23!24245˛ 2 064 !˚˜ˆ!ˆ#$˝ ˛ˆ%ˇ˝&˜’ˇ˚ · pradesh, gujarat and madhya ... disease...

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S ending a clear message that there will be no compromise on safety of the health workers fighting corona pandemic, the Government on Wednesday brought an Ordinance by amending the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, which will allow imprisonment from 6 months to 7 years along with a fine of up to 5 lakh for those found guilty of assaulting them. Addressing a Press confer- ence here, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said the Government would act “tough” against those who would attack doctors and frontline health workers. The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared the ordinance a day after the Indian Medical Association (IMA) demanded the Centre to bring in a law on urgent basis to protect medical professionals from attack on duty. This demand followed rising incidents of violence against healthcare workers on the frontline of the fight against Covid-19. Javadekar said the crimes against health workers had been made a “non-bailable offense”. Under the new law, investigation in such cases will be completed in a time-bound manner. “Such crime will now be cognizable and non-bailable. Investigation will be done in 30 days. Accused can be sen- tenced from 3 months-5 years and penalised from 50,000 up to 2 lakh,” Javadekar said. In extremely violent cases, accused may get six months to seven years in jail. “Health workers who are trying to save the country from this epidemic are unfortunate- ly facing attacks. No incident of violence or harassment, against them will be tolerated. An Ordinance has been brought in, it will be implemented after President’s sanction,” he said. The Minister said if dam- age was done to vehicles or clinics of healthcare workers, a compensation amounting to twice the market value of the damaged property would be charged from the accused. He also said health brief- ings would now be reduced to four days a week, while Press releases and Cabinet briefing would be held on alternate days. Soon after the approval of the Ordinance, Modi tweeted, epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 manifests our commit- ment to protect each and every healthcare worker who is bravely battling Covid-19 on the frontline. “It will ensure safety of our professionals. There can be no compromise on their safety,” he said. Home Minister Amit Shah and Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday inter- acted with doctors and senior representatives of the IMA through a video conference following which the IMA called off their silent protest planned for 9 pm on Wednesday against the spate of attack on their fraternity. “He (the Home Minister has assured that the Government of India will take all necessary steps and come out shortly with relevant legis- lations to address the safety and dignity of doctors and health- care givers,” the IMA said in a statement here. It said it is with- drawing the protest “to main- tain the unity and integrity of our country.” Allaying all concerns of the medical fraternity, Shah assured them that the Government would leave no stone unturned in ensuring their wellbeing and security, said a statement here. The Union Health Ministry recently directed all Chief Secretaries of States and UTs to ensure adequate mea- sures for the safety of health workers for Covid-19 services. P olicemen came under attack at several places across the country in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and other places over enforcing the lockdown and improper distribution of food grain. In Aligarh, vegetable ven- dors pelted stones at policemen at a market on Wednesday when they went there to impose the lockdown against coronavirus, injuring one of them. According to Aligarh District Magistrate Chandra Bhushan Singh, the trouble began when the policemen intervened in a tiff between two vegetable vendors just before the daily four-hour lockdown relaxation was to end. Some people were trying to spread such rumours and the police have identified two such persons who will be prosecut- ed, Singh said. One policeman was injured in the stone pelt- ing here. Additional District Magistrate RK Maalpani said the incident took place in the Bhojpura locality in the old city areas when policemen were imposing the lockdown mea- sures after the 6 am to 10 am relaxation. Despite the police order, the vegetable vendors contin- ued to sell their items, and started pelting stones at the police team, which was out- numbered, he said. Aligarh is not the only place where some locals are resisting the lockdown that is being enforced by the local police. Another incidence of vio- lence against the police was reported from West Bengal after the police objected to a road blockade put up the locals, who alleged improper distrib- ution of food grains. The police, however, have claimed that the locals blocked a road and when they objected, they attacked them. The incident took place in Baduria, North 24 Parganas. In a viral video, locals are seen attacking police personnel, while the police are also seen beating people. C ontrary to the general per- ception that coronavirus is “rarely fatal” among young children and infants, a latest study by American Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on more than 2,500 Covid-19 children suggested that these groups recorded a higher hospitalisa- tion rate than any other child age group. Of 95 infants, 62 per cent were hospitalised, it said. The study comes amid reports of deaths of two infants due to Covid-19. Last week a one-and-a-half-month-old baby died at Delhi’s Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital, while on April 8, 2020 a 14-month- old child passed away in Gujarat’s Jamnagar. In fact, according to the recent Government data as on April 8, 2020, at least 8.61 per cent cases were those of age between 0-20 years while 41.88 per cent cases fell between 21 to 40 years group, 32.82 per cent cases between 41 to 60 years, and 16.69 per cent cases above 60 years. In the earlier stage of pan- demic it was believed that the virus will not strike children as severely as the elderly or peo- ple suffering from co-mor- bidities such as heart disease, diabetes or respiratory prob- lems. In fact, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) had claimed that new- borns, babies and young chil- dren seemed to be mostly unaffected and any symptoms in children have only been mild. However, the CDC’s latest study on more than 2,500 Covid-19 cases among under- 18s suggested otherwise. “The study authors rec- ommended that doctors main- tain a high index of suspicion for children who could have Covid-19, especially for infants and kids with underlying con- ditions,” according to the Science Alert. The study did find, though, that children are less likely to develop coronavirus symptoms than adults. As on April 6, when the CDC published its last comprehensive report on the coronavirus and children, 2 per cent of confirmed Covid- 19 cases had occurred in peo- ple under age 18. That mir- rored data from China and Italy, which reported that chil- dren accounted for about 2 per cent of infections. If the studies have talked about fatalities of kids due to the virus, the United Nations, in a grim assessment of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on children, said that the loom- ing global recession resulting from the outbreak could cause hundreds of thousands of addi- tional child deaths this year, effectively reversing recent gains in reducing infant mor- tality, and push millions of chil- dren into extreme poverty. It said an estimated 42-66 million children could fall into extreme poverty as a result of the crisis this year, adding to the estimated 386 million mil- lion children already in extreme poverty in 2019. Children are not the face of this pandemic. But they are at risk of being among its biggest victims. While they have thankfully been largely spared from the direct health effects of Covid-19, at least to date, the crisis is having a profound effect on their wellbeing,” a new ‘Policy Brief: The impact of COVID-19 on children’ released on Thursday by the United Nations said. T he coronavirus cases in the country reached 21,350 on Wednesday night with 1,270 fresh cases reported during the day. The death toll stood 681 with as many as 36 patients falling prey to the virus in the last 12 hours itself. The Union Health Ministry said that with a total of 4,122 patients being recov- ered from the viral infection so far, the recovery rate stands at 19.36 per cent in the country. Maharashtra continued to be the worst hit with 5,649 coronavirus cases and 269 deaths. The highest number of cases was reported from Mumbai with more than 3,400 positive Covid-19 patients. On Wednesday Maharashtra added 431 new cases. Gujarat has reported 229 new cases to log a total of 2,407 cases and 95 deaths, followed by Delhi, which has reported 2,248 cases and 48 deaths. Rajasthan has reported 1,868 cases, Tamil Nadu 1,629, Uttar Pradesh 1,449, and Madhya Pradesh 1,587 cases. However, as a good news, all positive cases in Goa and Manipur are now negative. In the meantime, a day after asking the States to halt conducting tests from Rapid testing kits, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that it has forwarded a pro- tocol for using rapid antibody test to all States, and reiterated that antibody rapid tests are largely to be used as a tool for surveillance. “Globally also, utility of this test is evolving and it is cur- rently being used for detecting the formation of antibodies in individuals. These test results are also dependent on field conditions. As noted by ICMR, these tests cannot replace the RT-PCR test to diagnose Covid-19 cases,” it said in a statement. ICMR has also assured assistance to collect data from various States to assess the scope and extent of utility of these rapid antibody tests in field conditions. Meanwhile, following pos- itive results from the convales- cent plasma (CP) therapy in treatment of Covid-19 patients in some States, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has granted no objection for con- duct of clinical trials for ther- apy as per protocol developed by ICMR. T he Union Cabinet on Wednesday okayed 15,000 crore for “India Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package” to mount an urgent response for containing the spread of the coronavirus in India through development of dedicated treatment facilities and setting up laboratories among others. The Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared the funds utilisation in three phases, mainly for creation of dedicated treatment facilities, setting up laboratories, research on the pandemic and purchase of medical equip- ment, including 13 lakh diag- nostic kits. 7,774 crore has been provisioned for Covid-19 Emergency Response and the rest for medium-term sup- port, ranging from one to four years to be provided under mission-mode approach. These interventions and initiatives would be imple- mented under the Health Ministry. P rime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a video con- ference with Chief Ministers on April 27 to assess the Covid-19 situation. The meeting is sched- uled a week before the extend- ed lockdown ends on May 3 and is expected to discuss the situation of “hotspots” and containment of the pandemic. According to many senior officials, the main agenda of the meeting will be on tackling of the post-lockdown scenario. After meeting with CMs, the PM is expected to convene a meeting of Central agencies, Empowered Group of officiasls, and Group of Ministers to take a call on the post May 3 events. M aharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Wednesday released the list of 101 persons arrested in con- nection with the April 16 inci- dent and charged that the prin- cipal Opposition party was seeing “Mungerilal ke haseen sapne” of returning to power in the State by politicising the Palghar incident. On a day when the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a notice to the State Director General of Police over the Palghar incident, releasing the list fo the arrested persons Deshmukh said there was not even one Muslim among the arrested accused. Detailed report on P5 A truce was called between the Centre and the Bengal Government on Wednesday ending the ongoing “corona warfare” with the State Government agreed to allow the inter-ministerial Central teams (IMCTs) to inspect the red zones but not before Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slamming Centre’s “biased and domineering” approach in unleashing inspection teams without consulting the State. Mamata flayed the Centre for sending IMCTs to look into the alleged “dilution” of lock- down protocols instead of sending adequate number of testing kits to Kolkata. W hile the Centre has announced stringent punishment for those who attack health employees on corona duty, people in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday assaulted a team of policemen and physicians who had reached the village for taking a man into quarantine. A man had reportedly reached the Gaswani town in Sheopur district from Guna but the family members did not report this to authorities and hid the man in the home. As some locals got the whiff and reported the matter to police, a team of police personnel from Gaswani thana and physi- cians on Wednesday reached there to take the man into quar- antine. However, the locals instead of co-operating with the visit- ing team, assaulted them with stones and sticks injuring an Assistant Sub Inspector of police Sriram Awasthi. The ASI had received injury on the head. The police managed to nab one of the attackers— Gangaram Shivhare and heavy police force was rushed to the village by senior officers. Notably, the Centre on Wednesday had brought an Ordinance provisioning for jail term upto three months to five years and fine upto Rs two lakh for those found guilty of attacking health staffers. Assault on two women doctors in Indore’s Taat Patti Bakhal area recently had hogged lime- light nationally. The attacks on physicians have grown in numbers since the outbreak of corona virus and Madhya Pradesh has wit- nessed such assaults and mis- behaviour with the health staff on duty. In grave assaults, jail term could be upto six months to seven years. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

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Page 1: 23!24245˛ 2 064 !˚˜ˆ!ˆ#$˝ ˛ˆ%ˇ˝&˜’ˇ˚ · Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya ... Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on more than 2,500 Covid-19 children suggested that these

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���� 78� 89:�

Sending a clear message thatthere will be no compromise

on safety of the health workersfighting corona pandemic, theGovernment on Wednesdaybrought an Ordinance byamending the EpidemicDiseases Act, 1897, which willallow imprisonment from 6months to 7 years along with afine of up to �5 lakh for thosefound guilty of assaulting them.

Addressing a Press confer-ence here, Union ministerPrakash Javadekar said theGovernment would act “tough”against those who would attackdoctors and frontline healthworkers.

The Union Cabinet chairedby Prime Minister NarendraModi cleared the ordinance aday after the Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA) demandedthe Centre to bring in a law onurgent basis to protect medicalprofessionals from attack onduty. This demand followedrising incidents of violenceagainst healthcare workers onthe frontline of the fight againstCovid-19.

Javadekar said the crimesagainst health workers hadbeen made a “non-bailableoffense”. Under the new law,investigation in such cases willbe completed in a time-boundmanner. “Such crime will nowbe cognizable and non-bailable.Investigation will be done in 30days. Accused can be sen-tenced from 3 months-5 yearsand penalised from �50,000 up

to �2 lakh,” Javadekar said.In extremely violent cases,

accused may get six months toseven years in jail.

“Health workers who aretrying to save the country fromthis epidemic are unfortunate-

ly facing attacks. No incident ofviolence or harassment, againstthem will be tolerated. AnOrdinance has been brought in,it will be implemented afterPresident’s sanction,” he said.

The Minister said if dam-

age was done to vehicles orclinics of healthcare workers, acompensation amounting totwice the market value of thedamaged property would becharged from the accused.

He also said health brief-

ings would now be reduced tofour days a week, while Pressreleases and Cabinet briefingwould be held on alternatedays.

Soon after the approval ofthe Ordinance, Modi tweeted,

epidemic Diseases(Amendment) Ordinance,2020 manifests our commit-ment to protect each and everyhealthcare worker who isbravely battling Covid-19 onthe frontline. “It will ensuresafety of our professionals.There can be no compromiseon their safety,” he said.

Home Minister Amit Shahand Health Minister Dr HarshVardhan on Wednesday inter-acted with doctors and seniorrepresentatives of the IMAthrough a video conferencefollowing which the IMAcalled off their silent protestplanned for 9 pm onWednesday against the spate ofattack on their fraternity.

“He (the Home Ministerhas assured that theGovernment of India will takeall necessary steps and comeout shortly with relevant legis-lations to address the safety anddignity of doctors and health-care givers,” the IMA said in astatement here. It said it is with-drawing the protest “to main-tain the unity and integrity ofour country.”

Allaying all concerns of themedical fraternity, Shahassured them that theGovernment would leave nostone unturned in ensuringtheir wellbeing and security,said a statement here.

The Union HealthMinistry recently directed allChief Secretaries of States andUTs to ensure adequate mea-sures for the safety of healthworkers for Covid-19 services.

���� 78� 89:�

Policemen came under attackat several places across the

country in West Bengal, UttarPradesh, Gujarat and MadhyaPradesh and other places overenforcing the lockdown andimproper distribution of foodgrain.

In Aligarh, vegetable ven-dors pelted stones at policemenat a market on Wednesdaywhen they went there toimpose the lockdown againstcoronavirus, injuring one ofthem. According to AligarhDistrict Magistrate ChandraBhushan Singh, the troublebegan when the policemenintervened in a tiff between twovegetable vendors just beforethe daily four-hour lockdownrelaxation was to end.

Some people were trying tospread such rumours and thepolice have identified two suchpersons who will be prosecut-ed, Singh said. One policemanwas injured in the stone pelt-ing here.

Additional DistrictMagistrate RK Maalpani saidthe incident took place in theBhojpura locality in the old cityareas when policemen wereimposing the lockdown mea-sures after the 6 am to 10 amrelaxation.

Despite the police order,the vegetable vendors contin-ued to sell their items, and

started pelting stones at thepolice team, which was out-numbered, he said.

Aligarh is not the onlyplace where some locals areresisting the lockdown that isbeing enforced by the localpolice.

Another incidence of vio-lence against the police wasreported from West Bengalafter the police objected to aroad blockade put up the locals,who alleged improper distrib-ution of food grains. Thepolice, however, have claimedthat the locals blocked a roadand when they objected, theyattacked them.

The incident took place inBaduria, North 24 Parganas. Ina viral video, locals are seenattacking police personnel,while the police are also seenbeating people.

���� 78� 89:�

Contrary to the general per-ception that coronavirus is

“rarely fatal” among youngchildren and infants, a lateststudy by American Centre forDisease Control andPrevention (CDC) on morethan 2,500 Covid-19 childrensuggested that these groupsrecorded a higher hospitalisa-tion rate than any other childage group. Of 95 infants, 62 percent were hospitalised, it said.

The study comes amidreports of deaths of two infantsdue to Covid-19. Last week aone-and-a-half-month-oldbaby died at Delhi’s KalawatiSaran Children’s Hospital, whileon April 8, 2020 a 14-month-old child passed away inGujarat’s Jamnagar.

In fact, according to therecent Government data as onApril 8, 2020, at least 8.61 percent cases were those of agebetween 0-20 years while 41.88per cent cases fell between 21to 40 years group, 32.82 percent cases between 41 to 60years, and 16.69 per cent casesabove 60 years.

In the earlier stage of pan-demic it was believed that thevirus will not strike children asseverely as the elderly or peo-

ple suffering from co-mor-bidities such as heart disease,diabetes or respiratory prob-lems.

In fact, the IllinoisDepartment of Public Health(IDPH) had claimed that new-borns, babies and young chil-dren seemed to be mostlyunaffected and any symptomsin children have only beenmild.

However, the CDC’s lateststudy on more than 2,500Covid-19 cases among under-18s suggested otherwise.

“The study authors rec-

ommended that doctors main-tain a high index of suspicionfor children who could haveCovid-19, especially for infantsand kids with underlying con-ditions,” according to theScience Alert.

The study did find, though,that children are less likely todevelop coronavirus symptomsthan adults. As on April 6,when the CDC published itslast comprehensive report onthe coronavirus and children,2 per cent of confirmed Covid-19 cases had occurred in peo-ple under age 18. That mir-

rored data from China andItaly, which reported that chil-dren accounted for about 2 percent of infections.

If the studies have talkedabout fatalities of kids due tothe virus, the United Nations,in a grim assessment of theimpact of Covid-19 pandemicon children, said that the loom-ing global recession resultingfrom the outbreak could causehundreds of thousands of addi-tional child deaths this year,effectively reversing recentgains in reducing infant mor-tality, and push millions of chil-dren into extreme poverty.

It said an estimated 42-66million children could fall intoextreme poverty as a result ofthe crisis this year, adding tothe estimated 386 million mil-lion children already inextreme poverty in 2019.

Children are not the face ofthis pandemic. But they are atrisk of being among its biggestvictims. While they havethankfully been largely sparedfrom the direct health effects ofCovid-19, at least to date, thecrisis is having a profoundeffect on their wellbeing,” a new‘Policy Brief: The impact ofCOVID-19 on children’released on Thursday by theUnited Nations said.

���� 78� 89:�

The coronavirus cases in thecountry reached 21,350 on

Wednesday night with 1,270fresh cases reported duringthe day. The death toll stood681 with as many as 36 patientsfalling prey to the virus in thelast 12 hours itself.

The Union HealthMinistry said that with a totalof 4,122 patients being recov-ered from the viral infection sofar, the recovery rate stands at19.36 per cent in the country.

Maharashtra continued tobe the worst hit with 5,649coronavirus cases and 269deaths. The highest number ofcases was reported fromMumbai with more than 3,400positive Covid-19 patients. OnWednesday Maharashtra added431 new cases.

Gujarat has reported 229new cases to log a total of 2,407cases and 95 deaths, followedby Delhi, which has reported2,248 cases and 48 deaths.Rajasthan has reported 1,868cases, Tamil Nadu 1,629, UttarPradesh 1,449, and MadhyaPradesh 1,587 cases.

However, as a good news,all positive cases in Goa and

Manipur are now negative.In the meantime, a day

after asking the States to haltconducting tests from Rapidtesting kits, the Indian Councilof Medical Research (ICMR)said that it has forwarded a pro-tocol for using rapid antibodytest to all States, and reiteratedthat antibody rapid tests arelargely to be used as a tool forsurveillance.

“Globally also, utility of thistest is evolving and it is cur-rently being used for detectingthe formation of antibodies inindividuals. These test resultsare also dependent on fieldconditions. As noted by ICMR,these tests cannot replace the

RT-PCR test to diagnoseCovid-19 cases,” it said in astatement.

ICMR has also assuredassistance to collect data fromvarious States to assess thescope and extent of utility ofthese rapid antibody tests infield conditions.

Meanwhile, following pos-itive results from the convales-cent plasma (CP) therapy intreatment of Covid-19 patientsin some States, the CentralDrugs Standard ControlOrganisation (CDSCO) hasgranted no objection for con-duct of clinical trials for ther-apy as per protocol developedby ICMR.

���� 78� 89:�

The Union Cabinet onWednesday okayed

�15,000 crore for “IndiaCovid-19 EmergencyResponse and Health SystemPreparedness Package” tomount an urgent response forcontaining the spread of thecoronavirus in India throughdevelopment of dedicatedtreatment facilities and settingup laboratories among others.

The Cabinet meetingchaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi cleared thefunds utilisation in threephases, mainly for creation ofdedicated treatment facilities,sett ing up laboratories,research on the pandemic andpurchase of medical equip-

ment, including 13 lakh diag-nostic kits. �7,774 crore hasbeen provisioned for Covid-19Emergency Response and therest for medium-term sup-port, ranging from one tofour years to be providedunder mission-modeapproach.

These interventions andinitiatives would be imple-mented under the HealthMinistry.

���� 78� 89:�

Prime Minister NarendraModi will hold a video con-

ference with Chief Ministers onApril 27 to assess the Covid-19situation. The meeting is sched-uled a week before the extend-ed lockdown ends on May 3and is expected to discuss thesituation of “hotspots” andcontainment of the pandemic.

According to many seniorofficials, the main agenda of themeeting will be on tackling ofthe post-lockdown scenario.After meeting with CMs, thePM is expected to convene ameeting of Central agencies,Empowered Group of officiasls,and Group of Ministers to takea call on the post May 3 events.

����������� #,'�

Maharashtra HomeMinister Anil Deshmukh

on Wednesday released the listof 101 persons arrested in con-nection with the April 16 inci-dent and charged that the prin-cipal Opposition party wasseeing “Mungerilal ke haseensapne” of returning to power inthe State by politicising thePalghar incident.

On a day when theNational Human RightsCommission (NHRC) issued anotice to the State DirectorGeneral of Police over thePalghar incident, releasing thelist fo the arrested personsDeshmukh said there was noteven one Muslim among thearrested accused.

Detailed report on P5

����������������;9�'!'

Atruce was called betweenthe Centre and the Bengal

Government on Wednesdayending the ongoing “coronawarfare” with the StateGovernment agreed to allowthe inter-ministerial Centralteams (IMCTs) to inspect thered zones but not before ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeeslamming Centre’s “biased anddomineering” approach inunleashing inspection teamswithout consulting the State.

Mamata flayed the Centrefor sending IMCTs to look intothe alleged “dilution” of lock-down protocols instead ofsending adequate number oftesting kits to Kolkata.

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While the Centre hasannounced stringent

punishment for those whoattack health employees oncorona duty, people in Sheopurdistrict of Madhya Pradesh onWednesday assaulted a team ofpolicemen and physicians whohad reached the village fortaking a man into quarantine.

