpassportismiss-ing.However,wehavegotphoto-copy of a fewpages of her pass-port according towhichher visaexpires on September 19,”Salunkeadded.“Wehavecometoknow that she had two malefriends in Surat. One has beencalled for questioning,while thesecondpersonisyettobelocated.Weare also takinghelp of otherwomenworkinginthespatogetmoredetails.”
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICESURAT,SEPTEMBER7
REPRESENTATIVES OF a textilepowerloomassociation inSuratwrote to Odisha Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik onMonday, re-questing him to resume trainservices connectingOdishadis-trictswithSuratandotherSouthGujarat regions.Written by the Pandesara
Weavers Association, the letterstates that 95 percent of theworkforce in the powerloomsector is from various villagesandtalukas inPuri,GanjamandBehrampur districts of Odisha.Amid the pandemic-inducedlockdown, the majority of theworkers had migrated fromSurat to theirnativeplaces.TalkingtoThe IndianExpress,
OdishaRajyaSabhaMPPrashantNandasaid,“Wehavereceivedaletterfromtheweaversassocia-tion and a phone call from thepresident of the Federation ofGujarat Weavers Association,AshokJirawala,abouttheshort-age of workforce in the power-loom industry of Surat. Alongwith Odisha Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik,we aremakingallpossibleeffortstorestarttrainservices.Wehavealsosentalet-ter to the Union RailwaysMinister.”The lettermentions that the
powerloom industry has re-sumed businesswith themini-mum available workforce atlesser capacity tomeet the in-creasing demands. However, inview of the crunch of workers,the industry cannot functionwithcompetence.Therearefivetrains which have connectivityfromOdisha to Surat — Puri toSurat, Puri to Ahmedabad, Purito Gandhidham, Puri to OkhaandPuritoGandhidam.Noneofthesetrainshaveresumedserv-icestilldateandhence,theasso-ciation has requested tomakethesetrainsrunaspertheir reg-
ular schedule. The associationhas further requested thearrangementofspecialShramiktrains to bring back over fourlakh workers from Odisha toSuratandSouthGujarat.The letter further states that
presently, powerloomworkerswho are returning to Surathave to do so in pathetic con-ditions inovercrowdedprivateluxury buses. It takes over 72hours for a bus to reach Suratfrom Odisha and repeated in-cidents of fatal accidents insuch labour loadedbuseshavealso taken place, the letteradds. The powerloomassocia-tion has also stated that theyare ready to bear travel ex-penses of the labourers.Pandesara Powerloom
Association president AshishGujarati said, “We have madecorrespondencethroughaletterto the Odisha government andreceived a positive response.They have assured us aboutstarting train services fromOdisha to Surat and SouthGujarat.Withalesserworkforce,40 percent of production ispresentlybeingdonebythefac-tories.Only50percentofthefac-toriesareoperational.”“The Southern Gujarat
Chamber of Commercehas alsorequested the Gujarat govern-menttotalktotheUnionRailwaysMinistrytoresumetrainservices,”headded.
Rajkot man whostoned 3 beggarsto death founddead, say police
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICERAJKOT,SEPTEMBER7
A MAN who had allegedlystonedthreebeggarstodeathinRajkot in 2009was found deadon the terrace of aworkshop inMavdi Plot area of the city onMonday. Police said that primafacie,hewasalsostonedtodeathbyunidentifiedpersons.Mahesh alias Kalu alias
HareshPrajapati (45)wasfounddead on the terrace of a work-shop which manufacturespackaging material in MavdiPlotareaonMondayafternoon.Police said that the deceased'sneighbours had alerted policeaftersensingthatfoulsmellwasemanating from theworkshopterrace. Upon inspection,Prajapati's bloated body wasfound in a bed on the terrace.Police shifted the body to PDUHospital for post-mortem."According to the primary
post-mortemreport, thevictimdied due to head injuries. Wesuspect that he was hit withstones in the head and mur-dered," said Kunal Bhukhan,police inspectorofMalaviyagar."Hewasbookedforthemur-
dersof threebeggarsinRajkotin2009, arrested and jailed.However, hewas later releasedonbail. Since then,hewas lead-ing the life of a vagabond,"Bhukan further said.PolicesaidthatPrajapatiand
his accomplice Badal alias Davehadstonedtwobeggarstodeathin the jurisdiction of Thoral po-lice station andone in the juris-dictionof 'A'Divisionpolicesta-tion. They had told police thattheydidn'twant anybeggars inthe city and therefore, they tar-geted their victims when theywouldbeasleep."After conducting a post-
mortem, doctors said that thevictim had died at least twodaysago.Wehave launchedaninvestigation treating this as acase of murder," Bhukan said.ThePIaddedthatPrajapatiwasnotmarriedandthoughhehasbrothers, he used to live alone.
OdishaChiefMinisterNaveenPatnaik,wearemaking all possibleefforts to restart trainservices.Wehave alsosent a letter to theUnionRailwaysMinister.”
—PRASHANTNANDAODISHARAJYASABHAMP
Textile associationwrites to OdishaCM over resumptionof train services
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEVADODARA,SEPTEMBER7
THEGUJARATPollution ControlBoard(GPCB)onMondayserveda notice to the VadodaraMunicipalCorporation(VMC)forthe Khaswadi crematorium inVadodara,whichisthedesignatedCovid-19crematorium,afterres-identsof thevicinitycomplainedofsmokefromthewoodenpyresusedinthecrematorium.Officersof GPCB onMonday visited thecrematorium and directed thecivic body to install anpollutioncontrolsystematthesite.Officials of theVMCsaid that
the GPCB notice comes after acomplaintfromresidentslivinginthe vicinity of the crematorium,who cited threat of spread ofCovid-19due to the smoke fromthewoodenpyres of the crema-torium. Thewooden pyres are,however, not used for Covid-19disposalsbytheVMC.Thecrema-tions of Covid-19 deceased andsuspectedcasesareheldinthegasfurnaceof thecrematorium.The crematoriumhas been
designated for Covid-19 sinceAprilthisyear.Thenoticeof theGPCBstates,
"The smoke from the openwoodenpyresofthecrematoriumhavebeencausing trouble to theresidentsaround.ThereshouldbeAir Pollution Control System(APCS) for thewoodenpyre andfuelexhaustsystematthegasfur-nace in order to prevent thesmokefromescapingandcausinginconveniencetoresidents."When contacted VMC
Medical officer of Health said,"TheGPCBhasnoguidelines forcrematoriums.Theyhaveservedthe notice to the VMCbased onthecomplaintof someresidentsontheportalofthechiefminister.Theresidentsmayhavesomeob-jection to the place where theopenwoodenpyresarebeinglit.Wewilllookintothematter.TheCovid-19 disposals anyway donothappenonthewoodenpyrenor does the virus spreadthroughthesmoke."
Delhi Police official questioned in caseof riot-injuredmade to sing JanaGana
MAHENDERSINGHMANRALNEWDELHI, SEPTEMBER 7
INVESTIGATING THE circum-stancesaroundthedeathof24-year-old Faizan in the riots af-ter he, along with two othermen, were allegedly made tosing the national anthem andVande Mataram by a group ofpolicemen, the Delh PoliceCrimeBranchhasquestionedapoliceman posted with theDelhiArmedPolice, The IndianExpress has learnt.A video of the incident first
came to light February 25,showing three men, includingthe victim,writhing in pain onthe ground even as a group ofpolicepersonnel stoodby,pur-
portedly telling them to singthe national anthem, and, oc-casionally, hitting them withtheir lathis.Families of two other men
seen in the clip had told TheIndian Express that the videowasshotatKardamPurion theeveningof February24. Faizan,a resident of KardamPuri, suc-cumbed to injuries at the LNJPHospital. Dr Kishore Singh,medical director of the hospi-tal, hadsaid: “Hewasadmittedto the neurosurgery ward onFebruary 25 and died threedays later.Hehadsufferedgun-shotwounds andwas critical.”Faizan’s mother and sisters
hadconfirmedthathewasoneof themen in the video clip.While the video was
recorded by one of the police
personnel, anothervideoof thesame incident, shot from afar,is what helped police in theirinvestigation, sources said.After an FIR was filed on
February 28 at Bhajanpura po-lice station, thecasewas trans-ferred to the Crime Branch,which first checkedhowmanypersonnel were deployed inthat neighbourhood fromwhich police stations.While the incident had
taken place at 66 Foota Road,which comes under the juris-diction of Bhajanpura policestation, investigators foundthatnopersonnel from that stationwere deployed in the area atthe time.“Investigators found that
the locationwassurroundedbyareas that fall under the juris-
dictionof otherpolice stations,andtherewasastrongpossibil-ity thatpersonnel fromadiffer-ent location had arrived at thescene during the riots,” a sen-ior police officer said.Sources said that while
scanning the video recordedfromafar, investigatorsnoticedthat one of the personnel was“carrying tear smoke muni-tions (TSM)”.“Whenever any force goes
out for deployment, personnelare issued TSM under theirname from their units. The in-vestigating officer checked theregister of forces from outsidethe area to verify entriesmadewhile issuingTSMsthatday.Onthebasisof the footageandoneof the entries, they identified apersonnelpostedwiththeDAP.
He was called in for question-ingbytheSpecial InvestigationTeam (SIT) at their office atDaryaGanj.Whileheclaimshewasnot involved, further inves-tigations are underway,” thesource said.Police also believe he is the
onewho also shot the video ofthe men lying on the ground,the source said.The footage captured from
afar shows at least six person-nel, and investigating officersare trying tozero inontherest,the source said.The Indian Express called
and messaged Special CP(Crime) PraveerRanjan aswellas Delhi Police PRO Dr EishSinghal seeking their com-mentson thedevelopment.Noresponsewas received.
THERAJASTHANHighCourt onMondayallowedprivate schoolstocollect70percentoftuitionfeefrom students. The order camewhile it was hearing petitionsagainst a stategovernmentorderbarringschoolsfromcollectingfeeforthreemonthsinviewofCovid-19. The court said that on non-paymentof fees, studentscanbebarredfromjoiningonlineclasses,butshallnotbeexpelled.The order by Justice Sanjeev
Prakash Sharma cameduring ahearingonpetitionsbytheSocietyofCatholicEducationInstitutionsinRajasthanandotheroutfits.One of the petitioners, the
Progressive School Association,saidthestategovernmenthaddi-rectedschoolsthatafterMarch15,2020,collectionofalloutstandingdues, current fees and advancefeesbedeferredforthreemonths.The petitioners argued that
thestatedidnothavethepowerto restrain private schools fromcollecting fees. They also saidthat “there has already been adeferment of fees for a long pe-riod of almost six months andtheschoolsrequiredtomaintainthe infrastructure and also paysalaries to its staff, which in-cludesnon-teachingand teach-ing staff and are facing greathardship and therefore, by in-terim arrangement at least tu-ition fees be allowed to be col-lected fromstudents”.Thecourtobservedthatunder
the DisasterManagement Act,2005, the governmenthas juris-diction to lay down policy and“thepetitioners are all non-gov-ernmental organisationsandareexpected therefore to play theirnecessary role inmitigating thesufferancecausedtothepublicatlargewhileat thesametimealsoprotect their own staff from fac-ingfinancialdifficulties”.As an interimmeasure, “and
tillthesituationgetsnormalised”the high court directed thatschoolsmay collect “70per centof the tuition fees element fromthe total fees being charged fortheyear”.
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, SEPTEMBER7
The first day of the MonsoonSession of Maharashtra legisla-ture witnessed chaotic scenesMonday as many legislatorscomplainedofnotreceivingtheirCovid-19 test reports, delayingtheirentrytoboththeHouses.SevenMLAs,includingMinis-
terofStatePrajaktTanpure,havetestedpositive forCovid-19.Thetest hasbeenmadecompulsoryforall, includingMLAs,theirper-sonal assistants and drivers, aswellasgovernmentofficialswhowould attend the session. Onlythosewho testednegativewere
allowedentryonMonday.On Monday morning, BJP
MLAsHaribhau Bagde and BhaiGirkarandafewotherlegislatorscomplained to Deputy CMAjitPawar that theywere not beingallowed inside. Following this,Pawar instructed secretariat of-ficials to allow thementry afterseeingtheirCovid-19testreports.Inside the Assembly and the
Council, seating arrangementwaschangedtoensuresocialdis-tancingwith alternate seats be-ingmarked ‘X’, indicating thattheybekeptvacant. The legisla-torswho could not be seated intheir usual placeswere accom-modated in visitors’ and stu-dents’galleries.
MAHARASHTRA
Covid test results ofmany MLAs delayed SHAJUPHILIP
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,
SEPTEMBER7
AJUNIORhealthinspectorwasar-rested in Kerala’s Thiruvanan-thapuramdistrictMondayonthecharge of raping awomanwhowent tohis residence forobtain-ingano-Covidcertificateoncom-pletionofhomequarantine.Amid protests over the inci-
dent, thehealthdepartmenthassuspendedJuniorHealthInspectorPradeepKumar,44.Police said thewoman,who
works as a domestic help in an-otherdistrict,hasallegedthatshewasbrutallyassaultedbyKumarathisapartment.Thewoman,po-licesaid,hassaidthatshewentto
theapartmentintheafternoonofSeptember3andKumarkepthertied up there till the nextmorn-ingandalsothreatenedtotellpo-licethatshehadviolatedquaran-tinenorms.Thewoman, who stayed in
quarantine after reaching herhomedistrict,wantedano-Covidcertificateasheremployerinsistedon it. The juniorhealth inspectorwaspostedinthepanchayatareashelivedin.Registeringasuomotucase, thestatewomen’scommis-sionhassoughtareport fromthedistrictpolicechief.This comescloseontheheels
oftheincidentinwhichanambu-lance driver allegedly raped aCovid-19 patient in Kerala’sPathanamthittadistrictwhiletak-inghertohospital.
24-YEAR-OLDFAIZAN'SDEATH
Private schoolscan collect 70%of tuition fees:Rajasthan HC
10THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,SEPTEMBER8,2020
EXPRESSNETWORK
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
AJAYJADHAVPUNE,SEPTEMBER7
AFTERBEINGdeclaredaCovid-19 hotspot, Pune on Mondaybecame the first district to re-port over two lakh positivecases on Monday, as per stategovernment data. The totalcountofCovid-19cases inPuneis more than many states, ex-cept Gujarat, Karnataka, UttarPradesh andMadhyaPradesh.There is,however,adiscrep-
ancy between numbers re-leasedbythestategovernmentandthedistrictadministration,whichhasconsistentlyreportedrelatively lower numbers forthe city. While the district ad-ministrationputthetotalnum-ber of infections in the city at1,97,286, the state bulletinshowed that this number hadcrossed2.03 lakhonMonday.Accordingtoaprojectionby
acentral teamthatrecentlyvis-ited the city, the number of in-fectedpeople inPunewaslikelyto go up to 2.43 lakh bySeptember 21.The spread of the infection
is showing no signs of slowingdown as 4,429 new caseswererecordedonSunday, taking thetotal count to 1,99,303. OnMonday, 4,165 new casesweredetected in the city, accordingto state government bulletin.Thedistrictcrossedtheone-
lakhmark onAugust 5 and in amonth’s time the count hasdoubledtobethehighest inanydistrict in the country. On July18, the number of infected pa-tients crossed50,000.The district administration
has attributed the high total toincreased testing, with rapidantigen tests being conductedbyPuneMunicipalCorporation,Pimpri-ChinchwadMunicipalCorporationandPunerural ad-ministration.Themortalityrate,however,
is slowly dropping and is at 2.2percentatpresent.Theadmin-istration is focusing on reduc-
ing deaths than containing thespread of the infection. Thestate government recentlystarted two jumbo facilities forCovidtreatmentbut their func-tioninghasbeenembroiled inacontroversywithpatientscom-plainingof impropertreatment.Theadministrationclaimed
tohaveintensifiedcontact trac-ing, but the situation on theground seems different. “Thenumberofnewcases is increas-ingat leastby1,000adayanditispractically impossibletotracecontactsof the infectedperson.It isbeingcontinuedhalf-heart-edly only for the sake of seniorofficers,” said civic staff.The civic administration is
recommendinghomeisolation
for patients with mild symp-toms or no symptoms, but al-mosthalf of theactivecasesareathome.Guidelinestocivicstafffor visiting patients tomonitortheirhealtharebeingrarely fol-lowed.“There are phone calls from
the civic staff enquiring aboutthe health of a patient in homeisolation,but therearenovisitsby civic staff,” said a patientwho recently recovered athome.The PMC is redefining con-
tainment zones every monthafter reviewing the situationofan area. Police barricade thearea to restrict movement ofpublic, but there is no one tomonitor this.
Deaths as a ratio ofpositive cases (in %);indicator of progressin averting deaths
Positives againstnumber tested
(in %); indicator ofthe spread of disease
Becoming sick vsrecovering; more
recoveries for 14 daysmay signal the peak
POSITIVITY RATE DAILY IN, DAILYOUT
Cases double in a month,Pune first dist past 2 lakh
Kerala: Health inspectorarrested on rape charge
CHANDANHAYGUNDE&SUSHANTKULKARNIPUNE,SEPTEMBER7
THE NATIONAL InvestigationAgency (NIA) has arrested twoartistsof thePune-basedculturalgroup, KabirKalaManch (KKM),in connection with the ElgaarParishad case for their allegedlinkswiththebannedCPI-Maoist.TheaccusedareSagarGorkhe
andRameshGaichor,membersofthe“BhimaKoregaonShauryaDinPrernaAbhiyaan”,abodythator-ganisedtheElgaarParishadattheShaniwar Wada in Pune onDecember31, 2017, aheadof the200th commemoration of thebattleofBhimaKoregaon.
NIA arreststwo artists for‘Maoist links’
Ahmedabad
11THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,SEPTEMBER8,2020
EXPRESSNETWORK
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
DELHICONFIDENTIAL
MEET BEFORE CHECK-UPCONGRESSPRESIDENTSoniaGandhi is likely tomissat leastthefirst10daysof themonsoonsessionofParliament,assheis learnt tobeplanningtotravelabroadforherannualhealthcheck-up. Sonia's daughter, Congress general secretaryPriyankaGandhiVadra, is likely toaccompanyher.Givenherhealth condition, Soniawould have been forced to give thesession amiss anyway, sources say. Soniawill chair a virtualmeeting of the party’s Parliamentary strategy groups onTuesday,whichwouldbringher face to facewith the likesofGhulamNabi Azad, the Leader of the Opposition in RajyaSabha, andAnandSharma for the first time after the stormyCWCmeet lastmonth.
CHALLENGE TO IT CELLRAJYASABHAMPSubramanianSwamytakingonpeopleonsocialmedia isnotnew.But this time, theBJPMPhaspickedon the ruling party's IT cell, as he said he is at the receivingendof"personalattacks”.OnMonday,Swamytweetedachal-lenge to the IT cell: “The BJP IT cell has gone rogue. Some ofitsmembersareputtingout fake IDtweets tomakepersonalattacksonme.IfmyangeredfollowersmakecounterpersonalattacksIcannotbeheldresponsible, justasBJPcannotbeheldresponsible for the rogue ITcell of theparty.”
RECIPE FOR NUTRITIONMINISTERFORWomenandChildDevelopmentSmritiIranionMondaycalleduponpeopletowritetotheministrywiththeirtraditional family recipes. The call for home-cooked recipesis a part of theministry's endeavour to create a database ofindigenous food itemswithhighnutritionalvalue.Thedata-base is one of the projects being launched in September aspart of theministry’s celebration of NutritionMonth underits Poshan Abhiyan programme. Through this programme,theWCDMinistryis focusingonseveraldifferentissuessuchas concentratingoneradicatingmalnutritionamongunder-nourishedchildren,pregnantwomenandlactatingmothers.
LJPauthorisesChirag for call on tie-upwith JD(U), decision onhold ‘after call’DIPANKARGHOSENEWDELHI, SEPTEMBER7
THE LOK Janashakti Party (LJP)onMonday decided to put up alistof143namesfortheupcom-ingBiharAssemblyelectionsandauthorise the party’s nationalpresident,ChiragPaswan,totakeafinalcallonwhethertocontesttheelectionsunderleadershipofChief Minister and JD(U) chiefNitishKumar.ThedecisionattheLJP'sBihar
Parliamentary board comes af-ter months of sniping by theparty, in particular Chirag,againstNitish over his recordofgovernance, andwith commu-nication lines between the twoleaders shut foroverayear.While somesenseof finality
wasexpectedonMonday,asen-iorLJPleadersaidthatbeforethemeeting, a phone call was re-ceivedfromaseniornationalBJPleader, where a meeting be-tween the two parties wasmootedfortheweekend.This isseenasafactor inwhyanydeci-sionwasputoff.A senior BJP leader from
fights, LJP [candidates] contest-ingagainst JD(U)willonlyharmtheallianceontheground.”Despite its attacks on JD(U),
LJPhasbeeneffusiveinitspraisefor BJP and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, and wants tocontinue in analliancewith thenational party, especially withRam Vilas Paswan as a Unionminister.After the meeting, Raju
Tiwari,BiharMLAandpresidentoftheparty’sstateParliamentaryboard, issued a note that spokeof two key decisions. The firstsuggested selection of 143 can-didates by the party and for-warding that list to theParliamentaryboard. “A resolu-
tionwasalsopassedgivingpow-ers to Chirag Paswan to decideon the future course of action –whether to stay in an alliance(with JD-U, among other NDAmembers, inBihar),”Tiwarisaid.At themeeting, a senior LJP
member said, a demand wasraised to contest the electionwithout the JD(U)and toputupcandidatesagainst it.“I will put my demand
(given) that in the past Chirag
Paswan-ji has been calledKalidas,”SanjaySingh,seniorLJPleader andboardmember, said,referring to JD(U) MP RajivRanjan Singh calling ChiragKalidas and recalling the taleabout the Sanskrit poet cuttingthetreebranchhewassittingon.Singh said, “When he
(Chirag)raisesissuesofBihar,heis called a rebel. Amid suchthings, we should talk aboutwhat Bihar needs, and...wher-
ever there is a JD(U) candidate,we should put up an LJP candi-date. This is going to bemy de-mand.”Sources in LJP said any deci-
siononthepartyfightingitaloneis to be taken by the centralParliamentary board, whichcomprises present and pastMembers of Parliament.“Opinions from state leadershavebeen takenonboard.Nowameeting of past and presentMPswillbecalledtodiscussfur-ther.Alloptionsareonthetable,”a senior leader said.AseniorLJPleadersaid:“The
moodwithinthepartyistofightagainst JD(U) at the state level,and that’s what the sense fromthe ground is. But it might behasty to takeadecisionwithoutunderstandingwhatisbeingof-fered.Sofar,nomeetinghasoffi-cially taken place between LJP,JD(U) andBJP. It is best towait alittlebecauseofourrelationshipwith theBJP.”The leader said, “JD(U) says
wearenotanally,butweareoneof theBJP.Butonething is clear:thepresentsituationofanimos-ity, and the LJP having no say inthe alliance, is untenable andneeds toberesolved.”
Inpartymeet, state leaders forputtingupcandidatesagainst JD(U); toprepare listof143probables
LJPnationalpresidentChiragPaswan
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, SEPTEMBER7
THE RASHTRAVADI JanataParty, a “registered politicalparty”, has approached theSupreme Court seeking post-ponement of Bihar AssemblyelectionstoMarch2021inviewof the Covid-19 pandemic andflood in the state.The plea urged the court to
direct the Election Commissionof India to “postpone” theBiharelection scheduled in October-Novemberandstated,“Itwillbebetter for the safety of the peo-ple to hold the said electionsometime in the month ofMarch2021,whenthesituationin the state is somewhat nor-malisedsothatcitizenscanpar-ticipate and cast their votessafely andwithout there beinganythreateitherofpandemicorthe flood”.OnAugust28, theSChadre-
fused to entertain a plea by oneAvinashThakur,whohadsoughtpostponementof theBiharelec-tionsonthegroundofCovid-19,and noted that the pandemiccannot be a ground fordeferment.Thecourtalsoobserved that
the pleawas premature, as thenotificationforthepollshadstillnotbeen issued.
SANTOSHSINGHPATNA,SEPTEMBER7
ABOUT 10 lakh people of Biharare getting some kind of em-ploymentperdayundervariousschemes of Central and stategovernments, and the state isconductingmore than 1.5 lakhtests each day to arrest thespread of coronavirus, ChiefMinister and JD(U) nationalpresident Nitish Kumar said onMonday.Addressing the party's first
virtual rally ahead of theAssembly elections, there areenoughICUbedsandventilatorsto treatCovid-19patients.He spoke about the success
of the scheme to supply drink-ingwatertoeveryhome,andan-nounced that the governmentwouldwaiveloaninterestunderStudentsCreditCardSchemefor"goodstudents".Nitish dwelt at length on
how the state government isfighting the pandemic at everylevel and how the government
has given free ration tomigrantworkers who returned homefrom other states following thenationwide lockdown.AccordingtotheJD(U), lakhs
of people watched the virtualrallyonsocialmedia.During two-hour speech,
Nitish said, “We have created14.71coremanavdivas (human
days)ofwork.Onaverage,about10 lakhpeoplearegettingsomejobs from various governmentschemes.... As for Covid-19preparations,weareconductingover 1.5 lakh tests per day.Weare now conducting tests of32,233 people per 10 lakh pop-ulation. At present, we are con-ducting 11,350 RTPCR tests per
dayandplantotake it to20,000perday.”Apparently taking on RJD
leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav,without naming him, he said,“Thosecriticisingusdonotknowmuchabouttheworkbeingdone.But I focusongoodworkanddonotbotheraboutcriticism.”With all possibilities of
Assembly elections being heldon time – around October-November -- Nitish also ap-pealed to the people to takeproper precautions againstCovid. "You all have to followrules and use masks,” he said,andpraisedtheCentrefordecid-ingtoopena500-bedCovidhos-pital each inBihta (in Patnadis-trict) andMuzaffarpur.Nitish said it is very satisfy-
ingtoseethateveryhouseholdisnow getting benefit of drinkingwater under the government's"SaatNischay"scheme. "Wearegiving students loan on 4 percent interest under StudentsCredit Card Scheme. We canwaivetotalinterestifstudentsdowell,”hesaid.
E●EXPLAIN
ED
Fateofalliance inBJPhands
THEFUTURE for theLJP is tricky, andmuchwilldependonwhat theBJPwants. The relationshipbetweentheLJPandthe JD(U), inparticular,hasbeenpubliclyacrimonious formanymonths.While theLJPcadremaywant theparty toputupcan-
didatesagainst the JD(U)'s, in largepart so theycancontestmoreseatsandspread theparty's footprint inBihar, theparty isaBJPallyat theCentreandRamVilasPaswan isaUnionMinister. SodespiteChiragPaswanandCMNitishKumar's acrimony, the fateof thisalliancemaybe in thehandsof BJP.