A man had reportedlyreached the Gaswani town inSheopur district from Guna butthe family members did notreport this to authorities andhid the man in the home. Assome locals got the whiff andreported the matter to police,a team of police personnelfrom Gaswani thana and physi-cians on Wednesday reachedthere to take the man into quar-antine.

However, the locals insteadof co-operating with the visit-ing team, assaulted them withstones and sticks injuring an

Assistant Sub Inspector ofpolice Sriram Awasthi. TheASI had received injury on thehead.

The police managed tonab one of the attackers—Gangaram Shivhare and heavypolice force was rushed to thevillage by senior officers.

Notably, the Centre onWednesday had brought anOrdinance provisioning for jailterm upto three months tofive years and fine upto Rs twolakh for those found guilty ofattacking health staffers.Assault on two women doctorsin Indore’s Taat Patti Bakhalarea recently had hogged lime-light nationally.

The attacks on physicianshave grown in numbers sincethe outbreak of corona virusand Madhya Pradesh has wit-nessed such assaults and mis-behaviour with the health staffon duty. In grave assaults, jailterm could be upto six monthsto seven years.

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Page 2: 23!24245˛ 2 064 !˚˜ˆ!ˆ#$˝ ˛ˆ%ˇ˝&˜’ˇ˚ · Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya ... Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on more than 2,500 Covid-19 children suggested that these

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The initiative of GovernorLalji Tandon to generate

public awareness towardsCoronavirus through YuvaShakti has spread wideresponse in the State. Duringthe total lockdown in the state,students worked to send mes-sages using email,

WhatsApp and SMS to dis-seminate information aboutthe measures to prevent coro-navirus to a large part of thepopulation of the state includ-ing remote areas, communitiesand individuals.

As many as 01 crore 34lakh 57 thousand 672 messageshave been sent to the studentsand farmers by GovernmentUniversities in the State.During the lockdown period,70 lakh 52 thousand 761 mes-sages containing information

in context to protection fromCorona were sent by 21 uni-versities of the state to 21 lakh16 thousand 179 students by e-mail, SMS, WhatsApp. In this,64 lakh 96 thousand 663 mes-sages were sent through SMSand WhatsApp and 5 lakh 56

thousand 098 e-mails weresent for generating publicawareness towards Corona.Simultaneously, more than 64lakh messages were sent tofarmers by 5 universitiesincluding Agriculture,Veterinary University.

Secretary to GovernorManohar Dubey informed thata large part of the population hasbeen informed and educated inrelation to Corona through thedissemination of the message bythe students to their families andfamilies of their contacts.

He said that informationabout Corona was sent through4,32,696 SMS, 2,44,278WhatsApp and 8,106 e-mails to1,96,238 students by AvadheshPratap Singh University, Rewaduring the critical period.

Total 7,27,715 SMS, 87,021Whatsapp and 53,498 e-mailsby Barkatullah University,

Bhopal to 3,48,905 mobile own-ing students, 2,65,304 SMS,3,36,855 WhatsApp and 28,671e-mails by Devi AhilyaUniversity Indore to 2,65,304mobile owning students,3,01,995 SMS, 84,738WhatsApp and 1,14,687 e-mailsby Jiwaji University, Gwalior to2,95,797 mobile owning stu-dents, 24,500 SMS, 2,950WhatsApp and 2,190 e-mails to1,56,975 mobile owning stu-dents by Maharaja ChhatrasalBudelkhand UniversityChhatarpur, 2,30,908 SMS.

80,717 WhatsApp and 350e-mails to 2,29,108 students byRani Durgavati University,Jabalpur, 6,14,986 SMS,2,81,616 WhatsApp and 13,069e-mails and agriculture related12.050 SMS to farmers byVikram University, Ujjain to1,62,017 mobile owning stu-dents were sent.

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Under Covid-19, over70,000 free food packets

have so far been distributed bySewa Sadan Eye Hospital innearby villages of SantHirdaram Nagar and slumareas of Bhopal city.

These food packets dis-tributed to the poor people ofnearby Bhudakheda, BehtaGaon, Laukhedi, Khanu gaon,Nevri, Barkheda Salam,Bhaisakhedi, Bhouri Bakaniyavillages and Slum areas ofHalalpura, Kamla park,Jahangirabaad, Kali mataTemple, sultania Lady Hospital,Gautam Nagar, Subhash Nagarand Kolar Road localities.

An expenditure of over Rs12 Lakh has so far beenincurred on this charity. Tenemployees of the Hospitaleveryday prepare food forneedy people. A group of 15disciples of Sant Hirdaram

Sahib ji distributes these foodpackets. Besides Bhopal city,SSEH has now launched oneanother project of free distrib-ution of 675 hygiene kits in 30villages of Berasia Tehsil of theDistrict.

International NGOOperation Eye Sight has alsosupported to implement thisproject. Every kit is consistingof 1 Kg. Bleaching Powder, FivePieces Of Masks, Two Pieceshand washing soap cakes andIEC material.

As many as 195 Hygienekits have so far been distributedin Char Pahari, Nahariya,Bhairopura, Jataua, Bineka,Dangroli and BarliKsheelkheda villages.

Rest of the villages will becovered within coming Threedays. These hygiene kits willvery soon be made available tothe beneficiaries of Kurawarand nearby villages of RajgarhBiora district also.

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Piplani police has nabbedtwo miscreants planning

burglary and recovered ironrods, hammer and ropes fromtheir possession near IndrapuriColony in the night on Tuesday.

The accused were afterpolice received informationregarding two miscreants nearGoyal apartment in IndrapuriColony and when they werequizzed they confessed thatthey were planning burglary.

Acting on the tip off policeteam rushed to the spot andraided the spot where the twowere planning. After spottingpolice the two tried to escapebut police managed to nabthem.

In the initial investigationthe nabbed accused were iden-tified as Jogendra andBaleshwar. The crime record of

the two would be searched asdetails of earlier crime recordswere not revealed by theaccused. The accused con-fessed that they were planningto target a house in area andwere nabbed before commit-ting burglary. One of thenabbed accused were sched-uled to break in and make wayfor the other and would laterescape with the valuables.

The accused told the policethat they planned to targethouse of having good amountof valuables. After the prelim-inary investigation the policehave registered a case undersection 401 of the IPC .Policesaid that during the interroga-tion more crimes would beconfessed by the nabbedaccused.

The accused use iron rodsto break the locks to enter thehouse. Police have recoveredhammer, screwdriver and ironrod from their possession. Thepeople who help in disposingburgled valuables would beprobed.

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The campus of the AISECTgroup is using Bhopal

campus during this crisis ofCOVID 19 and ongoing lock-down in the city. A call cen-ter of 104 and 108 underPradhan Mantri KaushalKendra and InformationTechnology Lab established inthe AISECT campus.

During this time, all nec-essary arrangements havebeen ensured as per COVID19 protocol.

It is noteworthy thatexperts available at the callcenter give advice on callingmerge by calling the number104. Ambulance is called incase of accident at number108.

At present, calls comingfrom all over Madhya Pradeshare being attended in the callcenters operated in twoshifts.Director of AISECT,Siddharth Chaturvedi said inthis context that it is a time ofcrisis for the whole country.

Every citizen and institutionshould give due support anddischarge their responsibili-ties. It is a matter of pleasurefor us that the district admin-istration has been using thelatest technologies of the facil-ities and information tech-nology available on the cam-pus.

It is to be known that theneedy people are already beenprovided with the rationmaterials and medicines bythe AISECT group.

Besides, it also notewor-thy that the Banking kiosksoperated by AISECT are alsooffering their various ser-vices to the common peopleof the city during lockdown.

On the other hand,Project Saucer of AISECTPMKK, Mr.

Saurabh Pandey said thatduring this transition periodof Coronavirus, AISECTPMKK Bhopal, AISECTPMKK Bilaspur, Narayanpur,Agar Malwa are doing com-mendable social work.

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Aconcrete plan has beenmade in the State for the

transportation of procuredwheat. The 51 districts of thestate have been divided into179 sectors in this regard. TheState Civil SuppliesCorporation has been entrust-ed with the arrangement oftransportation.

The Principal SecretaryFood & Civil Supplies andConsumer Protection SheoShekhar Shukla has informedthat under the WheatProcurement-2020, trans-portation arrangement has alsobeen strengthened for the pro-cured wheat.

He further said that 51 dis-tricts of the State have beendivided into 179 sectors totransport wheat with prompt-ness,. Responsibility for trans-

portation has been entrusted toState Civil SuppliesCorporation andMarkfed.Shukla mentionedthat a target of 110 lakh met-ric tonne wheat procurementhas been set in RabiProcurement-2021. The delayin wheat harvesting to pro-curement has been caused dueto the Corona infection thisyear.

In view of likelihood ofmonsoon in June, transporta-tion arrangements have beenstrengthened for the procuredwheat procurement by liftingit from the procurement cen-ters with promptness.

All the process has beencarried out online to controlthe transportation work and tosave time.Shukla further saidthat division wise agencieshave been decided for liftingwheat from about 5 thousand

procurement centers, set up in51 districts of the state. TheMadhya Pradesh Civil SuppliesCorporation Limited has beenentrusted with the responsi-bility of transportation in 21districts of 4 division ieN a r m a d a p u r a m(Hoshangabad), Bhopal,Gwalior and Sagar.Transporters have beenappointed by the State CivilSupplies Corporation by divid-ing these districts in 93 sectors.

Similarly, the responsibili-ty of transportation has beenentrusted to Markfed in 30 dis-tricts of 5 divisions ie Indore,Ujjain, Rewa, Shahdol andJabalpur. The Markfed has cre-taed 86 sectors for smooth exe-cution of transportation plan.

Alternate transportationplan The Principal SecretaryShri Shukla stated that an alter-nate plan of transportation has

also been prepared to ensuretimely wheat lifting. He saidthat in case the first bidder doesnot work, the lifting can beensured by other transporter atregular rates with the permis-sion of the Collector.

For this, security amountwill be deposited by the trans-porter. Bidder is required tosign an agreement with theCorporation within 7 days. Itwill be mandatory to startwork within 3 days after theissue of work order.

If the second bidder alsofails to work, then the work ofthe second transporter at theminimum rate will be execut-ed through other firm at the‘Risk and Cost'" of the trans-porter.

In this context, a provisionto ban non-performing firmsfor 5 years has also been made,he added.

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In this lockdown period andin the crisis, Karmayogi

Creative Group (KITE) cameup with an idea of “Journey OfDreams” to conduct an inter-active sessions with the artists,especially Youngsters who aredoing great in the field.

This will inspire the younggeneration to pursue theatrearts as their carrier as well as aplatform where they can inter-act and ask their questionsfrom these greats from all overthe country. As the timedemands, there is a desperateneed for theatre artists to con-duct several activities on theinternet in order to build,

attract and to generate a largenumber of audiences. There ishigh need to get the youthinvolved seriously in theatre forthe betterment of the arts.

This whole conversationseries is divided into episodes,where we will interact dailywith well known artists from allover the country. Founder ofKarmyogi Theatre Groupinformed that the first trialepisode began on April 18where Bollywood ActorGodaan Kumar shared hisexperience.

The response we got fromthere boosted our morale, andwe decided to go Live daily onInstagram. On April 23 NeerajKunder from Sidhi, MP, will

share his experience regardingfolk theatre and Music. OnApril 24, Manish Joshi fromHissar, Haryana will interactwith the viewers and tell themabout the importance ofTheatre Management. Furtheron April 25 SuvojitBandhyopadhyay from Kolkata(West Bengal) will talk aboutDesigning and Direction.

On April 27 Karan Ladhafrom Sirsa (Haryana) will talkabout the importance of Youthin theatre arts and the list goeson. “We are trying our best tokeep theatre and arts alive inthis lockdown and to entertainpeople in order to boost theirmorale amongst this crisis,”said Nitish.

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To help students theInst itute of

Company Secretaries ofIndia (ICSI) is provid-ing short online lessonsand video lectures.Dueto the lockdown(COVID-19) all theinstitutes are shut downand hence, ICSI is pro-viding the students withthe online lecture. Tohelp the students pur-suing company secre-tarial studies, onlinemock tests will also beconducted for the stu-dents.

It is to be noted,ICSI's Class Room atTeaching CenterAdmission students canavail free online cours-e s :https://www.icsi.edu/media/webmodules/websiteClassroom.pdf. Freevideo lecturer will beavai lable athttps://elearning.icsi.in.

All offline training

such as 15 days educa-tional developmentprogram (ADP), week-long DevelopmentProgram (EDP) and 15-day Management SkillsO r i e n t a t i o nProgramme (MSOP)has been transferred tothe virtual platform.Webinar via WachunalClassroom to updatethe CS members' col-lege is operating theexact route, which isbased on the profile ofthe company secre-taries.

ICSI President CSAshish Gagan told thatthe update of the infor-mation of the CompanySecretary. This websiteis released by ICSI onthree days (Monday /Wednesday and Friday)every week is beingorganized.CS Gangantold that online mem-bership of various sub-jects for the conve-nience of the members.He also informed thatthe areas of expertise

for members of ICSI areYatri Company Law,Taxation Law,SecuritiesOnline self-assessment module forlaw, governance, riskmanagement, companyplanning and econom-ics also launched aShrin La. Member 10Program Credit Hours(PCH) for each modulewill be eligible for Eachmodule will conduct 60multiple-choice ques-tions. ICSI-RVO willhave an online coursefrom April 28 to May 3.

For registrat ionv i s i t ,[email protected] to the DigitalSequence of ICSI by CSAshish, Chairman ofICSI Praising,"Technology has revo-lutionised educationand it's time, ICSI stu-dents and members canuse this opportunityand look for tomor-row's era determineyour ability to sell pro-fessionally".

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After cars and garbage vehicles bootleggerscontinue to find ways to continue their busi-

ness illegally and the newest mode used was boatwhich was seized by Koh-e-Fiza police fromUpper Lake and arrested a 23-year-old youth andrecovered seized country made liquor worth Rs10000 on Wednesday.

The accused identified as Kishan Bhoi ofShahid Nagar carrying country made liquor inhis boat was nabbed after receiving informationof the country made liquor. Police have recovered50 bottles each half liter of country made liquor.The police have registered a case under section34 of the Excise Act.

Meanwhile, the services of three personsworking with BMC and arrested for carrying 81liters of country made liquor in Garbage collec-tion vehicle at Lalghati on Tuesday have been ter-minated by the BMC Commissioner with imme-diate effect.

Action was also taken against the AssistantHealth Officer Mohammad Kashif who was incharge of these vehicles has been suspended whileAHO Mahesh Gaur would also face the heat whois deployed in Zone 17 where garbage collectionvehicle was found carrying liquor illegally inAshoka Garden area.

Notably Koh-e-Fia police arrested SonuJateliya (22), Shankar Sirmoliya (39) and BuntyPatoliya (25), all residents of Shahjehanbadwhile carrying 81 liters of country made liquorin Garbage collection vehicle on Tuesday.

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After DG (EoW) RajivTandon's driver was tested

positive, the police headquar-ters in the State capital has beenclosed till April 26 after covid19infection rose among 29 policestaffers in the city.

ADG (administration)Ajay Kumar Sharma lateevening issued an order askingall department heads not tosummon employees to PHQunless there is an urgent workand instead the staff shouldfunction from home until April26.

The officer instructed offi-cers to function through e-mails and whatsapp and addedthat all the functioning thattakes place on e-mails would beconsidered part of officialrecord and State Crime RecordBureau would be keeping arecord of all these details inrecord.The panic was triggeredafter driver of DG (EoW) RajivTandon was tested positive

and his son, a clerk at PHQ, toocontracted the infection. Theson was posted at PHQ. TheEconomic Offence Wing thatfunctions from a separatebuilding as PHQ has beenclosed down and staff includ-ing the DG has been homequarantined and samples aretaken for tests from them.

To add, till Wednesday, asmany as 29 police personnelhave contracted corona infec-tion in Bhopal, said aspokesperson from PHQ. Outof these three have recoveredfrom the disease, he added.Besides Bhopal the police staffis also infected by the virus.

Two SHOs-DevendraChadrawanshi Indore andYashwant Pal, Ujjain; have dieddue to corona virus and anAddl SP posted in Mhow isunder treatment. His kin toohad contracted the infectionlike was the case with severalpolicemen in Bhopal.A con-stable Chetan Singh posted atRatibad area in Bhopal on

corona duty had shot himselfwith service revolver out of fearof corona infection recently.The cop however was savedand is under treatment.

One of the policemen inBhopal had contracted theinfection from Tablighi Jamatmembers after he was deployedin their protection. Seniorpolice officers in Bhopal andother cities have kept them-selves in isolation as a precau-tionary measure. Several offi-cers have turned their offices orgarages into makeshift accom-modation.

At Indore, policemen onduty have been kept at hotels,lodges and dharmashalas tosave their families from infec-tion. Indore policemen whohad taken some prisoners toSatna and Jabalpur after theywere slapped with NSA alsowere quarantined after the twoprisoners tested positive forcorona later on. Despite hard-ships, the policemen besidesdischarging law and order duty

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Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan was presented

with a cheque of Rs 4 lakh forthe CM Relief Fund by theSecretary of Mansarovar Groupof Institutions Gaurav Tiwari tohelp the people affected by thecorona crisis. The MLAGovindpura Krishna Gaur waspresent on the occasion.TheChief Minister Shivraj Singh

Chouhan appreciated theMansarovar Group’s coopera-tion. The Chief Minister hasurged that all the sections of thesociety to cooperate in tacklingthe challenge of Coronavirusagainst humanity. He alsoexpressed gratitude to theindustrialists and organiza-tions for providing financialassistance during this hour ofcrisis.

Chouhan has called uponto become an associate in thiswar by depositing the assis-tance amount in the accountnumber-10078152483 / IFSCcode SBIN 0001056 of theChief Minister's Relief Fund.

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Page 3: 23!24245˛ 2 064 !˚˜ˆ!ˆ#$˝ ˛ˆ%ˇ˝&˜’ˇ˚ · Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya ... Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on more than 2,500 Covid-19 children suggested that these

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Punjab on Wednesday regis-tered a whopping spike of

26 fresh cases including a six-month-old from Kapurthala,who was already undergoingtreatment at Chandigarh’s Post-Graduate Institute of MedicalEducation and Research(PGIMER), taking the state’stotal to 277. Maximum 18cases were recorded fromPatiala district’s Rajpura town,followed by five from Jalandharwhich included city mayor’sOSD. After a gap of over 10days, two more cases werereported from Amritsar.

The five positive cases werereported from Jalandhar on lateTuesday evening, whichincludes 45-year-old Officeron Special Duty (OSD) toJalandhar Mayor Jagdish Raja.Now, the district has total 53positive cases, of which six haverecovered and two have suc-cumbed to the virus.He is theclose contact of corona positive

Congress leader. Besides him,55-year-old mother and 20-years-old sister of 24-year-oldyouth, who was tested positiveon April 17, were also testedpositive. Two other include, 56-year-old and 42-year-old men,living in a PG accommodationat Pacca Bagh area. Both werethe co-workers of a 40-year-oldpatient of the Raja Gardenarea.

At 53, the district has thesecond-highest positive cases inthe State so far after Mohali,where 62 persons have beeninfected with the virus.

The two cases were report-ed from Amritsar. As thedetails of the two are awaited,the two patients had tested pos-itive in the rapid testing a daybefore. The new cases hasincreased district’s tally to 13.

The media bulletin,released in the evening, showsincrease of six cases sinceTuesday evening. The casesfrom Patiala and Amritsar areyet to be added in the official

numbers, and would be reflec-tive in the bulletin onThursday.

18 NEW CASES INRAJPURA

Witnessing a major spikein positive cases, Patiala districtrecorded 18 new cases, takingits number to 49. All the caseshave been reported fromRajpura town, which hasalready been sealed. “18 newpositive cases, and all related tothe original Rajpura case.

Total 70 samples of RT-PCR were taken in Rajpura, ofwhich 18 have been testedpositive, while 52 are negative,”said the state’s Special ChiefSecretary Karan Bir SinghSidhu. He added that there wasno cause for concern as the areawas “very securely contained”.

UNDER TREATMENTAT PGI, INFANT TESTS POS-ITIVE

A six-month-old, daughterof a labourer from Phagwara,undergoing treatment in PGI’sAdvanced Pediatrics Centrefor heart ailment since April 9,has been tested positive forCOVID-19. The baby girl wassuffering from congenital heartdisease and was advised a heartsurgery. Before PGI, she wasadmitted in Ludhiana’s ApolloHospital till April 8 for 36 days.

The PGI authorities decid-ed to conduct corona test onthe baby as she was sufferingfrom “some infection” sincepast two days. The teams ofhealth department has taken

the samples of the familymembers, including her uncle(Chacha) and aunty (Chachi),and kept them in home quar-antine at their Phagwara resi-dence, while her parents weretested at the PGI. PGIMER’sofficial statement stated. “Thebaby girl, weighing three kg,was diagnosed as a case ofacyanotic congenital heart dis-ease with congestive heart fail-ure. She had a ventricular sep-tal defect, atrial septal defectand patent ductus arteriosus.”

“After a detailed assess-ment by the cardiologists andcardiothoracic surgeons, shewas due to be taken up foropen-heart surgery in theAdvanced Cardiology Centre,PGI. However, a preoperativetest for COVID-19 turned outto be positive on April 21,” itadded.

The baby has now beenshifted to the COVID facility inNehru Hospital Extension,PGI. She continues to receiveventilatory support.

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A17-year-old girl diedunder suspicious circum-

stances at Om Nagar underKolar police station area onTuesday; girl was undergoingtreatment for past one monthand after death she was testedfor Coronavirus infection.

According to the police,deceased Priyanka Pal report-ed illness in the afternoon onTuesday and was taken tonearby hospital where shedied later duringtreatment.Police have foundthat the deceased sufferedfrom Measles and has prob-lems in her abdomen. The

father of girl is police person-nel and posted in Bhopal. Thereason of the death whichwas provided by the familywas illness.Body was sent forthe post mortem after thepreliminary investigation. Thepolice have registered a caseunder section 174 of the CrPCand have started further inves-tigation.

The deceased was a class11 student. She would also betested for Coronavirus infec-tion as the present scenariorequire to check the spread ofthe infection.Statements ofthe family members wouldbe recorded which could helpin revealing the reason behind

the death.Meanwhile a12-year-old boy died after he fellin a well at Kararia underBerasia police station area onTuesday.