AHEADOFBIHARASSEMBLYPOLLS
Nitish holds first virtual rally, says10 lakh people getting jobs daily
NewDelhi: TextileMinistryoffi-cials have informed aParliamentary standing com-mittee that the Centre is con-templatingmeasurestodiscour-age silk imports from China, ithasbeen learnt.Themovewasconveyeddur-
ing a meeting of the standingcommitteeonlabouronMonday,headed by BJDMP BhartruhariMahtab,whichdeliberatedonthesubject of “Challenges andOpportunities - Indian Textile
Industry”,asourcesaid.Whenamemberaskedabout
the decline in the quality of silkingeneraland“Banarasisaris”inparticular, TextileMinistry offi-cials informed the committeethat it is due to cheap importsfromChina, thesourcesaid.It is learnt officials told the
committee theministry “is con-sideringvariousmeasurestodis-courage the cheap import of silkfromChina and stepswill be an-nouncedsoon”. ENS
‘Registered’party moves SC,wants Biharpolls postponedto March 2021
Centre contemplatingmeasures to discouragesilk imports from China
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, SEPTEMBER7
THEUPAgovernmentwas “veryselective”inallowingprojectsthatimpacted the “wilderness or thehabitatofwildlife”andhadfacedcriticism from industrialists andotherswho thought his govern-mentwasbeing too“restrictive”,former Prime MinisterManmohanSinghsaidMonday.Singh said his government
was “conscious” of its duty to“accelerate economic develop-ment and raise the standard ofliving of our people, especiallythose in poverty” as it was thepriority of any government butat the same timewas “very se-lective”inallowingprojectsthatimpacted thewilderness or thehabitatofwildlife.“Indeed,wewerecriticisedby
industrialists and those whothoughtwewerebeingtoorestric-tive. But I believe that if aproperbalance isnot firmlyheld, the re-sults aredeleteriousandself-de-feating,” he said, presenting theIndira Gandhi Prize for Peace,DisarmamentandDevelopmentto British naturalist DavidAttenboroughinavirtualfunction.Congress president Sonia
Gandhi said Attenborough hasbeen “one of Nature’s moststaunchconsciencekeepers”.In his acceptance speech,
Attenborough said theworld isheading towards amajor crisis,unlike any other that humanityhas faced in its history. Arguingthat humanity has overrun theplanet, the consequences ofwhichforthenaturalworldhavebeen devastating, he said, “Wemust change our ways andwemust do so swiftly and globally.Butsuccesswillonlycomeif thenationsof theworldagreetoacttogether,andhelponeanother.”“Thiswillnotbeeasy.Wehave
tochangefrombeingnationalistsand become internationalists.Andthat, forallofus,will involve
givingaswellastaking.Politicianswill onlydo that if theyhave thesupport for doing so from thosewho put them in power – andwho could remove them if theyfailtoliveuptotheirpromises.Butelectorateswillonlysupportsuchinternationalactioniftheyunder-stand theproblems” of environ-mental degradation and loss ofbiodiversitywhichisthreateninglivelihoods,headded.Singh described
Attenborougha“livinglegendinthecontextofthenaturalworld”whohadbeen thehumanvoiceofnatureforoversevendecadesand theveracity of his concernsis evident to anyonewho looksat thestateof theplanet today.“How acute the situation is
cannot be clearer than fromthepandemic that has gripped theearth, coincidently almost ex-actlyonecenturyafter thegreatinfluenza epidemic. To some,thisisnature’swayof tellinghu-mankindtoloosenitstighteninggrip on the resources of theearth, to be less exploitative, torespect theneedsof thenaturalworld, especially the animalkingdom,more and slowdownthe pace of environmental de-struction,” Singhsaid.Singh said finding a balance
betweendevelopmentandecol-ogyhadbeenadilemma.“Millions of us live in abject
poverty. Millions around theworld do not have access toenough food, clean water andsurroundings, a minimum ac-ceptablestandardof living.Inthename of development, naturebears the brunt, with its long-term crippling effects on thatveryqualityof lifeweare tryingto improve. But like Sir David, Ibelieve that it is possible for usto respect boundaries, to beawarealwaysof thecostsofeco-nomic development, and to re-frain from excesses, from igno-rant or wilful actions thatultimatelyreboundonus,”Singhadded.
Manmohan: UPA wascriticised for beingselective on projectsimpacting wildlife
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, SEPTEMBER7
THE NEWNational EducationPolicy (NEP) doesn’t belong toone government but the coun-try and it should be imple-mentedin letterandspirit, irre-spective of who is in power,PrimeMinister NarendraModisaidonMonday.Calling for a wide-ranging
discussioninthecountryonpol-icy implementation, the PrimeMinister said the awarenessamong students, teachers andparentsabouttheNEPshouldbeas comprehensive as the stake-holder consultation that led tothe drafting of the policy itself.ThekeytoNEP’ssuccess,hesaid,lies instakeholderinvolvement.“It is equally important that
our awareness (about the NEPand its provisions) shouldbe asdeep and wide-ranging as theconsultationprocess. It’s impor-tanttodiscussall theprovisionsand nitty-gritty of this docu-ment. It can only be imple-mented once all doubts andquestions inpeople’smindsareaddressed,” he said at the inau-gural session of the annualGovernor’s Conference hostedbyRashtrapati Bhawan.
“When we move towardschange, it’s natural for doubtsand questions to arise in peo-ple’s minds. Parentsmaywon-der how the move to dissolvesubject streams would affecttheir child’s future. Teachersmaywanttoknowhowthecur-riculumfor suchstudieswill bedesigned. Stakeholders couldhave questions about availabil-ity of adequate resources tomeettheobjectivesof theNEP,”hesaid,requestingallGovernorspresent at the conference tohold virtual events tillSeptember25intheirrespectivestates to improve the under-
standing of the policy amongthe stakeholders.The PM credited the wide-
ranging consultation under-takenbytheEducationMinistryin the drafting stages for theNEP’sacceptanceinthecountry.He furtherhighlightedpro-
visions of theNEPonexposuretovocations. “Tomake Indiaat-manirbhar, it’s important forour youth to be skilled.Vocationalexposureatayoungage and practical learning willhelp thembecomeemployableand this will also increase ourshare in theglobal jobmarket,”he said.
Spread awareness about NEPamong stakeholders: Modi
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEKOLKATA,SEPTEMBER7
THEWEST Bengal governmentwill not implement theNationalEducationPolicy(NEP),2020,forthe timebeing as it has reserva-tions against it and feels that“more discussions need to beheldonthematterwithallstake-holders”,stateEducationMinisterPartha Chatterjee said onMonday.Chatterjee,whoattendedthe
‘Governors' Conference on theRole of NEP in TransformingHigherEducation’,saidNEP-2020underminesthecountry'sfederalstructureandroleof states.He said, “Wewonderwhy a
rich language like Bengali hasbeen excluded from the list ofclassical languagesprescribedtobe learnt by students ofmiddleschool. This needs to berectified...”
More discussionsneeded, will notimplement NEPfor now, saysBengal minister
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEPUNE,SEPTEMBER7
THEDRDOonMonday success-fully flight-tested aHypersonicTechnology DemonstratorVehicle(HSTDV),whichisanun-manned scramjet vehicle withthe ability to travel at six timesthespeedof sound.The test was conducted at
11.03 am from Dr A P J AbdulKalam Launch Complex atWheeler Island, off the coast ofOdisha.TheHSTDV tests the indige-
nouslydevelopedhypersonicair-breathing scramjet technology.Thescramjetsareavariantofair-breathing jet engines and havethe ability to handle airflow ofspeed much higher than thespeed of sound. Hypersonicspeedsarefivetimes–ormore–thanthespeedof sound.In a series of tweets, the
DRDO stated, “In a historicmis-sion today, India successfullyflight tested the HypersonicTechnology DemonstratorVehicle (HSTDV), (which is)agi-ant leap in indigenous defencetechnologies and a significantmilestone towards a Sashakt
BharatandAtmanirbharBharat.DRDO, with this mission, hasdemonstrated capabilities forhighly complex technology thatwill serve as thebuildingblocksforNextGenHypersonicvehiclesinpartnershipwiththeindustry.”Athypersonicspeed,thesys-
temhastohandleveryhighfluc-tuating temperatures, aswell asairspeed,andthusdevelopmentofthematerialisoneofthemainchallenges, among other com-plextechnologies.Prime Minister Narendra
Moditweeted,“Congratulationsto @DRDO_India for successfulflight of the Hypersonic TestDemonstration Vehicle today.The scramjet engine developedbyourscientistshelpedtheflightachieve a speed 6 times thespeedof sound!Very fewcoun-trieshavesuchcapabilitytoday.”Defence Minister Rajnath
Singh tweeted, “With this suc-cess, all critical technologies arenow established to progress tothenextphase.”DRDOscientists said the test
conducted was a major mile-stone, and a stepping stone forthe development of hypersonicsystems in both defence andciviliansector.
CANTRAVELAT6TIMESSPEEDOFSOUND
DRDO successfullyflight-tests hypersonictechnology vehicle,joins select group
Ahmedabad
12THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,SEPTEMBER8,2020
EXPRESSNETWORKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, SEPTEMBER7
WITH THE Centre stating that“spraying of disinfectant onhu-mans is not recommended” as itis“physicallyandpsychologicallyharmful”, the SupremeCourt onMonday asked why it had nottaken action against the use of‘disinfectiontunnels’.Solicitor General Tushar
whichsoughtabanonthe“usage,installation, production, adver-tisement of disinfection tunnelsinvolvingsprayingor fumigationofchemicaldisinfectantsfor...dis-infectinghumanbeings”.Respondingtothecourt’sno-
tice, theMinistry of Health andFamilyWelfaresaidinanaffidavit
that it had taken cognizance ofnews reports of people beingsprayedwith chemicals or ex-posedtosuchchemicalsviawalk-in tunnels and had convened ameetingof its technical advisory
ful.” Saying that “chemicals areharmful to human skin and themucousmembraneof the respi-ratory tract if inhaled”, the com-mittee also said that “externalsprayingofanychemicaldisinfec-tant doesnot kill a virus thathasalreadyenteredthebodyofaper-sonwhohasearlierbeenexposedtothevirus”.Theministry issued an advi-
fidavit,anothermeetingwasheldonJune9,underthechairmanshipof the Directorate General ofHealthServices.Thismeetingre-iteratedthatsprayingdisinfectantvia tunnels, chambers, cabinetswas “not recommended” as itwould not diminish an infectedperson’sabilitytospreadthevirusthroughdropletsorcontact.Thegovernmentalsopointed
out that theguidelines issuedbytheNational Centre for Disease
ControlinJanuarystatedthatdis-infectant fogging is not recom-mended for routinepatient careareas. It said that fumigationandfogginghavenoroleintheopera-tiontheatre“becausefumigationwithformalinishazardoustoper-sonsandcanalsoharmsensitiveequipment”.Theministry said that in its
March29guidelinesondisinfec-tion of public areas which re-portedCovid-19 cases, “fogging/fumigating of the external envi-ronmentwasneveremphasised/advised.”The ministry said it had
“nowhere issued any advisory/guidelines/SOPforusage,instal-lation, production, advertise-ment of disinfectant tunnels in-volvingsprayingorfumigationofchemical/ organic disinfectantsfor the purpose of disinfectinghumanbeingsintheworkplace/office/publicplaces/externalen-vironments”.
Centre says spraying disinfectant onpeople harmful, SC askswhy no action
TheCentre’s technicaladvisorybodyhassaidchemicalscanbeharmful tohumanskinandrespiratorytract if inhaled
GARGIVERMARAIPUR,SEPTEMBER7
SIXMONTHSsincethefirstCovid-19 casewas registered in Chha-ttisgarh,thestateisrecordingoneofthefastestdailygrowthratesofcases in the country. BetweenAugust29andSeptember5,statecapitalRaipurrecordedanaveragepositivity rate of 35.12%— fivetimesthenationalaverageof7%.Withmore than2,500 cases
Baghel held ameetingwith thehealth department andHealthMinisterTSSinghDeoonSunday.Oneofthedecisionstakenwastorampuphomeisolation.“Thespreadisoutofourhands
now,wearefocusingonminimis-ingcasualties.EvenifIwanttoim-poselockdowninthestate,duetothecentralgovernment’sdecisionsofopeningup,caseswon’tbecon-trolled. So we have decided totacklethishead-on,”Baghelsaid.“Wehaveacomfortablenum-
berofbeds,butitisbetterifthose
showingminimum symptomsareathome,wheretheycaniso-latebutbearoundfamily.Ithelpsthemovercomedepression dueto fear of Covidwhile also keep-ing our healthcareworkers fo-cusedonthosewhoneedurgentmedicalcare,”headded.SinghDeosaid,“Wewillramp
up testing. The numbers areboundtoincrease,allwecandoisbeprepared.Thenumberofthosetestingpositiveismorethanthosegettingdischarged,soallourfacil-itieswillbeputtothetest.WehaveaskeddistrictstonotrefercasestoRaipur.Also,peoplewillhavetobe
1,000Covid-19patientsinthefirstweekof June,crossedthe45,000markinjustthreemonths.Raipurreportedmore than16,612casestill Sunday, ofwhich6,438weredischarged. Less than amonthago, the state had reported lessthan80deaths,whereasthenum-bernowis380.Fivedistrictshavemorethan1,000cases, includingRaipur,whichhasmorethan350containmentzones.
Experts said that cases arebound to increase exponentiallyinthenextfewweeks,especiallyinRaipur.“Therewasafalsesenseoflullamongpeopleasunlockingbegan.Withseveraleventsinthepastmonth for farming-relatedfestivals and launch of govern-ment schemes, more peoplestartedsteppingoutandfloutingnorms.Policedidrampupcheck-ing,butitwasnotenough,”asen-iordistrict-levelofficersaid.As districts and businesses
opened,thenumberofpeopleonroads increased, but policingcould not increase proportion-
ately due to lack of personnel,whichledtospreadofthedisease,expertssaid.According toRaipurCollector
SBharatidasan,Covidcarecentresarebeing reserved for thosewhoareunable tohome isolate. “Thegovernment has relaxed homeisolationnorms.Wearealsogiv-ing prophylactic kits to familymembersofthosetestingpositive.Awarenesscampaignsanddistri-butionofmasksandsanitisers isbeingdone.Wearetryingtoman-age the spread andencouragingpeopletostayathome,”hesaid.In Raipur, infections have
been reported among severalseniorIASandIPSofficers,aswellas in the CM’s house and secre-tariat. Police stations have beencontained.TheRaipurmunicipalcorporation has seen severalzonalcommissionersgointoiso-lationaftergettinginfected.“Weareworkingwithourex-
Raipur positivity rate 35.12%, Chhattisgarh braces for spike in Covid cases
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,SEPTEMBER7
ACTORRHEAChakraborty,facingprobesbythreecentralagenciesin connectionwith the SushantSingh Rajput death case, onMondayfiledapolicecomplaintagainst the late actor's sisterPriyankaSinghandadoctorfromRamManohar Lohia hospital inDelhi for allegedly gettingSushantpsychiatric drugswith-out consultation and by using aforgedprescription.Rhea inher complaint asked
the Bandra police to investigateif thesemedications, which fallunder the ambit of theNarcoticDrugs and PsychotrophicSubstances (NDPS)Act, resultedin thedeteriorationof Sushant'smental health or his death onJune14.Afterbeingquestionedbythe
NCB onMonday, Rheawent tothe Bandra police station torecordherstatement.NoFIRhadbeen lodged into thematter tilllateevening.Inthecomplaint(accessedby
TheIndianExpress),RheasaidthatsomeWhatsAppchatsbetweenSushant and Priyanka on June 8“are extremely disturbing anddisclosethecommissionofvari-ous offences”. She added that inthese messages, Priyanka ad-vised Sushant to take variousmedications controlled undertheNDPSAct.“It seems that as permydis-
cussionwiththedeceasedatthetime, he had informedhis sisterthathewouldnotbeable toob-tainthesaidmedicationwithoutaprescription...Shockinglyithasnot come to light that his sisterPriyanka had subsequently, on
the same day, sent him a pre-scriptionbyoneDrTarunKumar,associateprofessorofcardiologyfrom Dr Ram Manohar LohiahospitalinNewDelhi,”thecom-plaint read.Itadded,“Primefaciethesaid
by Dr Kumar were prohibitedfrombeingprescribedelectron-ically under the telemedicinepractise guidelines,” the com-plaint furthersaid.Rhea also alleged that the
prescription prepared byPriyankaandthedoctor,“incon-nivancewitheachother”,isafab-ricatedandfalsedocumentgiventhat it shows Sushant to be anOPD patient when on the dateandtime,hewasinMumbaiandnot inDelhi.ShesoughtthatanFIRbereg-
received the complaint and areinvestigatingifanFIRcanbereg-istered inthematter.AdvocateVikasSingh,repre-
senting Sushant's family, how-ever, saidthatevenif theallega-tions were true, at worst it is acase of not following advisoryguidelines,whichdonotamountto a cognizable offence.“Secondly, the Mumbai PolicedoesnothavejurisdictioninthematterastheSupremeCourthasalready said that anyFIRarisingout of this case should behanded over to the CBI,” headded.
AFTER 277 labourers testedCovid-19positivefromtwocon-struction sitesmanaged by PSPProjects, the AhmedabadMunicipalCorporation(AMC)onMondayissuedshow-causeno-ticeforfloutingsocialdistancingandotherCovid-19norms.The urban local body has
giventheconstructioncompanythree days to respond to theshowcase notice as to whyshouldtheynotbepenalisedRs1croreforfloutingthenormstobefollowed with respect to con-structionsites, aswas framedinanofficeorderdatedAugust13.The order stipulated social
distancing norms aswell as ap-pointingaCovid-19coordinatorat the site,whowill be deemedresponsible for adherence tomeasures to avoid contractingthevirus.The two sites are at IIM-
Ahmedabad,withthelabourersliving in quarters fixed at theGMDC ground near Vastrapur,and second at amall construc-tion site in Thaltej.When thesesites were visited by AMC offi-cials in person, it was observedthat social distancing was notmaintained, personal hygienewasnot followedandnoCovid-19 coordinator was appointed,thus putting the health of theworkersat risk.Testing teams from two ur-
banhealth centres at BodakdevandThaltejweresentatthetwositesrespectivelyandrapidanti-gen tests were conducted for1,050 of theworkers.With 277positivecases, thetestpositivityof thetwositescombinedstandatawhopping26percent.TheAMC,inapressnote,also
mentioned that the testing andtreatment costs are being com-pletely borne by the AMC andthe penalty amount shall gotowards treatment ofCovid-19 patients by the urbanlocalbody.
Battle againstcorona rageson, general ismissing inaction: Cong
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, SEPTEMBER7
WITH INDIA surpassingBrazil tobecomethecountrywiththesec-ondlargestnumberofpeoplein-fectedwith Covid-19, the Cong-ressMondaylaunchedascathingattack on the BJP government,sayingits“indifference,ineptitudeanda failed leadership”were re-sponsibleforthecurrentsituation.Congress communication
department in-chargeRandeepSurjewala said at a virtual pressbriefing, “Howwill the govern-mentarrest thealarming rise incorona infection? Howwill thegovernmentstop thecorona in-fectionfromspreadingtocroresof people? Howwill the Modigovernment check the spurt incoronadeaths?Howwillyoure-store the sinking economy?DoestheModigovernmenthaveasolutionorwill it blamegod?”Surjewala said thatNero fid-
dled while Rome burned.“Likewise…Indiahurled into theabyssofCoronaandModijiisbusyfeedingthepeacocks,”hesaid.“On March 24, Modi pro-
nouncedthatthebattleofMaha-bharatalastedfor18daysandthebattleagainstcoronashallbewonin 21 days... 166 days later, thewholecountry is fightinganepicbattleofMahabharataagainstco-ronapandemic,peoplearedyingof thediseasebutModiisbusyinphotoshoots... Thebattle againstcoronaragesonbutthegeneralismissinginaction,”hesaid.Surjewalaallegedthegovern-
menthasproved tobe “impetu-ous,completelyincompetentandutterly amateurish” in dealingwiththeoutbreak.TheCongress leader said the
pandemic is now spreading tosmallercities,townsandvillages,butthegovernmentcarriesonina state of “ignorance andindifference”.
plaintbyDrRajeshBagga,civilsur-geon, Ludhiana. Dr Bagga hasstated that in a video, the AtamNagarMLA is purportedlyheardaskingpeoplenottowearmasks.The casehas been registered
geon said theMLA is running acampaign tomislead andmisin-formpeopleregardingCovid-19.WhileBainscouldnotbecon-
tacted, his brother Balwinder
SinghBains,alsoanMLAsaid,said,“EvenduringVidhan Sabha ses-sion, we did not wear masks.Accordingtoexperts,coronaviruscan spreadeven if youwearma-sks and they suffocate a person.ThereisnoWHOguidelinewhichmandateswearing amask. Thisgovernment hasmadewearingmasksmandatory just tomintmoney frompeople by issuingchallans. They can register asmanyFIRs against us as possiblebutwewillkeepraisingourvoiceforthepeople,”hesaid.LateonMonday,PTIreported
thatSimarjitandBalwinderBainswerebookedforviolatingnormsaftertheytookoutamarchagainstCabinet Minister Sadhu SinghDharamsotforhisallegedinvolve-ment in irregularities in a post-matricscholarshipscheme,policesaid. Patiala SSP Vikram JeetDuggalsaidacallwasgivenbytheLIP toprotest againstDharamsotand around 1,500 personsreachedthePUDAgroundunderin70to80buses. k
Punjab: FIR againstMLA for asking peoplenot to wear face masks
ON TRACK, ON GUARDAmidprecautionsandrestrictions,Metroservices resumedinseveral citiesonMonday
ONMONDAY, the funeral of NyimaTenzin,a soldier of the Special Frontier Force (SFF),washeldinLeh,withBJPleaderRamMadhavamongthosepresent.Whiletherehavebeenreports about SFF being involved in theAugust29-31operationtooccupypreviouslyunoccupiedheightsinChushulsectorineast-ernLadakh,theArmyhassofarmaintainedan official silence, and sources have saidTenzinwasonapatrolwhenhesteppedonalandminedatingbacktothe1962war,andwaskilled.AnotherSFFsoldierwasinjured.However, Yeshi Tenzin, father of the in-
jured soldier Tenzin Londen, has told TheIndianExpressthathissonalongwithhisunitwasinvolvedinanoperationtooccupyahill,Black Top, near the south bank of PangongTso.ThisisthefirsttimethattheSSF,asecre-tiveforce,hasbeensomuchinthepubliceye.
What is theSFF?
The SFFwas raised by the IntelligenceBureau in the immediate aftermath of the
1962China-Indiawar. The covert outfit re-cruitedTibetanexiles(nowithasamixtureof Tibetans andGorkhas) andwas initiallynamedEstablishment22(MajorGenSujanSinghUban, anArtillery officerwho raisedthe group, named it after the 22MountainRegiment he commanded). SubsequentlyrenamedSSF,itnowfallsunderthepurviewof theCabinetSecretariat.Ontheground, itisheadedbyanInspectorGeneralwhoisanArmy officer of the rank ofMajor General.Theunits comprising theSFFareknownasVikas battalions. Former Army Chief GenDalbirSinghheldthatofficeatonepoint.It iscommonlybelievedthattheSFFwas
raisedbyIndiaincoordinationwithUSintel-ligence agencies.However, formerCIAoffi-cer JohnKennetKnaus,whoworkedexten-sively in Tibet,wrote inOrphans of the ColdWar: America and the Tibetan Struggle forSurvivalthatwhiletheSFFhad“Washington’sfullendorsement”,itwasBNMullik,chiefofIndia’s IntelligenceBureau,whocreatedtheSFF“onhisown”.ButATomGrunfeld,historyprofessorattheStateUniversityofNewYork,wroteinapaperin2000thattheIndiangov-ernmenthadcreateda“TibetanmilitaryforcecalledtheSpecialFrontierForcewithUSsup-
port”and“eventually12,000TibetansweretrainedbyUSSpecial Forces (GreenBerets)andpartlyfundedbytheUStooperatefrombasesalongtheKashmirfrontierwheretheycrossed theborder into Tibet planting elec-troniclisteningdevices”.Theoriginaltaskasenvisagedwasclan-
destineoperationsbehindthelinesinTibet.
SodidUShaveanysay inSFF’srole?
Knaus wrote in his book that inNovember 1971, India ordered “approxi-
mately 3,000men of the Special FrontierForceintoactionintheChittagongHillTractstoaid theEast Pakistani insurgents fightingfortheindependenceofwhatwastobecomeBangladesh”.HewrotethatIndiacouldcom-mission theSFF troopsbecause itwas “waspurely their creature” and “theUS had novoice in thecommandof theSFForhowitstroopswereused…TheTibetan leadershipatDharamsalaalsohadapassiverole”.
AreSFFunitspartof theArmy?
Strictly speaking, the SFF units are notpartoftheArmybutfunctionunderitsoper-ationalcontrol.SSFunitshavetheirownrankstructures, of equivalent statuswithArmyranks.However, theyarespecial forcesper-sonnelhighlytrainedforavarietyof tasks.
Howaretheytrained?
TheSSFtrainingcentreisinChakrata,100kmoutsideDehradun.RecruitsareimpartedspecialforcestrainingbytheArmy.Thetrain-ing takes place under the auspices of theResearchandAnalysisWing(R&AW).Astheforcewasenvisagedasonethatwouldworkbehind enemy lines, all SFF soldiers aretrainedparachutists.Initially,theparatrain-
ingtakesplaceatSarsawanearSaharanpur,wheretheAviationResearchCentre,R&AW'scovert airwing, has a base.More advancedtraining takes place at Stakna in Ladakh tosimulate high-altitude paradrops.Womensoldiers too formpart of SFF units, and aregiventhesametrainingasmen.Itwasenvis-aged thatwomenworking alongsidemenwouldbeabletoprovidebettercamouflage.
WhatwastheSFF'srole in1971war?
In 1971, the SFF operated in theChittagonghilltractstoneutralisePakistanArmy positions and help the Indian Armyadvance. This was Operation Eagle. Theywereairdroppedbehindenemylinestode-stroy linesof communication.Theyplayeda vital role in preventing the escape ofPakistanArmypersonnelfromBangladeshintoBurma.Byoneestimate,over3,000SFFpersonnelwereusedintheeasterntheatreof the1971war.Alargenumberof themre-ceivedbraveryawards.
the years, includingOperationBlue Star inGoldenTempleAmritsar, theKargil conflict,andcounter-insurgencyoperations.Detailsofmanyoperations,however,areclassified.ThisiswhythespotlightontheSFFinthe
recentLadakhoperationisunprecedented.Somewouldevensayit ispartofdeliberatesignalling by India to China.While severalSFF soldiers have been killed in earlier op-erations,RamMadhav'spresenceatNyimaTenzin's funeralonMondaymarks the firsttimeapoliticianhasattendedsuchanevent.
HasChinareactedto India’suseof the
SFF inLadakh?
Not officially. But TheGlobal Times, a re-flectionofChina'spositionsonimportantis-sues,haslashedoutatIndiafor“playingwithfire on the Tibet question”. In an article onSeptember 3 on the use of the SFF, it said:“TheseexiledTibetansonlyactascannonfod-der in India's attempt tonibble intoChina'sinterestsontheborderissue...DoesIndiadaretoopenlyrecognize‘Tibetsecessionism’anddenythatTibetisaninalienablepartofChina?IfNewDelhiisboldenoughtoopenlyopposethis fact, it is clearly aware of the conse-quencesandshootingitself inthefoot.”
RESEARCHERS HAVEfound that chest X-rayscould aid in rapid diag-nosis of Covid-19. TheirfindingsarepublishedinRadiology:CardiothoracicImaging.Radiologists at
Louisiana StateUniversity HealthSciences Center (LSUHealth) New Orleansconducted a retrospec-tive study of nearly 400 persons un-derinvestigationforCovid-19inNewOrleans. They reviewed thepatients’
chest X-rays alongwithconcurrentRT-PCRvirustests.UsingCovid-19im-agingpatterns,theycate-gorised each chest X-rayascharacteristic,nonspe-cific, or negative in ap-pearance forCovid-19.Theradiologistsfound
a characteristic chest X-ray appearance is highlyspecific (96.6%)andhasahigh positive predictive
value of 83.8% for SARS-CoV-2 infec-tioninthesettingofpandemic.
Source: LSUNewOrleans
PAPER
CLIPNEWRESEARCH
Radiologists show how chestX-rays can predict Covid-19
ACORONAVIRUSvaccinebeingdevel-opedbyaChinesecompanyhasbeenfirstusedonthecompany’sownem-ployees and their families. This vac-cine, being developed by SinovacBiotech, isoneof thethreethatChinahas authorised for ‘limited’or emergency use,withoutphase-3 clinical trials hav-ingbeenconducted.AReuters reportquoted
the CEO of the company assaying that about 90 percentof theemployeesandtheir fam-ilymembershadbeengiventhevac-cine doses. The CEO said the vaccinewas“offered”toapproximately2,000to 3,000 employees, and their fami-lies, “on a voluntary basis”. It wasn’tclearexactlyhowmanypeoplewere
injectedwith thevaccine.The Sinovac vaccine, called
CoronVac,wasclearedforemergencyuse in July, but has only now startedphase-3trialswhicharebeingheldinBrazil and Indonesia.
Twoothervaccinecandi-dates, one being developedbystate-runSinopharm,andthe other by CanSinoBiologics in collaborationwith Academy of MilitaryMedical Sciences, have also
been approved by the Chinese au-thorities. There is no informationabout thenumberof people injectedwiththesetwoothervaccines.Thesetwo candidates have also not gonethrough phase-three clinical trials,whicharebeginningonlynow.
Special Frontier Force: why is a covert group under the spotlight now?
SSF’sNyimaTenzinwaskilledrecently.Reuters
INDIAACTIVECASES 882,542
WORLDTOTALCASES
27,200,943
Source:JohnsHopkinsUniversity,
updatedat11pmonSept7
INDIATOTALCASES
4,204,613
Source: MinistryofHealth&Family
Welfare,updatedat11pmon Sept7
Note: TheSept6 figure in this graph isbasedon thegovernmentupdateonSept7
900,000
800,000
700,000
752,424
882,542
Aug28 Sep 6LAST 10 DAYS
China’s Sinovac uses vaccineon own employees, families
SUSHANTKULKARNIPUNE,SEPTEMBER7
THEDEFENCE Research andDevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) saidonMonday that ithas successfully flight tested theHypersonicTechnologyDemonstratorVehicle (HSTDV),which is anunmanned scramjet vehicle thatcantravelatsixtimesthespeedofsound.
Whatisascramjet?