Police said that thedeceased Pradeep was founddowned in a well near hishouse on Tuesday. After thebody was spotted by the locals,police were informed and ateam reached the spot andstarted further investigation.Inthe initial investigation policefound that the deceased wentmissing and later his body wasfound. The police have regis-tered a case under section174 of the CrPC and startedfurther investigation.

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Alternate arrangementshave to be made for dis-

tribution of ration at the timeof pandemic in which socialdistancing and using of bio-metric authentication couldspread the Coronavirus infec-tion and a safer way for fairdistribution would be ‘thumbimpression’ of beneficiaries toprovide ration, mentions aletter to Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhan byUjjain North MLA Paras Jain.

The Ujjain North MLAParas Jain has written a letterto the Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan and suggest-ed that ration should be dis-tributed to the eligible bene-ficiaries by putting thumbfor authentication instead ofmachine based authentica-tion system.

After irregularities werefound in ration distribution to

the beneficiaries the ruleswere amended to check leak-ages in the system and on theinstruct ions fromDepartment of Food CivilSupplies and ConsumerProtection for fair distribu-tion the eligible beneficiarieswere provided with distributeration after biometric authen-tication which is machinebased Aadhaar linked authen-tication. Currently, lock-down and curfew have beenimplemented throughout thecountry to prevent infectionof corona.

In such a situation, dis-tributing ration to the bene-ficiaries in the shops by main-taining social distancing willrequire additional efforts andwould be a challenge

and also in most of thecases at the time of the use ofbiometric holding the thumbof the beneficiary is done formaking machine Aadhaarauthentication which will bea physical contact increasingchances of spread of infection.

Taking these factors inaccount MLA Jain has sug-gested to the Chief Minister

that any other arrange-ment should be made for dis-tribution of ration and theorder should be circulated bythe Government in thisregard.

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They say “every dark cloudhas a silver lining”. The last

four weeks in the CityBeautiful has marked anunusual activity with wild ani-mals venturing out intohuman habitations in broaddaylight.

However, no incident ofanimal fatality or a man-ani-mal conflict has been report-ed in Chandigarh.With desert-ed roads and the near-silentambience all around due toimposition of curfew in thecity amid Coronavirus pan-demic, the wild animals arebecoming bolder, straying out-side forests areas and goingback without creating anyconflict.

The curfew was imposedin the city on March 24 toensure social distancing andstem the spread ofCoronavirus.The union terri-tory of Chandigarh, which isa joint capital of two neigh-boring states of Punjab andHaryana and also, shares bor-ders with them, has a protect-ed area—Sukhna WildlifeSanctuary, spreading over anarea of 26 sq km of forest landspanning the plains at thefoothills of Shivalik range.Among other forest areas inthe city include Lake ReserveForests and Patiala-Ki-RaoForests.

Most recently, a leopardhad strayed into a posh resi-dential area in the city fromSukhna Wildlife Sanctuary.The feline was captured andreleased back into the wild,with a relief that there was nountoward incident involving

humans. A day later, anotherleopard was spotted in asouthern sector and is statedto have moved towards near-by Mohali district of Punjab.

Not only this, many aston-ishing videos of wild animalsfrolicking through emptyroads in the city have surfacedin the past four weeks.A herdof Sambars running on desert-ed city streets was never acommon sight but with theresidents locked inside due tocurfew,

mandate quarantines andsocial distancing, the animalshave now got a bit more roomto wander through the roadsin Chandigarh, which boost oflush green trees on both sides.In another video, a herd ofSpotted Deers was seen walk-ing freely on a road here.Peacocks with their featuresout, strolling the city streets isanother common wonderfulsight for the residents now.

Abdul Qayum, DeputyConservator of Forests,Chandigarh while talking toThe Pioneer says, “With cur-few in the city keeping resi-dents behind closed doors, thewild animals appear to havegotten a free reign on the oth-erwise busy roads of thebustling city.

Interestingly, there has notbeen any complaint on UTDepartment’s widely publi-cized man-animal conflicthelpline during curfew peri-od.”“We are spotting herds ofSambars, Spotted Deers,strolling on city roads sincethe curfew period began. Butjust two complaints related toa snake sighting and a batdying due to electrocutionwas received, that too, a long

time back, he adds.Elaboratingon the leopard sightings,Abdul says, “On March 30, aleopard that had strayed intoa plush residential area wascaptured and later, released inthe forest area. The next day,another complaint related tohearing of leopard growlingand sighting was receivedfrom southern sectors but theleopard could not be trappedand seems to have movedtowards Mohali area.

After that no complainthas been received on ourhelpline.”Earlier, the averagenumber of calls received andresponded to on the man-ani-mal conflict helpline werethree to six on a daily basis.

Sample this. 127 com-plaints were received on thehelpline in April last year, 104in March, 111 in February, 105in January.

During 2018, the numberand trend of complaintsremained almost similar with137 complaints registered inJanuary 2018, 99 in February,126 in March, 141 in April,129 in May, 136 in June, 181in July, 159 in August, 160 inSeptember, 168 in October,

128 in November and 108 inDecember.The statistics showscomplaints received wererelated to Sambars, Nilgai andMonkeys venturing intohuman habitations and alsorelated to Snakes, Bats, Owls,Eagles, Peacocks, Pigeonsamong other species.

The wildlife experts say,while there is enough food inthe Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuaryhere, the animals often ventureclose to human habitationsdue to the absence of fencingat some places to restrict theirmovement to the forests areas.

Before curfew, the merepresence of wild animals nearhuman habitations was report-ed as conflict.In November2018, the shocking pictures ofa Sambar, lying in a pool ofblood and crying for helpafter being hit by a vehicle atSector 3/4/9/10 roundabout inNovember 2018 had broughtalive the debate on the issue ofhuman-animal conflict in thecity.

Sadly, more than 40 wildanimals were killed on the cityroads in the past one year.And, the fatalities includedNilgai, Sambars, Peacocks,

Porcupines among other ani-mals. Nonetheless, theCoronavirus pandemic hasnow altered the urban lifewith the secluded roads andeerie stillness of public spacesresulting in emboldenedwildlife, appearing to reclaimtheir lost territory.

Perhaps, one might nowseek silver linings in the nar-rative of nature healing itselfand wildlife having a galatime.

Sukhna WildlifeSanctuary, a home to Sambarsand other deer speciesAccording to the data with theUT Forests and WildlifeDepartment, there are 9species of mammals and 63species of birds in the SukhnaWildlife Sanctuary. Sambars inthe Sanctuary were estimatedbetween 1000 to 1200 whilepeafowl were between 900-100in a census exercise, conduct-ed nearly a decade back.

Spotted Dear (Chittal),Pangolin (ant eater), WildBoar, Jackal, Small IndianCivet, Jungle Cat, Porcupine,Langur, Rhesus Money, IndianHare, Common Mongooseamong other mammals arealso the inhabitants of theSanctuary.

Leopards are a frequentvisitor to the Sanctuary fromforest areas of neighboringHaryana. The varieties of rep-tiles including Snakes likeCobra, Rat Snake, CommonKrait, Russell’s Viper, IndianPython and CommonMonitor (Gho), FreshwaterTurtle also inhibits theSanctuary. The Sukhna LakeForest Reserve is also inhab-ited by Sambars and other ani-mals.

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At least four more cases ofCOVID-19 were reported

in Jharkhand on Wednesday,taking the total count ofCoronavirus cases here to 49,health officials said. Three ofthe four new cases are fromHindpiri, and the remainingone is from Garhwa – first caseof the district, they added.

"We have found four freshpositive cases today(Wednesday). Three of themare from Hindpiri in Ranchiand one is from Garhwa," saidHealth Secretary Nitin MadanKulkarni. "The Garhwa suspect,who tested positive was under-going treatment at LakeviewHospital in Ranchi," he added.

Lakeview hospital wassealed and all employees quar-antined after an ex-bureau-crat, who underwent treat-ment at the hospital, tested pos-itive for COVID-19 in New

Delhi and later died. TheGarhwa patient may have con-tracted the virus during treat-ment, sources said. Accordingto figures shared by the healthdepartment, at least nineCOVID-19 patients tested neg-ative in the past 48 hours.However, one of them –a 54-year-old woman fromHindpiri– died of a cardiaccondition.

Out of the 49 cases report-ed so far in Jharkhand, 28 arefrom Ranchi, 11 from Bokaro,three each from Hazaribag andSimdega, and one each fromKoderma, Giridih, Garhwa andDeoghar. By now, threeCOVID-19 patients have diedin the State. One of them wasa 75-year-old man from Bokaroand the other two were fromRanchi's Hindpiri locality,health officials said. However,technically, the number ofCoronavirus deaths in State isat two as one of the deceasedtested negative before dying,

officials said. As per the dailyCoronavirus bulletin releasedby the National Health Mission(NHM), the Government col-lected samples of at least 6696Coronavirus suspects and 4950of them tested negative. TheGovernment collected sam-ples of 508 suspects onWednesday, the test results ofonly 199 suspects was out.The results of the remainingsamples are awaited, NHMofficials said.

The Government has putnearly 90,000 people in homequarantine here, while around10,000 people were kept atquarantine centres, the NHMbulletin said on Wednesday.The State has around 45,000beds in quarantine centresacross Jharkhand. The State, atpresent, has four testing centresafter the Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR) gaveits nod to setting up of a sec-ond testing centre at ItkiSanatorium on Tuesday.

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The Ranchi Distr ictAdministration in collab-

oration with the IndianMedical Association (IMA)on Wednesday launched anonline medical consultation

facility to ensure that the cityresidents can get help overtheir mobile phones fromrenowned specialist doctorsin the State capital during theongoing lockdown.

The Government hasroped in more than a dozendoctors for the purpose.These doctors have volun-teered to provide consultationover WhatsApp –throughchats, voice calls and videocalls– to people in need ofmedical assistance, officialsfrom the Jharkhand chapter ofIMA said.

The l ist of doctors

involved in the campaignincludes Physicians, ENT spe-cial ists , Gynaecologists ,O p h t h a l m o l o g i s t s ,Psychiatrists and even PlasticSurgeons.

According to a documentreleased by the distr ictadministration, some of themost renowned city doctorslike Dr. Anant Sinha and Dr.Bibhuti Kashyap are in thepanel of doctors who will beproviding this service.

"Since people are notallowed to move out, we aretrying our level best to pro-vide most of the essential

services either online or totheir doorsteps," said RanchiDeputy Commissioner RaiMahimapat Ray. Meanwhile,the administration onWednesday also launchedJhar Haat – an online veg-etable, fruit and grocery deliv-ery system.

This service enables cityresidents to place orders overWhatsApp and get vegetables,fruits and grocery delivered athome for a delivery charge ofRs.45.

The service is also avail-able for rural residents ofRanchi with an additional

delivery charge of Rs.20, offi-cials said. The Ranchi DistrictAdministration onWednesday distributed masksand soaps among the mem-bers of the Birhor tribe –aParticularly Vulnerable TribeGroup (PVTG) in Jharkhand–and also spread awarenessamong the members of thetribe about COVID-19, apress communique said.

According to 2011 census,the Birhor population inJharkhand is 10, 726. Thepopulation of the tribe groupincreased from 7514 in 2001.

However, tribal rights

activists claim that the popu-lation of the tribe group fellconsiderably in the past eightyears or so and one of themajor reasons for it was poorhealth.

More than 50 per cent ofCoronavirus cases inJharkhand are from Ranchi.

Hindpiri locality here is acontainment zone and theadministration is deliveringration, milk and other essen-tial items to households here.Along with a mobile ATMservice, the administrationhas also launched mobile milkdelivery services here.

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In what can be termed as relieffor the authorities engaged in

a grim battle against the novelCoronavirus (COVID-19), nonew patient of the disease wasreported by the state healthdepartment on Wednesday. Ina good news, four patients of thedisease were discharged fromthe hospital on the day afterthey recovered completely fromthe disease. The state now has23 active cases out of total 46positive cases.

The additional secretarymedical health and family wel-fare department, Yugal KishorePant said that reports of 214suspected patients were receivedby the department onWednesday till 6.00 pm and allof them were found negative forthe disease. He said that reportsof 227 samples are still awaitedby the department. A total of189 samples are in transit whileare repeat samples of suspect-ed patients.

The authorities have so fartaken swab samples of 4275 sus-pected patients for COVID-19test. On Wednesday samples of213 suspected patients weretaken and sent to the lab for test.A total of 2705 people areunder institutional quarantinewhile 321 suspected patients arein hospital isolation in the state.

The authorities have kept65013 people under home quar-antine in different parts of thestate. In (GDMC) hospital, 12positive patients of COVID-19are currently admitted whileseven are undergoing treat-ment at Mela hospital,Haridwar.

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Page 4: 23!24245˛ 2 064 !˚˜ˆ!ˆ#$˝ ˛ˆ%ˇ˝&˜’ˇ˚ · Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya ... Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on more than 2,500 Covid-19 children suggested that these

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Against the backdrop of thedenial of burial to a doctor

in Tamil Nadu by locals andwithin hours of theGovernment’s move to bring inan Ordinance to protect thefrontline workers, the Ministryof Home Affairs on Wednesdaydirected States and UnionTerritories to take strict actionagainst those who obstruct theperformance of last rites ofCovid warriors. It asked themto appoint Nodal Officers atState/UT level and at dist lev-els and who would be available24x7 to redress any safety issueon the functioning of medicalprofessionals.

They should also takeimmediate and strict action incase any incident of violencetakes place, the MHA main-tained.

This is the fourth letter bythe Centre to the States in thelast one month to ensure ade-quate protection to healthcareprofessionals, medical staff andfrontline workers by augment-ing their safety and securitycover.

“Strict action must betaken against those whoobstruct performance of lastrites of medical professionals orfrontline healthcare workerssuccumbing to COVID19,while discharging their ser-vices,” Union Home SecretaryAjay Bhalla wrote in his letterto the States.

“In spite of the said com-munications, some incidents ofviolence have been reportedfrom different parts of thecountry against healthcare pro-fessionals/frontline workers.It is evident that at this time,any single incident of violenceagainst healthcare profession-als is likely to create a sense ofinsecurity amongst the entirehealthcare community,” hesaid.

He also cited the SupremeCourt’s directions on April 8 tothe Centre and respectiveStates/Union Territories andrespective police authoritiesto provide necessary policesecurity to doctors and med-ical staff in hospitals and placeswhere patients who have beendiagnosed Covid-19 orpatients suspected of the dis-ease -19 or those quarantined

are housed. “Further, the Courtdirected to provide necessarypolice security to doctors andother medical staff who visitplaces to conduct screening ofpeople to find out symptoms ofdisease,” he pointed out.

“In line with the SupremeCourt directions and provi-sions of the DisasterManagement Act, 2005, MHAhas urged upon all State/UTand District authorities toinvoke the provisions of theAct, or any other law in force,to take strict penal actionagainst the offenders, whoobstruct Government healthofficials, or other health pro-fessionals and/ or related per-sons, who are authorized underthe Disaster Management Act,2005, in the discharge of theirlawful services,” an MHA com-munique stated.

The States/UTs have beenrequested to widely publicizedetails of preventive measurestaken and appointment ofNodal Officers, amongst themedical fraternity, includingthe local chapters of the IMA,as well as to the public at large,to ensure compliance at groundlevel.

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Abattery of covid-19 war-riors has been deployed

across the States to fight thedeadly contagion disease whichhas caused havoc in India as inthe world. More than 20,000people have been infected withthe virus which has claimedover 500 lives in the country.

AK Panda, SecretaryMinistry of micro, small andmedium enterprises who headsthe Empowered Committed-4,which is entrusted withAugment Human Resourcesand capacity Building said thataround 14,995 AYUSH profes-sionals in 15 States and 2 UTs,3,492 NCC Cadets and 553NCC staff are on the war frontin 68 districts in 16 States and3 UTs.

More than 47,000 cadetshave already enrolled for train-ing and will be available fordeployment while 1,80,000 ex-servicemen have been identi-fied by the Sainik Boards fordeployment, said Panda.

Similarly, more than 40,000volunteers from Indian RedCross are actively participatingin Covid -19 related activitiesin over 550 districts in thecountry.

As many as 27 lakh volun-teers of NYKS and NSS volun-teers across all States and UTsare working with the civicauthorities in COVID 19 relat-ed activities.

"The details of corona war-riors in 20 categories and 49sub-categories, who can con-tribute to COVID-19 manage-ment efforts, are available tostates and UTs on the portal.State and district level coordi-nators' phone numbers areprovided on the portal.

“The hospital details of201 public sector enterprises,

49 ESIS hospitals, 50 Railwayhospitals, 12 port hospitalsand 13 ordinance factorieshospitals are on the website," heexplained.

Panda informed thatCorona warriors volunteersare involved in three types ofactivities -preventive activitiessuch as social distancing, sup-ply of essential commodities in

containment zones and fieldsurveillance curative compo-nent.

"The Government haslaunched IgoT platform -Igot.gov.in - to provide anytimeanywhere onsite training. It isaccessible through any device.14 courses, 53 modules, 113videos and 29 training docu-ments are available on the por-tal. There are 1.31 lakh users intwo weeks," he added.

The dashboard containsState and District wise infor-mation about the number ofhuman resources availablefrom each group, along withthe contact details of respectiveState and District Nodal offi-cers.

���� 78� 89:�

An employee working inthe Ministry of Civil

Aviation has tested positivefor COVID-19. The Ministry ofCivil Aviation informed thatthe employee attended office onApril 15 and all colleagueswho came in contact with himwere asked to go in self-isola-tion.

As a precautionary mea-sure, B’ wing of the RajivGandhi Bhavan at JorBagh,which is headquarters ofthe Civil Aviation Ministry,has been sealed and concernedauthorities have been asked tosanitise the whole area.

“An employee of the min-istry who had attended officeon 15 April has tested positivefor COVID19 on 21 April. Allnecessary protocols are beingstringently followed on thepremises. All colleagues whocame in contact are beingasked to go into self-isolationas a precaution,” the ministryposted on Twitter.

All the employees whocame in contact with the coro-navirus positive patient, wereasked to self-isolate themselvesas a precautionary measure, theministry added. "All neces-sary protocols are being strin-gently followed on thePremises. All colleagues whocame in contact are beingasked to go into self-isolationas a precaution," the ministrytweeted.

The Delhi Governmentwill follow necessary steps liketracing the contacts of the avi-ation ministry employee."Government of Delhi is seizedof the matter. They are takingappropriate steps as per the laidprotocol for contact tracing andrisk profiling," it said in anoth-er tweet.

Minister of Civil Aviation,Hardeep Singh Puri, said theministry stands by its employ-ee who has tested positive forCovid-19 and assured all pos-sible support.

“We stand by our colleagueat @MoCA_GoI who has test-ed positive for COVID19 &have extended all possible med-ical help & support. Those incontact have also been asked tofollow the laid down proce-dures. I wish him strength &speedy recovery,” Puri tweetedout.

According to an official,the staffer who tested positivecomplained of throat pain a fewdays back and he got tested onTuesday.

Some staffers haveexpressed concerns over com-muting to work under thelockdown. “Social distancing isnot maintained when you haveto carpool with others. Theentire point gets negated,” agovernment staffer said. Thiscomes a day after housekeep-er of the Lok Sabha tested pos-itive for the coronavirus dis-ease.

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The Union HRD Ministry onWednesday unveiled the

VidyaDaan 2.0 E-learning por-tal and invited contributions forCBSE students from individu-als and organizations fromacross the country. An individ-

ual or schools, institutions,DIET, organisations and NGOsthat have good quality e-learn-ing resources can contribute tothe VidyaDaan programme.

“VidyaDaan is a nationalprogramme under which acad-emics and organizations of thecountry will be engaged to

develop and contribute to e-learning content as per cur-riculum to provide quality dig-ital curriculum content on var-ious online education plat-forms,” said Dr RameshPokhriyal Nishank, UnionCabinet Minister for HumanResource Development.

Whoever wishes to con-tribute by developing e-learningcontent can submit their con-tribution in the form of explana-tory videos, animation, pathplans, evaluation, and questionbank for any grade from 1 to 12and for any subject as specifiedby the states/UTs under their

respective projects. The sub-mitted material will be reviewedby experts after which it will bereleased for use on the app sothat millions of students acrossthe country will be able tostudy from the e-learningresources.

“I believe that for those

whose contribution will beincluded in initiation e-learningmaterial, it will be a matter ofpride and an opportunity to cre-ate a national identity,” adds theHRD minister. The contributorstowards VidyaDaan 2.0 whoseentries are accepted will beduly recognized as well.

The first step towards con-tribution to VidyaDaan 2.0 is tolook for the project needs ofCentre, State, or Union Territoryorganizations. Contributors maythen nominate themselves forthe projects for which theyhave relevant content to con-tribute. Organizations or indi-

viduals will also be required tofill in details, provide a sampleof their e-content, and thennominate themselves. Once thenomination is shortlisted, con-tributions can begin. The latestprojects available for contribu-tion are for CBSE Class 1 to 12textbooks in English.

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BJP president Jagat PrakashNadda on Wednesday wel-

comed Central Government’smove to issue Ordinance toprovide protection to doctorsand health workers andthanked Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA) for endingtheir proposed stir protectingattacks on the doctors carryingout cure and care services forCoronavirus affected peoplein the country.

The Central Governmenthas brought an ordinance toend violence against healthworkers by amending theEpidemic Diseases Act, 1897,which will allow imprison-ment from 6 months to 7

years for those found guilty.BJP president said the

country is one with the“Corona warriors” who arestaking their lives to serve thecitizens. Nadda said under theordinance the offender wouldnot get bail and the investi-gation would be wrapped upwithin 30 days. “ This willdefinitely boost the moral ofdoctors and health workers”,said BJP President.

He welcomed the decisionof IMA to withdraw theirprotest after consultationswith Union Home MinisterAmit Shah. Nadda said hisGovernment would ensurethat there is no violenceagainst the health workersthe country and that thisordinance reflection Modi-government’s determinationto protect health workers.

Nadda held a meeting ofstate presidents and state gen-eral secretaries of UttarPradesh, Madhya Pradesh,Kerala and Andhra Pradesh

via videoconferencing andreviewed the work carriedout by the party workers inthe coronavirus affectedregions. General Secretary(organisation) B L Santoshwas present during the meet-ing.

Earlier, senior BJP leaderand Union Minister PrakashJavadekar said the govern-ment would act "tough"against those who wouldattack doctors and frontlinehealth workers.

He said the crimes againsthealth workers had beenmade a "non-bailable offense"via the ordinance. Under thenew law, investigation in suchcases will be completed in atime-bound manner. "Suchcrime will now be cognisableand non-bai lable.Investigation will be done in30 days. Accused can be sen-tenced from 3 months-5 yearsand penalised from � 50,000up to � 2 lakh," Javadekarsaid.