Scramjetsareavariantof acategoryof jetenginescalledair-breathingengines.Whenanenginecanhandleairflowsofspeedsinmulti-plesofspeedofsound,thevehiclecanoperateat those speeds. Hypersonic speeds are fivetimes the speed of sound, ormore. TheunittestedbytheDRDOcanachieveuptosixtimesthespeedof soundorMach6(over7,000kmperhouroraround2kmpersecond).For the test onMonday, the hypersonic
It tookplaceat11:03amatDrAP JAbdulKalamLaunchComplexatWheelerIsland,offthecoastofOdisha.AsolidrocketmotoroftheAgnimissilewasusedtotake it toanaltitudeof 30kmwhere the cruise vehicle separatedfrom the launch vehicle, and the air intakeopenedasplanned.Theparametersofthetestweremonitoredbymultiple systems, and ashipwasdeployedintheBayofBengaltomon-itor performanceduring the cruise phase ofthehypersonicvehicle.Allparametershavein-dicatedaresoundingsuccess,officialssaid.AseniorDRDOscientistsaidalthoughthe
systemwastestedforaveryshortduration, ithasgivenscientistsalargesetofdatapointstoworkon for further development. Scientistsbelievethatwhilethetestisamajormilestone,many more tests will have to be done toachievethesameleveloftechnologyastheUS,RussiaorChina.“This iscertainlyamilestone,
ONMONDAY, the number of confirmedcasesofnovelcoronavirus infection inPunereached the two-lakhmark. The infectioncount in Pune (2.03 lakh) is not just morethan any other city, including Delhi (1.93lakh)orMumbai(1.57lakh),butisevenmorethan every state except the five with thehighest caseload.
WhatexplainsPune’shighcount?
Punehasasubstantiallylowerpopulationthan either Delhi orMumbai, the two citieswiththesecondandthirdhighestnumberofconfirmedcases,anditislessdenselypackedaswell.BothMumbaiandDelhihaveahighernumberofmigrants, a far highernumberofinternationaltravellerscomingin,andmuchmoreeconomicactivity.The emergence of Pune as the citywith
thehighestnumberofcasesissomewhatin-triguing, although not entirely a surprisesince itwasalwaysamongthefiveworstaf-fectedcities.OnereasonoftencitedPune’shighcount
is that the city has been carrying outmanymore tests.While it is true that Pune rightnowisconductingmoreteststhananyothercity inMaharashtra, includingMumbai, thenumberof tests inDelhi is evenhigher.Scientists, health officials and officials
have flaggedseveralother things that couldhavecontributed toPune’s riseas theworstaffectedcity.GREATERSPREAD:Arecentserological
survey in Pune revealed that in someof thesurveyedareas,morethan50%to60%of thepopulation had already been infected al-thoughmostof thesehadnotbeendetected.Similar surveys in other cities, Delhi,Mumbai,Chennai,Ahmedabad,haveshownfarlowerdegreeofdiseasespread.Delhi, forexample, has been found to have a diseaseprevalence of about 29%, andMumbai 40%insomeareas.This could mean that Pune has a far
higher proportion of its population alreadyinfected.Astestingincreases,moreandmoreof thesearegettingdetected.Andthatcould
SURES:PunehadreportedthefirstinfectioninMaharashtra,waybackonMarch9.Mostoftheearliestcasesinthestatewereconcen-tratedinMumbaiandPune.WhileMumbairaced ahead atone stage, as itwas receivinglarge number of international travellers,Punewas also adding up numbers at a fastpace. But, experts now point out, contacttracing and isolation did not happen as ef-fectively inPuneas itdid inMumbai.Dr Subhash Salunke, chairman of the
state technical committee onprevention ofcommunicablediseases,saidwhilePune,likeMumbaiandDelhi,hasahugeinflowofpeo-plefromotherareas,whatisuniquetoPuneis its close linkages with the rural areas.“Therearepeoplemakingtwotothreetripstothecityeverydayfromnearbyruralareas.Contact tracing becomes a slightly difficultexercise in such a setting, especially whentheseareasareunderthedomainofmultiplecivicauthorities,”hesaid.Mumbai, forexample,hadpreparedsev-
June. That not only helped in dealingwiththe shortage of hospital beds, but also pro-vided specialised care and served as isola-tioncentres.Punegotitsfirstsuchfacilityto-wards the end of August, and that too isplaguedwithproblems.MaheshZagade, formerPuneMunicipal
Commissionerwho is remembered for hisrole in containing the H1N1 outbreak inPune, said thecityadministrationwasreac-tiveinthepresentepidemic. “Therecertainlyhas been some amount of administrativemismanagement. Covid-19 requires a pre-ventive strategy. But the administration inPunewashandling it likeacurativedisease,which it is not. Punewas always fire-fight-ingandnot thinkingahead,”Zagadesaid.HIGHERTESTING:Onanaverage, test-
ing inPunehasof latebeenbetween13,500and14,500sampleseveryday,thehighestinthestate.Andmostof theseareRT-PCRtests,whicharemorereliable thantherapidanti-gentestswhichaccountforamajorityoftestsinotherplaces, includingDelhi.“The scaledup testinghas increasedour
that helps in the long run. It also helps inkeeping themortality under check,” said acivicofficer.Some scientists alsopoint out that Pune
has been following a more transparentprocess in reporting itsnumbers.DibyenduNandi, a professor at IISERKolkatawhohasbeenworkingwithPuneauthorities indataanalysis, said the city hadmuch “cleaner”data thanmany other cities. “Sowhat yousee from Pune are a very good reflection oftheactualsituation.That isnottrueofmanyothercities.Thenumbersthatyouseetherearenotagoodrepresentationofwhatmightbehappening,”hesaid.NOTENOUGHDISTANCING:Somealso
point to the fact that lockdown restrictionswere not effectively enforced in Pune andtherehasbeenpoor complianceof physicaldistancing norms. This is also evident fromthefact thatPunehashadthehighestnum-berofpeopleinMaharashtrawhohavebeenfinedfornotwearingmasksorviolatinglock-downrestrictions.“If the authorities had strictly imple-
mented the lockdown for 14 days, then thespread of the infection could have beenchecked.Thecurrentsituationindicatesthatenforcement was not up to the mark,”Zagadesaid.AdecisionwastakenonaRs500fine for
thosenotwearingamaskorspittinginpub-lic.However, therewasnotmuchbywayofimplementation. The finehasnowbeen in-creasedtoRs1,000,withpoliceempoweredtopenalisecitizensnotwearingamask.
What is thewayahead?
ScientistslikeLSShashidhara,aprofessorat IISER Pune and Ashoka University inHaryana,saidthesituationinPuneislikelytostart improving. “The daily growth rate ofcaseshasbeengoingdown.Andthereareal-ready indications that by the end of thismonth,wewill start seeing a decline in thecasesbeing reported,”hesaid.Meanwhile, Delhi is going through an-
other turnaround. Delhi’s daily new detec-tionshavebeguntorisesteadilyandarenowalmost at parwithwhat Pune has been re-porting. If it continues to rise in the samefashion, there is every possibility that Punemight lose its not-so-glorious numberoneposition.
How Pune topped Covid countSIMPLYPUTQUESTION&ANSWER
Pune’spopulation is smaller thanDelhiandMumbai’s, and ithas lesseconomicactivity. Scientists lookat reasonswhyitscount ishighest, andestimatehowlong itwill takebeforesituation incity improves
trial resumesJULIAN ASSANGE re-sumed his battle in aLondoncourt onMondaytoavoidextraditiontotheUnitedStatestofacecrim-inalchargesovertheactiv-itiesofhisWikiLeaksweb-site,aftermonthsofdelaydue to the coronaviruslockdown.TheUSauthor-ities accuse Australian-bornAssange, 49, of con-spiring to hackgovernment computersand of violating an espi-onage law in connectionwith the release of confi-dential cables byWikiLeaks in 2010-2011.Assange,clean-shavenandwearingasuitatMonday’shearing,declinedtobeex-traditedtofaceasupersed-ing indictment byUS au-thoritiesinJune.REUTERS
JulilanAssange
TOPOFTHEWORLD
SRILANKA
Deathrowconvict
MPallowedto
attendParliamentASRILankanMPfromtheruling party, who waselected to Parliamentwhileservingadeathsen-tenceinamurdercase,wasonMondayallowed to at-tendtheparliamentarysit-tings by a court here. TheCourt of Appeal issued aninterimorder,directingau-thoritiestomakearrange-ments for Sri LankaPeople’sPartyMPPremalalJayasekera to attend theParliament sessionbegin-ningTuesday.Hewascon-victedinamurdercaseonJuly 31, just days ahead ofthe August 5 parliamen-taryelections.PTI
USA
Orcathatcarried
itsdeadcalffor
17daysgives
birthagainANORCAthatoncespent17dayscarryingherdeadcalf—adramaticsagaofappar-ent mourning — has be-comeamotheronceagain.Theorca, identifiedby re-searchers as J35, becameasymbolin2018oftheplightof the Southern Residentwhales,whichwere88 innumberwhen theywerelisted as endangered in2005 andhave dwindledfurther since then. J35hada calf in 2018 that diedshortly after birth off thecoast of BritishColumbia.Themother continued tocarry the calf, pushing itthrough thewater and re-peatedlydiving to retrieveitwhenitfellaway.NYT
RICHARDCPADDOCK&DERAMENRASIJABATSEPTEMBER7
ON SCHOOL days, the threeteenage students hop on amo-torbikeandridetotheirpersonalstudyhall:aspotalonganarrowroadoutsidethe Indonesianvil-lage of Kenalanwhere they cangeta stablecellphonesignal.Sittingontheshoulderof the
road, they do their lessons onsmartphonesandasinglelaptopas cars andmotorbikes zip by.Thethreestudents—twosistersand their 15-year-old aunt —havebeen studying thiswayonthe island of Java sinceMarch,
when Indonesia closed itsschools anduniversities to con-tain thecoronavirus.“Whentheschoolorderedus
tostudyathomeIwasconfusedbecausewe don’t have a signalat home,” said one of the girls,Siti SalmaPutri Salsabila, 13.Thetravailsofthesestudents,
andotherslikethem,havecometosymbolisethehardshipsfacedby millions of schoolchildrenacross the Indonesian archipel-ago. Officials have shutteredschools and implemented re-mote learning, but internet andcellphone service is limitedandmany students lack smart-phonesandcomputers.In North Sumatra, students
climb to the tops of tall trees amile from their mountain vil-lage. Perched on branches highabovetheground, theyhopefora cell signal strong enough tocomplete their assignments.Aroundtheglobe,includingin
some of theworld’swealthiestcountries, educators are strug-glingwithhowtobestmakedis-tance learning viable during thepandemic.Butinpoorercountrieslike Indonesia, the challenge isparticularlydifficult.More than a third of
Indonesian students have lim-ited or no internet access, andexperts fearmany studentswillfall far behind, especially in re-mote areaswhere online study
remainsanovelty.With the start of a new aca-
demic year in July, schools invirus-freezoneswereallowedtoreopen, but these schools serveonly a fraction of the nation’sstudents.AsofAugust, commu-nitiesinlow-riskareascouldde-cidewhether toreopenschools,but fewhavedoneso.Thedifficulties facedbyrural
students todaywill further con-tributetoinequalityinIndonesia,theworld’s fourth largest coun-try, said LuhurBima, a senior re-searcher with the SmeruResearch Institute, a Jakarta-basedpublicpolicycenter.“Evenwithoutthepandemic,
thereisabiggapbetweentheru-
ral andtheurban,”hesaid.The minister of education,
NadiemMakarim,whofoundedthetechcompanyGo-Jekbeforeentering politics, has wrestledwith how to balance students’health and education. Closingschools can set them back aca-demicallyandleadtolonelinessanddepression.“The question is how we
makeatrade-offbetweenhealthrisks and permanent loss oflearning for areas in Indonesiathatsimplycannot,or find itex-tremely hard, to do distancelearning,”hesaid.“What’s happening right
now in Indonesia and in othercountries is not just a loss of
learning,”headded.“Thelevelofstress,loneliness,andtensionarefelt by both parents and stu-dents,nottomentiontheteach-ers. Thesearenot small issues.”Theministry,Nadiemsaid,has
simplified curriculums, aban-doned the standardisednationalexamandauthorizedschoolprin-cipals to use operating funds topayforstudents’ internetaccess.Today, about13millionpeo-
pleacross12,500remotevillageshave no access to the internet,saidSetyantoHantoro,presidentdirectorof Telkomsel, thecoun-try’slargesttelecommunicationscompany, which is cooperatingwiththegovernmenttoprovideservice in far-flungareas.NYT
WITH SCHOOLS CLOSED IN INDONESIA, THE RURAL POOR FIND ONLINE EDUCATION PARTICULARLY DIFFICULT
When learning is really remote: Students climb trees, travel miles for cell signal
BRITAIN’S TORTUOUS divorcefromtheEuropeanUnionveeredintofreshcrisisonMondayafterLondonsignalleditcouldunder-mine the exit agreement withBrusselsunless free trade termsareagreedbynextmonth.In yet another twist to the
four-yearsagasinceBritainvotednarrowly to quit the EU, PrimeMinisterBoris Johnson’sgovern-mentwas reportedly planningnewlegislation tooverridepartsof the Brexit WithdrawalAgreementitsignedinJanuary.That could potentially jeop-
ardise thewhole treatyandcre-ate frictions in British-ruledNorthern Irelandwhere specialarrangementshadbeenmadetoavoidahardborderwithIrelandto thesouth that couldbedetri-mental toapeaceagreement.Britain said itwould honour
paper cited threepeopleas say-ing the proposed internalmar-ket bill was expected to“eliminatethelegalforceofpartsofthewithdrawalagreement”inareas including state aid andNorthern Irelandcustoms.EU diplomats were aghast,
cautioning that such a step —leakedon theeveof newtalks—wouldtarnishBritain’sglobalpres-tigeandheightenchancesofatu-multuousfinaldisentanglingfromthebloconDec31.Britainsaiditwascommitted
to the divorce deal. “Wearetak-
ing limitedand reasonable stepstoclarify specific elementsof theNorthern IrelandProtocol indo-mestic law to removeanyambi-guity and to ensure the govern-ment is alwaysable todeliveronits commitments,” a spokesmanforJohnsonsaid.REUTERS
13,000 EMPTY CHAIRS: ACTIVISTS URGE MIGRANTS’ RESCUEEmptychairssetupbyactivists in frontof theReichstagbuilding inBerlin foraprotestdemandingtheevacuationofGreekmigrantcamps.The13,000chairs symbolise the inhabitantsof theMoriacampontheGreek islandof Lesbos,aswell thereadinessof someGermancitiesandstates totakemigrants in.Greekauthorities lastweekimposeda14-dayquarantineonMoriaafteronemanwhohadbeenliving inatentoutsidethecampfencetestedpositive for thevirus.AsofAugust31, theMoriacamphoused12,714people, several times itscapacityof2,757.REUTERS
Brexit back in crisisas UK threatensto undercut EU dealEUdiplomatswarnagainstUKplanforBill tooverridepact
UNIDENTIFIEDPEOPLEdetainedBelarusian protest leaderMariaKolesnikovainMinskonMondayand drove her off in aminivan,theBelarusianTut.Bymediaout-letcitedawitnessassaying.Kolesnikovaisthelastofthree
female politicians left insideBelaruswhojoinedforcesbeforeanAug.9presidential election totry to challenge veteran incum-bentAlexanderLukashenko.A vocal critic of Lukashenko,
shehasplayedanimportantroleinthecountry’spost-electionpo-liticalcrisiswhichhasseenweeksof mass protests and strikes bypeoplewho accuse Lukashenkoof rigging his own re-election,somethinghedenies.Her abduction comes as
Belarusianauthoritiesappeartobesteppinguptheireffortstotrytobreakprotesters’momentum.Tens of thousands of people
demonstratedonSundayandse-curityforcesdetained633protest-ers,Belarusianauthoritiessaid.Kolesnikova’s allies said they
were checking the report of herdetention. Police inMinskwerecited by Russia’s Interfax newsagencyassayingtheyhadnotde-tained her. Before the election,Kolesnikova had joined forceswithoppositionpresidentialcan-didate SviatlanaTsikhanouskayawho later fled to Lithuania, andwithVeronikaTsepkalo,whohasalsosinceleftthecountry.