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After a Chief Medical Officer(CMO) of the CRPF test-

ed positive for Covid-19 earli-er this month, aConstable/Nursing Assistanthas tested positive for the viraldisease.

The Nursing AssistantRajesh Sharma, 43, had pro-ceeded on leave from March11to April 4 due to domesticproblem and in between he wasdirected to report to the near-est CRPF location through anorder of the MedicalDirectorate of the paramilitaryhere.

In pursuance of the orders,Sharma reported at 31Battalion headquarters hereApril 7. He was put under 14-day quarantine and on Tuesdayhe was tested positive forCovid-19. Subsequently,Sharma has been admitted inthe Rajiv Gandhi MemorialHospital in the national capi-tal for treatment of coron-avirus.

A CRPF spokesperson saidSharma being a nursing assis-

tant was asked to join duty afterleave in order to contribute to the ongoing chal-lenge posed by the outbreak ofdisease.

A detailed tracing is beingundertaken to ascertain thepersons who came in contactwith him after he joined dutyon April 7 at 31 Battalion andthey will be subjected to themandatory 14-day quarantineand tested for Covid-19.

Earlier this month CMODr Deepak had tested positivefor Covid-19 following which

a detailed tracing of those whocame in contact was made.Following the tracing exercise,as many as 200 officials andstaff including the CRPFDirector General APMaheshwari, former CRPFchief Vikram Srivastava andSenior Security Advisor in theUnion Home Ministry K VijayKumar besides three InspectorsGeneral were advised homequarantine.

However, these officialsjoined their duties back afterthe test results were negative.

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The CRPF has dismissedConstable/Driver Inder Pal

of 72 Battalion (last posting in01 Signal Battalion) who wasarrested by Haryana police onApril 10 for violating the lock-down. The CRPF vehicle wasalso impounded by the police.Pal had undertaken a visit toMahendragarh in Haryanawithout due permission fromhis superiors and also took theCRPF vehicle in an unautho-rised manner. “As a result ofreport of the PreliminaryEnquiry Constable/Driveriswarded with the punishment of“Dismissal from Service” under

CRPF Rules, 1955with effectfrom 21/04/2020 for gross mis-conduct unbecoming of amember of the Force due tomisuse of Authority , drivingthe Govt vehicle in CRPFUniform away from Ops (oper-ational) jurisdiction to settlepersonal scores with civiliansduring countrywide lockdownperiod and tarnishing theimage of this Disciplined Forceby negative publicity in printmedia. Accordingly, he has been struck off from thestrength of this Unit w.e.f. 21/04/2020,” readsan order issued byCommandant of 1 SignalBattalion.

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The Supreme Court onWednesday dismissed a

plea of Christian Michel James,an alleged middleman arrestedin connection with theAgustaWestland VVIP chopperscam cases, seeking interim bailon the grounds of risk of con-tracting coronavirus in Tiharjail.

A bench of Justices SanjayKishan Kaul and B R Gavai,which took up the interimbail plea through video con-ferencing, said that as per thecriteria fixed by high poweredcommittee constituted bygovernment in pursuance ofdirections of apex court, thepetitioner (Michel) cannotbe granted bail.

Advocate Aljo K Joseph,appearing for Michel, saidthat because of his vulnerableage and overcrowding in jail,he is likely to contact COVID-19 which may be detrimentalto his health.

He submitted that DelhiHigh Court was wrong in dis-missing his interim bail pleaon the ground that his appre-hensions are unfounded.

When contacted aboutthe proceedings, Joseph said,“The bench told me that as

per the criteria fixed forrelease of prisoners in wake ofcoronavirus pandemic by theHigh Powered committee, theforeigners lodged in jails can-not be released.”

The High Court on April7 had dismissed his bail pleasaying that the apprehensionof Michel that because of hisvulnerable age and over-crowding in jail, he is likely tocontact COVID-19 whichmay be detrimental to hishealth, is unfounded.

It had said, “As regards theapprehension of the petition-er (Michel) being infected byCOVID-19 pandemic, it maybe noted that the petitioner islodged in a separate cell withonly two other prisoners andthus, is not in a barrack ordormitory where there are anumber of prisons.

It is not the case of thepetitioner that any of the twoinmates residing with himare suffering from COVID-19.

"Hence, the apprehension

of the petitioner alsobecause of the vulner-able age and over-crowding in jail that heis likely to contactCOVID-19 which maybe detrimental to his

health, is unfounded.”In his plea, the 59-year-

old Michel has claimed thathis health condition was crit-ical and incompatible with thecurrent prison status, espe-cially to cope up with the riskof contracting the COVID-19infection which could have alethal effect on him as he isalready suffering from seriouspathologies.

Michel, extradited fromDubai, was arrested by the EDon December 22, 2018. OnJanuary 5 last year, he wassent to judicial custody in theED case. He is also lodged injudicial custody in anothercase registered by the CBI inconnection with the scam.

Michel is among the threealleged middlemen beingprobed in the case by the EDand the CBI. The other twoare Guido Haschke and CarloGerosa.

On April 1, the apex courthad asked Michel to firstapproach the high court withhis plea.

���� 78� 89:�

With the countryobserving social

distancing due to thelockdown to fight thecoronavirus pandem-ic, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi willaddress various GramPanchayats across thecountry through video-con-ferencing on the occasion of theNational Panchayati Raj Day onApril 24.

The Prime Minister wouldbe interacting with variousparticipants, an official releasesaid adding Modi would belaunching the unified e-GramSwaraj Portal and MobileApp.

The Unified Portal is anew initiative of Ministry ofPanchayati Raj which will pro-vide the Gram Panchayats witha single interface to prepare andimplement their GramPanchayat Development Plan(GPDP).

He would also be launch-ing the Swamitva Scheme onthe occasion. The scheme pro-vides for an integrated proper-ty validation solution for ruralIndia; the demarcation ofinhabited land in rural areaswould be done by the use of lat-est surveying methods –

Drone’s technology with thecollaborated efforts of theMinistry of Panchayati Raj,State Panchayati RajDepartment, State RevenueDepartment and Survey ofIndia, the release added.

Every year, on this occa-sion, the Ministry ofPanchayati Raj has beenawarding the best performingPanchayats/States/UTs acrossthe country under theIncentivization of Panchayatsin recognition of their goodwork for improving delivery ofservices and public goods.

This year three suchawards: Nanaji DeshmukhRashtriya Gaurav Gram SabhaPuraskar (NDRGGSP), Child-friendly Gram PanchayatAward (CFGPA) and GramPanchayat Development Plan(GPDP) Award have beenfinalised which will be sharedwith the concerned States/UT.

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The Union Cabinet onWednesday approved �22,

186 crore subsidies toPhosphatic and Potassic (P&K)fertilizers for the year 2020-21.Under this Nutrient BasedSubsidy (NBS), the Cabinetalso approved the inclusion ofa complex fertilizer namelyAmmonium Phosphate (NP14:28:0:0), said Government ina statement.

“The approved rates ofNBS are under - N : �18.789per kg, P : Rs.14.888/kg, K:�10.116/kg and S : �2.374/kg,”said the statement, adding thatthe subsidy on the P&K will beprovided on the subsidy ratesapproved by the CCEA to thefertiliser companies.

The Cabinet meetingchaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi also approvedextension of relaxation ofmandatory requirement ofAadhaar seeding of data inrespect of beneficiaries of theStates of Assam andMeghalaya and UTs of J&Kand Ladakh for one year witheffect from April 1 under thePradhan Mantri Kisan

Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)Scheme.

“The PradhanMantriKisanSammanNidhi(PM-KISAN) Scheme waslaunched by the PrimeMinister on 24 February, 2019.The Scheme aims to provideincome support to all land-holder farmer families acrossthe country with cultivableland, subject to certain exclu-sions. Under the Scheme, anamount of � 6,000/- per yearis released in three 4-month-ly instalments of �2,000/- eachdirectly into the bank accountsof the beneficiaries. TheScheme is effective from 1stDecember, 2018.

From 1st December, 2019,release of benefits is doneonly through Aadhaar seededdata of beneficiaries uploadedby the State / UTGovernments on the PM-KISAN portal, except in caseof the States of Assam andMeghalaya and the UTs of J&Kand Ladakh, which have beengiven exemption from thisrequirement till 31st March,2020, as Aadhaar penetrationthere has been miniscule,”said the statement.

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Page 5: 23!24245˛ 2 064 !˚˜ˆ!ˆ#$˝ ˛ˆ%ˇ˝&˜’ˇ˚ · Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya ... Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on more than 2,500 Covid-19 children suggested that these

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Number of persons testedpositive for coronavirus

in Tamil Nadu on Wednesdaycame down to 33 but the num-ber of patients afflicted with thepandemic in the State reached1,629. There were 76 new casesof coronavirus on Tuesdayevening.

The State saw 27 personsgetting discharged from varioushospitals on Wednesday. Thistook the total number of per-sons cured of the pandemic allover Tamil Nadu to 662, arespite for the administration.

According to a mediarelease issued by theDepartment of Health onWednesday, 946 persons areundergoing treatment in vari-ous hospitals in the State forcoronavirus. The number ofcausalities due to coronavirusin Tamil Nadu stood at 18 onWednesday. The Government

has set up Stae-level and dis-trict-level committees to auditall deaths due to covid 19 dis-ease. An order issued by theDepartment of Health in thisregard said the death auditwould help in understandingand lapses if any in preventionand case management.

A disturbing feature inTamil Nadu is the news thatabout 35 journalists (mostlyTV journalists) have been test-ed positive for coronavirus.This has resulted in one of thenews channels going off the airfollowing the cancellation oftransmission. R Rangaraj, pres-ident, Madras Reporters Guild,said that it was a matter of con-cern. “The TV news crewwhich include the reporter,cameraman and camera assis-tant travel together in the samevehicle and it is not possible forthem to maintain the social dis-tancing stipulated by theauthorities. They have to trav-

el to all nook and corners in thecity/towns and they becomeeasy targets for the virus,”Rangaraj told The Pioneer.

Another matter of con-cern is the news that thereporters tested positive forcoronavirus had attended themedia briefing addressed byDr C Vijaya Baskar, healthminister and Dr Beela Rajesh,secretary, health. There was nopress briefing on Wednesday.

M K Stalin, the president ofthe DMK, warned the TamilNadu Government that hewould not hesitate to launch anagitation against the StateGovernment’s callous attitudein handling the pandemic.“The news that doctors treat-ing the patients are gettingafflicted with the virus andstriking work for want of facil-ities show how unpreparedthis government is to tackle apandemic like this,” said Stalinin a statement on Wednesday.

�������������� 3'#

Shri Amarnath Shrine Board(SASB) authorities on

Wednesday decided to call offthis years annual pilgrimage tothe cave shrine in the wake ofnationwide spike in the num-ber of cases of Covid-19 .

The decision to call off theyatra was taken during a highlevel meeting chaired byLieutenant Governor, GirishChandra Murmu here at RajBhawan . The yatra was sched-uled to begin from June 23 thisyear.

According to a statementissued by the Raj Bhawanspokesman, "The Shrine Boarddecided unanimously that inview of the pandemic situationprevailing in the world it wouldnot be prudent to organize theAmarnath Yatra, 2020.”

However, it was also decid-ed that Board would explorethe possibility of telecasting thePooja and darshan of Shivlingaonline and through othermedia for millions of devotees

worldwide. The Board mem-bers expressed that not orga-nizing of Amarnathji Yatrashould also set an example forall during the prevailing cir-cumstances of pandemic toavoid such congregations.

It is for the first time theannual pilgrimage to the caveshrine has been called off evenbefore starting it.

Last year, the yatra was sus-pended on August 2 citingthreat to the security of pil-grims. Around 3.50 lakh pil-grims had performed darshaninside hte sanctum sanctorum.

Amidst nationwide lock-down till May 3, ShriAmarnath Shrine Boardauthorities had earlier post-poned the decision to start reg-

istration for this years yatra.During the 38th board

meeting Chairman alsoobserved that there are 77 Redzones identified in the Kashmirvalley from where the yatraroutes pass.

"Due to this pandemic, theestablishment of Langars,Medical facility, Camp estab-lishment, Material mobiliza-

tion, Snow clearance etc. arenot possible", Raj Bhawanspokesman added.

He further emphasized thatthough the Government ofIndia extended the nationwidelock down till 3rd May, it ishighly unpredictable to knowwhich direction will it takebeyond. The safety of the Yatrisis our prime importance, hemaintained.

It was also decided by theBoard that the Pratham Poojaand Sampann Pooja will bedone with traditional fervour.

The meeting was attendedby Shri D.C. Raina; Prof. AnitaBillawaria; Dr. SudershanKumar; Dr. C.M. Seth andProf. Vishwamurti Shastri. ShriBipul Pathak, Chief ExecutiveOfficer; Sh. Anup Kumar Soni,Additional Chief ExecutiveOfficer; and other senior offi-cers of the Shrine Board alsoattended the meeting. SwamiAvdheshanand Giri Ji Maharajaand Dr Devi Prasad Shettyattended the meeting throughvideo conferencing.

����������� #,'�

In his bid to “nail the lies” ofthe BJP about the Palghar

lynching incident, MaharashtraHome Minister AnilDeshmukh on Wednesdayreleased the list of 101 personsarrested in connection with theApril 16 incident and chargedthat the principal Oppositionparty was seeing “Mungerilal kehaseen sapne” (day-dreaming)of returning to power in thestate by politicising the Palgharincident.

On a day when theNational Human RightsCommission (NHRC) issued anotice to the State DirectorGeneral of Police over thePalghar incident, the StateHome Minister released a listof 101 persons arrested in con-nection with the Palghar lynch-ing incident and said that there

was not even one Muslimamong the arrested accused.

Addressing the peopleacross the state throughFacebook, Deshmukh said: “Inthe list of 101 arrested accusedin the Palghar incident that Iam releasing today, there is noteven one Muslim. When thisincident was happening, somepeople were heard saying 'OyeBas' ( enough stop it), peoplecirculated the video of theincident online and misinter-preted the words as 'ShoebBas'. .....It is unfortunate thatthese words were misinter-preted and the same peopletried to give a communalcolour to the incident”.

“While giving communalcolour, the same people alsoindulged in communal politics.All this is being done at a timewhen we are fighting a waragainst Coronavirus. Our entire

police department, health andother departments are involvedin the battle against Covid-19,”the minister said.

“This is not the time toindulge in politics. This is thetime when all people shouldcome together and fight the

battle. It is unfortunate thateven in this kind of a critical sit-uation some people are tryingto see Mungerilal ke haseensapne. My request all the peo-ple is: please join us in our bat-tle against coronavirus. Weneed to win this battle. I look

forward to cooperation from allpeople,” Deshmukh said.

It may be recalled that onthe night of April 16, three per-sons, including two Sadhus,were lynched by a 200-strongmob of villagers near Kasatown in Maharashtra’s Palghardistrict on suspicion that theywere thieves.

The villagers first hurledstones at the van, promptingthe driver to stop the vehicle.Later, they pulled three personsout of the vehicle and beatthem to death inGadhchinchale village onDabhadi-Khanwel road, withsticks and rods.

The deceased ---identifiedas two Sadhus Chikne MaharajKalpavrukshagiri (70),Sushilgiri Maharaj (35) anddriver Nilesh Telgade (30) weretravelling from Mumbai toSurat, at the time of incident.

Deshmukh’s commentsshould be seen in the contextof the efforts by several BJPleaders, including its national spokesperson SambitPatra, to target the Maharashtragovernment and raise ques-tions about the Palghar incident.

On Monday, Patra had putout two tweets – in one ofwhich he had demandedanswers from the NCP andCPI(M) on what were the lead-ers doing in the unruly crowdthat indulged in inhumanly actat Palghar, alleged that the rul-ing alliance partners inMaharashtra were trying toput the sins of each otherunder the carpet and wanted toknow if it was a murder or aconspiracy. He had alsoreleased the video of the inci-dent and the people inMaharashtra could recoginise

as to who were in the video.In his response tweet, BJP’s

national Secretary in-chargeof Tripura and Andhra PradeshSunil Deodhar had said that thepeople in the video belonged tothe NCP and CPM and he wenton to identify them.

Meanwhile, acting on acomplaint, the NationalHuman Rights Commission (NHRC) India has issued anotice to the DGP, Maharashtraover mob lynching of three per-sons in the presence of policein Palghar district on April 16.It has called for a detailedreport within four weeksincluding action taken againstthe culprits and relief, if any,granted to the next of kin of thedeceased.

In its notice, the NHRC hasobserved: “The incident isapparently indicative of negli-gence by the public servants.

The death of three persons insuch a cruel manner by theunruly mob that too duringcountrywide lockdown, underextra vigil by the administra-tion and police, amounts togross violation of the right tolife of the victims”.

“According to the com-plaint as well as the mediareports, the victims, Sushil Giriand Kalpavriksh Giri, belong-ing to a sect of Sadhus, weregoing to attend a funeral whenthey along with the driver oftheir car were attacked by anunruly mob on suspicion thatthey were thieves. The video ofthe attack on the deceasedpersons went viral, on April 19,2020, which showed that policepersonnel were also presentwhen the victims were beingattacked,” a National HumanRights Commission ( NHRC)press release said.

Bengaluru: Karnataka has reg-istered nine new Covid positivecases, raising the state's tally to427, said an official onWednesday.

"As of 5 p.m. Wednesday,cumulatively 427 Covid posi-tive cases have been confirmedin the state. These include 17deaths and 131 discharges,"said a health official.

Three Covid patients weredischarged in the past 24 hours.

Among places with highcase-load— Vijyapura, Bidar,Ballari and Mandya — are yetto record a discharge.

Of the 279 active cases, 274patients, including a pregnantwoman are isolated at desig-nated hospitals and are stable,except five in ICU.

Among the nine new cases,Kalaburagi accounted for five,and Bengaluru Urban andNanjanagudu, Mysuru, twoeach.

Incidentally, no new casessurfaced from Bengaluru afterthree days.

Seven cases were contactsof earlier patients while twocases are also suffering fromSevere Acute RespiratoryInfection (SARI)

Meanwhile, Health andFamily Welfare DepartmentCommissioner Pankaj KumarPandey issued a circular to pro-vide relaxation from Covidduty to all pregnant womenand mothers with childrenbelow 1 year age.

Similarly, Chief SecretaryT.M. Vijay Bhaskar has alsowritten to all deputy commis-sioners to identify additionalactivities which can be allowedfrom Thursday to mitigatepublic difficulty amid Covidlockdown.

IANS

���� �;9�'!'

Clashes broke out over inad-equate supply of relief

materials at Baduria village inNorth 24 Parganas where thelocals blocked roads andclashed with the men in uni-form injuring at least fourpolice personnel including anofficer in-charge (SHO) of thelocal police station.

Reacting to the clash theChief Minister later said that itwas not over the Governmentsupplies but over supplies beingmade by some political partiesand NGOs. “There are someareas where the NGOs andsome political parties are dis-tributing reliefs. There someclashes took place,” she saidadding those who hadpromised relief materials hadfailed to provide them.

Food Minister JP Mullickhowever said that the BJP hadincited the people to block theroad conceding however thatabout 20 out of 70-80 peoplecould not be given relief mate-rials which was why the clash

broke out.Back in Kolkata the

Government on Wednesdaybanned mobile phones insidehospitals saying that they wererisk and could carry coronainfections.

Chief Secretary RajivaSinha said that the doctors,health workers and patients willnot be allowed to use cellphones inside hospitals addinglandlines and intercom wouldbe installed for their use as analternative.

The BJP however protestedthe order saying theGovernment move came in theaftermath of footages of deadbodies lying in a corona wardgoing viral. The video wasreportedly taken by a coronapatient inside an isolation wardat the MR Bangur hospitals anearmarked corona-care facility.

Meanwhile, the Bengal onWednesday crossed the 300mark with 32 more coronainfections being reported in theState. The State has so farreported 15 deaths whereas 79people have been cured.

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The Jammu & KashmirGovernment on

Wednesday informed that 27new positive cases of novelCoronavirus (COVID-19), (allfrom Kashmir division), havebeen reported taking the totalnumber of positive cases to 407.

According to the dailyMedia Bulletin on novel coro-navirus (COVID-19), out of407 positive cases, 310 areActive Positive, 92 have recov-ered and 05 have died.

Moreover 11 moreCOVID-19 patients haverecovered and discharged, 6from District HospitalPulwama, 3 from SKIMSSoura, and 2 from ChestDisease Hospital Srinagar.

Furthermore, till date64089 travellers and persons incontact with suspected caseshave been enlisted for surveil-lance which include 5806 per-sons in home quarantineincluding facilities operated bygovernment, 252 in HospitalQuarantine, 310 in hospitalisolation and 15376 underhome surveillance.

Besides, 42340 persons

have completed their surveil-lance period.

The Bulletin further saidthat out of 10039 test resultsavailable, 9632 samples havetested as negative till April 22,2020.

Providing the district-wisebreakup, the Bulletin said thatBandipora has 97 positive caseswherein 78 are Active Positive,18 recovered and 01 has died,Srinagar 79 positive cases with51 Active Positive, 27 recoveredand 01 died, Baramulla 47 pos-itive cases with 41 ActivePositive, 04 recovered, and 02died; Shopian has 46 positivecases with 40 Active Positive, 06recovered; Kupwara has 37positive cases with 31 ActivePositive and 06 recovered;Ganderbal has 14 positive caseswith 12 Active Positive,02recovered; Budgam 13 positivecases of which 04 are ActivePositive with 09 recoveredcases; Kulgam has 06 cases andall are Active Positive; Pulwama03 positive cases and all recov-ered; Anantnag district has 09positive case and all are ActivePositive.

Similarly, Jammu has 26positive cases of whom 21 are

Active Positive and 05 haverecovered, Udhampur 20 pos-itive cases of which 11 areActive Positive, 08 recoveredand 01 died, while as Sambadistrict has four positive casesand all are Active Positive;Rajouri has 04 positive cases, 01active positive and 03 caseshave recovered; Kathua has 01positive case which is activepositive. Meanwhile, Kishtwarhas only 01 positive case whohas recovered.

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Hours before the institu-tional quarantine of DHFL

group’s promoters KapilWadhawan and DheerajWadhawans ended, theMaharashtra Government onWednesday asked theEnforcement Directorate (ED)and CBI to take custody of theWadhawan brothers in con-nection with the scams theywere involved in.

Addressing the peopleacross the state throughFacebook, State HomeMinister Anil Deshmukh said:“The Wadhawans’ quarantinewill end at 2 pm today (April22). Yesterday, we wrote a let-ter the ED and CBI and askedthem to take custody of theWadhawan brothers”.

“Till the ED and CBI taketheir custody, the Wadhawanswill be in our custody. They havebeen there in quarantine in ahigh school for the last 15 days,”Deshmukh said.

“We will not allow them toflee the country as it happenedin the case of other scam accusedin the past. They are secure withus. We have told the ED and CBIto take the Wadhwan into cus-tody and proceed against themin the scams they are involvedin,” the minister said.

It may be recalled that onApril 9, Kapil, Dheeraj and 21members of their family weredetained by the police atPanchgani on the night of April9 while travelling in five carsfrom Khandala to another hillstation of Mahabaleswar inSatara district of western

Maharashtra. They were carry-ing with them a “To whomso-ever it may concern” issued tothem by Maharashtra’s PrincipalSecretary (Home) AmitabhGupta on his personal head, per-mitting the Wadhawans andothers to cross from Khandalain Pune to Mahabaleshwar inSatara.

“This is to just inform youthat following are well knownto me as they are my familyfriends and travelling fromKhandala to Mahabaleshwar forfamily emergency… Hence youare here by informed throughthis letter to co-operate withthem to reach their destination,”Gupta’s letter read.

After the incident came tolight, as an embarrassed UddhavThackeray government on April10 sent Gupta on ‘compulsory

leave’ for allowing the scam-tainted Wadhawan brothers andtheir family members to travelfrom Khandala toMahabaleshwar on Wednesdayduring the lockdown period.

Simultaneously, theMaharashtra government alsoasked senior IAS officer andAdditional chief Secretary(Finance) Additional ChiefSecretary Manoj Sonic to con-duct an inquiry into the misuseof office allegedly indulged byMr Gupta.

The Wadhawan brothersare linked to the Yes Bank andPunjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank scams. Thelarge family owns the troubledentities - HDIL real estatedevelopment company andDHFL financial managementcompany.

���� 3'#

In a major success, a joint teamof security forces eliminated

four ‘unidentified’ terrorists ina clean operation in SouthKashmir’s Shopian district onWednesday.

According to police, anencounter broke out betweenforces and a group of terroristsin Melhoora Zainapora onTuesday evening when securi-ty forces cordoned off the areaafter receiving an input abouttheir presence in the area.

"As we launched a cordonand a search operation in thearea, the hiding terrorists firedat joint teams, which was retal-iated, triggering an encounter," a police officer said. "Four ter-rorists were killed in the gun-fight.”

Inspector-General of Police,Kashmir Vijay Kumar said thefour slain were still unidentified.

“We have taken DNA sam-ples of all four unidentifiedkilled terrorists. We are con-ducting burial in presence of amagistrate,” Kumar said.

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With no let up in its con-tinued onslaught on

Maharashtra, Coronavirusclaimed 18 more lives takingthe total number of deaths to269 and left an alarming 431others infected in various partsof the state.

On a day when the totalnumber of infected cases rosefrom 5218 to 5649, as many as18 people died of Covid-19. Ofthe deaths, Mumbai accountedfor a maximum of ten, whiletwo deaths each were reportedfrom Pune and Aurangabadand one death each was record-ed in Kalyan-Dombivli,Solapur, Jalgaon and Malegaon.

Of those whose deathswere reported on Wednesday,14 were men, while four werewomen. Five of them agedover 60 years and 12 werefrom the age group 40 to 59years, while one was under 40years of age. “Twelve out ofthese 18 patients (61%) hadhigh-risk co-morbidities suchas diabetes, hypertension, asth-ma and heart disease,” theState health bulletin said.

With ten new deaths, the

total deaths in Mumbai mount-ed to 161, while the infectedcases jumped to 3683. InPune, there have so far been 54deaths and 734 infected cases.

Meanwhile, out of 90,223laboratory samples, 83,979 havetested negative and 5649 havetested positive for coronavirusuntil today.

The state health authoritiesare implementing cluster con-tainment action plan is beingimplemented in places whereclusters of patients have beenfound in the state.

“There are 465 active con-

tainment zones in the state cur-rently. Total 6798 surveillancesquads worked today across thestate and surveillance of 25.61lakh population was done. Asmany as 6798 surveillancesquads worked today across thestate and surveillance of 25.61lakh population was done,” thebulletin said.

As many as 789 patientshave been discharged till dateafter full recovery. “Currently,1,09,072 people are in homequarantine and 8,051 peopleare in institutional quaran-tine,” the bulletin added.

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As West Texas Intermediate(WTI) crude prices collapsedinto the negative territory in anafternoon of frenetic trading,far too many assumptions were

made about oil prices. Crude pricesplunged below zero to touch a historic lowof -$40.32 per barrel. Before anything else,one has to understand the basic nature ofcommodity trading, which is that, at theend of the day, a physical product has tobe delivered and one has to accept this. Theseller does not care what the trader or thebuyer does with the finished product. Now,WTI crude, which is produced mainly inwhat we call the “Texas panhandle,” isunique in the sense that it is delivered inone location, which is the town of Cushingin the US state of Oklahoma. In pre-COVID-19 times, the crude was delivered,the buyer accepted it and he/she carted thecrude away to a refinery for it to beprocessed. Cushing, with a crude oil stor-age capacity of around 70-80 million bar-rels, never saw storage fill up.

But these are not normal times, thestorage capacity at Cushing is almost fulltoday. And with the Coronavirus-imposedlockdown, oil consumption is minimal.According to one estimate, of the 100 mil-lion-odd barrels being used up daily beforethe COVID crisis, some 30 per cent is nolonger needed. No planes are flying; thereare hardly any cars on the road; there arefewer ships and less consumption of oil-derivative products such as plastics andother polymers. Global oil consumption,which was around 95-110 million barrelsof crude oil almost every day before thevirus hit, is now barely a third of previousconsumption, if not less.

Here is the critical thing to understandabout crude and its production: An oil wellis not like a water tubewell. You cannot just“switch it off.” Moreover, the physical char-acteristic of crude oil is more akin to tarthan petrol. While there are exceptions,Brent crude is particularly light and themost preferred one by oil refineries. Mostcrude oils are thick and if not kept at a cer-tain temperature and pressure — which iswhy many oil wells use steam to force crudeout — will quickly turn into a thick sludgeand at lower temperatures, solidify.

Simply put, “switching off ” an oil wellwill almost certainly make the crude use-less. Even if it recovers, it will cost bothmoney and time to do so. Most of the time,oil companies will need to spend monthsto redrill the same well. Thus, this limitsthe amount oil producers can drop. Mostoil wells can only reduce production tomaybe half, sometimes less, depending onthe characteristics of the crude beingextracted.

If Saudi Arabia and Russia could stopproduction, they would, but the fact is thatthey cannot. The same holds for shalefracking, which is popular in the US. Stop,

and the hydraulic fracturingwill close. So you cannot “turnoff the taps” for any sort of oiland gas production. And rightnow, production, even atreduced numbers, is far exceed-ing demand. While there are noproper estimates, over-capaci-ty is in the range of 50-60 mil-lion barrels per day, accordingto the most pessimistic num-bers.

You cannot just burn theoil off, that would just giveSwedish environmental activistGreta Thunberg an opportuni-ty to make it back into theheadlines. You store the oil butwith the world going into thesecond month of reduced con-sumption, the fact is that we arerunning out of storage space.

Almost every country hasfilled their strategic oil reservesto the brim and oil traders arerunning around across theworld, trying to find large stor-age tanks. So much so that old,dilapidated oil tankers are beingbrought out of mothballs andanchored just to store crude oil.Large fuel tank “farms,” as theyare called near ports andrefineries, are full. Farms arebeing rediscovered in thestrangest of places. There havebeen requests to reopen storagefacilities in Zimbabwe, forexample.

So with nowhere to storethe crude oil, what does abuyer do? He/she would obvi-ously try to get rid of that oil,to the extent that they wouldpay someone to take the oil. And yes, we could lookat trading algorithms goingcrazy but in essence, that isexactly what happened withWTI.

Now, other types of crude,like Brent, allow you to takedelivery anywhere. This is thereason why they were not hit bythe lack of storage capacity inone town. But any oil traderwill tell you that while youcould find maybe a couple ofmillion barrels of storage hereand another five million there,the world is almost out ofplaces to store crude oil — onland or offshore in super-tankers.

The “delta”, which is the dif-ference between the prices ofWTI and other types of crude,is too high to be sustainable.Therefore, people feel that alltypes of crude oil prices willcollapse, whether oil producerslike it or not. Already, Brentcrude, which fell 24 per cent inthe previous session, touched$15.98 a barrel, its lowest sinceJune 1999.

With nowhere to store theoil, the prices of Brent crude

may also go in the negative, ifnot this week, definitely by theend of the month. No matterhow you slice it or dice it, glob-al demand is not going torecover anytime soon, maybenot until the middle of 2021.Oil prices have slumped byaround 80 per cent this year asthe pandemic has spread acrossthe world. The viral outbreakhas caused fuel demand todrop by roughly 30 per centworldwide.

But is this a golden oppor-tunity for India? No. Our coun-try, too, is running out of stor-age space. There are no tankersleft to store crude, our strate-gic reserves are full and currentdemand is abysmally low. Sure,there could be a slight decreasein pump prices even with farhigher excise duties, but the oilbusiness, as we have known itfrom the time of the 1973 oilcrisis after the Arab-IsraeliYom Kippur war like so manyother things, is never going tobe the same again. What thismeans for the petrodollareconomies of Saudi Arabia andthe rest of the Arabian penin-sula is something that will nowhave to be added to the geopo-litical chaos that the virus haswrought on the world.

(The writer is ManagingEditor, The Pioneer)

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Sir — The ongoing Corona pan-demic has badly affected theeducation sector. Examinationshave been postponed until the sit-uation improves. Policy-makershave thus advised teachers to useonline classes and mobile apps toreach out to the students duringthe lockdown period. The moveis welcome wherein students canconnect with the teachers virtu-ally and, thereby, utilise their timein academic activities.

However, it should be notedthat not many children and stu-dents can afford to connect toonline classes and mobile apps,for which internet connection isa must. It would be better if all thestudents can be reached out tothrough a common and popularplatform. Policy-makers shouldalso frame a detailed timetable forClasses I-V and VI-IX for boththe Central Board of SecondaryEducation (CBSE) and Stateboards and instruct the nationalTV broadcaster to telecast class-es live. This will benefit even stu-dents in remote parts of thecountry.

Varun DambalBengaluru

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Sir — Almost all industries havecome to a grinding halt due to thespread of the deadly pandemic.Among the worst hit are thetravel and tourism industry. Thevacation months of April and May

are considered the peak time fortravelling across the world, as it isin our country. The Indiantourism industry is staring atthousands of crores in losses. Forthis industry, which provides jobsto lakhs of people, directly andindirectly, the loss is terrible andappears insurmountable at the

moment. However, there is abright side, too. A full recovery forthis sector cannot be ruled outconsidering that this industryhad recuperated from pastslumps, too. Till then we musthope the situation stabilises.

M Pradyu Kannur

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Sir — This refers to the report,“Chinese rapid test kits ‘fail’!ICMR to vet” (April 22). It isshocking that the rapid antibodytesting kits, which India pro-cured from China last week forthe detection of the NovelCoronavirus, have shown aberra-tions in its reports. By manufac-turing and supplying shoddy anti-body testing kits, China has onceagain proved why “Made inChina” is so infamous across theworld. The production of substan-dard medical equipment is unac-ceptable, especially at this point intime when the entire world is fac-ing an unprecedented crisis.

It must also be kept in mindthat China is solely responsible forthe COVID-19 outbreak and thehavoc created across the globe. Totop it all, the country is conceal-ing its mortality rate from theworld caused by the pandemic.Isn’t it time for nations to boycottChina globally for its ceaselessimprudent conduct?

Tushar AnandPatna

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Globally, more than 25 million jobs would bethreatened due to the spread of theCoronavirus. The International Labour

Organisation (ILO) estimates that four out of fivepeople (81 per cent) in the global workforce of 3.3billion are currently affected by full or partial work-place closure. The US, UK, Canada and most of theEuropean and Asian countries have begun to reg-ister huge job losses, leading to a significant rise intheir unemployment rates. The ILO, in its reportCOVID-19 and the world of work: Updated estimatesand analysis, describes COVID-19 as the “worstglobal crisis since World War-II.”

The head of the International Monetary Fund(IMF) Kristalina Georgieva says the world is facedwith the worst economic crisis since the “GreatDepression” of the 1930s.

Most of the world’s informal workers, whoaccount for 61 per cent of the global workforce ortwo billion people, are from developing countriesand they would be the worst-affected in this scenario.There are severe concerns for low-paid and low-skilled informal workers in low and middle-incomecountries, where the industries and services have ahigh proportion of such workers as they lack anysocial protection or safety net. As per the ILO report,sectors such as food, retail, wholesale, business ser-vices, construction and manufacturing have expe-rienced falling production and losses in employmenthours and numbers. Combining 1.25 billion work-ers employed in these sectors, over one-third (37.5per cent) of the global workers are at high risk.

The Indian economy, especially the informal orunorganised sector, has been witnessing an unprece-dented slowdown in recent months. This scenariohas been aggravated by the lockdowns imposed bythe Government to stem the spread of theCoronavirus.

Such has been the impact of the shutdown onthe employment scenario in the country that a reportby the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy(CMIE) says that in the weeks after the lockdown,only 28 per cent or 285 million people were work-ing out of the total working-age population of 1,003million, which was way lower than the correspond-ing figure of 40 per cent or 404 million workersbefore the pandemic struck.

This indicates that in the first two weeks of thelockdown, around 119 million workers lost their jobsin the country. The CMIE report also indicates a sig-nificant increase in the unemployment rate in March,which at 8.7 per cent is way higher than theGovernment’s unemployment estimate of 6.1 percent in 2017-18. Understandably, these numbersindicate that the current nationwide lockdown hasbeen the biggest job-destroyer ever in the historyof the country. However, these estimates only revealthe impact on employment during the lockdownperiod and should not be considered a permanentloss of livelihoods. Many of them would be able toget back into the saddle after the lockdown is overand economic activity starts picking up again.

According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey(PLFS), 2017-18, about 90 per cent or 419 millionpeople are engaged in the informal sector, out of thetotal 465 million workers, in the country. The mag-nitude of informal workers in the rural areas at 95per cent is much more than it is in urban areas at80 per cent. This is primarily because 62 per cent

of informal workers are engaged in agri-cultural activities in rural areas as againsteight per cent in urban areas. This willhave a lesser impact on their livelihood asagainst those 92 per cent informal work-ers who are engaged in urban areas in non-farm sectors. It is these estimated 419 mil-lion informal workers who are at the riskof losing their livelihood and falling intodeeper poverty.

The analysis from the unit record dataof the PLFS 2017-18 shows that in urbanareas, about 93 million informal workersare involved in five sectors that are mostaffected, namely, manufacturing (28 mil-lion); trade, hotel and restaurant (32 mil-lion); construction (15 million); transport,storage and communications (11 million);and finance, business and real estate (sevenmillion). As many as 50 per cent of theseinformal workers are engaged in self-employment, 20 per cent are casual work-ers or daily wagers and 30 per cent aresalaried or contract workers without anysocial safety net. Due to the lockdown, alleconomic activities (with the exception ofessential and emergency services) relatedto physical labour at workplaces arebanned. Therefore, about 93 millionurban informal workers in these five sec-tors have been most hit. This is the largestinformal sector worker group next onlyto agriculture and allied activities and con-stitutes the size of populations greater thanmost of the countries in the world like theUK, Australia, Japan and so on.

Besides these informal workers, thereare many people involved in the organisedsector (unregistered firms) who may benot jobless at present but could find them-selves without a job after the lockdownperiod is over if enterprises refuse to takethem back. Many self-employed peoplelike street vendors and other small entre-preneurs may not be left with the capital

to restart their businesses and many maynot return from their native places.

Of these, the casual workers are themost vulnerable due to the unpredictablenature of their work and daily-wage pay-ments, which are highest in the construc-tion sector. So, all these regular salariedor contractual employees, those who arecurrently not working, and skilled work-ers and petty shopkeepers, who may be sit-ting idle at home or have returned to theirnative places or staying in shelter homes,may not be able to recover their jobs oncethe lockdown period is over.

The only silver lining in this dark jobscenario is the fact that the pandemic hascreated a boom for the gig economy, (suchas online delivery services) and highly-skilled professionals and technology inter-face sectors. However, their contributionto the workforce is estimated to be toominimal to substantially offset the over-all losses in jobs in the country. At the endof the lockdown, it is estimated that lessthan one-tenth of the workforce, those inregular salaried jobs, in essential servicesand businesses will continue to receivetheir regular income. There will be furtherlay-offs or trims in salaries or perks.

Going forward many Governmentemployees’ salaries could be reviseddownwards and in the private sector,adjustments would be done owing to non-revenue generation. However, some sec-tors like essential commodities supplies,insurance, automobile and healthcarewould actually see a rise in demand andrevenue, resulting in hikes in remunera-tion.

So, the Government today has thedual challenge of providing immediateassistance to informal workers, who havelost their jobs and to those who are alreadyunemployed and are looking for jobs.Apart from assisting informal workers,

who are migrants, their families need tobe considered, as they await the PradhanMantri Garib Kalyan Yojana 2.0 to berolled out soon. However, the big draw-back is that there is no proper nationallevel registry for people involved in infor-mal jobs or sectors, such as vegetable ven-dors, construction workers, rickshawpullers, auto-rickshaw drivers, temporarystaff and so on. There is an urgent needfor these registries to be instituted andupdated, using latest digital technologiesand innovations, along with a dynamicunemployment registry to provide directeconomic (universal basic income), health(universal coverage) and other necessarycontingency protection and security sup-port. The Centre must fast-track the pay-ment of delayed payments to each publicand private enterprise in this time of cri-sis. Further, the utility bills of the most vul-nerable must also be paid for by it.

Also, to ensure that each ward (84,420in 4,378 cities) and each Gram Panchayat(2,62,734 in 6,975 blocks and 706 districts)are fully equipped to serve the populace,each of them must be provided with emer-gency funds from the existing schemes likethe Swachh Bharat Mission and Jal JeevanMission. The Government must joinforces with its resilient private sector, non-profits, citizens and faith institutionswilling to steer through these turbulenttimes.

In totality, in the existing relief andmonetary aid, the masses have been leftout from the Government’s care, which isits primary duty. This shortcoming mustbe plugged as soon as possible and com-prehensive, pan-sectoral reforms for the21st Century must be undertaken to cre-ate the New India of our dreams.

(Mehta is Fellow at IHD and Co-Founder IMPRI and Kumar is Director,IMPRI.)

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Not even a hundred yearsago, the water of theGanga river contained

the “Ninja virus.” Ninja, as we allknow, means warrior. Scientistscall them bacteriophages and thepeople of India call it Gangtva.

Gangtva is the main elementof the Ganga due to which thewater of the river never getsspoilt even if it is kept formonths.

There was a time when thisbacteriophage was found infour major rivers of the worldbut over the centuries, due to thematerial pursuits of mankind,the remaining three rivers andtheir civilisations vanished. Untilabout 20 years ago, this Ninja

virus was present in the six trib-utaries of the Ganga. Then webuilt a dam named Tehri anddiverted the confluence of twostreams, the Bhagirathi and theBhilangana, into the lake madefor the dam.

The result was that the bac-teriophage present here gotdestroyed in the still water of thelake. Significantly, Gangtva stillexists in the Bhagirathiupstream.

This element is also foundin the Alaknanda, Mandakiniand Pinder rivers. But it hasreduced so much in its strengththat its capacity to clean the dirtywater has become ineffective.And yet again, the reason for thischange is the stagnation of theriver water.

Nevertheless, some of thehistorical facts that still make usproud of the Ganga are thatMughal emperor Akbar used todrink Ganga water only and theBritish used to carry the Gangawater in vats during their voy-ages because it did not go bad for

months. However, in an increas-ingly scientific world, the scien-tific aspects of this water havenot been discussed too often.

In the shadow of theCoronavirus, we must try tounderstand its scientific side aswell.

Over a hundred years ago,there was a major outbreak ofthe dreaded cholera in the Statesof Bihar and Bengal. Such wasthe fear of the disease at thattime (because it was highlyinfectious and much like theCOVID-19 of today, they didnot have an effective cure for it),that people thought they wouldcatch the disease if they touchedthe corpse.

People were throwingcorpses by the thousands intothe Ganga as no one was willingto cremate them out of fear ofcontracting cholera.

At that time, a British sci-entist Hakins, who was doingresearch in India, feared thatcholera would spread every-where along the banks of the

Ganga river. But after a while henoticed that nothing of thissort had happened.

Intrigued by this phenom-enon, he researched and foundthat cholera bacteria could notsurvive in the Ganga water andsomething was destroying it.

As this research progressed,it was found that even the bac-teria of dysentery, meningitis,tuberculosis and severe diseasescould not survive in the water ofthe Ganga.

This research was going onto reconstruct the medicalimportance of Ganga but beforeit ended, the world saw theinvention of antibiotics, whichturned out to be the cure formost diseases known to man atthat time. This magical discov-ery pushed back the researchwork on the Ganga water.Ironically, over the ages, peopledeveloped antibiotic resistancedue to its overuse and senselessself-medication by people. As aresult, we increased the doses ofantibiotic that we consume and

accordingly the disease-caus-ing bacteria also increased itsstrength. Consequently, scien-tists all around world are facingthe biggest challenge of antibi-otic-resistant bacteria.

Now scientists and doctorsare once again looking towardsthe Ganga. But today’s sad truthis that the Ganga water aroundKanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi,Patna and Kolkata has not beenable to kill any bacteria. On thecontrary, some new and danger-ous findings are coming outfrom areas around Kanpur.

Scientists from the IndianInstitute of Toxicology Research,IITR, Lucknow, on the basis oftheir experiments on the Gangawater, claim that they havefound a bad bacteria, which isresponsible for producing diar-rhoea, blood dysentery andtyphoid. And this bacteria israpidly growing in the waterfrom Bithur to Shuklaganj inKanpur.

But these findings are inareas where the water is most

polluted and stagnant.Devendra Swarup Bhargava,

a scientist associated with IITRoorkee, has researched thatGanga’s Gangtva still exists andis present in its foothills. He saidthat the Ganga has the ability toabsorb oxygen. Some researchhas also found that bacterio-phages are also effective onsome viruses.

Dr Bhargava wanted to doresearch on the virus itself buthe was not supported by theGovernment in this effort.

Regarding the Coronavirus,Dr Bhargava claims that chlorineis most capable of protectinghumans against this virus.Therefore, its use should beincreased at the Governmentlevel. The Institute of MicrobialStudies, in its research on theGanga water at Rudraprayag andDevprayag, found that 17 typesof viruses were found in thewater here, which are capable ofkilling bad bacteria. However,the water in these places is alsonot considered completely pure.