China freezescredentials forjournalists at USoutlets, hintingat expulsions
EDWARDWONGWASHINGTON,SEPTEMBER7
THE CHINESE government hasstoppedrenewingpresscreden-tialsforforeignjournalistswork-ingforAmericannewsorganisa-tionsinChinaandhasimplieditwill proceedwith expulsions iftheTrumpadministrationtakesfurther action against Chinesemedia employees in theUnitedStates, according to six peoplewithknowledgeof theevents.The actions and threats raise
the stakes in the continuing cy-cles of retribution betweenWashington and Beijing overnewsmediaorganisations.Thoseroundsofretaliationareapromi-nentelementof amuchbroaderdownwardspiralinUS-Chinare-lations, one that involvesmutu-ally hostile policies and actionsovertrade,technology,education,diplomaticmissions,TaiwanandmilitarypresenceinAsia.USnewsorganisationsimme-
diately affectedbyChina’s latestactions include CNN, The WallStreet Journal andGetty Images.Journalists fromall threeorgani-sationstriedtorenewpresscardswith the Foreign Ministry lastweek, but were told the cards,which are usually good for oneyear,couldnotberenewed.NYT
Cases rise in 22 states as UScelebrates holiday weekend
UNICEF to lead globalprocurement, supplyof Covid-19 vaccines
YOSHITASINGHUNITEDNATIONS,SEPTEMBER7
INWHAT could possibly be theworld’s largest and fastest everoperationof itskind,UNICEFhasannouncedthatitwouldbelead-ing theprocurementandsupplyof Covid-19 vaccines to ensurethat all countries have safe, fastand equitable access to initialdoseswhentheyareavailable.The United Nations
Children’s Fund is already theworld’s largest single vaccinebuyer,procuringmorethan2bil-liondosesofvariousvaccinesan-nually for immunisation andoutbreak response on behalf of
nearly100countries.With several vaccine candi-
dates showing promise, theUNagency,incollaborationwiththeRevolving Fund of the PanAmerican Health Organisation(PAHO),will lead efforts to pro-cureandsupplydosesof Covid-19vaccinesonbehalf of theCO-VAXGlobal Vaccines Facility for92 low and lower middle-in-come countries, whose vaccinepurchaseswill be supported bythemechanism.“We are ready for an im-
mense new challenge: to leadthe global supply of Covid-19vaccinesandhelpendtheworststageof thispandemic,”UNICEFtweetedonSaturday.PTI
Teenagersstudyingonthesideof aroad inKenalan,Indonesia.Thecell reception is strongenoughtheretodownloadtheir schoolassignments.NYT
CORONAVIRUSCASESare risingin22of the50USstates,accord-ing to a Reuters analysis, awor-risometrendonaLaborDayhol-idayweekendtraditionallyfilledwith familygatheringsandpar-ties tomark theendof summer.As little as threeweeks ago,
cases were increasing in onlythree states,Hawaii, Illinois andSouth Dakota, according to ananalysiscomparingcasesforthe
two-week period of Aug. 8-22with thepast twoweeks.Most of the 22 stateswhere
cases are now rising are in theMidwestandSouth.SouthDakotahad thebiggest
percentageincreaseoverthepasttwoweeksat126%,reportingover3,700newcases.Officials linkedsomeof the rise to thousandsofmotorcyclistswhogatheredinthestateforarallyinAugust.REUTERS
Saudi sentences 8 to prison infinal Khashoggi murder ruling
REUTERSRIYADH,SEPTEMBER7
A SAUDI Arabian court onMondayjailedeightpeopleforbe-tweensevenand20years forthe2018murder of Saudi journalistJamalKhashoggi, statemediare-ported,fourmonthsafterhisfam-ilyforgavehiskillersandenableddeathsentencestobesetaside.Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi
Crown PrinceMohammed binSalman,waslastseenattheSaudiconsulate in IstanbulonOctober2,2018,wherehehadgonetoob-tain documents for his impend-ingwedding. His bodywas re-portedly dismembered andremoved from the building, andhisremainshavenotbeenfound.Themurder caused a global
uproar and tarnished the re-formist image of PrinceMohammed,sonofKingSalmanandthekingdom’sdefactoruler.Statemediareportedthatfive
people were handed 20-yearprisonsentences,onepersonwassentenced to 10 years and twopeoplewerehanded seven-year
sentences for thekilling.Noneofthedefendantswerenamed.Atanearlierstageof thetrial
in December, the court sen-tenced five people to death andthree to jail saying then that thekilling was not premeditated,butcarriedout“atthespurofthemoment.Again,noneof thede-fendantswerenamed.SomeWesterngovernments
said they believed PrinceMohammedorderedthekilling.Saudi officials denied he
KREMLINCRITICAlexeiNavalnyhas been removed fromamed-ically induced coma and is re-sponding to speech, Berlin’sCharitehospitalsaidonMonday.Thehospital,whichhasbeen
treatingNavalnysincehewasair-lifted toGermany after falling illon aRussiandomestic flight lastmonth,saidhisconditionhasim-proved and he is beingweanedoffmechanicalventilation.“Itremainstooearlytogauge
the potential long-term effectsofhisseverepoisoning,”Charitesaid inastatement.Navalny,aprominentcriticof
President Vladimir Putin, wasairlifted toGermany lastmonthafter collapsing on a flight fromthe Siberian city of Tomsk toMoscow. ItmadeanemergencylandinginOmsksothatNavalnycouldbestretcheredoff.Chancellor Angela Merkel
has said her government hasconcludedNavalny,44,waspoi-sonedwithNovichok, the samesubstance that Britain saidwasused against a Russian doubleagent andhisdaughter inanat-tack inEngland in2018.Moscow says it has seen no
evidencehewaspoisoned.The incident has put the fu-
ture of Germany’s Nord Stream2 pipelinewith Russia in doubtas a growing number of polti-cianscallforsupportfortheproj-ect to be withdrawn unless
Russia helps to clear up the cir-cumstances around Navalny’spoisioning.Merkel’s spokesmansaidon
Monday she does not rule outimposing sanctions on thepipeline in response to the sus-pectedpoisoning.Novichok is a deadly nerve
agentdevelopedbytheSovietmil-itaryinthe1970sand1980s.Britain says Russia used
Novichok to poison former spySergeiSkripalandhisdaughter inthecityofSalisburytwoyearsago.
Putin critic Navalny has comeout of coma: Berlin hospital
Berlin’sCharitehospital
saidthat itwastooearly
togaugethepotential
long-termeffectsof
Navalny’ssevere
poisoning.Moscowsays
ithasseennoevidence
hewaspoisoned.
“The reality of America today is what we
have seen over generations and, frankly,
since our inception, which is, we do have
two systems of justice inAmerica.”
—KAMALAHARRIS, on systemic racism in theUS justice system
Exitsealed,buttermsyettobedecided
AFTERPROLONGEDne-gotiationsandinfight-ing, theUKfinallyagreedonawithdrawaldealwiththeEU,andofficiallyexitedthebloconJanuary31thisyear.Butthewithdrawalagreementisonlyaboutthetermsof theUK’sseparationfromtheEU.Themoreimportantdeal,espe-cially forBritain’seconomy, is
theonethatsetsout itspost-BrexitrelationshipwiththeEU, includingontradeandimmigra-tion. If thisdeal isnot
BPCL to continue offeringsubsidised LPG ‘for sometime’ post privatisation
At what stage are Covid vaccine candidates in India?PRABHARAGHAVANNEWDELHI,SEPTEMBER7
BHARATBIOTECH is expected tomovetophaseIItrialsof‘Covaxin’,its Covid-19 vaccine candidate,this week. With several an-nouncements of companies ei-ther entering intoagreements tomake Covid-19 vaccines or an-nouncinghumanclinicaltrialsfortheircandidatesinIndiainthelastfewmonths,TheIndianExpressre-caps themajor players towatchoutforherenow:
‘Covishield’byUniversityof
Oxford-AstraZeneca
Thiscandidate—inlatestagephase III tests across countriesliketheUK,BrazilandSouthAfr-ica — has also entered phase II
human trials in India. Here,Serum Institute of India is ex-pected to test it onaround1,600partici-pants.ThephaseII/IIItrials in India are ex-pected to take sevenmonths—potentiallyuntilMarch 2021—accordingtoCTRI.
‘ZyCov-D’byZydus
Cadila
Zydus Cadila said in AugustthatphaseItrialsofthecandidateshoweditwas“safeandwell tol-erated”,allowingittomovetothesecondphaseof human trials onAugust 6.While company chair-manPankajPatelearliersaidthatthephaseIandIItrialswouldlasttill October, CTRI shows that thetrialsareexpectedtotakearound
ayeartocomplete.
‘Covaxin’byBharat
Biotech
A candidate thatraked up contro-versy in early Julyfollowing an IndianCouncil of MedicalResearch letterpushing for anAugust 15 launch, it
is expected to enter phase II hu-man trials this week. BharatBiotechis lookingatacapacityofaround300milliondoses of thevaccine,accordingtosources.
Medicinelastmonth, isexpectedto conduct human trials for thisvaccinecandidate in India.Thesetrialsarelikelytobeginthismonthornext, dependingonwhen thecompanyappliesforandreceivespermissiontobeginthetesting.
GC019byGennova
Biopharmaceuticals-HDTBio
Gennova, a subsidiary ofEmcurePharmaceuticals,intendstoinitiatehumantrialsinIndiabyOctoberandalsoplansglobaltest-ing incollaborationwithpartnerHDT Bio in the US, Brazil andSouthAfrica.Atpresent, thefirmhasthecapacitytomakearound150-200milliondosesannually,but is working towards scalingup tomakeover abilliondoses.
Full report onwww.indianexpress.com
KARUNJITSINGHNEWDELHI,SEPTEMBER7
CUSTOMERS OF BharatPetroleumCorporationLtd(BPCL)willcontinuegettingliquefiedpe-troleumgas (LPG) at subsidisedratespost theprivatisationof theoilmarketing company (OMC).However, themovewill notnec-essarilyleadtoopeningupofsub-sidised LPG segment to privateplayers,accordingtoaseniorgov-ernmentofficial.TarunKapoor,Secretary,Mini-
stryofPetroleumandNaturalGas,toldTheIndianExpressthegovern-mentwouldensurethatLPGcus-tomers of BPCL, including thoseundertheUjjwalascheme,wouldbe able to continue purchasingLPG fromthe companypost pri-vatisation.“Theentireprivatesec-torcannotbebroughtatthesamelevel, but BPCL, even after it getsprivatised,hastocontinuetohan-dle these customers at least forsome time. Therefore, a separatearrangement has to beworkedout,”saidKapoor.He noted that the large LPG
customerbaseofBPCLwouldnotbe allowed to suffer and that the
subsidylevelprovidedtoLPGcus-tomerswas currently not veryhigh.LPGpricesacross thecoun-tryhavedeclinedbecauseofafallintheinternationalpricesofcrudeoil and natural gas as a result ofsubdued demand due to theCoronavirusoutbreak.Thecentralgovernment had allocated Rs37,256croreforLPGsubsidyintheUnionBudgetthisfiscal.According to experts, poten-
tialbidders forBPCLwouldlikelywant clarity onhowthe subsidyprogrammewouldcontinuepostprivatisation of BPCL. Currently,BPCL,IndianOilCorporation(IOC)and Hindustan PetroleumCorporation Ltd (HPCL) providesubsidised LPGcylinders to cus-tomers andare later reimbursedby the government. The reim-bursementof thesubsidyhasof-tenbeendelayedinthepast.VivekanandSubbaraman,an-
alyst at Ambit Capital, said thatanypotentialbidderwouldwantgreater certainty in the timingofreimbursementswhile notingthat currently the subsidy levelswereverylow,withBPCL,IOCandHPCLreportingverylowlevelsofsubsidyinthefirstquarterof thisfiscalduetolowpricesofLPG.
BRIEFLY‘Dumping’probeNewDelhi:Indiahasinitiatedaprobeintotheallegeddu-mping of Vitamin C fromChina,theDirectorateGene-ralofTradeRemediessaid.
FCLdefaultsNew Delhi: Future Groupfirm Future Consumer Ltd(FCL)hasdefaultedonpay-ment of principal redemp-tion and interest on non-convertibledebentures. PTI
mitted into insolvency in 2017,owesmorethanRs47,000croretobanksandother financial institu-tions,andanotherRs780croretoitsoperationalcreditors.Afteraprolongedbiddingbat-
tle,JSWSteelwontherightstotakeoverBhushanPowerwithabidofRs19,700crore.However, beforethe Sajjan Jindal-led companycouldmovetotakeoverBhushanPower,theEDswoopedin,andat-tachedassetsworthRs4,000crorecitingallegedfraudinabankloantaken by the company’s formerownersandothercasesunderthePreventionofMoneyLaunderingAct(PMLA).JSWSteelapproachedthe National Company LawAppellateTribunal(NCLAT),whichruledagainsttheED,andprovidedit immunity from the actions offormerpromoters. InMarch thisyear, Parliament clearedamend-mentstotheinsolvencylaw,pro-vidingasecurityringtonewown-ers of insolvent companies fromtheactionsofoldpromoters.ButtheEDwouldnotbackoff.