The National EnvironmentalResearch Institute (NEERI) didhuge research on the capabilitiesof Ganga water, which foundthat it has the potential to kill 20diseases, but this report was notallowed to be published underpressure from antibiotic compa-nies and the scientists who wereinvolved in the research had togive it up.

The Corona crisis is a clearindication that in future, too,mankind could face manyunknown bacteria and viruses.We would not even know whatthey are and how many wouldbe deadly. Investment on virusresearch is needed today.

Nature has honoured uswith the most magnificent riveron Earth and we could not evenhandle it. All the scientists work-ing in this field believe that theGanga will enable us to fightevery biological battle if we justlet it flow.

(The writer is a military veteran and founder of

Atulya Ganga)

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One of the grimmest symbolsof the coronavirus outbreak

— a morgue set up in a Madridskating rink — closed onWednesday as stores and otherbusinesses reopened in placesacross Europe, while the U.S. wasbeset with increasingly partisandisagreements over how andwhen to restart its economy.

As some governors in theU.S. — largely Republican ones— moved to reopen an ever-wider variety of businesses, oth-ers took a more cautiousapproach and came undermounting pressure from pro-testers complaining that theirlivelihoods are being destroyed

and their freedom of move-ment is being infringed on.

With the crisis easing but farfrom over in Europe, smallshops in Berlin reopened, andrestrictions were also relaxed inDenmark and Austria. In France,long lines formed outside the fewMcDonald’s drive-thrus thatstarted serving customers again.Still, many employees and cus-tomers were uneasy, suggestingthat a return to normal is a longway off.

“Of course I’m happy that Ican open again and we cankeep our heads above water,” saidGalina Hooge, who opened hersmall Berlin toy store for the firsttime in over a month. But sheworried that some Germans still

aren’t taking the outbreak seri-ously.

“Relaxing the rules doesn’tmean that everything is over. It’snot over by a long stretch,” shesaid. German governmentspokesman Steffen Seibert said“very careful steps” must betaken to keep the virus frommaking a resurgence. “What wewant to avoid is falling back intothe exponential spread of thevirus that we had in the firstphase of the pandemic,” he said.Across the Atlantic in Savannah,Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kempannounced that gyms and salonscan reopen this week, gymowner Mark Lebos said it wouldbe professional negligence to doso right now.

Washington: For the first timesince World War-II, the pres-tigious spelling bee tourna-ment, which has been domi-nated by Indian-Americansover the years, has been can-celled for 2020 in view of thecoronavirus pandemic.

The competition, which isonly open to students in ele-mentary and middle school, willreturn on June 1, 2021. However,the eighth graders who qualifiedthis year for their last try at thenational title won’t be able to par-ticipate next year, spelling beeofficials said. “Our hearts go outto the spellers who won’t get theirfinal shot at winning because ofthe pandemic and the difficultdecisions it is prompting us tomake. They are now part ofwidely expanding group of chil-dren and adults who are missingout on opportunities due to thecoronavirus,” said Paige Kimble,executive director of Bee. AP

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Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan underwent a testfor the novel coronavirus onWednesday, days after meetinga well-known philanthropistwho was diagnosed positive forthe COVID-19 infection,according to a media report.

A team of doctors from theShaukat Khanum MemorialCancer Hospital collected sam-ples from the Prime Minister.The result is expected onWednesday.

“As a responsible primeminister and a responsible cit-izen I am happy to announcethat the prime minister hasagreed to get tested on myadvice,” Shaukat KhanumMemorial Cancer HospitalCEO Dr Faisal Sultan wasquoted as saying by TheExpress Tribune.

He said that the result ofthe test would be available soon and “we willimmediately inform the peopleabout it”.

Sultan, who is also Khan’spersonal physician and focalperson on COVID-19, onTuesday told the media, thatKhan would undergo the test.Advisor on InformationFirdous Ashiq Awan said onWednesday that the family ofthe Prime Minister had alreadytested negative.

Khan agreed for the testafter Faisal Edhi, the son of latephilanthropist Abdul SattarEdhi and chairman of the EdhiFoundation, met him last week,and has now tested positive forthe coronavirus.

Saad, the son of FaisalEdhi, told the Dawn newspaperon Tuesday that his fatherstarted showing symptoms last week, soon aftermeeting Khan in Islamabad onApril 15.

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President Donald Trumpannounced what he

described as a “temporary sus-pension of immigration intothe United States.” But an exec-utive order he is expected tosign Wednesday to implementthe change would bar onlythose seeking permanent resi-dency, not temporary workers.

“I will be signing myExecutive Order prohibitingimmigration into our Countrytoday,” Trump tweetedWednesday.

The president said onTuesday he would put a 60-daypause on the issuance of greencards in an effort to limit com-petition for jobs in a US econ-omy wrecked by the coron-avirus. The order wouldinclude “certain exemptions,”he said, but he declined to out-lined them, noting the orderwas still being crafted.

“By pausing immigrationwe’ll help put unemployedAmericans first in line for jobsas America reopens, so impor-tant,” Trump said at the WhiteHouse. “It would be wrong andunjust for Americans laid off bythe virus to be replaced withnew immigrant labor flown in

from abroad.”An administration official

familiar with the plans, how-ever, said the order will applyto foreigners seeking employ-ment-based green cards andrelatives of green card holderswho are not citizens.Americans wishing to bringimmediate family will still beable to do so, according to theofficial, who spoke on the con-dition of anonymity before theplan was announced.

About 1 million greencards were granted in the 2019fiscal year, about half to spous-es, children and parents of UScitizens.

By limiting his immigra-tion measure to green cards,Trump was leaving untouchedhundreds of thousands of for-eign workers granted non-immigrant visas each year,including farm workers, healthcare workers and software pro-grammers.

The Migration PolicyInstitute, a nonpartisan thinktank, estimated that some110,000 green cards could bedelayed during a two-monthpause. Trump said he wouldconsider extending the restric-tions, depending on econom-ic conditions at the time.

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China on Wednesdayslammed a lawsuit brought

against it by the U.S. state ofMissouri over the coronaviruspandemic as “very absurd.”

Foreign ministryspokesman Geng Shuang saidthe legal action has “no factu-al and legal basis at all” andrepeated China’s defense of itsresponse to the outbreak,which has largely subsided inthe country where it was firstdetected.

The ministry and otherChinese government depart-ments have strenuously deniedaccusations that officialsdelayed reporting on the extentof the outbreak in the central

Chinese city of Wuhan late lastyear, despite reports that wor-ries over political stability wereplaced above public healthconcerns. Medical staff whoreported the outbreak weresilenced under threat of legalretaliation and Wuhan wentseveral days without reportingcases during the holding of anannual provincial governmentconference.

“This so-called lawsuit isvery absurd and has no factu-al and legal basis at all,” Gengsaid at a daily briefing. Sincethe outbreak began, China hasproceeded in an “open, trans-parent, and responsible man-ner” and the U.S. governmentshould “dismiss such vexatiouslitigation,” he said.

Tehran: Iran said it put its firstmilitary satellite into orbit onWednesday, making it anemerging “world power”, asUS President Donald Tumpissued a new threat amid risingnaval tensions in the Gulf.

The Islamic RevolutionaryGuard Corps broke the news ofwhat it said was its own satel-lite launch, hailing it as a mile-stone for the country’s spaceprogramme.

“Today, we are looking atthe Earth from the sky, and it

is the beginning of the forma-tion of a world power,” theGuards’ commander HosseinSalami said, quoted by Farsnews agency.

The United States allegesthat Iran’s satellite programmeis a cover for its developmentof missiles, including ones thatcould one day carry nuclearwarheads.

Iran maintains it has nointention of acquiring nuclearweapons, and says its aerospaceactivities are peaceful and com-

ply with a UN Security Councilresolution.

Tensions between the archfoes again escalated last week with the US accusingIran of harassing its ships in the Gulf.

US President DonaldTrump took to Twitter onWednesday to say he had“instructed the United StatesNavy to shoot down anddestroy any and all Iraniangunboats if they harass ourships at sea”. AFP

Washington: Amid a war ofwords between the US andChina over the origin of thecoronavirus pandemic, the USNavy said that three of its war-ships passed through the SouthChina Sea “in support of secu-rity and stability”, leading toapprehensions of tensionsresurfacing in the area. TheAmerica is an amphibiousassault ship, the Bunker Hill, aguided missile cruiser, and theBarry, a guided missile destroy-er. IANS

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With North Korea sayingnothing so far about out-

side media reports that leaderKim Jong Un may be unwell,there’s renewed worry aboutwho’s next in line to run anuclear-armed country that’sbeen ruled by the same familyfor seven decades.

Questions about Kim’shealth flared after he skippedan April 15 commemoration ofthe 108th birthday of his grand-father, North Korea founder

Kim Il Sung. It’s North Korea’s most

important event, and Kim, 36,hadn’t missed it since inherit-ing power from his father inlate 2011.

North Korea’s state mediaon Wednesday said Kim sent amessage thanking Syria’s president for conveyinggreetings on his grandfather’sbirthday, but didn’t report anyother activities, while rivalSouth Korea repeated that nounusual developments hadbeen detected in the North.

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Milton, Keynes (UnitedKingdom): Can dogs detectCOVID-19? A British charitybelieves so, and has beguntraining canines to sniff out thecoronavirus following previousscreening success with variousillnesses.

Medical Detection Dogs,set up in 2008 to harness dogs’sharp sense of smell to detecthuman diseases, started work-ing on the project late lastmonth.

In its training room inMilton Keynes, in centralEngland, the dogs are beingintensively trained to sniff outsamples of the virus, and indi-cate when they have found it toreceive a treat.

The approach is based ona belief that each disease trig-gers a distinct odour, whichcanines are uniquely well-placed to smell. The charity haspreviously worked with itsdogs to detect cancers,Parkinson’s disease and bacte-rial infections using samplestaken from patients.

“We believe dogs candetect COVID-19 and will beable to screen hundreds ofpeople very, very rapidly so weknow who needs to be testedand isolated,” Claire Guest,founder and chief executive ofMedical Detection Dogs, toldAFP. “We have evidence thatdogs can detect bacterias andother diseases, so we believethat taking this project forwardwill make a huge difference tothe ability to control COVID-19 spread.” AFP

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The fate of a $484 billionstimulus package was in the

hands of the US House onWednesday as the nation’sdeath toll surpassed 46,000and a top public health officialwarned that a second coron-avirus wave could be worsethan the current crisis.

It also now appears that thefirst US death took place inCalifornia, three weeks beforewhat was believed to be thenation’s first fatality inWashington state.

The Senate approved thestimulus package Tuesday; aHouse vote is scheduled forThursday. President DonaldTrump has signaled he will signit. A majority of the PaycheckProtection Program woulddirect more than $320 billionto small businesses with $60billion being set aside for com-munity-based lenders, smallerbanks and credit unions toassist businesses that don’t haveestablished relationships withbanks.

The financial relief comesas Robert Redfield, director ofthe Centers for Disease Controland Prevention, warned that acombination flu season andsecond round of the coron-avirus next winter could over-whelm the health care system.

Spain: Spain onWednesday said another 435people died in the past 24hours, a slight increase in thefigures for a second day run-ning and bringing the overall

death toll to 21,717.Spain has suffered the

third-highest number of deathsin the world after the UnitedStates and Italy, with infectionsnow hitting 208,000 cases,health ministry figures showed.Monday’s figure of 399 deathswas the lowest in four weeks,but a day later, it rose to 430with officials explaining thenumbers tend to go up slight-ly on Tuesdays following delaysin receiving regional data onweekend deaths.

Italy: Deaths in Italy relat-ed to the coronavirus pan-demic topped 25,000 onWednesday. The number ofdead and new positives con-tinue to plateau for Italy, thefirst western country to be hitby the crisis. The civil protec-tion agency reported 437 peo-ple had died with the virus inthe last 25 hours, a 1.7%increase in the death toll to25,085. The number of positivecases rose 1.5% to 1,83,857.

Pressure on health servicescontinued to ease, with fewerpeople both hospitalized and inintensive care. Italy’s interiorminister, meanwhile, confirmedthat none of some 150 migrantsrescued by an aid group andquarantined at sea have testedpositive for the virus.

Italy’s Government is look-

ing at ways to quickly legalizeunregistered farm workers -both foreign migrants andItalians - so they can harvestfruit and vegetables in Italy’supcoming spring and summerharvest seasons.

Greece: Greek healthauthorities say there have beenno deaths and just seven newconfirmed coronavirus infec-tions in the country in the last24 hours. The health min-istry’s spokesman for the coro-navirus, infectious diseasesspecialist Sotiris Tsiodras, saysthe total number of deaths inthe country remained at 121,while there were 2,408 con-firmed infections.

Tsiodras said 55 peoplewere intubated in intensivecare units in the country, downfrom 59 the previous day.

UK: The BritishGovernment said 759 morepeople with the coronavirushave died in UK hospitals,taking the total to 18,100.

The daily increase report-ed was lower than the 823 inthe previous 24-hour period.

The UK’s death toll is thefourth highest in Europe,behind Italy, Spain and France,all of whom have reportedmore than 20,000 deaths.

However, there has beenincreasing scrutiny of the UKfigures in recent days forunderstating the actual numberof people having died of Covid-19. The numbers don’t includethose who have died in carehomes or elsewhere in thecommunity.

Germany: Germany’sHealth Minister has regulato-ry approval for the first trial inthe country of a vaccine for thecoronavirus. Jens Spahn saidthe trial will involve 200 peo-ple ages 18-55. He cautionedthe process of fully testing thevaccine would take months.

Germany’s regulatoryauthority, the Paul EhrlichInstitute, approved the trialfor an RNA-based vaccinebeing jointly developed byBioNTech and Pfizer.Regulatory approval for trials isalso being sought in the UnitedStates and China. Numerouscompanies are racing to devel-op a vaccine for the coron-avirus that has infected morethan 2.5 million people world-wide and caused at least178,000 deaths in the past fourmonths.

Iran: Iran announced onWednesday 94 new deathsfrom the novel coronavirusbut said the cases of peopleinfected in the country was onthe way down. Health ministryspokesman KianoushJahanpour said the fatalitiesdetected in the past 24 hourstook Iran’s overall death toll to5,391. The number of peopleinfected with the virus thatcauses the COVID-19 diseaserose by 1,194, bringing the totalto 85,996. “The gradual down-ward trend in cases of infec-tions has been maintained,”Jahanpour told a televised newsconference. President HassanRouhani however called onpeople to remain vigilant.

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Stocks around the world areclawing higher on

Wednesday, and the S&P 500climbed toward its first gain ofwhat’s been a dismal week.

Even the oil market gainedground. Prices for crude havebeen turned upside downbecause of how much extra oilis sloshing around following acollapse in demand. After zigzagging overnight, U.S. oilprices jumped more than 20%after President Donald Trumpthreatened the destruction ofany Iranian gunboats thatharass U.S. Navy ships, raisingthe possibility of a drop-off inoil supplies.

The S&P 500 was up 1.6%after the first half hour of trad-ing, following milder gains inEurope and Asia. Treasuryyields also inched higher in asign of a bit less pessimism inthe market.

U.S. stocks, though, arestill down about 3% for theweek as a rally that had beencarrying the market since lateMarch threatens to lose steam.

The Dow Jones IndustrialAverage was up 367 points, or1.6%, to 23,386, and theNasdaq was up 1.9%.

Energy stocks led the mar-ket higher, riding the ripple ofstrengthening oil prices.Halliburton jumped 10% inearly trading, whileSchlumberger and Apacheadded more than 9%. All three,though, remain down morethan 60% for the year so far

A barrel of U.S. oil to bedelivered in June rose $2.86, or24.7%, to $14.43. It had beenclose to flat earlier in themorning, before Trump’s tweet.The big gain, though, means it’srecovered just a fraction of itssteep losses this year, particu-larly over the last week. It wasat nearly $30 at the start of lastweek and $60 at the beginningof the year.

Other companies that havebeen big losers due to thecoroanvirus pandemic also roseafter offering some slight hintsof hope. Chipotle Mexican Grill,for example, said that a key salesfigure plunged 16% in March onwidespread stay-at-home orders.

Mumbai: Stock exchangemajor BSE on Wednesday saidits Bond platform — BSEBOND — has helped India Incto raise more than �51,989crore during lockdown periodtill April 20.

According to the stockexchange major, this massivesum was raised via the issuanceof commercial papers and cor-porate bonds via the platform.

The BSE in a statementsaid: “During lockdown periodstarting March 23, 2020, tillApril 20, 2020, BSE Bond plat-form... has raised funds worth�2 6,666 cr from commercialpapers via 27 corporates and�25,323 cr from medium andlong-term bonds via 18 cor-porates. “The issuers included6 public sector companies and21 private sector companies forcommercial papers and 3 pub-lic sector companies and 15 pri-vate sector companies formedium and long-term bonds.”

At present, BSE Bond plat-form allows corporates toremotely set up their issuesand open for subscription seam-lessly. The investors are able togive their bids online and thesettlement takes place in anautomated way through IndianClearing Corporation (ICCL).As per the statement, for finan-cial year 2019-20, the platformgarnered fund raising for com-mercial papers amounting to�433,480 crore by 116 Issuersand for bonds worth �336,670crores by 121 Issuers. IANS

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Market benchmark Sensexjumped 743 points on

Wednesday, propelled by index heavyweight RIL after Facebook announcedit will pick up 10 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for USD5.7 billion.

Positive cues from globalmarkets and Brent crude oil dropping to over twodecade-lows also worked infavour of the bourses here,traders said.

The 30-share BSE indexended 742.84 points or 2.42 percent higher at 31,379.55. Thewider NSE Nifty surged 205.85points, or 2.29 per cent, to fin-ish at 9,187.30.

Reliance Industries was thetop performer in the Sensexpack, rallying 10.30 per centand contributing over half ofthe index’s gains.

Asian Paints, IndusIndBank, Maruti, Nestle India,Hero MotoCorp and HULwere among the other gainers,spurting up to 5.04 per cent.

Only four Sensex con-stituents ended in the red —ONGC, L&T, HDFC andPowerGrid, which shed up to5.63 per cent.

“Market rose led by theFacebook deal with Reliance Jioas investors reposed faith inselect large-caps amidst shrink-age of economic activity due tothe lockdown.

“We witnessed furtherstrength in afternoon trade asthe US Senate approved the billfor a further package of$484bn,” said S Ranganathan,Head of Research at LKP

Securities.BSE energy index rallied

7.42 per cent, followed by auto,FMCG, oil and gas, bankex, ITand teck, which climbed up to2.57 per cent.

Realty and capital goodsindices ended on a negativenote. Broader midcap andsmallcap indices rose up to 0.78per cent. Global equities werelargely positive as investors wagered on more measures toboost growth and resume eco-nomic activities amid theCovid-19 crisis.

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Facebook on Wednesdayannounced an investment of

USD 5.7 billion to buy 9.99 percent stake in the firm thathouses Reliance Jio — a dealthat will help billionaire MukeshAmbani create an e-commercegiant that could rival Amazonand Walmart by linking localkirana stores and consumersover the highly popular chat ser-vice WhatsApp.

The largest foreign directinvestment (FDI) in the tech-nology sector in India willgive the US social-networkinggiant a broader foothold in itsbiggest global market.

“Today we are announcinga USD 5.7 billion, or �43,574crore, investment in JioPlatforms, part of RelianceIndustries Ltd (RIL), makingFacebook its largest minorityshareholder,” the company saidin a statement.

Reliance Industries (RIL)in a separate statement said theinvestment by Facebook valuesJio Platforms at �4.62 lakh

crore pre-money enterprisevalue (USD 65.95 billion).

Facebook will be issuedfresh equity shares and will geta board position on Jio Platformswhere Ambani’s twin children,Isha and Akash, are directors.

Jio Platforms, which wascreated in October last year tohouse all digital initiatives ofReliance, will retain �15,000crore and use the remainingamount to pare some of itsabout �40,000 crore debt.

Transaction advisers toprepare term sheet for the dealwere engaged sometime inNovember last year, implyingcommercial negotiationsbetween the two groups wouldhave started in July or August.

Ambani had in August lastyear told RIL shareholdersabout plans to sell stake insome of the businesses with thegoal of making the firm free ofnet debt by 2021.

The deal was originally tar-geted for March 31, but the out-break of Covid-19 pushed thenegotiations into a virtual zone.The deal will bring together

JioMart, the e-commerce ven-ture of Ambani, and Facebook’sWhatsApp platform to connectconsumers with neighbourhoodkirana stores, he said.

WhatsApp has over 400million users in India while Jiohas 388 million-plus phonesubscribers. Facebook hasabout 250 million users inIndia. This is Facebook’s biggeststake buy since its 2014 acqui-

sition of WhatsApp. The USgiant has typically been buyinginto media and online proper-ties till now and the investmentin Jio Platforms underscoresthe potential it sees in a coun-try that is rapidly embracingonline payment and e-com-merce as more people getsmartphones.

The deal would requirethe approval of the

Competition Commission ofIndia (CCI). No Governmentnod is needed as the FDI iswithin the permissible limits.

“In the very near future,JioMart and WhatsApp willempower nearly 3 crore smallIndian Kirana shops to digitallytransact with every customer intheir neighbourhood,” Ambani,63, said in a video message afterthe deal announcement.

“This means all of you canorder and get faster delivery ofday-to-day items, from nearbylocal shops. At the same time,small kiranas can grow theirbusinesses and create newemployment opportunities usingdigital technologies,” he said.

RIL spent almost USD 50billion — mostly borrowedmoney, on Jio, whose entry in2016 with free calls and cheapdata pushed some rivals toexit or merge to stay afloat.

At the end of the Decemberquarter, RIL had an outstandingdebt of �306,851 crore. It alsohad cash in hand of �153,719crore, bringing the net debtposition to �153,132 crore.

Facebook said the invest-ment “underscores our com-mitment to India and ourexcitement for the dramatictransformation that Jio hasspurred in the country”.

Together with WhatsAppand Instagram, Facebook over-all is estimated to have moreusers in India than any othersingle country, and the num-bers are expected to grow.

The number of internetusers in India is projected torise to about 850 million in2022, according to consultan-cy PwC, up from 450 millionin 2017. RIL has been seekingstrategic partnerships across itsbusinesses while targeting todeleverage its balance sheet.

It has been talking to Saudi

Aramco for sale of a 20 per centstake in its oil-to-chemicalbusiness for an asking of USD15 billion. RIL has sold stake inits retail fuel venture to BP Plcfor �7,000 crore.

Both Facebook and Jio saidthe deal is non-exclusive, whichessentially means that the USfirm is free to partner withother Indian or foreign com-pany as well. The deal wouldgive Facebook deeper access toIndia, the second-largest inter-net market after China.

Facebook is looking tolaunch a payment offering.Having a local partner couldhelp it in navigating variousregulatory issues, includingthose related to privacy andlocal storage.

Also, having a good tele-com partner could helpFacebook improve its reach tomasses. From RIL’s perspective,it could leverage on Facebook’stechnology expertise and talentpool as well as help in itsambitions to make Jio a digitalcompany. RIL said that con-current with the investment, JioPlatforms, Reliance Retail Ltdand WhatsApp have alsoentered into a commercial part-nership agreement.

This is to further accelerateReliance Retail’s new commercebusiness on the JioMart platformusing WhatsApp and to supportsmall businesses on WhatsApp.The transaction, RIL said, is sub-ject to regulatory and othercustomary approvals.

New Delhi: Automobile major Maruti Suzuki might commenceproduction at its Manesar plant.

The development comes after the local administration gaveits approval for the company to start the production at the unitwith a limited number of employees.

“We request you to kindly wait for the official announcementon the subject from the company,” a Company statement said.“The company will announce at an appropriate time.” IANS

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The Covid-19 pandemic haswalloped inbound invest-

ments (down 64 per cent) in thefirst quarter of 2020, pullingdown the overall deal-makingactivities by over 31 per cent toUSD 18.7 billion despite a goodshow by domestic and out-bound activities, says a report.

Despite the fall, India saw87 deals in Q1, securing 15.4 percent market share in the APACregion, almost on par with 2019levels, according to the data col-lated by Mergermarket. The31.1 per cent plunge in overalldeal-making was driven by verylow inbound deals whichplunged 63.9 per cent, but both outbound and domesticdeal spaces remained hectic, it added.

While the domestic dealmarket saw an 11.1 per centgrowth, outbound deals grew

by around USD 500 million. “Deal-making might

regain momentum in the sec-ond half thanks to steps takenby the Government to attractforeign investors. Medical ande-commerce firms may alsobecome magnet for invest-ment,” the report said.

According to the data, theoverall deal-making has beenrecorded at USD 18.7 billionacross 87 deals in Q1, a fall of30.1 per cent in terms of value,but still securing 15.4 per centmarket share in the APACregion deal chart, almost on parwith 2019 levels.

Four of the top 10 dealswere driven by the governmentselling state-owned assets,pushing domestic deal makingup by 11.1 per cent to USD 13.4billion and 54 in total, com-pared to the year-ago periodwhen it stood at USD 12 billionacross 57 deals.

New Delhi: The Governmenthas extended the alternatemechanism facility for exportersto claim IGST refunds in casesof mismatch in invoice numberin GST returns and shipping billfiled with customs till December31, 2019.

“Considering that the entirecountry is facing unprecedent-ed challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and that theexporters are facing genuinehardships due to the SB005errors, it has now been decidedto extend the facility of SB005error correction in the CustomsElectronic Data Interchange(EDI) system for shipping billswith date up to December 31,2019,” the Central Board ofIndirect Taxes and Customs(CBIC) said in a circular.

SB005 is an error shown formismatch between invoicenumber in shipping bill and inGSTR-1, due to which therefund gets stuck. AMRG &Associates Senior Partner RajatMohan said online rectificationof error is not always feasibledue to which the departmenthad given an alternative mech-anism with a officer interface fortemporary relief.

Initially, this mechanismwas only available for shippingbills filed till December 31,2017. But, this has been extend-ed time and again through anumber of circulars and nowwith the recent circular, it isextended for shipping bills filedtill December 31, 2019. PTI

New Delhi: Sebi will look intoissues being faced by corporatesdue to Covid-19 and considermore steps to help them tideover the challenges as part of itscontinuing efforts to make iteasier to do business even insuch difficult times, the regu-latory body’s chairman AjayTyagi told representatives ofIndia Inc on Wednesday.

In a conference call withthe apex industry body CII,Tyagi apprised the industryleaders of various steps alreadytaken by the Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi)and promised to look into var-ious issues raised by them.

PTI

New Delhi: RelianceIndustries’ telecom arm Jioand social media majorFacebook will continue tooppose each other over inter-net calls and messaging ser-vices despite the �43,574-croreinvestment deal signedbetween the two companies.

Telecom operators, includ-ing Reliance Jio, have beendemanding “same service same

rules” regime which meansthat mobile applications pro-viding calls and messagingservices should also be made tocomply with set of rules thatare mandatory for mobile ser-vice providers.

Mobile app companies pro-viding complimentary calls andmessages have opposed thesame. “Both Facebook and Jioare independent companies.

We will have our independentviews. There will be areas wherewe will collaborate and therewill be areas where we will dif-fer and compete. There is nochange in what we think aboutbusiness. We don’t expect itfrom Facebook either. So nochanges or nothing to reallycomment on those aspects,”Reliance Jio head of strategyAnshuman Thakur said. PTI

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The rupee on Wednesdayrecovered from record low

levels to settle higher by 15paise at 76.68 (provisional)against the US dollar followinggains in domestic stocks andsome weakness in the green-back against global currencies.The rupee opened weak at

76.86 at the interbank forexmarket and then fell further toan all-time low of 76.88 duringthe day.

Later, the domestic unitrecovered the lost ground inline with surging stock marketsand finally settled at 76.68,higher by 15 paise over its lastclose of 76.83 against the USdollar.

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Page 10: 23!24245˛ 2 064 !˚˜ˆ!ˆ#$˝ ˛ˆ%ˇ˝&˜’ˇ˚ · Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya ... Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on more than 2,500 Covid-19 children suggested that these

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COVID-19 is steadily spread-ing its wings in India withcases near 20,000 through-

out the nation and 640 fatalitiesreported as of April 22.Chhattisgarh has made its ownmark by setting up an inspirationalmodel for other states to combatthe virus. The state is receivingappreciation from the centre andworld leaders for the way the sit-uation was tackled and managed.

Chhattisgarh, a heavily forest-ed state with a majority of tribalpopulation, narrates a tale of per-severance and tactful manage-ment of the pandemic. Total of 36cases reported in the state bynow, out of which 23 recovered,zero fatalities and 13 activepatients undergoing treatment inAIIMS, Raipur. The state accountsfor as little than 0.266 per cent ofshare in COVID-19 cases acrossIndia and a recovery rate of 63.88per cent as of April 17. The ques-tion is how did they prevent thespread in such an effective man-ner with speedy recovery rates andnot even a single death? Was it dueto the proactive measures formu-lated by the state government orthe doctors at AIIMS, Raipur,who were working around the

clock to treat their patients? Wasit about the discipline exercised bythe public or because of the pub-lic administration and policeworking endlessly to ensure andimplement regulatory measures?Was it because of the sanitationworkers ensuring hygiene andcleanliness every day or maybe thelab experts who were constantlyengaged in collecting test samples,knocking from one door to theother? Well, the credit goes to jointefforts laid down by all of them.

The state worked recklessly

with an agenda of early protection,early identification, early diagno-sis and early isolation. Even beforethe identification of the first casein the state, continuous monitor-ing, strict social distancing norms,border sealing with other stateswere ensured. Chhattisgarh hassuccessfully implemented a ruth-less containment strategy by exer-cising a strict lockdown sinceMarch 20, with the identificationof the first case of a 24-year-oldwoman who returned from theUK. A total of 5,519 samples havebeen tested by now, out of which4,878 samples are negative, whiletesting of 208 samples is current-ly underway.

Of the 36 cases reported in CG, Katghora in Korba districtemerged as a hotspot in the stateand accounted for 27 cases, fol-lowed by five cases in Raipur.Rajnandgaon, Bilaspur, Durg andKorba each reporting just one case.Twenty three districts ofChhattisgarh have remained com-pletely untouched. As soon as thefirst case of a 16-year-old boy fromPurani Basti area in Katghoratested positive, the entire areawas sealed immediately and testswere conducted for every person

in the village. Contacts were tracedand masks were made mandatory.

The health infrastructure wasmade stronger and capable enoughto deal with the crisis. AIIMS wasfully equipped and prepared todeal with any sort of emergency.Providing license to three distil-leries for industrial manufacturingof alcohol based hand sanitiser,increasing the service period of401 contract-based Ayurvedaphysicians, distribution of freemasks were some early preventivemeasures undertaken by the stategovernment.

Majority of cases in the statefall under the age group of 20 to40. The major reason behind hav-ing a better recovery rate is alsoearly detection of the cases. Mostof the patients started receivingtreatment in the early stages oftheir infection, which is why theyresponded well.

To control panic buyingamong people and to prevent overcrowding in grocery stores, 70 kglump sum rice for two months wasdistributed to 65.35 lakh families,ensuring no one sleeps emptystomach. Additionally, disinfec-tants were sprayed via drones andhelpline number was established.

We will have to develop a prop-er mechanism to cope up anx-

iety and other mental and emotion-al symptoms developing in the youthdue to Coronavirus pandemic,” saidprofessor Mahesh Verma, vice chan-cellor of GGSIP University.

He was speaking as a chief guestat the inaugural function of the oneweek long online workshop on men-tal and emotional well being for per-sonality grooming of youth. It wasorganised by the University Schoolof Education, IP University, for thebenefits of the students in view ofongoing global health crisis.

He further said that students andtheir parents are anxious about theirclasses, exams, career and manyother things. They need to be coun-seled properly apart from providingthem academic stuff online.

Speaking as a guest of honour onthe occasion the vice chancellor ofthe Chaudhary Bansi Lal University,Bhiwani, professor RK Mittal sug-gested the Pancha Kosha theorymentioned in the TaittriyaUpanishad for this turbulent time,especially for the students. These fivekoshas are — Annanmaya (foodsheath), Pranmaya (vital air sheath),Mamanya (mental sheath),Vijananya (intellectual sheath) and

Anandmaya (blish sheath). Thesefive koshas are time tested and vitalingredients for the holistic develop-ment, even at the time mental andemotional crisis.

Delivering the special address,professor CB Sharma, chairman ofNIOS, said that we are reeling undervery critical time. Students, their par-ents, teachers, all are anxious due tothe pandemic. Only conductingonline classes is not sufficient for thestudents. We have to take care oftheir mental and emotional anxietyas well.

A number of eminent experts onthe subjects from across the coun-try have been invited online to par-ticipate in this workshop.

According to the dean ofUniversity School of Education,professor Dhananjay Joshi, the work-shop is primarily focusing on stressmanagement, emotional manage-ment, optimism, motivation andmaintaining resilience. The work-shop has been made open for all theresearch scholars and MEd studentsof other universities also. The uni-versity is also planning to organisesimilar workshops in future for thebenefits of the students of the affil-iated colleges and other education-al institutions.

The role of power utilities hasassumed greater significance as

electricity is critical to ensure thesmooth functioning of varioussectors of the economy. NTPC iscommitted to providing continu-ous power to the country whileabiding with all the guidelines setby the Government of India as wellas state governments regardinglockdown and social distancing.Gurdeep Singh, CMD, NTPC andregional heads are monitoring alldevelopments and ensuring thatthere is no gap in power genera-tion.

Social welfare activities forunderprivileged and migrant work-ers in the vicinity of NTPC are alsobeing undertaken. The companyintends to ensure both the uninter-rupted power supply and the well-being of the employees. Hence, thepower stations are operating withthe requisite number of manpow-er while the rest of the employeesare contributing from homethrough the extensive IT support.

Expediting its vigil against theglobal pandemic of COVID-19,NTPC has already utilised its 45hospitals/health units to make iso-lation facilities and procured therequisite equipment for the med-ical staff to handle such caseseffectively. About 168 isolationbeds with oxygen supply have

been created across allhospitals/health units and an addi-tional 122 beds can be made avail-able on need basis. Two hospitalshave been made ready for use bystate governments to tackle theCoronavirus cases including thehospital at Badarpur in Delhi andmedical college hospital of

Sundergarh at Odisha.Availability and access to prop-

er healthcare equipment is the needof the hour, a budget of nearly �3crore has been allocated for pro-curement of equipment. At present,there are seven ventilators inNTPC’s project hospitals. Thereare 18 advanced level ambulances

with ventilators. Another 18 venti-lators and 520 IR thermometers arein the process of procurement fordifferent hospitals.

Personal Protective Equipmentand hand sanitisation have emergedas the biggest prevention mecha-nisms against the deadlyCoronavirus. Therefore, NTPC has

shared testing, treatment and trans-port guidelines as issued byMOHFW with all the CMOs. TheMedical staff has also been trainedover video calls about the use ofPersonal Protective Equipment(PPE). Further 1,200 PPE kits,1,20,000 surgical masks, over 33,000gloves, 5,000 aprons, 8,000 shoe cov-ers and 535 litres of sanitisers havebeen dispatched to all the projectstations.

Furthermore, NTPC is provid-ing financial support of �6.36 croreto district administration and localauthorities to deal with this pan-demic. As part of its corporate socialresponsibility, NTPC Rihand hand-ed over 2,800 sacks of food grainsand food items packets worth �17lakh to the district administrationfor distributing among underpriv-ileged families. NTPC Vindhyachalcommitted �25 lakh as financial aidfor relief measures to Indian RedCross Society, Singrauli.

NTPC has stepped up its vigilagainst the global pandemic ofCOVID-19 by contributing �250crores to PM CARES fund tostrengthen the fight to contain thespread of COVID-19.

As the world braces upwith Coronavirus pan-

demic, the ensuing lock-down has brought about anew challenge for educa-tional institutions. Providinga safe and healthy learningenvironment has becomemore important than ever.The Institute of CompanySecretaries of India (ICSI),rising to the occasion, hasdemonstrated its prepared-ness in expanding the e-

learning methodology.From rolling out online

short term courses and freevideo lectures to providingrevision classes and con-ducting mock tests for itsstudents, ICSI has complete-ly transformed its remotelearning landscape to real-time.

The need for continuedprofessional developmentfor its members has alsobeen attended by bringingout an array of online certifi-cate courses and webinars.The courses are —Certif icate Course onWomen Director, CertificateCourse on Certified CSR,

Certif icate Course onForensic Audit, CertificateCourse on Goods andServices Tax (GST),Certificate Course on POSHAct.

In addition to the onlinecourses, the series of focusedwebinars are a uniqueopportunity for the ICSI

stakeholders to up skill theircapabilities, enhance theirknowledge base and unlockthe professional opportuni-ties during these challengingtimes. The topics coveredare Companies Act,Secretarial audit, Insolvencyand Bankruptcy Law, CSR.

Appreciating the digital

learning initiatives of ICSI,CS Ashish Garg, president ofICSI, said, “Technology hasrevolutionised educationand it is time that the stu-dents and members of ICSIembrace this opportunityand harness their potentialto become the new age pro-fessionals of tomorrow.”

Narendra Bhushan, CEO of GreaterNoida Authority, is taking utmost

care of the citizens of the district andconnecting with them amid lockdowndue to the Coronavirus pandemic.Bhushan, a 1992-batch IAS officer andsenior official in Gautam Budh Nagardistrict, has been in-charge of manag-ing coordination among differentdepartments. His recent efforts helpeda man visit his father for his last time,which might not have been possibleotherwise.

Ashish, teacher at KendriyaVidyalaya in Jammu, informedBhushan, who is also administrativenodal officer of Delhi, JammuKashmir and Ladakh, about hisfather’s died in Lakhimpur Kheri.Bhushan then spoke to J&K PrincipalSecretary and asked him to arrangepasses for Ashish. During his journey,Ashish was constantly in touch withthe Police Commissioner’s controlcentre set up in the Greater Noidaoffice for UP residents.

Previously, Bhushan also urgedcitizens and Corona warriors to helpidentify senior citizens in their local-ities, who live alone, so that they cankeep in touch with authority officialsin case of any emergencies. For those,who are not able to arrange food forthemselves, the responsibility ofarranging their food have beenentrusted with the concerned RWA ordonor.

Bhushan has alsohelped establishedNational Institute ofBiological (NIB),Noida, laboratoryunder the Ministry ofHealth and FamilyWelfare, Governmentof India, for testingand screening of sus-pected Coronaviruspatients in GreaterNoida. The lab hasbeen equipped withmodern technologyfor the residents of the district as wellas the districts falling under Meerutand Saharanpur divisions. The testing

lab is proving to behelpful in the investiga-tion of suspectedCoronavirus patients.

Moreover, threecommunity kitchensand food collectioncentres are being run bythe Greater NoidaAuthority in its Eastand West areas each.According to the data,a total of 6,99,828 foodpackets have been deliv-ered to the needy. The

authority has also prepared 100 teamsto take care of sanitation and cleanli-ness.

India is under lockdown, just likemany other countries across the

globe. It is a step to flatten the curveto avoid large number of COVID-19 cases and resultant fatalities. Intimes of uncertainty, speculation isdominating many discussions inmedia while some experts haveresorted to scenario-based plan-ning.

Experts have argued howIndia’s healthcare system isn’tstrong enough to cope in a worst-case scenario, which is if millionsof people get infected from thevirus. Prime Minister NarendraModi too mentioned this issue inhis recent address to the nation.Moreover, fault lines in our health-care industry are already becom-ing visible with stories of shortagein supply of essential medicalequipment like isolation beds andICU beds, PPE, workforce and thelist goes on.

Several audit reports havehighlighted deficiencies in ourhealthcare system time and again.So what are these early warningsigns ‘we’ (including executivegovernment, healthcare workers,elected representatives, media andcommon public) ignored? It isobvious that a poor country likeours has to maximise its resources.One CAG report (2019) on pub-lic healthcare system of UP had fol-

lowing observations:� ICU services were availableonly in DHs Lucknow andGorakhpur out of the 11 test-checked DHs/JHs.� In the absence of an ICU facil-ity in the remaining DHs/JHs,patients approaching these hospi-tals in an emergent conditionwere likely to be referred and/orpassed on to higher facility publicor private hospitals.� The ICUs in DHs Lucknow andGorakhpur also suffered fromshortage of essential equipmentsuch as ventilators, infusionpumps, ultrasound and arterialblood gas analysis machines.

Apart from public health, let’snow talk about it from the lens ofaccountability.

Public financial managementrelates to the way governmentsmanage public resources — bothrevenue and expenditure. It isgovernment’s responsibility tomaintain prudent level of publicdebt and deficit. It involves ele-ments like cash management, pub-lic procurement, expenditure man-agement, internal and externalaudit.

As lockdown greatly impactsthe economy, central governmentand many state governments haveannounced relief packages. Tomeet this sudden expenditure

requirement, some state govern-ments have started announcingdeferment of salary payments to allclasses of state governmentemployees. This is taking place asthe government has leveraged itsbalance sheets earlier by breachingFRBM targets and borrowing off-budget to the extent possible.Often other expenditures takeprecedence over things that do notseem urgent at that time. This canbe seen in the CAG Report 20 of2018 for the Central Governmentsaid:

“Government has increasing-ly resorted to off-budget financingfor revenue as well as capitalspending. In terms of revenuespending, off-budget financingwas used for covering deferringfertiliser arrears/bills through spe-cial banking arrangements; foodsubsidy bills/arrears of FCIthrough borrowings and forimplementation of irrigationscheme (AIBP) through borrow-ings by NABARD under theLong-Term Irrigation Fund(LTIF).”

It has been observed timeand again that our public expen-diture needs deep rationalisa-tion. In a recent study on central-ly-sponsored schemes by ICRIER,it was observed that 158 schemesout of 204 has just �5.7 crore as

average outlay per scheme perstate. This is inadequate to run anymeaningful scheme for Indianstates. Such schemes, if ratio-nalised, can help re-allocation ofamount as high as �27,000 croreto priority areas. This is just anexample from the central govern-ment. Similar cases are wide-spread across state governmentsas well.

If governments were heldaccountable through the existingmechanism by raising right ques-tions in the right forum, we wouldhave been in a better fiscal positionto support our poor migrants bet-ter in time of this crisis.

Some might also point out thatthis is not the right time to talkabout accountability and past defi-ciencies. Well, I agree. But I hopewhen the crisis is over and we aremaking a list of lessons learnt forfuture, we remember and look ataccountability enforcement as agovernance-improving mecha-nism and not as a fault-finding one.We could look at the accountabil-ity mechanism as an early warn-ing system for our public systemsto handle such crises. COVID-19was one crisis we didn’t see com-ing but medical unpreparednesswas something we could.

(The writer is a civil worker.Views are personal.)

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All divisions and workshops ofNorthern Railways are working

24x7 to fight against COVID-19.Leading from the front in this effort,the Northern Railways workshopshave already fabricated 5,475 cover-alls till date with a record fabricationof 1,004 in a single day.

Apart from fabrication of cover-

all, Northern Railways workshops arealso engaged in making masks, sani-tisers and conversion of coaches intoisolation wards. Till April 22,Northern Railways workshops pro-duced a total of 39,856 masks and5,400 litres of sanitiser while 540coaches were converted into isolationwards.

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Mines of SAIL, Raw MaterialsDivision, has taken the battle

against COVID-19 in remote villagesof Jharkhand, Odisha and MadhyaPradesh. RMD Mines played a vitalrole in mass awareness development,distribution of mask, sanitiser andfood items among villagers. UnderRMD’s CSR initiative, more than9,000 masks were given to differentvillages of the three states.

SAIL’s Mines at Kiriburu,Meghahatuburu, Gua and

Manoharpur in Jharkhand andBolani, Barsua, and Kalta in Odishahave been working on COVID-19prevention in peripheral villages,which are located in far flung cornerof the state. In Madhya Pradesh,SAIL’s Kuteshwar Limestone Minesregularly supplied food to 600 fami-lies in local villages.

SAIL-RMD-supported womenself-employment centres like Kiran,Soubhagya and Ashayen at Kiriburu,Meghahatuburu and Gua respective-

ly. Responding to an urgent need,Kiran centre of Kiriburu also made5,000 masks for PMO in just fourdays.

Mines hospitals have arrangedisolation ward on war footing to meetprimary requirement of any COVID-19 case. Team of doctors and para-medics are made ready to handle exi-gencies with special care. RMD minesadministration and CSR departmentensure social distancing, sanitisationand self-care in the local community.

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When you're in love, it'snormal to want to doeverything in yourpower to make your

significant other happy. You've final-ly opened your heart back up to feel-ing vulnerable, and you're excited totake that risk to allow yourself to becompletely open to someone new.

You find yourself selflessly mak-ing yourself more and more avail-able, and you're willing to dropeverything you're doing to be at thatperson's side. But, as time goes on,you begin to realize you're always theone to say, “I love you” first.