Lastmonth,itraidedtheofficeandother premises of BhushanPower’s resolutionprofessionalMahender Kumar Khandelwal,and claimed to have uncovered“clandestine” removal of goodsworthRs700crore.JSWSteel is nowon tenter-
hooks, andhas told theSupremeCourtthatitmustdecideiftheED’spowerstoprobeandattachprop-erties bought under insolvencycodeoverridetheprovisionsoftheIBC–only thencould it goahead
with thecompletionof the insol-vencyprocessforBhushanPower.The Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI), too, hasspookedbidders.Considerthede-lay in the insolvency process ofEducompSolutions.Thecompany,whichhasato-
taldebtofRs3,000crore,wasad-mittedintoinsolvencyonMay30,2017.Afternearlygoingintoliqui-dation,Singapore-basedEbixwonthebidtotakeoverthecompany.However, even as Ebixwaspro-gressingtowardsacquisitionofthecompany,itwasspookedbyaraidby theCBI in February this year,andthesubsequentattachmentofsomeoftheproperties.AlthoughIBCprovidesimmu-
nityagainstprobetonewbidders,EbixSingaporefirstwentslow,andthen filed a plea before theNational CompanyLawTribunal(NCLT) seekingwithdrawalof itsresolutionplan.TheNCLTallowedtheplea,andallowedEbixtowith-draw.However, on July29, 2020,NCLAT set aside theNCLTorder,and ruled that Ebix Singaporecouldnotexitas thebidder. Legalexperts,however,sayitremainstobe seenas tohowthecourts canforceanunwilling resolutionap-plicanttoimplementabid.Theprobeagenciesarenotthe
onlyonescontributingtotheinor-dinatedelays in insolvency reso-lutionprocesses.Regulators suchas the Securities and ExchangeBoardofIndia(Sebi),ReserveBankofIndia(RBI),andtheDepartmentofTelecommunications(DoT)toohavemadeinterventionsinongo-ing insolvency cases to claimsu-periorityinpaymentunderIBC.Takeforexample,Sebi.In2015,themarketsregulator
asked HBN Dairies and AlliedLimitedtorefundRs1,100croreasit had collectedmoney from in-vestorswithoutanyregulatoryap-proval.However,frustratedbyde-lays in getting their refunds, agroupofinvestorsapproachedtheNCLT,which admitted an insol-vencycaseagainstthecompany.Theinsolvencyordermeanta
completemoratorium, includingon sale of assets. This irkedSebi,whichwantedtoselltheassetsofHBNDairies to andpayback themoneyof investors. In 2019, themarkets regulator moved theSupremeCourtagainstanorderbyanNCLTbench,upheldbyNCLAT,which said that IBC lawswould
reignover the rules laiddownbythemarketsregulator.Thecasere-mainspendinginthetopcourt.Amongthelatestaretheobjec-
tionsraisedbytheRBIandtheDoTintheinsolvencyprocessofAircelLimited.Thetelco,whichthenhaddebtofmoreRs26,000crore,hadfiledforbankruptcyin2018.Morethantwoyearslater,inJune2020,the NCLT approved a Rs 6,630crore UVAsset ReconstructionCompanyplan.However,boththeRBIandDoT
have objected to the resolutionplan.Whilethebankingsectorreg-ulatorisreportedtohaverejectedthe plan as it did not adhere toguidelines laiddownforasset re-constructioncompanies, theDoThasmovedtheNCLATcontendingthatAircel’sIBCprocesscouldnotsell the spectrumas itwas onlyleasedtothecompany.A third issue that has stalled
some insolvencyprocesses lead-ingtoinordinatedelaysisthelackofclarityonofferdocumentsandinformationprovidedtoprospec-tivebidders.Consider the case of Liberty
House.TheUK-basedcompanybidforAmtekAutobasedonthedoc-uments and information itwasprovidedbytheresolutionprofes-sional of thecompany.AlthoughtheplanwasapprovedbytheNCLTandtheNCLAT,thecompanywith-drewitsbidatthelastmoment,al-legingthatthegroundrealityoffac-toriesandunitsofAmtekAutowasverydifferentfromwhatwaspre-sentedtoitonpaper.LibertyHouse isnot alone. In
theplugontheresolutionprocessunless theconditionsof theplan,as told to it before the biddingprocess, were met. DVI’s con-tention is that ithasacrucial landparcel,whichwaspromisedtoitintheofferdocuments,isnowbeingrescinded.“Unlessthegovernmentor theapexcourtonceand foralldecidesonthese issues, theseas-pectswill remain.Noregulatororagencywantstobeaccusedoflack-ingincomplianceretrospectively,”aninsolvencyexpertsaid.
CORPORATESECTORdebtworthawhoppingRs15.52lakhcrore,or29.4per centof thebanking sec-tordebttotheindustry,hascomeunder stress after Covid-19 hitIndiaandlockdownwasimposedacross all the states since the lastweekofMarchthisyear.TheKVKamath committee,
whichworkedout the financialparametersforloanrestructuring,has said banking debtworthRs23.71lakhcrore,or45percentofbankingsectordebt,wasalreadyunder stress beforeCovid-19hitthe economy. This effectivelymeans, according to the industrymatrixinthereport,72percentof
thebankingsectordebtworthRs37.72 lakh crore remains understress.Thisisalmost37percentofthetotalnon-foodbankcredit.The Kamath panel has said
companiesinsectorssuchasretailtrade,wholesale trade, roadsandtextiles are facing stress. Thesec-tors that havebeenunder stresspre-covid includeNBFCs, power,steel, realestateandconstructionamongothers.Of theRs15.5lakhcroreloans
impacted by the pandemic, thebiggest ones are retail trade andwholesale trade as bank loansworthRs5.42lakhcrorehavebeenimpacted. Loansworth Rs 1.94lakhcroretotheroadssectorandRs1.89lakhcroretothetextilesec-torhasalsobeenimpacted,there-portshowed.Amongothermajorindustries that have been im-pacted by the pandemic and to
the sectors thathavebeenunderstresspre-Covidhavemajorout-
standing tobanks includeNBFCs(Rs7.98lakhcrore),power(Rs5.69lakh crore), Steel (Rs 2.66 lakhcrore), real estate (Rs 2.29 lakhcrore) and construction (Rs 1,03lakhcrore)amongothers.TheKamath committee said
thepandemichasaffectedthebestof companies. “Thesebusinesseswereotherwiseviableunderpre-Covid-19 scenario. The impact ispervasive across several sectorsbutwithvaryingseverity—mild,moderate and severe. Based onpast experience, it takes a fewmonthstofinalisealargerestruc-turingproposalbecauseofthehostofcompliances,”thepanelsaid.Financial sector experts say
whilestressinvarioussectorspostCovid isunderstandable, the factthatalmost45percentofbankingsectordebtwasunderstresspriortoCovid is amajor concernarea.
“Thisreporthasshown45percentofoveralldebtexposurewasunderstressevenpre-Covid.It’sanusefulexerciseinunderstandinghowsys-tematicallywewouldhavesolvedthemunder normal resolutionprocess,” saidSrinathSridharanaseniorBFSIleader.Somesayevenloansthatwere
understresspre-Covidcango forrestructuringif“thearrearsarelessthan30daysandtheaccounthasbeen standard,” he said. The lastwordonCovid-inducedstressisyettobeheard,expertssay.“Covid-19is still loomingandvarious stateshavecontinuedorreinstatedlock-down.Furtherstillvariousrestric-tionsareputonvariousindustries.Hence, it is premature to expectevenreasonablecertainty incashflowprojectionsinviewofcontin-ueduncertainty,”saidJyotiPrakashGadia,MDatResurgentIndia.
‘Cyber security:Fintech firmsshould workwith large players’
Vodafone Idearebranded as ViMumbai:Vodafone IdeaMondayunveiledanewbrandidentity,‘’Vi”,as part of the integration of twobrands.Thebrandintegrationnotonlymarksthecompletionof thelargest telcomerger in theworld,butwillalsosetthefirmonitsfu-turejourneytoofferstrongdigitalexperiencesto1billionIndiansonits 4Gnetwork, RavinderTakkar,MDandCEO,VodaIdeasaid.ENS
ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,SEPTEMBER7
FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY firmsshouldworkwithlargeplayersinthe sector tobeef up cyber secu-rity solutions to safeguard con-sumer interests. An area that“needs tobehighlighted is cybersecurityandfraudprevention...Alotoftheactivitiesoffintechhavebeen focusedonhowtoprovideresilient front-endsforthefinan-cial services providers,”KRajaraman,AdditionalSecretaryintheFinanceMinistry,saidviaavideo link at a FICCI event onFinTech2020.
ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,SEPTEMBER7
SETTINGTHEstage for themegaloan recast of corporates hit byCovid-related stress, theReserveBankofIndiahasbroadlyacceptedtheKVKamathcommittee’s rec-ommendationtotakeintoaccountfive specific financial ratios andsector-specificthresholdsforeachratioinrespectof26sectorswhilefinalisingtheresolutionplans.While theKamathpanel has
recommendedfinancialparame-tersthatincludeaspectsrelatedtoleverage,liquidityanddebtservice-ability, ithassaidarestandardondateofidentificationforrestructur-ing,forensicauditmayberequiredif theaccounthappens toslipbe-yondthe implementationperiodof 180days toestablishwhethertherewasdiversionof fundsandidentifymalfeasance.“Therecom-mendationsofthecommitteehavebeen broadly accepted by theReserveBank,”RBIsaid.The panel undertook the
processvalidation for the resolu-tionplanstobeimplementedun-derthisframeworkinrespectofallaccountswithaggregateexposureofRs1500croreandaboveat thetimeof invocation.Whilethesix-monthmoratoriumonloanrepay-mentsendedonAugust31,theRBIhasallowedbankstorecast loanswhichwereclassifiedasstandardasonMarch1, 2020. Bankshavealready startedworking out thedetailsofrecastingretailandsmallloans.Thecentralbanksaidsign-ingof InterCreditorAgreementisamandatory requirement for alllendinginstitutionsinallcasesin-volvingmultiple lending institu-tions,wheretheresolutionprocessisinvoked.Therequirementofad-
ditionalprovisionsiftheICAisnotsignedwithin30daysof invoca-tion does not substitute for themandatorynatureofICA,RBIsaid.TheRBIhasalso finalisedsec-
shouldbeconsideredbythelend-ing institutions in the resolutionassumptionswithrespecttoanel-igible borrower. In case of thosesectorswhere the sector-specificthresholdshavenot been speci-fied, lending institutions shouldmake their own internal assess-mentsregardingtotaloutsidelia-bilities to adjusted tangible networthandtotaldebttoEBITDAra-tios. However, the current ratioanddebtservicecoverageratioinall cases shouldbe1.0andaboveandaveragedebtservicecoverageratioshouldbe1.2andabove.TheRBI said lending institu-
tionsare freetoconsiderother fi-nancial parametersaswellwhilefinalizingtheresolutionassump-tionsinrespectofeligibleborrow-ersapart fromtheabovemanda-tory key ratios and thesector-specific thresholds thathavebeenprescribed.“Theratiosprescribedare intendedas floorsorceilings,asthecasemaybe,buttheresolutionplansshalltakeintoaccountthepre-Covid-19operat-ingand financial performanceoftheborrowerandimpactofCovid-19on its operating and financialperformanceat the timeof final-isingtheresolutionplantoassessthecashflowsinsubsequentyears,while stipulatingappropriate ra-tiosineachcase,”itsaid.Given thedifferential impact
ofthepandemiconvarioussectorsorentities,thelendinginstitutionsmay, at their discretion, adopt agraded approachdepending onthe severityof the impacton theborrowers,whilepreparingorim-plementing the resolutionplan,theRBIsaid.Suchgradedapproachmayalsoentailclassificationoftheimpactontheborrowersintomild,moderate and severe, as recom-mendedbythepanel, itsaid.
RBI selects five financial ratios,26 sectors for loan restructuring
KVKamathpanel,
whichworkedoutthe
financialparameters
for loanrecast,hassaid
firmsinsectorssuchas
retail trade,wholesale
trade, roadsand
textilesarefacingstress
Covid-19 impact: `15.5 lakh crorecorporate loans come under stress
ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,SEPTEMBER7
THE CENTRAL Board ofTrustees (CBT) of theEmployees’ Provident FundOrganisation(EPFO)willmeetWednesday to give final nodfor encashment of invest-ments in Exchange TradedFunds (ETFs) togenerate rev-enueformeetingtheimpend-inginterestpayoutforfinancialyear2019-20. TheCBThad inMarch recommendedan in-terest rate of 8.5 per cent for2019-20, a 15 basis pointsdownward revision fromthe8.65percentofferedinthepre-viousyear, for its six croreac-tivesubscribers.An EPFO official said the
decisiontooffloadETFinvest-ment was taken in the CBTmeetingheldearlier thisyearsince the interest ratepayouthas to be based on incomefromboththedebtandequityportionsof theEPFO’s invest-mentportfolio. But, after theoutbreakoftheCovid-19pan-demic, themarket situationwas not viewed as feasible“TheproposaltooffloadsomeETFinvestmentswastakenintheMarchmeetingbut thenthemarketsslowedandhence,adecisionwas taken todeferthe offloading of the stake.Nowthat themarketsaredo-ingbetter,thesaleofsomeETFinvestmentwouldbedone,”the official told The IndianExpress. The issue of delay inratificationof theEPF interestratefor2019-20isalsolikelytoberaisedinthemeeting,Boardmemberssaid.The recommendation of
theCBT regarding theEPF in-terestratewillnowrequirerat-ification from the FinanceMinistrywhichhad last yearquestioned the surplus leveland the Fund’s exposure to
IL&FSandsimilarriskyentitiesbeforegrantingitsnodforthe8.65percentrate.Thisyear,theinterestraterecommendationisyettobesenttotheFinanceMinistry for its approval, offi-cialssaid.Therehavebeencon-cernsabout theEPFO interestrate forFY21,whichwouldbefinalisedearlynextyear,giventhevolatilityinstockmarkets.The retirement fund bodymightfindittoughtomakeitsinterest ratepayout at over 8percentforthenextfiscal,offi-cialssaid.The EPFO invests 85 per
cent of its annual accruals inthe debtmarket and 15 percent in equities through ex-change-traded funds.As perconvention, after the EPFO’sCBTrecommendstheinterestrate, ithastoberatifiedbytheFinanceMinistry and then itgetscreditedintotheaccountsoftheFund’ssubscribers.The FinanceMinistryhas
beennudging theEPFOto re-ducetheratetosub-8percentlevelinlinewiththeoverallin-terest rate scenariowhich isunder straingiven theoveralleconomic slowdown. Smallsavings rates range from4.0-7.6per centandagainst thesesmallsavingsinstruments,in-terest rate for subscribers ofEPFOhasbeenrecommendedtobeatamuchhigher8.5percentforFY20.
PFWATCH
REVENUEGENERATION
NITI Aayog preparing Multidimensional Poverty Index
ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,SEPTEMBER7
NITIAAYOGonMondaysaid it isatanadvancedstageforprepara-tionofaMultidimensionalPovertyIndex(MPI)parameterdashboardto rank states and UnionTerritories, along with a StateReformAction Plan (SRAP). TheAayog,whichis thenodalagencyfor leveraging the monitoring
mechanismof theGlobalMPI todrivereforms,hassetupacoordi-nation committee comprisingmembers from different min-istriesanddepartmentsinthisre-gard. Thecommitteeheld its firstmeetingonSeptember2.TheGlobalMPI is part of the
government’sdecisiontomonitortheperformanceofthecountryon29selectglobalindices,itsaidinastatement. “Theobjective of theGlobal Indices toDrive Reforms
andGrowthexerciseistofulfiltheneed to measure and monitorIndia’s performance on variousimportant social and economicparametersandenabletheutilisa-tion of these indices as tools forself-improvement,bringaboutre-formsinpolicies,whileimprovinglast-mileimplementationofgov-ernmentschemes,”itsaid.GlobalMPIisaninternationalmeasureofmultidimensionalpovertycover-ing107developingcountries.
EPFO Central Boardset to okay offloadingpart of ETFs to meetFY20 interest payout
TheCentralBoardof
Trustees,inMarch,
recommendedan
interestrateof8.5%
for2019-20,a15basis
pointdownward
revisionfromthe8.65
percentofferedin
thepreviousyear
Ahmedabad
THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,SEPTEMBER8,2020
SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
16FODEN,GREENWOODFACEDISCIPLINARYACTION
England players Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden could both face disciplinaryaction after video footage emerged of them allegedly inviting girls to their rooms afterSaturday’s Nations League win against Iceland in Reykjavik, thus breaching Covid-19protocols. REUTERS
The ‘default’ that led toDjokovic’s exit fromUSOpenNovak,whowasthefavouritetowinthetitle,hitalineumpireonthethroatwithaballinfrustrationafterlosingserveinhisfourthroundmatchagainstPabloCarrenoBusta
SHAHIDJUDGEMUMBAI, SEPTEMBER7
AFTERALLofNovakDjokovic’soff-courtcon-troversies in the past fewmonths, an on-courtmisdemeanourhasresultedinhimbe-ingdefaultedfromtheUSOpen.Thein-formWorldNo.1wasanoverwhelmingfavouritewhenhe inadvertently strucka lineumpireinthethroatbyhittingaball inherdirectionafter losing the serve to his Spanish oppo-nentPabloCarrenoBusta.Conspiracy theoristsmay say the harsh
decisionwasawayforthegoverningbodiestogetbackathimforformingarivalplayers’associationadaybeforetheUSOpen,butthedecisionwasbythebook.Andit’ssomethingthat even Tim Henman – the darling ofBritishtennis–facedatWimbledonin1995.Djokovic’sremovalfromthecompetition
has ensured that for the first time since the2014USOpen,therewillnowemergeafirst-timemen’s singles Grand Slam champion.RafaelNadalandRogerFedererarenotplay-ing in the tournament.
Whatwasthe incidentthat ledto
Djokovic’sdisqualification?
Djokovicwasservingat5-5 in theopen-ing set, andwas broken at a crucial stage –whichmeant his opponentwould be serv-ing for theset in thenextgame.In frustration, as hewalked back to the
baseline,Djokovictooktheball inhispocketand without looking, hit it fairly hard to-wardstheleftcorner.Theballcaughtthelineumpire squareon theneck, and she imme-diately tumbled to theground, clutchingatthepointof impact.
The Serb superstar immediately raisedhis arm in apology andwent over to checkonthelineumpire.ThechairumpireAurélieTourtefollowed,andthetournamentrefereeSoerenFriemel, andGrandSlamSupervisorAndreasEgli toowerecalledoncourt.After a 10-minute discussion, Friemel
made the decision to default Djokovic. Helater told reporters: “Basedonthe facts thatthe ball was hit angrily, recklessly; that itwentstraightatthelineumpire’sthroat;thatthelineumpirewasclearlyhurtandinpain,thedecisionwasmadethatNovakhadtobedefaulted.”
Whatdotherulessay?
TheUSTA – organisers of theUSOpen –issueda statement: “Inaccordancewith theGrand Slam rulebook, following his actionsof intentionallyhittingaball dangerouslyorrecklesslywithin the court or hitting a ballwithnegligentdisregardoftheconsequences,the USOpen tournament referee defaultedNovakDjokovic fromthe2020USOpen.“Becausehewasdefaulted,Djokovicwill
loseallrankingpointsearnedattheUSOpenandwillbefinedtheprizemoneywonatthetournament in addition to any or all finesleviedwithrespecttotheoffendingincident.”A ‘default’ is a rare punishment handed
out to players, and can be done because ofeither a single deed, or through a collectionof warnings (a fourthwarning in the samematch results in adefault) that include ver-bal, ball, racquet abuse, unsportsmanlikeconductandotheroffences.According to Section T of the ITF Grand
Slam rulebook, which deals with on-siteplayeroffences,“TheRefereeinconsultationwith the Grand Slam Chief of Supervisors
maydeclareadefault foreitherasinglevio-lation of this Code or pursuant to the PointPenaltySchedule setoutabove.“Inall casesof default, thedecisionof the
Referee inconsultationwith theGrandSlamChief of Supervisors shall be final andunap-pealable.Anyplayerwhoisdefaultedashereinprovidedshall loseall rankingpoints earnedforthateventatthattournamentandmaybefineduptotheprizemoneywonat thetour-nament in addition to any or all other finesleviedwithrespecttotheoffendingincident.”Djokovic’s action, regardless ofwhether
itwas intentionalornot, fit thebill.
WhatwasDjokovic’s reaction?
On court, Djokovic was heard pleadingwith the tournament referee not to defaulthim. “She doesn’t have to go to the hospitalfor this,”hewasheardsaying. “You’regoingto chooseadefault in this situation?Myca-reer, Grand Slam, centre stage. If shewouldhavegottenuprightaway…Youhaveagamepenalty, setpenalty,manyoptions.”According to TheGuardian,Djokovic left
the venue immediately after and returned
to his rented accommodation, and gave noindicationthathewouldbereturningtothesite to offer an explanation. He did issue astatementonsocialmediaashortwhilelater,though.“Thiswholesituationhasleftmere-ally sad and empty. I checked on the linesperson and the tournament toldme thankGod she is feeling ok,” Djokovic said in anInstagram post. “As for the dis-qualification, I need to go backwithin and work on my disap-pointment and turn this all into alesson formy growth and evolu-tionasaplayerandhumanbeing.“IapologisetotheUSOpentour-
nament and everyone associatedformybehavior.I’mverygratefultomyteamandfamilyforbeingmyrocksupport,andmy fans for alwaysbeing therewithme.ThankyouandI’msosorry.”
Haveotherplayersbeendefaulted inthe
past?
Yes. Therehavebeena few.■ TimHenmanwas defaulted during the1995WimbledonChampionshipsafterhehita ball towards thenet in anger after losing apoint,andinadvertentlystruckaballgirlwhohadbeenrunningtothespot intheprocess.
■ CurrentWorld No. 17 Denis Shapovalovdefaulted a Davis Cup rubber against GreatBritaininJanuary2017after intendingtohitaball intothestands,butaccidentallyhittingit straight at the chair umpire, who wasstruckontheeye.
■Inthefinalof the2016IstanbulATP,GrigorDimitrovdefaultedhismatchafterbreakingall his racquets, handing the title to Diego
SchwartzmanofArgentina.
HasDjokovicbeenaccusedofdangerous
behaviour inthepast?
Yes, indeed.Inthequarterfinalofthe2016FrenchOpenagainstTomasBerdych,angeredbymissingoutonabreakpointopportunity,Djokovic flung his racquet backwardswith-
out looking, nearly hitting oneof thelinejudges.At the ATP Tour Finals the
same year, in amatch againstDominicThiem,Djokovichitaball intothestands.Later,dur-ingthepressconferencewhenhewas asked about the inci-dent, he said “It’s not an issue
forme. It’snot the first time Idid it.”Neither incident resulted inadefault.
Hehasbeencontroversialoff-court too,
hasn’the?
In the build-up to the US Open, he re-signed fromhis position as president of theATP Council and just two days before theGrandSlam, launchedarivalplayers’associ-ation.DuringtheragingCovid-19pandemic,heorganised theAdriaTour charity event inBelgradeandZadar,allowingcapacitycrowdsto the venueswith no social distancing orsafetyprotocolsinplace.Playersalsotookpartin friendlybasketballandfootballmatches.The event had to be cancelled after four
players, including Djokovic himself, testedpositive for thenovel coronavirus.He had also raised eyebrows when he
claimed that dirty water could be purifiedjust by “positive thoughts”. His wife Jelenaalso claimed that the virus could spreadthrough5GInternet speeds.
NovakDjokovic talks totheumpireafter inadvertentlyhittinga line judgewithaballduringthe fourth-roundmatchof theUSOpen. Reuters
Novak’s exit ends ‘Big Three’dominance over Grand SlamsREUTERS/APNEWYORK,SEPTEMBER7
tournament,Djokovicwashotfavouritetoclaiman18thGrandSlamtitle,buthisdisqualificationforin-advertentlyhittingalinejudgewithaballhasthrownthetournamentwideopen.Not since StanWawrinka’s 2016U.S.Open tri-
umphhasaGrandSlambeenwonbysomeoneotherthanthe ‘BigThree’,winnersof the last13majorti-tles. To find the last Slamwithout eitherDjokovic,FedererorNadalinthequarter-finalsrequiresamuchdeeperdiveintotherecordbooks,landingatthe2004FrenchOpenwhereFedererwasstoppedinthethirdroundbyGustavoKuerten.
some sympathy for the Serb,whowasdefaultedwhentrailing6-5inthefirstsetagainstPabloCarrenoBusta.Yetthoseleftstandinginthemen’sdrawmaybeprivatelythrilledabouttheirchancesofclaimingthetrophy.“NowIthinkisthetimewhereitgetsre-ally interesting,” said fifth seedAlexander Zverev,who thrashed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina instraightsets.ZverevmeetsCroatian27thseedBornaCoric in the quarter-finals and could have facedDjokovicinthesemis.Toutedasa futureGrandSlamchampionsince
histeenyears,GermanZverevmadetheAustralianOpensemi-finals in Januaryand iswell positionedinNewYork to fulfil thatpromise. “It’s going tobeoneoftheyoungguys(winning),Ithink,ifyoucountDominicThiemasayoungguy,aswell,”saidZverevof the 27-year-oldAustrian. “He obviously has achancetowin,aswell.”Second seed Thiem,who stopped Zverev at
MelbourneParkandpushedDjokovictofivesetsinthefinal, is themajorthreatontheotherhalf of thedraw. The three-timesGrand Slam finalist facesCanadianyounggunFelixAuger-Aliassime in thefourthroundbeforeapotentialquarter-finalagainst
unseededVasekPospisilorAustralian21stseedAlexdeMinaur.Oneof thebiggest dangers to Thiem’shopes of aGrandSlambreakthroughmaybe lastyear’sfinalistDaniilMedvedev,alikelysemi-finalfoe.TherangyRussianthirdseedlostafive-setclas-
sic toNadal in last year’sdeciderandwasdeclaredthemanmost likely tobreaktheBigThree’sGrandSlam stranglehold by JohnMcEnroe and others.MedvedevwillmeetunseededAmericanFrancesTiafoeinthefourthroundonMonday,beforeapoten-tialquarter-finalagainstItalianMatteoBerrettiniorfellowRussianAndreyRublev.
nals by taking advantage of someearly jitters forAnettKontaveitandshowingnoilleffectsfromare-cent left hamstring problem. The fourth-seededOsakanever facedabreakpointandbeat the14th-seededKontaveit 6-3, 6-4 inArthurAsheStadium.Osaka owns two Grand Slam titles, includingFlushingMeadows in2018. She lost in the fourthroundayearago.Kontaveitwon thematch's first point, but fol-
lowedthatwithapairofdouble-faults, followedbyapairof backhanderrors togetbroken.AndOsakawasonherway,winning35of45servicepoints.The 22-year-old from Japan improved to 5-0
VIRATKOHLIhasbeenable to“disconnect” fromthe underwhelming seasons that he and RoyalChallengers Bangalore have endured in the IPLandthereisawelcome“senseofcalm”ashepre-parestoleadthesidethisyear,somethinghelastfelt in 2016. Despite the presence of championplayers like Kohli and AB de Villiers, RCB, in thelast three seasons, has failed to even qualify forthe play-offs. The team last played the final in2016,aseasoninwhichKohli struckanunprece-dented fourhundreds.“The 2016 IPL,we all loved to be a part of (it).
Since then, this is themost balanced I have feltabout (the) squad,” the Indian skipper said onRCB's Youtube show ‘Bold Diaries’, sharing histhoughts on the upcoming edition starting
September19 in theUAE.Kohli said that bothheand AB de Villiers feel that this could be the“breakthrough season”when tableswill turn forthe franchise which has flattered to deceive onmanyoccasions.“I (have)neverfeltsocalmgoingintoaseason
before.He(ABD) iscomingfromaverydifferentspace and he is enjoying his life and is very re-laxed and fit as ever. I feel I am in amuchbetterspace, muchmore balanced, when it comes toenvironmentof (the) IPL,” the straight speakingRCBskippersaid.Thisisthefirsttimehefeelsthatheisn’tcarryinganybaggage.“Disconnectingwiththingsthathavehappenedinthepastandnottak-ing that baggage, as we have done that way toomany times,” he responded to a query onwhathaschangedforhimthisseason.“Justbecausewehaveabunchofplayersthataresoskilled,peoplelike seeing themplay is the reason people havehadsomuchexpectationaswell.”
Ahmedabad
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