You'll realize your tally of favorsare quickly adding up, while his orhers have stayed stagnant since thestart.You'll realize your honey isn'tas sweet as you once thought and heor she puts in little to no effort todemonstrate how much the relation-ship means to him or her.

Not all relationships start outone-sided, but most end this way.It'susually a product of one personfalling madly and deeply in love,rather than sharing their partner'sless intense feelings of slight infat-uation.

If you think you may be in aone-sided relationship, you mightwant to consider getting out beforecontinuing down a long, painful,heartbreaking road. Being in a one-sided partnership leaves you feelinglike your relationship needs aren'tbeing met because you're the oneputting in all of the work.

But, when you're in love, it's easyto be blinded by the signs of a one-sided romance.There is no relation-

ship here, but you love just because.And people have told you that thisobsession is hazardous, and by bitsyou are moving into self-ruin.

But you just feel, there is alwaysthis unavoidable feeling that there iscompleteness in the incomplete,even when this love ends where itbegins. This love is caged in you, andthe bubble is a trap.The feeling stingswhen you see your love holdinghands with somebody else. You real-ize that the vision that you had wasblurry and unruly.

The sunlight is stark and unfor-giving; the reality has shaped itselfin a steadiness. There is calm, a quietwhich is deafening. A thousandhangovers are better than this pit.You feel that calendar tumble. Andthen another, and then another.Reminders and memories hit you,promises you made to yourself tostop this shallow determination ofkeeping this love alive.

This calm is a disaster and youwish there was a portal that’ll helpyou see clarity.Loving a one-sidedlove has left you fearless, because thislove is unkind. Every day, all thetime, you see a freshness in thiswounded love. There is a hope thatmakes you feel that this penance ofincompleteness is worth it. And, thatthis one-sided love has no pain ofseparation because if this feeling everseparates from you, you will be bet-ter. This one-sided love that youadore never knows your affectionand so continues this tale of unseen,unsaid love. Somewhere down thecorridor there is someone waitingwith the same bubble. And each

time your staccato halts, their bub-ble just like yours, breaks.

When you are in one sided love,you always feel neglected. You thinkthe other person doesn’t care, where-as in reality sometimes the otherperson does not even know aboutyour existence and that you love her.You feel ignored and as a result youfeel that nobody cares for you andyour emotions

You waste a lot of your timethinking about your love interest.You dream about the little details ofwhat she is like and how beautifulshe looks when she wears yourfavorite dress. The time you wastecan be utilized for productive activ-

ities like studying or playing orindulging in some other sort ofart.When you see your crush talk-ing to someone or being friendlywith a guy you are filled with jeal-ousy.

You build up stories of heralleged relationship with someoneelse. You constantly stay in this vaguenotion of losing her, when in factyou never had her in the first place.This strains your personal rela-tionship with your family andfriends. Some teenagers who are sodepressed about their one sided lovelife, even think about committingsuicide. Many of depressed peopleshow how they feel by dressing dif-

ferently by acting out and hurtingothers in school.

You are in love but you don’twant anyone to know. You alwayswant to keep it a secret affair nevertelling anyone how you feel aboutthe person you have a crush on. Younever disclose you’re your lovetowards the person you have acrush on, and hence always live ina state of fear of getting caught.

You think your love interestdoesn’t talk to you because she likesguys who are cooler than you, whowear latest designer clothes or whohave the weird hairstyle. Whereasthe truth is she might like simpleguys who remain reserved and

quiet. You always try to imitate other‘cooler’ guys and forget who youreally are. You take unnecessary bur-den on yourself of reaching herexpectations resulting in stupid dis-tractions.

You alienate yourself from yourfriends and family because youthink they’ll make fun of you forbeing in love with a girl who hard-ly bothers for you. You stop talkingand socializing with people. But thisis the time when you can grow yourcircle, get to meet new people,share their experiences as well asyours and learn new things aboutthe world.

Worst thing happens whenteenagers turn into rebels. The stateof depression, anxiety and selfloathing leads to major steps likerevenge. Sometimes they hurt them-selves but many a times they try toharm their crush. It is seen in manycases of acid attack that the victimwas somebody’s love interest andwhen she denied his proposal, theguy attacked her. This situation isharmful for both the guy and thegirl. Such actions taken on impulsecan ruin your life. Teenage years arethe make or break years of your life.

It is mostly the turning pointwhere you decide about your future,education, career etc. So do not takethe unnecessary burden of denial inlove. Love comes and goes in life,and life moves on.

Don’t be disappointed if you arerejected once. Life will give youmany more opportunities and it canassure you, future has very sweetsurprises in store for you.

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Page 12: 23!24245˛ 2 064 !˚˜ˆ!ˆ#$˝ ˛ˆ%ˇ˝&˜’ˇ˚ · Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya ... Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on more than 2,500 Covid-19 children suggested that these

������� � Jurgen Kloppbelieves there is still roomfor improvement fromLiverpool despite theirincredible Premier Leaguecampaign, which is onhold due to pandemic.

The Reds were 25points clear of second-placed Manchester Cityand on the verge of theirfirst top-flight title since1990 when football washalted last month.

But Klopp saidLiverpool, who won theChampions League lastyear and have only lost onePremier League match allseason, could get even bet-ter.

“We will not change,that’s the first thing, butwhether we will be suc-cessful depends on whatother clubs are doing aswell because they have allthe chance to improvethings, do things better,” hetold Sky Sports.

“So I have no cluewhat the future will holdfor us. But we will notchange, this team is not thefinished article, and wehave a lot of space forimprovement, and wework on that.

“We have fresh bloodinternally coming through.We can improve with thisteam, which is great.”

Klopp does not believefootball should be “forcedback” after the COVID-19shutdown but admitted itcould have a positive

impact on the mood of thecountry.

“If we come togetherand train in groups of twoor five or six or eight, I’mnot sure when that will bepossible, we have to waitfor the government onthat. We cannot force thatand will not, because wecan’t, there’s absolutelynothing for that.

“But if football canhelp in some departmentswith lifting the mood, giv-ing something to thinkabout and to deal with ina different way, then wehave to start training at onepoint, but I don’t knowwhen that will be.” AFP

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The numbers are heavily infavour of Mahendra Singh

Dhoni but former India batsmanGautam Gambhir says spin leg-end Anil Kumble was the bestIndia captain he has ever playedunder.

Gambhir has high regardsfor Dhoni and Sourav Gangulyas India skippers, but believesKumble would have been phe-nomenal as captain had he ledthe national team for a longerperiod.

“From the records point ofview it obviously has to be MSDhoni. He has won every ICCtrophy possible. He has done fab-ulously well, he has handled thepressure for a very long time.Sourav (Ganguly) has also donewell.

“But one person I would def-initely, would have liked to cap-tain India for a long time shouldhave been Anil Kumble. I played6 Test matches under him and

had he captained India for a longtime would have broken manyrecords,” Gambhir said on StarSports Cricket Connected show onthe occasion of IPL’s 12thanniversary.

“From the records point ofview Dhoni is right up there butfor me the best captain I playedunder is Anil Kumble,” Gambhit,who is now a BJP MP, added.

Kumble was appointed asIndia captain after Rahul Dravidin 2007 and led the side in 14Tests — winning three, losing sixand drawing five.

But his stint as captain last-ed little less than a year as heretired in November 2008, fol-lowing which Dhoni wasappointed as the skipper in allthree formats.

Gambhir also pickedMumbai Indians skipper RohitSharma as the all-time greatIPL captain.

“I think it’s Rohit Sharma. He has won the IPL four timesand his captaincy is all aboutwinning trophies,” he said.

“He will end up being themost successful IPL captains ofall-time as well, probably he willfinish with 6 or 7 titles under hisbelt.”

#���8%������ ���������� ������� � "��!�!

������T Over the yearsAjinkya Rahane has facedseveral bowlers on differ-ent surfaces across theglobe, but playing againstEngland speedster JamesAnderson in his homecountry has been themost challenging task forthe India Test vice-cap-tain.

While insisting thatevery bowler in interna-tional cricket is challeng-ing, facing Anderson in

English conditions wasthe toughest for Rahaneby his own admission.

“(But) especially talk-ing about one particularbowler — JamesAnderson in England isreally challenging. Heknows the conditionswell. He (Anderson) isthe one,” said Rahane onan Instachat Live.

Rahane, who hasamassed over 4000 runsin Test cricket and has a

century in England, theWest Indies apart fromIndia, emphasised on theneed to be mentally fitduring the coronavirus-forced lockdown period.

"(At) this point oftime, it is important to bepositive mentally.Mentally, I'm visualisingmy cricketing stuff, bat-ting. As an internationalathlete, cricketer, it isimportant to be mental-ly fit," said Rahane. PTI

���� 78� 89:�

Swashbuckling India openerRohit Sharma believes the pres-ence of David Warner and

Steve Smith will make the tour ofAustralia later this year a “differentball game” for his side, which is alsoat its best right now.

India won the 2018-19 Testseries 2-1, their first in 71 years oftouring Down Under, but it cameagainst a depleted Australian teamwhich didn’t have Warner andSmith, who were both serving a one

year ball-tampering suspension.“I was looking forward to the

New Zealand series but unfortunate-ly, injury (calf muscle) happened atthe wrong time,” Rohit told IndiaToday on Wednesday.

“I can’t wait to go to Australiaand play the Test matches there.Australia in Australia with those twoguys (Smith and Warner) will be adifferent ball game,” India’s white ballvice-captain said.

For him, opening is a challengethat he has relished and a testimo-ny to that was his stupendous start

against South Africa at home.However, he has been ready for thejob since the 2018 Australia tourwhen the team management gavehim enough hints.

“I was told you might be open-ing in Tests as well. It was two yearsago. I was preparing myself fromthen onwards,” he said.

For him, watching the gamefrom the dressing room is no fun.

“You wanted opportunity,everybody wants to be out there inthe middle. I wanted to play and notwatch the game.

“When the chance came along,I was ready. There were some tech-nical aspects, I needed to be awareof,” he said.

Rohit said the Australia serieswill be an exciting one as thisIndian team is currently playing its

best cricket.“As a team, we are playing best

cricket right now, everybody wantsto take the game back to the oppo-sition. If it happens (amid theCOVID-19 pandemic), it will be agreat series to be part of,” he said.

���� 78� 89:�

The time spent away from cricketwhile serving a doping ban was

nothing short of “torture” for him butyoung India batsman Prithvi Shawsaid it also made him hungrier for runs.

The talented 20-year-old was sus-pended by the BCCI in July last yearuntil November 15 for “inadvertently”ingesting a prohibited substance, com-monly found in cough syrups.

“It was a mistake. And the periodaway from cricket was a torture,” Shawsaid while interacting with fans duringan Instagram Live session on his IPLfranchise Delhi Capitals’ official handle.

“Doubts and questions arise, but Ikept the faith and belief. I spent sometime in London where I was working

on my fitness, as I wasn’t allowed to batanywhere. When the ban got over, andI returned to domestic cricket, I washungrier than before.

“I picked up my bat and realised Ihadn’t lost my touch at all. If anything,that time off made me a more deter-mined person,” he said.

����� 9':;<8

Pakistan Test opener ShanMasood on Wednesday

called for patience and need togive players a long rope in orderto produce box-office cricketerslike Rohit Sharma, Jason Royand David Warner.

Masood was part ofPakistan’s home series winsagainst Sri Lanka 1-0 and theone-off Test against Bangladeshafter they lost in Australia 0-2in the five-day format.

Asked how Pakistan canalso produce box-office open-ers like India’s Rohit, England’sRoy and Australia’s Warner, hesaid: “There is fear of failurewhich is human nature. Theygot security over a long time.The England team started witha plan in 2015 and got result in2019 (by winning the WorldCup). They stuck to a core ofplayers.

“Consistency is veryimportant. We need to accept

defeat if we have to set a goallike that. As a nation we focuson short-term goals. Instantresults cannot be the way togroom players,” said the 30-yearold in a video conference chatwith reporters.

“Also these cricketers younamed got advantage of homecricket. We never got that.This is for the first time we got.We don’t get to play that often

also. For box office playersyou need consistency. We needto build players for a four-yearperiod.”

Masood also said he is notworried about being labelled asTest player, saying he has theright kind of people aroundhim to guide.

He also said this teamunder coach and chief selectorMisbah-ul-Haq is going in the

right direction and results willsoon start showing.

“Misbah bhai is trying tobring in new culture. Fitness isbeing given a lot of importance.During this lockdown alsoplayers are being worked on. A

lot of things is being done. Alsoculture is there...camaraderie isthere among players and Ihope as soon as cricket resumeswe can carve out a legacy forourselves. We hope to make amark.”

���� 78� 89:�

Even during the corona crisis andlockdown, a faction feud is raging

in the All India Chess Federation. Ina show of strength, the faction led byBharat Singh Chauhan conducted anextraordinary General Body meetingof the AICF through video conferenc-ing on Wednesday where it wasdecided to approach the Union SportsMinistry to hold the elections of theFederation under its supervision.

The GB also set up a five-mem-ber committee of senior players andofficials to look after day-to-dayaffair of the AICF. Members of thecommittee are: member committee ofVipnesh Bharadwaj, Naresh Sharma,Bhavesh Patel Neeraj Mishra andBhagyshree Thipsay.

The General Body meeting washeld on the request of as many 12 stateunits. It was attended by 44 membersrepresenting 22 affiliated units, whofelt that the Sports ministry shouldstep in to hold the AICF electionsbecause of the ongoing legal battlewithin the two factions of theFederation. The Madras High Courthad stayed the outcome of theFebruary 10 election of new office-bearers.

The 12 state units took the imi-tative to convene the meeting in viewof the ongoing faction fighting in thefederation and several arbitrary andillegal decisions taken by PRVenketrama Raja and DV Sundar,who have ceased to be President andVice-president of the Federation now.The meeting was conducted as perprovision of Section 11 of AICF con-stitution and Section 28 of TamilNadu Societies Registration Act 1975.Senior AICF officials. Member MrNaresh Sharma chaired the meeting.

The Madras High Court hadappointed retired Supreme CourtJustice F M Ibrahim Kalifulla asreturning officer to conduct theAICF elections. Justice F M IbrahimKalifulla duly conducted the electionsand declared Ajay H Patel as presi-dent, Bharat Singh Chauhan as sec-retary, Naresh Sharma as treasurer, MArun Singh as joint secretary, andVipnesh Bharadwaj as vice president.

After the new office-bearersassumed office, the High Court set

aside the election process on a plea ofRaja and directed to Kalifulla to con-vene a Special General Body Meetingto conduct fresh polls. Since thenAICF is in a mess and all its activi-ties have come to a halt.

The fact that only 7 associationand disputed officials like Mr Rajaand Mr Vijay Deshpande opposedthe meeting, showed that they don’tenjoy majority support and weretrying to muddy the water for selfishgains.

The meeting decided to probehow without any approval of theAICF Central council or GB, Mr Rajaand Mr. Vijay Deshpande tried tochange the bank signatories , prompt-ing the Indian bank, Chennai tofreeze the Federation account. Themembers felt that the it mustenquired as to how on March 31—within a day after illegal appointmentof Vijay Deshpande as Secretary,Sundar visited the bank with signa-ture of Deshpande, who is based inMaharashtra, when the country wasunder lockdown.

The GB also decided to restorethe affiliation of Maharashtra andRajasthan Chess Associations, anddisaffiliated Andhra Pradesh chessassociation for not paying the prizeof chess players despite severalreminders b y the Federation.

The GB decided that the recent-ly held election of the Bengal statechess association was illegal since itwas not conducted as per the AICFbye laws and the country's sportscode. The GB decided to disaffiliatethe Bengal chess association for notmaking suitable amendment s totheir bye laws as per the AICFconstitution and for not payingback an outstanding sum of�7.5 lakh to the Federation. TheGB decided to form an ad-hoc committee to run theaffairs of the associa-tions.

The members wel-comed the initiativeby FIDE to resolve theongoing dispute issuewithin the Federationand decided to startonline program forcoaches, players andarbite.

���� 9;7 ;7

Former England all-rounderAndrew Flintoff believes the entire

Australian team was involved in theball-tampering scandal that rockedworld cricket in 2018 and then skip-per Steve Smith just “took the blame”to save his side.

Smith was suspended for a yearalong with David Warner andCameron Bancroft after being indict-ed in the sandpaper-gate during a Testmatch against South Africa in Cape

Town.“I can’t believe that the whole team

isn’t in on it. As a bowler, if someonegives me a ball that’s been tamperedwith, I know initially. One of the thingsthat Steve Smith did is take the blamefor everyone else,” Flintoff toldTalksport.

“Things like ball tampering havegone on for a long, long time and Ithink it’s just the degrees where youtake it. We were accused of puttingsweets on the ball. People put sun-cream on it, tried everything they can.”

Smith was also banned from tak-ing any leadership roles for two years— a suspension which has nowexpired.

The England legend said it is dif-ficult to believe that others in the teamdid not have a clue about what wasgoing on.

“Sandpaper is wrong, but it’s stu-pid more than anything. But I can’tbelieve that everyone in the team was-n’t involved in some way or another,”said Flintoff, who took 400 wickets andscored over 7000 runs in his career.

���� :'�'

Star Bangladesh all-rounderShakib Al Hasan has decid-

ed to auction the bat he usedduring the 2019 ODI WorldCup to help raise money for thefight against deadly coronaviruspandemic.

Shakib, who is currentlyserving a two-year ban for notreporting corrupt approaches, isthe second Bangladeshi crick-eter after wicket-keeper batsmanMushfiqur Rahim to auction apersonal cricketing gear to raisemoney for the cause.

“I had said before that Iwant to put up a bat for auction.I have decided to auction the batI used in the 2019 World Cup.It’s a favourite bat of mine,”Shakib said during a FacebookLive session.

The 33-year-old all-rounderhad a hugely successful WorldCup in England last year, scor-ing 606 runs in eight matches atan average of 86.57, besidespicking up 11 wickets in thetournament and became theonly cricketer to score 600 plusruns and scalp 10 wickets in asingle edition of the World Cup.

“I had a good World cupwith the bat and ball. There weresome good performances espe-cially with the bat. I had used asingle bat throughout the WorldCup and even used tapes on itto get through games,” Shakibsaid.

“It’s not that this bat hasonly been used at the WorldCup. I have scored over 1500runs with this bat and had usedit prior to the tournament andafter it as well.

“Although I like the bat a lotbut I have decided to put it upfor auction with the thought thatmaybe it can leave some contri-bution to forming a fund dur-ing the ongoing coronaviruscrisis.”

The money raised from theauction will go to the Shakib AlHasan foundation.

“This is a very special bat tome, but my people are evenmore special to me,” Shakib said.

���� 78� 89:�

World Champion P V Sindhu was onWednesday unveiled as one of the

ambassadors for Badminton WorldFederation (BWF)’s i am badmintonawareness campaign.

The campaign provides a platformfor players to express their love andrespect for badminton by advocating andcommitting to clean and honest play.

Sindhu, an Olympic Silver medallist,said playing clean and honest is veryimportant in any sport.

“This message starts with one voice.If we as ambassadors can highlight this,then I think this will spread to more

players,” said the 24-year-oldIndian.

“You are playing thesport for yourself. You needto be happy about it. Youhave to play it very cleanand that is very important

to me.”Besides Sindhu, other

ambassadors includeC a n a d a ’ sMichelle Li,Chinese duo

of Zheng SiWei and Huang

Ya Qiong,England’s Jack

Shephard, Germany'sValeska Knoblauch,

Hong Kong’s Chan HoYuen and Germany’s MarcZwiebler.

���������The Dutch football fed-eration (KNVB) announced onTuesday its intention to call an endto the season, subject to discussionswith UEFA, following the govern-ment’s decision to extend a ban onlarge gatherings until September dueto the coronavirus pandemic.

“The professional football com-mittee intends to not continue play-ing the 2019/20 competition. TheKNVB will consult UEFA, afterwhich a decision will be taken,” thefederation said in a statement.

“The KNVB has not yet defin-itively cancelled competitions

because of financial difficulties in thefootball industry due to the coron-avirus crisis.”

Clubs and other stakeholders

will meet on Friday to discuss theconsequences of the decision.

There are eight rounds of match-es left in the Eredivisie, with defend-ing champions Ajax ahead of AZAlkmaar on goal difference.

According to the KNVB, match-es behind closed doors will not bepossible as they are consideredevents which require a permit andpolice presence. “There will be nomatches before September 1,” thestatement added.

The Dutch top flight and seconddivision have been suspended sinceMarch 12. AFP

AUS SERIES WILL BE DIFFERENT BALL GAME THIS TIME: ROHIT'���������� E�G������ �������1����G �� � ���������#�� ������ It’s “not ideal” but fastbowler Josh Hazlewood has sug-gested that the entire Border-Gavaskar Trophy be held at onevenue — Adelaide Oval — asCricket Australia is exploringoptions to save next summer’s Testseries against India.

A financially-weakened CA isdesperate to host India to save thebroadcast revenue from the con-test.

“The bowlers and batterswould probably be happy with that,it’s (Adelaide Oval) probably beenthe best cricket wicket the last fouror five years,” Hazlewood wasquoted as saying by the Australianmedia.

“It gives a bit to both battingand bowling, I wouldn’t mind it. It’snot ideal though. We want to getaround to all parts of Australia andchallenge ourselves on all those dif-ferent wickets.”

India are scheduled to playfour Tests, three ODIs and threeT20Is on their tour.

The T20 series will be played

ahead of the T20 World Cup,starting October.

The 29-year-old lanky pacer iscurrently out of the Australianteam and was targeting the now-postponed Indian Premier League(IPL) to impress the national selec-tors and secure his place inAustralia’s T20 World Cup squad.

“If we don’t play another gamebefore the World Cup it’s going tobe tough to get into,” Hazlewoodsaid.

“If an opportunity opens up,through injury or whatever, I’d takethat. The IPL was going to be agood opportunity for me in T20cricket, to hopefully do well forChennai and put my name forwardfor that World Cup,” he added. PTI

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“I personally feel T20World Cup, if it happens,should take place with crowdsas its charm is something elsefor players and everyoneinvolved,” Imam told reportersin a video conferencing chatfacilitated by Pakistan CricketBoard (PCB) on Wednesday.

“But this will be decidedby ICC and we will respect

that. Let’s hope for the best.We also need to ensure play-ers and crowd safety,” said the24-year old left handed bats-man. Imam said there were afew Pakistan Super Leaguematches behind closed doorsand it was strange.

“We played 1-2 matchesin PSL without spectatorsand it was a strange feeling. Sowe will respect the board’sdecision. But personally I feelit is better with crowds as thecharm is more. You need totravel in planes, stay in hotelsso I feel safety should alwaysbe top priority.” IANS

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